Manuscript Magazine

You have just typed out those satisfying two words “The End” and hit that all-important save key. Your novel is ready for the next step. In some respects the easy part is over. Now comes the daunting process of finding a publisher. The temptation is to print out a few hundred copies and send them [...]

Choosing a narrative voice is an important decision authors must make before starting their novels. A novel’s narrative voice is the verbal personality of its narrator and determines how it tells its readers what is going on. Most voices are either third person or first person, and most novels stick with one of these, although [...]

So you have put in hours, days, weeks, or even months of hard work to perfect your manuscript, and it is finally finished for the entire world to see. You may deservedly allow a brief moment of congratulations for your considerable achievement, but for writers that are serious about getting published the real hard work [...]

The seven stories theory is a product of Christopher Booker’s lengthy 2004 book, “The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories.” Its premise, based largely on Jungian psychology, is that all stories have one or more of only seven plots. These are tragedy, overcoming the monster, comedy, voyage and return, the quest, rags to riches, [...]

The first page of a novel is like a job interview with potential readers. It is where agents, publishers, and readers form their first impressions of the work, and often where they decide whether to read on. Agents and publishers read submitted manuscripts all day every working day, and are most likely to notice opening [...]