After the First Draft: Secrets of Revision

"Jake Kerr is a master at revision. I’ve seen very few authors who are able to improve their work through the revision process as well as he can."

Hugo Award winning editor John Joseph Adams

In this valuable book for writers, multiple award-nominated author Jake Kerr provides insight into one of the most powerful and least understood parts of the writing process--revision. From finding critique partners to assessing their feedback, After the First Draft outlines the things every writer needs to know.

Revision is one of those things that is hard to teach writers. What can you tell someone who is facing revision? “Hey, that thing you did? Just do it better!” Yet it is critical for taking flawed stories and novels and turning them into things of beauty. The process itself can involve multiple pieces and multiple steps, and this book walks you through them.

Have you joined an online critique group or posted to a forum and received dozens of comments, many of them contradictory, and not known what to do with them? Kerr provides a real-life example of a story of his that was posted on a forum and received 50 comments. He then walks the reader through each comment and outlines the process of assessing them.

Ever wonder how to handle a revise and resubmit request from an editor? This book walks through a detailed and lengthy revise and resubmit example with Hugo winning editor John Joseph Adams.

This book includes practically everything you need to understand and move toward mastery of revision.

Jake Kerr's understanding of the revision process is second-to-none. He has critiqued stories that have gone on to be nominated or win the Hugo, Nebula, Sturgeon, World Fantasy, and Bram Stoker awards. His own fiction has been nominated for the Nebula, Sturgeon, and Million Writers awards, as well as been reprinted across the globe.