The Ultimate Guide to Editing Your Novel: A revolutionary approach to transform your writing

by Sara Grant

When it comes to creating children's and YA fiction there is often a focus on how to start and write until you reach an ending … But what happens when you have a finished manuscript of hundreds of pages? How do you transform your rough draft into a publishable one?

Expert author, editor, mentor and lecturer Sara Grant provides the answer through a systematic approach to editing. Her step-by-step guide demystifies the process of preparing a manuscript for submission to agents and publishers or for those self-publishing. It is a lifeline for new writers and those intimidated by the world of publishing; for more experienced writers it is an invaluable diagnostic tool to dip in and out of.

This practical workbook includes exercises and examples
- Interrogating your idea
- Enhancing your plot
- Scrutinising characters, chapters and scenes
- Analysing sentence and word choice
- Honing your unique voice
- Writing with sensitivity for young readers
- And finally, polishing your manuscript for submission.

Genres: Writing

272 pages, Paperback

Published June 27, 2025

About the author

Sara writes and edits fiction for children and teens. Her new series Chasing Danger is an action-adventure series for tweens. Dark Parties, her first young adult novel, won the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Crystal Kite Award for Europe. As a freelance editor of series fiction, she has worked on twelve different series and edited nearly 100 books. She has given writing workshops in the US, UK and Europe as part of Book Bound (www.bookboundretreat.com) and teaches a master’s class on writing for children/teens at Goldsmiths University. She co-founded Undiscovered Voices – which has launched the writing careers of thirty-two authors, who now have written more than 120 children’s books. (www.undiscoveredvoices.com) She is also a member of The Edge, eight UK-based authors working together writing a blog and running events across the country. (edgeauthors.blogspot.co.uk)

Reviews

[Roberta · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a step by step guide to editing your novel. This is a workbook and requires reader participation to work through editing from ideas, plot, characters, scenes and more.
There is also info for writers of young reader books.
This book broke the process of editing down into chapters with exercises and advice.
Did I like it? Yes. Will I go back to this book? Again yes.
Although it is a tool for new writers it is still a good aid for those more experienced to use from time to time.