Today, I'm helping a new writer edit the first chapter of his fantasy novel.
Want me to coach you? Apply for my Fantasy Outlining Bootcamp: http://jedherne.com/outline

⏲ TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 Introduction
01:05 Ethan's goals for the call
01:49 Correct manuscript formatting
02:57 The opening sentence
03:23 Character backstory
03:41 Ground us within the setting
04:56 How can substances impact the magic
05:37 Scene transitions
06:36 Dialogue formatting
07:41 Paragraph spacing
11:40 Action beats with dialogue
12:33 Speaking names in dialogue
13:24 Understanding punctuation
16:04 Fix foreshadowing later in the edit
16:48 How to describe coughing
19:24 The importance of intention
20:06 The Emotion Thesaurus
23:02 Back to expressing coughing in dialogue
24:21 Lean into the apprentice trope
25:59 Formatting interjections
26:32 An industrialising fantasy world
29:55 Writing accents
31:29 Creating a culture inspired by leafcutter ants
32:52 An easy worldbuilding win
34:09 Be cautious about this
34:47 Learning from The Name of the Wind
36:03 Writing songs
36:38 Where the chapter becomes interesting
38:22 Shortening the chapter
40:11 Conveying the magic system
43:13 Dealing with a tone change
47:12 Picking the right character for exposition
48:16 Establishing promises
48:41 Series or standalone?

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MY BOOKS:
Across the Broken Stars: https://jedherne.com/acrossthebrokens...
The Thunder Heist: https://jedherne.com/thethunderheist/
Fires of the Dead: https://jedherne.com/firesofthedead

MY VIDEO GAME:
Siege of Treboulain: https://jedherne.com/siegeoftreboul...

MY FAVOURITE WRITING TOOLS:
Freewrite Traveller (distractionfree writing laptop): https://getfreewrite.com/?rstr=6485 use this affiliate link for a 5% discount.
MailerLite (best email newsletter software for authors): https://www.mailerlite.com/a/awmq7yim...
ProWritingAid (editing software that helped a lot with my early books): https://prowritingaid.com/?afid=4301

ABOUT ME:
Hi! My name's Jed. I'm a fantasy author with three published novels and a bestselling video game. On this channel, I draw from my 10+ years of writing experience to help you become a better writer.

CONNECT WITH ME:
Follow me on Instagram:   / jedherne  
Send me an email: jed(at)jedherne.com

(Note: I don't always get a chance to reply to every email. However, I do my best to read as many of them as possible, and it's my preferred method of communication.)