DON'T SABOTAGE YOUR SUBMISSION
Save Your Manuscript From Turning Up D.O.A.
Author: Chris Roerden
Original Title from Bella Rosa Books
6" x 9" Trade Paperback; 312pp
$17.95US

ISBN 978-1-933523-31-6

PRECAUTIONS: For long-lasting relief
NOT ABOUT RULES

PART I: DEAD ON ARRIVAL
JUDGES AND JURY
Screener-outers, and what they look for
PLAINTIFFS
Writers, and what you hope for
DEFENDANTS
Agents and publishers, and why they want what they want
CORRECTIONS FACILITIES
Self-editors, and how to do what only you can do

PART II: EVIDENCE COLLECTION
TERMS OF THE WILL
A legacy of technique-speak
WITH PURPOSE AFORETHOUGHT
And with density and richness for all

PART III: FIRST OFFENDERS
CLUE #1: HOBBLED HOOK
Replace with high-tensile lines that stretch your holding power
CLUE #2: PERILOUS PROLOGUE
Beware: May lead to low-tension, post-prologue, backstory ache
CLUE #3: BLOODY BACKSTORY
Hide the evidence by slicing, dicing, splicing

PART IV: KILLING TIME
CLUE #4: FATAL FLASHBACK
Caution: braking and shifting in reverse risks collision
CLUE #5: TOXIC TRANSCRIPT
Watch those verbatim stories-within-the-story
CLUE #6: DECEPTIVE DREAM
Make the character wake up before the reader does
CLUE #7: TIME BOMB
Prevent whiplash from wacky sequencing

PART V: THE LINEUP
CLUE #8: DASTARDLY DESCRIPTION
Revoke the driver's license and come out of the clothes closet
CLUE #9: POISONOUS PREDICTABILITY
Get therapy for cases of arrested development
CLUE #10: DISAPPEARING BODIES
Why introduce what isn't worth mentioning again?

PART VI: CHANGE OF VENUE
CLUE #11: SHIFTY EYES
Danger ahead: slipping and sliding point of view
CLUE #12: UNSETTLING SETTING
Oh, no, not just another pretty place
CLUE #13: INSUFFICIENT GROUNDS
Satisfy the hankering for anchoring

PART VII: THE USUAL SUSPECTS
CLUE #14: SLOW DEATH
End adverbosity, adjectivitis, and other contagious habits
CLUE #15: BURIED AGENDAS
Beware a tension deficit disorder
CLUE #16: DYING DIALOGUE
Quit thinking it's dialogue just because you put it in quotes
CLUE #17: TREACHEROUS TAGS
Snip—like embarrassing price tags worn in public

PART VIII: ROGUES GALLERY
CLUE #18: MULTIPLE IDENTITIE
Fight confusion profusion
CLUE #19: STRANGLED SPEECH
Do you hear what I hear?
CLUE #20: KILLED BY CLICHÉ
Avoid like the plague
CLUE #21: GESTURED TO DEATH
Stamp out illiteracy in body language

PART IX: LOOSE ENDS
CLUE #22: SNITCH VS. SPY
Telling vs. showing: long time no see
CLUE #23: NOISY VOICE
Kill the static and let your true voice be heard
CLUE #24: WORDS & MISDEMEANORS
Arrest abuses and Insidious mis-uses

PART X: POST-MORTEM
Supporting Testimony (Endnotes)
Exhibit A Standard Manuscript Format
Exhibit B Recommended Nonfiction
Exhibit C Internet Sites for Writers
Exhibit D Bibliography of Excerpts
Cross-examination (Index)
The Witness Box (Acknowledgments)
The Perpetrator (About the author)