Refine Your Narrative with Developmental Editing
Unlock the full potential of your story with tailored editorial services that bring your vision to life.
Developmental Editing Services
Comprehensive Manuscript Assessment
Comprehensive feedback on the structure, theme, and character development of your manuscript, ensuring every element is harmoniously aligned.
Clear and Constructive Feedback
My clients can expect to receive detailed feedback that is both honest and constructive. I will pinpoint specific areas where your manuscript excels and where it may need refinement, offering both practical suggestions and actionable insights.
Guidance on Storytelling Elements
Whether you’re struggling with plot holes, inconsistent character motivations, or lackluster dialogue, I will provide guidance on how to strengthen these storytelling elements to create a more engaging and cohesive narrative.
Character Development Feedback
Characters are the heart and soul of any story, and I will help you breathe life into them, ensuring they are fully fleshed out, multidimensional, and relatable. This may involve refining character arcs, deepening relationships, or exploring backstory to add depth and complexity.
Structural Improvements
I will help you shape the overarching structure of your manuscript, ensuring that the plot unfolds logically, the pacing is compelling, and the narrative arc is satisfying. This may involve restructuring scenes, reordering chapters, or even reimagining the entire plot.
Theme and Tone Consistency
I will help you maintain consistency in the themes and tone of your manuscript, ensuring that your story resonates with readers on an emotional level and delivers a cohesive message or narrative experience.
Ready to Elevate Your Manuscript?
Discover how our developmental editing services can transform your writing. Get in touch today for a personalised quote!
Sean Sable
Based in the historic city of York, Sean Sable is an author and editor, specialising in YA, mystery, romance and horror. With a passion for the darkly unique and enigmatic, Sean provides a range of exceptional freelance writing and editing services, meticulously tailored to infuse vitality into every manuscript.
"This is how you do it: sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until it's done. It's that easy, and that hard." – Neil Gaiman
FAQs on Developmental Editing Services
Answers to your most pressing questions.
What genres do you specialise in as an author and editor?
Whilst I work with most genres, my primary focus on Young Adult, Mystery, Romance and Horror genres, bringing each story to its full potential.
At this time, I am not accepting developmental editing work in the following genres: Spy/Espionage, Mafia Thrillers or Religious Fiction.
Addionally, please chat with me in advance if your work contains depictions of graphic sexual assault, non-con or dub-con elements.
What editing services do you offer?
I provide developmental and copy/line editing, manuscript assessments, beta+ reading, and sensitivity reading focusing on ADHD and/or British culture.
Do you handle all types of writing and editing?
While I am versatile, I do not accept projects in religious texts, very dark romance, or military/espionage genres.
Regarding very dark romances:
I am happy to accept dark romances where the themes are on the “grey” end of the spectrum. However, I am not able to accept the following themes:
– Non-consent (Including CNC). Ambigious or unspecified consent is okay.
– Taboo (Inscest, etc.)
– Full BDSM lifestyle (This is best left to a person who can co-sensitivity read)
How does your background influence your editing style?
As a writer myself, I appreciate the importance of open and honest feedback. I work to get to the heart of the challenges your manuscript faces so you can walk away with an actionable list of improvements you can begin working on straight away.
What can clients expect when working with you?
Clients can expect a collaborative approach, detailed feedback, and a commitment to maintaining the voice and vision of their work.
For developmental editing you will receive:
– A detailed breakdown of each chapter with an analysis.
– Layout and analysis of your plot beats including suggestions of where you can improve storytelling and/or pace.
– Character analysis of your primary cast as well as a discussion of how they fit into the wider cast. Suggestions on how you may improve or maximise your characters to better tell their story(ies).
– Genre & theme analysis which explores how your book fits into the wider publishing landscape
How long does developmental editing take?
Turnaround times will vary depending on my overall workload, the length of your work and the level of editing required.
Manuscripts with a well honed writing style (including grammar & spelling) at the sentece level are easier to read. This speeds up the editing process. On the other hand, those books which are poorly constructed on a sentence level may take longer.
In general, most books with word counts below 100K will have their developmental edit complete within 30 days of beginning the edit.
How do I start working with you?
Contact me to discuss your project, and we’ll outline the steps to begin transforming your manuscript.
Ideally, you will want to get onto my books whilst still in the drafting stage as there may be a delay of up to 12 weeks before I can begin your edit. Deposits schemes are available to hold a space on my editing schedule.
Do you use Ai in your edits?
No.
With a CIEP qualification in Fiction Eding, a CELTA qualification in English Language Education and a Masters in Literature, my expertise extends to grammar, language usage, character analysis, plot development, and scene structure.
In my experience, editing software can be blunt instruments that, when used without thorough analysis and comprehension, may lead to a final draft that is inferior to the original.
At this time, I do not endorse the use of generative AI for drafting or editing works of fiction, as it has great potential to harm writing, society, and culture at large in its current format. Additionally, it has significant environmental impacts that cannot be underestimated.
On a personal note, fiction drafts with significant AI contributions often stick out like a sore thumb. Whilst no one can guarantee accuracy in Ai detection (don’t believe the software hype), those of us who regularly edit fiction can see many of the “tells” when they add up*. I reserve the right to kick back manuscripts with too many of these tells and I will ask you to provide evidence of your wiritng process (notes, early drafts, outlines, writing samples, etc) before I will continue. If you cannot provide this kind of evidence to a reasonable capacity, I will consider this a violation of our contract. Any deposit you have paid to be placed on my editing schedule will not be refunded.
If you did not write your work, I will not be interested in editing it and readers will not likely be interested in reading it.
*Don’t believe the hype. Em dashes are fine. Circling prose, etc. is not.