Over at The Bookshelf Muse, they have a guest blogger every once in a while called Grammbo, who just so happens to be a fiction editor.  This time around she posted points on specific . . . “styles” (for a lack of a better word) that’ll pretty much guarantee an editor won’t take it (note the “pretty much” part).  These points, I think, are pretty objective considering, from reading experience, none of them are going to be something an editor (or an agent for that initial step) are going to want to take on (usually, I need to cover myself there, nothing’s 100%).  I think Grammbo hit it on the head with this one and let the other nitpicks, the much more subjective ones, fall by the wayside.  Really, there’s no way to round up everything that every editor won’t take because none of them adhere to any strict rules of acquiring.  They might not even adhere to these guidelines but I think it’s safe to say they will.

Make sure your manuscript is edited to perfection.  Or, at least, your perfection.  Don’t send out a first draft.  That’s never a good thing.  I know there are people that edit along the way as they write but even as you finish writing that first draft, I can almost guarantee it’s not submission-ready (not even for *coughannricecough*).  You write your book.  Edit it to the very point that you think you can’t edit it anymore.  Then have someone else look at it.  At least one other person.

A second set of fresh eyes distanced from your work is probably the best thing that can be done for it (just make sure it’s the right set of eyes, someone whom you trust and you know will provide valuable feedback on your work).  You, as the writer, are too close to your own work to just edit it yourself.  There are things in there you’ve missed even though you may think you got everything.  Double up.  Trade an edit for an edit with someone else.  You’ll thank yourself later.

Make sure your manuscript isn’t sterilized, meaning that it doesn’t follow every single piece of “valid” writing advice to the T.  Yes, the advice is valid but it must be taken in accordance with how your manuscript dictates it be written.  If you follow every “rule” out there, you’ll end up stripping away the voice that makes your work yours and end up with a story that could have been written by anyone for how unaffiliated it reads.

Take all advice, even the good stuff, with a grain of salt.  If you truly believe that a certain piece of advice doesn’t work with your writing, and others support that notion, then don’t tailor your writing just to appease some nagging inner or external editor that’s demanding this be done because it’s a “rule.”  Rules are broken all the time in writing.  Some frustratingly so.  Go out and read more and you’ll see.  Once you get comfortable with the notion that it’s ok to be imperfect in your style, you’ll be more comfortable and confident with your writing and less paranoid with the technicalities.

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