Common Manuscript Mistakes and How to Fix Them
1. The story starts too early
Writers often start their story too early. They think the reader needs to know lots of backstory in order to “keep up” with the action. But what actually ends up happening? The reader gets bored and puts the book down before they ever reach the action part of your story.
The fix?
Start the story the moment the action starts. Which part of the action you ask? The crucial part. Put your pen/keyboard aside for a moment and ask yourself what is the one bit of action that sets the whole story into motion? The one tipped domino that fells the all. Aka the Inciting Incident. START THERE!
2. No Conflict
There is nothing the protagonist wants or what the protagonist wants is not apparent to the reader. Often it is very apparent to the writer.
The fix?
To tease this out with a mix of internal monolgue from our MC and relevant action. Action in which we get to see what predicament your character’s misbelief has entangled them in and see how they are reacting to the repercussions. Then of course we will spend the rest of the story untangling them.
3. Nothing is at Stake/the Stakes are not High Enough/the Stakes are Not Apparent
What the MC has at stake is one of the crucial elements that get the reader invested in your story. If we don’t know why it is important that your MC get across town in the next half hour, despite congested traffic, a broken down car, no available Ubers, and a broken foot, then we won’t care if they make it or not.
Does their true love wait there hoping they’ll come meet them to declare their true feelings? Maybe it’s an interview for their dream job, or their first opportunity to see their kids after a nasty split with their ex? Whatever the case, make the stakes large and apparent. And don’t forget to bring your reader along for the ride.
4. Too many random elements.
Do you remember that one time you tried to write a story about the lady in 3C? She was sooooo interesting wasn’t she? An agoraphobic fortune teller who’d lost her twin, not to an untimely death but literally actually lost her somewhere in the space-time continuum. And she had a dog didn’t she? And a cat that can see ghosts.
Do you see the problem here? Is the MS still in a drawer somewhere or rotting on your hard drive?
She’s too interesting! This is about five characters all rolled into one.
The fix?
Do a simple character sheet on each of your main characters. Include things like:
· Name, Age, Sex, sexual orientation, race/ethnicity, unique physical traits
· Misbelief about the world/themselves
· What do they want more than anything in the world and
· What’s holding them back?
Then start writing. The rest you can fill in later, it will come. We want our characters and our stories* to be believable, relatable, interesting yes and fun yes. But give them one or two interesting traits, idiosyncrasies and let the rest into your story only if it is crucial to make your story work.
*the same goes for subplots. Only include those that are crucial to your story. One main plot, one to three subplots. That’s it.
5. No Resolution
Often the end of a writer’s story falls flat. Maybe they weren’t sure how to wrap things up. Maybe they got to the end and couldn’t think of a good twist so they went with something mundane or unrelated and ended up never resolving the initial problem.
The fix?
Your story should have (if someone were so inclined to look) two bookends. For every (major) problem you present you should show your characters solving or resolving it. Having trouble doing this? Go back to your character profile page from #4 what was your character’s misbelief about themselves or the world? This is the problem that must be solved by the end of the story. This is your character’s arc of change.