Agents & Editors Recommend

Writing and revising by pen and keyboard are givens, but reading your work aloud while revising is equally valuable. Readers will likely find your writing inviting if it sounds good. Reading aloud enables you to hear if the dialogue between your characters has punch and personality, and to suss out awkward sentences that don’t flow. It will give you a sense of how fluid your storytelling is, and perhaps give you insight into whether you’re doing a good job modulating plot, scene-setting, dialogue, and character development.

My number-one go-to rule for aspiring fiction writers is the following: A great writer is first and foremost a great reader. If you’re serious about your craft, you’re immersing yourself in the prose of fellow writers. At a conference a couple of years ago, I asked a would-be novelist to name a few of her favorite novels. Her response: “OH, I DON’T LIKE TO READ FICTION.” Don’t be that person.

—Kent Wolf of Neon Literary

If you can’t pitch your book in thirty seconds, you’re probably not ready to send it to agents or publishers. And before you say, “But that’s your job”—you’re right! Our job is to convince other people to read your work, and we’ll probably come up with our own pitch down the line. But if you can’t distill the what and why of your book into a few punchy sentences, it usually means that your book is still gestating. It means that the foundational narrative has not yet emerged.

“Write every day” can be a good motivator, but it doesn’t work for everyone. In some cases, it can even be counterproductive if it prioritizes word count at the expense of creating fully realized worlds. 

I also believe writing is a craft that goes beyond simply putting pen to paper (or fingers to keypad). Some of the most talented writers I know spend months thinking about their story elements outside of the physical act of writing. This might take the form of outlining or research, but a lot of the time it looks much closer to daydreaming.