The 3-Step Process for Developmental Edits The process for developmental edits is very straightforward and easy to follow. It includes these three basic steps: Step 1: First Read-Through The first step in the process for developmental edits is doing a first read-through. During the first read-through, I recommend just reading the ms for content. You…
Recently a writer wrote asking for help. He’d sold several novels to a small press, and despite winning a number of awards, the books did not sell well. He wanted to know what that meant for his career. Would he be able to get an agent and sell to bigger publishers? Should he hang up…
Recognizing Story Pattern and Story Structure Let’s dive in to a discussion showcasing story pattern and story structure. One common story pattern in fiction is the quest, such as this example: Huckleberry Finn is a quester; Dante (The Divine Comedy) is a quester; Charles Marlow (Conrad’s Heart of Darkness) is a quester. A reader seeing…
“Tell me about this story idea,” the woman at the next table says. She’s talking to a young man, mid- to late twenties, and he responds with a description of some things that interest young men, hot women and sexy cars or vice versa, and the woman says, “But what’s the story?” and he pushes…
People like to pretend that you can write a book and make passive income from it. You can’t. If you write a book and stick it up on Amazon and never do anything to promote or market it, you’re not going to sell any copies. Okay, you might sell three or four from people who…
The querying process can be very hard mentally and emotionally. If you want to be traditionally published, though, it is one of the ways you’re most likely to land an agent. You can participate in Twitter pitch wars, attend a conference with pitch sessions, and so on but you don’t need to wait for a…
Plot, character, and setting are the trifecta of novel writing. They all have to work together or the story doesn’t work at all. You know the old freelancer saying, “You can have it fast, cheap, or good, pick two?” Same with plot, characterization, and setting. Authors who are terrific with plot and setting usually suck…
As developmental editors, our goal is to help authors figure out how to revise their stories to make them better. To do this, we are essentially comparing the work in front of us to some ideal in our heads. That ideal should not be “how I would have written this” but should be instead an…
Often people who want to write a story start with a character or a general situation in mind: “A female superhero with a lasso of truth!” “Terrorists take the president hostage!” And these are certainly perfectly good places to start. But it’s hard to create much narrative drive from situations and characters. Look at those…