Editing Your Book: What Else?

In addition to the steps outlined by K. M. Weiland in “Your NaNo Novel Is a Hot Mess! How to Edit Your Book”, here are more things you can do to help make your book or story publication ready!

Review each chapter and section for consistent and appropriate POV
Fact check:
- place names
- historical events
- people’s names
- telephone numbers
- Geographic features key to the story
- fictional character names (Hester Prynne vs Hester Prine)
Check dates
- within the storyline
- with contemporaneous events, as needed
Run spelling and grammar checker!
Review for punctuation
Review for capitalization
Review for filter words that separate your reader from the story (notice, realize, thought, had)
- “She decided to tell Gladys that …” à “She told Gladys …”
- “He noticed the wind blowing through her hair.” à “The wind blew through her hair.”
- “He had gone…” à “He went…”
Review for weak words (then, that, down, be, turn)
- “He set his keys down on the table.”
Review for your specific watch words (flop, plop; as; particularly)