A developmental editor offers a writer a valuable outside perspective on their writing. One key skill a developmental editor of fiction should have is the ability to read a draft and identify its emerging themes. Knowing what themes underpin the different elements of a story can help a writer to decide what belongs and what can be edited or cut. In this webinar, learn what makes a theme strong enough to sustain a novel, different methods of searching for themes in a piece of writing and ways to better align a piece of writing with its theme to help a writer create a stronger, more cohesive story.
Presenter
Kathryn Jepsen (she/her) earned her master’s degree in journalism, with a focus on science writing, from Northwestern University. For more than a decade, she has served as editor in chief of Symmetry, an online magazine about particle physics and astrophysics published by two U.S. national laboratories. She is a first reader for Small Wonders magazine and is involved in the literary organization Charlotte Lit. She offers editing and coaching to writers of speculative fiction through Strange Visitor Editing Services.