Whether you’re pursuing traditional or self-publishing, self-editing is one of the most crucial skills any writer can possess. It’s not an exaggeration to say that novels are made or broken by the revision process.
But it’s very difficult to see your work objectively, and novels are wondrously complex. I find it helpful to be systematic and ask myself very specific questions to isolate potential problems.
Use this revision checklist to identify areas where your book needs additional editing!
Storytelling essentials
- Do I know my novel’s perspective? Is it completely consistent? Do I really understand the difference between third person omniscient, third person limited, and head jumping/hopping? Really really?
- Do I have a plot?
- Does my protagonist(s) want something? Are the stakes clear to the reader?
- Is change underway in my setting that impacts the characters?
- Do my characters face obstacles of increasing intensity?
- Does my protagonist(s) emerge changed?
Structure and organization
- Are my characters actively going after things they want in every single scene? Even if they’re shy?
- Does my main plot arc initiate close enough to the beginning that I won’t lose the reader? Should I include a mini-quest before the main plot kicks off to keep the protagonist active?
- Are my chapters well-organized? Do they reach a definitive moment of punctuation or do they fizzle out?
- Does my protagonist(s) alternate between up and down moments, with the most intense towards the end?
- Is the pacing correct for my genre? Is it consistent?
- Are momentous events given the weight they deserve? Am I being conscious about what is dramatized and what happens off the page?
- If I can take out a chapter and the plot will still make sense, is that chapter really necessary? Should some events be folded in with others?
- Does my book come to a satisfying climax? Does the ending feel rushed?
Characters and relationships
- Do I have enough conflict?
- Does the reader see the best and worst characteristics of my main characters? Are their strengths balanced by weaknesses? Am I being too easy on them?
- Is my protagonist(s) engaging or am I risking “losing” the reader with actions that are beyond the pale?
- Do my characters have specific hopes and dreams?
- Do the relationships between my characters change and become more complicated as the book goes on?
- Do conflicts between characters end in the same muddled place or are conflicts allowed to linger? Are there ups and downs? Do the characters have to work hard to achieve resolutions?
- Do my characters have backstories and histories? Do these impact the plot? Do I really need them on the page?
- Do any of my characters feel flat? Do they need to be spiced up?
- Are the adults running away with my children’s novel?
Craft and prose
- Am I over-relying on dialogue? Do the conversations have a point? Are my protagonist(s) motivations and thought processes clear from the narrative voice?
- Am I providing adequate physical description to immerse the reader in the setting? Am I describing new characters and settings when they’re first introduced? Is it clear how characters are moving from Point A to Point B?
- Am I orienting the reader at the start of new scenes?
- Am I giving the reader sufficient context to understand what’s happening? Am I bogging things down with aimless info-dumps?
- Are my mysteries chosen judiciously or am I being so vague I’m going to confuse the reader?
- Are my gestures specific and individualized? Am I including aimless stage direction?
- Do I know my writing tics? Is my voice consistent?
- Is my prose belabored with excessive words or explanations that are already apparent from context? Am I over-explaining “default” objects?
- Am I using active verbs and clearing out the clutter in my prose?
Brass tacks
- Is my novel formatted correctly?
- If I’m pursuing traditional publishing, does the first installment in a series come to a completely satisfying conclusion that does not depend on a sequel?
- Do I know my genre?
- Is my word count appropriate for my genre?
- Is my novel’s title evocative and genre-appropriate?
All of this is easier said than done! It’s so difficult to see what is and isn’t on the page, which is why seeking feedback is important. But the farther you can get self-editing on your own, the more you’ll get out of the editing process.
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Art: Poor Artist’s Cupboard by Charles Bird King
Excellent list, Nathan.
Universal but perhaps a bit too general, I would ask if you've huge blocks of unbroken prose running over three-quarters of a page or more. How many readers turn the page, see a huge paragraph of description, and dread reading on?
So much of writing is about an ear for rhythm and a low tolerance for boredom. I often ask myself if my character would be interested in what I'm writing. So often, they're onto something new.
Also, the look of a page is important. White space, quotation marks, indentations, widowed sentences––all of these add variation that helps the flow. Think of it as scenery on your journey. This also goes for shows and tells. Mix them up, stagger them, and jazz without jarring if possible. However, if it calls attention to itself, it's probably wrong.
One final note: nine out of ten thrillers I thumb through in today's bookstores overuse non-said dialog tags which alleviates the reader from doing any work. Surprise anyone?
Hilabeans – re. adverbs, for the sake of harmony, I can tell you that I secretly agree with Nathan.
I just don't agree with Stephen King about writing, no matter what he says. It's a matter of principle.
Hey, I thought of another one:
"Is there suspense? Some element that keeps the reader hooked?"
Is it copycatty? There are a million and one Twilight knockoffs floating around right now and just a few good tweaks could make all the difference. Be sure you're really in touch with what makes your story/characters/setting stand out.
I'm happy to see that there's no 'Have you got enough description'
What I do is a search/find on the word 'feel' and then ask myself if it's really neccessary to spell out what the character is feeling. Very often that's an easy cut and it sorts out a lot of the show/tell side of things.
Including moderation? 😉
HHS
I also have to stop my characters' eyeballs from rolling so much. On my last re-read, I noticed everyone was sighing all the time too.
I do a search and find for "felt" (telling not showing) and all those deadwood words like "all"…or "decided to," "began to," "a bit," "somewhat," "perhaps,"
"somehow," "suddenly," adverbs, most adjectives, "was walking" instead of "walked," weak verbs–well, the list is endless.
Great summary and it comes at a perfect time for me.
It's good that you're giving commenters credit for their suggestions, but at first glance I read it like this:
– Is there too much description? (David R. Slayton, I'm looking at YOU!)
Be careful not to talk down to your reader.
Also; First draft is forgiven of all it's sins but the revisions thereafter must sparkle and shine in the luminous glow of perfection.
Wonderful list, thank you!
– Do you overuse certain words or phrases? Is your word choice perfect throughout?
A tool I've found that's helpful with this is WORDLE. You enter the text and it arranges it into a word cloud where the more frequently a word is used, the bigger it appears. It can help you recognize visually and at a glance which words you overuse.
Plus… it's pretty.
http://www.wordle.net
Thank you for giving out this list. I can work with this.
Thank you, Nathan! And thanks to everyone who left contributing comments!
I would suggest Googling "cliches in novels" or your genre and then "cliches" to see if any exist in your novel. Surprisingly, my psychological thriller had a few cliches that are apparently common in Young Adult novels:
– A token 'ethnic' friend – usually it’s a girl, and she’s always gorgeous
– A dead mother
– Characters who chew on their lip in times of stress
– Raising one eyebrow
I was amazed because something which I thought was very unique to my character (i.e. chewing on lip) is apparently very common *sigh*.
Either way, the novel is out in December so Nathan, I'll expect a plug.
Anon @ 11:45
I believe it is possible. You will always think of ways to improve something, but you should be able to reach a comfort level with your work that should allow you to detach and read the story.
I finally reached that point for the first 50 pages of my MS. It took 3 revisions and then a complete re-write, but something finally clicked and the last time I read it I actually enjoyed reading it.
Now I have about 250 pages to go and I'll be ready to query again.
Hello,
Great post, (as usual I should add). Could you point me/us to a couple of good, useful book on fiction writing, that would have a similar practical view as what you posted here?
I remember a post about books about writing, but I may have missed the one about fiction writing/editing.
thanks and thanks for this blog,
béatrice
Nathan, great list–thanks for the awesome collection.
I always ask myself whether or not the events happen in the correct order; when looking at background, is it correctly placed and properly built up?
Cheers!
great checklist! This is a great tool for new writers.
Rick,
I've revised the entire MS at least 7 times , and probably certain areas at least twenty.
Weronika,
Me too on events. I pulled up several calendars on the internet to make sure that holidays in my story occurred on the right day of the week for one year.
And my search/find adventures have been…illuminating. Ugh.
Brian: Thanks for the wordle tip. I will be using that!
Great list! I'll keep it on my wall.
Oh and I enjoy reading it everytime, but there is always room for improvement. I will put it away for a while and come back, re-read, and forget I even wrote certain things.
Hello,
I am wondering:
1. When using description (telling)
as a set up, how much is too much?
is 650 words acceptable for introducing a setting, for example?
2.Are there Beta Readers who are regular commenting on this blog? If so, I would think it would be great to have a support group here for just that.
(I am currently looking for Beta Readers and could not ask for a pool from a more qualified group that the readers here –and I know, Nathan that that isn't your job description.)
-Beta-anon
smacking head:
typo typo typo
I pretty much agree with Rick.
I revised a handful of times, always finding something I wanted to change.
Then, I read through the whole thing a couple weeks ago and realized I was done.
I think you eventually get to that place, even if the novel isn't perfect.
Thanks, Nathan. As with other writers here, this revision checklist comes at a terrific time for me – as I am currently revising my first novel. So, thanks again.
The only general tip that I find missing from this list relates to the "backstories and histories" guideline. While I agree that character must have backstories, such info must come out organically – over time, through dialogue, short inner monologues, etc. Information dumps are a no-no nowadays (which saddens me a little, I must admit). Just consider the essay re: "The Great Gatsby" (I believe it was one of your links last Friday).
Laura-
I agree.
I would add "Do the voices of your characters remain constant? Are the voices of the characters distinct from each other? And distinct from the narrative voice?
Anon @ 1:18
I was stuck in a Groundhog Day loop of revisions, I know what you mean. For me the epiphany was the re-write. There was so much to fix, the only way to do it was to start over from scratch. Same story, but a very different telling of it.
It's daunting to say the least…so much work to do all over again. The joy, though, is in reading it and realizing how much I have grown as a writer. I think that's what drives my satisfaction. It's finally getting past decent or good enough to really good. At least in my own verrry humble opinion 😉
Mira – The meaning of "RTFP" depends on the context ("read the fine print" or "read the freakin' post" or etc., etc.), so I don't know what Bane meant there. Who ever does?
Brian – Thanks for the wordle.net heads-up.
Beatrice – Personally, my favorite fiction editing book is "Self-Editing for Fiction Writers" (Renni Browne & Dave King). A friend gave it to me – and it's been quite helpful (as evidenced by its ragged condition)!
Excellent timing–I'm in the middle of revisions.
Thanks!
Definitely something that all of us in the middle of revisions should read – and remember. You seem to have hit all of the major points. Thanks so much for this list.
Gold, I tell ya. This post is GOLD.
Did you start out with something exciting in chapter one, only to follow it with an entire chapter of backstory?
Are your protagonists the people who make the plot move or are they passive victims of other people's decisions and actions. (Thanks to Alicia Rasley's Story Within Guidebook for pointing out how this can weaken a plot.)
Great post! Really instructive, thanks!
To add a comment, I'd just remark something that I bellieve goes in the pacing item: are the transitions smooth, or you twitch your nose when alternating scenarios, points or view, or jumping in time?
Laura – Lol. Thanks for clearing that up. I couldn't figure out why Bane was sticking his tongue out at us.
@ Beta-Anon: just shoot me an email!
@ Laurel: That's not what I meant originally. My question refers more to the order of chapters and how the conflict arises. Do the right things happen at the right time? Is the story as a whole structured properly–to feel and flow organically?
However, your point is another great one–are dates, facts, places, and events historically correct?
I love this. I generally try to take notes as I'm writing of things I want to look at or revise later, but having this checklist will be useful–especially since it might make me aware of a problem I'd otherwise overlook!
Ahh, the side characters. I had very few in my last MS, so I tried to push myself by having a lot in this one, and now I think I have too many and am trying to decide which to combine once I finish my first draft.
Oh no…I'd missed it – there is a 'have you got enough description'.
How about: are all your swearwords strictly necessary?
Laura, thanks for being my proxy (esoteric as I may be 🙂 – yes, I was bastardizing RTFQ – as a Navy brat, I'm all about dem acronyms.
Great timing for the check list. I just finished the rough draft of my first novel. I'm going to put it aside for three months before coming back to rip it to shreds, build a new outline, and start over again.
https://www.creimer.ws/home/one-year-one-week-and-700-pages-later.html
"are all your swearwords strictly necessary?"
You're ^*&^$%#&*# right they are.
Keren & Rick – The "swear words" issue is one that tortured me during the writing of my first novel. In some ways, my story straddles YA and adult fiction, so I thought that swearing might help to push it into the realm of adult fiction. But then, after reading so many agents' and editors' opinions about unnecessary swearing, I ultimately decided to remove all f-bombs, be more creative with my angry outbursts, and insert a few necessary sex scenes instead. Woohoo!
Bless you! I've been pondering many of these points and now have a handy checklist to make sure I'm there when revision time comes!
Great list and great comments.
I would add:
-Do you use the active voice whenever possible?
-When you use the passive voice, is it a conscious decision?
-Do you overuse "it was" and "there was"?
What a great list. I'm going to have to print this out and use it always.
Here's a question: Have all the side storylines you started gotten resolved? Do they weave seamlessly into the main storyline's conclusion?
That's a good list, especially when including reader comments. The funny thing is that I was just compiling a checklist of my own based on problems I've seen in published books. You've saved me some effort. 🙂
Great list.
– have you named characters that don't need naming?
– have you info-dumped, ie stuck in research notes that only you the author need to know?
– take a good look at where you have used "just", "managed to" , "started to" and "suddenly" – you can probably cut out most of them
Thank you for this list. I'm in the throes of revisions. This couldn't have come at a better time for me. This post goes into my "Hall of Fame" folder.
Wow, what a great list. The only thing I can think of to add is the comment an author friend of mine made on my most recent ms, regarding a one-time-appearance character, a doctor in a crowd who was necessary to impart a crucial bit of medical information. I had a bit too much fun describing him and made him more important than he should have been, leading her to expect more doctor when, in truth, he had already played his part. I guess that would be called overwriting the bit players? She was totally correct, and his abbreviated description made for a much smoother passage.
And please have critique partners help you with this list!
Oftentimes, I can 'feel' something isn't working, but I cannot figure out what it is to save my life. Crunchy Critters are worth their weight in gold!