You’ve been working on your story for a while and you think it’s almost done. It has been criticized many times, and you have reviewed it many times. Now, it’s time to ‘edit a book’; this involves proofreading and desktop publishing. You don’t want to let yourself down at the last mile, so be prepared to put the last few layers of polish on your manuscript.

While this ‘editing a book’ article is geared towards children’s writers, it has information for almost all writers.

Here are 10 tips you can use to help fine-tune your child’s manuscript:

1. Check for clarity

Please check each award for clarity. It is important to remember that you may know what you are trying to convey, but your readers may not. It would be a good idea to have someone else read the manuscript for you. This is where a good group of critics comes in handy.

2. Check “saying” and mediocre sentences

Check each sentence to find out. While you’ll need effective storytelling, you want more of it to show.

Example: Joe hit his head and was dazed.
Alternative: Joe hit his head on the tree. He staggered for a moment and fell to the ground.

Show, don’t tell. Use your imagination and imagine your character making movements, maybe he is raising his lips or tilting his head. Try to visualize it; this will help show rather than tell.

A good way to add more display is to add more sensory details. Use all five senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste) to create a living character; this will help bring your story to life.

Example: Joe felt cold.
Alternative: A chill ran through Joe’s body.

Example: Joe was scared.
Alternative: Joe’s breathing stopped. Goosebumps made the hairs on his arms stand up as he paid attention.

3. Point of View: Watch for head jumps

Checking headlong jumps is especially important for children’s writers, as their stories need to be told from the protagonist’s point of view or perspective.

If the story is being told from your main character’s point of view (POV), make sure they stay there.

If my character POV Joe is sad and frowning, it wouldn’t be wise to say: Noticing his sad face, Fran immediately knew that Joe was distressed. This brings Fran’s point of view into the picture.

One could say: Joe knew that Fran would immediately see his desperation; they were friends for so long.

Or you can just use dialogue: “Joe, what’s up?”

4. Watch for Coherence, Conflict, Clarity, and Story Flow

Checking for consistency, conflict, clarity, and flow is another must for all fiction writers. If you are a children’s writer it is even more important. Children need a structured story that is consistent. The story should also provide conflict and action to keep the child engaged, along with clarity to help them understand. It should also flow smoothly with one paragraph, the chapter moving smoothly to the next.

5. Use spell check

Be sure to type with spell check turned on or use your word processor’s spell check when you’re done with your manuscript. I like to write with it on.

Just be careful here because while the spell checker will detect misspelled words, it won’t detect words that are spelled correctly, but are incorrect words in meaning.

Example: I was tired.
Correct: I was too tired.

These words are called homonyms and will not be detected by the spell checker.

A homonym is a word that sounds like another word, but is spelled differently and has a different meaning. Examples of homonyms are: hare/here/hair; bare/bear/; stationery/stationery; peak/peak; main principle; capital/capitol; compliments/congratulations; appointment/site/view.

6. Use your search function in your word processor

This is a great tool for looking up “ly” words, “ing” words, weak verbs, and overused words like “was.”

7. Watch for redundancy

Check the story for repeated phrases and even paragraph starts. You don’t want multiple paragraphs in a row beginning with “the” or other repetitive wording. When editing your manuscript, use the Find function in your Word program and search for overused words.

Another aspect of redundancy is the use of unnecessary words.

Example: Sit on the chair.
The word ‘down’ is redundant; ‘sit’ implies down.

Example: She whispered softly.
The word ‘whispered’ is redundant.

8. Check for tight writing

In today’s market, accurate writing is important: readers have a shorter attention span. Therefore, get rid of unnecessary words and text.

Example: Joe had a hard time lifting the big, heavy trunk.
Alternative: Joe struggled to lift the huge trunk.

Also, keep an eye out for words like “started” and “started.”

Example: He began to lift the trunk.
Alternative: Raised the trunk.

9. Check punctuation and grammar

There are several excellent books and even articles online that will help you learn correct punctuation and grammar. Two books I use are: The Frugal Editor by Carolyn Howard Johnson and The Great Grammar Book by Marsha Sramek.

You can also do a Google search.

10. Children’s writers: Consider the illustrations

When writing a picture book, you need to keep the illustrations in mind. Picture books are a union between content and illustrations: a 50/50 deal. So look for text that an illustration can handle. With picture books, your content doesn’t have to describe every little detail: the illustrations will embellish the story.

Well, this completes the 10 tips, but keep in mind that desktop publishing is a complicated business and this is not an exhaustive list. Even knowing all the obstacles to consider, desktop publishing is still tricky. It’s almost impossible for us writers to catch all of our own mistakes; we are too close to our work. We know every nook and cranny of the story and that makes it hard to read it in a fresh way. Even if we think we’re reading every word, our minds are way ahead of us, which is why it’s a good idea to consider hiring an editor.