Flaws are the secret to making your fantasy characters relatable and interesting.

Yet most new fantasy writers approach flaws the wrong way.

I certainly made this mistake when I started out! However, after publishing four books and teaching over 200 writers in my programs, I’ve realised there’s a much better way to build meaningful flaws for your characters.

Once you see this, you won’t be able to ever unsee it — and you’ll realise that this approach has created some of the absolute best characters you’ve ever read.

Want to learn more about writing great fantasy characters?

Click here to join my free 5-day character development course.

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After publishing four fantasy novels (along with an interactive fiction novel), and coaching hundreds of writers, I've learned a lot about the craft in the past thirteen years. In today's episode, I'll share the ten biggest lessons I wish I knew before writing my first book. If I knew these lessons sooner, I would have saved myself years of struggle. So if you're looking to write a fantasy book of your own, you'll find this episode very useful.

Click here to join the waitlist for my upcoming book, Plotting Your Fantasy Novel.

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So, you’ve finished the first draft of your fantasy novel, and now you’re thinking, “how do I turn this messy pile of words into a story someone actually wants to read?”

When I finished my first fantasy novel 12 years ago, I had no idea what to do next. I spent four years trying to fix that book, and a lot of the time, it felt like I was making zero progress.

But since then, I’ve developed an editing system that has helped me publish four fantasy novels and get some lovely reviews.

I’ve taught this process to many of the 200+ writers I’ve worked with, and today I’m going to walk you through my entire editing system to help you craft excellent stories.

Get ProWritingAid (my favourite editing software) with a 20% discount on Yearly Premium and Premium Pro licenses: https://prowritingaid.com/pp/jed-herne?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=partner-influencer&utm_campaign=Jed-Herne-2025&utm_content=guide-to-editing-your-fantasy-novel-video&utm_term=

⏲️ TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 - Introduction

00:35 - The 2 golden rules of editing

03:20 - What to do when you finish your 1st draft

08:59 - 2nd draft: big structural changes

14:54 - 3rd draft: improve characters

20:34 - Find early readers

27:22 - 4th draft: process reader feedback

29:16 - 5th draft: prose polishing

35:48 - 6th draft: proofreading and grammar

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