The Ten Day Edit: A Writer's Guide to Editing a Novel in Ten Days (The Ten Day Novelist Book 3)

To map your story’s Conflict, start by scanning through your scene timeline and looking for any scenes that feature major developments or turning points in your core conflict.

For instance, adventures, westerns, and thrillers all tend to be action-dominant, simply because of their action-oriented nature. Action dominant-scenes have a faster, more energetic feel thanks to their greater focus on plot and conflict, while reaction-dominant scenes will feel slower and more introspective. Because of this, romances, literary no

are you going to send beta readers your entire manuscript at once, or will you send it a few chapters at a time? How should they structure their feedback, and should they reference page numbers or chapters when taking notes? Perhaps it would be better for them to mark up your manuscript itself?

passive voice or incorrect grammar, but it also has a lot to do with consistency—names should be spelled the same and objects, languages, and details need to be cohesive.

whenever you fix one problem, you’ll soon realize you’ve created two more—like

While editing comes with many of its own struggles, writing a first draft is perhaps the hardest part of finishing a novel. After all, you essentially created a whole world out of nothing!

Sometimes italics can denote internal thoughts or an inner monologue, and other times they’re used to show emphasis.

Don’t edit in bed, on your couch, or anywhere that your brain strongly associates with relaxation, procrastination, or rest.

Beta readers won’t give the most detailed advice, and will usually focus more on how the story felt.