Self-Editing Checklist for Fiction: 40 Points to Check Before Anyone Reads It

Published 25 September 2026 · 6 min read · Novel Craft

A self-editing checklist for fiction works only if it is sorted: ten points on structure, eight on characters, eight on scenes, fourteen on the sentence and the page, checked in that order before anyone reads your manuscript. The lists at Jericho Writers, AutoCrit or Helping Writers Become Authors are useful but flat; this one follows the four editing passes, so nothing you tick gets undone by the next step. Each point carries a label: (checker) when the built-in checker or the AI Checker catches it for you, (you) when nobody else can decide. Tick in order. A pass 4 point checked before pass 1 will have to be checked again.

How to use this list

One pass at a time, on the whole manuscript, before moving to the next. The logic of that order (heaviest first, so nothing is wasted) is explained in how to edit your first draft: a 4-pass method. The manuscript used as the example is the same one, "The Last Round": Solène, a relief postwoman, and a dead man's mail.

For every point, three possible answers: yes, no, not applicable. A "no" is not fixed on the spot; it is noted, and dealt with once the whole pass is ticked.

Pass 1: structure (10 points)

1. (you) Every chapter changes at least one thing in the state of the story (a known fact, a relationship, a place, a choice).
2. (you) The first event that breaks the ordinary world arrives before 15% of the text.
3. (you) The central pivot (revelation, reversal, point of no return) lands between 45 and 55% of the text.
4. (you) No chapter is more than twice the average length without a narrative reason.
5. (you) Every question raised for the reader (the letter in chapter 4, the second key) gets an answer or a deliberate abandonment.
6. (you) Subplots close before the main resolution, not after.
7. (you) The ending follows from a choice by the protagonist, not from a coincidence.
8. (you) The last chapter contains at least one thing the first chapter made impossible.
9. (you) Flashbacks are under 10% of the text and each one pays its way (information the present could not deliver).
10. (you) The chapter table's "what has changed" column has no empty cell left.

On "The Last Round", point 1 took out three chapters and point 3 exposed a pivot at 63%. Point 5 rescued the letter from chapter 4 from oblivion.

Pass 2: characters (8 points)

11. (you) Every main character has a desire stated in one sentence, with an action verb.
12. (you) Every main character has an internal contradiction (what they want forces them to do what they fear).
13. (you) Every scene where a character acts against their desire has a reason readable in the text.
14. (checker) Physical attributes (eyes, age, scar, dominant hand) are identical from one chapter to the next.
15. (checker) Names, nicknames and family ties do not drift (Nadia the elder sister, then the younger: no).
16. (you) The antagonist has a goal they could defend out loud without sounding insane.
17. (you) No secondary character shows up three times for nothing: each has a function or disappears.
18. (you) Characters who change do it in several visible steps, not in one scene.

Points 14 and 15 are the ones the Archivist picks up by comparing the profiles to the text. It flags the gap and corrects nothing: "Yann has grey eyes in chapter 5 and blue eyes in chapter 21" is yours to settle.

Pass 3: scene (8 points)

19. (you) Every scene has someone who wants something, a resistance, and an exit state different from the entry state.
20. (you) The scene starts at the last possible moment and ends at the first possible one.
21. (you) The stakes are known to the reader before the decisive gesture, not after.
22. (you) Dialogue moves a relationship or a piece of information; hellos, coffees and thank-yous are cut.
23. (you) Point of view does not shift inside a scene without a clear marker.
24. (you) Descriptions are filtered through what the character looks at, not what the author knows.
25. (you) Every transition scene (journey, waking up, meal) earns its place or shrinks to one sentence.
26. (you) The reader learns nothing twice (summary of a scene they read, reminder of an established fact).

Chapter 14 of the example failed points 20 and 21: it opened on the rain and the stakes were set nowhere.

Pass 4: sentence and page (14 points)

27. (checker) Spelling and agreement, including the classic homophones (its/it's, their/there, lead/led) that spellcheck lets through.
28. (checker) Tense consistency: a past-tense narrative does not slip into the present mid-scene; past perfect is used once to enter a flashback, then dropped.
29. (checker) Word repetition within three lines, and all-purpose verbs ("get", "put", "stood up") used too often.
30. (you) Filter words ("she felt that", "he noticed that") cut wherever the perception can be direct.
31. (you) Adverbs in "-ly": each one justifies its place or goes.
32. (checker) Dialogue tags: "said" and "asked" carry the load; no "he exclaimed joyfully"; action beats replace tags where the speaker is obvious.
33. (checker) Dialogue punctuation: the comma sits inside the closing quotation mark before a tag; one style of quotation marks (double or single) throughout the manuscript.
34. (checker) Hyphens, en dashes and em dashes are not confused, and the dash style is consistent from chapter 1 to the end.
35. (checker) Numbers: spelled out up to one hundred in narrative, figures for times and dates, one convention only.
36. (checker) Capitals: titles before names, place names, compass points by usage, with no mixing.
37. (you) Sentence length varies: no more than three consecutive sentences of similar length in a tense passage.
38. (you) Paragraph openings vary: no three "She" in a row.
39. (you) Paragraph endings that neither summarise nor moralise ("she understood that nothing would ever be the same").
40. (checker) Italics reserved for titles, foreign words and direct thought, never for emphasis.

The points marked (checker) are split between two tools. Sagoræ's built-in checker, no AI, free and unlimited, covers points 27, 33, 34, 35 and 36 while you write. The AI Checker reads a finished chapter and covers 28, 29, 32 and 40: it underlines, explains the rule, and replaces no word. On the revised chapter 14, it flagged a missing comma and "day ninety" spelled out here while "day 90" sat in figures in chapter 9. The rest it left alone.

The most frequent errors behind points 27 to 36, with the fix and the rule, are worked through in the 15 most common mistakes in fiction drafts. For point 29, the full method (what you no longer see, and what you keep on purpose) is in how to spot repetition in your writing.

The points people skip, and why that is a mistake

Three points are almost always skipped: 2 (the inciting event too late), 21 (stakes set after the gesture) and 39 (paragraph endings that explain). They are also three of the classic errors of a first manuscript, described in first novel mistakes to avoid. People skip them because they require cutting, which costs more than fixing a comma. No checker will ever see them; that is exactly why they are on the list.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to check all 40 points on the whole manuscript? Yes, but one pass at a time. The ten structure points are checked on the chapter table, not in the text; the fourteen sentence points are checked chapter by chapter, last.

Is the built-in checker enough for pass 4? No. It covers spelling, punctuation and typography. Tense consistency, repetition and dialogue tags need the AI Checker or a careful reread; filter words, adverbs and rhythm are yours.

Where does this list differ from the French version? Points 32 to 35: French dialogue uses dashes or guillemets, inverted tags ("dit-elle") and non-breaking spaces before colons and question marks. An English list has none of that and worries about quotation marks and dash styles instead.

How long does the full list take? On 80,000 words, count two weeks for passes 1 and 2 together, two months for pass 3, three weeks for pass 4.

If you want to tick this list in a workshop where the checker underlines while you reread, Sagoræ offers a free trial, no card required.

✒️ Read next: How to Write Your First Novel: A Guide That Shows Instead of Tells · How to Start Writing a Novel With No Experience: Your First Week, Hour by Hour · 12 First Novel Mistakes and How to Catch Them Before Your Readers Do

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