Manuscript consistency
Consistency errors are the ones a spellchecker cannot see. Every name in this category is spelled correctly as far as a dictionary is concerned, which is exactly why a manuscript can carry two spellings of the same invented place for three hundred pages without anything flagging it.
These guides cover the checks worth running before a book goes to an editor or a retailer, and how to run each one without introducing new errors in the process.
170 articles, page 1 of 5
Where a Novel Loses Track of Its Own Words
392,764 real inconsistencies measured. Two in five are a single slip, three in ten are a decision the book never made, and the sloppy second half does not exist.
How to Check a Manuscript Before a Rewrite
Survey the draft before you cut it.
Checking a Manuscript for Lost Formatting
The emphasis that did not survive the move.
Checking a Manuscript Converted From Another Format
The file changed hands. Check what changed.
How to Check a Manuscript in Scrivener
Checks inside the project, and checks after.
How to Check a Manuscript in Word
What the software you already have can do.
How to Check a Manuscript in Google Docs
Checking in a browser, and its limits.
Emotional Continuity in a Novel
What they were feeling when the chapter ended.
Checking Relationship Progression
Does the relationship move at a rate the book earned.
Grief and Trauma Continuity
What happens after the chapter that hurt.
Checking a Redemption Arc
Is the change earned, or announced.
Checking an Antagonist's Timeline
The book from the other side.
Checking What Your Book Implies
The pattern nobody wrote on purpose.
Accidental Name Collisions With Real People
You invented it. Somebody already has it.
Accidental Real-World References
Your invented company already exists.
Dual Timeline Novel Consistency
Two clocks, and a reader holding both.
Checking an Epistolary Novel
Letters, logs and reports, each with a date.
Checking a Frame Narrative
A story inside a story, and who knows what.
Checking an Adaptation Against the Source
Someone else's world, and an audience that knows it.
Numbers and Statistics in Fiction
Every number you invented, twice.
Checking Invented Science for Consistency
Your rules, applied consistently.
Checking Invented Law and Custom
The rules that make a world a place.
Checking Character Motivation Consistency
Do they do this because of who they are.
Checking a Manuscript After Cutting a Character
The character is gone. Their traces are not.
Checking a Manuscript After Merging Two Characters
Two people became one. Not everywhere.
Checking a Manuscript After Adding a Viewpoint
A new head in the book, with its own limits.
How to Split a Book Into Two: Where to Cut
One manuscript, two books, and the work between.
How to Combine Two Books Into One
Two books, one spine, and the seam in the middle.
Duplicate Scenes and How They Happen
The scene you wrote twice without noticing.
How to Find Contradictory Descriptions
Both descriptions are fine. Together they are not.
Contradictions in Dialogue
Someone is wrong, or someone is lying.
Checking a Trunk Novel Before Publishing
The book from the drawer, and what came with it.
Checking a Fast-Drafted Manuscript
Speed leaves a particular kind of mess.
Checking a Dictated Manuscript
Every error is a correctly spelled word.
Checking a Manuscript Written on a Phone
The book your phone helped you write.
Checking a Manuscript Assembled From Scenes
Written in pieces, joined at the end.
Checking a Manuscript After a POV Change
The pronouns you changed, and the ones you did not.
Checking a Manuscript After a Tense Change
The verbs you changed, and the ones you missed.
Checking a Manuscript After Changing the Setting
The setting changed. What else has to.
A Head-Hopping Checklist
Find the jumps, do not read about them.
Page 1 of 5
Manuscript consistency, on your own manuscript.
One pass finds every term your book spells more than one way.