Recently I worked with an author on a first-chapters critique of the opening 50 pages of her manuscript. After our consultation she indicated she'd like to talk about doing a full developmental edit on the manuscript down the road, after she'd incorporated revisions based on our discussion. But first she wanted to know if I thought it was worth it for her to keep working on the story. Questions like this always bring me up short. My first reaction is always a lance of empathy, because I under...
