I work with writers on various types of imaginative storytelling – literary fiction, fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction, crime, thrillers, and popular fiction – as well as many areas of nonfiction, especially memoir, natural history, garden writing, travel, history, and spirituality.
Services I offer include:
* Mentoring
A tailor-made programme to help you develop a specific project. We start with a foundation unit, and further units continue with regular exchanges (e.g., every month or two months, for, e.g., three or six months), and with or without reading samples (e.g., 10,000 words every month). Consultations might include:
– a Zoom meeting (at least 90 minutes): part editorial conference, part tutorial, part shot of inspirational energy
– reading and discussing a sample of writing
– follow-up notes in a report as well as specific editorial notes on the sample of writing
– suggestions for writing experiments as field work in developing your writing or a specific project
– recommendations for reading, resources, and studying both the craft of writing and in your chosen genre
– ideas for professional development
* Revision Mentoring
This offering is tailored to individual writers and their projects, and includes not only mentoring sessions that guide writers through the process of self-editing but also a developmental edit.
* Developmental Edit
This is an offering for writers actively drafting a work-in progress. Depending on what the manuscript requires, this might include:
– an editorial overview of content (story, concept and theme, character, setting, genre conventions), narrative style (structure, narration, point of view) and prose style and voice
– further editorial notes (a list of queries or comments on the manuscript), using specific examples to illustrate broader points as well as discuss details of story
– a Zoom tutorial (at least 90 minutes) giving both of us the chance to ask questions and explore possible answers
– an assessment of potential readership and market
– careers advice and further guidance on creative writing, including suggestions for further reading, training, and other resources
* Manuscript Review
An editorial overview of content, style, and readership, with broad feedback assessing the writing’s readiness for submission to agents or publishers.
* Submission Review
Feedback on your cover letter, synopsis, and sample material before you submit them to agents or publishers.
* Editorial and Publishing Consultations
Would you like to brainstorm story concepts, character arcs, or narrative forms for your story, or talk through the potential readership or genre for your book? Or perhaps you’d like some advice on building your own course of studies in creative writing? Or might you want a professional view in talking through particular dealings with an agent or publisher? Or maybe you have some other editorial matter you’d like to discuss in more detail?
If you’re interested, please get in touch with details of your project as well as any questions and an indication of what you’re hoping to achieve, and I can provide you with further information about my editorial services as well as an indication of fees. As I work independently, I can tailor how I work according to the needs of specific writers, projects, and contexts; no editor can give quick fixes or blueprints for publication, but I try to raise matters that help writers take their work forward. Someone I recently worked with thanked me for asking ‘penetrating questions’ about their manuscript, and I take that as a compliment and also as a description of the work of a good editor or teacher.
If I am unable to help at this time or feel I am not the best match for this particular book, I can sometimes suggest alternative editors or services.