This post was first published here on September 12, 2008. ~~~~~~~ 1. Mark repetitive words and phrases for rewrites or substitutions. As is a particularly overused phrase beginning. 2. Mark all lazy verbs such as were, was, had, and substitute active verbs or restructure sentence. In most cases take out just, now, very, only. There is no now in the past tense except within the dialogue or thoughts of the character. An editor once told me that tiny is the most overused word in manuscripts. 3. Once those basic mistakes are corrected, read aloud and listen for: A. Hard to read passages that make you stumble. Fix them. B. If you stop to breathe in the middle of a sentence, it’s probably too long. C. Unpleasant cadence, too many sentences with the same rhythm, too many long or too many short sentences within a scene. As a general rule, short sentences are used for fast paced action, longer are to calm down a scene. D. Sibilance (repetition of S or SH sounds) or iteration (r...