What is developmental editing?

Developmental editing is different from line editing or copy editing. It’s about your book’s whole world – the concept, ideas, genre, story, and structure. Often, a writer has been working on a book for a couple of years and is wondering if the things they set out to write have fully arrived on the page. Developmental editing is about holding up a mirror to what you’ve done and helping to draw out the things that are still surfacing in the manuscript.

Because a writer’s imaginative world is unique to them, developmental editors must enter that world and respect its bounds and its aesthetic – it’s an act of trust to share your work at this stage. At the same time, as early readers we can give insights into what it’s like to read the book – what we loved and what didn’t seem to reach us or draw us in. The reader’s act of sustaining attention is the true nature of structure.

As early readers, developmental editors can help with worldbuilding through thoughtful and enthusiastic connection with the world of your book. We can smooth the path of the story or suggest where a disruption or an antagonist is needed. We can also get technical – editing is a craft, we’re nerds and often we can spot ways to move material around to help with the flow of the story, or big cuts that will give it more impact.

Developmental editing involves thinking about the whole journey of the book and can save a lot of work by identifying things that may need to change. It can also mean thinking about the journey of the writer: suggesting development opportunities, being a sounding board for ethical issues, and being the ally who can make sure your pitch or book proposal reflects the promise of your writing. More and more, I’m working with people from the early stages of a project as needed.

My passion is in helping make sure that the shape of a writer’s mind, their language, thinking, intuition, cultural riches and view of the world, can emerge without the fear of fitting into a narrow and restrictive idea of good style, while also helping steer a course towards a book that has a clear pitch and that readers will love.