an icepick through the keyhole

If they replaced the word "abandoned" in the final line of that intro with "re-worked", it might go over better. As a check-list of traps to avoid falling into, it's not bad. (I found the linked info on swords quite enlightening.) It could save a lot of people the embarrassment and heartbreak of having an editor tell them these things *after* they've put a lot of work into a doomed novel.