The Novel Editing Workbook: 105 Tricks & Tips for Revising Your Fiction Manuscript

by Kris Spisak

Finishing your book is awesome. Finishing your editing is what makes all the difference in this competitive publishing landscape. The novel editing process is your opportunity to tweak, cajole, twist your words like licorice, and buff the imperfections out of your sentences until they shine like new. It’s your chance to transform that first draft that trickled out of your fingers and onto your pages, turning your story into the book you want it to be.Whether you’re planning to traditionally publish or go the indie publishing route, self-editing is essential before any next steps. But don’t just do the job most of the way. Seize your author success with this step-by-step guide to self-editing a book for fiction writers, new and experienced alike. Writing a novel is an intimidating idea, but you know what? You did it. How amazing is that? Now finish the job. The Novel Editing Workbook is your resource to make it happen.

Genres: Writing

164 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 21, 2020

About the author

Kris Spisak knows that well-written words and well-told stories have the ability to change the world. A graduate of the College of William and Mary (B.A.) and the University of Richmond (M.L.A.), Kris wrote her first three books — Get a Grip on Your Grammar: 250 Writing and Editing Reminders for the Curious or Confused (Career Press, 2017; HarperCollins India 2020), The Novel Editing Workbook: 105 Tricks and Tips for Revising Your Fiction Manuscript (Davro Press, 2020), and The Family Story Workbook: 105 Prompts & Pointers for Writing Your History (Davro Press, 2020) — to help writers of all kinds sharpen their storytelling and empower their communications. Her Grammartopia® events and Story Stop Tour programs follow the same mission. Her award-winning debut novel, The Baba Yaga Mask (Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing, 2022; Tantor Audio, 2023), was inspired by her family’s experience in the post-WWII Ukrainian diaspora and has been called “A complex, poetic tale” by Kirkus Reviews and “edu-tainment at its best” by the Historical Novel Society. Her fifth book, Becoming Baba Yaga: Trickster, Feminist, and Witch of the Woods (Red Wheel / Weiser, 2024; Tantor Audio, 2024), acclaimed as a “nuanced work of feminist literary criticism” by Foreword Reviews and "a delicious read" by Atlas Obscura, explores the complex origins of this Slavic folktale character and her lingering lessons for empowering us all.

Kris has been spotlighted in Writer’s Digest and The Huffington Post for her work as an author dedicated to helping other writers, and she is passionate about transforming book signings and storytelling events into humanitarian aid efforts when the opportunity allows. Kris is an active speaker, workshop leader, and literary historian.

Reviews

[Peter A · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Everyone has at least one story in them; the challenge is to write it down.” This is a paraphrase by an author during a recent writing class. Now, with the pandemic keeping most of us at home, writing (and reading) is a great way to let one’s imagination roam parts of the planet, exploring interesting interactions, and admiring strengths of people and how they react to situations.

And one of the key rules, it seems, is just to write. Don’t worry about the warts you are creating. Just create. And now, you are done. You met the challenge most people do not.

But now what?

This is where the book, The Novel Editing Workbook, by Kris Spisak, is of great value, especially for those first-time writers. Written in short, engaging, lively and pragmatic chapters, it moves the revision process from the macro scale through a microscale and finally to the proofreading stage. And there are multiple suggestions at each of these stages along with strategies of how to get the most of out the editing. See the Table of Content below for topics covered.

The author ends with a section about whether or not to hire a professional editor. Importantly, for what I have in mind, she stresses the need to ensure that there is authenticity and sensitivity in what is written, especially if it involves different cultures.

And throughout, there is a supportive, you-can-do-it attitude. The key reason to read this book is because you have a manuscript. Thus, you have already beaten the odds of creating that story!

Table of Content
Why Edit I 11
How to Use This Workbook I 13
What is Editing? I 14
Pre-Editing Necessities I 16
Macro-Editing I 24
Structure I 25
Characters I 34
Plot I 42
Setting I 51
Point of View I 53
Macro-Editing Strategies / 56
Micro-Editing I 63
Amplifying Your Word Choice I 65
Enabling Your Reader to Experience Your Story I 76
Reconsidering Character Actions I 87
Empowering Your Dialogue I 9 l
Invigorating Your Descriptions I 101
Cutting the Unnecessary I 103
Micro-Editing Strategies I 120
Proofreading I 123
Proofreading Strategy I 131
When to Hire an Editor I 134
You've Got This I 137
Answers I 138

FB. A handy book for the first-time writer, who having completed a draft of a novel, stops, and wonders, “what do I do now?”

[Tony Riches · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd like to recommend Kris Spisak's tips as a series of useful reminders to help you make sure your manuscript is as good as it can be, so your editor has the best possible start.

There are plenty of suggestions of words to search for - and what to do when you find them, as well as prompts to help you improve your first page and tidy up dialogue.

Although I'm close to completing my tenth novel, I'm planning to use this workbook as my 'checklist', and hopefully feel I've done everything I can before sending my manuscript to my editor.

[Ken Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let Kris Spisak answer your 9-1-1 editing call

If you are trudging through your book editing process and wonder when your manuscript will be ready for submission, join the club! That's a question facing thousands of authors on a daily basis. Rather than rereading your work for the "umpteenth" time, let Kris Spisak come to the rescue! In her new book, "The Novel Editing Workbook," she meticulously breaks down those difficult pitfalls and hidden errors in unpolished manuscripts.  Typical to her solution-oriented way, she then explains the easy "why" and "how" to fix them. 

Although a born leader, I admit to becoming a Spisak follower. Thanks to her sagely advice, I am polishing my existing manuscript by using 15 of Kris’ 105 editing tips.

Ken Murray, Lt. Col., USAF (Ret)
Author, On Parr

[Larry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone who has written a novel will benefit from Kris Spicak’s advice. Her methodical editing process is clearly and cleverly presented, making this book a practical tool for the novelist and entertaining to read. No matter where you are in the editing process, Spisak’s revising strategies will improve your novel. After using “The Novel Editing Workbook,” the sentence structure, word choice, and narrative flow of my book vastly improved. Kris Spicak help me create a novel that I’m proud to have written and share!

[Saswata Sen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an outstanding book. With nuts and bolts of editing it surpasses Susan Bell's The Artful Edit. I would not compare this with The Forest For The Trees by Betsy Lerner written on a deeper tangent. But worth a compare would be Rennie Browne and Dave Kings Self Editing For Fiction Writers. The nearest nuts-and-bolts book I can think of without trying to compare an Apple to An Orange is Donald Maass's Writing The BreakOut Novel WORKBOOK

[Jay Cannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book on a recent flight, nonstop. I'm finishing up my latest novel and found this book an essential addition to polishing off my manuscript. All writers, whether you are writing short stories or an epic novel, should read this book to improve their writing.

[Jody Derby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Working on my first novel, I searched everywhere for a practical book on editing until I found this workbook.
Focusing on the macro and the micro edit step by step, it's been a true support through the process.
Highly recommend

[M Saunders · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is intended for the folks who already finished the manuscript and want to turn it into something great.

[Keri Kruspe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to laugh - one of the first things she suggests is rethink the "It was" start of a paragraph. The very first sentence in my latest WIP started that way! Thanks, Kris :)

[Cassandra Ulrich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic. I’m definitely referring this book to others. A great resource in addition to it being a great read. The exercises are on point.

[Ham · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this (the first half is as far as I got) a bit more than the ones I’ve been reading lately. Loved the casual prose and occasional wit. The advice itself was mostly sound, if a bit more for the beginner. For me it just wasn’t worth the time. The one thing I’ll try from it is cutting off the last line (or paragraph) of your ending to see if it’s a stronger place to finish.) I think writers needing basic training could get a lot out of this.
Update: I kept reading due to lack of other material and found a few more good ideas. Plus the author is funny. So I added 2 stars.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A necessary tool for any serious writer to make their manuscript marketable.