Your Next Draft
Transform the story you've been carrying in your heart into a standout novel you and your readers absolutely love. Alice offers radically collaborative revision mentorship for fiction writers pursuing creative excellence. A Story Grid certified developmental editor and Author Accelerator certified book coach, she’s an expert at helping writers craft the most powerful version of their stories by making every scene unputdownable.
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...
Why do we put ourselves through this?
Hi Reader, Writing excellent novels is really freaking hard. It is so incredibly hard to craft a story that moves people. So unfathomably difficult to write a novel that . . . immerses your readers in the mind and experience of characters so rich, they feel like real people . . . captures readers’ imagination so fully they feel like they’re living inside of it . . . makes your readers feel big feels . . . sticks in your readers’ mind long after they finish the final page . . . reshapes how...
Google WISHES it could match you in this
Hi Reader, Something has been nagging at me this week. A couple days ago, I sent you an email to say: you need to know what Google already knows about story. Google knows story is wildly powerful. Google knows the stories we tell about, say, technology impact how we engage with technology. The impacts that our stories have are so powerful that Google is investing in Hollywood in an effort to influence the narrative. And my takeaway for writers, then, is: Remember your stories are powerful....
You need to know what Google already knows about story
Hi Reader, Google Wants Hollywood to Stop Being So Afraid of Technology That’s the headline of a New York Times article that jumped out at me this week. The gist of it is, Google is pouring millions of dollars into a production company in Hollywood. They’re funding projects, making short films and experimenting with microdramas. Google has a few reasons for the venture, but this one stood out to me: Shape how technology — particularly Google technology — appears onscreen. I don’t know about...
What directors and editors have in common
Hi Reader, Have you ever felt profoundly seen by something someone else has written? It’s an incredible feeling. The sense that you’re not alone. Someone else thinks and feels and sees and understands the same things you do. Someone found words for an experience you’ve struggled to express. And because they shared those words with you, you can pass them on to other people so others can see a little glimpse of you, too. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess . . . yes. At some point, in...
The 2 problems keeping you stuck in endless revision
Hi Reader, We’ve all heard of the shitty first draft. Personally, I don’t love the term; I find it a little too judgmental and emotionally charged. But it gets the point across: Your first draft’s job isn’t to be perfect. It’s not going to go on bookstore shelves. It’s not the version your readers will read. Its only job is to exist. Make it to “The End,” and you’ve succeeded. No matter how messy. No matter the plot holes. The flat characters. The world building inconsistencies. So when you...
how to write when the big sads hit
Hi Reader, My best friend is moving away, and I’m sad. I’ve spent the last week at her house. Every morning, I get our favorite bagels from the bagel shop down the road. Every night, her four-year-old daughter and I spread my sheets on the couch and tuck our dolls into bed. (Right now, as I write this, said four-year-old is sitting next to me, munching on a bagel and spreading crumbs all over my couch-bed.) Around the third time I extended my visit rather than driving home, I finally...
The most painful part of the revision process
Hi Reader, I talk with a lot of writers in the revision process. I typically meet with writers when . . . You have an idea that you are passionate about, a vision that you are determined to turn into a novel you and your readers will love. You can feel the energy of it, an emotional experience you want to create for your readers. There’s a story playing in your imagination, and you want to transfer it, in all its dazzling glory, to others’ imaginations, too. You’ve written a draft of that...
Why I'm choosing to swizzle
Hi Reader, I am in swizzle purgatory. In the last three months, I’ve spent more than thirty hours on the ice learning to skate. I joined an adult Learn to Skate class, and alongside eight other students, I’ve been learning the basics of moving on the ice. One of the first moves we learned is the swizzle. You push your feet apart, glide forward, and then pull your legs back together again. Like this: It feels like I have been swizzling nonstop for thirty hours. And I am torn. I want to master...
Fight me.
Hi Reader, I am eight drafts into something new. When I started the first draft two months ago, I was pumped. I had a vision. I had direction. I had a clear map of what I was writing. . . . actually, depending on how you count “drafts,” I actually created the first draft three or four months ago, in a different format. And by that math, I’m actually on draft . . . fifteen? Eighteen? I’m losing count. Here’s how the doc looks so far: And as you can probably imagine (and guess from my titling...
Write like you’ve already won
Hi Reader, I continue to be obsessed with Olympic figure skating. I’ve been listening to the U.S. Figure Skating podcast to hear how the skaters were thinking about their experiences and expectations in the leadup to the Olympics. I’ve looked up interviews to hear how Ilia Malinin is talking about his medal and his falls, now that he has a week and a half of distance from both. I’m devouring articles about Alysa Liu, ravenous to understand how she could skate with such peace and...
Transform the story you've been carrying in your heart into a standout novel you and your readers absolutely love. Alice offers radically collaborative revision mentorship for fiction writers pursuing creative excellence. A Story Grid certified developmental editor and Author Accelerator certified book coach, she’s an expert at helping writers craft the most powerful version of their stories by making every scene unputdownable.