Preparing for a Developmental Edit (Part 2: Waiting)

For more context on this topic, please see my post from last month on how to find an editor for your WIP.

As a quick recap, interviewing your editor beforehand will lay the best groundwork for understanding the type of edit you’ve requested and the context for the advice (eventually) given. Now all you can do is take heart. Your editor needs time to consider your ideas thoughtfully, and you need time to both focus on other projects and prepare yourself for the feedback.

Yup. As Tom Petty says, the waiting really is the hardest part.

1. While waiting, I encourage you to refrain from fiddling with your manuscript. You may not welcome said creative vacation, but your WIP will! Allow Wippy the chance to lie on a beach and sip cool drinks from paper-umbrella festooned glasses. Who knows? As they laze, your manuscript may even brainstorm solutions to their own plot issues or characterization struggles.
2. While your editor works diligently away, and while Wippy snoozes, it’s best to start other projects. Invest in yourself as a lifelong writer and realize that Future You will pen many stories and will need to leapfrog between them during editing periods. Indulge in the freedom to meet new characters. Or pick up a long-abandoned manuscript, give it a polish, and marvel at how much your writing and editing skills have grown.
3. I don’t advise rewriting scenes during this hiatus. If WIPPY sends any postcards, pin them on your mental refrigerator for the time being. Yes, I know the temptation is great. The simple act of offering our work for objective evaluation can catalyze metacognitive breakthroughs. Many times, I realize my WIP’s problem areas the moment before my critique buddies open their mouths. So if you really can’t resist, then open a file — a new one that won’t tempt you to start editing — and briefly jot down your ideas. Then let WIPPY go back to dozing.
4. Try putting that creative energy toward writing a prequel chapter, a bit of backstory, or other reader magnet content. Better yet, build your platform, improve your website, study marketing techniques, and research comp titles.
5. Let’s be clear — no batch of developmental edits should be delivered in a negative tone. But tone, as we authors know, can be hard to read through text only. This is part of why we want to develop a rapport with the editor first! This waiting period is a great time to check out their websites or search Twitter and Youtube for some quick videos or blogs so you can familiarize yourself with their “voice.”
6. In between all that working on other projects and forgetting this WIP ever existed, it can be useful to prepare yourself emotionally for the editorial response. Find a relaxed spot, perhaps different from your usual favorite writing location. Then open up a new brain-window and let in some fresh air while you interview yourself:

What is your WIP’s greatest strength? Weakness?

What is the theme? Any crucial subthemes? Are they consistent?

Does the opening chapter resonate with the final chapter?

What would you tell a friend about this WIP if it were theirs?

What are you most excited to tackle upon revision?

What do you need in place, if anything, for support before reading the edits?

(Might you possibly wait until an evening spent with trusted friends/critique-mates? Do you have a writer buddy you can ask to await your call?)

Lastly, know that this chapter of your life, even if lengthier than anticipated, is not a referendum on your work or worth. Editors are always juggling contracts, conferences, and projects, and just as you do, they sometimes underestimate the time needed to complete a project well. Nudge them if it’s been significantly longer than agreed upon without response — after all, you likely paid half up front. But avoid making them feel too rushed for the simple reason that you don’t want them to rush.

Thanks for reading! I’ll follow up next month with advice for processing your editor’s feedback.

Cheers, and please reply with questions or comments!

Feature picture created on Canva