Six reasons an agent/publisher will stop reading your submission.

1. Dull openings - Novels that open with the weather or description don’t inspire an imagination. Also, be aware that scene building can be equally dull. Build your world in between action, and throughout your novel; you DON'T need to get it all in in the first chapter.

2. Trying to be clever - Novels that use humungous words and long cryptic paragraphs makes the writer appear arrogant, and nobody likes arrogance.

3. Too Much Info - Trying to describe something as you see it is hard. Better to describe a little, and let your readers’ imagination do the rest otherwise your MS is going to be tossed to one side in favour of another because it's OVER WRITTEN.

4. Clichés - "Her hair was jet black.” “She looked as white as a ghost!” Yes, the meaning is there, but it doesn’t stand out. Clichés dulls writing, so think of your own descriptions.

5. POV - Whose story is it? If point of view is all mixed up, it’s difficult to form a connection with the main character.

6. Unlikely narrative - Don’t make your characters talk the reader through something. If your character is injured he wouldn’t be talking about the pain, but living it out in agony.