Lucy Cooke and I pressed the button to send SECRETS TO EDITING SUCCESS: The Creative Story Editing Method book off into the world.

We both hope SECRETS TO EDITING SUCCESS will help everyone with their first draft. By having the creative story editing process laid out in a clear manner, we know we can help writers and editors everywhere. And you know, we love to help writers and editors.

SECRETS TO EDITING SUCCESS teaches you how to become an exceptional story editor. Whether you’re editing your own story or are an editor wanting your clients to succeed, this book shows you how to make all stories better.

In SECRETS TO EDITING SUCCESS, you will learn how to structurally edit a manuscript starting by evaluating at the story level and then focusing at the scene level, resulting in actionable advice.

SECRETS TO EDITING SUCCESS shows you the fastest, most comprehensive route to a successful story edit. You’ll discover the Fictionary Story Editing process and use the 38 Fictionary Story Elements.

GIVE YOUR DRAFT A CREATIVE STORY EDIT, SO IT OUTPERFORMS THE OTHER GREAT BOOKS BEING PUBLISHED TODAY. USE SECRETS TO EDITING SUCCESS WELL TO EDIT ANY NOVEL INTO A BESTSELLER.

Praise for Secrets to Editing Success

“One of the most frequent questions a novelist asks is “Does my draft contain a story?” Stanley and Cooke have written a practical guide that shows you how to answer that question. Secrets to Editing Success gives you actionable advice and a process to edit and revise your novel so that you can take your novel draft and turn it into a publishable book.”

Grant Faulkner, Executive Director of National Novel Writing Month

“Secrets to Editing Success is every editor’s dream. Whether you’re a new author reviewing your first book or professional editor, this is without doubt, the most comprehensive and detailed guide to editing I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. This book will hold your hand, explain, clarify and give you step by step instructions for editing your novel. Paired best when using the incomparable developmental editing software Fictionary, this guide will change your editing life. Read it. Immediately.”

Sacha Black, Rebel Author Podcast

When we wrote the book, Kristina Stanley was the most generous co-author you can imagine. And being writers, you all have the best imaginations! Can you imagine how lucky I am? And all because I attended the Fictionary StoryCoach Certification Program in the fall of 2021! That’s where I met Kristina.

While we wrote the book, we had such fun enthusiastically exploring the Fictionary Story Elements. You may have noticed the 50,000 word drafting diary. It took a year of collaborating to create this, and most of what is in the drafting diary are discussions on how to best present the information to make it actionable for the reader.

Where can you get it?

https://mybook.to/editingsuccess

Many of you know that besides being a writer, I’m also the CEO of Fictionary. This year Fictionary is doing something new (and I think special) for writers.

The following is reposted from Fictionary.co.

Our goal is to recognize and promote writers who are dedicated to the process of great story telling. The Fictionary Book of the Year Award – for unpublished books edited in StoryTeller – is designed to do just that.

We will award the honour to the best unpublished YA/Middle Grade novel and best unpublished adult novel.

Fictionary is all about celebrating writers and their work. The number of successful award winning authors and bestselling authors who contact us, saying that they edited their books in Fictionary is phenomenal.

And here at Fictionary, we want to increase that number.

We writers should support one another, and what better way than a Fictionary Book of the Year Award. To celebrate the launch of the Fictionary Community, we are also launching the first Annual Fictionary Book of the Year Award.

So how do you win the book award?

Get editing in Fictionary Storyteller. A great story is made up of a collection of great scenes structured in a compelling order.

Fictionary shows you how to use the 38 Story Elements to create remarkable scenes, link them together, and finish a novel. Make sure you have all the Fictionary Elements of a story on show, tidied up, and structurally sound.

Who is judging?

The Judges are all Fictionary Certified StoryCoach Editors, and they will be choosing the work that hits all the Fictionary Story Elements.

Where to get help?

In the Fictionary Community there will be loads of posts — so get stuck in — ask questions about the elements, discuss, figure out how to get your story ready. With Fictionary, every author can powerfully edit their manuscript into a powerful story, a prize-winning story.

To Submit a Manuscript

A writer must have edited their novel in Fictionary StoryTeller, join the Fictionary Community, and submit:

1.  A blurb: Maximum 250 words. The blurb must answer
   1. Who is the protagonist?
   2. What is the main story goal?
   3. What is at stake?
2.  A synopsis: Maximum 500 words. The synopsis must show the inciting incident, plot point 1, middle plot point, plot point 2, and the climax.
3. First scene or chapter: Maximum 2000 words.

We’re here to help you prepare. The links to the blurb and synopsis teach you how to write a blurb and a synopsis. Full rules and guidelines are in the Fictionary Community.

After 5 novels are shortlisted in each category, these authors will submit their entire manuscript.

The book award prizes include:

A chance to be read by Writers House Literary Agency.

For the Winning Manuscripts:

• Full StoryCoach edit by a Fictionary Certified StoryCoach editor including 3 hours of one-on-one consulting time. (Value $2700 USD)

• Full manuscript read-through by Lindsay Auld, Agent at Writers House Literary Agency for the Young Adult/Middle Grade category winner.

• Full manuscript read-through by Andrea Morrison, Senior Agent at Writers House Literary Agency for the Adult category winner.

• One-year subscription of a StoryCoach client account (Value $288 USD).

Join the community to see the great prizes for shortlisted manuscripts.

The Fictionary Community

Why join?

• Connect with other writers and editors
• Get your editing questions answered by Fictionary Certified StoryCoach editors
• Access free, live editing classes presented by editing experts
• Learn about all things Fictionary: product updates, videos, webinars, best practices
• Enter your unpublished novel in the Fictionary Book of the Year Award
• Attend live events to practice writing a blurb and a synopsis.

Join the community to enter your manuscript in the Fictionary Book of the Year award and find out more about submission dates and rules, and the bonus prizes we have for the shortlisted manuscripts.

Whether you’re a writer or a story editor, you must understand why the story arc is important and how to check if a story is following this time-proven form. I have to confess, I love the story arc. It fascinates me that something can work for the human brain since stories were first told. Since before anyone knew what a story arc was.

Five important scene make up the story arc : the Inciting Incident, Plot Point 1, the Middle, Plot Point 2, and the Climax. For the story to be powerful, these scenes must appear in the right place of a story.

If the incident comes too late, the reader will get bored.

If plot point 1 is too close to the middle, the story will feel rushed.

If the Climax is too late, the resolution won’t satisfy the reader.

All bad things.

Monsters are also bad. So let’s do some time traveling and look at two monster stories. One ancient. The other modern. One an epic poem. The other a novel.  Both HUGELY successful.

History of the Story Arc

Let’s go way back into the past. All the way to circa 750 t0 700 BC when is it believed Beowulf was written. It’s an epic poem with 2669 lines. I used the translation of J.R.R. Tolkien edited by his son Christopher Tolkien and published by Harper Collins (2016) to analyze the poem from a story arc perspective.

Beowulf is the oldest surviving epic in British literature. Normally I write about novels, but novels didn’t exist back then. The long form of a story was a poem, often spoken instead of read.

Beowulf takes place in Denmark, where a monster terrorizes the people. Grendel is his name. Beowulf is the hero of the story and goes on a quest to destroy Grendel.

Beowulf Story Arc Scenes

Inciting Incident: Line 279: 10% into the story.

Beowulf has heard stories of a monster who walks the night. A watchman allows Beowulf to pass into a kingdom, and Beowulf’s ordinary life is changed. He’s on his way to help King Hrothgar fight the monster.

Plot Point 1:  Line 665: 25% into the story.

Beowulf kills the monster, Grendel. This causes Grendel’s mother to seek revenge.

So far, so good. The key scenes are fitting perfectly on the story arc most used today.

Middle: Line 1315: 50% into the story.

You can tell I’m getting excited by this point. I wasn’t sure what the results of my analysis would be when I started out on my adventure to study the story arc more deeply.

At the middle, Beowulf kills Grendel’s mother.

Plot Point 2: Line 1958: 73% into the story. Right within range!

Beowulf learns his home is being ravaged by dragons. He’s at rock bottom. He left his home to help others, and now his home is paying the price.

Climax: Line 2260: 85% into the story.

Beowulf fights the dragon and at the end of the climax, he kills it.

The story starts with a funeral and ends with a funeral. It starts with a monster killing people, and ends with a person killing a monster. Perfect symmetry. Beowulf has been around forever for a reason.

The Modern Story Arc

Now let’s time travel forward 2700 years or so. We come to Twilight. Written by Stephanie Meyer. Published in 2008 by Harper Collins. I analyzed Twilight based on word count, not line count as I did with Beowulf.

Twilight was extremely commercially successful. This may or may not be the genre for you, and whether you liked the story or not isn’t the point. The point is a story has a better shot at being commercially successful if it follows the story arc.

Twilight’s Story Arc Scenes

Inciting Incident: 10% into the story.

Bella has already met Edward. This leads up to the inciting incident where Edward saves Bella from being killed in a parking lot. She gets her first glimpse of his powers and is set on her path of discovering more about him.

Plot Point 1: 25% into the story.

Bella suspects that Edward is a vampire, but she decides to pursue him anyway. Edward has emotional power over Bella.

Middle: 50% into the story.

Edward reveals his true powers as a vampire to Bella. He saves her from an attack, and this strengthens how she feels about him.

Plot Point Two: 75% into the story.

A bad vampire goes after Bella, and Bella must leave her home. Bella wants to survive, but not if it means risking those she loves.

Climax: 90% into the story.

The vampire lures Bella into a trap. She faces down the evil vampire and gets injured.

Can You Still Write a Unique Story?

Following the form of the story arc doesn’t mean the story isn’t unique. Of course it is. You are a unique person, and you wrote it. No one else can write the same story. My goal is to give you the best chance of writing a story people love.

Beowulf and Twilight are both about monsters, but they are very different stories.

And that my is my story of what the story arc is important.

---

StoryTeller is creative editing software for fiction writers. Transform your story, not just your words. Successful stories depend on your ability to edit, improve, and revise your work. Only when you master story editing, can you master storytelling.

StoryTeller draws a recommended story arc and draws the story arc for your story. You can see how to improve the structure of your story within seconds.

Why not check out Fictionary’s StoryTeller free 14-day trial and tell powerful stories?

A compelling character arc is the emotional journey your character takes throughout your story that engages your reader. A character arc can also be referred to the emotional arc of a character.

Why is a Compelling Character Arc Important?

A reader wants to experience emotion. If a character doesn’t experience emotion, then the reader won’t either. This is a simple concept to understand but a hard concept to implement in a story.

If a character experiences emotion, then the emotional journey can be shown from the beginning of a story to the end.

What’s the Starting Point?

A character arc starts the moment your character enters the story.

Scene-by-Scene Character Arcs

If you pay attention to the impact every scene has on a character, you’ll develop a compelling character arc.

Let’s look at what that means.

There will be a point of view (POV) character for every scene. This means the character whose eye’s the reader will experience the scene from. There will also be a protagonist in your story. The story is mostly about this character. A good way to test who is your protagonist is to write a blurb (back cover text) and see which character you write about.

Make a list of your key characters.

1. All POV characters
2. the protagonist

Now, at the end of every scene, ask yourself:

1. What is the impact on the POV character?
2. What is the impact on the protagonist (if different from the POV character)?

When answering, all you need to know is it positive, neutral or negative compared to the beginning of the scene.

Let’s look at an example of how to evaluate character arcs for important characters.

Did you notice I said important characters instead of main characters?

This is because any character who is the point or view character is important. They may not be a main character, but if you have chosen them for a point of view character, they are important.

Here’s an example from the Fictionary Story Map insight.  Whatever method you use, it’s important to not only keep track of the character arc, but also keep track of the related story elements.  To dig deeper into the Story Elements, check out our video series.

In the Story Map example, there are three point of view characters shown. Shannon, Jake, and The Boy.

• Shannon is the protagonist.
• Jake is the love interest.
• The Boy is the antagonist.

Using the Story Map,  I see all three characters and the impact the scene had on each character. I like to select the scene name along with the Purpose, so I remember what the scene is about and why it’s in the story.

In the first three scenes, Shannon ends each scene in an emotional state that is negative to how she started the scene.

The first scene shows Shannon’s ordinary world, so I’ve marked the purpose of the scene as The Setup.

The second scene introduces a key character, so I’ve marked the purpose of that scene as Character Introduction.

And the third scene is the Inciting Incident.  The inciting incident is the moment the protagonist’s world changes in a dramatic way. In this scene, Shannon’s is hurt enough that she is going to change her life.

At the beginning of the story, Shannon starts out in a positive emotional state. Scene 1 knocks that down a notch, scene 2 even further, and scene 3 is even harder on Shannon. The start of Shannon’s arc takes a big drop.

When Jake is introduced in scene 3, he receives a phone call that upsets him. He goes from a positive mental state to a negative mental state. In scene 4, Jake starts the scene unhappy, but moves to a positive frame of mind when he meets Shannon.

The Boy has the opposite emotional start in the story than Jake does. His first scene ends with him in a happy place. The start of the next scene, he’s happy but by the end his beloved father is dead. Most definitely not happy.

Neutral is Bad

To create a compelling character arc, it’s important write scenes where the emotional state changes. If the point of view character is happy at the beginning of a scene and in the same state of happiness as the end of the scene, what was the purpose of the scene? It may mean the goal was not strong enough to make it meaningful.  There are definitely issues.

The Story Arc and Compelling Character Arcs

The protagonist’s emotional state must change dramatically in the key story arc scenes. The key scenes have a big impact on the story, so they must have a big impact on the protagonist.  The impact should be stronger than in the other scenes. And in the climax scene, it must be the strongest.

The inciting incident is the moment the protagonist’s world changes in a dramatic way.

If the protagonist’s emotional state does not change in a dramatic way when their world changes in a dramatic way, then there is a problem. Perhaps you’ve chosen the wrong protagonist, or perhaps the inciting incident isn’t related to the plot. Whatever the reason, the scene needs to be rewritten.

Plot Point 1 is the point of no return. The character can’t back out of the central conflict. This is the moment when the setup of the story ends and Act I is over.

Let’s face it. If anyone one of us changes our lives and can’t return to our previous life, we are going to feel differently when that happens. Your protagonist must too.

The midpoint is when the protagonist changes from reactive to proactive.

Here again, the protagonist is going to change their behaviour, and the only was that happens is if their emotional state changes.

Plot Point 2 will be a low point for your protagonist. Her actions since the middle have caused disaster. At PP2, she becomes more determined to reach her goal.

Note the word disaster in the description. That pretty much tells you to go from a positive to a negative emotional state in this key scene.

You’ve built your story up to the climax with rising action, and now the climax scene (or scenes) will have the highest level of conflict, the greatest tension, or the most devastating emotional upheaval.

Depending on the type of story you’re writing, the protagonist either wins or loses. They achieve the main story goal or they don’t. And that must impact their emotional state. Let me repeat that. The climax scene MUST impact the protagonist’s emotional state.

Story Structure

Too Many Negative Endings

For a compelling character arc, the scene can’t end with the protagonist in a negative emotional state compared to the beginning of the scene for too many scenes in a row. The reader will start to believe the protagonist will never reach their plot goal and what’s the point of reading the story. There has to be a hint that the protagonist can succeed.

Too Many Positive Endings

Too many scenes in a row where the protagonist’s emotional state is better at the end of the scene than at the beginning will bore the reader. If the character reaches every goal too easily, the story will lack tension.

Scene-by-Scene Character Arcs

There’s no way around it. To create a compelling character arc, you’ll evaluate every scene and keep track of whether the emotional state goes from positive to negative or negative to positive.

StoryTeller is creative editing software for fiction writers. Transform your story, not just your words. Successful stories depend on your ability to edit, improve, and revise your work. Only when you master story editing, can you master storytelling.

Why not check out Fictionary’s StoryTeller free 14-day trial and tell powerful stories?

When you subscribe after your two-week free trial, , you get the Fictionary Story Editing Masterclass for free.