Does your story’s climax solve a problem that’s different from the one you have?

The last thing you want is for the ending of your novel to disappoint your readers.

Yet as an editor, I’ve seen my fair share of disappointing endings.

And in this episode, I’m sharing one of the most common problems I see with endings that just don’t work.

You’ll learn:

• What happens when your story pays off something you didn’t set up
• 4 questions to ask to spot this problem in your story
• How to choose what your story is really about
• How getting clear on your story’s subplot will help you fix a disappointing ending
• And more!

When I’m working with writers, I often say something like this:

“It feels like this story is solving a problem that’s different from the one we have.”

In this episode, I’m breaking down exactly what that means—and how you can spot this issue and fix it in your story.

Links mentioned in the episode:

• Ep. 8: What Is a Scene? The Ultimate Guide to Write and Edit Amazing Scenes

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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 scene
• Why your characters must DO something in every scene
• One critical mistake I see in scenes (is this happening in your scenes?)
• 5 prompts you can use to fix that problem anywhere you find it
• And 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-critique
• Get the Scene Analysis Worksheet: alicesudlow.com/sceneworksheet
• Ep. 23: 3 Simple Steps to Edit Absolutely Anything in Your Novel

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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 feedback
• Where the REAL work of editing happens
• When to use my favorite editing tool, the trusty scene list
• The bonus fourth step you can add to this process
• And 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/10steps
• How to Create an Editing Process That Works for You With Author JD Edwin
• 3 Simple Steps to Edit Absolutely Anything in Your Novel

The scene list series:

• 4 Ways to Use a Scene List, Your Indispensable Editing Tool
• 2 Simple Strategies to Format Your Scene List
• 3 Ways to Create a Scene List That Makes Your Editing Process (Almost) Easy

The scene editing series:

• What Is a Scene? The Ultimate Guide to Write and Edit Amazing Scenes
• 5 Essential Questions to Fix Boring Scenes
• How to Edit a Scene of a Novel, Part 1
• How to Edit a Scene of a Novel, Part 2

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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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Your story has the power to shape the way your readers think.

So what is it communicating?

That’s the topic of this episode. In it, I’m sharing why storytelling is absolutely essential for humanity, plus the responsibility—and honor—that gives you as an author.

You’ll learn:

• Why your writing is a gift to the world
• 6 stories I love and how they’ve shaped me
• Why it’s YOUR responsibility to weave a point into your story—and where that responsibility ends
• How author and reader collaborate to create meaning
• And more!

Your writing is powerful. It carries great meaning. And it will have an impact on your readers.

It’s up to you to shape what that meaning will be.

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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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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 novels
• How 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 drafts
• How JD Edwin decided it was time to send her novel to a developmental editor, plus the mindset that helped this step feel less scary
• Why JD Edwin has come to enjoy editing—and the mindset that keeps her going when editing gets tough
• And 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, here

Read JD Edwin’s books and find her online:

• Purchase Orb Hunters and the full Headspace series
• Find JD Edwin on her website and subscribe to her newsletter: jdedwin.com
• Join JD Edwin’s Facebook group
• Email JD Edwin at [email protected]

Read the Write Great Fiction series and learn how to develop your own editing process:

• Plot & Structure
• Dialogue
• Description & Setting
• Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint
• Revision & Self-Editing

Listen to 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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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 important
• Where 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 studying
• Get a breakdown of the important takeaways, including time stamps

Catch up on the previous episodes in this Spider-Man series:

• Ep. 32: How Spider-Man (And All Great Stories) Makes Us Laugh, Cry, and Feel the Feels
• Ep. 33: The 3-Step Formula to Evoke Emotion and Make Your Readers Feel

Follow editor Kim Kes

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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 feel
• How to figure out what emotion you want to create for your readers
• How to make your readers care about something as large as a life-altering leap or as small as a broken pencil
• And 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/sceneworksheet
• Ep. 27: Value Shifts: How to Craft Compelling Change in Every Story
• Ep. 32: How Spider-Man (And All Great Stories) Makes Us Laugh, Cry, and Feel the Feels

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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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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 minutes
• Why explosive action alone isn’t enough to make your readers feel
• The simple formula to create transcendent emotional experiences for your readers
• And 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 here

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A flexible method to create a scene list with exactly the information you need—no more, no less.

For the last few weeks, I’ve been touting the magic of scene lists.

Because I do think they’re magic, or pretty darn close to it. The simple scene list is one of my absolute favorite editing tools. I wouldn’t know how to edit a book without one!

So far, I’ve covered why it’s worth making one, plus two ways to format it.

And it’s all been leading up to this: how to actually make your scene list.

That’s what I’m sharing in this episode.

You’ll learn:

• 3 different ways to make a scene list (I use ALL of these at various times!)
• When—and why!—to use each one
• The pros and cons of each type
• When in your editing process you should make a scene list
• And more!

This is a meaty episode, which isn’t really a surprise—I have a lot to say about scene lists!

And by the end of the episode, you’ll be ready to sit down, pull up your manuscript and your favorite scene list template (yes, I’ll give you two templates in the episode), and make a scene list of your very own.

Links mentioned in the episode: 

• Download the Scene List Templates: alicesudlow.com/list
• Ep. 29: 4 Ways to Use a Scene List, Your Indispensable Editing Tool
• Ep. 30: 2 Simple Strategies to Format Your Scene List
• 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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Plus, two scene list templates for you to download and customize.

Your scene list is infinitely customizable. It can be as simple or as complex as you like. And you have a lot of choices when it comes to how you’ll create it and what information you’ll include.

Your first choice? What format you’ll use.

My first-ever scene lists were created with paper and pen. But I recommend you use something a little more robust.

In this episode, I’ll share my two favorite scene list formats: the document and the spreadsheet.

You’ll learn:

• The pros and cons of document and spreadsheet scene lists
• Why I use BOTH kinds of scene lists when I edit novels
• How to keep your scene list super simple
• What to track when you want to make your scene list more complex
• And more!

Plus, I’ve created not one, but two scene list templates: a document template and a spreadsheet template.

Get the templates and start creating your own scene list here: alicesudlow.com/list

Links mentioned in the episode:

• Get the Scene List Template Bundle: alicesudlow.com/list
• Ep. 27: Value Shifts: How to Craft Compelling Change in Every Story
• Ep. 29: 4 Reasons Why a Scene List is Your Most Powerful Editing Tool

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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 »