I provide detailed practical, frank and helpful criticism.

My aim is to improve your novel – suggest what works and what doesn’t, and make constructive suggestions. I always start my editorial comments with an overall summary of general points of structure. I then go on to:

• Comment on and improve, background, characterisation and dialogue
• Make sense of, and improve plots if necessary
• Give chapter by chapter detailed analysis, with each chapter dealt with on a separate basis but viewed from an overall perspective of the work

• Fine tune synopses as part of the submission package to agents. You are competing in a heavily oversubscribed market place and it is vital that the synopsis makes a good first impression

• Advise on submission letters to agents. Something crisp and to the point is needed

• Give an honest assessment  as to the  chances of publication.

A working partnership

I am happy to meet writers on a one to one basis and am always available at the end of the telephone.  I have found that a three hour discussion based on my editorial comments is one of the most fruitful ways of getting to the heart of a novel and I tend to recommend such a meeting if at all possible.

Facilitator

To sum up, I see myself as a facilitator whose role is to enhance a writer’s potential.

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