Developmental editing (editing your novel’s “big picture”) is a crucial step in the editing process—and the most frustrating. The bigger your novel, the more complex the world, the characters, and the plot, the easier it is to get overwhelmed by all of the pieces you’ve created.
Yet while the developmental editing stage means measuring your novel’s parts and balancing the components with care—often cutting, adding, and rewriting—with the right organizational strategies, you can chart out your novel and see plot holes, character inconsistencies, pacing problems, and more.
The following are 5 tried-and-true methods of outlining your novel (after it’s been written) in a way that allows you to see the bigger picture and concentrate your focus effectively.
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We’ll cover—
- Critical reading for editing
- Making a reverse outline
- Creating a plot timeline
- Creating a motive timeline
- Giving yourself a break
Strategy 1: Reading your novel critically
Probably the most popular first step in developmental editing, you have to read your work in its entirety in order to understand how all of the current pieces, as they currently exist, work together. Rather than making notes as you go (which can distract you from flow), read the novel completely through once. At the end, make notes about your experience as a reader relating to pacing, plot, characters, worldbuilding, etc. Here, you’re simply reflecting on the experience.
Then, read it through again. This time, take notes either at the end of each chapter or by grouping your chapters into chunks (and making notes at the end of each chunk). Think about how the pacing, plot, characters, and worldbuiling are working together in these sections, and how their behavior relates to the experience you had the first time you read through, pinpointing any revisions you want to make or questions you have. You’re not reverse-outlining; rather, you’re pointing out the inconsistencies that stand out to you enough that you remember them when you get to the end of your grouped chapters.
At the end of the novel, you can then study those questions and notes you’ve taken to create an edit list that you can organize by character, plot, setting, etc.
As a note: Remember to also list out the things that are working! A “win list” is just as useful as an edit list when you’re mired in revisions.
Why It Helps: This stage is meant to help you understand your novel as a reader would, not a writer. By the time you’re finished, you’ve created a list of questions, plot holes, and character discrepancies to address that would throw a reader off.
Tools: The best part about this method is that it’s nothing fancy. Use a Word document, Google Docs, sticky notes, a journal and pen, etc.
Strategy 2: Making a reverse outline
This method of editing is essentially creating an organized map, or reverse outline, of your novel. Create as many categories as you need, and as you read through your novel, write notes inside the appropriate blocks in order to get a more detailed view of what’s happening.
Start with the basics: chapter number, point of view, characters, setting, plot. Depending on your novel (genre and the elements involved in your unique plot), you might have more or less categories to help you plot (for example, if I was creating a plot chart for Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, I’d probably add a category for which infinity stones are present in which scenes). Learn more about creating a reverse outline in this blog post.
Why It Helps: Different from the previous strategy, creating a reverse outline is additionally helpful for understanding every detail as it currently exists and tracking what important objects and characters are in what locations at what times, helping you achieve balance in your pacing, ensure each chapter advances the plot, and (my favorite) even track location switches and environmental changes in setting-heavy novels (such as fantasy).
Tools: You can do this by hand, but in case you need more space or less space to add/subtract categories, I recommend using a simple Excel document, also available on Google Spreadsheets.
Strategy 3: Creating a plot timeline
Creating one long timeline isn’t as bad, or as tedious, as you think, and it’s especially helpful for anyone utilizing multiple points-of-view, adding flashbacks, and/or writing a present plot that relies on a series of events that happened before your novel even begins. I enjoy using mapping software for this (Scapple‘s a personal favorite, but there are many free options on the interwebs, as well).
Start at the beginning of your novel, and as new scenes come up, place it somewhere in time, relative to the rest of your scenes. Create multiple strands, one for each character (even if you’re not switching POV, it’s useful to know where your characters are and what they’re doing), and try to place events that happen at similar points in time next to each other, so you can get a visual representation of where plot events intersect.
Why It Helps: Revising is re-visioning is re-seeing, as I like to say, and putting your novel in chronological order helps you see relationships between scenes you might have missed otherwise, catching which events are catalysts for others and giving yourself a way to keep track of what your characters might know/understand in any particular point in time. Plus, you might find new ways to organize your novel in order to play on these relationships.
Tools: As mentioned, I enjoy using Scapple; however, you can Google similar software, use sticky notes, a pen and paper, etc. in order to get the organization that feels right for you.
Strategy 4: Creating a motive timeline (for character arcs)
Very similar to the previous strategy (and, in fact, a way you can add to the complexity), this strategy focuses not on plot, but on how
Why It Helps: Some people say characters drive story, and others say plot drives story. I say these two have a symbiotic relationship, so in order to understand how your characters and plot events are woven together (and to resolve some of those character inconsistencies in the first strategy you might have caught), tracking the internal progress of a character is just as important as tracking their external movements.
Tools: Again, Scapple is a great choice, but other free methods exist: online software, an Excel or Google Spreadsheets document, paper and pen, etc.
Strategy 5: Give yourself a break
Yes, take some time between finishing the novel and gearing up for edits. But also, don’t be afraid to give yourself time while in the process of edits
Why It Works: Developmental editing is not only the first stage in editing, but it’s also the most time-consuming and most frustrating. Be patient with yourself, and allow yourself the freedom to walk away: for an hour, a day, or even a week while you let your characters and plot simmer and come together naturally instead of trying to force them together. It enhances your understanding, but also your appreciation for the complexity of the people and the world you’re creating. Besides, who knows where inspiration might strike when you’re away from your desk!
Tools: None.
What are your go-to methods of tackling the developmental editing stage of your novel? Comment below!
Rachel Oestreich is a freelance editor and writing coach specializing in science fiction and fantasy, working with independent authors, small presses, and publishers like Orbit/Redhook, Sourcebooks, and Haymarket Books.
She holds an MFA in fiction writing and serves as an adjunct English instructor at her local university and community college, teaching courses on rhetoric, composition, creative writing, and fairy tales. When not working, she writes, reads, crochets, drinks tea, and manages her two cats and a basset hound named Grimm.
You can find her on Twitter @rae_oestreich, Instagram @racheloestreich, and her website, The Wallflower Editing.
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