Trifecta of Rejection

The trifecta of rejection is different for every editor. Many factors come into play. Is the manuscript something I acquire? Do I like the concept? Is the query put together well? Those are all about first impressions for me. But when it comes to opening the sample pages, there are a few basic things that can make me reject a manuscript. The trifecta of rejection for me is the following:

Passive writing

Was, were, had. Sometimes it's necessary to use it, more often, it is not. The rule of thumb for me is: the less you use it, the better. It takes the reader out of the action, the here and now.
Broken/Incomplete sentences
True, some feel it is "voice" or "style", I am not among them. If you fancy using incomplete sentences, I am not the editor for you. When used infrequently, they can be good, powerful, but when overused as is common, they lose that impact. If you sign with me, expect to have 99% of your incomplete sentences edited out.
Excessive Adverbs or Adjectives
Particularly as tags on the end of dialogue. Don't do this. It's lazy. Rather than modify or qualify your adverb or adjective to express a relation of place, time, circumstance, manner, or degree, it is better to use a more powerful adverb or adjective in the first place. Or, you need better phrasing or lead up to it. 

The trifecta will likely be different for every editor. The best thing to do is make sure you have edited your manuscript thoroughly to the best of your abilities, and do your research on who you are submitting to so you make sure they are right for you and your work.

But Did They?

A trend is arising in manuscripts that leaves readers with a question, one they should not have to ponder. You've no doubt read it, and probably written it yourself. I've been guilty of it too. You're reading along~or writing~and come across, "she could hear...", or "he could see..." Just because you could possibly see or hear something, doesn't mean you do. Which begs the question, did she in fact hear it? Did he, in fact, see it? We may never know.

All jesting aside, sometimes this tactic is called for in writing, but more often than not, it isn't. The key is to try the sentence with "she heard" or "he saw" and feel it out. If it works that way, chances are you don't need to pose the question. Another good way to determine which way you should write it is to ask yourself, "do I really want the reader to wonder whether or not they saw, heard, smelled, etc. whatever it was?". If you don't want them to wonder, why pose the question? 

Hopefully those tricks will help you. And remember, sometimes the rules are meant to be broken, sometimes it will be appropriate to to pose the question. But reducing your use of this often overused writing trend will make it more powerful when you do want to use it, and clean up your writing. 

Happy writing, and if you have any hypotheticals of the situation you'd like to try out, feel free to post them in the comments.