Embrace the revision process

Added: 2026-05-17

[00:00:00]Once you write the end on your draft, it's really just the beginning. Revision is where the magic happens, where you transform your messy first draft into an incredible story. No one, not even your favorite author out there, produces a perfect first draft. They put in the work to revise and strengthen it draft after draft after draft. But here's where a lot of new authors get revisions all wrong. They start by line editing.

[00:00:24]They tinker with sentences, swap out adjectives, adjust comma placements. But if the entire structure of your story is broken, then polishing each individual sentence is a waste of your time and energy at this point. First, you need to focus on fixing those big picture issues. By watching this video, you're already well ahead of the game and understand what foundational mistakes to watch for in your story. But how to actually do it? If you don't know where to start with revisions, I recommend using a technique called reverse outlining. After finishing your draft, open up a new document and write down what happens in every scene. You'll essentially have a long, detailed summary of every scene in your book. If you have multiple POVs, color code the reverse outline so you can see which scenes follow which storylines. Now, once you have the reverse outline, you can evaluate all those big picture elements. Are your POVs balanced? Are there outlier scenes that don't belong?

[00:01:19]Are there places where the conflict dies and the momentum slows down? Go back into your draft and fearlessly edit it.

[00:01:26]Start a new document if you have to, which will help you see what's not on the page already to be.

[00:01:32]I'm not going to sugarcoat it. Revision is hard, hard work. But it's also where you discover what your story really is and how powerful it can become. That's why I fell in love with editing. And I promise the revision process can even become fun if you embrace it.