Category Archives: Gold Mine Manuscript

For an intro into where these tips are coming from, please  see my post: A Full Manuscript Rejection, or a Gold Mine?

I’m not sure I completely agree with this from the angle  where it’s marked, but I’m mentioning it nonetheless.  In the Gold Mine Manuscript, the MC had something weird happen to  him.  It’s something that could possibly  change his life.  One chapter ends  (paraphrasing)  “He had to find the  truth.  He cleaned up the mess, closed  the doors, and formulated a plan.”

The publisher highlighted “formulated a plan” and called it  “Pre-Telling.”  They said this is  telling us what is happening without telling us what “did happen.”  They asked the author to look for instances  like this in the novel and eliminate them.  They wanted her to show them what happened instead.

Now, I read this as a decent chapter close.  It left me wondering what the MC was going  to do.  I think that was the effect that the author was going for.  In my mind,  it gives you a little push to turn the page.  However, my opinion doesn’t really count, does it?  They red-lined it.

Do with this what you like.  I’ve seen this in published work.  Frankly, I didn’t mind it, but somebody “in the know” did.  I suppose, like anything else, once we stop  using little writing crutches like these, and we see what we can do without  them we will realize what better writers we can be.  Which, I suppose is what looking at manuscript red-lines like  this is all about… even if we don’t necessarily agree.

In some cases, you need to decide what is best for you.  However, I would consider trying to write without something like this, and see if you can still get the effect you want without the Pre-Telling.  You probably can.  If you can’t, and you are unhappy,  then maybe you have a decision to make.  Just get ready for the red-line (or maybe not… like I’ve said.  Some publishers have let this go.)

Hope this helps!

For an intro into where these tips are coming from, please see my post: A Full Manuscript Rejection, or a Gold Mine?

I found this photograph on Wikipedia with the definition of Cliché.  It’s pretty old, and the copy right is outdated.

You can tell, even with how old this cartoon is, that if they were making fun of some clichés this long ago, what would they think now?

I must admit, I am guilty myself of using the last one.  Now that I see it in a picture, I have to giggle.  Sometimes, I think you need to have something drawn to see the “funny” in it… Like tossing your head in the air.

The publisher who redlined the Gold Mine Manuscript marked “in a split Second”, “Looked her in the eye”, “Laid low” and “in all shapes and sizes” as  clichés.   They also said that eyes don’t meet, but gazes can meet.  (Can you picture two people’s eyes actually meeting?  Now that I have that visual, I stop every time I start typing it.)

There are a lot more that are common, that we probably aren’t even aware we are using.  For me, now that I think of it… My characters always drop their eyes.  I guess I can change that to “lowered their gaze” since they aren’t actually dropping their eyeballs out of their heads.

I’ll also mention that they weren’t crazy about colloquial expressions either, as they thought they wouldn’t be understood by everyone, so use those sparingly as well.

Write on!

For an intro into where these tips are coming from, please see my post: A Full Manuscript Rejection, or a Gold Mine?

This is another comment that seems silly when you say it, but when I was thinking over my own manuscript (and one of the comments that a BP made that I blew off) I think I may have one of these mistakes, too.

The publisher red-lined a scene where the phone rings, and there is a conversation, but it is never really clear why the second character called in the first place.  Yes, some important information is exchanged during the conversation, but the reason for the original call is never made clear enough.
The comment from the publisher was that all actions must have a reason from the character that created that action in the first place.

Now, thinking over my own manuscript… There is a point where Magellan and Meagan are in the Aviary when the lights go out.  They are worried about Jerric, who is also in the aviary.  Meagan calls out his name, and Jerric steps out of the bushes and says “I’m right here.”

One of my BP’s said: “that is awfully convenient.”

I think this is pretty much the same thing as the comment above.  There needs to be a reason for him to be there.  Honestly, there is.  He is watching them.  The problem is, I never SAY that, so there is never actually a reason (in the reader’s mind) for him to be able to step out of the trees so easily.

So, where I  “blew off” that comment before, because I knew why he stepped out of the trees, now I am going back to make it more apparent that he was standing there and listening.  I have to let the reader know why it is so easy for him to step out of the trees.

Always make sure there is a reason for your characters to be where they are, and a reason for them doing what they do.  Other wise, as this publisher puts it, it  ends up sounding “contrived” or, as my BP put it “too convenient.”

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