Self-Editing Checklist from Red Circle Ink

Let yourself forget the story and come at it cold.
Rewrite the cinematic tagline of your story as you know it now.
Re-read your story as a first-time reader, keeping the revised tagline in mind.

Start with big-picture re-visioning of conflict, character, and cadence:

Conflict evaluation: Is your plot (i.e. stakes and consequences)…

• Clear
• Instantly relatable
• Deeply personal
• Compellingly dramatized
• Escalating to a satisfying conclusion

Character evaluation:

• Core personality (relatable and interesting)
• Goal, motivation, and conflict
• Character issue (wound)
• Fear (holding back, driving forward)
• Purpose (want vs. need)
• Growth arc (sequential steps of change)
• Moments of change (linked to plot)

Cadence evaluation: (pacing)

• Master scene list with rising tension
• Break up gray pages
• Varied and engaging rhythm (of chapters, scenes, paragraphs, sentences, words)

Refine mid-level issues: Do you have clear and compelling…

• Emotion—Have you moved the reader?
• Point of view (the characters’ and yours)
• Worldbuilding (fresh, coherent, and evocative)
• Setting and timing (continuity)
• Theme

Polish line-level issues including:

• Create unique character voices with character-specific imagery
• Evoke a sensory experience with the full range of senses
• Limit filter words that put the reader at a distance
• Leverage power positions (beginnings and ends)
• Punch up dialogue and internal monologue

Tackle word-level copyediting after everything else is “perfect”

• Amplify power words—strong verbs, specific nouns, evocative adjectives
• Avoid clichés
• Be aware of your darlings

Proofreading: “Last” pass

Change the font. Print it out. Read backward. Read aloud. Have your computer read to you.

The one rule:

Be compelling. The story matters most. All editing serves the flow of story.