Most common pitfalls in submissions

 

We’ve recently made our selection for our Gifted collection and we wish we could accept all of them. Unfortunately we can only publish twenty-four of the stories submitted. Some stories came very close to being accepted. What were the little things that got in the way?

 

No story or at least no end

The biggest fault was that there was no story. We came across some submissions that had been really well written and we got very excited that this was going to be one that we would accept and then the end let it down very badly. 

In which way do endings not work?

• Sometimes nothing much happens – it’s just a damp squib
• Then at times it can be just too melodramatic
• And writers can also rely on a deus ex machina – a powerful person or event that swoops in and saves the day.  Just like a god that is pulled on to the stage in a sophisticated piece of flying equipment.

 

It doesn’t match the theme

It’s very rare that something you have already written will suit a specific call.  And this one is very specific and a little tricky. Normally for competitions and specific calls like this it’s better to write something brand new. There are lots of other competitions and calls for submission where there is no theme. If you’re not successful with our call, you can always try one of the others.  

 

The quality of the writing

Everybody is at a different stage in the writing career. The less experienced writer will tell too much when they could show. They may change point of view frequently. They may mix up tenses.  There may be grammar and spelling mistakes in the text, alongside typos. They may not have the right voice for the piece.

Much can be gained by joining a critique group. Other members may spot some of these items for you. And very usefully they may be able to tell you what they’ve understood from what you’ve written; do they get the same picture in their head that you had to start with?

 

Professionalism

Have they followed the guidelines? Have they set out dialogue correctly? Is the text formatted to industry standard?

We won’t necessarily reject because some of this is out of kilter. But if everything else is equal between two writers we’ll pick the one who has been the most professional: they’re more likely to be able to respond to editorial comment in a timely and effective way.

 

Even so it’s still hard, rejecting these texts, or even just “declining” them.                    

Stage of revision 2: Is the resolution satisfying?

Image by Gerd Altmann

As a publisher, editor and creative writing teacher I frequently notice that though many people write extremely well, their story may lack shape and more often than not it is the ending that lets it down.   

There are four main faults.

Damp squib

Oh, was that it? Nothing has actually happened; there is no change from how the story started. A useful question here might be: has the main character changed as a result of this story? Has she grown? Has she moved on?

I recently asked a “literary” writer what made his novel literary. He replied that one clue is that the reader can skip to the last page and it doesn’t spoil the rest of the novel. Does this contradict what I’ve just said?

Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps this type of novel shows us how rather than what.

 

Melodrama

The ending can be over dramatic and unbelievable. Could that really happen? Isn’t this all a bit sudden? It’s best to think of logistics here and then also to check back into your text that you’ve posted all the necessary clues. 

Deus ex machina

A fabulous contraption flies a god or goddess on to the stage.  S/he waves their magic wand and all is well. The protagonist hasn’t had to work for their living.

Note that Dickens, Molière and Shakespeare are all guilty of this. We often see it in pantomimes as well. By strange coincidences long lost relations show up and solve all of the protagonist’s problems.

You have to put the protagonist through their paces. Note how the mentors in the best stories usually disappear leaving the protagonist to work on their own. Think of Cinderella, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.  

No ending

This is different from an open ending. Open endings are particularly common in YA books. This is an area I know well. The protagonist is left with several possibilities but we don’t know which will happen.  The reader may decide.  There is usually some hope and some closure. One of my own novels The House on Schellberg Street received one review that said it had no proper ending. I’m not entirely convinced that that is true. The protagonist is left with a question. The reader knows something she doesn’t know. It’s not a particularly comfortable ending but at least we have seen her grow. Importantly she has also come home and realised that her roots remain important.

The overall message seems to be that we must allow our protagonist to grow. That is what the story-aware reader expects.            

Endings – getting them right

I’m currently working on my second edit of my fourth Peace Child novel. I call this edit “Is the resolution satisfying?”  The Peace Child novels are YA or new Adult so a somewhat open ending is possible and actually desirable. But “open” doesn’t mean dissatisfying.

A common fault

I note that new writers often do not make their endings satisfying. This is in fact one of the most commonly occurring faults in new writing.  I notice this often as a publisher and as a creative writing teacher in higher education.

If the ending isn’t right the story isn’t right. As a publisher I reject most often because the story is not well-formed. My students get lower marks when their ending is poor as they are not showing that they understand story. 

What constitutes a poor ending

I’ve established three main faults:

1.      Nothing much happens

2.      The ending is melodramatic and improbable

3.      The writer has used a ‘deus ex machina’. This is another improbable ending. This expression refers to Greek drama when a god appears in the story and is whisked on to stage through some clever contraption. The god makes everything all right.  In the 21^st century this often translates as a hurried ending with an unlikely set of circumstances solving all of the issues.  

Where an how open-ended can be fine

Indeed young adults like to have some control over the ending. They like to interpret what has actually happened and what will happen to the protagonist after the story has ended.  Endings for this reader tend to be upbeat but inconclusive.

If the work is part of a trilogy or series, the ending of one book may point to the beginning of the next. Even if some matters are resolved news issues may be raised at this point.

At a book reading of a so-called literary novel, tongue in cheek, I asked the author how one defined a literary novel. He explained that if you turned to the last page before you’d finished the book you didn’t get a spoiler. Well, well. Let’s see.   

How to avoid poor endings

Make sure there is growth in your protagonist. Are they different at the end of the novel / story from how they were at the beginning?

Make sure that throughout the story there is cause and effect and that this is logical.

If you’re a planner, you should know how your story is going to end.  Make sure you work towards that ending all the time.

If you are a panster you should at least know what your story is about.  Keep that in mind all the time.  Maybe have a post-it note stick to your computer screen.

Some examples

The second book of Malorie Blackman’s Noughts and Crosses trilogy ends with us not sure whether someone has died or not. Actually though you only have to read the blurb for book three to find out the answer.

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles has a surprise ending. We don’t see it coming and we wouldn’t have thought it of the protagonist.  However, you soon realise that all the clues were there. The has been cause and effect.  

Maggie Gee’s Virginia Woolf in Manhattan has a surprising premise; Virginia Wolfe comes back to life and must learn to live in the 21^st Century. The ending provides a plausible explanation for why and how this has happened.