advanced fiction writing tips & novel revision checklist
It can be tricky to self-edit a scene to make sure it’s working, so here’s a handy revision checklist for editing your novels, with 14 things to focus on or check. Each of these are useful tricks to improve a slow or plodding scene that you like but just isn’t dramatic enough to keep momentum. Watch the video below for a full-walkthrough!
If you’ve been writing fiction for a while, you’ve probably experienced this scenario: You’re staring at your manuscript, your eyes are glazing over, and suddenly you’re struck by a wave of despair because—despite all the hours you’ve poured into your novel—your scenes still feel flat, static, or (let’s be honest) kinda boring. You’ve done everything right: built your characters, structured your plot, and even pulled out your thesaurus for that perfect word choice. But somehow, when you reread your scenes, something still feels off.
I’ve been there. Hell, I practically live there. So I’m going to share a checklist I’ve built over the years—14 essential elements every single scene must have, especially if you want to avoid losing momentum, boring your readers, and generally embarrassing yourself in public (or at least your writing group). Think of these as advanced writing tips, beyond the basic “show, don’t tell,” because—let’s face it—by now you need more than beginner advice.
Let’s jump into it:
1. What Actually Happens Here?
First things first: something needs to happen. Sounds obvious, right? But you’d be amazed how often writers (especially me) spend three pages beautifully describing a sunrise without any actual story progress. Events must unfold. Characters must do things. Even if it’s subtle, something should shift from the beginning to the end of your scene.
2. Motivation: Why Now?
What do your characters desperately want at this moment? They always want something, even in quiet moments. But here’s the kicker: the immediate, urgent desire always trumps the vague “big-picture” goal. Your hero might want to overthrow the empire, sure, but in this scene, he’s probably more worried about not getting stabbed or finding breakfast.
2. Opposition: The Rule of Three
Every good scene has obstacles. Not just one—usually at least three. Smaller hurdles work best because readers crave that rising tension. If it’s easy, it’s boring. Make things difficult; push characters off balance. If your characters breeze through your scenes, your readers probably won’t stick around. We like to use 3 kinds of conflict: internal, external and “friendly” (conflict between peers and allies).
3. Reaction, Synthesis, Action
Your characters shouldn’t just passively absorb events; they react, reconsider, and then make new decisions. Every scene should trigger a reaction, a thoughtful response, and then prompt new action. Think of it as a mini-cycle of stimulus, reflection, and response.
3. Change or Reveal
If nothing changes, you don’t have a scene—you have filler. Readers crave discovery. Something should shift by the end—emotional, plot-wise, or informational. Maybe a secret is revealed, an alliance broken, or a character finally admits something difficult.
4. Urgency
Why is this happening right now? Urgency drives readers forward. Make it clear why characters can’t wait until tomorrow—why this conversation, this confrontation, this discovery must happen now. Without urgency, scenes lose tension. Without tension, readers lose interest.
Why Now? Seriously, Why?
Your scene should justify why it’s happening at this moment. If you can’t clearly articulate why your character absolutely must act right now, rethink your setup. Real urgency drives narrative tension, making readers turn pages faster.
4. Relevancy Check: Does This Scene Matter?
This is brutal but essential. If a scene doesn’t directly impact your central quest or conflict, scrap it. Yes, even that beautifully crafted dialogue you love. If it’s not serving the core narrative, it’s dragging your book down.
5. Picture This (Vividly, Please)
If readers can’t visualize what’s happening, they won’t engage emotionally. But descriptions should be vivid and quick—not endless. “I can’t picture this,” is the death knell of engagement. Describe settings, clothing, weather, smells—but briefly, and always as things happen. Sprinkle, don’t dump.
6. Momentum: Keep It Moving
Your scene needs forward motion, a sense that we’re headed somewhere important. A conversation shouldn’t just be dialogue; weave in movement, gestures, interruptions. Even quiet scenes—especially quiet scenes—need subtle urgency and a sense of inevitability.
7. Checkpoint: First-Time Descriptions
Introduce characters, settings, and critical objects clearly the first time they appear—not the fourth time they show up. Don’t tell me about a character’s outfit two chapters after we’ve met them. Keep clarity up front, so the scene unfolds vividly from the start.
8. Kill the Echoes: No Repetition Allowed
Check your manuscript for echoes—repeated information readers already know or the same handful of words and phrases you love too much (I’m guilty of “wistfully,” personally). Readers get bored fast if they’re constantly retreading familiar ground.
9. What’s the Real Obstacle?
Not every obstacle is physical. Internal opposition counts, too. Doubt, anxiety, guilt, regret—emotional blocks are just as powerful (and often more relatable) than external ones. Identify clearly what’s stopping your characters internally, not just what’s in their way.
10. Emotional Truth: Reaction, Synthesis, Action (Again)
Yeah, I mentioned this before—but it’s that crucial. Characters react emotionally first, then rationally process what’s happening, and finally, decide what to do next. Get this wrong, and your characters feel robotic. Get it right, and they’ll leap off the page.
11. Consistency Check (AKA Don’t Screw Up Continuity)
If your character has blue eyes in Chapter Two, don’t suddenly turn them green in Chapter Seven (unless they’ve acquired mystical color-changing powers—which, hey, could be cool). Keep track of details: hair color, clothing, physical objects. Readers notice mistakes, and once trust is broken, immersion vanishes.
12. Opposition, Again (Because You Keep Forgetting)
Opposition can also be passive or subtle. Social pressure, expectations, self-doubt. Every scene doesn’t need a villainous confrontation—sometimes, emotional or subtle opposition works even better.
13. Characters Are What They Wear (At Least Sometimes)
This sounds superficial, but clothing grounds characters in reality. It reflects personality, status, mood, and setting. If a reader has no clue what your character looks like, wears, or presents themselves, they’re visualizing a faceless blob moving through scenes—less than ideal.
14. Fake Urgency: It’s a Thing (But Don’t Do It)
Fake urgency happens when the story pretends something matters intensely—but readers sense it doesn’t. If your character “must hurry” but there’s no reason for rushing, readers roll their eyes. Real urgency ties clearly to stakes readers actually care about.
15. Visual Detail: “Can’t Picture This”
Visual clarity is non-negotiable. Paint the scene—not just visually, but through all senses. If readers struggle to visualize where the characters are or what’s happening, they emotionally disengage.
16. Promise Continuity: Small Details Matter
Continuity mistakes undermine immersion. Did your character leave the room holding a cup of coffee? Great—just make sure they don’t inexplicably vanish or magically acquire something new. Continuity errors sabotage trust, so sweat the details.
17. Cliffhangers: Unsubtle but Effective
Cliffhangers aren’t mandatory, but ending a scene on unresolved tension or a provocative reveal pushes readers forward. Just don’t rely solely on cheap gimmicks. Make sure each cliffhanger genuinely matters to your story arc.
18. Meaningful Conflict, Please
Conflict without meaning is noise. If readers sense a fight or argument serves no real purpose, it feels empty. Make conflicts tie directly to your character’s goals, fears, and emotional truths—not random shouting matches about nothing.
19. Layered Tension (Internal & External)
Mix internal and external tensions. A physical threat is good; pairing it with an internal crisis or emotional insecurity is even better. Great scenes layer conflict rather than relying on a single problem.
20. Tighten Continuity: The Final (Boring, Essential) Check
Check, recheck, triple-check continuity details. Hair colors, names, backstories, timelines, settings. Small slips break reader immersion instantly. It’s tedious, but absolutely essential.
Novel editing checklist for authors
The above is kind of messy, here’s my original list of 14 critical self-editing things to watch out for:
- What happens
- Motivation (what do the characters need/want and why). The most pressing thing replaces the big thing
- What’s stopping them? Opposition: 3 hurdles/obstacles.
- Reaction, synthesis, action
- Change or Reveal (action or new info)
- Pause for effect
- End scene with unresolved conflict (cliffhanger)
- Promise of the premise
- Real stakes vs fake stakes
- 3x conflict (light the fuse – two irresolvable opposites that create friction
- Tension (pull the string) unresolved story questions or red herrings
- Snapshot (picture it)
- Momentum (urgency) – why does this have to happen NOW
- Relevancy: does this matter to the REAL story conflict or quest?
Weak writing to flag or check
- “Can’t picture this” – vivid scene/add scene description
- Description comes in first instance
- “nothing is happening” – add conflict, tension or change
- conflict doesn’t matter if readers don’t know or care about characters
- confused readers quit
- “Break up dialogue” add movement and action
- “confusing transitions” how did they get there, why did they go there
- “Boring” – characters aren’t facing immediate threat
- Fake stakes
- What’s opposing her
- What’s she/he wearing
- Repetition (overused words, repeating information readers already know)
- Consistency/continuity (objects, clothing, hair color etc).
How to self edit your novel
I have a 4-step editing process I’ve been using for over a decade. It works pretty well because there’s just too much stuff to fix and it can all be overwhelming.
1. We start with the story (what actually happens)
2. We add motivation, drama and conflict (why it matters).
* A potential missing step I should probably add in: increase intrigue and suspense by removing information and saving your infodumps and backstory reveals for the most dramatic moments. This is a huge problem that most authors get wrong.
3. Now that we have a solid story, we focus on the descriptive details (how does this look) or inconsistencies (how did they get here/do that etc).
4. Finally we do our actual editing and proofreading – avoid repetition, fix mistakes and typos, tighten up the writing etc. (I call this “now” because we’re actively preparing to launch our story to the world).
