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- Does every character decision follow logically from what they know at that point, not what you as the author know?
- Does every setup in your manuscript have a corresponding payoff, and every payoff a setup?
- Could a reader unfamiliar with your world follow the rules without confusion?
- Do your world’s systems (magic, technology, politics) behave consistently across every chapter?
- Does every significant relationship in your story change between the beginning and the end?
- Can you identify the specific moment each key relationship shifts?
- Read a random page from chapter 3 and a random page from chapter 20. Do they sound like the same author?
- Is your prose largely free of filter words like felt, noticed, realized, and wondered?
- Does your protagonist actively make choices that drive the plot forward?
- Can you identify at least three moments where your character chose a harder path over an easier one?
- Cover the character names in a conversation. Can you tell who’s speaking from voice alone?
- Beyond delivering information, is your dialogue revealing character, shifting power, or creating tension?
- Are your major plot turns hinted at earlier in subtle ways?
- Will a reader on a second read notice clues they missed the first time?
- Do your action scenes have clear stakes (what’s gained or lost) before they begin?
- Are your action scenes advancing character arcs, not just providing spectacle?
- Are your inciting incident, midpoint shift, and climax positioned at roughly the right proportions of your manuscript?
- Does every chapter change what the character believes, what the character wants, or what the reader knows?
- Is there at least one unresolved question pulling the reader forward at every point in your manuscript?
- Does your second act maintain tension between the inciting incident and the climax?
- Can you articulate your theme in a single sentence?
- Do your subplots reinforce or meaningfully contrast with your central theme?
- Does your ending feel earned by the choices your character made throughout the story?
- Does the final scene resonate emotionally, not just resolve the plot?
- Have you addressed every section where, as the author, you feel the story drags?
- Is information revealed at the rate the reader needs it, not the rate you want to deliver it?
- Does your POV character only know or notice things they could logistically know?
- Does your narration consistently reflect your POV character’s specific perspective and limitations?
- Could a reader who knows nothing about your genre follow the story without confusion?
- Is the physical geography of every scene clear enough that a reader can track where characters are in relation to each other?
- Does your opening chapter make a promise to the reader that the rest of the book delivers on?
- Is your protagonist a fundamentally different person at the end than at the beginning?