How To Revise a Dog Ugly Manuscript

Notes on how to revise a very bad manuscript. Largely gleaned from the book 'How to Write a Damn good novel' by James Frey.

• Analysis. For the entire book compose:
  • step sheet
    • logical flow
    • emotional flow
    • PREMISE
    • Choice of viewpoint
  • character profiles
    • physical
      • gender/age/height/weight/hair/face/features
      • deformities/health/strength/dexterity
    • social
      • names/nicknames
      • upbringing/childhood/family/friends
      • education/career/hobbies
    • mental
      • reactions/attitude/ego/outlook/temper
      • fears, neuroses, anxieties
    • RULING PASSION
• Action. For each chapter/scene, consider:
  • cut irrelevant scenes (irrelevant to the premise)
  • fix logical errors
  • start as far into the action as possible
  • emotions/drama/style
    • empathetic:
    • reader's emotions in check with empathetic characters
    • consistent and effective:
      • characterisation
      • viewpoint
      • tense
    • conflict
      • not sudden or jerky
      • not stagnant
      • intensifying
      • start: hook
      • end: tag
    • dialogue parsing:
      • triteness/cliches
      • characterisation
      • 'indirect'
      • clever
    • prose parsing:
      • not vague
      • specific, detailed
      • tasty, fragrant, tactile, colourful, harmonious, melodious; (stimulating)
      • rhythm (suitable when aloud)
      • consistent tense
      • consistent viewpoint
  • mechanics
    • spelling
    • grammar
    • your checklist:
      • eg: 'ly' words, common typos, character names, cultural specifics

Output

• the Novel itself
• Stepsheet
• Character profiles
• Executive summary
• personal checklist
• premise (1 line summary)
• blurbs/taglines/teasers
• scrap heap of rejected ideas/fragments
• notes (from working through problems, research etc.)
• Archive of old copies, backups (softcopies and hardcopies)

For a list of bad practices you can follow, see the ever-popular How to write a novel

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