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Editing Rant: Revise & Resubmit
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
In May’s Editing Rant on No Squiggles, I mentioned requesting a Revise and Resubmit (R&R) and said I would come back to it.
So here we are.
A R&R is when a writer has sent in a manuscript, either solicited or unsolicited, and the publisher came back with – “not good enough, try again” and here as some suggestions on how to do that based on what they thought was wrong.
Now what should the writer do? Make the change or leave it the same?
Remember the publisher has REJECTED the original submission. The writer is NOT under contract. There is no pay, no guarantee of acceptance, and no obligation to make the change on the writer’s end or accept it on the publisher’s end.
Some writers say never change a manuscript unless you are under contact. That is good advice. Why do changes when the publisher might reject those, and the next publisher might ask to put those changes back in? If the writer has a solid product, changing stuff to please instead of just sending it off to the next publisher is a waste of good writing time. Better to write new words while waiting on a sale than forever updating one book.
The question that must be asked is – is the manuscript a solid product?
Well, what changes are the editor/publisher asking for?
When they say things like “make the main character (a different gender) because it will sell better” – that one is a “no” unless the writer wants more than anything in the world to be published by that particular publisher. And really, the writer should rethink that – because it is a big world out there.
When they say things like “the ending is too abrupt, it’s missing the falling action and resolution after the climax. Did you mean it to be a cliffhanger?” And the writer answers the question, “No.” Then heck yeah, the writer needs to sit down and do an R&R and make the story what it was intended to be.
The problem is most R&R requests lie somewhere in between.
So a writer should review the R&R request and see if the problems mentioned are the personal taste of the publisher or an actual weakness in the manuscript. And also see if the suggestions provided are good suggestions, or if the writer has an even better solution. The request to bump up the tension of the sagging middle by adding a fight between the love interest might be better resolved by adding a limited sidequest plotline with a time crunch – which would be truer to the story of soulmates in danger.
So what should you do if you get an R&R request on a submission. First celebrate – the publisher/submission editor cared enough about your submission to give it a second chance. They want to see if it can be made better.
Second, decide if what they want is something you want to do. If not, send them a thank you, but at this time, you will be considering other options in lieu of a resubmit. If yes, send them a thank you and the approximate date to get back the changes to them. Two to three months is an expected window. If it runs longer, get in touch again – this is important as editors can change and you need to keep current with where to send your R&R.
Good luck.
Flash: Ship’s Center (Beep Part 2)
Photo by Hermes Rivera on Unsplash
Julius drew back from the edge where they stood questioning if flying, for even a single moment, to be truly Sky-Born, would be worth the fall. Their father and the surviving elders of the Sky-Fallen, outcast from the stars, shrieked no with every angry-betrayed breath and sobbed yes with every grief-filled long stare. Last Ra-cycle had been worse than most after their parent woke screaming, shuddering for hours in their arms, whispering about the blacker than black of Q space when eyes invented shapes and colors just to see something, dust within the vacuum where emptiness was both an illusion and a harsher reality than can be conceived, planets with snow and moons where people can see their breath and dance in the twilight between days, and most of all, the Endless. Each of the Sky-Fallen had stood where Julius had been standing and witnessed the eternity of the universe.
Until they could witness it no more.
Again, the unnatural sound interrupted the silence of the coffin of failed dreams.
Unsure if the change would bring hope or further nightmares, Julius followed the periodic beep into the third inner circle of the ship. Uncaring true gravity mocked the orientation of artificial pathways made to operate with centrifugal force making the travel challenging and convoluted. They slid down ladders still lit after forty years with a red glow, and used others to cross gulfs of hallways running vertical on the grounded ship. Deeper in the ship the natural light from the twin stars disappeared, making Julius grateful for the lighting mechanisms meant to shine for the generations it would take to cross space.
The outermost layer of the ship was barely different from the surrounding world because First Homes had been built from scavenged paneling initially, but integral bulkheads eventually became more of a trial to dismantle than using the abundant natural woods and stones to build shelters.
They reached center of ancient ship after a backtrack to avoid a Growler’s nest. Outside, Ra should have given way to Raet by now, and Julius was overdue for their chores. After waiting another count of thirty-seven, they narrowed the source on the bridge to the communications module.
Running a hand over the module’s damaged entry panel, where someone long ago had beaten the panel into uselessness, Julius discovered long-forgotten neural pathways established during childhood training waking. Nanites created them during the second infusion: how to operate an escape pod, how to seal a hull breach, and how to operate the distress beacon. Things every person on board This Giant Leap needed to know.
Breathing out slowly, they moved around the sealed module, turning their head with each beep until they found the crack at the base of the module allowing the sound to carry throughout the ship. It looked like it went through the bulkhead. Another trip up to go down, then sideways brought them under the bridge and the communication module in what used to be the incubation chambers, the most protected area from interstellar radiation. Avoiding the empty equipment still attached walls, which had been floors when the ship used to rotate, Julius found the crack again, this time they could slip inside the pitch-black area.
They left some skin behind, but made it in. For once, their small size played in their favor.
The beep happened again and the programmed instinct took over, guiding their hands over equipment they never seen before and couldn’t see now. The beep was replaced with a hum.
Then a burnt smell.
And, finally, hologram lasers danced in the abandoned air.
(words 602; first published 9/25/2022 – I asked if anyone wanted one of the Facebook visual flash expanded to 500 words, and they asked for Beep.)
Beep Series
Beep (7/26/2020)
Ship’s Center (9/6/2020)
Other Cool Blogs: Magical Words 8/28/2010
Photo by Jaredd Craig on Unsplash
One of my favorite things is coming up with titles. The poetry of it, capturing the essence in a few words. Like modern painting where a few strokes of a brush captures the movement of a dancer.
Glass Ceiling Policy; Red Mug; Scrimshaw; Roulette Leadership; I was never there; Small Fiddle; Waking up Dead; Lost Doorknobs
The title needs to be unique, yet accessible. Understandable by the reader, but not lost in a library search.
Memorable.
Applicable.
Common
and also uncommon.
Edumund Schubert tackles this topic on Magical Words 8/28/2010 “How to Title Your Story – Or Not”:
Book Review: Bewitched & Betrayed
Amazon Cover
Bewitched & Betrayed by Lisa Shearin
BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON
From the national bestselling author of The Trouble with Demons comes another fantasy adventure with a beloved, bold heroine.
Raine Benares is a seeker. She finds lost things and missing people—usually alive. But now she’s been bonded with the Saghred, a soul-stealing stone of unlimited power, and must hunt down its escapees. Especially since one of them is also hunting her…
MY REVIEW
Another installment of Lisa Shearin’s Raine Benares novels. Reads like Urban Fantasy in a Fantasy setting – kickass woman in leather with swords and magical powers off the charts (check), plucky friends (check), bad guy (check), politics stew (check), two love interests – one good but kind-of bad and one bad but kind-of good that are both total dish (check).
Love the main character’s family with their questionable morals, but extreme loyalty. The behind the scenes political stuff does not usually affect the character directly, but does impact who she can go to when – just enough stuff happening in the background for you to feel the character is part of a much larger world and it doesn’t just revolve around her. The other characters have real lives offscreen, and some of them may be even more interesting than hers.
One down-side – the author constantly adds mini-recaps, like you expect to put her book down and come back to it in a couple days. Not something I do, but if you actually have a life and can only read a book in 2 or 3 chapter intervals, may be a helpful.
If you like the Urban Fantasy formula, give this series / book a try.