What Actually Makes A Story Ready

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So, if your story isn't working yet, the only kind of help that's actually going to improve your chances of landing a literary agent is the kind that addresses the story itself. You don't need help refining your sentences. Instead, you need help diagnosing and fixing the story underneath them. 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. In today's episode, I'm sharing my answer to a frequently asked question. Do I need to hire an editor before I query literary agents? And if you've been around the online writing community for a while, you've probably seen some version of this conversation floating around. Maybe it was on threads, maybe it was in a Facebook group or on Instagram, but the advice tends to sound the same. Something like, don't hire an editor before querying because agents don't expect professionally edited manuscripts. And if you're deep in revision mode, second guessing your draft, wondering if you need outside help, trying to figure out what having a ready-to-query manuscript even means, then that advice probably hit in one of two ways. Either it felt like a big relief, so kind of like, okay, I can stop worrying about that now, or it made things feel even murkier. Kind of like, okay, but then how do I know when my manuscript is actually ready to query? So that's why I wanted to do this episode today. I want to talk about what that advice really means, because the real answer isn't as simple as yes or no. It depends on what problem you're actually trying to solve. Now, first things first, agents don't expect professionally edited manuscripts to land in their inbox. That part of the advice is true. But the advice to not hire an editor before querying often gets taken way too literally. And that's where many writers get led astray, because the problem isn't hiring an editor, it's assuming that an editor's polish is what makes a manuscript ready to query. And that's just not how it works. Readiness doesn't come from cleaner or more polished sentences, it comes from having a story that works. And if your story isn't working yet, then no amount of line editing or copy editing will change that. Now you might be wondering, okay, I hear you, it's not about polished prose. So what are agents actually evaluating? And in a way, the answer to this is really simple. They're evaluating whether your story works or doesn't work. And that comes down to a handful of core things. Does the structure of your story hold together from beginning to end? Are the stakes clear and escalating? Does your protagonist's arc feel meaningful and earned? And does your story deliver on the promises of its genre? And if you're thinking that these aren't surface level concerns, then you're right. They are the foundation of the story itself. So for example, you might have a draft full of beautiful prose. But if your protagonist's goal is unclear or the middle of your story meanders instead of escalating, then an agent's going to look at your story, whether that's your query letter, your synopsis, your first few pages, or the entire manuscript itself, and they're going to see and feel that something isn't working almost immediately. And that's true even if they can't point to a specific sentence that's wrong. Now on the flip side of this, you might not have perfect prose in your draft, but if your structure is tight, your stakes are clear, and your character arc is compelling, then an agent is going to be able to see the potential in your story and in you right away. And that is the kind of manuscript they're looking for. So if something isn't working at that level, then no amount of polishing will fix it. And that's why improving your prose isn't actually what moves the needle. Now I'm gonna take a slight little pivot here because this is where understanding the different types of editing really matters, because not all editing does the same job. Each type of editing has a specific role and they work in a specific order for a reason. So first up you have developmental editing, and this is about whether the story works, so the structure, the stakes, the character arc, and how the scenes build on one another from beginning to end. And when you get a developmental edit, it's not about polish, it's more about diagnosing what works, what doesn't work, things like that. Okay, and then after that you have line editing. So once your foundation is solid, line editing focuses on how the writing sounds. So your clarity, your flow, your voice, your word choice, and things like that. And line editing is really great for elevating a working story, but it can't fix one that has a broken foundation. All right, and then finally we have copy editing. So this is grammar, punctuation, consistency, things like that. And this layer of polish matters, but it has no real bearing on whether an agent will offer representation or not. All right, now here is where most writers get tripped up. Most writers will invest in line or copy editing before they query because it's the most visible kind of help. So it feels productive, it feels like progress. I mean, you can literally point to a sentence and say, this revised sentence is better than it was before, and that feels good. But what that often means is that you're improving how the story is written before confirming that the story itself is working. And because structural issues are harder to spot and harder to fix, they're often the last thing that writers want to address. So if your story isn't working yet, the only kind of help that's actually going to improve your chances of landing a literary agent is the kind that addresses the story itself. You don't need help refining your sentences, instead, you need help diagnosing and fixing the story underneath them. So what does this actually look like before querying? Well, that's where developmental support comes in. But even within that category of developmental support, not every format is going to make sense at the pre-query stage. For example, a manuscript evaluation is usually the best fit for writers before they query literary agents. A manuscript evaluation is a big picture assessment, so usually an editorial letter that helps you identify patterns, structural issues, and really lays out nicely what's working, what's not working, and why. And it's especially helpful if you're not quite sure what's wrong with your draft yet, because it really helps you diagnose the problem before investing in more detailed work or further support. All right, so that's option one. You can get a manuscript evaluation. Option two is you can get a full developmental edit, which is more intensive. So this is more like scene-by-sene feedback with comments from the editor on the pages of your manuscript. It is incredibly thorough and often it's more than you need if you're still actively revising. So ideally, you would be pretty confident that for the most part the big picture of your story works before you invest in a full developmental edit. All right, but that is the second option available to you. The third option is book coaching, and this one can vary quite a bit as well. And that's because some coaches focus more on accountability and getting you to the end of a finished draft, while other book coaches provide ongoing developmental support and feedback. So if you do want to work with a book coach, just make sure you know what kind of guidance, feedback, and support you're getting, if that kind of developmental support is what you want. All right, so now let's talk about when this kind of support actually makes sense. Because we just talked through the type of support or what kind of support makes sense to get before querying, but let's talk about how to know if and when you should get this type of support. So let's say that you finished your draft and you're gearing up to query, but something in your manuscript feels off. Maybe you've revised your opening chapters multiple times, maybe you've gotten feedback from beta readers, but it's pretty vague. So maybe it sounds like I really liked your story, but something feels off in the middle, or I loved your story world, but I'm not sure I connect with the main character. And so when you gather this feedback, you have it all in front of you and you zoom out and you don't know if there's a pacing issue, a structure issue, a character motivation issue, or a combination of all three. So what do you do? Well, maybe you go back in and you keep revising. You tweak scenes, you adjust dialogue, you rewrite even more chapters, but nothing is actually solving the problem. And at a certain point, you're not just frustrated, but you're exhausted and you're maybe even ready to give up on the story altogether. You've put in a lot of effort, but you're not getting any closer to a version of the story that actually works. And if we zoom out, the reason for this is because you're making changes at the sentence or scene level without addressing the underlying big picture issues that are actually causing the problem. And this is the kind of situation where getting developmental support makes sense. Not because someone else is going to fix your manuscript, but because they can help you see what you can't currently see, identify the root issue, and give you a clear path forward. Because at the end of the day, you query when the story is ready, not when you've run out of things to change. All right, and if based on that you're still kind of not sure, I just want you to ask yourself these three questions. And I want you to go with your gut and answer honestly. So question number one is do I need better sentences or do I need a better story? Question number two is do I know what's wrong or am I just guessing when I sit down to revise? And question number three is am I refining something that works or am I constantly rebuilding because I know something doesn't work and I just can't figure out what? And your answers to these three questions will tell you a lot about where you are as well as what kind of support will actually move you forward. So the goal here isn't to tell you that you should or shouldn't hire an editor before you query. It's really about giving you the nuance that most quick take advice leaves out. So before we wrap up, let me quickly recap the three most important takeaways from this episode. Key point number one is that when you query agents, they aren't evaluating your pros. They're evaluating whether or not your story works. Key point number two is that editing isn't just one thing. Different types of editing solve different problems, and line or copy editing won't fix a story that isn't working at the big picture structural level. And key point number three is if something feels off in your manuscript and you're not sure why, the most valuable kind of help isn't more polish. It's getting clear on what's working, what's not working, and why. And that's really what all of this comes down to. You don't need perfect prose to query, you don't need to prove your legitimacy by struggling alone, and you don't need to invest in editing that won't actually help where you are now or help you get to where you want to go. But you do need a story that works and a clear-eyed sense of whether yours does or doesn't. Because that clarity is what separates endless revision from real progress. And it's the difference between a manuscript that's almost there and one that's actually ready. And if you're in the revision stage right now and if you're not sure what your manuscript actually needs before you query, that's exactly why I created the revision accelerator. The revision accelerator will help you diagnose your manuscript's biggest problems, prioritize what to fix, and walk away with a clear plan for revision so you can move forward with confidence, not guesswork. So if you're ready to stop guessing what your story needs and start revising with a plan, head over to Savannah Gilbo.com forward slash revision to learn more and to join me inside the revision accelerator. One more time, that's Savannah Gilbo.com forward slash revision. As always, thanks for tuning in. I hope your writing's going well, and I will talk to you next week.