Why Literary Agents & Editors REJECT a Book After the FIRST PAGE: 7 Red Flags | PART 1 | iWriterly

when I worked at the literary agency I almost always knew after the first page of whether or not the book was ready or if the writer needed more time to polish their story in this video I will go through seven editing red flags for your first page and how literary agents and editors know your book isn't ready yet [Music] hey you broken ours I'm Meg Latour a writer and I formerly worked at a literary agency I was also an editor at several Twitter pitch contests and I've read countless submissions both while doing freelance editing and these contests online as well as while at be literary agency on this episode of irony we are going to talk about why literary agents and editors reject your manuscript after the first page or maybe even the first few pages before we get in today's content hit that subscribe button and ring the bell if you haven't already here on I reading the great videos about how to be a successful modern day author I'm going to start today's discussion with a disclaimer publishing is subjective sometimes the rejection has nothing to do with the quality of the writing and everything to do with the agent or editors personal taste they may not have connected with your story due to a trope that they don't like or maybe a character type that they're not interested in and so on or maybe your book has certain trigger warnings such as a verbal or physical abuse references to eating disorders alcoholism and maybe the agent or editor has personal experience with those things and they don't want to be triggered by the content of your book and therefore they might just pass for that reason alone you just never know now that doesn't mean your story doesn't need to be told it just means that that agent or editor isn't the right person to champion your book so how to tell the difference between the I didn't connect with this and this book is it ready yet rejection consider these seven red flags and editing for your first pages and consider whether or not your book might be harboring them number one the story starts in the wrong place modern-day readers are different from the readers of the 90s for example some science fiction and fantasy books from the 90s take fifty a hundred one hundred and fifty pages before we see anything happened beyond the protagonists daily routine as I've said in previous videos of pastoral settings are very boring to read well there are certainly books that have been published recently that have done this and gotten away with it for the most part writers and readers are not interested in reading a super long winded opening and you just can't afford to wait for something interesting to happen and hope your reader sticks around remember that the inciting incident should happen somewhere around the 15 percent mark sometimes it happens sooner or later but some type of conflict should be happening in your opening pages or maybe you're kind of probing this in question that the reader is asking and needs to have an answer to all that said the first few pages of your manuscript need to do a few things introduce us to your protagonist or another character central to the plot if you have a multiple POVs for example it needs to suck us into your narrative style of storytelling frequently this is done through a pivotal scene that is kind of central to your character's story it needs to give us a sense of place and help us get to know your setting or maybe if it's science fiction of fantasy really start to do some world-building of what we can expect and last but probably most importantly you need to give the readers of reason to cheer your protagonist on even if they are unlikable and there are different types of protagonists we've talked about that in previous videos but it's okay if your characters unlikable but we still have to want them to succeed in some capacity all this can be done in many different ways but one of my personal favorites is starting the story in medius rice or again amid some type of pivotal scene for the character so starting in the middle of the action while also giving the reader context to what's happening so if you just throw us into the middle of a battlefield and you don't know who's fighting who or why they're fighting or where they are that might be a little bit too much in the middle of the action but consider placing the reader into a pivotal scene that's kind of very gripping the second red flag is telling versus showing if you've watched enough author 2 videos you're probably sitting there rolling your eyes at this one but you would be surprised how many writers deeply struggle with telling versus showing there are many reasons why telling pulls a reader from the story but the short of it is telling makes for a really crummy reading experience readers don't like it and thus neither do agents or editors who are also readers if you want to learn more about showing Holling check out our video how to show vs. tell in your writing and I will leave a link in the description below when I went to the literary agency as well as when I did those Twitter pitch contests I would say about 80 percent of the submissions I saw the writers struggled with telling versus showing perhaps more than that here are a few ways you can be accidentally telling versus showing you can be telling how the character is feeling so maybe emotionally or physically you can be telling the relationship between the characters like this is my best friend you could be telling us the weather or the time of year versus conveying that through scene and setting description to make sure that you show more than tell use strong verbs rather than lots of adjectives and adverbs paint a picture for the reader so you use very specific nouns and allow the reader to experience the scene of whenever possible so this is the whole narration versus dramatization and discussion include sensory details and that includes all five senses sight sound taste touch and smell and use dialogue to indirectly show how people are feeling number three is too much backstory or information dumps I will know after the first page if a writer struggles with information ups or how to trickle in a backstory as needed usually new writers will use a prologue or maybe much of chapter one just to dump a bunch of background information about the character and their history maybe their family or the world or whatever the case is and only later actually start with the book and the scene in maybe later in chapter one or in Chapter two its pages and pages of the history of the world or the history of the character to really bring the reader up to speed and all the things that happened before the story started don't do this it's boring to read and in my opinion it's lazy writing it will also earn you a swift rejection from literary agents and editors instead kind of in general trickle in the information that readers need to know when they need to know it or shortly before when they need to know it you can also move back story into the action keep the backstory to a minimum in those first pages the goal of those pages is to suck the reader and if you're just bugging them down with boring information you're not going to keep their interest and then in subsequent chapters like chapter 2 or 3 or you can be weaving in gradually more of that necessary background information that the reader must know to understand the story in short readers need to care about the characters and the world before they're given too much backstory number 4 floating heads floating heads is when there's a ton of dialogue and little to no dialogue tags like meg said or any setting or scene description in Chapter 1 the reader doesn't know who the characters are what the setting is what's going on what the stakes are and of course why they should care the results of a lot of dialogue and little else is a very confused reader first chapters especially those that start with scenes should be an introduction to the character world and opening conflict there also needs to be a clear sense of place so be careful not to let your characters run away with the scene doing all the dialogue and be careful you're not doing information dumps through dialogue or doing too much telling through dialogue number 5 is too many adjectives and or adverbs wordy writing and writing that uses too many big vocabulary words is a red flag of a newbie writer I don't know why it is but I think all writers or at least most writers go through this phase where they're kind of flexing there are writerly muscles the infuser stories with all these massive vocabulary words a lot of times it's just not even proper use of those words guys I did it too so you're not alone newbie writer Meg totally dumped a thesaurus onto my early manuscripts it's not to say you can't use a rich vocabulary in your manuscript but don't be dumping a thesaurus onto your manuscript and don't be using some massive vocabulary words in every single sentence now this is for commercial fiction if you're writing literary fiction that's probably something different entirely but we don't specialize in literary fiction here at I write early so unfortunately you'll have to go elsewhere to research that as a one writer in writer's digest said never underestimate the weaknesses of adverbs and cliches let's have a quick example from her position behind the defensive line in Mary the tumultuous battle feeling her tremulous heart flutter repeatedly in her chest here is a one different alternative from her position behind the defensive line Mary watched the battle swords and spears flashed in the sunlight her heart rattled in time with the war drums in the distance it's good to give the reader since a place through description but be careful you don't go too far sometimes simple is best and if you want to learn more about filler words and adjectives and adverbs that definitely check out my video about filler words to avoid using in your writing I'll leave a link in the description below number six scenes or a story that lacks stakes some writers have mastered the art of storytelling they create likeable characters with a really unique voice the setting is rich and there's tons of great description but not too much and the pages open with an interesting scene that kind of pulls the reader in in this case maybe we fly through the pages that we're so excited to learn more and read more about the story and learn about the characters only to learn that these scenes had no purpose for later on in the story it was a battle for a battle sake and it has nothing to do with the overarching plot every single scene of that you write for the story should somehow later on tie in with the me plot maybe its character building and maybe it's romantic tension if there's like a romantic subplot that it needs to hold some purpose for later on down in the story and I think the best writers every single one of their scene has at least two purposes every word every scene a must count towards your ultimate goal for the story and where it's going to end imogen stories are made of conflict without conflict there is no story this is especially true for plot driven stories think carefully about who is the protagonist what do they want and what is in the way of them getting what they want hey conflict who is the antagonist is it another character with opposing goals is the protagonist struggling with their own demons is it between the protagonist and the environment conflict supplies the stakes and odds that lead to rising and falling action so think again with the structure of stories a lot of times an eye vitally mover to the three-act plot structure but there are many different ways to write a book that's just kind of one of the more popular ones in addition without conflict characters can't grow and change which is super important in character-driven stories we need to see where they start the beginning of the story and then kind of where they end up how do they change them at that conflict what they learn about themselves or about the world at large number seven is a protagonist with a weak voice and now perhaps we get to one of the most crucial elements of modern-day stories as you may be aware in 2019 and maybe in the future and definitely years past there are agents and editors are seeking character-driven stories with voic-- characters not all books need to have voic-- characters but it's definitely something the industry pros are actively seeking and they might pass on a book simply because they didn't connect with the character's voice one common thing you'll hear in the rejection of a query letter if you get a personalized response which is pretty rare is that I didn't connect with this character I didn't connect with their voice which is usually short for they have a weak voice there is no single way to ensure your character has a strong voice it's a matchup of a ton of things that make your character unresisted well and make the reader want to root for them consider the following when you're trying to bring out your characters unique voice what drives your character what background experiences do they have that colors their perception of the world what are your character's greatest desires and weaknesses is your character an unreliable narrator are you writing in omniscient POV or are you writing in a very close POV such as first person or third person limited how much does your characters each impact their view of the world do they have a sense of humor are they sweet or sour or grouchy the more you ask yourselves about their characters and how they view the world the better usually you get to know them and then the rears can get to know them through you first knowing them that doesn't mean the reader needs to know every single thing about your characters but you need to know them well enough to understand how they would respond to a given situation given their personality given their history I recommend checking up books that are by authors who do avoid characters really well one of my favorite books and one you've probably heard on this channel many many times before is never night it is by Jay Kristoff it is an adult fantasy so does not for young adult readers if you're a young person watching this video there are some stuff in there that's mature content I will definitely link to this book in the description below what study how your favorite authors write their characters how did they make their characters voic-- and what type of inheritor do they have again is it omniscient is it like a god-like perspective that is far above the scenes or is it third person limited that's really popular in adult science fiction fantasy is that first person that I think is really popular in young adults but really study what the greats do how do they make voic-- characters thanks for tuning in to this episode of I read early why literary agents and editors of reject your manuscript after the first page if you liked what you saw give this video a thumbs up it lets me know you like this type of content and want more and if you're new here welcome please consider subscribing I post writing related videos one to two times per week if you have questions that I think we cover today please do leave those in the comments below this is not an exhaustive list of all the reasons why literary agents or editors might reject your manuscript after reading the first page or first few pages but these are some of the themes come in red flags that I saw again while I was kind of working in the industry be sure to connect with me on my other social media platforms I'm on Twitter and Instagram I also have a monthly newsletter book nerd vise which includes exclusive insiders and giveaways for subscribers when you subscribe to the newsletter you'll receive three copies of how to format your manuscript for submission which is a Word document template I'm take wearing checklist all the links are in the description below that's it for today as always keep writing [Music]

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Keywords: writing tips, best writing advice, writing advice, literary agent, why books are rejected, why do books get rejected, rejections in publishing, real reasons why books are rejected, why literary agents reject manuscripts, rejections from publishers, book publishing, how to get published, writing a book, getting published, publishing advice, how to get an agent, meg latorre, iwriterly, authortube, traditional publishing, slush pile, querying, query letter

Id: cg8sFTA0Ta8

Length: 15min 48sec (948 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 02 2019