When you review your story's pacing—you'll also work within your manuscript. Open your document and perform the following steps:
1. Read the first three pages.Does the story begin at the right place? Does it grab the reader? With more and more books for readers to choose from, grabbing a reader's attention in the first page has become more important than ever. My first three books all began at the wrong place, and I ended up cutting the scenes (and my beautifully written first lines!) to drop the reader into action sooner. Be careful to not begin with your protagonist's deep point-of-view (POV), as readers have not yet had the time to fall in love with your character. Instead, give the reader stimuli to which they can watch the character(s) respond. If you're stuck, watch a movie in the same genre to see how it snags your attention within the first few minutes.
2. Read the final three pages.Is the plot (and subplot, if applicable) wrapped up? Will the reader feel satisfied? Try not to leave loose ends. Be careful with cliffhangers. If you have a cliffhanger, the novel's plot should still be resolved even if the overarching series plot is ongoing. Readers are fine with and enjoy an ongoing seriesplot, but that's different from your story'splot. If you leave the story's plot unresolved, you don't have a story—you have only a partial story.
3. Skim through the entire manuscript, looking at the balance of dialogue and narrative. There needs to be both action (fast-paced) and reaction (slower-paced) scenes. For this activity, don't read anything. Instead, you'll look at white space and the overall flow of your story. If you see multiple pages of dialogue, insert snippets of narrative, such as the protagonist's thoughts. Likewise, if you see multiple pages of long-paragraph narrative, break it up. The key is to have dialogue and narrative flow together through the story.
The extent of changes needed during the first pass of self-edits varies by story. Round 1 may take you only an hour, or it could take you a full day or more. There are no hard and fast rules here. The key is to find the big things that are most likely to cause a reader to leave a book unread. Once you complete the first round, you can confidently move onto the next round to fix your story's style and snags.
YOU ARE READING
The Tidy Guide to Writing, Editing, and Publishing Your Novel
Non-FictionDo you dream of writing a novel, but not sure where to start? Have you been working on a book for ages but feel stuck? Despite all your best efforts, do you feel overwhelmed? Here's a clutter-free guide for planning and writing your novel right the...
