The Chopping Blog

To me, an unpublishable manuscript is simply not publishable yet.

Like many “rules” in writing and publishing, there is more to the story than meets the eye.

Sometimes people overstuff their schedules to make sure they have time to write each day—which can lead to burnout. But sometimes burnout occurs when you’re so busy that you no longer make time to write.

By reducing unnecessary sensory and cognitive verbs, you allow your audience to slip into the shoes of the protagonist and experience events as they unfold, without redundant reminders that the scene is filtering through the senses and cognition of the focal character.

A clear, specific, and relatable narrative goal is one of the fundamentals of storytelling.

As a developmental editor, I have reviewed many manuscripts and drafted countless feedback reports for my clients. In doing so, I came to realize that all my feedback fits into two main categories: immersion and emotional draw.

The hero’s journey can be a bit daunting, but when we superimpose the terms of three-act-structure on it, it becomes a lot more familiar.

A powerful narrative is one that is immersive and engaging. Anything that distracts or confuses will pull readers out of the story, of which head hopping is a prime example.

If you’ve sent out twenty or thirty query submissions and received only rejections, chances are the issue isn’t just your comparable titles.

If you can’t put it down, it’s commercial; if you can’t pick it up, it’s literary. If you purposely drop the title into conversations and mention it on Facebook, it’s literary. If you pretend you’ve never read it, it’s commercial.

It’s a writer’s dream: you open that email or get that phone call from a publisher or agent with the big news: they want to publish your novel. It’s actually going to happen. 

In the end, you have one job: don’t be boring.