GENREALITY

I’m deep into revising my second Jeremiah Hunt novel based on the notes from my editor.  Next to me as I work is a checklist I found on Darcy Patterson’s Fiction Notes blog several weeks ago which I’ve found to be useful tool in helping me stay focused on getting the most out of each of my scenes.

For those who haven’t seen it, I thought I’d share some of it here and you can hop over to Darcy’s blog (see above) to catch the rest.

I’d also be interested in hearing what you might add to the list from your own revision sessions…

Ten Point Checklist for Scenes

• Where/When. (Setting) Did you orient the reader at the beginning of the scene? Does the reader know where this takes place: room in house, city, state, country, etc? Does the reader know when this takes place: time of day, season of year, place within chronology of story? If the answer to where or when is no, do you have a firm reason for leaving the reader disoriented?

• Stakes. Are the stakes of the scene goal clear? If the protagonist fails, do we understand the consequences? Are the consequences substantial? Can you put more at stake, or make it matter in some way?

• Structure. Is the structure clear, with a beginning, middle, pivot point and ending? Is the chronology of the scene clear (did you use transitions such as then, later, before, after, etc.)?

• Actions. Are the actions of the scene interesting, and told with active verbs and great clarity?

• Emotions. Are the emotions clearly stated or implied? Can the reader empathize with the characters? Does the reader weep or laugh, even when the character can’t or won’t?

… you can find the rest at Fiction Notes

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Related posts:

1. The Levels of Revision Hell
2. So You Wanna Write Your First Novel, Part 5: Revision
3. So You Wanna Write Your First Novel, Part 4: Pre-Revision