Developmental edits

A Developmental Edit is a detailed, scene to scene analysis of your novel, focused on the structure and characters of your story.

I analyze how your book fulfills genre conventions so it will satisfy its readers, character arcs, story structure, scene strength and narrative drive and voice.

You will receive detailed comments throughout your manuscript, a personalized Editorial Letter with clear Next Steps in completing your manuscript.

My aim is for you to not only get a professional assessment of your current work, but to gain skills to strengthen your next book.

WHAT YOU GET

  • I will make comments throughout your manuscript with suggestive edits, such as clarifying passages, scenes and sentences. I will comment on big picture themes and structure as well as smaller details of voice, tense, and sentence structure. An overall analysis that is based on these comments will be found within a personalized and detailed Editorial Letter.

  • Personalized Editorial Letter discussing in detail with examples from your work on strengths and weaknesses, including, but not limiting to, my 5 Roadways:

    • Genre Conventions

    • Protagonist Arc of Change

    • Antagonists POV

    • Story Structure

    • Scene Strength

  • You will receive an Excel document cataloging your scenes or chapters of your book. This is a fantastic tool for you to see the big picture strengths and weaknesses of your manuscript and is crucial in structural edits.

  • I will include at least 5 Next Steps that are actionable and will get you closer to finalizing your draft.

  • I will make line edits to the first 2000 words concentrating on tactics that will strengthen your voice throughout your manuscript.

  • Once you receive your manuscript back with your Editorial Letter, you can set up an hour long meeting with me to ask any questions you might have and to discuss next steps.

Start Here! Let's Meet!

HOW IT WORKS

  • Hi! In this call we will discuss your project, what your goals are and what type of feedback to expect from the edit.

    You can decide after this meeting to continue with a Developmental Edit, move to the Draft RX package, or to not work with me at all!

    I do like to think of this as a working relationship and so I want to work with you only if we are a good fit for each other.

    There is no commitment needed for an initial meet up, just click the button below, fill out a form with some basic information about you and your story, and I’ll get back to you with options for a 30 minute block of time to meet me via a video link.

  • Once you’ve decided to go forward with a Developmental Edit, I will send you an invoice and a contract. Once these are fulfilled, you send me your manuscript.

    Within six weeks, I will return your manuscript with inline comments throughout the manuscript, the first 2000 words line edited, a personalized Editorial Letter that includes detailed feedback and next steps.

  • You will receive:

    • Manuscript as a Word document with comments throughout your draft.

    • Personalized Revision Roadmap to guide your next steps to finishing your draft.

    • First 2000 words Line Edited.

    • The Line Edit Guidebook.

  • Once you have gone over all of my notes, you can schedule a one hour follow up call where we can discuss any questions you might have and go over your next steps towards finishing your draft.

Work With Me!

How much does this cost?

The initial meeting is free, and if you decide on a Developmental Edit, it is $0.04 per word.

1:1 Coaching

Need more structure?

More Feedback?

Get the Navigation Package! You get 12 one-on-one coaching sessions to focus on how to tighten your story.

Learn more

Where are you in your JOURNEY?

Step one

Discovery Draft

This is the round where Pantsers write through their draft and Plotters outline or create story summaries. I love this round when the creativity is flowing, but it is also the hardest to accomplish and where most people get stuck.

Navigate with Me

Step two

Draft Revisions 

These rounds of edits shore up your draft into a manuscript that is coherent and complete.

My 5 pathways to a finished draft: Genre Conventions, Protagonist’s Arc, Antagonist POV, Story Structure and Scene Strength.

Navigate with Me

Step three

DEVELOPMENTAL EDIT

For drafts you believe to be done, but you want professional eyes to check for plot holes or ways to make it stronger.

The Developmental Edit includes inline comments, scene by scene review of your manuscript, looking at big picture edits.

Learn More Develop Edit

STEP FOUR

LINE EDIT & COPYEDIT

Once your story is solid and you’re preparing to publish, allow an editor to go over your document word by word.

A Line Edit will help strengthen your voice and paragraph structure, followed by a copyedit which perfects the grammar.

COMING SOON

STEP FIVE

PUBLISHING PATH

Familiarize yourself with the pros and cons of Self Publishing versus Traditional Publishing.

Find yourself a mentor to help with this search and prepare your manuscript to the industry’s standard for your chosen publishing path.

COMING SOON

“She was able to put words to what I had been feeling was off about the book, including a lack of stakes and oppositional force in the story. Her encouragement really got me excited and looking forward to diving into my book revisions, and the book has improved drastically thanks to her attention to detail and strong knowledge of great storytelling.”

Robin Nemesszeghy, Author of Convergence Point

FAQs

i have a finished draft but I’m not sure if its good enough for a developmental edit.

No worries! Doubt is a common feeling with writing. I’m happy to discuss with you the pros and cons of getting a Developmental Edit at your stage. In general, I recommend you get your draft as clean as you can before hiring a Developmental Editor so they can really concentrate on the nitty-gritty. If there are huge gaps in your story, for example, that is what they will be concentrating on instead of the details within each chapter.

I have received feedback from beta readers but I’m overwhelmed with the amount of mixed feedback I received.

Beta Readers are fantastic tools in the writing journey. And sharing your work can be extremely scary, especially when you are asking for feedback. The difference between a Beta Reader and a trained Developmental Editor or Book Coach is we can explain why there are stuck points, how to overcome them and you will gain specific next steps to focus on.

What if I have additional questions?

I’m always here to answer your questions! Feel free to email me at vdavis@revisionroadmap.com 

What exactly does one do on a coaching call?

After we have decided on your top road blocks to finishing your draft, we will tackle each of these together until you are clear on what your next steps are. If it is a big overarching goal, such as, I can’t find the structure of my book, it might take all twelve sessions to hash this out. My goal is to have you feel good about your story and know the direction you are taking so you are always moving forward. In a world of easy access information, distractions and opinions, I’m here to declutter your writing world so you can see the ending.

What exactly is the difference between The Navigation Package and A Developmental Edit?

With a Developmental Edit, you will get inline comments throughout the entire document focusing on big picture issues. Each scene is analyzed to make sure that it’s doing its job for the novel as a whole. A Developmental Edit is for when you have a completed draft that you have edited to the point where you are ready to hand it over.

The Navigation Package focuses on you as a writer and how to move your draft forward no matter where you are in your writing journey. You might still be in the plotting stage or you can’t seem to finish your draft. It is for writers who would like to work with someone to help them create a clear path to a finished draft.