Check homonyms and be sure they are used correctly. Problems often happen with words that sound alike, but are spelled differently, because spell check will not pick up on them. Watch out for words like hear and here, then and than, to (toward), too (more or also), and two (the number), there, their, and they’re, zinc and sink, and check them carefully.

Double check your transitions to be sure the reader is oriented. A transition is when you move the reader from one place to another, or one scene to another, or one time to another. Usually the opening sentence in a block of copy or scene. A good transition, like the lead in a newspaper or magazine article, should answer the questions Who? Where? and When?

Re dialogue and dialogue punctuation: Make sure characters don’t waste time on small talk. Punctuate dialogue correctly. Never let two characters talk in the same paragraph. Commas and other punctuation go inside the quotes. And everything a person says at one time (even if they change the subject) goes in the same paragraph.

Indicate the speech tags as part of the whole sentences in dialogue. When a quote is followed by a “speechtag” as in, "David explained," the tag is still part of the SAME sentence and so the end of the dialogue speech is connected with a comma (NOT a period), and then a close quote. The comma is there to show that the “said” is part of the same sentence. Dialogue quotes should not end in period when there is a speechtag. Tags like “Responds David”, or “Explains Mary” should never be capitalized as they are not a new sentence.

Keep speechtags simple. Use “said” most of the time. Never use animal sounds such as "he barked" unless your character is a dog or a drill sergeant (or a werewolf. Werewolfs are allowed to bark. Who's gonna argue?)  Here's a neat little technique: if you show a character in action within the same paragraph as their speech, the reader will assume the character who moved was also the one who spoke. This little trick can get rid of a lot of repetitive language (the saids), and it forces you to insert an image. If you want to show another character's reaction to the speech, change paragraphs. Treat the movement as if it were a dialogue reply.

Write in scenes or structured parts and be sure each part makes a point. In fiction, the turning point is the place where something important changes. In non-fiction, it’s where you draw a conclusion. In either case, scenes or parts should make a point.

Narrate scenes or parts with no point. They always tell us in the beginning to write in scenes and "show don't tell" and narration is "telling." But you can't show everything. So narrate the mundane, or the action in scenes that don’t have a point. Most writing texts don't get into how to do narration B in fact they warn against it. But narration has an important place in any work.

Be aware of scene structure and hooks. Every scene has the same structure. Here it is:

Watch capitalization. Proper nouns get capitals, pronouns do not. But that can be confusing sometimes. For instance, Mom or Dad gets a cap when used as a proper noun, but no cap when used as a pronoun. As in, “My mom said Dad was late coming home.” My before mom makes it a pronoun, but Dad is used as a proper noun. Goes against all those “be consistent” rules we know.

There are often problems with punctuation, especially with apostrophes and possessives. Apostrophes are used in contractions: a shortened version of two words, but never in abbreviations. 

You should never quote from any copyrighted material directly without permission in writing from the publisher. And most of them will want to be paid. It’s okay to quote from Shakespeare or older editions of the Bible, because that material is in the Public Domain. But if the copyright is still active, as it is on The New Living Bible, or instance, that’s not okay to quote from. It’s okay to paraphrase song lyrics, to quote song titles, or book titles, to mention celebrities by name, but not to copy directly from any work. So you can name your character Sherlock Holmes or Scarlett O’Hara, if you want. Or you can have Kris Kristofferson singing "Bobby McGee,” or singing “about being broke and hitching rides in Baton Rouge.” But you can NOT have Kris sing, “Busted flat in Baton Rouge, headed for the train... ”

Be careful of pronouns. The rule is a pronoun always refers to the preceding noun. But the important thing is not to confuse the reader. So if two people are present, a man and a woman and the name Mary is followed by “he” C that’s clear. But if the scene has two women and the “her” after Mary refers to the other woman, then the proper name should be used to avoid confusion.

Always vary the language as much as you can.