The Most Common Mistakes Editors See (And How To Avoid Them)

Gary Smailes | 5 November 2025

Big-Picture Story Problems Editors Flag First

You want an honest read on where a manuscript breaks. Start here. Big-picture issues sink interest fast. Fixing them early saves months.

Soft premise and stakes

Ask one question before anything else. Who wants what, why now, and what stands in the way. If you stumble, the premise is soft.

Write a one-sentence logline. One sentence forces clarity. No commas piled high. No backstory.

Weak: A woman deals with changes in her life after moving home.

Stronger: A disgraced chef returns to her coastal town to win a high-stakes food festival before her father sells the family restaurant to a rival.

Now write a 100-word pitch. Hit setup, goal, stakes, and opposition. Read it aloud. Do you feel urgency. Does someone want something concrete.

Mini-exercise:

• Write the logline.
• Expand to 100 words.
• Highlight goal, deadline, and obstacle in different colors.
• If any color looks thin, revise until each stands out.

Unclear genre and audience

Readers buy promises. You make those promises with genre, comps, and tone. Miss the mark and readers feel misled.

Pick two or three comp titles released in the past few years. Choose books your target readers know. Study pacing, heat level, POV, and typical word counts. Set your aim to align.

Example:

• Goal: Romantic suspense with high tension and closed-door intimacy.
• Comps: The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley, The Guest List by Lucy Foley, but with a softer romance thread.
• Target word count: 80–90k.
• POV plan: Dual first person, alternating chapters.

If your mystery runs 140k with slow-burn literary digressions, call it what it is. Or trim to fit the promise you want to make.

Flabby structure and pacing

A sagging middle is not a moral failure. It is a missing chain of cause and effect. Scenes sit beside each other instead of pushing forward.

Build a scene list. One line per scene with purpose and outcome. Then run a reverse outline. For each scene, ask what changed and how it pressures the next scene.

Quick template for each scene:

• Purpose: plot, revelation, or character turn.
• Goal: what the scene’s driver wants now.
• Conflict: who or what blocks progress.
• Turn: the shift near the end.
• Consequence: new problem created.

Scan the list. If outcomes reset to zero, you have loops. If stakes look flat across several scenes, raise pressure or cut. If a subplot arrives and never pays off, fold it into the main drive or remove.

Weak character arcs

Reactive heroes wear readers out. We follow choice, not weather. Define four elements before you rewrite.

• Want. Surface goal, the thing your protagonist chases.
• Need. Deeper change they resist.
• Misbelief. Wrong idea steering decisions.
• Turning points. Moments where pressure forces new choices.

Example:

• Want: Win the food festival.
• Need: Trust others with the kitchen.
• Misbelief: Only total control prevents disaster.
• Turning points: Fails when she hogs the line. Wins early heat after she delegates. Risks the final by trusting a rival with dessert.

Track choices scene by scene. If doors open through coincidence, replace with decisions that cost something. If a revelation fixes everything, force a price. Arc lives in what your character chooses under pressure.

Skewed opening

Many drafts front-load backstory because the writer needs it. Readers do not. They want a person in motion and a problem that matters.

Start in scene. Use concrete action aimed at a goal. Drop one clear source of friction. Once we care, feed backstory in small bites, tied to current stakes.

Before:

• Three pages on childhood summers in the restaurant. Family tree. Weather.

After:

• The chef steps into a gutted kitchen on delivery day. The oven is missing. Her father signed the sale papers. The rival’s billboard hangs across the street.

Now we have a scene with a goal and a clock. Backstory about the summers can thread in when it hits emotion or choice.

How to fix

Do a full developmental pass before you touch lines. Treat prose polish like frosting. No cake, no frosting.

Set up a diagnostics spreadsheet. One row per scene. Use simple columns:

• Scene number and location.
• POV owner.
• Purpose, plot or character or revelation.
• Goal.
• Conflict or obstacle.
• Turn.
• Consequence, impact on stakes and next scene.
• Notes, cut, merge, expand, or move.

Work through the whole manuscript. Cut dead scenes. Merge duplicates. Add bridges where logic breaks. Reorder for rising stakes. Only when the structure holds should you line edit.

Two quick checkpoints keep you honest:

• If you revise for an hour and fix commas, you are avoiding story work.
• If two consecutive passes yield only cosmetic tweaks, move to the next stage.

Big-picture work feels rough. It is also where books level up. Give the story a spine, then worry about the sentences.

Scene-Level and POV Issues Editors See Repeatedly

When readers bail, the trouble often lives inside a scene. Not the whole book. One beat. One choice. One line of thought. Clean those, momentum returns.

Scenes without goals

Two people talking, a walk to the train, pages of travel notes. If no one wants anything concrete, the scene idles.

Run this test before you revise:

• In one sentence, finish this: In this scene, X wants Y now, or the story loses Z.
• If you struggle to fill Y and Z, drop or rebuild the scene.

Aim for goal, conflict, outcome. Enter late, once the goal is in play. Exit early, on a shift that tilts the next scene.

Before:

• Maya and Leo sit in a café and chat about the festival, childhood, and the town. They drink coffee. Nothing changes.

After:

• Goal: Maya needs the vendor list before noon.
• Conflict: Leo refuses because his job is on the line.
• Outcome: Maya steals a photo of the list on his phone, loses him as an ally, and gains a deadline.

Trim arrival and pleasantries. Start with Maya at the counter asking for the list. End on the theft and his reaction.

Mini-exercise:

• Mark the first line where the goal appears. Cut above it.
• Mark the last line before the outcome. Cut below it.
• If the middle lacks resistance, add an obstacle or replace the scene.

Head-hopping and POV drift

Readers track emotion through one lens at a time. When the page jumps into another skull, trust breaks.

Bad:

• Maya smiled, relieved. Leo thought she looked smug and planned to keep the list from her.

Fixed, single POV Maya:

• Maya studies Leo’s tight jaw. He keeps his phone face down. The smile sticks in her cheeks, more defense than joy.

Fixed, single POV Leo:

• Leo watches Maya aim a smile like a tool. He drops his gaze to his phone, thumb guarding the screen.

Pick one POV per scene or chapter. If you need both, switch at a clear break with a line space or a chapter cut.

Track psychic distance. Are we outside, reporting, or inside, hearing thought and sensation. Choose a level on purpose and hold it through the scene. If you want more intimacy, drop filters like she saw or he felt and let direct sensation land.

Quick tool:

• Add a column to your outline for POV owner and distance, far, mid, close.
• If a scene drifts without warning, flag for a rewrite.

Expository dialogue and monologues

When characters lecture each other on facts they both know, readers skim. When a character explains their soul for a page, readers nap.

Watch for phrases like as you know or we have always. Cut them. Move information into action, subtext, or a choice.

Before:

• “As you know, Dad, the festival started in 1989 because Grandma wanted to draw tourists, and the vendor list goes out at noon.”

After:

• “I need the vendor list before noon.”
• Dad does not look up. “Tourists can wait.”
• “Grandma built this festival to save this town. You taught me that.” She holds out her hand.

Information arrives inside pressure. Dad’s reply shows resistance. Maya’s line pulls history without a lecture.

For inner monologues, break them. Anchor reflection to a present trigger, then move to a decision.

Before:

• Two paragraphs of Maya reviewing her career, her failures, her hopes.

After:

• The oven gap gapes like a pulled tooth. She thinks of the night she torched a review. A breath. “Call the rental place,” she says. “I will borrow an oven by four.”

Backstory dumps

Backstory earns space when it reorders stakes. If it only explains, keep it out or compress.

Use a clear trigger, an image, smell, or line. Keep the flash under a page. Re-enter the present with a new choice or new risk.

Trigger:

• The rival’s billboard shows the dessert that made her famous.

Flash:

• The night she first plated it, the critic’s face, the way the kitchen went silent.

Re-entry:

• She pockets her pride. “We will beat them with something else,” she says, knife tapping the counter. “New menu. Start now.”

If you miss the present for long, the story stalls. Tie every look back to what the character does next.

Inert setting

Description that floats, no friction, no use, slows pace. Description that pressures a goal sharpens tension.

Before:

• The market plaza was wide, with cobblestones and a fountain. Lights twinkled. Stalls lined the square.

After:

• The fountain drowns her phone alarm. Noon creeps up. The cobbles tilt her dolly, a crate slides off and bursts. Sweet pears roll under a rival’s stall.

Tie setting to intention. Treat elements as obstacles or resources.

• Weather: heat wilts lettuce before judging.
• Space: a narrow aisle forces body contact with an ex.
• Props: a dead outlet kills the mixer, so the whisk becomes a lifeline.

Pick details that force decisions. Leave the postcard view for later.

How to fix

Audit each scene for purpose. Plot move, revelation, or character turn. One works. Two if they feed each other. None means deletion or merge.

Simple process:

• Create a quick scene card. POV owner. Goal. Conflict. Turn. Outcome. Impact on stakes.
• Color highlighters help. Goal in green. Conflict in red. Outcome in blue. If a page lacks red or blue, add heat or cut the page.
• Note entry and exit points. Trim soft starts. End on a shift.
• Mark any head-hopping. Rewrite to a single lens or split the scene.
• Circle expository lines. Replace with action or choice.
• Review description. Swap neutral details for ones that block or enable.

One more test for momentum:

• Read the last line of each scene, then the first line of the next. Do they connect through cause and effect. If not, build the bridge or reorder.

Scene work feels small, but it lifts the whole book. Nail goals, hold POV, feed information through action, make place matter. Your pages will move. Readers will follow.

Line-Level and Voice Problems That Dilute Prose

Voice lives in the line. One sentence at a time. Tight lines sing. Sloppy ones muff the note. Let’s tune.

Overwriting and cliché

Stacking adjectives and reaching for familiar phrases muddies meaning. You feel busy while the reader works hard for little payoff.

Before:

• The long, winding, meandering road stretched endlessly before her like a ribbon to nowhere.

After:

• The road switchbacked up the ridge.

Before:

• He was nervous, sweating bullets, heart pounding out of his chest.

After:

• His shirt stuck to his back. His pulse kicked hard.

Trade modifiers for precise nouns and verbs. Pick the one true image. If a phrase pops into your head whole, pause. You have heard it a hundred times. Kill it or twist it.

Cliché:

• At the end of the day.

Subvert:

• By midnight, the plan fell apart.

Quick pass:

• Search for strings of two or more adjectives. Keep one, or replace the set with a sharper noun.
• Highlight any phrase you have read on a mug or poster. Replace it.

Filter words and distancing

Filters add a fog layer between the reader and the moment. She saw. He felt. I noticed. Readers want the moment, not your report of it.

Before:

• I noticed the door was open and felt a chill.

After:

• The door hangs open. Cold air licks my arms.

Before:

• She heard the siren and realized the cops were close.

After:

• Sirens split the block. The cops are close.

Cut the filter when you want intimacy. Keep it when contrast or doubt matters.

Intentional use:

• I think I know who set the fire. I might be wrong.

You kept the hedge on purpose. The voice owns it.

Quick pass:

• Use Find for saw, heard, felt, realized, noticed, wondered, thought. Rewrite five lines without the filter. Keep any that serve intention.

Adverb overload and weak verbs

Adverbs patch weak verbs. Strong verbs carry weight.

Before:

• He ran quickly across the lot.

After:

• He sprinted across the lot.

Before:

• She looked angrily at the clerk.

After:

• She glared at the clerk.

Not all adverbs are villains. Keep one when it bends meaning in a fresh way.

Keep:

• She whispered once, urgently. Then closed her mouth.

Urgently shifts the beat. It earns its keep.

Quick pass:

• Search for words ending in -ly. Read the sentence aloud. If the verb has a sharper version, use it. If the adverb adds precision or tone, leave it.

Passive voice misuse

Passive is not wrong. It turns the object into the focus. It also saps energy when used by habit.

Before, weak:

• The cake was eaten by the kids.

After, active:

• The kids ate the cake.

Use passive when the actor is unknown or irrelevant. Or when you need to spotlight the receiver.

Good passive:

• The locks were picked last night.
• The bill was approved this morning.

You want the locks and the bill on stage, not the picker or the committee.

Quick pass:

• Search for was and were near a past participle. If the actor matters, flip the sentence. If the receiver matters, keep it as is.

Rhythm monotony

Same-length sentences thud. Your ear wants mix and lift.

Flat:

• The room was bright. The table was long. People were talking. The meeting started.

Varied:

• Sun on glass. A long table, all sharp edges. Voices braid and snap. The meeting starts.

Use short lines for impact. Let one long sentence spool out when pressure builds. Your voice lives in that swing.

Two quick drills:

• Read a page aloud. If your breath falls into a march, vary length and structure.
• Use text to speech. If the voice drones, change the score.

How to fix

Line work comes after structure is set. Save your polish for last, or you polish the same pages twelve times.

A clean line-edit pass:

1. Build a “golden pages” packet. Three to five pages where your voice hits the note. A scene of dialogue. A moment of action. A breath of quiet. Keep it nearby.
2. Choose a focus per pass. One for filters and weak verbs. One for clichés and modifiers. One for rhythm and line breaks. Narrow focus keeps you sharp.
3. Run a word-frequency check. List your crutch words. Even. Still. Only. Then. Down. Smile. Shrug. Nods. Pick three to cut by half.
4. Do a verb upgrade sweep. Scan each paragraph for the dullest verb. Replace two per page with stronger choices. Do not overdo it or every line flexes at once.
5. Dialogue test. Read only the dialogue on a page. No tags. If voices blur, add diction tells through word choice and rhythm, not accent caricature.
6. Punctuation for pacing. Periods speed. Commas glide. Colons point. Use them with intent.
7. Print a page. Mark each sentence length. If you see a string of tens and elevens, break one with a four or a twenty.

Guard your voice:

• Compare pages after edits to your golden pages. If the new lines sound flatter, roll back one notch.
• Note your voice rules on a style sheet. Contractions you like. Slang range. Swear policy. Metaphor tolerance. Keep it handy.

Final check:

• Read the first and last page of each chapter. Do they carry the same music. If the tone drifts by accident, fix the lines, not your intent.

Line work is detail. It is also power. Small changes, big lift. Clear beats, clean verbs, live rhythm. Your story deserves that polish. Your reader will feel the difference, line by line.

Consistency, Mechanics, and Formatting Pitfalls

Readers forgive a typo. They do not forgive a time warp, a name that mutates, or pages laid out like a ransom note. This is the quiet work that keeps trust.

Tense and timeline drift

You wrote spring in chapter two. Snow lands in chapter three. The kid turns twelve, then eleven. This is the stuff that breaks immersion.

Fix it before it spreads:

• Build a simple calendar. One tab per month in the story. Mark scene dates, weekdays, time of day, location, and on‑page cues like “first day of school” or “heat wave.”
• Tie travel and recovery times to the map. If a drive takes six hours once, it takes six hours every time unless something changes.
• Check ages and pregnancies. If a baby is born in June, that math rules birthdays and anniversaries across the book.
• After each revision, confirm timeline notes still match the scenes. New subplots shift dates.

Quick test:

• Print a one-page chronology. If you cannot explain what happens day by day for the main plot, the book does not know either.

Style inconsistency

Hyphenation, capitalization, numerals, and spelling wobble when you write fast. You want steady.

Pick a guide and a dictionary. For US books, Chicago Manual of Style with Merriam‑Webster. For UK, New Oxford Style Manual and Oxford English Dictionary. Then keep a style sheet.

What goes on the sheet:

• Spelling choices: email, Wi‑Fi, adviser, OK, toward.
• Hyphenation: high school student, long term vs long‑term, decision making vs decision-making.
• Numerals: one through nine spelled out, 10 and up as numerals. Ages as numerals. Money with symbol. Time as 9 a.m. or nine in the morning, pick one.
• Capitalization: Mom when used as a name, mom when generic. Internet or internet. Magic School as a proper noun if it is a place.
• Titles and headlines: Title Case rules, sentence case choice for subheads.

Make the call once, then stick to it. When in doubt, add the entry to the sheet and move on.

Dialogue mechanics that trip readers

Clean dialogue lets voice shine. Messy dialogue makes readers work.

Basics:

• Tags and commas. “Drop it,” she said. “No,” he said. “Now.”
• Periods with action beats. “Fine.” He sets the box down.
• New paragraph for a new speaker. Always.

Interruption vs trailing off:

• Use an em dash for an abrupt cut. Example without the mark: “I was thin” [em dash here]
• Use an ellipsis for trailing off. “I thought we were…”

Quotes and apostrophes:

• Turn on smart quotes. Curly quotes and apostrophes read cleaner. Straight quotes belong in code.
• Watch apostrophes in years and dialect. ’90s, not 90’s. Don’t, not dont.

Numbers in dialogue:

• Spell out when a character talks. “I need ten minutes.” Use numerals in reports or lists outside of speech if your style sheet says so.

House quirks:

• Some houses want a space before and after an ellipsis. Some do not. Note it on your style sheet.

Naming and worldbuilding glitches

Your lead is Mackenzie, then MacKenzie. The planet’s gravity shifts from heavy to light. A vampire eats garlic in chapter five. Your reader keeps score.

Prevention:

• Log every proper noun the first time you use it. Character names, nicknames, place names, ship names, brands, invented terms.
• Note pronouns and titles. Dr. Lopez, then Julia once on friendly terms. Captain Singh, never Cap.
• Write rules of systems. Magic costs, tech limits, travel rules, social codes. Add exceptions on the same page with a reason.
• Lock language. If your world calls non‑magical people ordinaries, use that term every time.

Sanity check:

• Search for all variants of tricky names. Wildcard search helps. Mac* for Mackenzie leakage. Fix and add to the sheet.

Submission formatting that helps, not hurts

Clean pages get a fair read. Fancy fonts do not.

Safe defaults:

• Font: 12 pt serif like Times New Roman. Black text, no colors.
• Spacing: double, no extra space between paragraphs.
• Indent: first line at 0.5 inch, set in paragraph styles, not with tabs.
• Alignment: left aligned, ragged right.
• Italics for emphasis. No underlines unless requested.
• Scene breaks: one blank line and a centered trio of asterisks, or whatever the agent asks for.
• Header: LastName / ShortTitle / page number. Start page one with your name and contact info if guidelines ask for it.
• File name: LastName_Title_v05.docx. No cute names.

Follow the posted guidelines over any generic rule. If they want single spacing or a PDF, give them that. If they want a one‑page synopsis, hand it in.

How to fix

Do a copyedit once the story is set. This pass catches correctness and consistency.

A smart sequence:

1. Build or refresh your style sheet. Spend one hour upfront and save ten later.
2. Run a word list for house choices, names, and common confusions. Adviser vs advisor, toward vs towards, gray vs grey.
3. Use tools that track consistency. PerfectIt and Word’s Style Pane help. They flag straight quotes, missing italics, rogue caps.
4. Line pass for mechanics. Dialogue punctuation, ellipses, em and en dashes used with care, numerals aligned with the sheet.
5. Timeline audit. Read only the time cues. Weekdays, dates, ages, seasons. Mark any scene with missing anchors and add them subtly on the page.
6. Name audit. Search each main character. Check nicknames, possessives, and diacritics.
7. Format pass. Styles, spacing, header, page numbers, file name. Export a clean copy.

Reserve proofreading for the end. Proofread the laid‑out pages, not a working draft. This is where you catch line breaks, widows, orphans, and last stragglers. Read it on paper or on a tablet. Slow down. Point your finger at each word. Small, steady fixes here protect the shine you worked for.

Process and Collaboration Mistakes With Editors

You hire an editor to save time and sharpen the work. A few process slips turn both of you into mop-wielders. Keep the lanes clean and the money well spent.

One purpose per pass

Mixing levels of edit muddies the room. Every pass needs a single goal.

• Developmental. Big story beats, stakes, structure, point of view. Are scenes in the right order. Do choices drive outcomes. Expect margin notes like “raise the consequence here” or “merge these two scenes.” No comma hunts.
• Line. Voice, clarity, rhythm, flow. This is where word choices shift and sentences tighten. Example: “She quickly ran down the long hallway” becomes “She sprinted down the hallway.” No moving chapters now.
• Copyedit. Consistency and correctness. Tense, hyphenation, capitalization, numerals, spelling, continuity. Boring in the best way.
• Proofread. Final check on laid-out pages. Typos, spacing, page turns, widows and orphans.

Quick exercise: label your current pass in a sticky note. If a task falls outside that label, park it.

Editing too early or forever

Chapter one feels safe. You polish it until it shines like chrome. Meanwhile the plot has no spine.

Use stop rules:

• If two passes in a row yield only surface fixes, move on.
• If a change in chapter one ripples into chapters two through ten, you are still in a story pass. Stop line work.
• Set a weekly target. For example, three scenes revised with a logged turn and consequence each.

A trick that works: read only scene openings and endings in sequence. Do stakes rise. If not, no amount of sparkle on page three will fix the lull.

Overreliance on tools

Grammar tools help, then they overreach. They love tidy rules more than voice.

Keep them in their corner:

• Configure style settings. Tell the tool your dictionary, numeral rules, passive voice tolerance, and whether you allow fragments.
• Run reports after a human line pass, not before. Tools respect decisions once those patterns appear.
• Treat flags as questions. “Is this split infinitive intentional.” Decide from context.

Example:

• Your line: “He was so, so done.” Suggestion: delete repetition. You STET it, because the beat needs that length.
• Your line: “And then silence.” Suggestion: remove sentence fragment. You keep it for rhythm.

Build an ignore list for dialect, character catchphrases, fictional terms, and house spellings. Protect your voice.

Vague briefs and ignored house style

Editors shape to the brief they receive. If you send a shrug, you get generic feedback.

Give a clear brief with:

• Goal. “Light-touch line edit to preserve colloquial voice.” Or “Full developmental review focused on the B-plot.”
• Audience and comps. “Upmarket book club vibe. Think Celeste Ng meets Tayari Jones.”
• Known edge cases. “Leave Spanglish code-switching intact. Keep sentence fragments in dialogue.”
• House style or preferred guide. “US spelling, Chicago with Merriam-Webster.”
• Red lines. “No gendered default pronouns for the narrator.”

One page covers it. Add a short voice note if tone matters. Thirty seconds of you reading a paragraph helps more than a paragraph explaining tone.

Skipping sample edits and contracts

Hope is not a scope document. You want fit before you commit.

Ask for a one to two page sample on a representative scene. Look for:

• Accuracy. Do they understand the genre and the beats you are aiming for.
• Touch. Do they trim without sanding off your sound.
• Notes. Do comments ask sharp questions and offer options.

Agree on terms in plain language:

• Scope. What level of edit, how many words, how many passes.
• Deliverables. Margin comments, summary letter, tracked changes, style sheet.
• Timeline. Start date and delivery dates, plus when you respond.
• Fees. Amount, payment schedule, rush premiums, kill fee.
• Rights and confidentiality. Your work stays yours.

Good fences make good partners.

How to work with feedback

Not all notes are equal. Build a system.

• Cool-off period. Sleep on big notes. Strong feelings settle overnight.
• Sort. Make three buckets: implement, discuss, hold. Color-code if that helps.
• Decide. If a note points to a problem but offers a fix you dislike, solve the problem in your way.
• Reply with focus. Send top five questions or friction points. Keep emails tight and concrete.

Example reply:

• “Chapters 9 to 11 sag. Agreed. I will cut the motel scene and fold its reveal into the diner scene.”
• “You flagged too many interior beats in chapter 3. I want this density there. STET on those lines.”

Beta readers, STET, and sensitivity

More voices do not mean better insight. You want the right eyes.

• Limit beta readers to three to five in your genre. Ask targeted questions. “Where did you skim.” “Who did you root for.” “Where did stakes rise.”
• Use STET to protect intentional choices. STET means leave as set. Apply it to voice, dialect, rhythm, and any line you choose with purpose.
• Invite sensitivity readers when identity, culture, or experience falls outside your lane. Send a short brief with context and goals. Example: “Please flag stereotype risk, harmful tropes, and language around addiction.” Pay for the labor. Credit the reader if they approve.

Integrate feedback with care. Weigh harm and accuracy over ego. Keep a change log with a note on why you accepted or declined a suggestion.

A simple workflow that works

• Draft without fear. Note problems in brackets and keep typing.
• Developmental pass. Scene list, stakes audit, timeline check. Cut, merge, move.
• Line pass. Sentence clarity, voice, rhythm. Read aloud.
• Copyedit. Style sheet, consistency, mechanics.
• Proofread on designed pages. Finger on the line. Slow.

Share the plan with your editor before each stage. You lead the book. A clear process invites the right help and keeps the wheels on.

Checklists and Tools to Prevent Recurring Errors

Writers who use checklists move faster. Less second-guessing. Fewer “how did I miss that” moments. Set up these guardrails once. Reuse them on every draft.

Pre-developmental checklist

Before big-picture work, line up the pieces.

• Finished draft. Not half a book. A full pass from first chapter to last.
• One-sentence logline. Who wants what, why now, what stands in the way. Example: “A burned-out ER nurse fights to clear her brother’s name before the hospital board fires her.”
• Scene list. One line per scene with location, on-page action, and purpose. Keep it in a spreadsheet for sorting.
• Two or three comp titles. Name the vibe and audience. Note pacing, POV, heat level, and length.
• Known issues list. Three to five problem areas you already suspect. “Timeline fuzzy,” “Villain undercooked,” “Romance beats late.”
• Story questions. Open mysteries you intend to resolve. “Who slipped the file to Maya.” “Why does Eli fear water.”

Mini-exercise. Write the logline and a 100-word pitch. Read both out loud. If your tongue trips, tighten.

Scene checklist

Scenes move the story state. If a scene leaves everything where it started, it belongs in the bin or a journal.

For each scene, note:

• POV owner.
• Goal. What does the character want in this moment.
• Conflict or obstacle. What blocks them.
• Turn. The beat where fortune shifts.
• Outcome. Win or loss, or a messy draw.
• Impact on stakes. How trouble grows, and for whom.

Test it on a single scene:

• POV: Zoya.
• Goal: Rent the storage unit before the auction starts.
• Obstacle: Clerk needs ID Zoya does not have.
• Turn: Zoya sees her ex’s name on the auction list.
• Outcome: She lies and puts cash on the counter.
• Impact: She risks a fraud charge and a run-in with the ex.

Any blank box signals work to do. Enter late, exit early, and force a choice.

Line edit checklist

Once structure holds, hunt the clutter and the fog.

Search and fix:

• Filters. I saw, I felt, I noticed, he realized, she wondered. Swap for the direct sensation. “Cold bit her fingers,” not “She felt cold bite her fingers.”
• Clichés. “Cold as ice,” “heart of stone,” “stiff drink.” Replace or twist.
• Adverbs propping weak verbs. “Ran quickly” becomes “sprinted.” Keep an adverb only when it adds meaning you want.
• Passive voice bloat. If the doer matters, name them. “The guard cuffed him,” not “He was cuffed.”
• There is, there are. Move the real noun forward. “A light flickers in the stairwell,” not “There is a light that flickers…”
• Was plus -ing strings. “She was walking and was talking” tightens to “She walked and talked.”
• Repeated words and echoes. Search for your crutch verbs and pet metaphors. Prune duplicates in close range.

Read the page out loud or run text-to-speech. Flat rhythm shows up fast. Mark three long sentences in a row and split one.

Consistency toolkit

Build a living style sheet. Treat it like the book’s DNA.

Include:

• Names and spellings. Full names, nicknames, accents, diacritics. “Reneé” vs “Renée.” Settle it once.
• Hyphenation and capitalization. E mail or email. Black-owned or Black owned. Keep a decision and stick with it.
• Italics. Titles, interior thoughts, foreign words in this world. Define the rule.
• Numerals. Ten and above as numerals or words for everything. Date formats.
• Dialect and slang. Common phrases per character. Which ones drop the g, which keep formal diction.
• World rules. Magic costs, tech limits, travel times, currency, units of measure.

Add a timeline calendar:

• Scene dates and times.
• Character ages at key events.
• Weather and season notes.

A continuity sheet helps too:

• Chapter, location, who is present.
• Props introduced.
• Injuries and wardrobe.
• Open threads created or resolved.

Update these after each revision. Five minutes per session now saves hours later.

Tool stack that earns its keep

Set up a small suite and learn it well.

• Read-aloud or TTS. Your ear catches monotony and clunk. Pause and fix, then resume.
• Word’s Track Changes. One edit per change. Clear comments. Use the Accept/Reject tools during review rounds.
• Word’s Style Pane. Tag headings, quotes, and body styles. Consistent styles prevent layout messes later.
• PerfectIt. Runs consistency checks against your style sheet. Flags hyphenation shifts, capitalization drift, and list punctuation.
• ProWritingAid. Use for targeted reports after the human line pass. Focus on echoes, overlong sentences, glue words, and dialogue tags. Ignore flags that fight your voice.
• Version control with dated filenames. Title_Penname_v03_2025-03-18.docx. Park old versions in an Archive folder. No more “FINAL-final-FOR-REAL.”

Create a tools note on your desktop with settings you prefer. Dictionary, regional spelling, passive voice tolerance, serial comma choice, and sensitive terms to avoid.

Submission checklist

Clean presentation earns goodwill. Agents and editors notice when the basics line up.

• Standard format. 12-point serif font, double-spaced, one-inch margins, first-line indents, page numbers.
• Header. Last name, short title, and page number. Example: Patel | Winter Honey | 147.
• Title page. Book title, your name, contact email, word count.
• Curly quotes, proper apostrophes, and consistent ellipses. Run a quick find for straight quotes and fix them.
• Clean metadata and filename. Your name in the file. Example: WinterHoney_Patel_105k_Submission.docx.
• Query and synopsis tailored to the guidelines. Match page count or word count requests. Use the agent’s name. Hit genre and comps.
• Final proofread of the exported file. Not the draft. The actual PDF or DOCX you plan to send.

Before you send, open the file on a second device. Scan for weird line breaks or font jumps. Then press send and go for a walk.

A weekly maintenance loop

Keep errors from creeping back.

• Monday. Update style sheet and timeline after weekend writing.
• Wednesday. Run a short search-and-replace session for filters and echoes.
• Friday. Read one chapter out loud. Note rhythm snags for next week.

Small habits, low stress, cleaner pages. Your future self will thank you. Your editor will too.

Frequently Asked Questions

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