Micro Manuscript Take Two

A while back, I used Darcy Pattison’s Shrunken Manuscript technique to analyze CBL [blog entry]. Last weekend, I tried it with TAoCBS.

Start by taking the spaces out between chapters, single space and reduce the font to 8-point. My 40,000 word manuscript shrunk to 32 pages. Then I assigned each character a color and marked sections according to their emotional impact.

The quantity of description versus dialog becomes immediately obvious.
The amount of play time each character gets is also clear in my color-coded scheme.
The tension (or its lack) can also be tracked by the amount of vertical and diagonal cross-hatching.

Hint: Treat yourself to a new package of markers before you start.