aprilhenry

Best of luck, April. These are all fabulous suggestions--I'm just now going back to a manuscript that has been sitting for months!

I envy you that. Time gives us so much clarity. I guess that's true of life, as well.

I am in the same canoe as you, just starting a series. I sent the first book in a couple weeks ago and am waiting, but wow, I am going to take another look in the meantime based on your criteria. So thank you:) I look for the same things, but you have it organized so much better than I do....

I could probably list 20 more, but at some point you just get numb/run out of time.

Starting a series is hard because you know there is so much riding on it.

Great list!

One of the things I ask myself is how each character has changed as a result of the story (or if they haven't changed, I ask how the world now views them differently).

When that's done, I get to work on the hard bit, making sure I actually show those changes taking place throughout :)

I also think about whether I am showing the character's core issue, like wanting to feel secure. And you're right, actually showing them is hard!

This is so helpful. Thank you for sharing, April.

There are so many damned things you could pay attention to. You could revise for months and months.

Seriously, this is good stuff. I especially like your under 2000 word count per chapter. I think reducing, reducing cuts out half the problems already.

My number one thing is I always ask: what's the worst possible thing that could happen at this moment? Then do it and see how the characters respond.

I just finished a revision. a key thing was to create an accurate timeline, visually in a calendar. It really helped me solidify the action and make it stronger as it passed through a few holidays which added to the atmosphere and timing of the thing.

I like the worst question when I'm writing the first draft. It's the best!

With this one I actually had separate blank documents in Scrivener labeled Monday, Tuesday, etc. and I still forgot that a particular event always happens on Wednesdays. Luckily I caught it but it made for a lot of shuffling.

Kind of sounds like a version of Darcy Pattison's Shrunken Manuscript.

Thank you for this super helpful post. It was so generous of you to share it, and it's just in time for me. I finished my middle-grade manuscript yesterday, and I'm ready to revise!

I also like reading it aloud. And if you can have an audience - even a cat - or imagine you are reading to your agent or editor, you hear even more that needs to be fixed.

When my critique group meets we usually hand our work to someone else to read out loud cold. It makes for some cringeworthy moments, but it's useful in showcasing the worst mistakes.

User jongibbs referenced to your post from Interesting blog posts about writing – w/e January 25, 2013 saying: [...] ion of interesting (and sometimes amusing) posts about writing from the last week: How I revise [...]