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Write A Play And Get It Performed: Checking It

by Ann Gawthorpe

The first draft of a life story contains the bare bones. It now needs to be fleshed out to turn it into a readable book.

The first read through is to get the overall feel for the book – check that you have included everything you wanted to. Check that chapters are not too long or too short – if necessary divide or amalgamate them. You may also want to move pieces of information from one chapter to another.

The second read through is to add more detail such as what the weather was like or which make of car you were driving.
Use direct speech instead of reported speech in the more dramatic moments to heighten tension. Make sure you include what you were feeling during emotional moments. Without going over the top, include some verbal colour, and also make sure you have included what things felt or smelled like as well as what they looked like.

The third read through is to give the story a final polish. Check you haven’t used your favourite words or sayings too often. Make sure your sentences are not too cumbersome – mix up long and short ones for easy reading. Check dates, statistics and how people spell their names. Finally check your spelling and punctuation.


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