The Finish Line(s) for Writers

First, You Celebrate! Then review your draft with these 10 Tips

You’ve finished your first draft (or second, or eleventh, or twenty-seventh), here’s a checklist to help you make sure you’ve done everything you can. look through it and make sure every page is compelling for the reader. If you have a section or a paragraph or a scene that slows the story down in any way, take a look at it and ask yourself these ten questions:

1. Does it open with a great hook?

2. Does this scene/chapter further the action of the story?

3. Does it succeed on all three levels:

• Furthering the Plot

• Developing the Personal Relationships

• Revealing the Inner Journey of the Main Character

(Remember, every chapter, every scene, and every page should address all three levels and connect to the theme and the spine of the story).

4. Does it reverse itself? A scene should begin with certain expectations, then take a turn and surprise the reader. (That’s how life is!).

5. Does the Main Character grow, at least a little bit, in this scene/chapter?

6. Is the tone consistent with the rest of the book/screenplay? (Dark v Light?)

7. Does it close with a cliffhanger or a moment of foreboding? Will it make the reader turn the page?

8. Does the ending of one chapter lead into the beginning of the next? (Cause and Effect)

9. When you read it aloud to yourself, does it sound melodic?

10. Does the ending of the last chapter or scene relate to the beginning? Does it resonate with the theme? With the spine of the story?

P.S. You can should ask yourself these questions at any point in the process, of course.

Offered with love,

Margaret