I offer a range of editing, mentoring and writing services to assist writers in the development of their manuscripts. My qualifications include a PhD in Creative Writing and a Master of Communications, specialising in professional writing and editing. I have taught creative and professional writing lecturer in universities for over 12 years.

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As a freelance consultant, I work with emerging writers on their manuscripts, providing mentoring and advice, manuscript assessments, structural and copyediting services to help them prepare their manuscripts for submission to publishers and manuscript development awards. For authors looking to self-publish, I offer straight copyediting and proofreading services, with expert attention to grammar, spelling, punctuation, and formatting. My preferred style guide is Style Manual: For author, editors and printers (sixth edition, John Wiley & Sons), but I can work to any style guide preference. With a background in academia, I am also adept at copyediting and proofreading DCA and PhD theses, with an eye for improving clarity of expression and can work to any citation style (eg. Harvard, MLA, APA, Chicago). 

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As a published author, I bring to my editing practice my own experience of working with editors in a publishing house, which includes an understanding of the rigours of the editing process, and best practice for editors in terms of building mutually respectful relationships with authors. As such, my editing practice is informed by what I call ‘the four Cs’: Be Compassionate, Constructive, Comprehensive and Complimentary.

 

Compassionate: Your manuscript is your baby. You’ve nurtured it, slaved over it, spent many, many hours crafting sentences, choosing the right words, thinking about and falling in love with your characters, daydreaming about getting a publishing deal. As such, when an editor suggests cutting out adjectives, removing similes or metaphors (which you thought were the height of originality), killing off support characters, heck, even deleting entire scenes or chapters, I understand that it stings when you’re told to ‘kill your darlings’ (as the saying goes), and you want to defend your choices, and your manuscript. My editing practice is informed by the fact that I know what it feels like to hear ‘this isn’t working’ or ‘this should go’.

 

Constructive: Constructive criticism is informed by a compassionate approach to editing. My suggested edits, whether structural or stylistic, are accompanied with explanations as to why something – for example, point of view or tense choice – may not be working and why another approach might work better. A constructive approach to improving overwriting, for example – a common trap for beginner and emerging writers – explains why ‘less is more’ and how a descriptive image can be distilled without losing essential detail or potency.

 

Comprehensive: Good constructive criticism is comprehensive. This means I explain, in detail, why something is not working and what can be done to improve it. Editing, particularly structural editing, is not just about slashing and burning; it’s also about seeing what’s missing, detecting plot holes, and explaining why another scene, deeper characterisation, more attention to setting, etc, will improve the manuscript. My approach to line-level editing is also comprehensive, which means I interrogate every sentence, every word, and every punctuation mark in your manuscript – Does it need to be there? What does it add? Is it the best/right word or punctuation mark?

 

Complimentary: Manuscript assessments and comprehensive editing can be daunting, particularly if there is a lot that needs fixing. I believe it’s important, therefore – and this goes back to being compassionate – to compliment writers on what they’re doing well. We all thrive on sincere praise and where praise is due is should be given without reservation.

 

Below is a list of services I offer and what each of those services entails. My fee depends on the complexity of the project, but as a general guide, I charge $80 an hour for mentoring and all editing services. For manuscript assessment (see below for what this includes), I charge a flat fee of $600 for up to 40,000 words, and an additional $10 for every thousand words after that. 

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For enquiries and quotes, please use the contact form below.