5 Simple Ways to Improve Your Novel

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Finished a novel? Congrats! It's a huge achievement to complete a draft of your story. Now, the next step is to take it to the next level by revising and improving it. In this video, I give my top five bits of novel writing advice for aspiring authors looking to improve their storytelling techniques.

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GREAT BOOKS ABOUT WRITING/PUBLISHING:

SOME OF MY FAVORITE NOVELS:

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RELATED VIDEOS:

5 EASY NOVEL WRITING TIPS TO IMPROVE YOUR MANUSCRIPT:
01:08 - Ensure every character has a proper intro
03:12 - Clarify the passage of time between scenes
05:08 - Revisit outlier passages
07:34 - Remember the setting
09:43 - Maintain a consistent POV

ABOUT ME:
My name is Alyssa Matesic, and I’m a professional book editor with 7+ years of book publishing and editorial experience. Throughout my career, I’ve held editorial roles across both sides of the publishing industry: Big Five publishing houses and literary agencies. The goal of this channel is to help writers throughout the book writing journey—whether you're working on your manuscript or you're looking for publishing advice.

Feel free to get in touch!

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[paulrobinson]

It's good to hear advice from someone with professional experience and not just opinion.

[waynetork]

As a hobby I’ve read maybe 30 books on writing over the past 30 years. This video in 13:49 gives more practical instruction and does it better than anything thing I can recall reading.

[DonnaBlack-puip]

I've recommended your series to my critique group. I find your videos concise, on-point, and pleasant to experience. Thank you for providing such useful information.

[gingerredshoes]

Helpful advice, this is right where I am in my process of revision.

[Gnostic_Plague]

Thanks for these videos! I just learned that I’m writing my novel in 3rd person omniscience haha. The “what scenes to cut” video was really helpful too. I’ve been revising and editing a lot though I still have some small parts left to write.

[Ctayrroolne]

Finally, Saturated By Faith is finally selling on Amazon! Thanks

[rodgilley]

I recently discovered your videos. They are awesome! I have saved many to watch in the future already. I am at 45, 000 words in my first draft of my first novel. This video in particular was very interesting as I use 4 different POVs in my story. I only have 5 people reading my chapters, but they all have eagerly asked for the next chapter. I wish I could get your opinion :) Thank you for your very helpful information.

[josephbarnett]

I love your videos, they help me so much! Currently I’m querying for my science fantasy novel, The Unblooded Heir, and writing the sequel

[mikefinley]

You just pointed out a problem of mine close 3rd and Omni. You just provided some clarity, thanks.

[LorraineCareyAuthor]

Total Boss Hints here. I always learn something new from this channel.

[MrDanroche]

Watched and saved to watch again later. Almost finished with my first draft and will be needing this advice soon

[MrZkoki]

Very useful advice. I am putting it deeply into consideration. I will definitely integrate it into my writing, as long as it feels natural and the right thing to do.

[themikeshowlive]

I'm revising/re-writing my first novel. Working on embellishing a bit with descriptions and your tip about remembering the setting will be helpful. I also I am very much an amateur so I'm going to be paying attention to the POV to see if I am consistent to need to re assess it. Thanks for all your videos :)

[andyclark]

Very good advice. I am working through the fifth draft of my novel, which started in 2018! I meant to shop the novel after the last draft, but I fell into what I suspect is a common trap for fantasy authors. The first draft was around 80K words, but by the end of the fourth draft it weighed in at over 177K words because with each draft I thought of other cool stuff to add. So the novel was bloated, it also didn't have a clear tone, moving between serious and light-hearted. So this draft is all about paring down and maintaining a lighter approach throughout. I hope to get the novel under 120K, which is not terribly long for fantasy. Oh, and I'd have to say that I've committed each of the sins you identify at one point or another. The only place where I may see things a little differently is around naming minor characters. I tend to go ahead and give a character a name even if it's going to be present for one scene if it plays a significant role in that scene, or has a good bit of dialog. Also, in fantasy, names can be setting, so the founder of a city may come up even if that being isn't even a character.
What I struggle with now is the humor portion of my writing. It's hard for a writer to really know if they're being funny, particularly after they've worked through multiple revisions and seen the lines many times.

[mileswhite]

I am currently doing another late edit, so these are very useful tips, especially the ones about setting (I have not developed place very well) and consistent POV. I have a theory that I wonder if you would agree with: With closed 3rd person, the POV scene should always follow the most primary character in the scene. I have 3 protagonists, but 1 always has the POV over anyone else in the scene, including 2 and 3, but 2 overrides 3, but 3 overrides any of the other characters. This seems to work in keeping the POVs clean and not getting them mixed up.

[AllenAdrianTompkins]

Revising is going well with the three novels from undergraduate and graduate studies. I will take your advice and apply it with consistency and attention to time and setting.
I'm also trying to write some query letters and keep it simple like blurbs although I'm confused with the synopsis and book cover review...

[anngrace]

This was so helpful! Your perspective is amazing. Thank you!

[geologyjohnson]

I always struggle with swapping between 3rd person omniscient and close without even realising I'm doing it. 😅

[rowan]

Thank you. Some good points when I finish my latest one after writing the first draft.

[peterheyes]

Question, please.

1. Do we write the pov thoughts in present tense with or without italics? Can you please explain how modern writers are expected to write inner thoughts in 3rd person past tense please. Thanks