Writing checklist: a 6-pass self-editing checklist for long drafts

When to use it

• Revising a finished first draft of a novel or memoir before beta readers see it
• Editing a thesis chapter, dissertation or long report before it goes to a supervisor or client
• A last check on a long feature, white paper or grant application before submission
• Fixing what you can yourself before paying for a developmental, line or copy edit
• Keeping a series or a long multi-part project consistent across rounds of revision

A writing checklist for self-editing lists what to check in a finished draft, and in what order. This one works in six passes, from the structure of the whole draft down to proofreading, so you're less likely to polish a paragraph you later cut. Read the whole draft once per pass, tick the boxes, and add the fiction or nonfiction items only if your draft needs them.

It's built for long work: a novel, a memoir, a thesis chapter, a report or a long feature, where one read-through can't catch everything. The passes follow roughly the order professional editing works in, from a developmental edit through line editing and copy editing to the proof.

The six passes at a glance

A filled-in example

Here is the pass log, part of the pass 2 notes and three style sheet entries for an invented mystery novel, partway through its second draft.

Every note says what to change and where, so the next session starts without rereading. Look at Nell's age. The mismatch turned up during pass 2, but ages belong to the consistency pass, so it went on the style sheet marked “fix in pass 5” instead of being fixed in the middle of a scene edit. And the log records what has already moved, which matters when chapter 14 still foreshadows a fire that now happens in chapter 15.

How to use this template

1. Finish the draft, then let it rest

   Self-editing works best once you can read the draft as a stranger would. Put it away for as long as the deadline allows, and make a copy before the first cut.

2. Read it through once and outline it

   Before you change anything, read the whole draft and fill in the reverse outline under pass 1: one line per chapter or section, what happens or what it argues, and what changes. That table is the map for the structure pass.

3. Work one pass at a time

   Each pass asks one question. Read the whole draft for that question only, and write anything else in the pass log for later. A pass that tries to fix structure and commas at once usually does neither well.

4. Keep the style sheet as you go

   Every time you make a choice (a name's spelling, OK or okay, numerals or words), add it to the style sheet at the end of pass 5. The consistency pass checks the whole draft against it.

5. Change how the draft looks for the late passes

   Familiar pages hide errors. For the word and proofreading passes, change the font and size, print the draft or read it on another device.

6. Stop when the passes find only taste

   When a pass turns up changes you could argue either way, or starts undoing the last pass, the draft is ready for beta readers or an editor.

What to check in each pass

These are the items in the template, pass by pass. The template adds a pass log at the top, a reverse outline table in pass 1, a list for your crutch words in pass 4 and a style sheet in pass 5. Each pass ends with a decision you can write in the pass log.

Pass 1: Structure

Read fast, make notes and change nothing on the first read.

Ends with: keep, cut, merge or move against every row of the reverse outline, and the cuts and moves made before pass 2 starts.

Pass 2: Scenes and paragraphs

One unit at a time: the scene in fiction, the section and paragraph in nonfiction. The paragraph starters and transition sentences help with the last three items.

Ends with: every scene or section kept, cut, merged or given a new start and end, and any problem for a later pass written in the log.

Pass 3: Sentences

Read aloud, mark every sentence you stumble over, then fix the marks. Keep a passive only where the doer is unknown or unimportant; the active vs passive voice guide shows how to tell.

Ends with: every marked sentence rewritten, or kept on purpose.

Pass 4: Words

Search before you read: crutch words are easier to find with a search than by eye. Start with the overused words and filler words lists, then add your own.

Ends with: a found count and a kept count beside each crutch word in the table.

Pass 5: Consistency

Check the draft against the style sheet, and add to the sheet as you go.

Ends with: every mismatch fixed in the draft, and every choice recorded on the style sheet.

Pass 6: Proofread

Last, slowly, on a fresh copy. If you mark up paper, the standard proofreading marks save time.

Ends with: a yes or a no. Either the draft goes to the next reader, or you list what still stops it.

Novel editing checklist: fiction additions

Optional: add these to the passes only if the draft is a novel, a story collection or a memoir told in scenes.

The viewpoint items catch head-hopping and filter words, two common slips that break a close point of view. The planted-detail item is Chekhov's gun run in both directions. For the physical details, keep a story bible beside the manuscript and check pass 5 against it.

Nonfiction and academic checklist

Optional: add these for a thesis, a report, a nonfiction book or a long article. A memoir may need items from both lists, and a draft that fits neither can skip both.

Tips for editing your own writing

• Note, don't fix, out of turn. When you spot a typo during the structure pass, write it in the log and keep reading. Switching levels is how passes stop being passes.
• Read pass 3 aloud. The ear often catches clumsy rhythm and missing words that the eye glides over.
• Keep a cuts file. Paste deleted scenes and paragraphs into a separate document. Cutting is easier when nothing is lost.
• Treat the word pass as more than polish. In an 1888 letter to George Bainton, Mark Twain called the gap between the almost right word and the right one “the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”
• Cut for force, not for length. Strunk's rule in The Elements of Style (1920 edition) is “Omit needless words,” and he was careful to add that this “requires not that the writer make all his sentences short” but “that every word tell.”
• Schedule the passes. A pass through a 90,000-word novel usually takes days, not an evening. Put each one on the calendar, and the deadline for the next reader after the last.