How do I productively read a manuscript?

November 2, 2006 3:57 PM

I have never read an unpublished manuscript before. A friend has asked me to read his with a critical eye in preparation for submitting it to a publishing house. What is the best way to go about this?

I wanted to query those in the publishing industry on askmefi before I even started reading. I want to know the best approach for making a good assessment, in order to provide productive feedback. Should I take notes as I go along? Do I read it more than once? Do I correct his grammar? What constitutes best manuscript reading practices?
I have been asked to read it because I represent his target audience, so I really want to be as helpful as possible. Additional information I can provide is that it is a non-fiction memoir by someone whose sole previous publishing experience is limited to his PhD.

posted by msali to Writing & Language (19 answers total)

Is this someone who will be offended if you say something critical? If so, turn it down!

If not, read it with a critical eye to things like spelling and grammar, as well as how the story flows. Is it consistent in its point of view? Is the organization the same throughout the book? If not, why? Is it readable? As his target audience, would you read it?

Do take notes as you go along. Write on the ms if it's okay with him. Use post-its to flag pages with queries.

And, offer at least a few positive things even if it mostly seems like crap.
posted by misanthropicsarah at 4:48 PM on November 2, 2006

I can't make any generalizations about your friend, but as a professioinal writer and editor (though not in book publishing), I have been asked to do this by several friends, for plays, novels, and stories. Each time, I've been told, "I really respect your opinion and I really want constructive feedback, so don't spare my feelings. No holds barred. I want to hear all your comments, uncensored, (etc.)" Each time, I've softpedaled my comments to very general, gentle criticisms, because I know how hard it is to create anything and how vulnerable it feels to put your work out there for critique.

Each time, my friends have been pissy and angry and defensive. I no longer read anything to critique. My new policy is to call my friends' creative efforts wonderful. I'm probably doing more good by offering sincere, affectionate encouragement than by giving them my rather beside-the-point critiques. (I'm not a publisher/producer, so who cares what I think about a novel or play anyway?) I think the requests were really just a subterfuge for asking for reassurance, and I was too dense to intuit it.

Perhaps your friend is utterly different. If not, you'll know you're not alone.
posted by ROTFL at 5:03 PM on November 2, 2006

First, be *sure* you don't have the only printed copy.

If you want to do it, get a doublespaced copy so you can write notes between the lines and in the margins.

If you're going to do a very thorough job, checking grammar and so on, your friend should pay you. It will be a huge amount of work.

If it's in chapters, the best approach is probably to read through the first chapter, write up a short comment list and send it to him. This way he gets a sense of what you're thinking, and you get a sense of whether his stuff is well enough developed to make it worth your time reading the rest. (Otherwise, try this with the first 20 or 30 doublespaced pages.)

Your comments should include these kinds of things:
- How the overall organization seems to you. Is it clear where he's going, and how things fit into that scheme?
- How the writing seems. Is it consistent in tone? Is it pretty much grammatical and easy to read?
- Once you were about 4 pages in, did you want to keep reading or not? If you could already tell by that point that it was bad, then he needs to do more serious revision before trying to shop it around.
- What are the strengths of the chapter?
- What 3 things should he focus on changing, if he were revising the chapter?
posted by LobsterMitten at 6:08 PM on November 2, 2006

I agree with those first two comments. Unless you've been asked something very specific, like, "Does this part make sense?", then your friend is just looking for an "atta boy".

I do read stuff for folks because sometimes I can help nail things down. But it sounds like this is a finished work and he/she just needs some reassurance before submitting it.

Pre-submission jitters anyone?
posted by snsranch at 6:13 PM on November 2, 2006

Er - my thought was, do one chunk (chapter/20 or 30 pages) first, write up some comments, and then check in with your friend. Email the comments and then meet to discuss whether you both want to go forward with the full read.

On whether to check grammar: If you're a natural grammar-fixer, try to just circle problem areas without further comment. Correcting grammar is exhausting and very time consuming on a long document, and it will prevent you from reading for the bigger picture. If you're not a natural grammar-fixer, don't worry about it, and just tell him in your notes that you have not been looking at the grammar.

Do take notes as you go, either in the margins or on a notepad, with the page number that inspired the comment. If the manuscript is good enough that you can read it pretty easily, then you'll want to note places where:
- something seems out of place ("move this to the section with the rest of the college experiences")
- you have a question ("when did this event happen? The timeline is unclear here"; "Who is Mitzy, you haven't introduced her yet")
- something seems redundant ("you already told this story in the previous chapter")
- a description should be condensed or expanded ("The reader already understands how the machine works; this whole page of description can be shortened to a couple of sentences", or "You mention the Bernoulli effect but haven't really told us what it is").
posted by LobsterMitten at 6:25 PM on November 2, 2006

One word: don't.

You can keep your friend or you can critique their ms. Not both. The exception is if your friend has already been published. This shows he is able to accept criticism.
posted by kindall at 6:27 PM on November 2, 2006

Or maybe everyone else is right. My remarks above are from working through the manuscripts of friends, but they bring them to me knowing that I'm a fiend for editing -- they know what to expect, and I've never had any trouble with people being upset with me.

Maybe your friend really just needs encouragement; you're the best judge of that.
posted by LobsterMitten at 6:30 PM on November 2, 2006

Although, this person did write a PhD. So they're no stranger to critical readings of their prose.
posted by LobsterMitten at 6:33 PM on November 2, 2006

kindall is right.

Do a spellcheck, always appreciated.

Also, you can try once to highlight a part that is not easily understood: if the author responds by explaining why you should have understood, stop right there. If he changes his text, you can continue on this track but not much else.

Otherwise, you just liked it.

The hard job of editing should be left to a professional editor. Because s/he can take the rejection.
posted by bru at 7:05 PM on November 2, 2006

I tell my friends that I will proof read only. They get offended that I won't do more but not near as offended as they will if I actually edited their precious little work.
posted by nadawi at 7:28 PM on November 2, 2006

I'd say tell him if he has egg on his face -- that is, if there's some embarassing mistake that will cause the manuscript to not be taken seriously -- but other than that, tell him what you like about it (note that this isn't the same thing as "tell him that you liked it").

Either it's something that the publisher will be excited about or it isn't. If it isn't, then why quibble about the technical stuff? If it is, then the publisher has people who will address the technical stuff. This is assuming that basic proofreading is not what is required (if it is, he really should hire somebody to do it, but OTOH I guess that's also something that you can do without giving too much offence). So tell him which parts of the story really grabbed you and made you want to read more -- this really is useful feedback because he probably can't see the forest for the trees anymore.
posted by winston at 7:31 PM on November 2, 2006

Again, don't. Awkward enough with someone's mom's book, their own would have bern a nightmare.
posted by NortonDC at 7:43 PM on November 2, 2006

There is so not enough information here. I can see where everyone is coming from in terms of just offering encouragement, but I have to say, my old roommate is the most vicious proofreader and editor and I absolutely love her for it, and tried to return the favor as best I could on the things she wrote.

Of course when I tried that sort of thing with my boyfriend it was usually at least a week before he'd speak with me again.

So, YMMV.
posted by dagnyscott at 8:05 PM on November 2, 2006

What's worried me the most is that this is a memoir. I assume it's a memoir of his life? If so, he will take criticism more harshly than if it described someone (or something) else.

Because ultimately, the most important question about a manuscript isn't "Is it spelled correctly?" or even "Is it written well?" The main question is "Do I care about the story?" To honestly answer this question is clearly dangerous. You are effectively telling him that you find his life uninteresting.

For those reasons, I would either: a) refuse to edit/critique it, or b) focus *exclusively* on non-emotional things like grammar and spelling. No one is offended if you tell them that a word is spelled with two t's, not one. On the other hand, telling them that every detail about the town they were born in is boring...that's a whole other issue!

Best of luck balancing it all.
posted by Deathalicious at 8:23 PM on November 2, 2006

You need to ask the writer exactly what they want and then assess whether you have the time to deliver that.

If I want to do a thorough job, I read in hardcopy, make notes on the paper concerning grammar, word choice and the story, everything I think and feel basically, praising where praise is due of course. Then, if I have an electronic copy (Word for me) I notate that with my edits and thoughts using Track Changes, and then email it off. These two stages mean I can make quick rough notes on the manuscript and then clarify them later when I've read the whole thing and understand where it's coming from.

If I'm rushed for time I'll Track Changes straight into Word, then email that.
posted by einekleine at 3:33 AM on November 3, 2006

It's also hard to evaluate the overall quality of a friend's memoir objectively, when considering it as something a stranger would want to read for pleasure. Either he put stuff in there that you already will have known about (it would have to be pretty damn well written not to be boring to you) or it's filled with juicy stuff you never knew about (irresistable no matter how badly it's written). These things wouldn't apply to an editor or reader, so you're not really in his target audience.

I agree that you should ask more specifically what exactly he wants you to do, then reconsider. Or do the first chapter, then regroup as others have suggested.

If you do decide to do a true editorial read, all of LobsterMitten's points are right on. Just read through, writing down whatever comes to mind right on the manuscript in pencil. If you change your mind, erase.

Correcting grammar: if you see typos or egregious mistakes, definitely circle or, if it's a quick fix, correct. These are the kinds of little things that can make him look much better to the editors--having a nice clean manuscript. But correcting grammar even for a little blurb, let alone a whole ms, is a much bigger task than most people realize, even for people who love grammar. People get paid to do nothing but copyedit. It takes a long time. It's not the same as editing. It's hard and not fun. Say you see an awkward sentence, you can write "awk" above it, or you see a word repeated a lot, you can circle and write "repeat OK?", etc, but I wouldn't try to fix it. Those kinds of things tend to have a domino effect.
posted by lampoil at 4:27 AM on November 3, 2006

I agree with ROTFL -- whether he knows it or not, your friend is really seeking encouragement and affirmation, not honest criticism.

That said: I've had a lot of friends ask me to give feedback on their work, and here's how I go about it.

1. Start any evaluation with lots of points about what you like about the manuscript, what works, with specific examples of parts/sentences/images you enjoyed.

2. Give back the manuscript with grammar mistakes, spelling errors and other mechanical flaws circled.

3. Limit the actual "criticism" segment of the feedback to telling the friend a) portions of the manuscript you felt were unclear and/or b) portions you felt he should expand on. This is a way of offering constructive criticism without saying anything too harsh about the quality of the prose. You're just pointing out places where his thoughts aren't expressed as clearly as they could be yet and places where he's got something good going and could take advantage of it by fleshing it out a little.

So you feel like you've done your job as a critic, but you won't offer any comments too close to the bone that will damage your friend's confidence or your friendship with him.

That said: if, based on any chances you've had to see his writing before, you have reason to think his manuscript will really suck, DON'T read it. There is nothing more excruciating than reading bad, amateur writing -- and you don't want to have to lie through your teeth when your friend asks you if you liked it, or grasp at straws when coming up with examples of what worked.
posted by hazelshade at 5:05 AM on November 3, 2006

The hard job of editing should be left to a professional editor.

Exactly. If you've never done this before, why on earth does your friend think you're capable of it? If you're asking us what to look for, you're in the same position I'd be in if someone asked me to fix their computer. I'd say "Sorry, not my field," and that's what you should tell your friend. Either that or just tell them it's great. Seriously, don't try to "critique" it. You won't know what you're doing (in terms of what a publishing house would be interested in), and you run the risk of losing your friend, or at least having to get over a rough patch.
posted by languagehat at 5:58 AM on November 3, 2006

This is exactly why I love askmefi. Thank you! Y'all have given me really great information, I would mark all of you as favorites, but that would just be weird.
posted by msali at 6:30 AM on November 3, 2006