Another Angle on What Editors Really Want

An editor won’t even get past page one of your manuscript if there’s no gripping hook, the writing is dull and peppered with adverbs and adjectives, and if the main character’s personality doesn’t instantly leap off the page.

Despite what I wrote in my recent post Catching The Editor’s Eye where I broke some rules and yet got a promise of being published, I still stuck solidly to what really matters when writing a story: having a main character who the reader can relate to; and using hooks, snappy language and dialogue and action to move the story along, ie the show don’t tell rule.

But sometimes - or is it often - sloppy writing gets published and sells millions of books. The question is why?

I belong to a network of authors - most of whom write for kids - and we regularly exchange thoughts and advice via email. One of the group commented on ‘The Shadow Thief’, written by 14-year-old Alexandra Adornetto.

Apparently, ‘The Shadow Thief’ is an exciting tale, but has three glaring writer no no’s that would have an editor chucking it into the reject pile very quickly. They are:

• an omniscient author who talks to the reader inbetween scenes;
• heaps of adverbs, especially the ones ending in ‘ly that if the rest of us mere authors dare to pen would result in an electric shock; and
• plenty of tell, not show.

The belief of this group member is that Alexandra got published because of her age. Being only 14 years old is a fantastic selling point. We all know that one of the considerations publishers take into account when assessing manuscripts is the saleability of a book.

It is depressing that this can happen, and we’re fully aware that it does. As my colleague said, if ‘The Shadow Thief’ was written by a 40-year-old housewife, would it have been published?

But I’ll stick to the rules I follow, because I know how turned off I get when I read badly written novels. I’d rather attract discerning readers than sell millions.

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