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...
How an editor edits her own writing
Hi Reader, Exciting news: the Your Next Draft podcast is about to return! We’re just a few weeks away from the first new episode. Mark your calendar and check your podcast player on Tuesday, January 7! I’m so excited for Your Next Draft in 2025. I’ve spent the last few months editing the podcast itself, polishing the structure and purpose and planning new content so that every single second will be worth your listening time. The changes are subtle, but high-impact. They’re all in service of...
Here’s what it feels like to crack a story wide open
Hi Reader, On Friday, I had a story to crack. Cracking a story is what I call it when the entire arc, from beginning to end, becomes clear, and it feels like the story has cracked wide open before me. So I hopped on Zoom with my editor friend Kim. We walked through the outline together, asking probing questions and examining the setup for an explosive ending. An hour or so in, it all clicked. Some excerpted quotes from our moments of revelation: “Holy sh**.” “That’s absolutely perfect.” “This...
11 things I’m thankful for about editing
Hi Reader, This week, I’m thankful for . . . The honor of being invited into dozens of writers’ stories and creative processes. The way that great developmental editing makes stories come alive, transforming them from good ideas and okay pages to unputdownable, unforgettable reading experiences. Getting to escape into imaginary worlds every day—with the creators of those worlds as my own personal guide! The “eureka” moment when a writer and I land on the exact right solution, and I can see it...
Why publishing isn’t all it’s cracked up to be
Hi Reader, I’ve got a hot take for you today: Getting published isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Hear me out. Book publishing is a passion industry. I have yet to encounter a book professional who doesn’t deeply care about the books they publish and the authors they support. Those who choose a career in books do so because we love it. But . . . it’s still an industry. Publishing is a business, like any other. A business where there’s a constant tension between creative ideals and the bottom...
This is why writers seek out editors
Hi Reader, “Listen to your ten most recent podcast episodes. As you listen, perform a self-assessment using this worksheet.” That was my homework for the podcasting course I’m taking. It’s about how to craft episodes so that each one is unputdownable. It wasn’t advertised as a course in why writers hire editors, but it turns out that it’s about that, too. The first step was to see what’s working already—and what’s not—in the episodes I’ve already produced. Hence the homework. I can do this, I...
How to write a page-turner
Hi Reader, Last week, I read a book I could not put down. I lost so much sleep to it (hello, 3 am). I finished it in six days, and then restarted it from the beginning (and finished it again in three days). I listened to it on Libby, but I’m currently debating whether to buy it as an audiobook or paperback. (Both? Both. Both is good.) In short, this book is a page-turner. This book has achieved what so many writers aspire to. Every writer I know wants their readers to love their books like...
Your challenge: tell yourself your story
Hi Reader, This weekend, I spent about ten hours writing out descriptions of my work: what I do, whom I do it for, and how each of my services work. In essence, I was telling myself the story of my business. Correction: I was telling myself the story of my business again. It’s a story I’ve been telling for almost two years. Over that time, I’ve added layers and taken layers away. I’ve tested and tweaked, revised and refined. Each time I add layers, the story becomes richer and deeper. And...
The “hard mode” strategies for editing a novel
Hi Reader, Last week, I picked up Sudoku again. I love puzzles. But for no particular reason, I haven’t played Sudoku in probably fifteen years. I started with the straightforward, obvious strategies I remembered from years ago. With those strategies, I could solve easy puzzles in just a few minutes. I moved up to medium. There, I had to pull out some strategies from the recesses of my memory, more advanced approaches I’d forgotten about. I struggled with my first medium puzzle for over an...
The best way to make your story better
Hi Reader, If you want to craft amazing stories, there’s no shortage of resources you can learn from. Books. Courses. Podcasts (like mine!). But nothing beats getting expert feedback on your writing. In fact, I’ve spent the last year gradually working my way through a course myself. It’s a training on how to coach writers through writing, editing, and publishing their novels. And last week, I submitted my materials to apply for certification. (Yay!) When I submitted, the form asked this...
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.