So… you’re overwhelmed by developmental editing?

Whether you’re working on your own round of self-edits and overwhelmed by your massive list, or you just got a developmental letter back from your editor and you’re freaking out…

Breathe.

First: this is the most daunting, time-consuming, and stressful editing pass. Everything after this becomes much easier. We just have to get through this.

And here are some helpful tips for how you can organize the process a little and get to the end point.

Step one: Read over the notes.

Whether these are the notes you took during your read-through, or the notes from your editor. Read through them, and as you go…

Step two: Make a list of all the changes you want to make.

But categorize the list like so: big picture, small details.

Big picture changes are things like character arcs, pacing, and world-building.

Small picture changes are things like paragraphing more often, tweaking for character voice, etc.

You want to focus on the big picture first. Now that you have your list…

Step three: We’re still list-making, but now we’re making decisions.

You likely have a list of things you want to change: add more romance, take away some distracting beats, cut down on the backstory dump. But… how? This is where you start brainstorming. Write down exactly how you’re going to do these things, either using advice from your editor or coming up with something on your own.

What new beats do you want to add? What are you cutting out? Have it all written out, both on the big and small level. You can make it extra-organized by writing out which chapters/scenes you’re going to add/remove/tweak these things in.

Tip: You don’t need to take all of your editor’s advice, and certainly not all at once. Try to focus on a few, most important things. During this round of edits, I suggest not looking at the in-line comments from your editor. Focus on the developmental editing letter instead!

Step four: Big picture round of revisions.

Go through and read the book, adding the big picture things—the new scenes, character arcs, etc. Read the entire book and input these big changes wherever you see fit. Like I said, this round of edits takes time—don’t be afraid to go slow. My clients often take between 1–3 months on this round of edits.

Tip: Between these two rounds of revisions, feel free to take a break!

Step four: Small picture revisions.

This is the point when you can finally pull up the in-line comments from your editor. Maybe you’ve already read them at this point, but you haven’t started to think about them too much. When you go through your small picture revisions, chapter-by-chapter, see if your editor made any in-line notes that can help you smooth the story over.

But while doing this, you also want to focus on your list and get the small picture revisions into place. This can require some rewrites, tweaks for character voice, improving the flow of the story, etc.

Just like the last pass, you’ll want to go through and read the entire story as you do this small picture pass.

If you don’t have many edits to make, you can absolutely combine these passes!

However, many people can be overwhelmed, and this is my suggestion to lessen the overwhelm. Take it one step at a time.

Still overwhelmed?

Ask your editor if you can hop on a call with them to chat! Many editors, myself included, offer this as an add-on.

And then, you’re done! Most everything else can be figured out in the line edits. Give your brain a break, and be proud of how much you’ve already transformed your story.

If you need help with editing, check out my editing services over here! >>