I was hired by Sharon L’Herrou, through Hansen Dyson Publishing, to do a developmental edit with her for a children’s book. Sharon had a rough outline and many ideas.
After reviewing Sharon’s outline, we began discussing her ideas and intent. We looked at her book’s big picture and then structure. We created a sequence of events to maximize the book’s emotional impact and create flow. We created a new outline reviewing and developing each story element: the setting being between the heroine’s comfort of home and the wide wild world, the theme being the magnitude of nature, the main character a young heroine faced with adversities in her adventure, the plot being her discoveries within these adventures, creating conflict and resolution. The point of view was one of resilience.
Once we had a solid outline for Sharon’s story, having decided on the story elements, sequence of events, overarching theme and message, we got to work writing. In creating the story elements, I encouraged Sharon to be colorful in her cast of characters and to exaggerate her events, keeping in mind her young audience. As we began the edits for writing, I guided the language and word choice to continue to reflect her audience’s ages and reading levels. We focused on point of view through the narrator’s confident and encouraging tone, and again on flow.
