I get asked about his a lot. The short answer is that I don’t do developmental edits for the same reason I don’t do (or request) beta reads.
Developmental editing (and beta reading, frankly) is a job for a professional editor with a background in commercial publishing. That’s not me.
My approach to writing novels is chapter-based. I see novels as a collection of chapters. Like Howard Hawks said of movies1, I believe that great novels consist of three great chapters and no bad chapters.
Yes, there are beats that have to be hit for the story structure to feel familiar to readers, but each of these beats occurs within chapters. So my approach still stands.
To the extent that I work with other authors as a critique partner, my goal is to help them ensure that their novel features no bad chapters. On occasion, I might also help them raise the bar and turn a good chapter into a great chapter.
- In a Tribune interview in 1970, Howard Hawks was asked to explain what he thought made a good movie. “That’s easy,” he said in his gruff voice, “a good movie has three good scenes and no bad scenes.”