“I have rewritten this draft ten times now and it still doesn’t feel right.”
“I don’t think my book is good enough”
“I can’t quite make my characters feel relatable and there are so many plot holes!”
“My book is so complex. I have multiple timelines and POV characters, and I’m worried it’s too much.”
“I self-published online but reviewers say that my story feels incomplete and has too many inconsistencies.”
“I self-published as an ebook and now want to go into print. I need to be sure that there are no big problems!”
“I want to submit my work to an agent, but I’ve never written a novel before this one and I want to make sure I’ve done everything I can before I let someone else see it”
“I love my fantasy world but I don’t know if it makes sense”
Does this sound familiar?
Developmental Editing
Developmental editing is about making sure that the fundamentals of your story are sitting on a solid foundation. Much like a house, we want to be sure that the walls stand up when you decorate them with words, and that the roof won’t collapse when your characters walk over it. It’s about capturing the bigger picture, understanding the broader elements, and strengthening the skeleton that your story will sit on.
Unique approach: we use our experience as both editor and change manager to ensure that:
any plot holes are resolved logically and with root cause analysis
characters act, think, decide and react realistically, based on human psychology
the message of your story - your vision - is told in the most engaging way, taking your target audience into account and your author voice at the heart.
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Do you feel like something is missing in your manuscript? Are your characters feeling flat with unrealistic reactions? Is your plot full of loose threads that you can’t tie together?
Have you completed a first draft?
If your answer is yes to any of these questions, then you need a developmental editor.
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Developmental editing is the natural stage after completing your first draft. However, if you’re six, seven or even twenty drafts in, you can always perform a developmental edit.
The main thing to remember is that it comes before line editing, copy-editing and proofreading. After all, there’s no point polishing those sentences if the story doesn’t make sense!
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There are several elements that I will feedback to you on, including:
the overall structure, coherence and content
character arcs and motivations
plots and subplots
core strengths and weaknesses
narrative flow.
(This is not an exhaustive list.)
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For an extra cost, I can help with the following:
Magic Systems Analysis
Editorial Impact Assessment
To learn more about what these services can for you, scroll further down this page. If you would like to include them as part of your developmental edit, you can choose one of my developmental editing packages.
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Please see the developmental editing packages listed below for pricing
We currently offer three packages for developmental editing to suit your needs: Bronze, Silver and Gold. We appreciate that editing is not exactly cheap and so payment packages are available upon request. For more information on what the packages provide, please see more details below:
Developmental Editing Packages
Bronze
The Bronze Package is your core developmental service, looking at the fundamentals of your manuscript.
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You will receive:
a comprehensive developmental editing report, covering all key elements and providing actionable steps for future revisions
a chapter-by-chapter breakdown on how to improve indiviual scenes and strengthen them so that they contribute to the overal story and main conflict
your manuscript annotated with comments to help guide you on improvements and highlight specific examples mentioned in the developmental editing report and the chapter-by-chapter breakdown.
All of the above will come with actionable steps, professional advice, and a focus on realistic characters and plots.
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As fantasy novels can span quite a wide range of word counts, the pricing is based on a tiered approach*:
Up to 50,000 words = £550
Up to 90,000 words = £950
More than 90,000 words = £950 base rate + £4 for every 1000 words thereafter.
*Payment plans are available upon request. Please contact us for more information.
Silver
The Silver Package is your core developmental service, with the added benefit of our unique editorial approach, as mentioned above. You also choose one of the following bespoke services:
an in-depth magic systems analysis
an editorial impact assessment report.
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You will receive:
a comprehensive developmental editing report, covering all key elements and providing actionable steps for future revisions
a chapter-by-chapter breakdown on how to improve indiviual scenes and strengthen them so that they contribute to the overal story and main conflict
your manuscript annotated with comments to help guide you on improvements and highlight specific examples mentioned in the developmental editing report and the chapter-by-chapter breakdown.
Depending on the option you choose as part of your Silver package, you will also receive either:
a magic systems analysis report that outlines all the key foundational elements of your magic system and provides a detailed assessment of what its strengths are and areas of improvement
Or:
an editorial impact assessment report that outlines the key information of editorial changes and maps out the high, medium and low impacts of each one. You will know which chapters are affected and other useful elements that are crucial to reducing the editorial process.
All of the above will come with actionable steps, professional advice, and a focus on realistic characters and plots.
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This package has two elements for pricing. First, you take the cost of core developmental editing for your manuscript (as detailed in the Bronze package but are replicated here)*:
Up to 50,000 words = £550
Up to 90,000 words = £950
More than 90,000 words = £950 base rate + £4 for every 1000 words thereafter.
Then you add the price for the service you wish to add as part of your Silver package:
Magic systems analysis = £200
Editorial impact assessment = £340
*Payment plans are availabile upon request. Please contact us for more information.
Gold
The Gold Package is your core developmental service, with the added benefit of my unique editorial approach, as mentioned above. It also includes both of the following:
an in-depth magic systems analysis
an editorial impact assessment report, as well as a roadmap of prioritised actions.
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You will receive:
a comprehensive developmental editing report, covering all key elements and providing actionable steps for future revisions
a chapter-by-chapter breakdown on how to improve indiviual scenes and strengthen them so that they contribute to the overal story and main conflict
your manuscript annotated with comments to help guide you on improvements and highlight specific examples mentioned in the developmental editing report and the chapter-by-chapter breakdown.
In addition, as part of your Gold package, you will also receive:
a magic systems analysis report that outlines all the key foundational elements of your magic system and provides a detailed assessment of what its strengths are and areas of improvement
an editorial impact assessment report that outlines the key information of editorial changes and maps out the high, medium and low impacts of each one. You will know which chapters are affected and other useful elements that are crucial to reducing the editorial process
a revisions roadmap to outline the order of actionable steps to take to improve your novel, with the aim of minimising complexity and saving you time.
All of the above will come with actionable steps, professional advice, and a focus on realistic characters and plots.
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This package has two elements for pricing. First, you take the cost of core developmental editing for your manuscript (as detailed in the Bronze package but are replicated here)*:
Up to 50,000 words = £550
Up to 90,000 words = £950
More than 90,000 words = £950 base rate + £4 for every 1000 words thereafter.
You will then add both of the following:
Magic systems analysis = £200
Editorial impact assessment and revisions roadmap = £400.
*Payment plans are available upon request. Please contact us for more information.