A lot of writers focus on excellent line level writing when it comes to revision.

They polish, correct typos, maybe even read aloud to hear the rhythm of the words. But they skip the most important step entirely–assessing their manuscript at the big picture level for sound story scaffolding. 

Before you can do that line-level polishing, you have to be sure your story answers the Four Essential Questions: 

1. What is the protagonist's story goal?
2. What's at stake if they do not achieve that goal?
3. What's the internal arc (character)?
4. What's the external arc (plot)?

Until it does, you’ve still got revision to do. But never fear, that’s exactly why I created the 90 Day Revision Transformation, a guided course that walks you step-by-step through my process for analyzing your draft and planning a revision that will bring your Four Essential Questions to the forefront and make your pages shine. 

This course focuses on the bottom three layers of Author Accelerator’s Hierarchy of Editorial Concerns and will help you produce a draft that wows readers. 

One thing I’ve noticed as I work with writers is that many of them do the type of editing I’ve written about here–the copyediting/proofreading/consistency stuff–but struggle to understand what is involved in a deeper, structural revision.

It’s not that both aren’t important–both types of edits must happen to make a good book. But the order matters. And being really solid on structure before you start to polish will save you hours of painful rework. 

If you’re ready to dig into the type of deep revision that will go beyond line-level polish and really make your story work at a structural level, register today, roll up your sleeves, and let’s get to work.