Dionne McCulloch – Editor

As a writer myself, I know how isolating a writer’s journey can be. We all need an experienced advocate in our corner offering support, expertise and guidance. As an editor, I have nurtured authors from first timers to professionals and know that as your confidence grows, your voice strengthens and your writing improves.

I will help you see where your writing excels and build on that, create vital, engaging characters with powerful motivations and desires, and improve your writing techniques. I'll teach you to fine tune your story's pacing and tension and help you write character-revealing dialogue that advances your plot. I can shape your lumpy first draft into a book that engages from page one, or polish your manuscript sentence by sentence until it shines.

**I provide free assessment of your 1-page synopsis (for developmental edits) or free copyedit of first 2-3 pages (for copy edits).**

I've been shortlisted and won a special commendation for the 2022 4thWritePrize, from 4th Estate Books/The Guardian.

I've also judged for two international novel awards, been a PitchWars mentor, and currently work as an editor for both a UK and a US literary consultancy.

“Dionne is a wonderful mentor. She was both supportive and insightful, creating a safe space to talk about some difficult issues I was facing in my writing, and then helping me to draw out the central themes and to dig deeper into what was at stake for my characters. Dionne's feedback helped me to approach and think about my writing in new ways.”
--Zoe Lambert, author and lecturer in Creative Writing, Lancaster University PhD program, UK.

"Dionne provided me with a windfall of helpful feedback on my novel, including ways to improve characters, plot, theme, and where to clean up the language on the line level. She also referenced examples for every major point so that I knew exactly what she was talking about. Most importantly, after reading her feedback I agreed with almost everything she mentioned, which to me showed how tuned in she was while she was editing. She gave me objective ways to make my work better."
--Ben Orlando, author and English Professor, George Mason University, USA

“I have found Dionne to be an excellent editor. She is creative, rigorous, and collaborative without being intrusive. She has helped me to gain clarity in my narrative and has given me the encouragement I needed to finish my book. I highly recommend her.”
--Sheila Hawdon, literary writer.

“Dionne was incredibly helpful, striking the right balance between being critical and encouraging. I was immensely grateful for the guidance on tone and on making the writing 'appear' rather than just being purely descriptive. Dionne was also very sensitive in recognising that, unlike pure fiction, biographical work is very real and very personal. Overall, just what I needed- firm but sensitive guidance”
--Charlie Kiss, memoirist, A New Man.

"Simply put, Dionne is inspiring and brilliant. My novel is transformed, a superb mentor. Five big stars!”
--Frank Conway, literary author.