Top Menu

Navigation

The Process of a Manuscript Review

“What happens in a manuscript review?” you ask.

Using the Track Changes function of Microsoft Word, we record our reactions to your manuscript and make suggestions for changes. This proves fluid in sending you our thoughts and suggestions for change. It’s here we share with you our comments about structural and stylistic issues and make specific suggestions. Below are just a few of the problems we might comment on:

  • Time sequence out of order. You lack clarity in the sequence. manuscript review process
  • You need to explain the relationship of a new character to your memoir self.
  • Your verb tense is creating confusion—this may be due to switches from present to past.
  • You need more and/or better dialog tags. Sometimes, “he said” and “she said” is all you need; other times, you need more.
  • Your dialog is too long and too specific to be believable. (Dialog is about “feeling” most of the time not about information.) Who remembers 100 words of dialog 30 years later? Long dialog jeopardizes credibility. Put your information in the narrative.
  • You are repeating text or ideas. This may be due to a lack of confidence in yourself as a writer—so you repeat what is already clear. Trust yourself.
  • You are missing text. Your mind was racing and you forgot the reader is not inside of it with you!
  • What you have written just doesn’t make sense. You want it to but it doesn’t. Ouch! This sometimes occurs when you want the reader to side with you rather than with another character.

You may opt for telephone time.

Inevitably, as you consider what happens in a manuscript review, you will have questions about some of our comments.

  • Perhaps you don’t understand the commentmanuscript review process
  • Perhaps you do understand the comment but see no way of implementing it.
  • Perhaps you want to discuss the best way to implement a suggestion.

To address this need, you may opt to add a telephone session to your package.

Start With Complimentary Consultation

Of course, before choosing any of our packages, we welcome you to a complimentary consultation. Call 207-353-5454 or email to schedule your 30-minute slot.