I started out titling this “Top Ten Ways to Make Your Children’s Book Shine” but then realized that many of the ideas would certainly work for any age level you’re writing for. Because one of the biggest problems many writers encounter is tweaking a book just enough, but not too much, to make it really stand out.
These are a few of my go-to revision thoughts when I’m talking over manuscripts with clients and each might seem pretty straight forward, but you’ll be surprised how making a few small quick changes can help tremendously. And obviously these should all be considered once you’ve finished up your manuscript, but definitely before you send out submissions to an agent or small press publisher as Jen mentioned in her post earlier this week.
1. Reading Aloud – Have someone else read your MS aloud to you with a copy in your own hands as well as a pen. I have no doubt that you’ll be shocked by where they may stammer and stop or even be plain confused. You can then go back to polish those spots up.
2. Duplicate Words – Look for duplicate words, especially ones within a few lines of text as they tend to pop out with PB manuscripts.
3. Find someone the age level of your intended audience and have them read it. – At the very least be sure to have a strong critique group who is willing to be critical but kind in their comments about your writing.
4. Kill the Dreaded Adverb – Using the search tool in Word find all of the “ly” words. You will be shocked by the vast number that might pop up in a full length novel and eliminating a large majority of them will vastly improve not only the sentence structure, but the storytelling as well.
5. Evaluate the Conflict – There should be conflict, even in a PB. Glazing over the conflict will lessen the strength of your manuscript and leave readers/agents/editors bored.
6. What’s Your Message – Look at your book with a critical eye. Yes, most books have an underlying theme, but if that’s all the book is about it’s just about as appealing to readers as having their parents tell them all the things they should be doing differently with their lives to be a better person. All of that might be beneficial, but who really learns that way? If you’re clobbering your readers over the head with a message you may want to reevaluate your storytelling. Tamson Weston has a great post about this very thing that I’d highly recommend reading.
7. Think Twice About Notes – Primarily for PBs, but these certainly can be found in other manuscripts. Notes/Illustrator Notes, should be used sparingly. As a writer who isn’t an illustrator, your book will have the opportunity of being thought over and evaluated by a talented editor and illustrator. They will make your words come to life. Having too many notes actually distracts not only them, but an agent who may otherwise love what you’ve written but can’t see it through the mass amounts of notes you’ve made.
8. Demolish Your Favorite Word(s) – Do you have a favorite word? Mine tends to change from week to week, at the moment it would be “definitely, amazing or fantastic” depending on my mood. Sift through your writing and see where you may have subconsciously shoved that favorite word in just because and yank it back out. As with adverbs, you’ll see your writing improve significantly.
9. Read – Pick up a few other books in your genre. See how you might improve or where you’re similar. You don’t want to duplicate something already out there in the market.
10. Pitch It! – One of my clients recently shared a new PB she’d written with me, but hadn’t yet written a pitch. I loved the book, but it was lacking in areas. What she found was when she attempted to sit down and write the pitch was exactly what she needed to fill in those trouble spots and plot holes.
This is by no means all you can do to make your manuscript shine, but a great place to start. I’d love to hear the ways you make your manuscript shine before sending it out for query or publisher submissions and so be sure to add those in the comments below!
