On Writing: Sample, Meet Wall

Now let’s hit what happens when samples go wrong.

Fair warning, I love hardcopy. I grew up without a reliable power supply, much less Internet, so I appreciate having something I can read even if the lights go poof for weeks. I also tend to have fingers in four different places in a research book at once when I’m juggling idea-bits, which is easier with paper!

That said, e-books have advantages. Key among them being that if you have power and internet, and can’t get to a bookstore, you can still browse websites, download a bunch of samples, and scurry off with them to test out which books might be for you, which just aren’t your thing, and which make you want to find the writer and, Patrician-style, hang them over a Pit of Death with “LEARN THE WORDS” carved in full view.

Ahem. As a writer, you want to avoid this fate. So how do you put your best writing foot forward in a sample?

First, remember that your cover takes up part of the file-space. If you have a simple cover and a lot of text, this will not take a huge chunk out of your 12%. If not… there’s not much more disappointing than opening a sample and finding you’re already more than halfway through the file. One LN sample I opened, I got the cover, the title page, a map – and that was it. You want people to have enough in the sample to judge your writing style and what your story’s about. If they can’t, they’re likely to not bother at all.

Second – proofread and edit. I cannot stress this enough. Misplaced punctuation marks, repeated words, “they went over they’re” instead of “there” – all of these will make me delete a sample faster than you can say, check please. They’re marks of carelessness. If the writer didn’t take the time to fix technical bits like that, what does that say about the level of effort in the rest of the story?

Third… this may be more of a personal preference, but constant uses of “he said” and “she replied” belong in hardboiled noir, not regular genre writing. The stray said or replied, no problem. If every bit of dialogue is marked that way? I’m gone.

Related to that, whether you’re writing first or third person, putting paragraphs-long character descriptions that go into lingering detail of just how fun/evil a character is, their hair, eye color, personal wardrobe style, and zodiac sign, in the first few pages, will all have me walking away. Stick to the basics of description, build up details over the course of the story. Let the character show the reader what they’re like. Open with just enough detail to hook the reader. “My surname is Li and my personal name is Kao and there is a slight flaw in my character. You got a problem?”

Finally, check what’s actually in your sample. I recently walled no less than three samples, all by the same author, because the readable section consisted of: Title page. Table of Contents. Listing of all the other books by the author. A multi-page dedication to everyone who helped the author write the book, with a peppy hope that the reader would enjoy it as much as the writer enjoyed writing it.

…Which, y’know, is kind of difficult when there isn’t even page one of the story in the sample to read. Augh.

Your sample is the last advertisement before someone decides to press Buy. Make it good!