with the reshaped version – even when they previously felt dis-
satisfied with their text but pessimistic about finding any better
way of organizing it.
From here on you need do only a limited amount of work to
finish off the remodelled version of the text. The principal task
is to refocus the beginnings and ends of sections and subsections,
the signposts and promises made to readers. You will also have to
remake some linkage points between paragraphs at all the points
where the sequence has changed under the new structure. But
you should have a clear plan of what to do by now, and almost
all of the text used in the new version is already written. With
these elements on the desk in front of you, producing a fully pol-
ished and connected new text should be much easier than it was
to generate the original version.
There are then only a few remaining checks that you need to
make on the remodelled chapter:
◆ Look at each subheading in turn and ask: is it the right level
of heading, and in the right place? How many paragraphs
follow each subheading (easily checked from your new
plan)? Your subheadings should neither be too spaced out,
nor come too frequently. It is especially important to avoid
having two headings next to each other, with no
intervening text. (Also look out for cases where there is only
a single lower-order subheading inside a section: creating
subsections is redundant unless there are at least two of
them.) Do the subheads divide the text evenly so far as
possible? Are the subheadings effective and informative? Do
the headings give readers good clues about what the
storyline or the ‘bottom line’ is in each? It can be very
useful to crosscheck the subheadings with your one-line
paragraph summaries for that subsection and see how far
they match up.
◆ Check each of the linkages between paragraphs in the new
plan. Is there a good reason why this paragraph follows
that? Does the first and last sentence of each new paragraph
signpost the contents well, and make good verbal links from
one paragraph to the next?
◆ Practice the ‘emergency stop’ test on the new text. Suppose
that I suddenly clap my hand over the bottom of the page
DEVELOPING YOUR TEXT◆ 147