A podcast about writing

Second Draft

Because every great piece of writing starts with a terrible first draft. We talk to writers, editors, and storytellers about the craft of revision.

Latest Episode

Latest Episode
6
November 18, 202452 min

Your Editor Is Not Your Enemy

with Priya Menon, Senior Editor, Farrow & Laine Books

When a manuscript comes back covered in notes, the instinct is to defend every word. Literary editor Priya Menon explains how to read editorial feedback without ego, how to distinguish between notes that reveal a real problem and notes that reveal a preference, and why the best revision sessions feel less like surgery and more like a conversation you were waiting to have.

About the Show

Second Draft was born out of a simple belief: the first draft gets all the glory, but revision is where real writing happens. Hosts Margot Delaney and Theo Vasquez sit down with novelists, screenwriters, essayists, and editors to pull apart what it actually takes to make a piece work.

Each episode goes deep on one aspect of the rewriting process, from cutting scenes that you love to restructuring a story that has gone sideways. If you care about writing well, this is the show for you.

New episodes every other Tuesday.