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Tips to Get Distance on Your Writing

Because we’re inseparable from our own narratives, it’s not always easy to be certain we’ve adequately communicated information our readers need.


Being “too close” to our writing is the single biggest hurdle to quality revision. This practice forces you into a state of remove because you must objectively note what appears on the page.


Grab your draft and read from the beginning. Make notes in the margins any time you include details on the following five items, whether specifically or implied. You can do this by hand on a printed copy of your draft or with the comment feature in your word processing software of choice. If you like color-coding, go for it!


  • Where are we? A bustling metropolis, quiet village, or alien planet? What specific details of where draw this picture for the reader?

  • When are we? Whether it's a historical era, a futuristic setting, or just a regular Tuesday afternoon, the when sets the stage with necessary context.

  • Who are they? How are the characters connected to the world and each other? When we follow them as they navigate their world, how do they reveal who they are?

  • How do things look? Visual details convey crucial information to readers so they can picture the look (and feel) of the environment as it is, as the characters perceive it, or both.

  • What’s happening? What’s happening in the current event of the narrative? Highlight key plot points or conflicts, internal or external.


If you can’t identify these five items in a passage of your draft, then guess what? Neither can your reader!


These items are not always needed to the same degree at every point or in every scene, so the absence is not necessarily an issue to “fix.”


But just as we edit what’s on the page, we need to consider what’s not on the page.



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