Strong writing checklist

Strong Writing Checklist

This is a comprehensive checklist that can be used to evaluate good writing or strengthen existing writing.

1. Show, don't tell
2. Maintains the character voice by taking into account their personality, background, wound/flaw, age, occupation and experiences. An old woman shouldn't suddenly sound like a valley girl. A private detective shouldn't act like a school teacher. A layperson wouldn't have knowledge or skills in advanced mathematical research without a concrete explanation. Someone who is poor doesn't own a million dollar car without a logical reason (ie inherited it from a rich relative, stole it, etc)
3. Every scene should incorporate as many senses as possible to help the reader feel immersed in the environment: balance, sight, smell, taste, touch, temperature
4. No repetitive phrases or words (ie don't start every sentence with I in a first person POV or use the word blue three times within the same four paragraphs)
5. Use strong adjectives over adverbs
6. Don't use second person pronouns unless they are in character dialogue or the entire scene is written in second person perspective
7. Show the actions a character is taking or the emotions a character is feeling rather than telling the action or emotion directly (ie he smiled rather than he's happy)
8. Pacing is important to good writing. Actions scenes, fight scenes or intense scenes should have shorter and punchier sentences. Sentences, paragraphs and chapters should vary in length. Lots of long sentences in a row is harder for people to read. If you do an analysis of sentence length it should have a variation in the length rather than lots of sentences in similar lengths. This helps set a rhythm to the story
9. Chapters should be at least 1,500 words long. Chapters should typically be no longer than 3,500 words long. Chapters must never be more than 5,000 words
10. Every scene needs a hook, escalation, pivot, conflict and consequences with the consequences leading to the hook of the next chapter
11. Reduce the use of dialogue tags, the voice of the character or flow of the story should make it easy for the reader to tell who is talking. Only use dialogue tags when it's not clear who is talking in a long section of back and forth dialogue.
12. Avoid adverbs in dialogue, use stronger verbs or adjectives
13. Don't use passive indications or passive sentences.
14. Tenses must be consistent throughout the story, scenes and chapters unless the passage is a flashback/something that happened in the past
15. Don't use cliches
16. Remove redundancies in words or sentences that say almost the exact same thing more than once
17. Consistent point of view, for the chapter or scene, no head hopping
18. No unnecessary filler words, reduce glue words by writing a sentence with stronger verbs or adjectives
19. Writing word choice should meet the target audience, for example don't use words at an 8th grade reading level for a book written for kindergarteners. Do a lexical analysis to make sure the text is at the appropriate reading level.
20. Slang/colloquialisms should exist in the character dialogue or story elements so that the world feels authentic. For example, characters might call food "chum" if they live in a world where eating is done out of necessity because it doesn't taste good
21. World building should make sense for the location or elements presented in the story
22. World building established should persist throughout the story, something introduced in chapter 1 shouldn't suddenly disappear by chapter 10
23. Limit sentences that start with an initial pronoun or character names
24. Avoid sentence starters
25. Avoid generic descriptions
26. Avoid misspelled words
27. Avoid incorrect punctuation
28. Avoid grammatical errors
29. Don't start the story with a character waking up or in a dream
30. Don't start the story with weather unless it's unusual weather
31. The protagonist must be active with their actions/decisions driving the story forward not just reacting to the plot or environment changes happening around them
32. POV must be consistent throughout the entire scene unless there's a scene break
33. No head hopping where the narrator shifts between character perspectives within a single scene, paragraph, or even sentence.
34. Avoid using anything other than he/she said or asked after character dialoge for best dialoge readability.
35. Avoid plot holes or story beat inconsistencies
36. Strong hook on the first sentence: catches readers attention and keeps them reading, has strong character voice, leaves reader asking questions, has tension or conflict or stakes
37. No info dumping
38. The last sentence of a chapter should setup a strong hook for the next chapter

Do an Evaluation

Evaluate the sample of writing given against each item in this checklist. Call out anywhere the writing doesn't meet these guidelines. Save this as [book-title]-[date]-evaluation.md using the following format:

[Book-Title] Evaluation ([date])

[iterate over all problems found matching the items in the checklist above with the format provided below]

[first item from the checklist above re-stated in clear and concise language, no more than 1 sentence long]

• [priority]: [checklist topic this item was raised for] - [item found that meets the checklist criteria above]
  • Reasoning: [explain why this was added to this checklist]
  • Suggested [type of suggestion ie fix, adjust, add, remove, etc]: [suggestion on how to fix this item with detailed examples of the suggested change]
    • Example: [Provide an example of how they could implement this suggested fix and stick to the original prose, word choice and sentence structure as much as possible.]
• [...iterate through any other issues identified under this checklist topic before going to checklist item 2.]

Here is an example of what would be generated using this format:

My Dog Bruno Evaluation (April 18, 2026)

Show don't tell

• HIGH: Bruno loved his bone.
  • Reasoning: When you tell the reader that bruno loves his bone this is a missed opportunity to say a lot more about his personality or reaction that shows how much he loves it.
  • Suggest fix: Consider what physical reactions Bruno makes to his bone, does he pounce on it, throw it in the air, carry it around the room in his mouth with his tail wagging?
    • Example: Bruno jumped at the kitchen island and pulled his bone from the countertop then paraded it around the room with his tail held high.
• HIGH: The rain made me sad.
  • Reasoning: Sad is an emotion that can be evoked through body language or subtext.
  • Suggest fix: Prior to this the main character expresses their disappointment that their mother didn't show up to their childhood play and it was raining that day. Lean into this sentiment or use subtext to show how they link this incident to the rain.
    • Example: Every time it rains I'm left leaves with a bitter taste in my mouth.
• MEDIUM: He felt drained when the teacher placed his failing test on his desk.
  • Reasoning: Saying he felt drained can be replaced by showing his reaction to the test on his desk.
    • Suggest fix: Describe what happens in his body language or what he does with his failing grade after it lands on his desk. Does he rip it up, slam his fist down, or shove it hurriedly into his backpack so no one else can see? Does he go pale or grit his teeth?
      • Example: His face went pale when the teacher placed his failing test on his desk. He slapped his hand down over the big red F and then shoved it into his backpack when Jenny craned her neck towards him.

Character inconsistencies

• LOW: John mentions he has an $80,000 truck but he works as a bagger in a grocery store.
  • Reasoning: With such a low salary John wouldn't be able to afford a truck this expensive without a plausible reason.
  • Suggest fix: Explain that John is borrowing the truck from a friend, or inherited the truck from his dad, or imply that he is doing underhanded work on the side that would give him a plausible reason for having a truck this expensive. Alternatively, change it to an $8,000 truck that he's still making payments on.
    • Example: John's $8,000 truck was his pride and joy even if he was two weeks late making this month's payment.

Provide a Report From the Evaluation

Provide a comprehensive report on the writing sample evaluated in [book-title]-[date]-evaluation.md file. List the strengths and weaknesses when comparing the writing to the checklist above. Give a rating out of 5 stars with the strength of the writing. Use this format for the report:

[book-title] Evaluation (April 18, 2026)

Rating: [number of stars]

[Provide a high level explanation of why you picked this number of stars for the rating.]

Strengths

[Include a bulleted list of the strengths followed by a high level summary of the strengths of his piece of writing with detailed explanations of why these are strengths. Example format provided below]

• Character voice - this character has a gritty tone that matches the harsh and tramatic life they've lived.
• Worldbuilding - St. Mary's church is a visceral that enhances the immersion into this world

Weaknesses

[Include a bulleted list of the strengths followed by a high level summary of the strengths of his piece of writing with detailed explanations of why these are strengths. Example format provided below]

• Spelling mistakes - there are 27 misspelled words that break the reader's immersion.
• Character inconsistencies - you have 4 different characters that break from their personality traits or occupation

Strong Writing Checklist

[Copy the exact full evaluation checklist (excluding the title) from [book-title]-[date]-evaluation.md here]