MANUSCRIPT CONSULTING
Searching for "manuscript consulting near me" or "a writing coach near me"? I am always near you, as we can collaborate remotely over Zoom with just as much individualized instruction and warmth as in-person meetings.
Novel Manuscript Consultation
Before you seek detailed developmental editing, copyediting, or proofreading, you might want a “big-picture” assessment of your draft. With this service, I read your manuscript, or a portion of it, and evaluate the integrity of your story’s opening and/or ending, plot structure, tension, point-of-view consistency, character desire and development, stakes, dialogue, and world-building. While I might add occasional comments to individual pages in your manuscript, my priority will be writing a report of 2-6 pages in which I address the strengths and weaknesses of your novel in its current stage. Once you have received this manuscript consultation, you may want to take time to revise your draft, and then return for a round of more intricate developmental editing.
Novel Manuscript Developmental Editing
Whether you prefer to engage in the Manuscript Consultation first or delve straight into Developmental Editing, in this approach, I offer page-by-page feedback on your novel draft regarding the opening and/or ending, plot structure, tension, point-of-view, character desire and development, stakes, dialogue, and world-building. As I read your novel, I identify moments that need re-consideration, revision, or enhancement. I also point out compelling craft choices that you have made. Using the Comments and Suggestions features in Google Docs, or the Track Changes and Comments features in Microsoft Word, I offer my reaction to these moments, pose questions about them, and present prescriptive suggestions for their adjustment.
Novel Manuscript Copyediting
In copyediting your manuscript, I ensure that every line of your story maintains voice consistency, syntactical smoothness, and grammatical cleanliness. This process might also include curbing repetition in vocabulary or phrasing, fact-checking, and confirming that character and setting descriptions stay true to their own identities throughout the novel. Do you write “healthcare” as one word on certain pages, but “health care” on others? I will catch and correct errors such as this one. The purpose of copyediting is to take tender care of language and its effect on a sentence-by-sentence level.
Novel Manuscript Proofreading
Proofreading is the final stage of the manuscript-editing process. As your proofreader, I will scour your novel draft for errors in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, spacing, and formatting, and remedy them.
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