Submission checklist

scarletpeaches · Mar 26, 2007

I have a feeling this thread will die on its arse, but here goes. Things to check before you submit:

[Oh and I'm talking about the manuscript here, if anyone has any further suggestions or what to aim for in a synopsis, feel free - I need all the help I can get].

Head jumping - evil, evil, evil
Dialogue attribution - do I have people ejaculating and gushing all over my novel?
Personal pronouns - people do not need to be named in every single paragraph. 'He', 'she' and 'it' and perfectly acceptable.
The adverb is not your friend - 'nuff said.
Info-dumping - If you do this, you are a turdbender.

1" margins
12pt Courier New
W/O switched off
double-spaced
25 lines per page
indent every paragraph
scene breaks shown with a centred #
underline for italicised text
running header right-justified with name, title and page number
only justify the left margin in the main text

There. Think that's it. I know we've discussed these details time and time again, but figured if we had them in a list it would be easier for the obsessors among us (okay, me) to check, "Have I done this? Did I remember to do that?"

It's nearly time for me to start submitting again and I want to make sure it's perfect. I can spot a million mistakes I previously made when submitting, so rather than concentrate on how embarrassed I feel, I'd rather learn from it and make sure my next round of submissions actually stands a chance.

Shadow_Ferret · Mar 26, 2007

Oh. Great. Where was this thread when I needed it?

Elodie-Caroline · Mar 26, 2007

Sounds like you're the schoolmistress today, Nichola... is that a new role to play with your Joaquin?

scarletpeaches · Mar 26, 2007

Ah, the difference between you and me, Shadow Ferret, is I need stuff like this to keep it straight in my head.

A few of the details are things that have been argued over again and again, so I guess you could say I'm thinking out loud, trying to figure out what makes a manuscript presentable. Not telling people what to do (God no, I'm the one who's not published yet, what do I know?) but just putting what I think out there and hopefully not offending anyone. But no doubt some will say, "YOu have the margins wrong!" or "Use another font!"

As long as I hit on a middle way that won't immediately put off an agent, I guess the list could work (for me).

And E-C - Damn! You got me on that one!

Codger · Mar 26, 2007

Maybe I'm dense, but...

scarletpeaches said "W/O switched off".

What's a W/O?

Prawn · Mar 26, 2007

scarletpeaches said:
Dialogue attribution - do I have people ejaculating and gushing all over my novel?

Are you writing erotica?

scarletpeaches · Mar 26, 2007

Codger said:
scarletpeaches said "W/O switched off".

What's a W/O?

Widows and orphans.

If you open up a word document, go to Format > Paragraph > Line & Page Breaks, uncheck the w/o box.

It's got something to do with making sure you have the same number of lines of text on each page. Someone else would explain it better than me. I just know what the end result is, not why it's so called.

I think w/o refuses to split up paragraphs and bumps them onto the next page. Or something.

Shadow_Ferret · Mar 26, 2007

scarletpeaches said:
Ah, the difference between you and me, Shadow Ferret, is I need stuff like this to keep it straight in my head.

Oh, you thought I was being sarcastic.

You turn off your widows/orphans? Why?

scarletpeaches · Mar 26, 2007

To get the same number of lines per page. I'm OCD like that.

And I hear tell them there agents like it that way...

Shadow_Ferret · Mar 26, 2007

scarletpeaches said:
To get the same number of lines per page. I'm OCD like that.

Hmm. I'm obsessive-compulsive about one line hanging there all by itself.

swvaughn · Mar 26, 2007

So... it's bad that I've sent out partials and fulls in 12-point TNR with italicized italics?

*ducks*

Seriously, though - you're right about the Courier and underlining. That's the standard acceptable format. It's just I've seen some agents, particularly the newer ones, prefer TNR because it's more friendly-looking.

I think it's one of those "don't obsess over it" things -- the writing matters more. But this is a great list, Scarlet! And to your manuscript checklist, I would add the advice of eminent agent-sage Donald Maass: Is there tension on every page? (Doesn't have to be dead bodies everywhere, just some sort of conflict, whether internal or external.)

Good luck with your submissions!

scarletpeaches · Mar 26, 2007

Dead bodies. Check. Well, it can't do any harm to fling a few in.

jules · Mar 26, 2007

Personally, I've never found any of my manuscripts to be lacking on that front.

maestrowork · Mar 26, 2007

Missed a very important point:

FOLLOW the submission GUIDELINES.

If the editor/agent asks for single-spaced, Comic Sans font, and justified texts, by all means follow the guidelines. Of course, if they actually ask for single-spaced, Comic Sans, and justified... you should question their legitimacy.

scarletpeaches · Mar 26, 2007

I plan to submit in wingdings so I stand out.

maestrowork · Mar 26, 2007

Not in the slush. I bet there are quite a few Wingdings in slush piles.

scarletpeaches · Mar 26, 2007

Oh well. Courier New it is then.

I'm just looking through my synopsis. The one I thought was good enough, a few months back. Dear God. Even I don't want to read it.

How do I know if the synopsis is bad, or it's just a matter of me being so damn sick of the book after a gabillion edits that I just want to send it out?!

Azure Skye · Mar 26, 2007

Great checklist. You need buttseched for that.

Niteowl · Mar 26, 2007

At least for me, making sure there is enough sentence variation is an important thing to check. But that's something to do in editing, more than before a submission.

Penguin Queen · Mar 26, 2007

Courier New, really? But it's got no aesthetic value whatever.

Ive submitted everything in Arial, 1.5 spaced, & Ive had two requests for full MS so far.

Did I do it all wrong?

The Scip · Mar 26, 2007

Great checklist!

scarletpeaches · Mar 26, 2007

I have a question. Yep, another one.

I've been pootling around online researching my 'dream agent'. Now, when it comes to this particular agency, there's a 'submissions guidelines' page on their website. All well and good. My manuscript is printed out to their specifications.

However: They advise simply sending your manuscript to the remote-sounding (and anonymous) 'submissions department'. My question is, would it do any harm to address my query and proposal directly to the agent who deals with women's fiction? Would that show I have done my research and know she's the one I want to see my book? Or would it annoy her to the point of saying, "We have readers for this! Send it back and tell her I said NO!"

I know, I know - follow the guidelines. And I've done that, with the manuscript. It's just...addressing a letter to 'dear whoever' seems a bit remote and addressing it to one of the readers (I know their names BTW) seems a bit...well, daft. 'Cause they're not agents!

Hmm.

Penguin Queen · Mar 26, 2007

A few of them are like that.
Ive done the "Submission Department" thing & addressed my letter to "Dear Agent", & in most cases they send it all back in due course. And in one case, it came back asking for full MS. So I think they do read it.

Summonere · Mar 26, 2007

scarletpeaches said:
I'm just looking through my synopsis. The one I thought was good enough, a few months back. Dear God. Even I don't want to read it.

How do I know if the synopsis is bad, or it's just a matter of me being so damn sick of the book after a gabillion edits that I just want to send it out?!

You could run the synopsis past a few readers who read the kind of thing you write and ask them if it sounds like the kind of book they'd read.

Absent that, you could sent it out to editors or agents. You'll know in short order if it works or not.

Then there's this:

Years ago a teacher at the local university, himself a multi-published author, once said that nothing makes your book sound more stupid and boring than trying to write a synopsis of it.

He also said that in the early days he and a novelist friend used to read each other's manuscripts and then write each other's synopses. After a while, each started figuring out what there was in their stories that made them sound cool and interesting to other people. In the early days, then, it was kind of a case of not seeing the forest for the trees when it came to writing their own synopses. They got better with practice.

Spiny Norman · Mar 26, 2007

Submission departments and assistant-readers give me a case of the screaming jeebies. I don't know, I do a lot of research on my agent and think it's me serenading them with Times New Roman instead of a stradivarius, and it turns out they pass it over to some kid they could have nabbed off the street.

To be fair, the one time I spoke to an assistant and they read my stuff they were very fair and complimentary. While I don't mind the, "I like this and it's fun but it's not OUR kind of fun," after a while I start wondering if "my kind of fun" is scandalously deviant and I don't know it.

Also, I've never been docked on submission formats. But who knows.

Submission checklist

scarletpeaches

Shadow_Ferret

Court Jester

Elodie-Caroline

scarletpeaches

Codger

Prawn

Writing is finite,revising infinite

scarletpeaches

Shadow_Ferret

Court Jester

scarletpeaches

Shadow_Ferret

Court Jester

swvaughn

adrift

scarletpeaches

jules

Bored fanatic

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

scarletpeaches

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

scarletpeaches

Azure Skye

Huh?

Niteowl

Penguin Queen

Break the rules.

The Scip

...walks this way.

scarletpeaches

Penguin Queen

Break the rules.

Summonere

Spiny Norman