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Observations

A few weeks ago, I was asked by a science fiction and fantasy publisher to fill in as a short-term replacement for their Senior Editor, who left for another publishing house. As this didn't cut into my free time - merely the substitution of reading unpublished work intead of published work, really - I agreed to do so. (I thought it would be interesting, and then, the thought of the fear and horror which would strike certain elements in the SFWA crowd amused me too.)

I've been focusing on new writers for now, and it has been intriguing to see how the same sort of mistakes seem to permeate their submissions. In case anyone is interested, here's a few things I've noticed:

1. Good and interesting ideas are surprisingly common. This shocked me, since so much of the modern published work I've read while doing Nebula duty is formulaic. Far more often than not, however, that good idea is not implemented effectively and the most interesting tangents are not followed.

2. Exposition is a story killer. I recently read - and rejected - a manuscript which devoted seven (7!) chapters to presenting the reader with information about what a place is like. In that seven chapters, the plot is not advanced at all. Imagine if Tolkein devoted seven chapters to simply describing Rivendell. It's absurd, and yet this happens.

3. Preserving plot over characters ruins the story. It's been said before, but it's worth repeating. If your plot hangs on a character behaving uncharacteristically, you'd better have a very good explanation or it's just not going to work.

4. Pay attention to the publisher's guidelines. I've now read two historical novels, (part of them, anyhow), as well as a conventional thriller, none of which are the least bit appropriate for this publisher. It's annoying, even insulting, to grandiosely insist that your masterpiece will of course overshadow petty things like the publisher's wishes and marketing strategies.

5. Writing competence is an surprisingly uneven thing. One writer can do beautiful descriptions but can't put together a plot or create decent characters to save her life. Another has decent characters, but no idea what to do with them. Try to learn where your strengths are and where your weaknesses are. If you can focus on a story that will play to your strengths while working hard to shore up your weaknesses, your book will be the better for it.

6. Let the reader see the important events. For example, if you're going to have a protagonist try to off himself because of a failed romance, you might want to consider showing the big breakup scene rather skipping over it right to the ramifications. And you might at least like to explain why the protagonist is so enamoured of the paramour; sure, you can tell us, but without any direct knowledge, we're unlikely to care or even understand.

7. Try to keep in mind that the editor is likely at least as well read in the genre as you are. The chances that you can do a book about a magician's school or rabbit society as well as those who've done it already are slim, and changing the sex of the protagonist doesn't make it an entirely different concept. Go write fanfic if you want to play in someone else's world, otherwise, invent your own.

8. Don't rush the climax. Write the story out as it should go naturally, then go back and chop out the fat from the middle. A significant percentage of submissions meander to little purpose for 100 pages, then attempt to hurl everything into a bang-up climax in less than 15 pages.

That's all that occurs to me at the moment. And no, I'm not looking for more material to review, I have 83 more submissions to plow through already.

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