Be Your Own Book Doctor

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

If you Google “book doctor” you’ll get pages of folks willing to analyze your book and tell you what’s wrong with it. While this might be a helpful option for some, not everyone can afford to pay for this type of advice. But never fear, because with a little objectivity (and a plan), you can give your novel a checkup all on your own.

One of the reasons a good book doctor is so successful, is that they look at a story without all the emotional baggage us authors bring to our own work, and can analyze the critical elements of good storytelling. (We love our words. Our words are perfect, aren’t they?)

The first step is to look at your manuscript as if you’ve never read it before. This can be hard because you do know your story, so let it sit for a…