How to Revise Your Novel: A Developmental Editor's Phase-by-Phase Checklist

Drafting a novel is hard. Revising it well is harder, and it's where most manuscripts either come alive or fall apart. In this re-released episode of Writers With Wrinkles, developmental editor Joel Brigham returns to break down exactly how he approaches revision: the order he works in, the questions every writer should ask before paying for an edit, and how to know when a book is finally ready to query.

If you're setting summer writing goals or staring down a messy first draft, here's what Joel wants you to know.

Start With Structure, Not Sentences

Joel revises in phases, and phase one is always big-picture structure. Before touching a single typo, he locates the story's "tent pole" beats: the inciting incident, the midpoint turn, and the all-hope-is-lost moment.

These beats aren't decoration. They set the pacing readers unconsciously expect, and their placement depends on genre and age level. For most YA and adult fiction, the inciting incident lands around the 8–12% mark. In a romance, the meet-cute usually needs to arrive by the end of chapter one. The midpoint turn should sit near the middle, because if it shows up at 72%, you've likely lost readers, and if it hits at 36%, the climb to the climax drags.

Joel notes that "pantsers" (writers who draft without an outline) often have these beats but in the wrong places. Revision is when you step back and move them where pacing demands.

The Self-Editing Checklist

You don't have to hire an editor to catch most problems. Joel offers a checklist writers can run through for free:

• Have you hit the major story beats, and are they in the right place?
• Does every character have a clear motivation and arc? Antagonists and secondary characters are usually the flattest in early drafts.
• Is your character driving the plot? This is the big one. If things merely happen to a passive protagonist, the story stalls. Choices and consequences are what keep readers turning pages.
• Is there tension in every chapter? Even small tension counts: an argument between friends, a search for water, a minor obstacle.
• Are the stakes clear and high? What happens if the character succeeds, and what's the catastrophe if they fail?
• Have you read the dialogue out loud? Unnatural lines reveal themselves instantly.
• Does the book start and end with a bang?
• Is the word count right for your genre and age level? An adult epic fantasy at 70k or a contemporary romance at 140k can trigger an automatic rejection.
• For kid lit, have you checked readability scores? Lexile and Flesch-Kincaid (built into Microsoft Word) flag whether you've overshot your audience.
• Have you proofread to a pristine standard? Querying is applying for a job as a professional writer. Typos make a poor first impression.
• Do you feel proud of it? That goosebump moment, Joel says, is often how you know you're close.

The "And Then" Test for Broken Structure

Joel's favorite diagnostic comes from South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone: strong stories connect scenes with "but" or "therefore," never "and then." If your chapters read as "this happened, and then this happened, and then this happened," you're missing consequences, and that's a character-agency problem in disguise.

Fixing the Saggy Middle and the Rushed Ending

Saggy middle? Use the midpoint turn to raise the stakes. Introduce a new obstacle, separate characters who rely on each other, drop a backstory reveal, add a ticking clock, or shift the power dynamic.

Rushed ending? Make your all-hope-is-lost moment dark enough that you physically can't wrap up too fast. Joel treats act three as its own four-chapter arc: regroup the team, form a plan, confront the antagonist, then tie up loose ends. That said, he's fine with rushing a draft's ending for momentum, then filling it in later with fresh eyes.

Voice: The Thing You Can't Rush

Voice, Joel argues, is the hardest element to teach, and possibly unteachable. The only way to build it is to read widely and write constantly, often by mimicking authors you admire until your own style emerges. His three actionable tips: be authentic, seek feedback, and read your work aloud.

Be Right, Not Fast

Joel's closing advice for turning a revised draft into a query-ready manuscript: focus on one element at a time, get other eyes on your pages, learn to weigh feedback (beta readers spot problems well but propose bad solutions), and rest between revision phases. Above all, don't impose artificial deadlines or query before you're ready. You only get one shot at a first impression.

Finishing a draft already puts you ahead of nearly everyone who starts a novel. Persistence does the rest.

Learn more about Joel and find full episode notes at writerswithwrinkles.net. For Beth's episode cheat sheets, sign up for the Writers With Wrinkles newsletter on the homepage.