Every writer comes up against a set of writing problems and any novel that is worth the time it takes to read should be put through some pretty rigorous copyediting. And that works for all writing, not just novels and not just fiction, but I’ll use the novel as my example. The one you’ve just written.

It’s all done. You’ve written it and revised it, probably several times. Your novel has everything – clear goals, a great plot, fantastic characters, conflict. Your opener is written to grab a reader and your plot moves forward steadily, suspense building with each page. Your pace is perfect, your characters fit right in and they have great dialog too. And the ending, well, that is the best ending of any novel ever, right?

Your friends have read it, your family read it. You got some beta readers to go through it and a few people from your writing group. They all gave it a big thumbs up. You even asked your great-auntie, who teaches high-school English, to proofread it for you.

So you have a best-seller, yes? Maybe. Then again, maybe not.

Answer this question – are any of those people who read your manuscript professional skilled proofreaders and copyeditors? No? Then you’re not finished!

Seriously, your great-auntie may be a fantastic English teacher and you’ve got some great friends who are happy to give you honest, constructive criticism. But are they critical readers? Can they be objective when they look at your words, sentences, your paragraphs? Can they separate those from the story? Have they even heard of the Chicago Manual of Style, let alone know what it is? Can they read 200 or 300 pages and make sure of consistency all the way through? They can’t?

Then do yourself and your work a great big favor. Copyedit it before you go to an editor, before you start querying agents, or before you upload it as an eBook on Amazon. You can do this yourself.

First, get rid of some of the expletive constructions

The what? In general terms, expletives are meaningless phrases or meaningless words that don’t give anything to a sentence. For example, “there are”, “there is”, “it is”, “it will be”, “it was”, “there would have been”, and so on.

Have a look at the following, expletives that start with “there” or “it” and all use some form of the “be” verb:

Expletive – There were three shady-looking characters following her

Rewritten – Three shady-looking characters followed her.

Expletive – It was a day filled with friendship, laughter, and goodwill.

Rewritten – The day was filled with friendship, laughter, and goodwill.

Even better – Friendship, laughter, and goodwill brightened the day.

Sure, expletives do work but use them too often and you start to come across as boring, as trying to find a way to fill a word count without saying anything.

Look at your sentences and paragraphs; how many of them start with an expletive? If you use MS Word, use the “Find” feature. Find how many instances of ‘there” and “it” is in your manuscript and start rewording.