I always love journeying to the South for a writing event; aside from getting to hear the regular and charming "Yes, ma'am" near and far, I never have to sigh over yet another ubiquitous conference cheesecake. Here, I get to choose among blackberry cobbler, banana pudding, and apple pie!

But down to business.

Here at Harriette Austin, Saturday was a full day of workshops and one-on-one critiques; unfortunately I didn't have a window to attend other sessions. But I do have a few tips based on my manuscript critiques—I read the first 15 manuscript pages of eight different novels. The same red flags appeared again and again.

Big Red Flags in First 15 Pages

• No clear protagonist-problem. Of the manuscripts I read, only two had a very clear protagonist with an identifiable problem. For most first-time novelists, this is a requirement for a story beginning. Also, several manuscripts had more than three POV characters in first 15 pages, which can create a dizzying experience for the reader. It's a big risk.
• Slow start. About half of the manuscripts I read had very slow starts, where the story was mainly taking place in the characters' heads, or it suffered from too much backstory too soon. Resist the temptation to flashback or give a lot of detail about the past; move the story forward instead, and weave in the backstory (only as absolutely required) as you go. I recommend Hooked by Les Edgerton to help refine your first few chapters.
  
• In two manuscripts I read, the authors were trying to position their work as fiction, but it was clearly a true-to-life story. In both cases, the authors felt their stories were more marketable or safe if written as novels. Unfortunately, this often creates more problems than it solves.

Crafting a High-Powered Nonfiction Book Concept
Here at Harriette I debuted a new session that focuses on how to develop a killer concept for a nonfiction book (with the exception of memoir). I usually deliver sessions on writing nonfiction book proposals, but I realized these sessions totally missed the big problem that authors have. The key struggle is coming up with a concept that will sell. If the author has evidence that his or her book idea will sell, the proposal practically writes itself.

Click this link to download a PDF of the PowerPoint presentation: NonfictionBk.pdf (894.3 KB)

The Harriette conference features about a dozen different publishing professionals (editors and agents), and takes place in a delightful venue—the University of Georgia Center. They take excellent care of both presenters and attendees, and I highly recommend it to all aspiring writers, especially novelists.