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This month, I’m going to focus on what I’ve learnt from reading first drafts.
As the CEO of Fictionary, I read a lot of draft novels, and it’s one of the great pleasures of my job. It’s also an amazing learning opportunity.
Today, I want to share the top 10 issues I find in manuscripts in hopes that you can learn from them.
Here we go…
1. Word Count — Doesn’t follow the genre requirements
Inappropriate word count is the issue I see most often. For example, a 200,000 word mystery novel means the writer doesn’t know the expectations for the genre.
I also see random scene lengths, instead of scene lengths used to control pacing. Scene length can be shortened to increase pacing and lengthened to decrease pacing. This is an often underutilized method.
2. Point of View — Confused, inconsistent, unbalanced
A scene is told through a character’s eyes. That character is the POV character for the scene.
I often see a lack of control when writers change POV characters within a scene. This is called head hopping, and it’s jarring to a reader.
The order the POV characters appear, the number of times they appear, and consistency within a scene are all important. If an author hasn’t put enough thought into who has the POV for each scene, the novel can appear disjointed.
3. POV Goal — There isn’t a clear one
A character goal is simply what a character wants. The goals will drive the story forward.
The POV goal is what the POV character for the scene wants.
When you know the goal, you can start thinking about all the ways the character will fail at achieving the goal, what obstacles you can put in the character’s way, and how the character will feel about failing.
A scene where the POV character doesn’t have a goal will lack tension. And without tension the reader gets bored.
4. Purpose Of Each Scene — Isn’t clear
The purpose of the scene must relate to the overall story. If the scene is not driving the story forward or developing your characters, then ask yourself why the scene is in your novel.
If you don’t have a reason for the scene to be in your novel, think about cutting or rewriting the scene.
5. Scene Anchoring — Without it the reader is lost
A writer can be too close to their story and not “see” that the reader is lost. The mistake is to not anchor the reader in the point of view, the timing of the scene and the setting.
You know who has the POV, where the character is, and the timing of the scene because you wrote the scene, but does your reader? If the reader can’t figure out the POV, timing and setting within the first couple of paragraphs, you may lose them–the reader I mean and not the character.
6. Scene Entry And Exit Hooks — No exciting hooks
The beginning and ending of each scene is a chance to keep the reader engaged. This mistake is to ignore having entry and exit hooks for each scene.
When creating a scene entry hook, consider:
- Starting in media res (opening in the middle of action)
- Foreshadowing trouble
- Using a strong line of dialogue
- Raising a question
- Not wasting words on extraneous description
The exit hook is the magic that will keep your reader wanting to begin the next scene. Types of Exit Hooks:
- Cliff Hanger–perhaps your protagonist’s life is at risk
- Revelation–show the reader something that will change the course of the story
- Setback for the protagonist or antagonist–one of these characters should be very unhappy about the latest event
- A secret revealed–you can either reveal a full secret or only part of a secret
- A question left hanging–this will tease the reader, making them want the answer
- An unexpected plot twist–this will keep the reader guessing
7. Tension — Not enough
A lack of tension in a scene may mean the reader puts your book down.
It’s important to know the difference between tension and conflict. I often see a lot of conflict but not enough tension.
8. Backstory — Too much, too early
Backstory is the story that happens before your novel begins. Sometimes during the story, you need to inform the reader of something that happened earlier in a character’s life. You may have files upon files of information you store elsewhere that you use to develop your characters, but what we’re concerned with here is what the reader needs to know.
Too much backstory early on will bore your reader. Don’t risk it.
9. Timing — Confusing timelines
This issue occurs when a story jumps around in time — meaning the story is not told in a linear fashion. This can be great, but only if the reader can follow it.
10. Story Arc — Key scenes are in the wrong place
I’ve read many manuscripts where the story arc is not followed. When the author rewrites the story and move the key scenes to the correct place, the story goes from mediocre to good, or good to great. Who doesn’t want that?
Fictionary is online software that simplifies story editing. Fictionary will help you address each area listed above. You’ll be able to focus on problem areas in your manuscript and improve it quickly.
Why not check out Fictionary’s free 14-day trial and tell better stories?
Creative Story Editors 
Useful checklist for editing 🙂 I have to be so careful with POV because I know I subconsciously switch mid scene!
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Hi Louise, You’re not alone in this. It’s so easy to slip into another character’s head. Thanks for stopping by.
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Reblogged this on Author Don Massenzio and commented:
Check out this great post from Kristina Stanley’s blog with the top 10 story issues that you can learn to avoid.
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Thank you, Don.
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You’re welcome.
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Oh this is awesome! And I’ve never heard of Fictionary but I’m definitely intrigued! Thank you so much for sharing such great information and a new resource for me! 😀
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Hi JM. Thanks for stopping by. If you have any questions about Fictionary, I’m happy to answer. We have a lot of blogs on Fictionary.co that talk about editing a draft – just in case you’re looking for more resources 🙂
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Lately I’ve been focusing on number six. Challenging and worth it. 🙂
Anna from elements of emaginette
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Number 6 is hard, but definitely worth the effort. Have fun!
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Amen! A great list here. Exactly the kind of stuff I see when editing novels! Thanks for this. Will definitely be sharing it.
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Thanks Tim!
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These are all great tips to writing a story, Kristina. Thanks so much for sharing them–and for the links for more info attached to each tip. I agree with many commenters. #6 is definitely something I struggle with–especially with my memoir about attending college as a mother of 5.
http://victoriamarielees.blogspot.com
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Hi Victoria, Maybe #6 is the weeks winner 🙂 we can all take this as homework. Thanks for stopping by.
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I’m going to put some serious thought into exit hook variation when I start revising (next week, probably, seeing as I’m 4 days away from finishing the first draft, yahoo!). My entry hooks, those are varied as all get-out, but the exit ones…not sure. 😛 Great post!
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Hi Raimey, Congrats on your first draft! Such a fun moment.
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Reblogged this on Anna Dobritt — Author.
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Thank you for reblogging, Anna.
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This was very informative! I struggled with numbers 1, 3 and 8 in my last project and I’m happy to say they have improved a lot in my second novel. I’m still working on number 6, however. Do you have any more information on genre? One of my goals during my current project is to get more familiar with subgenre categories. At least for me, it’s not always obvious when I’m reading (or writing for that matter!) A particular subcategory.
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Hi Christy, Genre is a huge topic. Do you have something specific your interested in learning? There a thousands of sub-categories, so be careful you don’t get lost in it all. I think is important to know your main genre and then look at a couple that might be part of it. For example writing a thriller could also be romantic-suspense if there is enough romance.
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I was head hopping real bad when I thought I was getting better in my writing. With advice from Paula Munier in a Writer’s Digest workshop, I do believe I got better.
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Great that a workshop helped you. I’ve attended many and always learn something that helps me be better writer.
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Yep, it was invaluable.
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Great insights into manuscript problems! POV is something I definitely struggle with, especially head hopping. Tension is also something that’s so tricky to master, especially the difference between conflict and tension that you point out. Thanks so much for sharing!
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Thank you for this helpful list of tips! I love the focus on goals and scenes because it’s true. I’ve stumbled on filler scenes before or the purpose doesn’t reflect the over theme of the book and it is very disruptive.
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This is great! I will definitely be using this as I continue edits of my WIP. Thanks for sharing!
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Hi Charity, Good luck with your WIP. Have fun editing 🙂
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This is great info, Kristina! Thank you for sharing! Confusing timelines are my Achilles’ heel personally. 🙂
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Everyone has something they need to work on. For me is repeating things.
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An excellent list! I’ve just finished reading the first draft of a manuscript that scores 9 out of 10 (the timeline is very clear!). Now to write the manuscript assessment letter …
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Have fun with the assessment letter. Those can be hard to write.
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I’m working on scene-by-scene revisions right now, so tip number 6 is extremely helpful!
I also need to make sure that each scene has a purpose — I’ve already deleted a couple! Thanks for this excellent post!
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Scene Purpose gets everyone. I work on it all the time. Sometimes it’s just fun to write a scene.
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Exactly!
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Your checklist is a good one. I clearly have strengths and weaknesses among the items on the list. Scene entry and exit is one for me to focus. I don’t think I capitalize on the opportunities to add tension, suspense, etc. as much as I should.
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So much to do when editing! It does feel motivating that i’m not the only one out there who has to work on this.
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Thank you. Tweeted!
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Thank you, Pamela
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This is great insight. Many writers could use this before diving into the submission process. Thanks for sharing!
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