Revision — the book you meant

A first draft is a map drawn while walking. Revision is looking at the map. Put the manuscript in a drawer for two to four weeks if you can. Then read it as if a stranger had sent it, which, in a way, they have.

Big picture first. Does the structure hold? Does the protagonist want the same thing in chapter twenty as in chapter two, and if not, is that growth or amnesia? Are the stakes a bruise or a rumour? Reverse-outline: one line per scene. Cut or combine the ones that do not turn.

Then the scene. Enter late, leave early. Dialogue is action — people trying to get something. If a character explains their backstory in a kitchen, give them a reason to speak that is not the reader’s education.

Then the line. Strong verbs. Fewer cushions. Read aloud. When the same distinctive word keeps turning up like a nervous tic, run the pages through Word Census. It counts on your machine, sets names aside, and will not gossip.