A developmental edit focuses on strengthening the big picture of your story. It does this through examining:

• plot,

• characterisation,

• structure,

• pacing,

• genre expectations,

• point of view/perspective,

• and so on.

It doesn’t just look at these areas in isolation though, it also considers how they interact.

For example, an implausible plot turn often relates to an issue with characterisation/character motivation. It’s usually a character’s goals that drive the plot forward, so if a character’s goals are unclear, the plot may not feel logical to readers.

Similarly, if a story is written in omniscient point of view (distant third person), readers are further from the characters and it’s harder to show those characters internal lives. If readers are meant to feel close to the characters, empathising with their circumstances, this point of view may not serve the story well.

Conversely, a novel written in first person point of view may struggle to show more of a story’s world and actions taken by other characters outside of the main perspective character’s experiences.

After the big picture elements of the story are considered, comprehensive feedback is then provided on how you might address these issues and strengthen any weaker areas.

For example, a solution to the implausible plot turn mentioned above might be to strengthen the character and provide them with a realistic goal that then informs the plot.

A solution to readers feeling distant from the characters in a novel written from omniscient point of view might be to try rewriting the novel in another point of view, such as close third or first person. Or the solution might be to only rewrite certain parts of that novel in another point of view, or perhaps there would be another solution such as including a few more scenes that reveal who the characters are.

You get the idea.

This feedback considers:

• your intentions for the story (a self-publishing author has different needs to an author who’ll be approaching literary agents)

• your current level of skill (a newer writer has different needs to a more experienced writer)

Advice is then tailored to your novel, with examples provided wherever possible.

In the case of the story written in omniscient point of view, this might look like the developmental editor rewriting a few scenes from close third person or even first person point of view, to show the author how the point of view change might affect the story. This would also demonstrate how such a change might be made by the author.

In the case of the character with unclear goals, the editor might suggest some possible goals for this character, based on the information that’s provided in the manuscript itself.

Importantly, at no point would the editor rewrite the work as this is the author’s responsibility. It’s the author’s story, they know it best and it’s up to them to decide what changes to make based on the editor’s suggestions.

Hopefully it’s clear how developmental editing can strengthen your story!

As a developmental edit is a bit like an intensive lesson in writing craft geared towards the manuscript an author is working on, these “lessons” stay with an author, following them as they move onto new manuscripts. In this way, developmental editing really is an investment in writing craft.

Are you ready to invest in your writing? If so, I’d love to hear from you! You can get in touch with me by using the contact button below.. I look forward to hearing all about your writing project!