- Once you think you’ve finished with all of the editing, read submission out loud to yourself. Not the computer, YOU read aloud. You’ll find you’ve just begun the editing phase.
- Once finished, run it past at least 2-3 critique partners or a mentor. And guess what? You’ll find you’ve just begun, again, the editing phase. See a pattern here?
- Write an amazing 2-5 pg. single-spaced synopsis. Tell the entire story, don’t leave “request more to find out what happens”. Now you’re getting closer to being done. Oh, wait. Read out loud to yourself and run it past those crit partners again. More editing.
- You think you’re all ready to submit? Go to agency/publisher sites and find out EXACTLY WHAT THEY WANT YOU TO SUBMIT. Then put that together. Once again, out loud to yourself and pass by crit partners. You know the drill now.
- What are agency standards for manuscripts? Times New Roman. 1″ margins. Start chapters 1/3-1/2 the way down the page. Double spaced (not single, not one and a half). If you put a page break (not section break) at the very end of each chapter, you can move text all over, add–subtract, whatever you want, and it won’t mess with the next chapter heading. It will stay in place.
- When doing a query letter? Single space. When doing a proposal? All should be single-spaced except the sample chapters which are double spaced.
- If in doubt of what to do, there are plenty of online seminars or free info to help along the way. You can’t research enough.
- Go to conferences if you can. If you can’t afford the full-on-travel-to conference, try to get to a virtual conference or two, and please, take all of the classes that you can. These things are golden!!! If there are local workshops, try to hit those as well. Libraries often offer great ones.
- Are all those classes really important. Heck ya!
- So, get to one!
- Keep at your craft no matter how many times you are told no. Some of those may come from agents or editors who simply have a full plate of that genre at the moment. BUT if you keep hearing the same criticisms of the work over and over, you might want to study that area a bit more and make changes.
- Are you listening? 2-3 people saying the same thing?
- Take a thick-skinned look at your work.
- Don’t be afraid of Deep POV. I was a hard sell, and now, I LOVE IT! When applied correctly it can take your writing level to the next level and even the NEXT!
- Yes, typos matter. Yes, grammar matters. Yes, punctuation matters. So, if you think an agent or editor is going to fix all of that for you, you are mistaken. It is your job to get your work the best it can be BEFORE sending to agents and editors. Will you miss a couple problems? No doubt and that’s okay, but if you write to agents: “I know my project needs lots more work. Hence, I want to get an agent to help me get it in the best shape possible.” Probably will be a no.
- You’ve got this. If you’re called to write, don’t be a quitter, but do The Write … RIGHT!