Down & Dirty Dialog

Best selling author Sabrina York shared her self-editing process. These are steps that she learned along her journey with the help of editors who showed her the way. Yes, it's a lot of work, but your book will be stronger because of your efforts. 

Spell Check:

· Misspellings

· Errors in capitalization

· Some grammar and punctuation

· Spell Check does not catch everything

Grammar:

· Dangling & misplaced modifiers

· Misused words/misused homophones

· Unnecessary/redundant words

· Punctuation

Content:

· Show vs tell

· Disembodied body parts

· Passive voice

· Generic vs vivid verbs

· Adverb/adjective abuse

· Varied sentence structure

· Overused actions

· POV/head hopping

· Choreography

· Inconsistencies

· Timelines

· Historical accuracy

· Cultural References/Product names

· Eliminating the frame

· Repetitive words 

· Redundancy 

Readability:

· Awkward phrasing

· Using italics

· Similar sentence structure

Dialog:

· Remove unnecessary tags

· Beware information dumps

· Vary character speech patterns

· Kill weak dialog

Sensory:

· Unnecessary sight direction

· Use other senses to develop character or move the story

· Remove detailed clichés