🥑 is it your engine or tires?

I’m not a car guy.

But I know that changing a tire and replacing the engine are different processes.

Your developmental editor is something like a mechanic. When your manuscript is making weird noises, they can identify the source and even find parts you didn’t know were broken. And they’ll bring different tools to solve different problems.

Here are some considerations on approaching three kinds of developmental feedback.

1. Big picture (plot holes, major contradictions, character lapses, etc.)

• Summarize the feedback in your own words; this helps you process.

• Summarize the solution in your own words, whether it’s the editor’s solution or your answer to their questions.

• Sit with the solution for at least a day before you implement it; you may change or improve it.

• Look at every scene affected by the issue at hand and, in one sentence per scene, summarize how you’re going to change it. You can write more notes or bullet points if that’s your thing, but the summary is crucial to keep you on task.

• Then (and only then) go through each affected scene and make the necessary changes. Start with the most affected scenes (e.g., the climax that doesn’t make sense) and let those changes inform how you revise everything else.

2. Medium picture (lack of clarity, scene weaknesses, etc.)

• Compare what you were trying to communicate in a scene with what the editor gleaned from it.

• Answer this question: what will make my intention clearer?

• List the ways you’re going to implement that change (or, if that sounds too tedious, mark the places in the scene where you’re going to make changes).

• Implement the changes.

3. Small picture (minor contradictions, dialogue and action choices, etc.)

• Write a list of the edits you’re going to make. I do this on a manuscript level, but you can also do this for individual scenes.

• Make them.

I know—it’s all the same basic concept.

But the clarity, confidence, and cooldown you get from processing revisions before you implement them makes a HUGE difference.

Not sure where to start? I have two spots left in 2025 for developmental edits. Send me a message for a free sample edit!

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^{Avocado Bites is a publication of Avocado Tree Press, LLC, that helps you revise your stories one bite at a time. We love working with indie and traditionally published authors on fiction manuscripts—and if that’s you, welcome to our target audience.}

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^{Addison Horner is the chief editor of Avocado Tree Press. Here’s his newsletter. It’s different but still pretty good.}