Is story excellence something you "know when you see it"—or can it actually be measured? Is excellence defined by hitting bestseller lists? Filling seats at every book tour stop? Being selected for “Best Books of 2025” lists? Is excellence defined by getting gatekeeper approval? Getting agent representation? Landing a book deal? Winning awards? Is excellence defined by earning money? Getting a big advance? Earning out the advance and bringing in royalties? Or is it something else? How can we ...
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Is story excellence something you "know when you see it"—or can it actually be measured? Is excellence defined by hitting bestseller lists? Filling seats at every book tour stop? Being selected for “Best Books of 2025” lists? Is excellence defined by getting gatekeeper approval? Getting agent representation? Landing a book deal? Winning awards? Is excellence defined by earning money? Getting a big advance? Earning out the advance and bringing in royalties? Or is it something else? How can we ...
How to Use Genre as a Revision Tool (with Savannah Gilbo)
Your Next Draft
1 hour 19 minutes
4 months ago
How to Use Genre as a Revision Tool (with Savannah Gilbo)
Here’s what to DO with your genre once you know which one you’re writing. So you know your story’s genre. It’s an Action story with a Worldview internal genre. Or it’s a Love story with a Status internal genre. You’re, like, 32% sure of it. Which is great, because you’ve studied story enough to know genre is important. You’ve heard that it shapes the foundations of your story, that it has conventions and obligatory scenes, reader expectations that you’ll need to deliver on. Somehow, though, j...
Your Next Draft
Is story excellence something you "know when you see it"—or can it actually be measured? Is excellence defined by hitting bestseller lists? Filling seats at every book tour stop? Being selected for “Best Books of 2025” lists? Is excellence defined by getting gatekeeper approval? Getting agent representation? Landing a book deal? Winning awards? Is excellence defined by earning money? Getting a big advance? Earning out the advance and bringing in royalties? Or is it something else? How can we ...