A Checklist Before Submitting to Undiscovered Voices
I’ve read hundreds of Undiscovered Voices submissions over the years. It’s a privilege to be part of the selection process and a joy to read the openings of so many amazing books.
I thought it might be helpful to share how I review a submission. The expert panel of judges make the final decision, but each submission is read by at least two experts in children’s books. This is my checklist to determine if I will nominate a submission for the next phase of the review process. I’ve included examples from the most recent Undiscovered Voices to illustrate my points. Does your submission tick all the boxes?
Title
It’s the first thing we know about your book. It sets the tone and creates an expectation in the reader’s mind. Great titles are memorable, distinctive, intriguing, easy to say, and clearly indicate the story you will tell. The title of Priyesh Shah’s 2024 submission – The Hidden Life of Sunil Pandya – met my title criteria. The title hints at a story of discovery and identity. Also, don’t you want to know what Shah means by ‘hidden life’? I did! Make sure your title will grab my attention and prepare me for the story you will tell.
Opening Lines
I can tell from your opening lines if your submission will be a contender. There’s a confidence on the page. Make sure your opening lines hook me.
You can do this with a killer opening line that encapsulates your story in a clever way. But I can also be captivated by beautiful description or fascinated by a mystery or mini dramas that demands that I read on.
Louise Austin packs so much intrigue into the opening line of The Undead Journals of Alex Abbott:
‘Even though I’ve been dead for three months, two weeks and four days, Mum still drags me out of bed every morning to go to school.’
Voice
I want to discover the voice of your piece in those opening moments. Voice is the sum of all the decisions you make – big and small; conscious or unconscious – when writing a story. It’s that spark or magic that makes the reading effortless and demands that I turn the page. Briony Calderwood and the Water Witches by Sarah Fulton offers a funny voice from the very first sentences:
‘Standing on the swaying deck of Mum’s boat, Briony Calderwood was hit squarely in the face with a dead fish. A salmon, to be precise.’
Character
Your protagonist is the heart and soul of a story. What do you show and tell me about your character in those first 2,500 words? Have you given me enough to be compelled by your character? I was immediately drawn to 16-year-old Michael in Stephen Daly’s Picture This. In the opening pages we learn that he’s leaving a love behind and moving to Belfast, he has a photographer’s eye, and a missing Dad.
Plot
Do I have a sense of the plot – the journey I will embark on with your protagonist – by the end of your extract? Can I tell from your opening pages whether it’s a romance or comedy? Do I feel the pull of a mystery or expanse of an adventure? I should.
High Achievers by Allison Mandra starts with a dead body. We are told it’s only the first, and the death ‘isn’t the kind the police will understand’. The protagonist knows who will be next. It hints to something supernatural. It’s a mystery, and I want to know what happens next.
Originality
I’m always excited when the story idea is fresh and original . Often I read submission that are shades of something I’ve read before. The story reminds me of a classic or this summer’s must read middle grade, for example. Does your story idea stand out? Take a look at Drowning in Pea Soup by Richard Parker. His pitch was:
A reclusive boy’s relationship with a potato is Britain’s only hope against a rebellion of the dead.
It’s the right kind of bonkers. I’ve never read anything like it. For more examples of how to hook judges, download and review past Undiscovered Voices anthologies.
Over the years, I’ve also spotted a few warning signs that a submission might not make the cut. Here are a few things to lookout for and correct before you submit your extract to Undiscovered Voices.
Starting in the wrong place
Too often I will read an incredible extract. The writing is brilliant. There’s a voice sparking on the page and an engaging character. But the first 2,500 words is the writer ramping up to tell the story. They’ve set the stage, but nothing happens. The story hasn’t kicked off yet. Start as close to the inciting incident as possible. (The inciting incident is the moment in your book that sets your story in motion.)
Too much backstory or info dumping
Are you trying to cram in all the amazing elements of your story too soon? Or are you giving me loads of information? What you withhold is as important as what you reveal. Renni Browne and Dave King said it best in their book Self-Editing for Fiction Writers:
‘You don’t want to give your readers information. You want to give them experiences.’
Too many questions
Intriguing me is good. Confounding me is bad. This is the opposite of the info dump mentioned above. If I’m not sure who the main character is, what the story will be about, or where in time and space the story is taking place then I won’t recommend that your story be sent to the judges.
Editing and formatting matter too
Your work won’t be rejected for typos, if you single-space your submission, or if you don’t punctuate your dialog properly, but a well edited and formatted piece shows your professionalism and gives your submission the best chance of making it into the anthology.
These editing tips and many more practical exercises and interrogations can be found in my new book The Ultimate Guide to Editing Your Novel: a revolutionary approach to transform your writing. It draws on my twenty years as a published writer, editor, mentor and lecturer.
The book can be used as a step-by-step guide to review and improve every aspect of your work-in-progress. Or you can use it as a diagnostic tool if you know what’s not working in your draft.
I look forward to reading your submissions and can’t wait to see who we will discover in Undiscovered Voices 2026. I wish you the best of luck!
Writer, editor, lecturer and mentor Sara Grant is the author of The Ultimate Guide to Editing Your Novel: A revolutionary approach to transform your writing (Bloomsbury, 2025). She also consults part-time as Storymix’s talent manager (storymix.co.uk).
Dark Parties, her first YA novel, won the SCBWI Crystal Kite Award for Europe. Publishers in the US, UK and Europe, including Scholastic, Little, Brown and Orion, have published ten of Sara’s books for children/teens. She’s taught masters’ courses on writing for children/teens at Goldsmiths University and the University of Winchester. She co-founded Undiscovered Voices.
Bluesky: @AuthorSaraGrant.bsky.social
Substack: saragrant1.substack.com
LinkedIn: Sara Grant
Twitter/X: @authorsaragrant
Website: http://www.sara-grant.com
