Developmental editing
Big-picture work on character, plot, structure, and pacing—a clear-eyed editorial report plus in-line notes that show you the book your draft is trying to become.
You’ve typed “the end” (hooray!), but you’re not sure your draft does what you meant it to. A developmental edit looks at the book as a book: Is the structure solid, or does the middle sag? Do the characters change the hard way, or did they wake up one day and start behaving differently? I’ll be direct about what isn’t working and specific about your options for fixing it. You make the choice among those options (or one you think of). It’s your book.
What do you get?
Three things: comments in the manuscript, a detailed editorial letter, and a follow-up call. The comments pinpoint where things go wrong—the scene that starts too early, the reveal that hasn’t been prepared, the moment we stop believing a character would do that. The letter pulls back and takes the book as a whole: plot, character, structure, pacing—what’s working, what isn’t, and your options for revision, in order of how much they matter. The call comes after you’ve had time to absorb the letter and consider what changes make sense to you. We can discuss, debate, and brainstorm.
Not every draft needs the full edit. A manuscript assessment is the same editorial letter without the in-manuscript comments. It’s a lower-cost way to get the broad strokes on where to start a rewrite (and a taste of my style). Earlier still, I give feedback on an outline or synopsis, full or partial, so you can catch a structural problem before you’ve committed forty thousand words to a plot branch.
Is your draft ready for this?
Your draft is ready when it’s as good as you can get it without help. A developmental edit is most useful after a couple of alpha or beta readers have been through the manuscript and you’ve revised with their notes in front of you. Using betas first isn’t a requirement, though. It’s just a practical way of ensuring you’re only paying me for the insights you can’t get from the average reader.
How does a developmental edit work?
Usually, it starts with an email giving a brief description of the book, where you are in the process, and what areas you’d most like an editor to focus on. That’s often all we need. If you’d rather talk it through first, we can add a call. If you give me enough notice, I can put your edit on my calendar and turn it around in a couple of weeks. Otherwise, it may take me four to six weeks (or more, depending on my workload). So if you know when your revision will be done, please tell me early. Fees can be split into multiple payments.
From $0.03/word