Do you start with a bang?

Been having a submissions catch-up day today, and so if you queried me with your opening chapters prior to March 10th, you should have had a response from me.

Having looked a number of submissions in succession, I found myself musing on why more writers weren’t sending in material with openings that really grab.

I thought it was common knowledge in writing circles that one should open one’s novel with a bang (if you’ve been told something different, do say). And a bang might be anything with emotional content – it does not have to involve physical explosives.

Or do you disagree on the best way to open a novel? Do you have your own “rules” you work to? Do you write your opening at the start of writing your novel, at the end, or somewhere in the middle? What’s the best novel opening you’ve ever read?

Can anyone be published?

It has been a busy week as I’ve been up to York sorting out preparations for the Festival of Writing. And the title of this post was a question asked to me at about 11.23pm last Friday by Shourjo Shakar on the Late Show, broadcast on BBC Leeds, BBC York and BBC Humberside. An intetesting question and I wasn’t immediately sure of my answer.

So I changed the question, which I think should be “have you got a story in you?” If you have, and you can get it written down that’s step one. Step two is learning your writing craft.

Anyone can be published in the sense that writers are ordinary people who come from all walks of life. What makes them writers, I think, is simply that they have stories to tell.

Someone texted into the show while I was on asking for advice about getting her book published. More about that in my next blog post.

Are you ready to submit?

You’ve finished your novel but before you start to query, I think a writer needs to pause and ask, “Am I ready to submit?”

• Have you written a novel for a 21st century audience – with emotion, pace and action? Agents will always be keener on a book that has screen potential.
• Have you edited the manuscript to your satisfaction? Have you undertaken a copy edit to remove grammatical errors and typos?
• Does your title capture the spirit, and ideally the story of the novel? Your publisher may want to change it, but for now it’s a selling tool for your very first reader – the editor or agent. I’m a huge fan of conflict-driven titles for example.
• Is your first sentence utterly compelling? And your second, and your third… Make sure you started your story at the start of the book so your reader is drawn in and is compelled to keep reading.
• Have you erred on the side of suspense and kept the backstory out of the opening chapters?

I would say that if the answer to any of these questions is no, then you’re not yet ready to submit.