Developmental Editing
You’ve done it! Your draft is ready for the next step. During the Developmental Editing stage, we’ll work on some necessary structure and content issues.
After the analysis and commentary, you’ll have some revisions to make and sections to tighten and clarify.
We’ll work together, so expect e-mails back and forth as we cover:
Strengths and weaknesses
Plot, Character, Dialogue
Reader’s experience
Goals and obstacles
Setting
Pacing
This is the heavy stage where we really dig into the story on various levels. There will be comments and marks all over the pages in lots of great colors.
Includes helpful links and resources to assist with revisions.
As there will be rewrites after this stage, I will not focus on grammar, punctuation, or sentence structure items that normally fall under line edits.
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This is where we finally get to PASTO! During this stage, I will examine the content of your story to make sure it is cohesive, smooth, and follows a basic narrative arc.
Preparation establishes setting. This is where we meet the protagonist and learn the time period, location, and genre.
Attack This is where we meet the antagonist. What’s the problem in the story? This is often called the MDQ (major dramatic question.)
Struggle This is the point where the protagonist and antagonist have some sort of battle, whether literal or not.
Turn This section usually answers the MDQ
Outcome this section is when the battle is resolved and the status quo changes. Hopefully, this will also include a hook for your next story! (This section can also be called the denouement, epilogue, conclusion, etc.)
Examples of dialogue variety:
- “I presume her dissatisfaction was directly related to my lack of transparency.”
- “I assumed she was mad because I hadn’t been honest.”
- “She was probably just pissed off at me for lying.”