On Writing Romance_ How to Craft a Novel That Sells - Leigh Michaels [142]
• Waste words ("The story starts out with ...").
• Include adverbs, cliches, internal monologue, dialogue, or scenic descriptions.
• Comment about how humorous, mysterious, suspenseful, etc., the story is (let the editor be the judge).
• Leave the ending a mystery ("And to find out what happened, you'll have to read the book!").
To see a sample synopsis based on Ties That Blind, turn to Appendix C. Cover Page
The cover page of a manuscript is something like the title page of a book. At a glance, it gives the basic information about the manuscript and the author. It accompanies either a full manuscript or sample chapters, and it provides an easy reference for the editor when responding to the submission. The cover page should include:
• The working title of the manuscript.
• The estimated number of words in the full manuscript (not just in the submitted portion).
• Your legal name.
• Your complete address.
• A phone number where you can be reached or where a message can be left during normal business hours.
• An e-mail address, preferably one that sounds businesslike.
• The date the submission is mailed.
The cover page should not include a pen name, unless you have previously been published under that pen name.
To see a sample cover page for Ties That Blind, turn to Appendix D.
The Sample Chapters
When an editor asks for sample chapters, with no further definition, he expects to see the first three chapters, or approximately the first fifty pages. Some publishers specify different sorts of samples, however—they might ask for just the first chapter. Rarely, they might be even more specific, asking (for instance) for a ten-page sample that includes a love scene. Most often, however, the sample will be the very beginning of the story.
A sample from the manuscript allows the editor to observe your writing style and ability and judge how well you have carried out the promise of the synopsis. A strong writing sample will follow standard formatting guidelines and will:
• Have a good opening line/paragraph/page/chapter.
• Introduce the main characters.
• Show the characters meeting in a believable way.
• Establish characters who have reason to like and trust each other despite their differences.
• Establish the conflict.
• Show a legitimate, believable, resolvable conflict, important to both hero and heroine.
• Involve the reader/editor in the story.
• Show a good command of language, with no grammatical errors, word repetitions, wordy passages, sentence fragments, etc.
• Be cleanly typed, without obvious corrections, typos, misspellings, or punctuation errors.
A good sample will not be longer than requested and will not explain the story, it will just tell it.
The Proposal
A proposal is a combination of sample chapters and a synopsis that tells how the rest of the story plays out. Its exact form varies from publisher to publisher, from author to author, and over time in an author's career. In most cases, after you've sold your first book, the publisher will not require you to write the next entire book up front, but will offer you a contract based on a proposal—usually one to three chapters, along with a synopsis telling the rest of the story. As you gain experience, the publisher is likely to agree to contracts based on shorter proposals or on a synopsis only.
Proposals should be presented just as you would present a synopsis and sample chapters, though you may be invited to submit by e-mail rather than in hard copy once you are established in your career.
Standard Manuscript Formatting
Once an editor asks to see sample chapters or a whole manuscript, you'll have to be sure you've formatted it so your presentation doesn't detract from your story. Preparing a manuscript for submission is mostly a matter of common sense, of making the pages clear, clean, and easy to read. Here are some guidelines to follow:
• Use a fixed-width font, such as Courier New, rather than a proportional font, to keep a more consistent word count per