Fiction Craft Blog

Not every novel needs developmental editing. But queer speculative fiction is often complex, both structurally and thematically—think sprawling worldbuilding, conscious representation, satisfying character arcs, and layered thematic work. In this blog post, I’ll cover the most common situations when developmental editing feedback will be useful for your queer speculative fiction novel. I usually recommend an editorial assessment (sometimes called a manuscript critique) as a

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I have some more AI thoughts and news this week, as the topic continues to be hotly debated. I’ve joined the Editorial Freelancers Association’s AI taskforce, so you can expect more frequent discussions on this topic. AI in agent submissions First, an article in The Bookseller  (paywalled, but you can register to read a few articles for free), describes how literary agents have noticed a shift to widespread use of AI in submission

If you’d like to receive my blog in your in-box each week, click here . The big news writers and editors in my network have been talking about is the New York Times piece on a romance author who uses generative AI to write two hundred books a year and earns six figures . I think this discussion flared up because it touched on many people’s fears and anger, not about how gen AI is used per se, but about how it might affect authors’ livelihoods. In her newsletter, the publishin

Disclosure:  I received free access to this course for review purposes. This post includes two links: one is an affiliate link (which means I may earn a commission if you enroll, at no extra cost to you), and the other is a non-affiliate link. Feel free to use whichever you prefer. This review reflects my honest assessment of the course. Sophie has been running this course in taught and self-paced versions for a decade. I’m an experienced fiction developmental editor who ori

Signs your queer SFF novel needs a developmental editor Queer fantasy and sci-fi are thriving right now in both indie and traditional spaces. But that also means competition is high, and agents and readers expect strong storytelling alongside meaningful representation. So here's a tip: Whether you plan to self-publish, find an agent, or find a small publisher that gets your approach and values, I recommend you go through the process as if  you are looking to find an agent bec

In late 2025, I had my first experience of a bad copyedit (in a technical sense) from a literary magazine. It's unfair to expect all literary magazines (often passion projects with multiple volunteer editors) to keep to the high standards of traditional publishing, but they should stick to the basic editorial principle of "Do No Harm." Besides doing no harm, it's important that literary magazines approach editing as a dialogue or conversation—I asked around and heard that som

It's common for newer fantasy writers to focus heavily on worldbuilding while neglecting character development. After all, worldbuilding is a major draw in fantasy and speculative fiction. However, characters are equally important across all genres. Older fantasy novels often featured flat, undeveloped characters. Thankfully, the current Anglo-American market has evolved. The rise of Romantasy highlights the need for strong emotional storytelling in fantasy fiction. When done

This blog post describes developmental editing services and how they are different from manuscript critiques. The second half covers examples of developmental editing comments an author might expect on their manuscript, with a commentary explaining their purpose. Developmental editing is all about feedback on a complete book manuscript draft to improve it. The first step is usually a manuscript critique, which consists of a first reading of the manuscript, with the editor tak

This blog post describes what an editorial assessment (otherwise known as a manuscript critique), as a paid developmental editing service , involves. It covers whether authors can really benefit from them, and what kind of specific story advice they might receive. An editorial assessment is a paid service where authors hire a developmental editor to write a critique / assessment / evaluation of their manuscript. The word critique implies that they will tear it to shreds, but

This blog post is packed with tips on how to to navigate the literary magazine space from an editor who writes speculative fiction and translates literary fiction. Literary magazines and overwhelm for new writers When I first became serious about writing fiction, around five years ago, I took some solid advice and used short stories as a canvas to learn fiction writing craft. A novel is a massive investment of time and energy. If you like writing short stories, I heard, why

This blog post is about common story structures used in fantasy fiction, including Save the Cat, the hero’s journey, and the heroine’s journey. Authors don't need to follow these structures, but they have played an important role in the history of the genre, so being familiar with them helps authors make informed choices about story structure in their own writing. The big issue with story structure in fantasy fiction (and beyond) is that there's lots of competing advice out t

Third person point of view is a tricky thing to get right. At one end of the scale, you have third person omniscient, with a narrator external to the story world who can access characters' thoughts and feelings at leisure. At the other end – and the most popular choice in Anglo-American commercial fiction at present – is close third, told from within the body of a character who narrates the events. This point of view is very direct and immersive, similar to first person. And

From time to time, I receive enquiries from authors who have written a really long novel. I consider really long to be anything over 130K words. So what is the ideal fantasy novel length if you are a debut author wanting to find an agent or self-publish? For established authors with a large audience, that can be fine. But for new authors looking to find an agent or self-publish, a very long novel comes with several problems attached: It will almost certainly receive an automa

Looking to hire a book editor? You can work with one directly or you can use a platform such as Upwork, Fiverr, or Reedsy. Reedsy is the platform most strongly associated with the publishing industry so I’ll offer some tips on the pros and cons of using Reedsy versus hiring an editor directly here: What is Reedsy? Reedsy is a platform that connects writers seeking editorial services with book editors and other publishing professionals (translators, book formatters, etc.). The

This blog post covers: The advantages and disadvantages of using a first-person point of view The two main types of first-person point of view – embedded and retrospective Common problems and how to fix them The use of first-person point of view in ethnography First-person points of view have become increasingly popular in various fiction genres over the past few decades. The reason for this is that they are often highly immersive, and there has been increased appetite for im

Long before G.R.R. Martin’s take on dragons fanned the flames of controversy (Are they wyverns? Are they dragons? Do we need to know?), the inner workings of these fire-breathing creatures were already sparking flaming-hot debates. Dragons are a staple of fantasy, but they also represent the genre’s rather finicky nature: they cannot be too over the top, as then the audience will stop suspending their disbelief. But equally, they cannot be too grounded either, because their v

Many authors find fight scenes notoriously difficult to write. Maybe you just skipped the fight scene chapter until last? Or maybe you haven’t even written it yet? Sound familiar? If so – and you’ve written a science fiction or fantasy novel – then this blog post is for you. So why are fight scenes tricky to write? Well, they’re usually high stakes and the outcome is crucial to the plot. In a fight scene, every sentence counts, and most authors don’t have lots of personal fig

Editors charge a wide range of rates for editing. The industry is unregulated, so in principle, anyone can claim to offer these services. This means you have to choose an editor carefully if quality is important to you. So how much does quality editing cost? In this blog post, I'll share figures in UK currency, but the vast majority of editors (myself included) work for clients all over North America as well, so the market is roughly the same. Trained proofreaders and editors

Blake Snyder’s book Save the Cat! offers a blueprint for screenwriters on how to draft a successful film script. The book draws on his experience as a Hollywood screenwriter and outlines a beat sheet that describes the different points and pacing in many winning films. Somewhat later, Jessica Brody transformed the insights into a craft book for novel writing called Save the Cat! Writes a Novel . Her book includes a similar beat sheet, and she also categorises novels based on

I recently worked with a French author who used the title “Ser” to roughly mean “Sir” in their fantasy novel. This opened up gender and Game of Thrones-shaped cans of worms. First up, the basic answer to the question is that you can use whatever honorifics you like, as long as you make it clear what they mean to the reader (e.g. through how you use them, or how you define them). Now, in English-language fantasy, G.R.R. Martin famously used Ser as an honorific, probably to sou