Writing Checklist
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Copyright April 2005, Meredith Bond
"That's a great coat," she said, thinking it the
ugliest coat she had ever seen in her life.
He smoothed down the front of his sports jacket.
"Thanks." He knew she would like this coat, it
was his favorite.
2.Use all five senses.
3.Description of place blended in. Ex: "The was
definitely not a room for small children, she
thought, as she sat down on the cream colored
sofa next to a table laden with fragile ceramic
pieces."
4.Description of people as they talk or others talk to
them. Ex: "Would care to dance," he asked, too
embarrassed to look directly into her intensely
blue eyes.
5.Watch for run-on sentences: two separate ideas in one
sentence -- seperate into two sentences.
6.Watch the passive voice: Passive voice means that the
subject of the sentence is having something done
to it -- the subject is the passive recipient of
the action indicated by the verb. Ex (from
Eileen Wilks) "She was pelted with tomatoes for
using passive voice too often." Active voice:
"The judges pelted her with tomatoes for using
passive voice too often." The poor writer is
still getting pelted, but eh subject of the
sentence is now the judges. No more passive
voice.
7.Sexual/Romantic tension – THIS IS A ROMANCE, don't
forget to include this wonderful part of being in
love.
8.Begin in the middle of a scene when possible.
9.Show vs. Tell – always use dialogue where possible.
10.Inner dialogue – is there too much, too little?
11.Show how the character is feeling through their
actions – not just frowning but dragging their
feet, looking down at their fists, with a spring
in their step, etc.
12.Don’t forget the emotional baggage – state of emotion
and state of mind that each character is in at
each point.
13.Character movement/actions – less of smiling and
nodding and more actual movements that go along
with dialogue and moods.
14.Consistency of Character
15.Each chapter should begin with a bang and end with a
bang
16.Make sure the heroes are heroic – don’t make them do
something stupid too often. And don’t have them
do something the reader won’t forgive them for.
17.Is the chapter good enough to send in to a contest?
Would you proudly ask your favorite author to
read this as a sample of your work? (but don't
actually do it, they've got enough to do writing
your next favorite book!)
18.Action: Does it stir the reader to any emotions or
does it simply further the plot? Action is moving
the reader, not necessarily the character.
19.What is the point of the scene? Must be clear within
the first page.
20.What is the emotion I want to convey? Is it done in a
coherent, moving way?
21.Leave out the exposition: backstory told from the
omnipotent view point. And just about anything
told from the omnipotent author’s viewpoint
unless that is part of the book's style or your
voice.
22.Dialogue….dialogue…..dialogue (that includes thoughts
in the character’s own voice)
23.Emotions should be shown, not told through dialogue
tags. “Really?” Her eyes lit up with
excitement. Not “Really,” she said, excitedly.
23.R.U.E. – Resist the Urge to Explain -- assume your
readers are intelligent, they’ll get it.
24.Don’t interrupt dialogue with too many beats, it
disrupts the scene. But do use them. Fewer
beats = more tension.
25.Make sure you don’t repeat yourself, saying the same
thing in many different ways one right after the
other. If you say it once, it’s enough.
Repeating yourself just drags things out for the
reader, they’ll get it the first time, so you
don't have to go on saying the same thing again
and again. Get it? :-)
Many of these ideas come from Renni Browne's "Self Editing for Fiction Writers."
ugliest coat she had ever seen in her life.
He smoothed down the front of his sports jacket.
"Thanks." He knew she would like this coat, it
was his favorite.
2.Use all five senses.
3.Description of place blended in. Ex: "The was
definitely not a room for small children, she
thought, as she sat down on the cream colored
sofa next to a table laden with fragile ceramic
pieces."
4.Description of people as they talk or others talk to
them. Ex: "Would care to dance," he asked, too
embarrassed to look directly into her intensely
blue eyes.
5.Watch for run-on sentences: two separate ideas in one
sentence -- seperate into two sentences.
6.Watch the passive voice: Passive voice means that the
subject of the sentence is having something done
to it -- the subject is the passive recipient of
the action indicated by the verb. Ex (from
Eileen Wilks) "She was pelted with tomatoes for
using passive voice too often." Active voice:
"The judges pelted her with tomatoes for using
passive voice too often." The poor writer is
still getting pelted, but eh subject of the
sentence is now the judges. No more passive
voice.
7.Sexual/Romantic tension – THIS IS A ROMANCE, don't
forget to include this wonderful part of being in
love.
8.Begin in the middle of a scene when possible.
9.Show vs. Tell – always use dialogue where possible.
10.Inner dialogue – is there too much, too little?
11.Show how the character is feeling through their
actions – not just frowning but dragging their
feet, looking down at their fists, with a spring
in their step, etc.
12.Don’t forget the emotional baggage – state of emotion
and state of mind that each character is in at
each point.
13.Character movement/actions – less of smiling and
nodding and more actual movements that go along
with dialogue and moods.
14.Consistency of Character
15.Each chapter should begin with a bang and end with a
bang
16.Make sure the heroes are heroic – don’t make them do
something stupid too often. And don’t have them
do something the reader won’t forgive them for.
17.Is the chapter good enough to send in to a contest?
Would you proudly ask your favorite author to
read this as a sample of your work? (but don't
actually do it, they've got enough to do writing
your next favorite book!)
18.Action: Does it stir the reader to any emotions or
does it simply further the plot? Action is moving
the reader, not necessarily the character.
19.What is the point of the scene? Must be clear within
the first page.
20.What is the emotion I want to convey? Is it done in a
coherent, moving way?
21.Leave out the exposition: backstory told from the
omnipotent view point. And just about anything
told from the omnipotent author’s viewpoint
unless that is part of the book's style or your
voice.
22.Dialogue….dialogue…..dialogue (that includes thoughts
in the character’s own voice)
23.Emotions should be shown, not told through dialogue
tags. “Really?” Her eyes lit up with
excitement. Not “Really,” she said, excitedly.
23.R.U.E. – Resist the Urge to Explain -- assume your
readers are intelligent, they’ll get it.
24.Don’t interrupt dialogue with too many beats, it
disrupts the scene. But do use them. Fewer
beats = more tension.
25.Make sure you don’t repeat yourself, saying the same
thing in many different ways one right after the
other. If you say it once, it’s enough.
Repeating yourself just drags things out for the
reader, they’ll get it the first time, so you
don't have to go on saying the same thing again
and again. Get it? :-)
Many of these ideas come from Renni Browne's "Self Editing for Fiction Writers."