Overview
I work with a wide variety of writers on fiction and nonfiction projects. My clients have gone on to publish books with Dutton, W.W. Norton, Scribner, Plume, and Simon & Schuster, as well as list in the LA Times book of the year and Newsweek’s 10 Best Books. I have experience in both fiction and non-fiction, especially on memoirs dealing with very fraught and challenging emotional journeys. You can see some testimonials below, including a review of my own memoir.For over 20 years, I also taught on the MFA in Writing Program at Vermont College of Fine Arts, where I loved collaborating intensively one on one with writers all across the spectrum from beginners to advanced, helping them shape, focus, and deepen their manuscripts. Hopefully I can help you too so feel free to get in touch.Testimonials and Reviews:"Christopher N. was an invaluable reader of both my books, Chang and Eng and The Real McCoy. His clear-eyed comments and sure knowledge of novel structure improved my manuscripts immeasurably.” - Darin Strauss, ‘Change and Eng’ (LA Times Book of the Year and one of Newsweek's 10 Best Books of 2000)"Mr. N.'s efforts leave me with an indispensable body of information regarding my writing; that is, he has taken pains to draw out, through his critiques of my work, a clear picture of where my strengths and weaknesses lie… He is not stingy with praise and enthusiasm; nor is he reluctant to point out the faults of a given text. His criticisms are always supported, never dogmatic. Moreover, he is inclined to address a story on its sub-textual level, an attribute I have found to be surprisingly scarce among writing teachers.” - Naama Goldstein, The Place Will Comfort YouWriting from Tragic Loss and Grief:"N. writes his heart out in 'In the Unlikely Event of a Water Landing: A Geography of Grief,’ sparing himself no pain, while sharing with us enormous insight. That he succeeds so well, without ever seeming a pathetic figure, is a tribute to his wondrous love for Brigid…his talent for deft description. Better than any book familiar to this reader, Water Landing captures the tormented psychological circling, the ceremony of mourning and altar-building, the recurrent alternation of gloom and uplift that marks those left behind.”- The Philadelphia Inquirer review of my memoir, following the sudden loss of my fiancée.
Services
Non-Fiction
Biographies & Memoirs
Fiction
Literary Fiction
Short Story
Languages
English (UK)
English (US)
Work experience
Self-employed
Jan, 1993 —
Present
I have worked with more than two hundred clients, providing close, line-by-line readings of their manuscripts as well as global feedback at the level of structure, plot, conceptual development, characterization, image systems, and other issues.
Portfolio
Years after her mother’s death, author Jan Groft finally faces the silence and secrets that separated them. Prompted by a prolonged struggle with writer’s block, she embarks on a journey of listening with the heart. Part memoir, part spiritual guide, Artichoke... read more
On a late spring day, a daughter waits at the airport for her parents' plane to land and a summer visit to begin. Before the summer is over, however, her father will come to live--and die--in her sunroom. And her newfound faith in her heavenly father will upho... read more
Twelve-year-old Pamela Manchester is an autistic savant whose reputation for amazing feats of memory and perception is quickly spreading. Large crowds flock to her live performances. YouTube and Facebook fame are gaining momentum. Back home in rural Minnesota,... read more
Honorable Mention, 2017 American Library Association Indie E-Books, Science FictionIn the halcyon days of the twenty-third century, human beings are healthier, more beautiful, and more long-lived than ever before thanks to regeneration therapy from the Global ... read more
Set near Lake Minnetonka in Minnesota just after the New Year, "In the Company of Wolves" is a Thriller by James Michael Larranaga that intermingles the scent of deception and deceit, and the redolence of victory as right triumphs over wrong and the wolves are... read more
"A Standout paranormal YA novel." Kirkus ReviewsA surprisingly Affecting vampire story.Larranaga’s debut YA novel focuses on high school freshman Darius Hunter, who lives in a world where vampires live among normal humans. Young vampires like Darius are kept o... read more
Tierra A. Kendrick, a Commissioned Officer in the United States Army, is a Memphis, Tennessee native who graduated from Middle Tennessee State University. Her life experiences along with her passion for world progression and the well-being of others has led to... read more
Author Melinda Worth Popham left home for Yale Divinity School at age fifty-six after a barrage of painful life events-above all, the nightmare of her teenage daughter's life-threatening depression. These events brought her to her knees, and a monastic method ... read more
Winner of the 2005 Drue Heinz Literature PrizeBetween Camelots is about the struggle to forge relationships and the spaces that are left when that effort falls short. In the title story, a man at a backyard barbecue waits for a blind date who never shows up. H... read more
Meg Landry expected it to be a day like any other -- her asthmatic eight-year-old son would step off the bus, home from school. But on this day, the boy on the bus doesn't seem to be Meg's son. Though he shares Charlie's copper hair, tea-brown eyes, and slight... read more
"A fresh, vibrant, and subtly powerful debut novel of loss and redemption."―Irvine Welsh, author of Trainspotting Written in the tautest prose, this portrait of a family on the verge of collapse shimmers with the heat and dissipated fog of October in San Franc... read more
"These are wonderful stories--passionate, fierce, reckless, and scrupulously written... Sandlin's characters are flawed and broken people, but their stories are not a lament. They're about the power to create beauty and healing from loneliness and pain."--Rick... read more
This literary memoir will appeal to anyone--man or woman, married or single--who has lost a loved one. Both touching and revealing in its exploration of the numbness of grief, Noel's achingly beautiful account of the hard work of coming to terms with the loss ... read more
How can an eighteen year old who is haunted by the world’s problems possibly concentrate on chemistry and algebra? Raine Rassaby is a senior at St. Ursula’s Academy in New York City, but rather than study, she rescues wounded birds, arranges pilgrimages to nuc... read more
“Timely and brave. . . . Leegant is a masterful weaver.”―Miami Herald Yona Stern has traveled from New York to Israel to make amends with her estranged sister, a stoic ideologue and mother of five who has dedicated herself to the radical West Bank settlement c... read more
Read Darin Strauss's posts on the Penguin BlogJosh Goldin's happy yet unexamined existence is shattered one morning when his wife, Dori, rushes their eight-month- old son to the emergency room in severe distress. Dr. Darlene Stokes, an African-American physici... read more
From Darin Strauss, the bestselling author of Chang and Eng (A Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year), comes the unforgettable story of "Kid" McCoy: boxer, jewel thief, scam artist, and the most married man in America. A fascinating mirror of the tumultuous ... read more
In this stunning novel, Darin Strauss combines fiction with astonishing fact to tell the story of history’s most famous twins. Born in Siam in 1811—on a squalid houseboat on the Mekong River—Chang and Eng Bunker were international celebrities before the age of... read more
Intelligent, evocative and darkly comic, Naama Goldstein's collection introduces a remarkable talent. In these sharply focused stories, the line between nation and self is as elusive as the distinction between past and present, fear and desire, the real and th... read more
Christopher has 17 reviews
Professionalism
Quality
Value
Responsiveness
Hala H.
Jul, 2026
Mirko N.
Feb, 2024
Mirko N.
Aug, 2023
Leeam A.
May, 2022
Leeam A.
Sep, 2021
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