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Story Editing: When To Self-Edit In Your Writing Journey

In today’s world, fiction writers have access to many tools to create and publish novels. That puts writers in the luxurious position of having control over their novels and publishing what they want. With this freedom comes responsibility.

Novel Factory, Novlr, Scrivener, Word, Ulysses and many other apps can be used to write your novel.

Grammarly, ProWritingAid, AutoCrit and others help with copyediting and style.

Then there is the host of products to actually publish your novel, such as CreateSpace, Smashwords, and Draft2Digital.

I’m not endorsing the above apps or listing all that are on the market. I only mentioned a few to give you an idea of what’s out there.

Your Writing Journey

With complete control over your writing and publishing journey, you’re the one responsible for the quality of the work you share with the world. Share your writing too early and you risk rejection, bad reviews, and poor sales.

We developed Fictionary StoryTeller to help writers create powerful stories. You’ll be able to use StoryTeller in several phases of your writing.

Before page one is written: You can start new novel in StoryTeller. As you write, powerful visuals are created to help you stay on track and make the most of story elements. Once you’re written a story, the story arc will magically appear.

After a first draft: Are you unsure if your manuscript is ready for others to read? We believe you should make your novel as good as you possibly can before sharing it. This will ensure you get higher quality comments on your work.

After beta readers: Perhaps you’ve had negative critiques from beta readers. Fictionary will guide you through a rewrite and help you address the comments you received.

After self-publishing: What if you’ve published your novel, but it’s not selling well or you’re getting poor reviews? If you’re self-published, you’re in the lucky position to be able to rewrite and republish a new edition.

You can liken Fictionary Story Teller to an editorial assessment you do yourself.

StoryTeller will guide you through your manuscript, illustrating weak areas in plot, character, or setting that will lead you to make changes to your novel. With a guided approach, you’ll know which areas of your manuscript you’ve addressed and which you haven’t. This will speed up your rewriting process by enabling you to focus only on areas that need revision.

Fictionary StoryTeller will save you money on future editing. If an editor works on your novel before you’ve finished addressing structural issues, the editor will spend time on changes you could have already made. By doing this work yourself, you’ll learn how to write better fiction and you’ll receive higher quality comments from an editor.

Self-Editing: What’s in it for you? You’ll be proud you created a powerful story that your readers love.


Learn more about writing captivating stories.If you’d like to listen to an in-depth discussion on story editing, check out Story Edit Like A Pro.


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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 7-day trial and tell powerful stories?