Your Next Draft

What if you've already done enough to work with an editor—right now?

You’ve been working on your novel for so long. Not just months—years, maybe even decades.

And yet you have a long way still to go. The day when you have a polished manuscript you’re proud to pitch or publish feels so far away, and you're starting to wonder if you're missing something crucial.

And in the back of your mind, you might be wondering:

When should you work with an editor?

How much more should you do before you start looking? How many drafts should you finish before you reach out? When is your story finally ready for an editor’s feedback?

That’s the question I’m answering in this episode—and the answer might surprise you.

You’ll learn:

• The one simple question that tells you it’s time for editorial help
• Why "finished" isn't a prerequisite for working with an editor
• The landscape of editorial support available at every stage (from idea to publication)
• How to find the right type of editor for where you are in your process
• The difference between "editor" and "book coach" and what each term suggests

Here's what I've discovered: most writers desperately want editorial support—they just don't know it exists at their stage of the process.

So in this episode, I’ll give you a simple metric to evaluate when you are ready for an editor, and show you what to look for when you are.

Links mentioned in the episode:

• Work with me in Next Right Step: alicesudlow.com/nrs 

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Here’s what to DO with your genre once you know which one you’re writing.

So you know your story’s genre.

It’s an Action story with a Worldview internal genre. Or it’s a Love story with a Status internal genre. You’re, like, 32% sure of it.

Which is great, because you’ve studied story enough to know genre is important. You’ve heard that it shapes the foundations of your story, that it has conventions and obligatory scenes, reader expectations that you’ll need to deliver on.

Somehow, though, just knowing some words—Action, Worldview, Love, Status—hasn’t magically solved anything. And it’s not a great feeling to have studied story theory so much, and still be stuck on the application.

So what now? Now that you have some language for your story’s genre, what do you do with it? How do you actually use it as a revision tool?

That’s what I’m exploring in this episode with my friend and fellow writing coach Savannah Gilbo. Savannah is my go-to genre expert, and she shares exactly how to make genre work for you in revision.

You’ll hear:

• Why naming your genre earlier than you think can save you from endless rewrites
• The 3 genre mistakes that secretly stall drafts (and how to avoid them)
• How to turn genre from a rigid list of “must-haves” into a flexible writing tool
• How to blend multiple genres like a pro (and without getting lost)
• And more!

Identifying your genre is a great first step. In this episode, Savannah will show you what to actually do with it once you know which one you’re writing.

Links mentioned in the episode:

• Get Savannah’s guidance on your story in Notes to Novel: alicesudlow.com/notestonovel 
• Get the Content Genre Overview: alicesudlow.com/90 
• Ep. 90: The 12 Core Genres That Power Every Great Story

The Notes to Novel link is an affiliate link. I wholeheartedly recommend Savannah’s coaching and am delighted to share her resources with you!

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Genre isn’t what you think it is. Here’s how to use it better.

Genre. Let me guess:

It’s the bane of your existence. A convoluted soup of arbitrary descriptors that almost but not quite mean the same thing. Sci fi or fantasy? Paranormal or supernatural? Upmarket or book club? Do words even have meaning?

Or, it’s a restrictive box with tropes and conventions you feel like you need to cross off a checklist, until your story is more “paint by numbers” formulaic than an original creation unique to your imagination.

Or, it’s a necessary evil in your query letter. Your task is to say the right genre words to the right agent to appeal to their interests and make them want to request your manuscript. Get it right, you get a book deal. Get it wrong, you fail.

Genre can be all those things, for sure.

But what if, first and foremost, it were a tool that works for you?

In this episode, I’m throwing out the way we usually talk about genre. And I’m replacing it with an approach to genre that’s actually useful for crafting great stories.

Not just useful, actually. Essential.

You’ll learn:

• What “genre” actually means
• Why the genre labels on the shelves at Barnes and Noble won’t help you craft a great story
• The 12 fundamental genres that apply to every great story
• 2 questions to begin identifying your story’s genre

This approach to genre won’t constrain your creativity within someone else’s box. Rather, it will reveal the story you truly want to tell.

Links mentioned in the episode:

• Get the Content Genre Overview: alicesudlow.com/90 

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"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!

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It is a truth universally acknowledged that a fiction writer in possession of a brilliant story must craft a captivating opening line.

No pressure, right?

Your opening line is your story’s first impression. Agents, editors, and even readers decide fast whether they want to keep reading or drop the book altogether. And yes, they can make that judgment in as little as the very first sentence.

So your opening line is doing some heavy, heavy lifting.

But what, exactly, do great first lines do?

What sets an unputdownable first sentence apart from a forgettable dud? How do they capture readers—and agents—in a matter of seconds?

I turned to Abigail K. Perry, editor, book coach, and expert in opening chapters, to find out. 

You’ll hear:

• What agents are looking for in the first line of a manuscript (and what makes them stop reading)
• What makes captivating first lines actually work
• How to find the hooks of your story—what only your story can deliver
• How to lighten the pressure to get the first line right
• And more!

If you’ve ever worried over the beginning of your book—if you’ve ever written and discarded a dozen different versions of your first sentence, and you’re still stressed that that first line won’t land—well, I think you’re going to love what Abigail has to share.

Links mentioned in the episode:

• Want more first chapter wisdom? Check out the first part of my conversation with Abigail: How Great First Chapters Make Readers Care »

Check out a few of Abigail’s “First Chapter Deep Dive” episodes on Lit Match:

• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
• Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
• Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
• Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
• Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

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"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!

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Are your readers bored? Disappointed? Confused? Here's what that tells you about your story's middle.

You’re stuck in the messy middle. Languishing in the doldrums of your story. The inciting incident is long past, the climax is so far ahead you can’t see it over the horizon, and you’re drifting, lost at sea.

What is actually supposed to happen here?

Where did your plot momentum go?

Why do your pages feel full of stuff, and yet nothing ever happens?

The answers to all those questions lie in your progressive complications. Specifically, something’s going wrong in your progressive complications.

In this episode, I’m digging even deeper into the progressive complications.

I’m sharing the seven most common traps I see, the impact they have on your story and your readers, and of course, how to fix them so you can make your story unputdownable from beginning to end.

You’ll learn:

• How to diagnose the problem in your story’s middle based on how your reader feels
• How to spot “fluff” that isn’t moving your story forward
• How coincidences work in stories—and what happens when they don’t work
• What happens when a story has no progressive complications at all
• And more!

And don’t miss the free cheat sheet that goes with this episode! Print it and keep it handy as you’re editing.

Here’s the thing: the middle of a story isn’t an inscrutable secret. This episode is your guide to spot the most common traps and free your story from them.

Links mentioned in the episode:

• Get the Progressive Complication Revision Cheat Sheet: alicesudlow.com/88 
• Work with me: alicesudlow.com/contact
• Ep. 87: Make Sense of Your Messy Middle With the Most Underrated Story Element

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"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!

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You don’t need more filler. You need better progressive complications.

Your inciting incident hooks your readers and promises them a story they’ll love.

And then comes the middle.

The messy middle. The quiet doldrums of your story, where plot momentum goes to die.

Where your characters wander, your conflict blurs, and you start to wonder if any of it is working.

So what do you do? Add some “stuff that happens” and hope it holds your readers’ interest? Toss in a random subplot? Describe your character’s breakfast in extreme detail?

Nope. This is the space of the progressive complications.

And in this episode, I’m showing you exactly how to revise them.

Because the middle of your story isn’t filler or unnecessary fluff. It’s 60% of the story, and it has an essential job to do.

• What progressive complications really are (and what they’re not)
• How they build momentum and escalate conflict
• The 8 qualities I’m looking for when I edit progressive complications
• How to know if your scenes are working—or just taking up space
• And more!

And to make it even easier, I’ve created a cheat sheet to help you revise your progressive complications. Print it out, keep it handy, and use it every time you edit a scene.

If you’ve ever gotten stuck in the middle of your manuscript wondering how to move forward—this episode is for you.

Let’s take your messy middle and make it unputdownable.

Links mentioned in the episode:

• Get the Inciting Incident Revision Cheat Sheet: alicesudlow.com/87
• Work with me: alicesudlow.com/contact
• Ep. 42: The 6 Essential Elements of Every Novel, Act, and Scene
• A clip from S1E4 of Younger

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Rate, 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!

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Your first chapter has a monumental task: to make potential readers care about your book right away and hook them to keep reading.

Every sentence is a chance to earn your reader’s attention—or lose their fragile, baby-fresh interest before your story even begins.

And that’s assuming that your book makes it to the bookstore shelves. If you’re traditionally publishing, the first chapter’s burdened with even more responsibility. It’s your first impression with agents and editors, who will judge whether to consider the full manuscript based on the first five or ten pages alone.

The stakes are high.

So high, in fact, that it’s easy to get stuck—revising and refining your first chapter over and over while the rest of the manuscript gathers dust.

So I asked Abigail K. Perry, a fellow editor and book coach, to come help us break out of that trap.

“If we don't care about a character, we don't care about what happens to them. . . . Pull us into character and let us understand and get to know them so that when threats are posed against them, we care about what happens.”

—Abigail K. Perry

You’ll hear:

• What great first chapters must accomplish
• Why mystery is a good thing in first chapters (and info dumps are not)
• How to make your readers care about your characters in a matter of pages, paragraphs, or even sentences
• And more

If you’ve ever found yourself stuck in a first chapter revision loop, this one’s for you.

Check out Abigail’s “First Chapter Deep Dive” episodes on the books we discussed:

• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
• Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
• Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
• Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
• Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling
• (Coming soon: Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card)

Send me a Text Message!

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Rate, 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!

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Your inciting incident sets the stage for everything that follows. Here's what to revise so it can carry the story.

A great inciting incident does a lot of heavy lifting.

→ It hooks your readers, pulling them into the story.

→ And it sets up everything to come, laying the foundation for a brilliant climax your readers will love.

The beginning matters. Which means there’s a lot of pressure to get it right.

But what does right actually mean? How do you start a story well?

That’s what I’m tackling in this episode. I’m going beyond the definition of the inciting incident to share what I as an editor am looking for when I edit inciting incidents.

In other words, if you’ve written an inciting incident and aren’t sure how to tell if it works, this episode is your guide to edit it.

You’ll hear:

• How I define the inciting incident
• Where in the story the inciting incident appears (and how to tell if it’s too early or too late)
• The 7 qualities I’m watching for when I edit an inciting incident
• The 4 common inciting incident traps I see writers fall into (including one that’s really hard to spot, and yet it can tank the whole story)
• And more

Plus, I’ve gathered it all into a one-page cheat sheet you can reference every time you edit an inciting incident. Print it out and keep it in your writing space for easy access.

If you’ve ever found the advice to “make sure your story has an inciting incident” unsatisfactory, this episode is for you.

Don’t just make sure your story has an inciting incident. Use this episode to revise it until it’s good. Great. Unputdownable, even.

Links mentioned in the episode:

• Get the Inciting Incident Revision Cheat Sheet: alicesudlow.com/85
• Work with me: alicesudlow.com/contact
• Ep. 27: Value Shifts: How to Craft Compelling Change in Every Story

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"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!

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“It really broke my heart, actually. . . . For the rest of my life, it will break my heart.” A.S. King gets honest about what happened when the publishing industry failed her book.

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 her readers to think.

But that wasn’t the end of the conversation. In fact, it wasn’t even the start.

The conversation began months earlier, when I heard the story of her book launch for her latest novel.

I won’t spoil the ending here, but I will say: it did not go how she expected.

So today, I’m bringing Amy back on the podcast to tell us her publishing story and give us a glimpse of what comes after all the writing and all the revising.

You’ll hear:

• What really happened during A.S. King’s latest book launch
• How a publisher’s big promises fell through—and what that meant for the book
• Why even revising an excellent novel doesn’t guarantee industry support
• What it feels like when the book of your heart gets treated like just another product
• How gender, genre, and power shape what gets promoted (and what doesn’t)
• What it takes to keep going when publishing knocks you off course
• And more

It’s a peek into traditional publishing—and a reality check on what the industry feels like from the inside, even for an award-winning author in her prime.

And above all, it’s a reminder of what really matters when it comes to measuring your book’s success.

Links Mentioned in the Episode:

• Share your thoughts about this conversation in the comments here
• Order a signed copy of Pick the Lock from Aaron’s Books
• Hear more about A.S. King’s book launch in this conversation on the #AmWriting podcast
• Hear how A.S. King revised Pick the Lock in this conversation on Your Next Draft

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"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!

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Do you need to hire a line editor? Or should you line edit your manuscript yourself?

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 wrong.

You don’t want to hire the wrong people at the wrong time and reduce the efficiency of your edits by getting them out of order.

You don’t want to waste money you don’t need to spend on professional editing you don’t actually need.

And you definitely don’t want to make your manuscript worse by getting feedback that doesn’t match your vision.

So: do you need to hire a line editor?

Well, maybe. Or maybe not.

In this episode, I’m breaking down what line editing is, what line editors do, and what your book and your editing process truly need.

You’ll hear:

• What great line editors can do
• The risk of working with a line editor
• The key that makes great line editing possible
• How to find your best line editor
• And more

Whether you hire a line editor or line edit your novel yourself, the principles I share in today’s episode will help you ensure every word you choose is the right one for your story and your voice.

Links mentioned in the episode:

• See my sample developmental and line editing feedback: alicesudlow.com/83
• Discover Story Clarity and Story Refinery

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Rate, 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 »