Narrative Checklist

1. Is your story interesting? If not, consider these questions:

• Is the first sentence interesting? Does it set the scene of the story?
• Is there conflict?
• Is there suspense?
• Is there a climax?
• Is the conclusion of the story satisfying, i.e., does it answer all your reader's questions?

2. Is your story believable? If not, would dialogue or description help to bring the story to life?

3. Is the sequence of events clear?

• Have you kept strictly to the story? (If there are any details that do not contribute directly to the story, remove them.)
• Have you told all the important things?
• Have you told the story in the order it actually happened (chronological order)?

4. Is the point of view consistent and clear? These ideas will help in judging consistency:

• "I" stories help the reader to believe the story actually happened to the writer. Do not switch to second person ("you") or third person ("he/she") point of view.
• Tense. Use the past tense. Do not suddenly change to the present or future tense unless the story requires it.
• Use the active voice rather than the passive voice wherever possible, e.g., "The dog jumped up and bit me on the butt" is a much stronger sentence than, "I was bitten on the butt by the dog which jumped up".