Summarize:

Ensure your word choices are specific, concise, and clear. Look for opportunities to swap vague words for stronger, more precise alternatives. Break out your thesaurus and dictionary, and find crisp replacements for wordy phrases. For instance, “His sleeplessness became part of his normal routine and, like an animal active at night, he found that the dark of night heightened his senses,” is wordy. “His insomnia became habitual; like a nocturnal animal, his senses grew sharper with light’s absence” is crisper. Proofread your work, correct any typos, and check your grammar carefully. When recounting events, it’s easy to mix up verb tenses. Underline or highlight your action words, and make sure their tense matches your narrative’s timeline.  For instance, if you’ve written your narrative in the past tense, watch out for places where your narrator may have slipped into the present. Keep in mind characters can think or speak using a different tense than the narrator. For example, it’s grammatically correct to write, “Noelle skipped and spun blithely as she chanted, ‘Tom loves Sophie! He’s gonna marry her! Tom and Sophie sitting in a tree!’” Watch out for choppy or disorganized sentences and awkward transitions between sections of your narrative. Make sure one sentence leads logically to the next, and vary your sentence structures for a more pleasing sound. From a big-picture perspective, ensure your paragraphs recount events logically. For instance, you might lose the reader if you start to detail one setting, digress for 3 paragraphs to discuss events in another location, bring up something completely unrelated, then finally finish describing the original setting. Letting other people read your work can be intimidating, especially if you’re recounting personal experiences. However, it’s crucial to get a fresh perspective on your writing. Ask friends, relatives, and teachers to read your work and offer notes.  If you’re writing about a personal experience, have someone who wasn’t present for the event read your narrative. They can give you an unbiased opinion about how well you make the experience real for them. If someone gives you tough notes on your narrative, try not to take it personally. Use their feedback to make your story stronger.
Refine your language so it’s as clear and concise as possible. Look for spelling and grammatical errors. Make sure your sentences and paragraphs flow. Get feedback from your peers and mentors.