It’s been over five years since I wrote my first novel, an experience that taught me so much about storytelling as a craft. Before that, I’d written dozens of different beginnings, but I’d never finished a full-length book. I had no idea how much a story can change and grow as you write over days and weeks. I didn’t realize there’d be so many moments when I’d discover something new about my own characters or spot an opportunity for a slightly different twist. I also didn’t realize what a juggling act a whole book can be!

I’ve come to think that writing a book is like trying to take a handful of marbles with you on a long walk. Each marble is a character or a plot point you know when you begin. And if you’re like me, they’re already plentiful from the start! You have strong ideas about this story you’re telling and who is involved. But as you go along, you’ll pick up more marbles. Some of them are small and insubstantial, like for example, the person at the gas station your main character interacts with after they get lost on a road trip. Some of the marbles are weightier, a friend you didn’t realize your main character needed to carry out a particular plot point until the story was underway. Sometimes you spot a marble on the side of the path and it’s so sparkly and exciting, the perfect addition to the collection already cupped in your hand, that you have to stop and pick it up. This is a plot enhancement marble and isn’t it cool that your brain came up with that glittery guy? For sure!

In any case, it takes some shifting and readjusting to make all these marbles fit in the palm of your hand. In other words, even though you might not have found these marbles until midway through your journey, you also have to go back and edit your book to introduce or at least hint at the new marbles. If you don’t, your readers are gonna be like, “Wait, where tf did that big, glittery yellow marble come from?”

At most, a single writer has only got two hands. We do our best to carry all these fabulous marbles with us to the finish line. But very few of us make it to The End without dropping a marble or two. On top of that, the job of getting all these effin’ marbles from start to finish is a big one! Sometimes we get so focused on the marbles already in hand that we miss one or two of the glittery marbles we could have picked up along the way.

A developmental editor is like a marble spotter. It’s our job to take a look at the marbles an author started out with and see where marbles got dropped along the path. It’s our job to appreciate all the marbles the author picked up and make sure they’re woven in smoothly, so our author isn’t popping marbles out of thin air in the middle of their plot. And if an author missed one of those big glittery guys – a chance to make their story stronger and more engaging – we help them circle back to grab it. We are there to help authors tell their story to its fullest potential.

As an editor (and reader and writer myself), I’ve got an eye for marbles and I’d love to help you manage yours. To drop this now-tired analogy and get back to books and writing, I’d love to help you make sure you’ve taken every opportunity to make your book great.