Thanks, But This Isn’t for Us: A (Sort of) Compassionate Guide to Why Your Writing is Being Rejected, by Jessica Page Morrell, is a book about all the things writers do that turn off not only potential agents and editors but also readers. Morrell is an independent editor and sees all sorts of books come her way. She puts together all her expertise on what makes and breaks a story and compiles it in this helpful guide that breaks down into chapters on conflict, dialogue, theme, characters, first pages and much more.
Morrell writes in a very conversational tone. She’s blunt, but it comes across in a humorous way, rather than a know-it-all way, which I appreciated.
I liked everything about this book. It was very informative and helped highlight some of the important things that writers can go back and revise in their manuscripts that will make their stories so much better. But probably the thing I liked most about Thanks, But This Isn’t For Us is how once Morrell was done getting her point across about whatever it was she’d chosen—like dialogue or conflict or first pages—she then had a whole list of deal breakers, which were essentially the most common mistakes she sees in the manuscripts she gets. Sometimes it’s incredibly helpful not just to know what to do, but to know what not to do. Not many books tell us what not to do, and that was probably the most helpful aspect of this book.
I found that the deal breakers were simple enough to compile into a list that I’ll be using to assess my manuscripts before calling them finished.
One of my favorite sections of the book was where Morrell talked about revisions and new drafts. I pretty much do what she does, and I actually have some additional drafts that I do for perfecting purposes, but her guide was really helpful, because it included a checklist for the drafts she recommends all writers do. I’ll definitely be incorporating this checklist into my process and also developing some checklists for my own additional drafts.
All in all, Thanks, But This Isn’t For Us, was a highly valuable book to read. Morrell knows her stuff inside out and back again.
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