DEVELOPMENTAL EDIT

Embark on a developmental edit to ensure your story is in the best possible shape to submit to agents or to self-publish. The line-by-line comments attached to the text in your manuscript will culminate in a detailed, comprehensive 3,500 word report that focuses on elements such as:

Plot: Are the demands of readers of your genre met? Whilst conforming to expectations, does it have enough originality and innovation to stand out from the crowd?

Structure: Does your story take the reader on a fulfilling journey, which begins with an enticing incident and builds to a climax and resolution? For non-fiction, this concentrates on organisation of ideas and there being a logical flow throughout.

Characters: Will the people populating your story come alive in your readers' minds, providing the driving force for moving the plot forward? Do you have too many or two few, with each having their own distinct personality and motivation? Have you been too prescriptive in how one is to view your characters or do you provide the kind of indirect characterisation that promotes reader engagement?

Theme: What is the central message of your story and how can it be made more powerful and impactful throughout? What will readers take away having finished and how does that match your own expections?

Marketability: Is it pitched successfully for the most appropriate age category or demographic for your novel, ensuring maximum take up? Does it need adjustment in the tone or language used? Advice will be offered on an effective title and how to emphasise the story's key strengths to agents, or potential readers if self-publishing.

Our channels of communication will remain open once your report has been returned, and I shall be available to explore its contents further and discuss subsequent changes you wish to make to your manuscript.

Please note: developmental editing does not include any proofreading, copy editing or line editing, and will not make changes to your manuscript text.