April is the month to pull weeds so beautiful green and flowering plants can burst through the soft earth. Editing is like weeding our lawns, flowering plants, and gardens.  If we don’t yank out the typos, redundancies, and inconsistencies—and revise and strengthen our manuscripts—the weeds will push through and threaten to choke the life from our beloved prose. Most important is an up-to-date edition of the Chicago Manual of Style. For writers whose publishers use MLA or Modern Language Association (used mainly for research papers) note the differences and learn what the publisher prefers. On the heels of the CMOS and MLA are the publisher’s guidelines. Request those from the publisher.

When you believe it’s time to pull weeds from the writing project, let it sit for at least two weeks. The waiting time gives the writer a fresh perspective to edit with a critical eye.

The following suggestions ensure your manuscript is weed-free and ready for the eyes of an editor:

Active Voice

Strive to make sentences active. Remember that “as” and “-ing” words tend to weaken a sentence. Note not all -ing words are passive.

Adverbs

Use sparingly and not with dialogue tags.

Do a global search in your manuscript for:

• “ly” with a space after it
• “ly.” with a period after it.

Avoid Clichés

Create your own metaphors and similes.

Beginnings

Begin with a strong hook that immediately draws the reader into the project.

Does your story begin with the lead character’s name and his/her current situation?

Chapter and Scene Hooks

Does every chapter and scene begin and end with a hook?

Characterization

Hero, heroine or protagonist:

• What is it about them that you like or dislike?
• Is there a positive and negative trait that is not yours? Create unique characters.
• If you were to spend a vacation with the hero or heroine, what about them would appeal to you?

Villain or antagonists: 

• Is the character truly evil or badly behaved?
• What is the one trait that gives the antagonist a redeeming quality?
• Sol Stein states that no villain can attract victims unless he has charm, charisma, position, or wealth. Establish your villain’s manipulation strengths.

Chronology

Use a calendar to keep track of your chapters’ timeline. 

Conflict and Tension

Include conflict and tension in every sentence.

Consistency

Spelling Numbers—written or spelled out

Cut Extra Words

Be clear and concise

Dialogue 

• Clear and tight.
• In character, genre, and time.
• Punctuated correctly. 
• Do you need a tag?
• Do you need a beat?

Emotional Conflict

Have you made it your goal to have emotional conflict in every sentence? 

Every line?

Show emotions.

Examine Plot

Have you asked the four crucial questions about every chapter?

1. What is the POV character’s goal or problem to solve?
2. What does the POV character learn that is new information.
3. What backstory is revealed?
4. How are the stakes raised?

Genre

Have you written with a clear genre in mind?

How do you want the story to “feel” to the reader (creepy, brooding, inspirational etc.)?

Grammar

Invest in a grammar guide or English book.

Eliminate dangling participles.

Hyphen, En-Dash, and Em-Dash

Learn the differences, application, and correctly type the proper punctuation.

Consult publisher guidelines or The Chicago Manual of Style.

Plot

Is it tight?

Are there no holes? 

Loose threads?

Pronoun Preference

Make sure the reader knows which noun the pronoun stands for.

Redundancy

Avoid repeated phrases

Don’t insult the reader by telling more than once.

Scenes

Rate every scene in your book. Each one should propel the story forward, constantly 

building conflict and tension.

Smooth transitions

Sensory Perception

Does each scene use all the senses?

Sentence Order

Count the number of syllables: beans, cabbage, and tomatoes instead of huckleberries, 

pear, and banana.

Count the number of words. He enjoyed green beans, deep-fried onion rings, and buttered 

corn-on-the cob.

If all the items have the same number of syllables, then consider their position in the alphabet.

An exception to this is chronological order, obvious sequence, familiar sequence, and 

unintended modifiers.

Sometimes the way we are accustomed to hearing items in a list contradicts the above. 

guidelines. If the items in your list do not sound appropriate when you adhere to the above rule, change them so they are acceptable. 

Tea with lunch, dinner, and breakfast should be tea with breakfast, lunch, and dinner. 

Cream and peaches should be peaches and cream. 

The bees and the birds (alphabetical sequence) should be the birds and the bees. 

Gold, myrrh, and frankincense should be gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Setting

Research more than you think you will ever use.

Fictitious towns are best. 

Map out your town ahead of time, filling in street names, residential, business, etc.

Telling Words

Think 

Know

Understand

Realize

Believe

Want

Remember

Imagine

Desire

Need

Text to Voice Software

Research software for what works best for you.

Scrivener has text to voice.

Word has this incorporated.

Vary Sentence Length

Do the sentences have rhythm?

Weasel Words and Phrases *research online for a complete list

Absolutely

Actually

All of

All right

As a matter of fact

As being

As yet

At all times

Basically, essentially

Beginning sentences with “There” or “It”

Being that

Cell phone cliches: pull out, scroll across, hang up

Completely 

Definitely

During the course of

Each and every

Extremely

For all intents and purposes

For the most part

I mean

In order

In the process of

Just

Literally

Okay

Of course

Point in time

Pretty

Quite

Rather

Really

Shrugged

Simply

Smiled

So

Some

Somebody

Somehow

Someone

Something

Sometimes

Somewhat

Somewhere

Suddenly

That

Then

Thing

Totally 

Up, down

Very

Which

Word Choice

William Shakespeare said: “Suit the action to the word, the word to the action.” 

Word Frequency Finder and Phrase Frequency Finder. 

http://www.writewords.org.uk/word_count.asp  

Unintended Modifiers

Make sure all modifiers modify clearly what is intended.

Online Resources:

Calendar

Grammarly 

Scrivener

ProWritingAid

For a polished manuscript, print the writing project and read line by line. Read the project one last time before sending it to an agent or editor. Editing is cultivation. And cultivated manuscripts bloom.

Now relax. Tomorrow you can begin to grow the next manuscript.