A manuscript with unresolved structural problems can waste later copyediting or proofreading effort.
Glossary term
Developmental editing
Developmental editing looks at big-picture story, structure, argument, character, pacing, and reader experience.
Definition
What developmental editing means
Developmental editing usually happens before sentence-level polish. It focuses on whether the manuscript works at the level of structure, content, story, and audience.
A developmental edit might recommend strengthening a character arc, moving a reveal, or cutting a subplot.
Wise Wombat does not replace developmental editing, but it can remove avoidable continuity noise before human editorial review.
Related
Related continuity terms
These terms often appear together during manuscript revision.
Continuity pass
A continuity pass is a focused review for internal consistency before later editorial or production work.
Copyediting
Copyediting reviews text for correctness, consistency, clarity, style, grammar, usage, and editorial house rules.
Setup and payoff
Setup and payoff is the relationship between a story promise, clue, threat, question, or object and its later resolution.