Over the years, I’ve enjoyed helping writers with their projects, whether fiction or non-fiction, both beginners and published professionals. Depending on their needs, we’ve worked on everything from finding a viable idea for a book to the final edit before publication.

My emphasis is craft: story-structure, drama, believable characters, and how to keep a narrative moving in such a way that readers will want to find out what happens next.

As I see it, there are no particular rules for good writing except this: Thou Shalt Be Interesting! Whether you’re Dickens or Danielle Steel, you need an interesting book concept, an interesting first line, an interesting first paragraph, an interesting first chapter, and so on until the end – one compelling moment after another. A good story, whether fiction or non-fiction, deals with the important moments of people’s lives and as a writer you need to dispense with everything that is dull or inconsequential.

My goal is to help writers define their goals and find the right structure that best expresses the ideas and emotions that have led them to write a book.

My fees are negotiable, depending on the work involved. In general, I charge $1200 to edit and critique a medium-sized book. However, a number of writers with a book-in-progress, prefer to send me a chapter or two at a time via the Internet as e-mail attachments, often on a weekly basis. I’ll write my notes in the text and we’ll send ideas back and forth – and for this I charge $35 an hour, collecting some kind of retainer in advance (usually $500) and sending the client a time sheet at the end to account for the hours spent. Generally, $500 goes a long way, several months or more depending on how prolific you are.

For more information, and to discuss your particular project, please contact me at wbrook@taosnet.com.