Developmental editing works with a manuscript as a whole to ensure the book idea is cohesive and executed well. It’s typically the first step in the editing process when an author hires a professional editor to help them revise their work. This order works well because changes after a developmental edit can often be substantial changes that directly affect future rounds of editing.
Fiction developmental editing is not done in the some way as nonfiction. During a developmental edit for fiction, I work with the following things:
Story Development
One of the primary roles of a fiction developmental editor is to make sure the author developed the story well. Since I work primarily with short-form content—such as chapters of novels—I use the information the author gives me about the story to balance how that chapter fits in with the bigger picture. Here are a few great questions I ask as I’m reading that would be helpful for you to implement in your revision process:
How does the chapter beginning make me feel?
The job of the first chapter is to hook your reader into what’s happening in the chapter. In the beginning, you have limited time to grab your reader’s attention—especially in the first chapter—so you want to make sure that hook is interesting, moves the story forward, and inspires your reader to feel some sort of strong emotion. Make them laugh. Make them cry. Make them angry. Make them think. It doesn’t have to be jaw-dropping, but it should invest the in what’s about to happen in that scene.
What are the readers’ expectations?
Readers are experts in the genres they love to read, and so should you be. That doesn’t mean you should write a formulaic story that copies what other authors in your genre are doing, but you need to be aware of the genre’s foundations that readers keep coming back for. An example of one genre that has a lot of reader expectation is cozy mystery. Readers have certain ideas of cozy mystery characters, the tone of the story, the language, and the setting. If you ignore those rules in a major way, you’ll have a hard time building a fanbase. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t break the rules. You just need to find a way to honor those conventions while putting your own creative spin on it.
How does the chapter ending make me feel?
If you want your reader to stay interesting in your story, all your chapter endings should be interesting enough to motivate them to keep reading. Make it memorable in some way by adding a micro-twist that will leave them desperate find out what happens in the next chapter. This is one of the keys to making an addictive story.
Character Development
Readers don’t get invested in characters who have no growth. So, long before you write the first chapter, you likely made a plan for how your character changes from the beginning to end. As they battle with all the conflict on the page, what they go through is forcing them to evolve as people, much like you do whenever you go through something challenging.
Another important aspect of character development is how you express them on the page. When I do developmental edits, I look at the following things for each character:
- Dialogue — it needs to reflect who they are as a person, and it should be unique to them so readers can easily tell your characters apart
- Action — the choices they make and the things they do in your story should be true to who they are
- Goals — all your characters need to have goals that drive their behavior
- Motivation — they also need a pretty damned good reason to work toward their goals
Showing vs. Telling
This writing technique gets a lot of bad press because it’s yet another rule authors hate having to follow. That doesn’t mean it isn’t important in storytelling, though. There are tons of ways you can show without having to paint a tedious picture:
- Show conflict in your dialogue, body language, and action
- Reveal motivation through events that give us a peek at their vulnerabilities
- Show your characters actively working to achieve their goals
- Reveal character development and growth progressively through your plot and story arc
Though this isn’t an exhaustive list of what I look for when I do a fiction developmental edit, it gives a good picture of what kind of things I consider as I’m reading your story.
Pricing for a Fiction Developmental Edit
Unfortunately, developmental editing is one of the largest editing expenses you’ll invest in throughout your author career. But as you write more and more stories, your need for deep developmental edits will lesson over time.
BASIC DEVELOPMENTAL EDIT
This basic service includes three reads of your chapter. As I read, I’ll make notes about what’s happening in the scenes I’m reading so I can put together detailed feedback for you later. If you invest in this service, you’ll receive the following:
- Editorial comments on your story, plot, characters, setting, and pacing
- A page of feedback that highlights strengths and areas for improvement with examples and ideas for revision
| word count | pricing |
| 1,000 | $30 |
| 2,000 | $60 |
| 3,000 | $90 |
| 4,000 | $120 |
| 5,000 | $150 |
DEVELOPMENTAL EDIT PLUS
In addition to what you receive in the basic developmental edit, you’ll also receive the following:
- Extended character and setting feedback
- A fourth read after you revise with additional feedback
| word count | pricing |
| 1,000 | $50 |
| 2,000 | $100 |
| 3,000 | $150 |
| 4,000 | $200 |
| 5,000 | $250 |
ADVANCED DEVELOPMENTAL EDIT
In addition to what you receive in the basic and plus developmental edit, you’ll also receive the following:
- Story blueprint that goes into more details on strengths and areas for improvement
- Line edits on your chapter after you implement developmental changes
| word count | pricing |
| 1,000 | $70 |
| 2,000 | $140 |
| 3,000 | $210 |
| 4,000 | $280 |
| 5,000 | $350 |
Want to get started today? Email me at tina@chapteredits.com.