Your Next Draft
Alice helps authors of YA novels craft un-put-down-able stories with proven editing strategies and infectious love for the editing process. Get one expert editing tip in your inbox every week.
What da Vinci, Michelangelo, and you have in common
Hi Reader, Last week, my editor friend Kim and I took an impromptu trip to Italy. (Because when a friend of a friend offers you free round-trip tickets in exchange for escorting kittens from Venice to the US, you say absolutely, yes please.) We spent a day in Milan (not my favorite) and a couple days each in Florence and Cinque Terre (loved them both and hated to leave). Of course, we visited all the classic sites: the Duomo (in both Milan and Florence); Michelangelo’s David; the Uffizi...
What if you do everything right and the book launch still goes wrong?
Hi Reader, What happens after you edit your book? What happens after you’ve bared the story of your heart, crafted it into an excellent novel, and presented it to the world? What happens when you get traditionally published, when you receive awards and accolades, and when it looks like you’ve won the author career lottery? Last month, I brought author A.S. King on the podcast to share how she revises award-winning novels—complex, intense, surrealist, mind-bending stories meant to challenge...
Think you need a line editor? Try this first
Hi Reader, Do you need to hire a line editor? After all, you want to write an excellent novel. You know that great writing takes shape in revision, and you don’t want to skimp on any layers of editing. Nor do you want to overestimate your writing skills and leave your book littered with clunky sentences that a wordsmithing line editor could polish into shining brilliance. On the other hand, you also don’t want to mess up your editing process or your manuscript by getting the editing phases...
How surrealist pantser A.S. King revises award-winning novels
Hi Reader, Have you ever read a book and thought, Holy cow, this is amazing. How did this author DO this? Or, maybe you’ve read a book and thought, Wow, I wish I could write (or in my case, edit) a book like this, but this is incredible and it might be beyond me? Well, that’s how I feel when I read an A.S. King novel. She’s an impressively decorated author of novels for middle grade, teens, and adults. She’s the only author to win the Printz award for young adult literature twice—and that’s...
Sneak peek: an award-winning author's revision process
Hi Reader, “To me, revision is the sport. It's the impact. It's the reason we're writers. I mean, the first draft is great. You can't revise anything without it, right? But the revision is the sport for me.” That’s a quote from A.S. King. She’s the award-winning author of Pick the Lock and other surrealist novels for middle graders, teens, and adults. After publishing more than a dozen books—and writing nearly thirty—she’s honed her revision process to a fine art. And next week, she’s sharing...
The editor life: 5 days behind the scenes with Alice
Hi Reader, Ever wondered what an editor actually does all day? What it looks like to spend all day supporting writers in their stories? Or what your editor’s doing in all that time when they’re not sharing their feedback with you? If those questions pique your curiosity, you’re in luck. In today’s brand-new episode of Your Next Draft, I’m pulling back the curtain to share a week in my life as a developmental editor and book coach. You’ll get a behind-the-scenes look at what I do with writers...
Take a break from editing.
Hi Reader, I hope you love your story. I hope you love writing it, revising it, turning it over in your mind. I hope ideas spark when you’re in the shower and on a walk and cooking dinner and driving to work. In short, I hope your story is the thing you want to escape to, not the thing you want to escape from. That’s how I feel about the stories I work with. And they’re not even my stories! Yesterday morning, I began recording a new-to-me episode format for Your Next Draft. It’s a...
How to use revision tools like the story authority you already are
Hi Reader, You’ve heard of Save the Cat! Story Grid. Hero’s Journey. These are all frameworks designed to help you edit a novel. If you don’t know these names, I bet you know others—Freytag’s Pyramid, 7 Point Story Structure, Dan Harmon’s Story Circle, there are dozens more. Each one promises that if you use it, you’ll be able to craft better stories. And because we want to write good books, the writers I know are constantly learning new frameworks and analyzing their stories through them. I...
This is what courageous editing looks like
Hi Reader, “My friends keep asking me when I’m going to finish working on my book. They tell me I should just publish already.” I could give that quote an attribution. But it doesn’t need one, because I’ve heard this sentiment from so many writers. These writers expected they’d be finished with their books a draft or two ago. Their journeys look like this: Write the first draft Edit one or two or three more drafts, some alone and some with an editor’s support Determine the book is done Begin...
Use this when you’re overwhelmed by your story
Hi Reader, You’re pretty savvy about story structure. You know your Story Grid, your Save the Cat!, your Hero’s Journey. You’ve probably analyzed your story six ways to Sunday, and you’ve got the spreadsheets and outlines and diagrams and graphs to prove it. And all that analysis has leveled up your story significantly. You’ve solved major structural problems by applying your extensive knowledge of story theory. But I bet there are still some issues nagging at you. Issues that you still can’t...
The truth about the most efficient revision process I know
Hi Reader, Does the work you’re doing to edit your novel feel inefficient? You’re not alone. Yesterday, I got to dig deep into the process of revising a novel with Jennie Nash, founder of Author Accelerator and leader of the emerging book coaching industry. She was answering questions from a group of book coaches about the novel revision process she recommends. It’s a revision process she developed over years of coaching writers, many of whom have gone on to book deals, bestseller lists, and...
Alice helps authors of YA novels craft un-put-down-able stories with proven editing strategies and infectious love for the editing process. Get one expert editing tip in your inbox every week.