7 questions you should be able to answer before working with a developmental editor
When I was in talks to work with my developmental editor, Chersti, she asked a bunch of required questions about me, including my writing experience, my goals, whether I’m a plotter or pantser, and why I wanted to work with them. She also asked me seven optional questions about my novel.
While I didn’t have to answer them, I couldn’t help but feel like it would signal a lack of commitment if I didn’t—or a lack of confidence in my novel if I couldn’t. So, I invested the time to answer these very reasonable questions:
- What is the inciting incident of your story?
- What is your main character’s goal?
- What or who gets in the way of their goal?
- Is there a villain or antagonist? Who?
- What’s the hero moment during your climax?
- How many point-of-view characters are there?
- How many subplots are there?
Honestly, it felt great to be able to easily answer these questions. And that was despite the fact that the answers were complicated by having more than one POV character and my book being the first in a trilogy. For instance, there’s not only an inciting incident for the book, but also one for the series. Also, the POV characters each have their own goals and hero moments.
Those questions really get at the basic building blocks of a story, such as having a clear beginning and end, and having character conflict. In hindsight, if I hadn’t been able to answer those questions, I hopefully would have delayed moving forward with my developmental editor. Thankfully, I didn’t have to do that. Full steam ahead!
Related posts:
Recommended reading on novel writing from my developmental editor
My sci-fi novel is now in the hands of a developmental editor
To receive future posts for free or to become a Patron and support my dystopian sci-fi novel and get special thank-you goodies upon its publication…
