Your Next Draft

Your characters MUST take action in every scene. Look out for scenes where they don’t.I’ve edited hundreds of scenes. (In fact, editing scenes is one of my favorite things to do!)In all that editing, I’ve picked up on some patterns. Things that work really well in scene after scene—and common pitfalls that many scenes fall into.And in this episode, I’m sharing one common scene mistake I often see.If your scenes get this wrong, they’ll be . . . boring. And no one wants to read a boring scene!But not to worry—in today’s episode, I’ll show you how to spot this common error and fix it.You’ll learn:The very first question I ask when I’m editing a sceneWhy your characters must DO something in every sceneOne critical mistake I see in scenes (is this happening in your scenes?)5 prompts you can use to fix that problem anywhere you find itAnd more!Plus, in the episode, I’ll tell you how you can download my most popular editing resource, the Scene Analysis Worksheet.It includes all the questions I ask when I’m editing a scene so you can polish your scenes like a pro.Listen to the episode, grab the worksheet, and go master editing scenes!Links mentioned in the episode:Get my feedback on your scene: alicesudlow.com/scene-critiqueGet the Scene Analysis Worksheet: alicesudlow.com/sceneworksheetEp. 23: 3 Simple Steps to Edit Absolutely Anything in Your NovelSend me a Text Message!Want my support in your revision?In Story Clarity, we’ll work one-on-one to sharpen your story’s structure and craft a revision plan that works. If you’re ready for thoughtful, personalized feedback from an editor who gets what you’re trying to do, I’d love to hear what you’re working on.Get started by telling me about your story here. Support the showRate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts "I love Alice and Your Next Draft." If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more writers through the mess—and joy—of the editing process. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap the stars to rate, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode! Loving the show? Show your support with a monthly contribution »

Gotten feedback from an editor? Use this process to turn developmental feedback into actionable edits.One of the most exciting moments in your book writing journey is the day that you get feedback from an editor.But just getting feedback isn’t enough. Once you get it, you have to apply it.And the challenge of applying your editor’s feedback can feel . . . intimidating. Scary. Overwhelming.How do you do it? How do you cut through the overwhelm and apply your feedback with confidence?That’s what this episode is all about.In it, I’m sharing the three-step process I recommend to my one-on-one clients. You’ll learn:What NOT to do right after you get feedbackWhere the REAL work of editing happensWhen to use my favorite editing tool, the trusty scene listThe bonus fourth step you can add to this processAnd more!If you’ve ever received developmental feedback on your novel, this is how I recommend you put it to use.I hope that this takes a little bit of the overwhelm out of the process and helps you create an editing plan that works for you.Links mentioned in the episode:Get the FREE 10-step guide to edit a novel: alicesudlow.com/10stepsHow to Create an Editing Process That Works for You With Author JD Edwin3 Simple Steps to Edit Absolutely Anything in Your NovelThe scene list series:4 Ways to Use a Scene List, Your Indispensable Editing Tool2 Simple Strategies to Format Your Scene List3 Ways to Create a Scene List That Makes Your Editing Process (Almost) EasyThe scene editing series:What Is a Scene? The Ultimate Guide to Write and Edit Amazing Scenes5 Essential Questions to Fix Boring ScenesHow to Edit a Scene of a Novel, Part 1How to Edit a Scene of a Novel, Part 2Send me a Text Message!Want my support in your revision?In Story Clarity, we’ll work one-on-one to sharpen your story’s structure and craft a revision plan that works. If you’re ready for thoughtful, personalized feedback from an editor who gets what you’re trying to do, I’d love to hear what you’re working on.Get started by telling me about your story here. Support the showRate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts "I love Alice and Your Next Draft." If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more writers through the mess—and joy—of the editing process. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap the stars to rate, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode! Loving the show? Show your support with a monthly contribution »

Explore the power of storytelling and its impact on readers. Reflect on influential books such as A Deadly Education and The House in the Cerulean Sea. Understand the significance of meaning in stories and the responsibility of authors to shape it. Discover the point of your own story and how it can be a gift to the world.

A prolific author shares her editing process and strategies for designing the process that works for you.There are as many ways to edit novels as there are writers.Which editing process is best? The one that works for you. The process you customize, refine, and repeat, novel after novel after novel.And in this episode, we’re talking about how to create your very own editing process.I’ve invited my client JD Edwin, author of the Headspace trilogy, to share the process she’s developed and her best tips for finding what works for you.You’ll hear:The step-by-step editing process JD Edwin has developed over the course of writing, editing, and publishing three novelsHow to develop an editing system that works for YOU (and let go of what doesn’t work!)When JD Edwin shares her book with alpha readers, plus the kind of feedback she wants on early draftsHow JD Edwin decided it was time to send her novel to a developmental editor, plus the mindset that helped this step feel less scaryWhy JD Edwin has come to enjoy editing—and the mindset that keeps her going when editing gets toughAnd more!JD is honestly one of the most productive authors I know—so productive that it’s almost a little intimidating.Take a listen to our conversation and get tips and inspiration to try in your own editing process!Links mentioned in the episode:Find full show notes, including timestamps of key topics, hereRead JD Edwin’s books and find her online:Purchase Orb Hunters and the full Headspace seriesFind JD Edwin on her website and subscribe to her newsletter: jdedwin.comJoin JD Edwin’s Facebook groupEmail JD Edwin at author@jdedwin.comRead the Write Great Fiction series and learn how to develop your own editing process:Plot & StructureDialogueSend me a Text Message!Want my support in your revision?In Story Clarity, we’ll work one-on-one to sharpen your story’s structure and craft a revision plan that works. If you’re ready for thoughtful, personalized feedback from an editor who gets what you’re trying to do, I’d love to hear what you’re working on.Get started by telling me about your story here. Support the showRate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts "I love Alice and Your Next Draft." If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more writers through the mess—and joy—of the editing process. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap the stars to rate, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode! Loving the show? Show your support with a monthly contribution »

Two editors break down how Spider-Man creates a transcendent moment of triumph that feels like story magic.Last month, I asked a big question:How do you make your readers feel?See, the writers I work with are telling fantastic stories. But often, those stories are missing some essential piece, some spark of magic that captures my emotions and makes me laugh, cry, swoon, grieve, worry, or—well—feel anything at all.So I turned to a scene that does make me feel. It’s a brilliant moment from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.First, I broke down exactly how that scene creates a sense of triumph so strong, it’s almost palpable.Then, I laid out the three-step formula I’m using with my clients right now to help them do the same thing in their stories.And when I finished recording those episodes . . . well, I still had more to say.So I turned to my editor colleague Kim Kessler, who loves this movie as much as I do. And I invited her to grab a mic and join me for an intensely detailed breakdown of how exactly this scene creates story magic.Kim and I cover:How this scene fits in the story as a whole—and why it’s so importantWhere the scene actually begins and ends (we had different takes on this!)What values shift in this scene (this was weirdly difficult for me to pinpoint!)The way that every single element, from the shots in the scene to the lines of dialogue to the colors and even the frame rate, contributes to the emotional experience we feel as viewers (and how writers can do this as well!)And more!Consider this the uncut (or at least, much, much less cut) behind-the-scenes version of those previous two episodes.In it, you’ll hear tons of editing concepts I’ve talked about on the podcast, all put into action and applied to a brilliant scene.Kim and I had a blast breaking down every nuance of this scene, and I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. More importantly, I hope it helps you craft stories your readers love just as much.Links mentioned in the episode:Go deeper in this episode:Watch the scene we’re studyingGet a breakdown of the important takeaways, including time stampsSend me a Text Message!Want my support in your revision?In Story Clarity, we’ll work one-on-one to sharpen your story’s structure and craft a revision plan that works. If you’re ready for thoughtful, personalized feedback from an editor who gets what you’re trying to do, I’d love to hear what you’re working on.Get started by telling me about your story here. Support the showRate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts "I love Alice and Your Next Draft." If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more writers through the mess—and joy—of the editing process. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap the stars to rate, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode! Loving the show? Show your support with a monthly contribution »

The best stories capture our emotions and make us feel so deeply, it seems like magic.The good news is, it’s not magic.Want to make your readers feel? There’s a simple three-step process to do just that. And in this, I’m sharing that process with you.You’ll learn:Why explosive action is NOT enough to make your readers feelHow to figure out what emotion you want to create for your readersHow to make your readers care about something as large as a life-altering leap or as small as a broken pencilAnd more!Want to make your readers laugh? Cry? Swoon? Shake with fear? The whole range of human emotion is at your fingertips. Find out how to create any emotion you like in the episode.Links mentioned in the episode:Get the Scene Analysis Worksheet: alicesudlow.com/sceneworksheetEp. 27: Value Shifts: How to Craft Compelling Change in Every StoryEp. 32: How Spider-Man (And All Great Stories) Makes Us Laugh, Cry, and Feel the FeelsSend me a Text Message!Want my support in your revision?In Story Clarity, we’ll work one-on-one to sharpen your story’s structure and craft a revision plan that works. If you’re ready for thoughtful, personalized feedback from an editor who gets what you’re trying to do, I’d love to hear what you’re working on.Get started by telling me about your story here. Support the showRate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts "I love Alice and Your Next Draft." If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more writers through the mess—and joy—of the editing process. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap the stars to rate, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode! Loving the show? Show your support with a monthly contribution »

The magic of storytelling is in making your readers feel. Here’s how great stories capture emotion.One of my favorite questions to ask writers is, “What does success mean to you?”And usually, I hear some version of the following:You want to make readers feel. You want them to fall in love with your book. You want to make them laugh, to make them cry, to make them feel fear and excitement and relief and catharsis.Sound like you? You’ll love this episode.In it, I’m taking a close look at one of my favorite movie moments. It’s a scene that captures emotion so powerfully that even a tiny clip out of context can give you chills.You’ll learn:How Spider-Man packs so much emotion into 2 short minutesWhy explosive action alone isn’t enough to make your readers feelThe simple formula to create transcendent emotional experiences for your readersAnd more!Don’t worry—this episode contains no spoilers for the newest Spider-Man movie. Listen to it completely spoiler-free.(Then, go watch Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse for another masterclass in creating emotion!)Links mentioned in the episode:Watch the clip hereSend me a Text Message!Want my support in your revision?In Story Clarity, we’ll work one-on-one to sharpen your story’s structure and craft a revision plan that works. If you’re ready for thoughtful, personalized feedback from an editor who gets what you’re trying to do, I’d love to hear what you’re working on.Get started by telling me about your story here. Support the showRate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts "I love Alice and Your Next Draft." If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more writers through the mess—and joy—of the editing process. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap the stars to rate, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode! Loving the show? Show your support with a monthly contribution »

Discover three different methods to create a scene list, the importance of scene summaries, analyzing value shifts in scenes, creating a detailed scene list for novel editing, and tips for creating an effective scene list for editing.

Explore the significance of scene lists in the editing process. Learn about two scene list formats, document, and spreadsheet. Discover the pros and cons of each format, how to keep your scene list simple, and what to track for complexity. Get access to scene list templates to kickstart your editing process.

Your scene list is your map to all your revisions. Here’s how to make the most of it.If you’re doing a developmental edit on your manuscript, you need a scene list. Seriously—I can’t think of a single book I’ve edited without one.Why? What makes a scene list so essential?That’s what I’m covering in this episode of Your Next Draft.You’ll learn:4 ways that a scene list will make your editing process clearer, easier, and less overwhelmingHow to use a scene list to plan your edits BEFORE you change a single word in your novelThe magic of condensing an 80,000-word manuscript into just a few pagesAnd more!Plus, I’m sharing the story of my first-ever professional editing gig—and what happened when I didn’t make a scene list. (This lesson has stuck with me ever since!)I know it’s tricky to condense an entire novel into just a few words. But a scene list is worth the effort it takes to create. Take a listen, and I’ll show you why.Links mentioned in the episode:Ep. 8: What Is a Scene? The Ultimate Guide to Write and Edit Amazing ScenesSend me a Text Message!Want my support in your revision?In Story Clarity, we’ll work one-on-one to sharpen your story’s structure and craft a revision plan that works. If you’re ready for thoughtful, personalized feedback from an editor who gets what you’re trying to do, I’d love to hear what you’re working on.Get started by telling me about your story here. Support the showRate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts "I love Alice and Your Next Draft." If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more writers through the mess—and joy—of the editing process. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap the stars to rate, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode! Loving the show? Show your support with a monthly contribution »