25 Steps to Editing a Novel

Or, how many ways can you describe an angel's 🍑?

Jul 01, 2025

¡Hola, hello!

This was a big week. I made a big final push in edits for my next novel, Fall of the Rebel Angels. And, I turned 38.

If you’ve been reading this newsletter for a while, you know I’ve been working on it for a while. I sold it in 2021/2. It took me about 2 years to settle on the shape. Then, I started school full time and it became very difficult to work on it and get an B+ on my paper about John Milton’s Paradise Lost ;) I’m very happy I graduated. If you saw me in person between February and two days ago, you could probably tell I was a bit of a mess.

I want to slow down, but this is not a steady business for mid-list authors like myself. So I’m going to keep writing and trying until something sticks.

Maybe it’s this book. Maybe it’s the one after. As I clean my desk, and return the (approximately) 11 empty coffee mugs and water glasses piled up on my desk back to the kitchen, I’m doing some deep thinking about what to write next. I thought I had settled this. When I hung out with Cavan Scott we wrote down our next books on bar coasters. When I went on retreat in Mexico, I changed my mind based on polling feedback. When I talked to my agent, I thought I’d settled on something, but the truth is, I think I’m afraid. You never know if the thing you work on for years will succeed or not. All I can do is put my lil’ heart into it and make sure it’s work I’m proud of. That being said, there are many wolves inside me, and they all want to write in a different genre.

That brings me to:

🔥ZORAIDA’S SURE FIRE FOOL RESISTANT STEPS TO EDITING A NOVEL🔥

Wait for edit letter.
Read and digest edit letter.
Have call to discuss edit letter.
Re-read your novel and realize it’s so bad you apply to 15 jobs.
When you get rejected from those 15 jobs you realize you have no choice but to edit this book in order to get paid and pay your rent
Assemble your research books covering human history since the beginning of time. (Angels are very old and you chose to have historical flashbacks. You brought this onto yourself, son.)
1. have regrets.
Find 3 giant plot holes, two which can be fixed by fleshing out and one that requires an entire restructure.
Make them kiss 100 pages sooner than the last draft.
Every time you stopped working on the first few drafts can me noticed by when a character’s name and sometimes description COMPLETELY changes.
1. Hope for a great copyeditor that will catch the instances you relapsed
Add sex scenes
1. but make them literary by using anatomical descriptions and spelling (saving the nasty ones for impact).
Cry in the shower every time you write for 10 hours and only have 3k words.
Cry in the shower when you realize you’re behind schedule and you’re the thing in the way of yourself.
Cry at your desk, and you’re not sure if the scene is hitting, or if you’re just tired.
Cry on your birthday because you’ve worked every birthday, Christmas, and New Years since 2012.
1. But also, what a gift.
Have your friends force you to take breaks and have dinners and attend a movie screening.
Develop the ability to work in non-office spaces
1. main class cabin airplane seats
2. car backseats
3. conference hotel rooms
4. crowded lobbies
5. your bed, after your back gives out
Remember to carry through all your story beats and themes through to the end.
1. You WILL forget one, and get an email every few months asking for an explanations, which you have, but didn’t include because, let’s be real, everyone has read this book so many times we just want to press print.
Get distracted by shiny new ideas that would rather be written.
You really have to decide if it’s a happy ending or not.
Go see Murder by Death on their Farewell tour.
Go home and drink a double espresso.
Immediately write a 6 page (single spaced) sex scene and get mentally prepare to stet.
1. Realize you did not describe the angel’s 🍑 enough. The again, how many ways can you describe an angel's 🍑?
  1. Many. Many ways.
Write the short epilogue.
Hit send.
1. Forget to attach LOLOL .
Resend.

Now we wait for line edits.

So what is this book about?

Fall of the Rebel Angels is the longest and strangest(?) book I’ve ever written. It’s also a tale as old as time. Emo plant witch meets sexy brooding angel. They have 7 days of celestial chaos.

Here’s the book in some emoji:

❤️‍🔥💔🦠🧿🏺⚔️🧨🍄🍄‍🟫🍄💸🌃🌃🗽🥃🍒🍆🍆💦☔️🌪️💥☄️🌈💫🪐💦🌙🌟🌞🌺🌸🌼🪻💐🌾🌹🍄🍄‍🟫🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🕊️🪶🪶🪶🕸️🕷️🪳🦋🐛🦇🦇🦇🐦‍⬛🐭🫀💋😈👿😈👿😈🍆🍆🍆🍆💦💦💦💦❤️‍🔥💔🗝️⏳⌛️🕰️⏰⏲️🍄🍄‍🟫🍄⏱️🏝️⚡️🥀🌺

Goodreads link. Story Graph link. I’ve seen cover concepts, and should have an official launch date for 2026 soon!

Now for some updates:

REBEL ANGELS EDIT: 100% done

MONSTER HOUSE: On the deck this week for the next chapter.

YA ROMANTASY SHORT: I love how 0% is the same color block as DONE. Alas, not done yet.

????: I’ll know after my call tomorrow.

Reading: Mia Sosa’s latest is flirty, sexy, fun, and the perfect summer romance.

Watching: Karate Kid Legends was really fun. I love Jackie Chan. I binged ALL seasons of Cobra Kai with my brother. Also? JOSHUA JACKSON renaissance? Maybe one two many plots but I was delighted and was so impressed by watching Ben Wang's choreography and how he captured Jackie Chan’s comedic timing within the.

Listening: I went to the Murder by Death farewell tour. One of my besties and I have seen them 3 times together. She introduced me to them in 2015, maybe earlier. So it was lovely that my first and last time seeing them in NYC was with her. Their music is heavily featured in my writing playlists but especially Fall of the Rebel Angels.