The Revision Manual

Instant download (digital + printables)

Digital edition: a 184-page PDF with the full-color cover. The index is linked, so you can tap any section or worksheet to jump to it, and every section is bookmarked. The worksheets are fillable, and the file works in GoodNotes, Notability, and other PDF annotation apps.

Printables: the full workbook set up for printing at home (184 pages, with printer-friendly section dividers), and the Worksheets Bundle: all 39 worksheets plus the 3 troubleshooting reference pages, in the order they appear in the book. Both come in US Letter, A4, and A5. Print a fresh set for each draft and each book you revise.

Core concepts

The shift from drafting to revising, the order of the passes and why it protects your work, distance and the stranger's eye, the honest editor and the inner critic, and what to make of the number of problems a draft turns up.

Diagnosis

The read-through, the reverse outline, naming the true subject, triage, and the tools that turn a diagnosis into a plan, from Read-Through Notes to the Self-Assessment Letter and the Revision Plan.

The structural pass

The spine, arc, and stakes; where the book begins and ends; backstory and exposition; scene and summary; the sagging middle; threads, setups, and payoffs; cast and viewpoint; what the draft is missing; the rules of the world; and making a structural change with a record of every scene it touches.

The scene & character pass

Whether each scene turns, grounding, consistency and motivation, agency, the supporting cast, interiority and the emotional line, the visible arc, point of view across the book, and dialogue.

The line & copy pass

Clarity, verbs and voice, attribution and adverbs, rhythm and the read-aloud, the cut, showing and telling, point of view and tense, copyediting and the style sheet, checkers, continuity, and the final proof.

Other eyes & the decision to finish

When to bring readers in and whom to ask, sensitivity and authenticity readers, asking useful questions, reading notes as symptoms, working with a professional editor and what an edit costs, knowing when to stop, and the Master Revision Tracker, one sheet for the whole revision.

Also inside

39 worksheets, three troubleshooting reference pages (structural; scene and character; prose), and a list of words and phrases to cut or question.

Six case studies: Octavia E. Butler, Toni Morrison, Great Expectations, The Fifth Season, Ocean Vuong, and Giovanni's Room.