The six traits of writing were identified in the 1980s as a way to help young writers. They are:

1. Ideas
2. Organization
3. Voice
4. Word Choice
5. Sentence Fluency
6. Conventions (grammar, spelling, and punctuation)

I write and edit from #1-6. With children I edit one trait at a time. For adults, I divide the traits into two groups: the big picture traits and the small details traits.

1. Ideas, organization, and voice are the big picture traits.
2. Word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions are the small details traits.

For your first critique, I'll be looking for the answer to these big picture questions:

• Ideas: Is the story idea believable?
• Organization: Does the story arc work?
• Voice: Is the story told from ONE character's point-of-view?

If the answer to ANY of the big picture questions is NO,
I'll offer suggestions so you can make the answer a YES in your next draft.
(You can send me your next draft a follow-up critique.)

When the answer to ALL of the big picture questions is YES,
(in the first critique OR the follow-up critique)
I'll address the small details. (This is also known as line-editing.)

As I line-edit, I'll be looking for the answer to these small details questions:

• Word Choice: Do the words used help the reader understand the story?
• Sentence Fluency: Do the sentences flow when the story is read aloud?
• Conventions: Are the grammar, spelling, and punctuation correct?

To answer the small details questions, I'll line-edit your manuscript using this system:

1. + for something I like
2. ? for something that is not clear yet
3. [] brackets around words I would cut
4. CAPS for words I would add
5. * and CAPS for spelling and grammar corrections

Line-editing is focused on the small details but for the most part it is still subjective. I've had the same manuscript edited by different children's book editors with very different results! This is why I offer suggestions instead of making rules. (Everytime I make a rule, someone finds a book that breaks it!)

My goal is to help you polish your manuscript so it catches the eye of an agent or an editor. I know they will probably ask you to rewrite it again. That's how this business works!