As an editor, what do I look for when I comb through a manuscript? Perhaps the first thing which jumps out at me is how well the manuscript stays on subject. In the case of non-fiction pieces, this is obvious. Everything written, whether it be a business letter to the bank, a letter of complaint to the electric company, a piece of advertising copy, or one of those fabled white pages, benefits when the writer is clear in his own mind as to what the subject matter is, and stays with it.

With a work as extensive as a novel, this may become more difficult, as there are often plots and subplots running through it. However, once the author has laid out the general structure of his book, and depending on its complexity this might not occur until the second or third draft., each and every scene within it must carry forward to the next, and from there to the peak of the novel, where whatever emotional or mental enlightenment which is intended to happen to the main protagonist does, and the novel winds down to its close.

Within this framework, everything the characters say and do may be used, as long as it all contributes to and builds to those final scenes, where things either do or do not work out as the main protagonist would have it be.

Once you have written that first draft, you must go through it again. first to arrange your ideas - which ones do you want to open with, which ones to close, and do they all contribute to the main theme of the paper.

Then you must look to see that the ideas are presented in an orderly fashion, the scenes are consistently laid out, and those sections emphasized which either add to the drama of the novel, or the clarity of the article, and those elements which do not in any way contribute to these things are eliminated.