Creative Guidance | Manuscript Critiquing
Editing | Proofreading
Every text tells a story: make yours splendid!
Once upon a time a creative and assiduous author crafted a beautiful piece of work. The author engaged the services of Splendid Stories to provide that final flourish and take the writing to the next level of loveliness.
The end.
What a splendid story!
Once upon a time a creative and assiduous author crafted a beautiful piece of work. The author engaged the services of Splendid Stories to provide that final flourish and take the writing to the next level of loveliness.
The end.
What a splendid story!
There's lots of information below about the different levels of service I offer. If you're not sure, just ask! There's no obligation, and I don't bite. For rates, terms and timescales see below. If you'd like a free sample edit, say up to 500 words so you can see what you'll get in return for your investment, just drop me a line: [email protected]
The Drop-in Workshop £30
This is a fixed-price service at a cost of £30. For that, you get three hours of my time. Do with it what you will.
Anything goes really! Got a quick query but not yet ready to submit the full piece? Feel derailed and can’t quite see how to get back on track? No problem. Just send me a short section of your work with details of your query and I’ll see what I can do to inspire you. Ta-da! The creative process is hereby re-energised!
If you haven’t got a specific query but would just like some feedback on a short section or chapter, that’s fine too.
I'll need to use some of the time to read your work and consider your query, so this service is really designed for short sections of writing and quick queries. If you want advice on larger sections of your work, or on the whole manuscript, go for a critique!
Critiquing
Do you need some big-picture feedback on your manuscript? I can provide you with a bespoke editorial report.
A what, sorry? Well, you send me your manuscript and I’ll write you a lovely report all about what works and what doesn’t. But don’t worry, I’m always constructive; I know how hard it is to hand over the fruits of your labour to someone else. I’ll give you ideas about how to improve your writing and you can then trot off and hone your words. If you know you want to rework part of your manuscript, but need some focused guidance, this is the option for you!
A critique gives you an overview of the text, looking at its strengths and weaknesses. For a novel, for example, it might include aspects such as:
This stage of the editorial process doesn’t just improve works of fiction; it can be invaluable for non-fiction writers too.
Developmental Editing
In many ways this is very similar to a critique, but whereas a critique is an overview of the manuscript, a developmental edit is a much more detailed process. It involves not only a written report on your manuscript, but also detailed comments within the manuscript itself (using Word's comments facility). Although a developmental edit covers the same territory as a critique, it does so in a more in-depth way.
Line and Copy-editing
Detail, lovely detail! Once you’re happy with the big picture, it’s time to focus on the nitty-gritty and make the text shine. A line-by-line copy-edit does so much more than amend grammar; it aims to ensure a level of clarity and consistency that will enhance the connection between author and reader without distorting the author's voice. My copy-editing service includes the level of editing sometimes referred to as ‘line editing’. I work on the manuscript itself, providing comments and making tracked changes. The service involves:
Proofreading
The final polish! A safety net to catch the odd mistake that’s slipped through. (They’re always there, aren’t they? Curse them…) It’s a much lighter service than copy-editing, usually only involving the first four items listed above. A document that’s ready for proofreading will be of a high standard and will almost certainly have been copy-edited. If I think your document needs a tad more work before it would benefit from being proofread, I’ll tip you the wink.
This is a fixed-price service at a cost of £30. For that, you get three hours of my time. Do with it what you will.
Anything goes really! Got a quick query but not yet ready to submit the full piece? Feel derailed and can’t quite see how to get back on track? No problem. Just send me a short section of your work with details of your query and I’ll see what I can do to inspire you. Ta-da! The creative process is hereby re-energised!
If you haven’t got a specific query but would just like some feedback on a short section or chapter, that’s fine too.
I'll need to use some of the time to read your work and consider your query, so this service is really designed for short sections of writing and quick queries. If you want advice on larger sections of your work, or on the whole manuscript, go for a critique!
Critiquing
Do you need some big-picture feedback on your manuscript? I can provide you with a bespoke editorial report.
A what, sorry? Well, you send me your manuscript and I’ll write you a lovely report all about what works and what doesn’t. But don’t worry, I’m always constructive; I know how hard it is to hand over the fruits of your labour to someone else. I’ll give you ideas about how to improve your writing and you can then trot off and hone your words. If you know you want to rework part of your manuscript, but need some focused guidance, this is the option for you!
A critique gives you an overview of the text, looking at its strengths and weaknesses. For a novel, for example, it might include aspects such as:
- The opening of your story – does any prologue work? Will the reader keep turning the pages?
- Characterisation – are your characters believable and do they contain depth?
- Pace – does your story drag where it shouldn’t and whizz where it should savour?
- Plot – is it engaging and plausible? Do subplots work?
- Dialogue – is there too much, too little, is it varied, does it flow? Does your tagging work?
- Point of view – are you using pov consistently and in a way that complements your story?
- Structure – does it work for your story? Does it suit your genre?
- Final chapters – does your ending work? Will your reader sigh with satisfaction?
- Regular errors of grammar and punctuation
This stage of the editorial process doesn’t just improve works of fiction; it can be invaluable for non-fiction writers too.
Developmental Editing
In many ways this is very similar to a critique, but whereas a critique is an overview of the manuscript, a developmental edit is a much more detailed process. It involves not only a written report on your manuscript, but also detailed comments within the manuscript itself (using Word's comments facility). Although a developmental edit covers the same territory as a critique, it does so in a more in-depth way.
Line and Copy-editing
Detail, lovely detail! Once you’re happy with the big picture, it’s time to focus on the nitty-gritty and make the text shine. A line-by-line copy-edit does so much more than amend grammar; it aims to ensure a level of clarity and consistency that will enhance the connection between author and reader without distorting the author's voice. My copy-editing service includes the level of editing sometimes referred to as ‘line editing’. I work on the manuscript itself, providing comments and making tracked changes. The service involves:
- Providing comments to assist with eliminating inconsistencies in character and plot
- Monitoring the general flow of the text
- Highlighting material that may be unsuitable for the intended readership
- Pointing out inconsistencies in the timeline (is your character reading a book not published at that time, or is he/she celebrating a tenth birthday when it should be a fifteenth?)
- Pointing out contradictions in the text (for example a David turning into a Daniel)
- Identifying repetition, clumsy word breaks, awkward sentences and missing material, with suggested alternatives where appropriate
- Correcting typographical errors
- Eradicating errors and inconsistencies in grammar, syntax, punctuation, spelling and usage
- Eliminating inconsistencies in style and presentation (such as capitalisation and use of italics)
- Raising queries that require a decision by the author, e.g. where the text is ambiguous
- Formatting of paragraphs to ensure compliance with standard publishing conventions
- Basic fact-checking, such as historical dates, brand names, place names…
Proofreading
The final polish! A safety net to catch the odd mistake that’s slipped through. (They’re always there, aren’t they? Curse them…) It’s a much lighter service than copy-editing, usually only involving the first four items listed above. A document that’s ready for proofreading will be of a high standard and will almost certainly have been copy-edited. If I think your document needs a tad more work before it would benefit from being proofread, I’ll tip you the wink.