by Jude Aquilina

•  Is your story special/original/unusual?
• Is your meaning/message clear?
• What shape is the story? Are the sections in the best order for impact?
• Are the sentence lengths appropriate – a mixture of short and long sentences often works well.
• Is the punctuation consistent? [less is more these days]
• Are there words or lines which could be eliminated without affecting the story?
• Are there accidental repetitions?
• Are the voice and tone consistent and authentic?
• Is every word of dialogue necessary?
• Is there enough dialogue to break up long passages of text?
• Have you used figurative language?
• Have you adequately described your characters and setting?
• Do you need paragraph breaks to let the reader absorb before reading on?
• Is the font plain and easy to read [Times New Roman or Palatino are good]?
• Have you used double or 1.5 line spacing?
• Is your name on the piece of writing?
• Are there childish words [like ‘yummy’] in an otherwise ‘adult’ story?
• Is your title memorable/catchy/specific?  [Titles such as ‘Love’, ‘Summer’ & ‘Flowers’ are not, nor is ‘Untitled’ – give your babies decent names!]
• Do the first lines make the reader want to read on?
• Have you read the story (especially the dialogue) aloud and listened for problems with sound, pronunciation or rhythm?
• Have you left time between edits? [I never send new work to publishers, as I always find ways of improving it, plus like to seek feedback from a friend]
• Have you kept all drafts?  You may need to refer back to earlier drafts. [plastic sleeves are a wonderful invention]
• Have you used a Thesaurus to enrich the vocabulary?
• Have you researched any factual parts to ensure they’re correct?
• Have you checked for clichés?
• Are there feeble words, which can be replaced or omitted? [Words such as ‘very’ ‘really’ ‘nice’ ‘sad’ ‘fun’]
• Have you received feedback from another writer or trusted reader?
• Are you sure your story isn’t insulting, racist, ageist, slanderous?
• Is the ending satisfying/suitable- or give does it give a sense of ‘ending’?
• Have you used your five senses?
• Have you used too many speech tags?
• Are there too many adverbs ‘showing and not telling’?
• Have you given the piece a major prune?
• Have you tried a different tense?
• Have you tried a different point of view?
• Does the language suit the time, place and character?
• Are there unanswered questions or parts that need explaining?

 
And don’t forget the importance of punctuation …
 
A teacher asks his students to punctuate this sentence:
"Woman without her man is nothing." The men all write, "Woman, without her man, is nothing." The women all write, "Woman! Without her, man is nothing!"
 
If you feel like a punctuation challenge, try punctuating this sentence:
James while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher   (11 x had)
The answer:
James, while John had had "had", had had "had had"; "had had" had had a better effect on the teacher

• Numbers one to nine are spelled out, 10 and above are shown in digits
• Thoughts are usually shown in italics (never use quotation marks for thoughts)
• In Australia, we use single quotation marks for dialogue
• Use an apostrophe and an ‘s’ when showing possessive for surnames and Christian names: Jones’s / Elvis’s / Magnus’s (only Jesus’ name has no ‘s)
• No need for full stops after titles: Mrs / Dr / Mr
• All book, magazine and newspaper titles are shown in italics
• Don’t precede action with ‘he turned…’  ‘she began…’ go straight to the dialogue or action
• Underlining is out of fashion, in titles and in text
• Avoid using bold within text, use italics for emphasis
• Don’t use full stops in titles of stories, poems, books, etc.
• Centre spacing of poetry is generally considered amateurish
• Use exclamation marks sparingly or preferably not at all
• Avoid using words like got / gotten / thing – except in dialogue
• Avoid passive language.  He had been to the shop. He went to the shop.
• Minimise long blocks of text without dialogue
• Ascertain point of view and tense in opening paragraph/s.
• OK (correct) okay (colloquial) NEVER ok or Ok
• Learn how to do the long dash on your computer and use it

 
Correct punctuation for dialogue:
‘That cloud looks like a dragon,’ said Ben. Comma inside quotation mark/lower case s for said
​
‘Look at the strange cloud.’ Obviously frightened, Ben pointed to the sky. Dialogue doesn’t run on, so use a full stop before the quotation mark and a capital O for Obviously

‘I’m scared,’ said Ben, ‘and I want to go home.’ Note the use of commas and lower case because sentence runs on with ‘said Ben’ in the middle

Ben suddenly yelled, ‘Look at that!’ If speech tag comes before dialogue use a comma before the quotation mark.
Jude Aquilina, 2018

Workshop Resources
Trove at the National Library of Australia; http://trove.nla.gov.au/; digitised resources includes books, images, historic newspapers, maps, music, archives.
 
State Library of South Australia; http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm, digitised resources includes books, images, archives and family history research assistance.
 
Family History South Australia; http://www.familyhistorysa.info/; created by historian Barry   Leadbeater in 1996. A very comprehensive resource, relating to the State's early history. Information provided on this site is free, and is multilayered with many links.
 
State Records of South Australia; http://www.archives.sa.gov.au/; the official custodian for archival records created by State and Local Government agencies within South Australia.
 
Genealogy SA, https://www.genealogysa.org.au/, is a leading resource for information on South Australian family history. Access to its full digitised database is limited to fee paying members only. Genealogy SA welcomes casual membership to use its resources. This website contains a helpful genealogy template guide for the family history researcher, and many other useful tips.
 
Other Useful Resources
Australian Dictionary of Biography; http://adb.anu.edu.au/; created by the Centre for Biography, Australian National University. Very informative site, with entries compiled by historians on significant Australians who have contributed to the Nation through their careers. Also created by the Centre for Biography, Obituaries Australia; http://oa.anu.edu.au/, a digitised collection of obituaries published in Australian newspapers. 
 
Bound for South Australia 1836; http://boundforsouthaustralia.com.au/; website dedicated to the State's first pioneers. Packed with historical resources and passenger lists. Worthwhile for anyone researching their early South Australian family history.
 
Gould Genealogy; http://www.gould.com.au/, Terrific South Australian site, hundreds of free downloads available to assist with history research.
 
Family Search; https://familysearch.org/search, is the original genealogy website of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Information on this site is freely available, but very basic.
 
Subscription and pay for view family history sites
http://www.ancestry.com.au/, http://www.ancestry.co.uk/, http://www.ancestry.com/, http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/;
Popular genealogy websites operated by Utah based Ancestry Information Operations Company. Subscription, or pay for view only.

http://www.findmypast.com.au, http://www.genesreunited.com.au/; websites dedicated to genealogy research throughout the Commonwealth. Operated by UK Company Brightsolid. Subscription and pay