Developmental Editing

Terri Bischoff

 

Here at Midnight Ink we work a little differently than the big NY houses. One way is our editing process. I acquire all the books we will publish. I do a developmental edit, if needed, then I send the manuscirpt to a production editor for line edits. Because I don't do the line edits, I can acquire and publish 36-42 books a year. If I were doing line edits, that number would likely be more like 10-12.

So what exactly is a developmental edit? Basically it's me giving suggestions on how to make the manuscript better. I look for plot holes and continuity. I look at the motivations of each character, making sure their actions match up. I remind authors that all people have good and bad in them. No good guy is 100% good and no bad buy is 100% bad. I want to pick out the main theme of the book - redemption, revenge, love/hate, personal growth, etc. What is the author trying to say about humanity? This is the big picture. When I know these things, then I look to see if the story actually accomplishes that.

Sometimes I have to tell an author that their book doesn't really start until page 103. If that is the case, I give them suggestions on how to shape the story so that the first 102 pages aren't necessarily wasted, but how to condense or cut and reintroduce into the story. Sometimes I have to have the author flesh out a character's motivation (and all to often it's the bad guy who needs more work.) Just saying the antagonist is a psychopath isn't enough - we need to see the how and the why.

Unfortunately, by acquiting 36-42 books a year, I don't have a lot of time for developmental edits. I acquire books that need very little editing on my part because I simply don't have the time. Last week I read two submissions that were very close to me acquiring, but both manuscripts needed some work. I took the time to write out notes to both authors on how to best fix their manuscript in my opinion. Now, I don't really have the time for that. I have 1000 other things that I need to be doing. But I took the time and I did it. And it reminded me that developmental editing is a fun part of my job. It makes me happy to help out writers in their publishing career, and it gives me a chance to work a different part of my brain. I want to increase the amount of developmental editing I do. Now if I can only find the time....