Speaker 1: 0:42

Agents receive thousands of queries each year, but they only take on a handful of new clients, and those are brutal odds, right? But here's what might surprise you it's rarely the quality of the writing that determines the rejection. Over the last 10 years, I've spoken with dozens of literary agents and editors and they all say the same thing Even beautifully written manuscripts will get rejected when they're missing this fundamental thing. Welcome to the Fiction Writing Made Easy podcast. My name is Savannah Gilbo and I'm here to help you write a story that works. I want to prove to you that writing a novel doesn't have to be overwhelming, so each week, I'll bring you a brand new episode with simple, actionable and step-by-step strategies that you can implement in your writing right away. So, whether you're brand new to writing or more of a seasoned author looking to improve your craft, this podcast is for you. So pick up a pen and let's get started.

Speaker 1: 1:37

In today's episode, we're diving into a topic that I know so many of you care about, and that is what agents and readers actually want in a novel and how you can write a story that stands out. If you've ever wondered why beautifully written manuscripts still get rejected, or why agents don't seem to fall in love with your work, despite all the effort you've put into it. This episode is for you. I'm going to break down the five things that agents and readers are really looking for, plus five specific techniques you can use to make your novel rise above the rest. And, of course, I'll share a few examples from some of my favorite books to show you exactly how these elements work in action. Now, a lot of writers are surprised when I say that I can spot a manuscript that doesn't work within the first five pages, sometimes even within the first paragraph. And it's not because the writing is bad. In fact, I see gorgeous prose all the time, beautiful metaphors, lyrical descriptions, sentences that could make you cry, but those manuscripts still get rejected. So why is that? Well, beautiful writing attached to a story that goes nowhere is like a gorgeous frame around a blank canvas. It doesn't matter how pretty the frame is if there's no picture inside. Let me give you an example of what I mean by this.

Speaker 1: 2:50

One of my notes to novel students Amanda. She had spent three years perfecting every sentence in her manuscript. She worked with a copy editor who helped her correct her spelling and grammar, and her beta readers raved about her quote-unquote stunning prose and lyrical voice. And because of all of this, she was certain that agents would love her manuscript. But when she started querying, she heard nothing back, just crickets. She didn't get one single request for pages.

Speaker 1: 3:16

So, fast forward to a little bit later, we looked at her manuscript together and I saw the problem in her pages right away. Her writing was actually beautiful, but there was nothing happening. Her characters weren't changing, there were no stakes, there was no tension. It was really just a bunch of pretty words describing people having conversations and going about their everyday life. And so what I told Amanda is that agents and readers don't fall in love with beautiful words. They fall in love with compelling stories first. And if she wanted to make this manuscript work, then we were going to have to go back to the drawing board and reconstruct it from the ground up. If you can relate to Amanda's story, or if you've been focused on perfecting your sentences while your big picture story sits unfinished or unfigured out, I want you to know that you're not alone, and in today's episode, I'm going to tell you how to fix that.

Speaker 1: 4:04

Alright, now let's talk about rejection for a second, because it's something every writer faces. The truth is, the vast majority of manuscripts submitted to agents and publishers will get rejected. Agents receive thousands of queries each year, but they only take on a handful of new clients, and those are brutal odds, right. But here's what might surprise you it's rarely the quality of the writing that determines the rejection. Over the last 10 years, I've spoken with dozens of literary agents and editors and they all say the same thing Even beautifully written manuscripts will get rejected when they're missing something fundamental. And that fundamental thing they're missing, well, it's the story underneath the beautiful words. So let's break down what agents and readers actually want and how you can give it to them, because it all really boils down to this, and that is that agents and readers, they just want to feel something.

Speaker 1: 4:56

Agents really do put their reputations on the line with every single manuscript they pitch, and when it comes down to which manuscript they're going to back, it really all comes down to which one is going to emotionally engage the reader. If an agent has to pick between two different manuscripts and let's say that one has gorgeous prose but no story arc and the other has a compelling narrative that maybe needs some line editing or polishing, the agents are going to choose the one that has a compelling story arc every single time, and that's because they can help you polish your sentences and your prose, but they can't help you manufacture that kind of emotional engagement that your readers are looking for. So if it all boils down to this kind of emotional engagement, then what creates emotional engagement? Well, there are five key elements. Number one is a character worth caring about.

Speaker 1: 5:46

And here's the thing Agents and readers. They don't need to love your protagonist, but they do need to care what happens to them. How do you make them care? By creating a character who feels real, flawed and human, someone who wants something desperately and whose want matters to us because we understand it. As an example, take Evelyn Hugo from the Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. Evelyn isn't always likable. She's manipulative, sometimes selfish and willing to do whatever it takes to control her narrative. But we care about her because she's deeply human. Her flaws make her relatable and her need to reclaim her story after a lifetime of being defined by others is something we can all understand. And that's the key. Your protagonist doesn't have to be perfect, but their journey has to matter to us. Here's a simple way to test if your protagonist is worth caring about. I want you to write down their biggest flaw, their deepest fear and the one thing they want more than anything else. If you can't answer those questions, then that's a sign it's time to dig deeper into your character. Alright, so that's the first key element a character that's worth caring about.

Speaker 1: 6:51

The second key element is stakes that actually matter, and what I mean by this is that your protagonist needs to pursue something difficult with consequences that feel significant, because here's the thing we can only feel tension if we believe that something important can be lost. So, without real stakes, even the most action-packed or exciting plots are going to feel boring, because nothing truly matters. If you think about a story like when the Crawdads Sing. On the surface, kaya's fight for survival in the marsh is compelling enough, but the real stakes involve her right to exist as she is, while she's also yearning for love and belonging, those universal fears of being abandoned, of being judged. Those are what make us deeply invested in her journey. So I want you to ask yourself what's at stake for your protagonist and why should readers care, and that'll help you flesh out this second key element, which are stakes that actually matter.

Speaker 1: 7:46

All right, now the third key element are obstacles that test character. And here's something really important I want you to know the challenges and obstacles that your character face. They can't just be external problems to solve. Ideally, they would also force your character to grow, change or reveal who they really are. And the reason this is so important is because readers don't just want to watch your characters do things right. They want to watch characters who are changing, growing and becoming who they're meant to be.

Speaker 1: 8:15

If you take Katniss Everdeen from the Hunger Games as an example, she doesn't just face physical survival. Each obstacle or challenge she faces forces her to choose between self-preservation and protecting others, and over the course of time, these challenges reveal her true nature. She's someone who will sacrifice herself for those she loves, even when she claims to be selfish or even when she sees herself as kind of a selfish person All right. So ideally, every obstacle or every challenge should strip away another layer, helping to reveal those deeper truths about who your character really is. If you want a quick exercise to help you check this element in your story, just take any scene from your story and ask how does the conflict or the obstacles in this scene force my character to make a difficult choice or reveal something about who they really are. If it doesn't, then I want you to think about how you can add more emotional weight to whatever obstacles or challenges that your character is facing in that scene. Okay, so that's key element number three obstacles that test your character.

Speaker 1: 9:15

Key element number four is an emotional journey, and we talked about this a little bit already. Right, readers, they don't just want to know what happens, they want to feel it too, and so your story needs to take them through a range of emotions, building to key moments that feel earned. If you think about a story like Beach, read by Emily Henry, we feel January's grief, her creative frustration, her reluctant attraction to Gus, her fear of vulnerability and, ultimately, her joy in finding both love and her creative voice. Again, the plot serves the emotional journey, not the other way around, all right, so ask yourself how does your story make readers feel, and are those emotions earned, and are they being delivered at the right time? All right, so that's key element number four an emotional journey.

Speaker 1: 9:59

Finally, key element number five is a satisfying resolution. So the ending of your story needs to feel both inevitable and surprising. It should resolve the external plot while completing the character's internal arc as well. Now notice, I said satisfying, not happy. So you need to have a satisfying ending, not necessarily a happy one. If you take something like the Great Gatsby as an example, the ending is definitely not happy, right. It's satisfying because it delivers on the story's theme of longing, illusion and the cost of chasing the American dream. Jay Gatsby's tragic end feels inevitable, but it still hits us like a gut punch, right? So that's what you're aiming for an ending that feels true to your story and leaves readers thinking about your book long after they've finished it. And as a quick little exercise here you can ask yourself does my ending resolve both the external plot and the internal character arc, and does it tie back to the themes I've been exploring throughout my story or not? If the answer to either of these questions is no, then it might be time to revisit the end of your story. All right, so that's the fifth key element you want to deliver a satisfying resolution.

Speaker 1: 11:07

Now remember Amanda, who I told you about in the beginning of the episode. Well, after we identified what her manuscript was missing, she went through my notes to novel program and learned the specific techniques for creating character depth, raising stakes and structuring her story for maximum emotional impact. About six months later, she had finished her revisions and she went to a writing conference where she pitched three different agents and got three full requests. So not only did she learn what makes a compelling story, but she learned exactly how to create one too, and that got the attention of three different agents All right.

Speaker 1: 11:41

So if you're struggling to finish your novel, or if you've been facing rejection despite positive feedback on your writing, I want you to know one thing Just like Amanda, you are capable of writing a story that stands out. The publishing industry is hungry for great stories, and agents and readers want to fall in love with your characters. They want to feel invested in their journeys and they want to come away from your book feeling changed. So what I really want you to know is that your job isn't to write the most perfect story. It's to write a story that's so compelling that even imperfect prose can't diminish its power, and if you're ready to take the next step towards doing this, I would love to help you make it happen.

Speaker 1: 12:19

My Notes to Novel course is open for enrollment this week only, and inside you'll discover the exact process for creating characters. Readers can't help but care about my proven framework for building stakes that keep pages turning and how to structure your story for maximum emotional impact. Doors close on August 28th and this is your last chance to work with me in 2025. So if you're ready to stop polishing sentences and if you want to learn how to write a story that agents and readers can't resist, go to savannahgilbocom forward slash yes, to grab your spot in the course, because your story deserves to be finished and it deserves to be read, and I would love nothing more than to help you write it All right.

Speaker 1: 12:59

So that's it for this episode of the Fiction Writing Made Easy podcast. Head over to savannahgilbocom forward slash podcast for the complete show notes, including the resources I mentioned today, as well as bonus materials to help you implement what you've learned. And if you're ready to get more personalized guidance for your specific writing stage. Whether you're just starting out, stuck somewhere in the middle of a draft, drowning in revisions or getting ready to publish, take my free 30 second quiz at savannahgilbocom forward slash quiz. You'll get a customized podcast playlist that'll meet you right where you're at and help you get to your next big milestone. Last but not least, make sure to follow this podcast in your podcast player of choice, because I'll be back next week with another episode full of actionable tips, tools and strategies to help you become a better writer. Until then, happy writing.