How to Rescue Your Endangered Book

You’ve kinda/sorta finished your book/first draft/whachamacallit.

In drastic cases, it could even be an outline that’s gone off the rails and landed in a ditch.

But.

  • Your original brilliant idea is drowning in a sea of ugly clutter.

  • There are dust bunnies in the corners.

  • An overflowing laundry hamper in the hall.

  • First chapter is suffering from ring-around-the-collar.

  • Inciting incident is ho-hum and forgettable (even by you).

  • Plot has more holes than plot.

  • Characters have mutated into unrecognizable forms (and you’re not writing sci-fi or alien invasion fiction).

  • Verbs are passive, the nouns flabby and adjectives rust in the front yard.

  • Ending limps to a conclusion.

You’re asking yourself: Did I write that?

Read the rest from Ruth Harris here.