How to Avoid Things Editors and Agents Hate From The First Chapter

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How to Avoid Things Editors and Agents Hate From The First Chapter – This is a place for the community to provide tips and advice on How to Avoid Things Editors and Agents Hate From The First Chapter. This topic was created by Keith Sanderson and the tips are provided by the community. The tips you add here can be your own or referred from another site. The best tips are then ranked at the top when up-voted by members of the community.

Tip 1 - What NOT to Do When Beginning Your Novel: Advice from Literary Agents

Published: 9 years, 5 month(s) ago | Submitted by RBEPS 3 | permalink

GIVEAWAY: I am very excited to again give away a free book to a random commenter. The winner can choose either CREATE YOUR WRITER PLATFORM or the 2013 GUIDE TO LITERARY AGENTS. Commenters must live...

For further reading: http://writerunboxed.com/2013/04/22/april/ ^[1]

Tip 2 - MORE Agent Chapter 1 Pet Peeves and Writing Cliches | WritersDigest.com

Published: 9 years, 5 month(s) ago | Submitted by James Hardiman | permalink

The current issue of Writer's Digest magazine (Sept/Oct 08) has a piece in it that I wrote on literary agents' chapter 1 pet peeves. For it, I basically just contacted a whole bunch of agents - new and experienced, fiction and nonfiction, Christian and not, juvenile and adult - and asked them all what they hate to see in chapter 1.

For further reading: http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/more-agent-chapter-1-pet-peeves-and-writing-cliches ^[2]

Tip 3 - 10 Things Your Freelance Editor Might Not Tell You—But Should

Published: 9 years, 5 month(s) ago | Submitted by dokuo | permalink

Before you hire an editor, you need to know what kind of help you’re looking for. It's important you know the following ...

For further reading: http://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/10-things-your-freelance-editor-might-not-tell-you-but-should ^[3]

Tip 4 - Things That Will Make Literary Agents Throw Your Novel Across the Room

Published: 9 years, 5 month(s) ago | Submitted by Yvonne Charneskey | permalink

The first chapter of your science fiction or fantasy novel absolutely needs to hook readers, and that goes double for any literary agents or editors who might be looking at it. But at the very least, you don't want your opening chapter to contain any of the red flags that make agents toss books in the "reject" pile.
Tags: writing advice, books, writing, publishing, jodie rennert, fantasy, io9

For further reading: http://io9.com/things-that-will-make-literary-agents-throw-your-novel-478291970 ^[4]