One common mistake I find with new authors is in the first 300 words of their manuscript.
In the first 300(ish) words of your manuscript, you need to weave in when, where, who we are along with a hint of your genre. This isn’t a Carrow Created Rule, but one that many editors, publishers, and writing coaches discuss as well. I learned this actually from an editor at an RWA panel and she brought multiple examples from best-selling books to prove her point.
“But Carrow, I like to sprinkle in a bit of misdirection and leave things vague to lure the reader in. I want them to ask questions.”
The entire purpose of setting the scene of your story is to ensure your reader is grounded in your world while also having their expectations met.
Leaving things open-ended and vague may seem like a clever approach, but a common complaint I hear from the majority of readers is they hate to be confused about what they are reading. A confused reader then leads to them closing the book or, even worse, leaving it a one-star review.
Take a look at your first 300 words. Do you cover the who, where, when, and genre of your story? How can you tweak it just a bit so it does that?
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