Before you embark on your novel, make sure you know the way. Author and lecturer James McCreet guides you.
Something unexpected happened a few years ago when I first took the job of lecturer on an MA creative writing course. Even before I met my first classes, I was obliged to participate in the end-of-year marking period and to assess a number of completed student novels. These manuscripts, which ranged from 80,000 to 100,000 words, had to be judged on a variety of criteria, the most important of which was: is it publishable?