STAGE 04

Revision & Editing

Shape your raw material

This is where good novels become great ones. Learn the multi-pass revision process that professional authors use to polish their manuscripts.

ARTICLES IN THIS STAGE
Self-Editing Your Novel: What to Fix First

Revision isn't about fixing typos - it's about making the story work. Learn the five editing passes every novelist should make, in the right order, and when it's time to get outside eyes on your manuscript.

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KEY CONCEPTS

Glossary terms for this stage

Action Beat

A character's physical action placed near dialogue to show who's speaking without using a ...

Active Voice

A sentence construction where the subject performs the action, producing direct, clear pro...

Adverb Overuse

Relying too heavily on adverbs (especially -ly words) instead of choosing stronger verbs, ...

Allusion

A brief, indirect reference to something outside your story - a book, a myth, a historical...

Anaphora

Repeating the same word or phrase at the start of consecutive sentences or clauses to buil...

Arc Tracking

Monitoring how character arcs and story arcs develop across your full manuscript to ensure...

As You Know, Bob

Dialogue where characters awkwardly tell each other things they both already know, purely ...

B-Story

The main secondary storyline in your narrative, usually carrying the emotional or thematic...

Backstory

Everything that happened to a character before the story begins, shaping who they are on p...

Beige Prose

Bland, flat writing stripped of personality, imagery, or style - prose that communicates f...

Beta Reader

A volunteer reader who reads your manuscript before publication and gives you honest feedb...

Blocking

The physical movements and positioning of characters within a scene - where they stand, si...

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