Narrative content

* Narrative & dramatic focus What’s at stake? What type of story is this? What’s your slant on your content? What’s the final payoff?

* World-building What is your setting? And how are your characters’ stories grounded in time and place?

* Characters Credible? Interesting? Too many/few? Adequately motivated? Can we gain from having a clearer protagonist or antagonist? And from giving them more obvious objects of desire? Are your characters’ internal, interpersonal, and/or societal antagonisms adequately drawn and connected?

* Symbols & archetypes How are important aspects of content working subconsciously? How might archetypes lend depth and substance to characters and situations? Look up the etymology of key words, and unpack their history and meaning for your book.

* Change What are the basic conflicts, antagonisms or changes in the story? And how are they resolved?

Conflict is one kind of behavior. There are others, equally important in any human life, such as relating, finding, losing, bearing, discovering, parting, changing. Change is the universal aspect of all these sources of story. Story is something moving, something happening, something or somebody changing.
– Ursula Le Guin, Steering the Craft

Narrative Style 1: The Bigger Picture

* Voice & mood Does the voice bring the story to life? Are the mood and tone captivating? Does the tone convey the right emotions?

* Form What is the container or shape for this story? And how might it be broken down, e.g., into parts, chapters, and sections? How might non-textual or extra-textual devices add something to the form: chapter numbers, linespaces, datestamps, family tree, footnotes, maps? And while we are at it: are we sure this is a novel (or memoir, essay, short story, poem, or screenplay)?

* Structure & pacing Do we have a beginning, middle, end? Is the opening strong? Does plotting unfold with appropriate narrative/dramatic tension in the rising action? Is the ending rewarding?

* Length & scope Is the story too short or too long relative to its content? Are there too many/too few ingredients? Do ingredients achieve appropriate texture and density?

* Point of view & narrating stance Where is the piece being narrated, and by whom? Is this stance appropriate and used to full effect (e.g., with dramatic irony)? Do we need a narrator, or a more obvious narratorial presence?

Narrative Style 2: The Telling Details

* Suspense & withheld information: narrative drive What is revealed when, and how, and by whom? And to characters, as well as to readers? Could plot reveals take place sooner or later? Is why or how more interesting than what? And: what mysteries can remain unspoken?

* Showing vs telling Do the degrees of showing and telling achieve a successful balance of narrative tension? Can the scene-setting of foreground action be appropriately balanced with narrative summary? Are scenes too crowded, or thinly drawn? Is a sense of storytelling achieved?

* Interior vs exterior action Do scenes of external action convey enough of the story? Are internal reflections balanced and interesting? What drifts? What lifts?

* Tense The immediacy of present tense? Or the fuller possibilities of a wider range of tenses?

* Dialogue Engaging? Overdone? Realistic? Forward-moving? Avoiding info dumps?

* Description Is detail revealing? Too much? Too little? Sufficiently specific and concrete?

Prose Style & Voice

* Style Imagery, symbolism, figures of speech, sound effects, word choices? Clunkiness, thinness, overwriting? Is the style appropriate to the content?

* Syntax Understand the workings of parts of speech. Verbs bring energy. Circle every verb in a piece: check how they’re working. Are main verbs strong and purposeful? Are passive verb forms necessary? If a sentence has more than one verb, can each justify being there? Nouns anchor us: use good ones. Maybe eliminate every adverb and adjective, and restore only the essentials. Look for choppy sentences or repetitions, but don’t torture your language to avoid a simple word repetition that probably won’t hurt.

* Economy Make simple cuts of unnecessary explanations and boring transitions. Readers will do much of the work, and beta readers can tell you if anything needs clarification. The principle of sufficiency is an important one (e.g., in creating mood).

* Check spelling & punctuation And turn on spellcheck & grammarcheck for one last trawl: tinkering can render sentences incomplete, and fixes are needed.

Context and publishing

* Readership Who are the readers: what might they expect, and what are you giving them?

* Genre Are conventions observed efficiently? If deviating, do we do so in a desirable or interesting way? (Also relevant to focus, form, type of story.)

* Comparison titles What are the books (or authors, tv shows or films) that share the appeal of your own book – directly and indirectly?

* Market What are trends and fashions in your sector of the market?

 

Related link: Suggestions For Self-Editing.

 

Revised and updated 20 September 2016.