Developmental Editing
You've written the draft. Now comes the harder part: figuring out what it actually is, and what it needs to become.
A developmental edit is structural work. I look at how your book is built: the sequence of events, the order of the chapters, the cause-and-effect logic that holds a narrative together. Some material may need to move. A scene may need to come out, a missing scene may need to be written, a through-line may be clear in your mind but not yet visible on the page where a reader can follow it. I read the whole manuscript with that architecture in view and come back to you with a clear account of what I found and a concrete plan for revision.
I do not rewrite your pages. You wrote the book, and you are the one who will revise it. My job is to be a rigorous first reader who can see the shape of the whole from the outside, the vantage you lose once you are working inside your own draft. This edit comes before line and copy editing. We work on the structure first, and the commas and the sentences come later.
What you'll receive
The developmental edit
- Your manuscript returned with my comments throughout. I mark questions of sequence and causality, note where the structure strains, and flag the places where material should move, come out, or be added. Comments on the writing itself go here too, set beside the passages that prompt them, whatever those passages happen to raise.
- A revision roadmap: where to start, what can wait, and what may have to go.
If you need more
- A scene triage list that weighs what each scene is doing for the book.
- A chapter map for seeing the structure at a glance.
- A sample line-edit, so we can calibrate on sentence-level style before you revise.
What I look at
Structure and organization are the primary concern — sequence, causality, architecture. Everything else is read in service of that question. These are the elements I work through:
Structure & Organization
Whether the material is in the right order — chapter sequence, scene placement, cause before effect. What needs to move, what needs to be cut, where the gaps are.
Initial Impressions
How the story lands on first read, what stays with me, and what I'm still thinking about afterward.
Premise
The promise you're making to the reader, and whether the book delivers on it.
Characters
What they want, what they do about it, and whether I believe them.
Dialogue
Whether people sound like themselves, and what's being communicated in what they don't say.
Prose Style
The rhythm of your sentences, and whether the voice holds steady throughout.
Pacing
Where things drag, where they rush, and how time moves on the page.
Setting & World
Whether I can see it, and whether it matters to the story being told.
Emotional Resonance
The moments that land, the ones that should but don't, and why.
Themes
What the book is really about, and whether it knows.
Marketability
Where this fits, who it's for, and what shelf it belongs on.
Revision Roadmap
The path forward, with first things first.
How it works
1) We talk
Your goals, your concerns, what you're hoping this book becomes. I need to know what you're aiming at.
2) I read
The whole thing, start to finish, taking notes, tracking patterns, and living in your story for a while.
3) I respond
Comments in the margins, questions where I'm curious, flags where something isn't landing.
4) The letter
Everything I've been thinking, organized and written out, plus your roadmap for what comes next.
5) Q&A
You read it all, then we talk again or you write back, and I answer what needs answering.
What I need from you
- Your manuscript (DOCX is easiest, but PDF works too).
- A note about what you're hoping for. What do you want this edit to help you see? What are you worried isn't working? I read differently when I know what you're wrestling with.
- Any constraints I should know about: things you won't change, promises you've made to the material, or lines you won't cross.
- If you have comp titles in mind, or authors whose work feels adjacent to yours, tell me. It helps me understand what you're reaching toward.
Questions
What's the difference between developmental editing and copyediting?
Developmental editing is about the big picture: structure, character, pacing, whether the story works. Copyediting is about the sentences: grammar, consistency, clarity at the line level. You do developmental work first, because there's no point polishing pages you might cut.
How long does it take?
Most manuscripts come back in two to three weeks. If you're in a hurry, let me know and I can sometimes move faster.
Is this one round or multiple?
One comprehensive pass, plus Q&A afterward. If you revise and want another look, we can arrange that as a follow-on engagement, but many writers find one round gives them what they need to finish on their own.
What will the feedback actually sound like?
Direct and specific. Honest about problems, but not brutal. I'm not here to make you feel bad about your draft; I'm here to help you make it better. I'll point to exact scenes and exact moments so you can see what I'm seeing.
What if my book needs more than editing?
Sometimes a manuscript needs restructuring that goes beyond feedback: actual rewriting, or ghostwriting from notes. I do that work too, but it's a different engagement. If that's what your project needs, I'll tell you.
Ready to work on the structure of your book?