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Mar. 22nd, 2004 03:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
algA few months ago, I agreed to write a bi-monthly column for the Valley Forge RWA newsletter called "Ask the Editor". The first column will be published in the April 2004 newsletter, but you get a sneak peek.
Ask the Editor—April 2004
Welcome to Ask the Editor, a bi-monthly column where I confirm your deepest fears—I mean, uh, a place where you can ask whatever you like, completely anonymously, and receive a brutally honest answer from an editor.
A little about me, so you know what you’re getting into: I’m an acquiring editor for Tom Doherty Associates, LLC, which is better known as Tor Books and Forge Books, where I’ve been for four years. I acquire mostly for the paranormal romance line, but I also sometimes acquire other types of fiction, and I work with several editors who acquire a wide range of genres. I went to the New School for Social Research, and came out with a degree in religious studies, fiction, non-fiction, and writing. I like coffee and chocolate and red lipstick.
Please note that what I say here reflects my experience in the publishing industry, but unless I say otherwise, nothing here reflects the opinions of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC, or the VHPS company as a whole, and nothing here is a statement coming from the above companies. So all the blame (and all the glory) should be directed to me.
The first question seems to be one that’s asked the most often of editors and agents at conferences when we do Q&A panels:
What are some of the most common mistakes writers make in the beginning of a story that knock the reader out of the flow?
There are lots of things, but the severity of the transgression depends upon the editor/agent who is reading the submission.
Let’s start with form: Editors are accustomed to reading submissions that are formatted in a particular way. This is why submission guidelines almost always explain how to format your manuscript. The industry standard is typed in 12-pt serif font (meaning Courier, Courier New, or Times New Roman) and double-spaced, with one-inch margins. Author name, manuscript title, and page number go in the header. Unless the submission guidelines specifically state otherwise, that’s the way to go.
Part of form is punctuation, spelling, and grammar. Unless you are a whiz with all three, don’t try to get creative and experimental. A good way to make sure that you catch your errors is to read the pages out loud. Sentences that trip up your tongue will usually trip up the eye of the reader. Remember: commas, semi-colons, and the em-dash are all your friends.
If you don’t have a book on style, you should get one; the Chicago Manual of Style is your best bet, as it’s what most copyeditors use. You don’t need to go too far out of your way to make sure that you’ve conformed to all the rules of style—that’s why publishing houses have copyeditors. Personal style is important—you don’t want to exchange a wonderful storytelling voice for good grammar, but you do need to make sure that your prose is readable, and easy for the reader to parse.
Next: the dreaded prologue. You may have noticed that lots of books have prologues. I am not particularly anti-prologue, myself—sometimes they are necessary evils. However, most of the time they are unnecessary and jarring. Stories usually start with chapter one, and the prologue is usually filled with backstory that would better serve if it was worked into the text itself somehow. It’s disappointing on many levels to begin a book at its prologue, become really excited about the characters introduced, and then find out that the prologue took place three hundred years ago, the characters and/or the introduced world don’t exist anymore and/or aren’t going to be featured heavily in the story, and the writing style and tone of the book itself is completely different.
When I surveyed my colleagues, promising it would be off the record (saying, “But not spelling, grammar, style, punctuation, and prologues, okay?”), the most common answer I received was… (drumroll!)
Clichés.
The cliché is a sign of a lazy author, or someone with little imagination. It also implies to the reader that while the basic plot might be something new or interesting, the execution of the plot (i.e., the telling of the story) will be tired, something we’ve seen time and time again. Your best bet is to come up with a new—but plausible—way to get your point across. The number one worst transgressor here is the weather; when chapter one begins with a description of the weather, editors and agents everywhere cringe.
By the way, I lied; clichés was the second answer I received. The most common answer was “Stupid characters saying and doing stupid things.” But I’m pretending that nobody reading this has stupid characters who do and say stupid things, because, let’s face it, if that’s your problem, this little column isn’t going to fix it.
Of course, remember that nothing I’ve said here is absolute. If you can do something brilliant and innovative while going against everything I’ve said here, go for it, and good luck.
That’s all for this month. Look for this column again in the June 2004 newsletter. Cheers!
Ask the Editor—April 2004
Welcome to Ask the Editor, a bi-monthly column where I confirm your deepest fears—I mean, uh, a place where you can ask whatever you like, completely anonymously, and receive a brutally honest answer from an editor.
A little about me, so you know what you’re getting into: I’m an acquiring editor for Tom Doherty Associates, LLC, which is better known as Tor Books and Forge Books, where I’ve been for four years. I acquire mostly for the paranormal romance line, but I also sometimes acquire other types of fiction, and I work with several editors who acquire a wide range of genres. I went to the New School for Social Research, and came out with a degree in religious studies, fiction, non-fiction, and writing. I like coffee and chocolate and red lipstick.
Please note that what I say here reflects my experience in the publishing industry, but unless I say otherwise, nothing here reflects the opinions of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC, or the VHPS company as a whole, and nothing here is a statement coming from the above companies. So all the blame (and all the glory) should be directed to me.
The first question seems to be one that’s asked the most often of editors and agents at conferences when we do Q&A panels:
What are some of the most common mistakes writers make in the beginning of a story that knock the reader out of the flow?
There are lots of things, but the severity of the transgression depends upon the editor/agent who is reading the submission.
Let’s start with form: Editors are accustomed to reading submissions that are formatted in a particular way. This is why submission guidelines almost always explain how to format your manuscript. The industry standard is typed in 12-pt serif font (meaning Courier, Courier New, or Times New Roman) and double-spaced, with one-inch margins. Author name, manuscript title, and page number go in the header. Unless the submission guidelines specifically state otherwise, that’s the way to go.
Part of form is punctuation, spelling, and grammar. Unless you are a whiz with all three, don’t try to get creative and experimental. A good way to make sure that you catch your errors is to read the pages out loud. Sentences that trip up your tongue will usually trip up the eye of the reader. Remember: commas, semi-colons, and the em-dash are all your friends.
If you don’t have a book on style, you should get one; the Chicago Manual of Style is your best bet, as it’s what most copyeditors use. You don’t need to go too far out of your way to make sure that you’ve conformed to all the rules of style—that’s why publishing houses have copyeditors. Personal style is important—you don’t want to exchange a wonderful storytelling voice for good grammar, but you do need to make sure that your prose is readable, and easy for the reader to parse.
Next: the dreaded prologue. You may have noticed that lots of books have prologues. I am not particularly anti-prologue, myself—sometimes they are necessary evils. However, most of the time they are unnecessary and jarring. Stories usually start with chapter one, and the prologue is usually filled with backstory that would better serve if it was worked into the text itself somehow. It’s disappointing on many levels to begin a book at its prologue, become really excited about the characters introduced, and then find out that the prologue took place three hundred years ago, the characters and/or the introduced world don’t exist anymore and/or aren’t going to be featured heavily in the story, and the writing style and tone of the book itself is completely different.
When I surveyed my colleagues, promising it would be off the record (saying, “But not spelling, grammar, style, punctuation, and prologues, okay?”), the most common answer I received was… (drumroll!)
Clichés.
The cliché is a sign of a lazy author, or someone with little imagination. It also implies to the reader that while the basic plot might be something new or interesting, the execution of the plot (i.e., the telling of the story) will be tired, something we’ve seen time and time again. Your best bet is to come up with a new—but plausible—way to get your point across. The number one worst transgressor here is the weather; when chapter one begins with a description of the weather, editors and agents everywhere cringe.
By the way, I lied; clichés was the second answer I received. The most common answer was “Stupid characters saying and doing stupid things.” But I’m pretending that nobody reading this has stupid characters who do and say stupid things, because, let’s face it, if that’s your problem, this little column isn’t going to fix it.
Of course, remember that nothing I’ve said here is absolute. If you can do something brilliant and innovative while going against everything I’ve said here, go for it, and good luck.
That’s all for this month. Look for this column again in the June 2004 newsletter. Cheers!