An Impressive Beginning

For a book to succeed in drawing readers into the plot and characters, the beginning needs to be impressive. Polished, entertaining, catchy, something that drags the reader along until she doesn’t even realize she’s halfway through chapter two and her coffee is cold.

Often it’s an action scene. Sometimes it’s a puzzle the character begins to solve. The ways to do it are as varied as the number of books out there. What it isn’t, is long flowery descriptive phrases about people or places. Get the reader racing along with you first, and add a few scenic details briefly along the way incidentally, or as dialogue.

It’s very important that each word in these first scenes is exactly right, because one wrong word (or typo!) can throw the reader out of the story before she’s fully hooked. A reader may hate a word or typo later in the book, but once she’s invested in the story and the characters she’s more likely to keep reading. At the beginning one single error can be enough for a reader to put down that book and choose one of the other hundred in her To Be Read pile.

Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.

7 Reasons Why Readers Hate Your Book Blurb

Book Daily has an interesting article on writing book blurbs. They list seven main fails.

The first sentence is incredibly important. A blurb is short, the shorter the better, so wasting the opening sentence with an introduction is a bad step. Jump right in with a catchy hook.

They also advise against using clichés or rhetoric, and also against introducing too many characters, too many place names, or too many plot points.

From my own observation a major problem I see with blurbs is that they give away too many plot points or twists. They should hook the reader to buy the book. Why bother to read the book if the reader can already guess exactly what happens just from reading the blurb. Remember, keep it short, punchy, and intriguing.

To read the complete article go to: http://www.bookdaily.com/authorresource/blog/post/1802306


Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.

Five story mistakes to avoid

1. Overdoing symbolism or themes. Let them speak for themselves. Don’t hit your reader over the head with them. Your theme doesn’t need to be underscored in very chapter or by every character.

2. Trying too hard. You’re writing a book. You want the readers to be hooked by the plot and the characters, not having to stop and look up a dictionary to find out what words mean.

3. Plot flaws. Every scene should move the story forward. There needs to be a reason for it and the reader needs to be able to understand that reason. On the other hand, if a particular item is going to be needed later in the book, make sure you’ve already mentioned it earlier. Don’t let it just magically appear in the nick of time.

4. Hook not gimmick. Your opening hook should not just be a gimmick. It should be an intrinsic part of the story.

5. Don’t hide key information from the readers hoping to create suspense. They need to understand what’s happening to remain interested in the book.


Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.

The blurb is all about the hook

Michaelbrent Collings said it well: The only purpose of the back blurb is to raise a question that can ONLY BE ANSWERED when the reader BUYS and FINISHES the book.
It seems as though I’ve read far too many blurbs lately that tell me too much. They name too many characters and give me way too much information on how the plot will turn out. We all know that a true romance story always has a happy ending. But the readers still want the hint, the possibility, the fear that in this book these characters won’t be able to solve their problems before time runs out.
The whole point of the blurb is to hook the reader, not to tell the story. The book tells the story. Blurbs should be short. In the olden days they were three very brief paragraphs. One about the heroine, one about the hero and the third about the plot. These days they might only be one paragraph.
The only things you need in the blurb are the genre (readers get cross if they think it’s a paranormal and it turns out to be historical), the mood (spooky, suspenseful, lighthearted), and the hook (that’s why they’ll buy the book).


Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.

Mistakes newbies make

There are several standard errors that scream “newbie”. A good editor will make sure the writer fixes these up, but not every editor notices, not every author does what their editor says, and with the rise of self publishing there are more authors than ever doing their own thing.
So please, make sure your book does not contain any of these things.

The blurb that tells the entire story.
That thing you write telling the entire story? That’s called the synopsis. The blurb is meant to be brief, introducing the reader to the main characters and the main plot point, without giving the reader any extra information. In particular never reveal the spoiler or the conclusion. Also, don’t end the blurb with the book’s title, or a question. That screams newbie too.

Opening with the heroine standing in front of a mirror describing herself (or a reflective pool of water or…)
The opening of the book is your one chance to hook the reader. It needs to be action. If the villain is going to grab her by her long red hair hair, fine. Let him so that. Then we’ll know she has long red hair. Don’t tell us as well.
Similarly don’t have her looking at her straight white teeth as she cleans them. Most people who look in the mirror notice their faults. This is a very weak way for description. It’s much better done in action scenes, or at least by another character.
“I would never have chosen that shade of orange with your red hair but actually it looks okay,” said her sister.

Tying up the story with a big pink bow at the end.
No, we don’t want plot holes or loose threads, but we don’t want absolutely every secondary character placed neatly in a box or married off either. If this book is successful, those secondary characters are needed for the sequel. Leave some mystery and opportunities for a sequel, and skip the epilogue with two kids and a dog frolicking on the front lawn. It’s old and boring.

Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.

The top 12 reasons manuscripts are rejected

Ylva Publishing has recently celebrated their first anniversary. One of the things they did was a blog listing the 12 most common reasons why they rejected a manuscript.
It’s worth all authors taking a look. Obviously, depending on the genre you write, not everything will be applicable to you. But I’m sure you’ll still find hints for improvement.
1. The author is telling instead of showing
2. The point of view isn’t consistent
3. The opening failed to hook the reader
4. The author is dumping too much information on the reader
5. The plot lacks conflict and suspense
6. The characters are one-dimensional and flat
7. The development of the characters and their relationships is unrealistic
8. The manuscript contains scenes and passages that don’t move the story forward
9. The ending is illogical, rushed, or dragged out
10. The dialogue is unrealistic
11. The sex scenes are not a good fit for the book
12. The manuscript is riddled with grammar and spelling mistakes

http://ylvapublishing.wordpress.com/2012/11/11/the-top-12-reasons-manuscripts-are-rejected/

Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.