Lore & LilacThe diagnostic read: seeing your draft as a reader would
Read your finished draft once without fixing anything, and come away with a map of the book you actually wrote.
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Related glossary terms
- Fresh eyesThe ability to read your own work as if for the first time, usually regained by setting a draft aside for a while.
- Reverse outlineAn outline made after drafting that records what each scene actually contains, so you can see the book's real structure.
- Editorial letterA written report from an editor summarizing a manuscript's main strengths and problems, usually with directions for revision.
- Developmental editAn editor's big-picture assessment of a manuscript's story, structure, characters, pacing and theme, rather than its sentences.
- Revision passOne read-through of a manuscript focused on a single kind of problem, such as structure, continuity, dialogue or line-level polish.
- Self-editingRevising and correcting your own manuscript yourself, before or instead of hiring a professional editor.
- Reading aloudRevising by speaking your text out loud to hear rhythm, repetition, awkward phrasing and dialogue that doesn't sound real.