Editing
Michael has over a decade of professional editing experience, including work with publishing houses like Zondervan. He takes on a small number of editing projects each season and brings particular attention to manuscripts where faith, theology, or religious imagination are part of the material.
Services
I.
Developmental editing
A reading focused on the largest questions a draft is asking — what the book is actually about, what the narrative is doing with point of view and time, where the engine of the story is thrumming and where it has stalled.
II.
Line editing
Sentence-level work. Paragraph rhythm, diction, the small calibrations that decide whether a sentence lands or thuds. Annotated in the document, page by page, with the quality of attention his own short story paragraphs receive.
III.
Copy editing
A consistency and mechanics pass. Grammar, punctuation, repetitions, specificity, concision. Less voice-shaping than line editing; a final pass before the work goes out to an agent, a journal, or a press.
IV.
Manuscript consultation
For writers who don't need a complete edit, yet. A short editorial letter on the pages you have, plus a follow-up call and email check-ins through one revision cycle. Useful early in a project, or when a draft has reached the point where another reader's eyes are the next step.