Fiction Book Publishers
Fiction Editing – Story Sense And Logic
Author: Steve Dempster
Your story, be it novel, short story or novelette, is finished. Or is it? Before you send it to a publisher, check firstly that your story makes sense!
Maybe you read my article about The Final Draft. Well, before you reach that stage there’s this one to go through. It can be hard and you need to be tough with yourself, castings an editor’s eye – not that of a writer – over your work. So what is there to look for when editing and how do you go about it?
The first thing to do is to print your story out onto paper. Don’t ask me why but editing just doesn’t seem to work the same if you do it on your computer or word-processor. Then read your story. You might think this a waste of time – after all, you wrote it! – but I assure you that you’ll find mistakes, typos and a host of other little mistakes.
They’re easy to correct. Mark them in pencil as you go along. When you have finished your read through it’s time to begin editing in earnest. You will have almost certainly noticed plotting errors and the usual howlers present in every first draft (I speak from experience!) but here’s a rundown of vital points to check off during the editing process.
1. Do your characters behave as they should? Remember that, in fiction, people seldom if ever act ‘out of character’ – if your character has changed, this needs attention.
2. Do your characters react to each other as they should? Events in your story may well change the feelings and emotions your characters display towards each other. Do they mention events that have happened to them within the story? Real people would – your characters should follow suit.
3. Will it be obvious to the reader what the characters are doing – and why they are doing it? This needs to be made clear to the reader otherwise the ‘thread’ of the story may be lost altogether, your reader will become confused – and the story, for them, is over.
4. Do your characters react believably to circumstances? Again, this goes back to character action – don’t have a character brush off a situation if their character sheet says they would go berserk with rage at a given event – if this is evident, your plotting needs to be looked at. Don’t change your character’s reactions to paper over cracks in the plot!
5. Does your story timeline run true? It’s very easy to have someone in two places at once if you’re not in control of this critical thread. If you have a sub-plot, or, worse still, several sub-plots running, this can rapidly spiral out of control. Use a timeline record to help you control event timing, i.e. ’10 pm Monday – Jake and Sally at Harry’s bar. Big Mike robbing bank.’ This ensures that Jake and Big Mike don’t ‘meet up’ somewhere at that hour!
Checking the above points will take time, effort and dedication. However, if you do not ensure that your story makes sense according to the points above, the only time you waste will be your own. Why? Simple. Editors today do not expect – and indeed will not tolerate – stories that simply don’t ‘hang together’. The days of droves of sub-editors making good your sloppy work are well and truly gone.
So – edit and re-edit. Be brutal. Be honest with yourself and your work and you will be streets ahead of those who do not take the time and effort that you do. Writing fiction is hard work – it’s up to you to make certain your work is the best it can be. I look forward to seeing you in print!
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/non-fiction-articles/fiction-editing-story-sense-and-logic-83977.html
About the Author
Steve Dempster writes fiction, copy and informative articles such as the above. He also ghostwrites. If you would like more information and advice on writing in general, click here
Tagged with: fiction writing • short story writing • writing advice • writing dialogue
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I’ve dealt with this before, so this is a copy of my earlier post on the same subject.
For correct presentation to a publishing house see my blog http://ajbarnett-story.blogspot.com/2008/04/conform-or-else.html
As a new author you have to live by the maxim to be not “As Good As” your favourite published authors. You have to be better!
The problem is, publishing houses will always go for the safe bet. They’re in it to make money, not make you famous. They have a limited number of books they will publish each year. If yours isn’t outstanding, I’m afraid you’ll not get in, they’ll reach for one of their stable of established authors.
To achieve this, you must first of all make sure your manuscript is as good as it can possibly be.
Be absolutely certain you’ve tied all loose ends and make sure you’ve followed industry standards for presentation.
Edit out ALL unnecessary pronouns and adverbs – nothing screams amateur more than overblown descriptions. Most new writers feel they need to give full descriptions of everything in the book. DON’T. Sometimes what’s left out says more than what’s in….
When you’ve cut, cut, and cut; when you’ve polished it until it glistens, write a short query letter to your chosen publisher. Explain any experience you may have, the genre of the work, the word-count, and present a VERY short synopsis of about 100 words (see book blurbs. Check my own blurb here for an example http://www.anthonyjamesbarnett.co.uk/profile%20Reproach.htm ). Only present a full synopsis IF the publishing house asks you to submit the first three chapters.
In terms of an agent – it’s almost as difficult to gain acceptance with a reputable agent as a publishing house. You must go through the same process. You’ll find lists of reputable agents and publishers in several trade oriented books such as Writers and Artist’s Yearbook.
Anthony James Barnett – author of WITHOUT REPROACH
Buy a copy of “Writer’s Market” to learn what publishing companies might accept an unsolicited manuscript of the genre of your book. Not to disillusion you, however, you are extremely unlikely to find a company willing to pay you for what you’ve written, particularly if it is of novella length, by which I am assuming that you mean “short”. It is very very difficult for unknown and previously unpublished writers to become published as publishers are interested only in making money. They will not invest in a manuscript unless they are quite certain that they will recoup their investment with profits. Unless your story is extremely well written and is unique and unusual, your fate almost certainly will be rejection. (Even those authors who prolifically write best sellers tell of the reams of rejections which they received before they finally reaped success.) A possibility for you if the desire to see your work published is your motivation is to self-publish; there are many companies which do that (I self-published two novels myself through Xlibris). They may have length requirements for the proposed manuscript, however; Xlibris does, I know. Furthermore, if you do choose to publish on your own, you will generally be responsible for all of the costs. There is a company which I’ve read mentioned frequently on Answers ( http://www.lulu.com ) who apparently offer a service which does not require a fee; since I haven’t dealt with them, I am not sure of their ethics or reliability. Xlibris is legitimate — affiliated with Random House — and I have been very satisfied with my books. Whatever course you decide to pursue, best of luck!
http://www.foxnews.com
They have a writer’s handbook out there for you to check on guidelines of each publisher…or you can try to get an agent. However, I spent 7 years trying to get an agent and they are so busy with the mil. sellers…they don’t seem to have time for small potatoes. If all else fails and you keep getting rejections as I did, go on to iUniverse.com and you can get a publish on demand contract for $99 and they design the cover for you. You can take a look at mine on my site.
http://home.comcast.net/~timeless57/fatal_impact.html
The iUniverse artist designed my cover but I had to write the synopsis for the back cover, which is the intro that you can read before it shows my book cover. They were great people to work with. The only thing is, YOU have to get out there and market your own book, but they will feature you on Amazon.com, Borders.com, E-Bay and so on. Heck with the percent the agents take, you may as well market your own. They’ll even give you tips to set up ‘book signings’ at the local bookstores. And, you can purchase your own material at a greatly reduced rate, as the paperback usually sell for $14.95 and the hard-covers for more..like $29. And yes, they do send you the royalty checks. Hope that helped…oh, and they don’t turn anyone down, but you do have to have all your manuscript editing finished when you submit it. I notice in the preview that my entire URL is not visible. So write to me…okay?, and I’ll answer you back. Just put your screen name in and say you were in here asking about publishing. I’ll remember.
Another point for the Writer’s Market. Figure out what genre your book falls under, find publishers who work with that type of book. There’s no point in trying to sell a teen-lit romance to a sci-fi publisher, y’know?
Polish, polish, polish your writing. Make it as perfect as possible. Editors don’t have time to “fix” the little grammar and spelling mistakes you make. They’ve got another hundred books in the slush pile to get through that won’t need all that babying. They want a professional writer.
Write a solid synopsis of your book. Write an outstanding query letter. Check to make sure the pubs you target take unagented submissions. Follow their submission guidelines. Then off to the PO!
Literary Market Place is a good first step.
How would I get a publisher for a fiction book for young adults?
Could anybody please tell me the list or websites of highly paid fiction publishers?
My friend looking for a good publishers for his two fiction books,
What is the best means of finding a publisher to publish a book in the juvenile fiction genre?
I am in the process of writing a juvenile fiction book. I would like to find a publisher, but really do not know where to start. There are so many websites and places on the internet, it is hard to know what are legitimate and what are not. I would like to find a publisher that I can be in regular contact with and not just communicating through impersonal emails.
who would be a good publisher to publish my fiction book?
i am trying to find a publisher for my book does any one know a good publisher?
I am on the verge of sending my fiction book off to publishers / Agents can you help?
I know I have to include a cover letter and 3 – 4 chapters of the book and a synopsis – but can you tell me EXACTLY what information I need to put in the synopsis ?
I would like to find a publisher for my fiction book please help?
So i have finally finished my book I had it edited and everything so please now i need to know i can find a publisher. So it isnt a novel though its possible to be a novelle. So if anyone knows of a publisher that publishes fiction books please tell me. Though ive got to say for me being only 15 its a big leap for me so please help me.