50k+ words

Jesse Morgan

November 28, 2009

earlier this week I crossed the 50k line on Ziggy’s second book. As I ramp down on this and switch back to editing the first book, I’ve been thinking about the different categories of editing. There are several different groupings- Technical, Stylistic, etc… I’m sure there’s an official english language checklist somewhere, but until I find it, I’m gonna try and write them up.

Why? Because when it comes time for other people to edit my books, it would be nice if they kept these changes in mind and maybe color coded them so I’d be able to tell what is what.

Technical

Spelling/Punctuation
Sentence Structure
Paragraph Structure
Chapter Structure
Book Structure

Fact Checking

Consistent character naming
Consistent timelines
Consistent Distances
Consistent motivations
Consistent aging

Naming

Map up to date
Location names consistent with races/area
Locations named
Characters named
ALL names pronounceable

Personalities

Consistent character naming
Consistent motivations
Consistent aging

Perspective

Maintain 1st person
Clue reader in on Ziggy’s perspective, other party perspective, and reality
Validate stretches of logic
Explain moral choices

Let me know if I’m missing a group or need to flesh something out.