Get a developmental edit with ranked, costed fixes
Delivers a structural editorial report — stakes, pacing, arcs, POV, payoffs — with ranked problems and two costed fixes for each.
The prompt — fill the [BRACKETS]0 copies
Act as a developmental editor. Assess the structure of this manuscript material — not the prose. Do not correct grammar or rewrite sentences. What I'm giving you: [FULL MANUSCRIPT / PARTIAL DRAFT / DETAILED OUTLINE / CHAPTER SUMMARIES] Genre and comparable titles: [GENRE AND TWO OR THREE COMPARABLE TITLES] My own worry about it: [WHAT YOU SUSPECT IS WRONG, OR WRITE NO IDEA] Material: [PASTE MATERIAL] Assess in this order and report findings under these exact headings: 1. PREMISE TEST — state the story's central dramatic question in one sentence. If you cannot, that is finding number one. 2. STAKES — what the protagonist loses if they fail, and whether that loss escalates. Note any stretch of more than three chapters where stakes stay flat. 3. STRUCTURE — where the major turns fall relative to total length; identify sagging sections by chapter number. 4. CHARACTER ARCS — for each major character: do their decisions drive the plot, or does the plot happen to them? Cite chapters. 5. POV AND INFORMATION — where the reader knows too much or too little for the intended effect; any POV breaks. 6. PROMISES AND PAYOFFS — setups without payoffs, payoffs without setups. Then give a ranked problem list, most damaging first. For each problem: the evidence (cite chapters), why it hurts the reader's experience, and two candidate fixes with their costs — one minimal-surgery fix and one deeper restructure. Do not soften findings, and do not pad the list to seem thorough; if there are only three real problems, list three. End with the single change that would improve the book most per hour of revision work.
Updated 2026-08-18
1 revision