Julie Holderman – Editor

I've been editing, critiquing, and picking apart the way stories work for as long as I've been writing them. I learned the basics at age fourteen, continued my education in college, honed my skills afterward at workshops like VIABLE PARADISE, and gained further practice through classes hosted by Hugo-award winning author Mary Robinette Kowal. I'm constantly reading, learning, and collecting new techniques, from story conception to submission. My current writing credits include Tortall: A Spy’s Guide, which was released in October of 2017 from Penguin Random House Children's Books. Not only did I write large portions of the manuscript, I critiqued and gave general feedback on the entire team's work, helping craft a coherent whole from a variety of different elements.

From Aristotle’s Poetics to Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics, I'm obsessed with studying storytelling, its modes, its genres, and its formats. I've parlayed this into editorial experience, critiquing first my peers and now my clients as a freelance developmental editor. My specialties include soft Scifi, Fantasy of all kinds, and YA scifi and fantasy. My goal with clients is to dig deep in to what their intentions are with a given manuscript, analyzing theme, tone, and execution as well as helping develop storylines and patching plot holes along the way. I like to spend time with a manuscript, seeing how the pieces fit together and how they might be rearranged to accomplish a writer's envisioned storyline with greater clarity and power. I'm communicative and like to stay in touch with clients as I work, bringing up questions about the story, characters, et cetera, for them to think about as I get my notes together for a full critique. I welcome questions from clients during and after the process as well.

References

"I have worked with Julie on a number of projects, and deeply appreciate her professionalism, her ability to create and keep a schedule and to get others to do the same, her on-point creative critiques, and the sharpness of her editing. I thoroughly recommend her to anyone with a writing project that requires a keen-eyed, pleasant worker with an understanding of the limits and the rules of the trade."

– Tamora Pierce, NY Times Bestselling Writer of 30+ Books for Young Adults

"Julie is smart, insightful, and capable. A pleasure to work with."

— Chelsea Eberly, Editor, Random House Books for Young Readers

"Julie does so much more than just provide edits. She spends time with your work, understands how the pieces should fit together (even if you don’t) and gives feedback that is both a reality check and thoroughly insightful."

– K.P. Kulski, Horror Writer

"Besides her precise editing advice, Julie brings her considerable knowledge of writing to character, motivation and plot issues. She has the ability to assess a work and outline what needs to be revised to arrive at excellence. If you want a frank and knowledgeable critique of your book, this is the person to seek out."

– Barbara Miller, Romance Writer and Seton Hill Writing Popular Fiction Mentor

"Julie delivers a critique designed to enable a writer to examine their work from a structural point of view. She understands setting, building characters, pacing, and so much more. She delivers critiques analytically and with kindness, because she is truly interested in helping writing partners achieve a deeper level of skill that will result in delighting readers."

– R. Schlumpberger, Science Fiction Writer

"I’ve been in the publishing industry for 20+ years as a genre fiction book critic and have worked with hundreds of publishers, editors, publicists, and writers. I was impressed with Julie's writing ability, but it was other attributes that really struck me, namely her overall knowledge of genre fiction and her adept and insightful ability to critique and edit others' work."

– Paul Allen, Reviewer for Publisher's Weekly and Kirkus