Not My Baby- Hope Bolinger

“Sorry, but I can’t make those changes to my manuscript. It’s my baby.”

We cling tight to our books, our babies, in fear that the red pen of death will not force our little infants to bleed out. But, often we forget babies must, in fact, grow up . . .

Any trip to a grocery store, airplane, or just about anywhere plagued by the sounds of shrieking children can hint at what most offspring lack today: good discipline. The same goes for manuscripts. Of the dozens of proposals I will review in a given month, several of these coddled “babies” lack good discipline – clean editing, structure, and pacing.

How often do we fail to realize the publishing realm exists in a professional adult world? It’s tough; it’s selective, and it cannot (nor does it have the time to) bear any childish behavior from a manuscript.

For your book to survive, consider the following disciplinary actions:

Bed Time: Proper Pacing

Often, we do not encounter proposals who go to bed too early (chapters which drag). Frequently, I will face tongue-tied, jumping-on-the-bed-at-late-hours, speedy reads that try to incorporate the villain, climax, and all the main characters in the first three pages.

Pause. Breathe.

Let the mystery build as the narrative progresses. Seep in details, like glimpses and visions children see in dreams. Give the child a moment to rest, to sleep. When she wakes, she’ll be well-rested, energized, and ready for that plot twist. The readers will be, too.

Mr. Manners: Copy Editing

A poorly-edited manuscript is like a screaming child on his knees by the candy display at a register, we don’t want to listen to it.

Handfuls of proposals had brilliant ideas, fantastic platforms . . . but they forgot basic grammar taught in middle school classrooms. Direct address commas would disappear. Sentences would miss articles such as “a,” “an,” or “the.” Stupid stuff – enough to make or break an author and his or her baby.

Sparing the Rod: Overdoing Edits

            There is something to be said about suffocating a child with exasperation. Some authors can edit a manuscript to death, dressing it in starch outfits and praying its rebellious middle school phase will never come along. Stiff children (who do not move in fear of reproach) with vacant eyes can scare off a publisher, too. If the narrative starts to sound like Google translate generated the words, you ought to reconsider your punitive tactics.

In Summary

If you love your baby, let it go – and let it grow.

Hope Bolinger is a professional writing student at Taylor University and intern at Hartline Literary Agency. Over 80 of her works have been featured in publications such as Christian Communicator and Church Libraries. She has also been featured in a handful of anthologies and has had a recent memoir she wrote about a WWII veteran published by Taylor University Press.