Let’s make your novel shine.

Developmental Editing

THE BIG PICTURE

$0.012 per word

**Moonstone’s Speciality** This edit focuses on your novel’s development and overall big-picture elements. We will thoroughly read through your manuscript, ensuring that it works. We will provide insight into what works, what doesn’t, what is lacking, or what is in excess, and detail what needs fixing.

We will focus on:

-Plot and identifying plot holes

Is the storyline strong and clear? Is it confusing? Do the subplots make sense?

-Pacing and structure

Does the story move too slowly or too fast? Is the pacing and overall structure cohesive?

-Character consistency, arcs, and dialogue

Are the characters realistic and three-dimensional? Are they interesting? Do the protagonists and antagonists have believable motives? Are they consistent? Do their relationships/friendships/romances feel earned? Do the side characters feel like they’re more than just accessories to the MC’s?

-Themes and concepts

Do the concepts of the story come across? Are the themes present throughout the manuscript? Does the theme feel consistent until the end?

-Tone, POV, voice and style

Does the tone fit the story? Is the style in line with the genre? Is the voice consistent and engaging? Does the POV read well?

-Setting and worldbuilding

Is the world/setting of your story immersive? If there is unique lore, does it stay consistent? Do the magic systems work? Are the real-world settings factually accurate?

This service does NOT focus on grammatical errors or line-by-line stylistic sentence issues. Grammatical errors are fixed during the copyediting stage, and line-by-line stylistic sentence issues are fixed during the line editing stage.

When the order is completed, you will receive:

– Your document marked up with in-line comments made via the tracked changes tool in Microsoft Word. These comments will be critiques, questions, suggestions, and positive praise!

-A highly detailed editorial report.

-First Thought chapter summaries, in which we analyze each chapter after reading.

-Optional: a phone/zoom call to discuss the feedback & where to go from there.

Check out our Samples here!

Line Editing

THE ARTISTIC APPROACH

$0.011 per word

This edit focuses on the more stylistic and artistic aspects of your writing. We will go line by line to ensure the story reads right while elevating it without removing your voice. The focus is to tighten up the structure so the language flows properly.

We will focus on:

-POV and tense issues

Does the POV stay consistent, or does it change from first to third? Past to tense? Is there an issue of head hopping?

-Repetition or filler

Are specific words, phrases, ideas, sentences, etc., repeated throughout the manuscript? Is there filler that can be cut?

-Clunky or confusing sentences

Are there sentences that don’t read easily? Do some read too long, awkward, or unclear? Are these confusing sentences disrupting the pacing or story?

-Telling VS showing

Does the writing tend to lean heavily into telling as opposed to showing? Is the writing heavy-handed? Does it state the obvious? Does it leave no room for intrigue or mystery?

-Dialogue and inner dialogue

Do the characters sound like real people? Do their conversations seamlessly flow? Is the dialogue awkward, forced, clunky, unbelievable, or uninteresting?

-Word choice

Could the vocabulary be improved? Do the metaphors work? Are the correct words being used? Are there cliches in the writing?

This service does NOT focus on grammatical errors, but I may mark some if I come across them. For grammatical, spelling, and punctuation issues, a copy edit is what you’re looking for.

When the order is completed, you will receive:

-Your document marked up with in-line comments via the tracked changes tool in Microsoft Word. These comments will be word choice suggestions, rewritten sentences (that you can use or not), critiques, and positive praise!

-An overall evaluation/reader report of the pacing, tone, style, POV, dialogue, voice, etc. Here, I will also note if you need another round of edits.

-Chapter summaries detailing what issues were most apparent in each chapter.

Copy Editing

THE RIGID RED PEN

$0.008 per word

This edit focuses on the more technical aspect of your writing. We will go line by line to look for errors, ensuring your manuscript is ready to be proofread. The focus is to make sure the manuscript is error-free.

We will focus on:

-Grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors

-Syntax

-Repetitive words

-Vocabulary

-Breaking up long passages

-Clunky or confusing sentences

-Consistency with capitalization, hyphenation and numerals

This service does NOT focus on the story’s development but only on the technical aspects of the writing.

When the order is completed, you will receive:

-Your document marked up with in-line comments via the tracked changes tool in Microsoft Word. These comments will only fix errors, not critique the story.

-A style sheet that keeps track of stylistic choices specific to your manuscript. This includes any invented words, worldbuilding necessities, spelling of names and places, physical descriptions, facts, lore, etc.

-An overall evaluation of the issues found in the novel and where to go next.