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...
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...
Combine multiple layers of editing to perfect your story
Hi Reader, If you want to move your reader in every moment and keep them hooked on every page, you need to refine your scenes until each one is unputdownable. And that refinement? It’s SUCH a joy. It’s my favorite thing to do and it will transform your entire story. But in order to make every scene matter, you first need to make sure you have all the right scenes in all the right places. The big-picture story structure can’t be kinda-sorta-maybe working. It needs to be locked in, watertight....
Feeling lost in your story? Here’s how to find your way
Hi Reader, The art of editing lies in understanding your own vision. It's as simple, and as complicated, as that. As I write this newsletter, it’s Monday evening. I’ve spent the last three hours in my podcast editing software, where I’m wrestling with a mountain of content. It was a delightful recording session—an hour and forty minutes of passionate conversation between a writer and two editors. It will become a delightful episode—an hour(ish) of focused insight honed into its most engaging...
What is a manuscript evaluation? (And do you need one?)
Hi Reader, If you google “developmental editor” and start looking through editors’ websites, you’ll see a common service appear again and again: A manuscript evaluation. (Or assessment, or diagnostic, or critique. A rose by any other name, etc.) Typically, in a manuscript evaluation, an editor will offer to read your manuscript and tell you what’s working and what to focus on next to make it even better. It sounds like the dream, right? Someone who will read the book you’ve spent months and...
3 Reasons to LOVE editing your novel
Hi Reader, What do you love about editing? I’ve had several opportunities to ask this question lately. I’ve been busy this month recording podcast episodes with guest writers and editors. (Like this one!) And if you’re an avid podcast listener, you might be familiar with the trope of the standard question. It’s a segment where the podcast host asks every guest the same question. For Your Next Draft, this is the question I’ve chosen: What do you love about editing? The answers so far have been...
Your Next Draft is BACK!
Hi Reader, The time has finally come: the Your Next Draft podcast is back! And today’s episode is one I’m really excited to share with you. It’s a bit like a manifesto. A declaration of my editing ethos. The way I’m approaching my editing in 2025—and the way I invite you to approach yours, as well. I’m also, honestly, a little nervous to share it with you. It’s ruffled feathers when I’ve shared it with writers one-on-one. So I expect this episode to be a bit . . . controversial. Here’s the...
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.