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Bathrooms
Evacuation Procedure
Overheads available www.christianediting.co.nz
o Sign up for my newsletter
Questions
o Keep for end
Backstory
Conflict
Dialogue tags
Facts
Formatting
Interior Monologue
Point of view
Reader expectations
Showing and telling
Structure
12 point type
Times New Roman
2.5 cm (1 inch) margins
Double line spacing
One space between sentences
1.25 cm (1/2 inch) intent for new paragraph
Extra line space or # or ### for new scene
New chapter begins on a new page
A4 paper (US Letter for US submissions)
Genre
o Thriller
o Romance
o Speculative
Plot and subplot
Target Age
Word Count
o Category Romance vs. Single Title
Act One: the first 20%o Hook
o Inciting Incident
o Key Event
o First major plot point
Act Two: the middle 55%o Reaction
o Midpoint (second major plot point)
o Action
Act Three: the last 25%o Third major plot point
o Climax
o Resolution
Recommended
First Person
Third Person
o Deep Perspective
Cinematic
o Limited uses
Avoid
Second Person
Third Person
o Distant
Omniscient
o Head hopping
Only one point of view character per scene
The viewpoint character should be the character who is
most impacted by the events in the scene
A new scene is indicated to the reader by an additional
line break
Show them the scene—don’t tell them about the scene
o Viewpoint of a single character
o Crucial sense or thought impressions that character is
experiencing at any given moment
o Present those impressions as vividly and briefly as possible
o Give those impressions in a logical order
Scene is showing
Narrative summary is telling
Principle also applies to interior monologue and feelings
o Resist the Urge to Explain
Appropriate speaker attributionso said – whispered – shouted – asked
o Name first (she said, not said she)
o No –ly adverbs
o Use beats to break up he said, she said
o Sometimes the best attribution is no attribution
Paragraphingo New speaker = new paragraph
o Dialogue, then speaker attribution or beat (then more dialogue, but only one beat per speech)
o Keep it short
In media res
o Start in the middle of the action
Character histories
o Marble information throughout the plot
o No information dumps or author intrusions
o No psychoanalysing characters
Related Issues
o Prologues
o Flashbacks
o Telegraphing
Conflict is the essence of fiction
Commercial fiction readers expect you to answer four simple questions.
o Who = character
o What = goal
o Why = motivation
o Why not = conflict
Character Internal External
Goal
Motivation
Conflict
Historical
o Anachronisms
o Factual errors
Contemporary
o References to technology
Both
o Vocabulary that doesn’t fit the character
• Consistent with the time period
• Consistent with the age and education level of the character
• Use of contractions
Anything by James Scott Bell, especially Revision and Self-editing
Goal Motivation Conflict by Deborah Dixon
Character and Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card
Wired for Story by Lisa Cron
Self-editing for Fiction Writers by Browne & King
The Word Loss Diet by Rayne Hall
Rivet Your Readers with Deep Point of View by Jill Elizabeth Nelson
Structuring Your Novel by KM Weiland
I specialise in adult and young adult Christian fiction, and can be contacted at [email protected]. You can also find me at:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/ChristianReads and http://www.facebook.com/#!/christianediting
www.christianreads.blogspot.com and www.christianediting.co.nz
I offer the following services:
Manuscript Assessment:
A manuscript assessment is an appraisal and critique of your novel, providing feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of your plot, scenes, characters, dialogue, interior monologue, narrative, point of view, style, pace, language, Christian themes and overall consistency. This will highlight your strengths and provide you with specific areas on which to focus the revision of your manuscript. This is most appropriate when you have finished revising the first draft.
While a manuscript assessment does not include line-by-line copy editing or proofreading, I will provide general feedback to help you decide whether your revised novel will need further content editing or copy editing before you reach the proofreading stage.
Copy Editing:
Copy editing includes all aspects of proofreading, plus a line by line edit to look at sentence, paragraph and chapter length; identify repetition of words or ideas; ensure consistent plot, style, tense and point of view; ensure language and tone are consistent with the location and time period of the story; and undertake basic fact checking against reputable internet sites. While copy editing does not include rewriting, I do suggest alternatives for words used out of context, and revisions for sentences or paragraphs that are overly long. Please note that copy editing does not include formatting or coding manuscripts for traditional or electronic publication.
Proofreading:
Proofreading is the final step in preparing your novel before submission to a publisher or agent. This assumes the manuscript has already been extensively revised and edited, and involves checking spelling, grammar, punctuation, capitalisation, missing or incorrect words and other typographical errors. If my initial read-through shows that the manuscript needs more assistance than basic proofreading, I will discuss this with you before I begin work.
Editing and proofreading are undertaken in Microsoft Word using the Track Changes and Comments features.