You have finished your book and are going tin for a final read before sending this out to an agent or an editor. There are questions to ask and things to look for as you do that final read through. One thing to remember, though you're tired of the book those you're sending it to will have fresh eyes. So here are a few of the questions.
Are the scenes and the interactions between the characters active or passive? It's so easy to fall into the passive voice. Little things like She felt, he sensed tend to lead to passive sentences.
She felt a shiver roll through her body. That's relatively passive but A shiver rolled through her body makes the sentence active. He sensed a coming storm. Passive. Clouds darkened the sky. The air felt heavy with the coming storm. That's active.
Do your participles dangle? Now this can cause some chuckles. Walking down the street, a dog barked. Was the dog walking or was the viewpoint character walking. As she walked down the street, she encountered a barking dog. This leaves no question of who was walking.
Have you tied up loose ends? I once read a friend's book and enjoyed the book but when the book ended, I kept wondering why she had mentioned the hero's mother had worn men's clothes. This was a historical novel. The line seemed to be a throwaway except i kept wondering and wondering why the older woman confessed such a thing. I think I've sort of done this in one of my books. The hero has broken completely with his parents. I never show if they have reconciled? Maybe someday I'll give the book a rewrite and solve that problem for several readers.
I'll be back next week with some more.
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