Synopsis: A modern take on George Orwell’s book 1984, and the implications of irreparable environmental damage.

Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopia, Romance
Audience: Adult

Visit Naomi P. Lane’s author website

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Naomi reached out to me about developmental editing for her newest novel, 2084, a 62k-word dystopian love story woven together with important messages about irreversible environmental shutdown. I’ve previously read the classic, 1984, so I was excited to find out how her novel paid homage to it.

The Process

We went ahead with the Premium Developmental editing service, which includes two read-throughs with in-text comments, as well as a full report about plot, structure, characters, relationships, and more. The Premium service also includes a 1-2 hour video chat with me, the editor, about the work and any questions the author may want to discuss in detail.

She also sent me a list of specific questions she had about the work, which I answered and sent back to her after my first read-through so she would have something to review before our chat.

For my first read-through, I gave my first impression comments: questions I had about the text, predictions for the characters, etc. Once I finished the whole manuscript, I began my report. For Naomi’s 62k-word manuscript, I wrote 15 pages, first with my observations about the work, then with my suggestions for improvement (separated into categories). After that, I reread the document, giving my second set of comments (marked accordingly). These comments took into account things that happened further in the text as well as my new perspective of the story once knowing the whole thing.

Our video call was on the last day of the project, shortly after I delivered the final documents for review. For an hour, we talked about my suggestions for her work and why I made the suggestions I did.

I try to only take on developmental editing projects of books I know I can add value to, but never have I been so surprised to click with a story as easy as I did with this one. It was primarily a story about the romantic relationship between the two protagonists, which isn’t as much of my speciality as adventure, mystery, or quest fiction, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading this story. Naomi is excellent at seeding tension and conflict into her work to let the story flow.