How Multiple Layers of Editing Combine to Perfect Your Story (with Cathryn deVries and Kim Kessler)

Your Next Draft

The best novels combine rock-solid story structure with scenes that are unputdownable on every page. Here’s how one writer and two editors polished a story at every level.

If you want to move your reader in every moment, keep them hooked on every page, you need to refine your scenes until each one is unputdownable.

And that refinement? It’s SUCH a joy. It’s my favorite thing to do and it will transform your entire story.

But in order to make every scene matter, you first need to make sure you have all the right scenes in all the right places.

The big-picture story structure can’t be kinda-sorta-maybe working. It needs to be locked in, watertight.

Otherwise, all those beautiful scenes won’t build to anything. They might be pretty on their own. But they won’t create compelling narrative drive, an irresistible build to the cathartic payoff your readers can’t get enough of.

So how do you do it? How do you get your macro storytelling crystal clear and refine every scene into its most powerful form?

In this episode, I want to share with you the story of how one writer did just that. You’ll hear how Cathryn leveraged multiple revision passes to transform her manuscript from a massive pile of words that made her cringe to a story she’s immeasurably proud of.

It’s also a tale of two editors—because Cathryn worked with both me and my colleague Kim to make her story shine on every level.

Most of all, it’s a story of mastering two storytelling skills—the micro and the macro—and all the story magic you can unlock when you do.

Links mentioned in the episode:

• Read Cathryn’s stories »
• Join Kim’s Novel Hotline Live »
• Work with Kim and me together »

Further listening:

• Ep. 76: Scene Workshop: Hook Your Readers in Chapter One with Cathryn deVries
• Ep. 42: The 6 Essential Elements of Every Novel, Act, and Scene
• Ep. 60: The Most Joyful Editing Feedback I Ever Give

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