Checking my foundation

It’s good to take a break every once in a while and review earlier chapters. That’s on my schedule for this next week. While going through the process I will keep a number of things in mind.

If my next book is going to be successful, it has to have a strong foundation, and that means each chapter, or scene if you want to think of it that way, has to have purpose.  As I review each chapter I have to ask myself: Does the chapter have a strong first sentence – to pull the reader in; a strong last sentence – to keep the reader turning pages?

Does the chapter reveal important information about the characters/plot? If not, why is it there? I will have to either rewrite or hit the delete key.

Does the chapter move the plot forward? I believe there is a caveat with this question. Some chapters have to introduce characters, setting, and possibly provide some back story? Maybe this could be considered moving the plot forward as well as strengthening the foundation.

I need to make sure my characters face some challenge and that I don’t get bogged down in every day minutia.

I believe a book is produced in layers. The first run-through is about a story line, but doesn’t necessarily put in details of character and setting description, good dialogue, appealing to the senses. A good book is about going through the manuscript multiple times, and each time adding a layer to make the final product delectable.