Editing: Chapter Check and Word Count

I’m almost ready to send the manuscript to first readers, but before I do, I did a Chapter Check. During the writing process it is normal to add chapters, move chapters around, and even delete chapters that don’t pull their weight. Doing that means chapter numbers might not be correct. That is why a Chapter Check is imperative.

The Chapter Check also included writing a short synopsis of each chapter. When that was done, I scrolled through the synopsis and identified each day in red to make sure I was consistent with the timing of events.

And I’m glad I did! It didn’t take long before I ran into the first glitch. After reviewing Chapter Four, the next numbered chapter was eight! As I went through I had to adjust the chapter numbers. 

But that’s not all. I decided to do a chapter word count. That, too, was a good exercise. I found a couple of chapters that had well over 2,000 words. Those chapters I divided up to be consistent with the other chapters.  Of course we don’t want chapters to all have a similar word count, so this process helped me to monitor that.

Editing takes many steps, and I’m learning new ones every day!