Ask an Editor: What makes you stop reading?

For our inaugural Ask an Editor Thursday, I’ll go with the question that I do get asked a lot, not just because Kate and Elisa suggested it.

“What makes you stop reading a manuscript?”

 

First off, I’ll start by saying that at my publisher, Samhain, you do not need an agent to submit to us and we ask you to send the full manuscript. Always check guidelines, YMMV, etc. So I always have a manuscript to consider, not just a query letter.

However I can tell you that the query system works, and my gut reaction based on the query letter has always been borne out by my review of the attached manuscript.

When I read, I read on several different levels, and a ding on any of the levels will make me stop reading. The levels are in bold.

Is it good?

It should go without saying that the manuscript needs to be clean. By this I mean, SPELLCHECK. (You’d be amazed how few writers remember to do this.) Make sure your grammar and spelling and general writing is of a publishable quality. If you are really not good with grammar and spelling, pay someone to line edit for you. However, we’ve all read books with utilitarian language that did something else right, so don’t get too hung up on this one.

I’ll stop reading for flat characters, hands-down, if your character is a thinly veiled wish-fulfillment version of yourself, or too-perfect, or too-flawed (irredeemably so). These aren’t realistic. I need characters with strengths and weaknesses. Someone too perfect won’t allow any conflict to happen (boring). Someone too flawed won’t allow the story to adequately resolve (frustrating).

I’ll stop for a story without a real plot (ie, conflict and tension). If your writing is beautiful but the conflict can be resolved with a single conversation the characters put off having, I stop reading. If you mention a threat and then forget to follow through on it, I stop reading. Elmore Leonard said take out the boring bits, and he was right. Basically, don’t bore me and I’ll keep reading. Likewise, if event after event keeps happening with no cause-and-effect interplay, no rising stakes, I’ll stop reading.

Stories are about catharsis. They begin when the equilibrium of your characters is thrown off and they end when your characters reach a new one. If your story isn’t doing that, it’s flat and I’ll stop reading. This is how character, plot, and theme all work together to create resonance: by forcing your characters to achieve a new equilibrium. That’s why the building block of a scene is the concept of change. A good set-up doesn’t matter if you can’t stick the landing. This is why the ending is so important. It’s easy to get sucked in to a story, it’s hard to stay there. Authors are trying to juggling twenty-five flaming batons while lion taming, and it’s easy to see why few manage it properly.

Some less major craft-issue stuff that fits in this category includes purple prose and overblown language. I don’t have the time to help you with that. Since I deal with a lot of romance and sex, I will stop reading if your book has consent issues that I don’t feel I can address nicely with you in edits. Likewise, I stop reading for racism, sexism, ableism, etc (obviously wherein the author approves of these things, not where it’s part of the conflict).

Will anyone else like it? Do I have time for it?

I’ll stop reading for an utter lack of marketability or something that doesn’t fit my schedule. What this means is that even if I’m personally enjoying the story, the craft is all working, but I just acquired four other robot love stories, I’m going to stop reading yours. Or I’m enjoying it, but if nobody else will care about the history of the domestication of the weevil, I’m going to stop reading. Or if your book is really good but it needs a lot of work, lots of rewrites, even if I love it, if I don’t have the time to spend helping you through those edits, I know I’ll have to turn it down, and I stop reading. This is because my most precious commodity is time, and I don’t have time to continue reading a submission I know I can’t acquire for whatever reason. Please don’t get hung up on this one; it just must be said if I’m going to be thorough and, as usual, I am.

Do I like it?

I’m sure none of the above is a surprise, of course. The thing is, it’s an easy question to answer on the surface, but harder to apply. Because the last level I read on is whether or not I personally like it. You can write the most technically proficient novel ever but if it doesn’t click for me as a reader personally, I’ll stop reading. I’m going to read a book I acquire upwards of six times, so I have to like it. Ultimately, every editor or agent will answer this question much in the same way I have because with the exception of the last two levels, these are all basic elements of the craft. Having that part figured out is 98% of what keeps me reading, but it’s that last 2%, me personally as a reader and me professionally as an editor with a full roster of authors, that makes or breaks you, and that cannot be accounted for in a blog post or list or answer to a question. What makes YOU stop reading something? It’s somewhat the same for us. The only thing you can do is write the best book you can write, the book you’d want to read.

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