The First Five Minutes: How Editors Evaluate Your Manuscript
This afternoon, I presented a webinar with Alice Pope on how you can critically review your manuscript (particularly the first pages) for red flags that lead to a rejection from…
This
afternoon, I presented a webinar with Alice Pope on how you can critically review your manuscript (particularly the first pages) for red flags that lead to a rejection from an editor or agent. A big thank-you to the first 25 participants who were courageous enough to allow us to critique their first pages!
For my blog readers, here are the common problems that we identified during the webinar:
- Flashback on first page
- Too much backstory or explanation, slowing story down
- Waiting for the protagonist to appear (or unclear protagonist)
- Starting with an alarm clock or ringing phone
- Lots of characters introduced on first page
- Ordinary day stuff (getting out of bed, walking to kitchen, etc)
- Ordinary crisis moment without distinct voice or twist
- Too much telling about the story, not enough showing
- Nothing happens -- no action or problem
- Interior monologue: in character's head, just lots of thinking, no acting or interaction with anyone else
- Predictable story start or story line without a unique take
- More of a journal entry (stream of consciousness), and not a story
- Wrong starting point; not starting at a point of change
- Too confusing, not enough reason or motivation to figure out what's happening
Participants: Be on the lookout for your critique checklist, Q&As that we didn't have time to answer, as well as the specific notes on your manuscript (if yours was used).
Here are other excellent resources:
- An excerpt from Hooked (a book about story beginnings)
- Alice's blog focusing on children's/YA
- Chuck's blog, focusing on agents' perspectives
- My take on common nonfiction problems (from my blog post at Pennwriters)
- Big red flags in the first 25 pages (from my blog post at Harriette Austin)
- My blog post about memoir/storytelling, inspired by Ira Glass (good for every genre)
If
you attended the webinar, thank you very much for joining me and Alice, and I hope
you found the information you were looking for. Don't forget to network
with me on Facebook, Twitter (@JaneFriedman), and LinkedIn; I regularly
post and share information of interest to writers seeking publication.
Future webinars also include:
- Extreme Query Letter Makeover
- How to Negotiate Any Book Publishing Contract
- How to Land a Literary Agent
Click here to view details on all. (Click on "Live Sessions", then on "Upcoming Sessions".)
Jane Friedman is a full-time entrepreneur (since 2014) and has 20 years of experience in the publishing industry. She is the co-founder of The Hot Sheet, the essential publishing industry newsletter for authors, and is the former publisher of Writer’s Digest. In addition to being a columnist with Publishers Weekly and a professor with The Great Courses, Jane maintains an award-winning blog for writers at JaneFriedman.com. Jane’s newest book is The Business of Being a Writer (University of Chicago Press, 2018).
