Reasons for Rejection of a Partial

Since my current contest theme is writing and submitting, I thought I'd do a post on some of the most common reasons your partial might be rejected by an agent or editor. Or what to watch out for when polishing up your manuscript for submission.

Although I generally prefer to focus on the positive in this blog, (unlike WiDo's crabby managing editor Kristine Princevalle), I'll take a page from her book and tell you what doesn't work.


Not a clear demographic. Like this: Opens with an adult main character, brings in an adolescent dealing with YA issues, switches back to adult themes like infertility, while inserting a side story about ice cream.  Who will read this? Who is the demographic?

Weak voice. This will kill a ms. fast. A weak voice is the sign of a weak writer. How to strengthen your voice? Read lots. Write lots. And work outside your creative writing, like journaling, letter-writing, blogging to help strengthen and define your voice.

Boring. This has more to do with writing style and craft than it does subject matter and plot line. Again, I'll borrow from Kristine Princevalle. Here's a brief example she used in a post. Being a huge fan of Agatha Christie, I love this. A brilliant writer can write on a completely mundane topic and make it fascinating; a poor writer can write on a completely fascinating topic and make it mundane.

Makes no sense. Clear, concise writing is valuable and sought after. The meaning must be clear to the reader. The narrative must flow seamlessly from one scene to another, without jarring juxtaposition of words and phrases, or distracting sidelines that have nothing to do with anything. Nothing must interfere with the reader's enjoyment of the story.

Point of view switches. Frequent POV lapses, or even worse-- POV that's all over the place-- are the sign of an amateurish, inexperienced writer. If this shows up in your partial, there won't be a request for a full.

Telling, telling, telling. We've heard this a million times-- show don't tell. It's fairly simple. Telling means author tells the reader what happened or what the MC is thinking or feeling. Showing means you write a scene, with dialogue, action and stuff. If you're getting rejected a lot, try an experiment. Go through your ms. and leave only the dialogue. See what's left of 50,000 words. That might give you a clue.

Too many characters. Introduce your characters judiciously, letting the reader get to know them gradually. Don't throw everyone into the first chapter.

Poorly edited. Anything that looks like too much work for the editor will get rejected.

Preaching and Politics. Characters can be diverse and have opinions, but if the author goes overboard making the reader feel preached to, the love affair is over. People read fiction for entertainment and enjoyment, not to be a captive audience for the writer's soapbox.

These are a few of the most common reasons for rejection. There's a million more. Just a few things to think about as you polish your submissions for this week's Lettuce Write contest. Remember, you have until August 21 to submit, so get writing and good luck to all!

No Weak Voices!

Just read M. Gray's review of Fallen on her blog. She didn't like the voice, and that got me so riled up about the issue of voice that I just had to write a post. I couldn't even wait for my last post to get to 23 lol, I have to write it NOW.

We've heard it a hundred times: Voice is of utmost importance in good writing. One of the key elements the agent or editor will look for in a submission is voice. It must be strong, clear, vibrant and true. Writers may labor over the query letter, writing long involved plot summaries, and miss what really helps to sell themselves-- voice. If your voice comes through in a query, you're way ahead of the game. Then if the narrative voice is strong and clear in the first few paragraphs of the submission, good chance the editor will keep reading.

We all recognize voice when we see it, hear it, whatever. There are certain blogs I never miss because I love the voice. There are authors I want to read again and again because I love their voices. Sophie Kinsella is one. Agatha Christie. Judy Sheehan. Stephen King in Misery-- loved the voice in that one. Voice is often easier to identify than to create in our own work, yet it's what must be mastered for one's writing to go anywhere.

Nothing frustrates me more in my reading than a weak voice. Weak voice = weak writing. Weak writing = huge disappointment to Moi. Not to mention the big question-- How did this person even get a contract in the first place?

Oh, well, nothing we can do about that. Better to work on our own skills than worry about how so-and-so got the big advance, right? So. How to make our voice stronger? There's really only one way-- write, write, rewrite and write some more. Okay, there's two ways-- read, read and read some more. And read lots of genres, not just your own, not just your favorite. Find new authors, find new voices. And keep on writing until your own distinct voice is strong and clear.