Shrunken Manuscript Technique Helps Visualize Problems
Following my directions for shrinking, marking and evaluating a novel, here are some recent examples:
- MJ Diems shrank her Precious and says, “Color coding a single spaced 8pt draft by setting and character is hard work, people! All that capping and uncapping. But it means I get to spend quality time with My Precious.”
- Joyce Ray spots weaknesses in her novel. Hurrah! No sagging middle.
- Ann Finkelstein Shrank, Vacuumed, Colored, Laid out and Evaluated with a creative key that includes an emotional scale of Yawn, Squirm, Bite Nails and Heart Pounds.
Thanks for the link, Darcy. I recently tried your shrunken manuscript technique again with another novel. The second novel is more about angst than fear, so I changed my scale to: Ho hum, Uh oh, Oh no! and Ahaaaaaaaa!
Shrinking the manuscript helped me identify the amounts of dialog and description.