Writing a draft of your book is only the start. I know that might be hard to hear!

For many writers this is the hardest part. It can take so much time just to complete your first draft that you might not want to return to it once you have finished. But polishing your manuscript is essential if you want it to be the best it can be.

Once you have a draft you can then improve your work and make your manuscript something you can start thinking about sending off to publishers. Taking your revision seriously is what is going to set you apart from other writers, because revision will make your work a million times better, and these techniques are where you should start.

It might be hard knowing where to start to improve your manuscript but these techniques will be your guidebook once you have completed a draft of your story. Whilst this advice is intended for manuscripts (full length books) you can also apply these techniques to short stories.

Here are 10 revision techniques that will improve your work straight away:

1. Cut the Weakest 10%
2. Make sure your protagonist’s goal is 100% clear
3. Don’t show – tell! (replace explanation with action)
4. Strengthen scene endings
5. Eliminate filter words
6. Sharpen your dialogue
7. Track changes in your character’s emotions
8. Edit your paragraph openings
9. Highlight cause and effect
10. Read your work aloud

Cut the weakest 10%

Whilst you might be the only person to write something perfect first time, it’s more likely that your draft will need work once it is done.

Writing a first draft should be done quickly and without too much second guessing, just getting words on a page is half the battle. But then comes the editing.

It’s most likely that you have written things that are not needed or added descriptions and passages that stop the flow of the story. Cutting words out of your work can feel almost impossible, but just imagine you are revealing a diamond, and you can’t do that without cutting out the coal.

Make sure your protagonist’s goal is 100% clear

Writing a draft can sometimes lead to changes. Now is the time to look back at your outline and make sure you did everything you set out to do – or at least your main character did.

Did the main character have a goal at the start of the story? This could be to go on an adventure or solve a mystery. Make sure your character either works towards or completed their goals in the story, otherwise readers may be asking more questions than you are answering.

If at this point your story changes and the character’s goal is no longer clear it’s time to re-outline your story to make sure it makes sense.

Show, don’t tell

It’s the writing advice everyone loves to hate. But it makes sense!

It’s so easy to tell people what happens in your story instead of showing them. For example, you can tell your reader your character is nervous or you can show them biting their nails and pacing up and down the waiting room. Both actions do the same thing, but only one allows the reader to use their imagination and practise empathy whilst reading.

Whilst revising your manuscript it is now time to replace explanation with action. This will radically improve your story telling skills and is a great way to add dimension to your characters.

Strengthen scene endings

Everyone loves a big finally right?

Readers are looking to your work to take them on a journey and lead somewhere. Make sure your story gives them good scene endings, that will not only keep them hooked but also make them want to keep turning the page.

If at this point you find there are no exciting or climactic scenes in your story, ask yourself if this story is engaging enough to keep the readers attention. You are competing with TV and social media apps after all, you want your story to be interesting and for each chapter to leave the reader wanting more.

Eliminate filter words

Filter words create a distance between the character and what is happening. Think of words like ‘heard’ ‘saw’ and ‘thought’. Whilst it might seem impossible to write a story without words like this it can actually improve your writing to remove them. This is because it allows the reader to be closer to the action and avoids them being taken out of the story by the narration.

For example, the sentence ‘April heard the door click and turned to see the gardener returning with what she thought was black roses. He seemed angry to see her in the library and she felt a cold shiver run down her back as she knew she was in danger now.’ contains a lot of filer words in bold.

Editing out the filter words helps to make the story more concise and engaging:

As the door clicked, April spun around, careful not to knock over any books in the library. The gardener gripped a bunch of black roses, his brow furrowed and his gaze never leaving her. Coldness washed along her spine, there was no way out of danger now.

Simply editing your filter words can massively improve your manuscript. It will make you think in a different way and is how to become a storyteller and not just a writer.

Sharpen your dialogue

Dialogue is important in any story and it allows the character’s to have a voice. Also, it stops the story being just you the writer telling your readers what is happening and creates a more compelling tale.

However, it is easy for your dialogue to sound fake or not have enough variety.

Remember to include accents if needed, key words that some character’s use and a different ‘voice’ for each person. If you struggle with dialogue think about how you talk to your family and friends. You will speak differently depending on the situation and might change how you talk depending on the environment.

Reading dialogue aloud can help as you’ll see how believable it sounds.

Track changes in your character’s emotions

It’s easy to write a draft and not realise that your character is experiencing a rollercoaster of emotions that doesn’t make sense.

Revising your work is the perfect time to start tracking your character’s emotions and see that they follow on from each other. For example, if a character is depressed in one scene but suddenly happy to go on an adventure in the next chapter you may need to add some more explanation.

Make sure your characters are realistic and not just plot points.

Edit your paragraph openings

Every heard how the first line of your book can make or break your story? Well that’s not completely true but it certainly helps to have captivating openings that draw a reader in.

Engagement is important so you want to make sure each paragraph starts well. And no, you don’t need to have something interesting happen each time just make sure your paragraphs start with well written sentences. Removing your filter words will help with this too.

Highlight cause and effect

Now it’s time to look over your plot. Do things just happen out of nowhere because you needed to move the story on?

Many writers will add in moments just to keep the plot moving but they haven’t mentioned it anywhere else. For example, imagine a witch turns up at the end of the book to help the main characters cast a spell to defeat a demon. Believable right?

Well whilst the story might not be believable at all (and it doesn’t have to be!), the plot will make more sense if your characters mentioned this witch throughout the story. Perhaps she was scene in the distance a few times, or she is actually one of the side characters you just didn’t realise she had power until now.

Readers might feel cheated if you just magically fix the plot with a new character, or something happens that comes out of nowhere. It’s one of the reasons a lot of writing advice will tell you to avoid the plot ‘It was all a dream.’ Don’t be lazy with the plot, add in cause and effect and a few red herrings along the way if you need a character later on in the story, add them in now.

Read your work aloud

As mentioned when talking about dialogue this is a good way to check your manuscript. Not only does it help to assess your character’s speech but it helps you see how your story flows.

Looking at words on a page is different to hearing it out loud. There is a reason why speech writers exist.

Once you have done your first revisions try reading your chapters aloud, even if you only want to whisper. It will help to hear how it sounds and if you have trouble reading your long sentences you’ll know the reader will too.

What’s next when you have revised your manuscript?

I’d love to tell you everything is done now and you can hit publish or send to an agent but revision is only just the start.

There are still other things you’ll want to consider now:

• Starting a 2nd draft
• Getting beta readers
• Having your work professionally edited
• Line editing or developmentally editing your work
• Having your work proofread

As you can see there’s a lot that goes into creating a manuscript – that’s why the first draft isn’t the hardest part! But don’t worry, you’ll find hints and tips here to help you on your journey.

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