Guides to editing your novel, and structural craft articles. Each article covers a specific problem we see in manuscripts, and how to fix it.
What a critique of your whole novel includes, and the cheaper ways to get the same diagnosis
5 min readProWritingAid scores the sentences. The Final Editor reads the story. When to use each, and when to use both.
5 min readAutoCrit compares fiction prose with published books. The Final Editor reads the story. When to use each, and when to use both.
5 min readGrammarly checks whether the sentences are correct. The Final Editor reads the story. When to use each, and when to use both.
4 min readWhat a developmental edit buys, what it costs per word, and what to do if $3,000 is out of reach
6 min readWhat each stage of editing covers, and which one your draft needs first
5 min readTypical word counts by genre, with a free counter for your own manuscript
4 min readThe difference between setup the writer needs and setup the reader needs
4 min readThe structural beat most writers underestimate
4 min readWhy the internal want underneath the external goal is what makes readers care
3 min readA slow start and starting too early are two completely different problems
3 min readThe problem is almost never pacing. It is character agency.
3 min readBeautiful prose inside a broken structure is still a broken manuscript
4 min readThe reason revision feels endless is that you are fixing the wrong things first
3 min readA prologue feels like responsible world-building. It is usually a delay.
4 min readThe problem is not how it sounds. It is what it is doing.
3 min readThey can describe the symptoms, but they are not trained to diagnose the cause
4 min readThe difference between a protagonist who acts and one who witnesses
4 min read