Pete Kempshall – Editor

As a professional editor with almost 30 years in publishing, I have a keen eye for detail - I can spot everything from a dangling modifier that makes nonsense of a sentence to the kind of plot hole that could sink your novel without trace.

I've edited everything from comic books and novels to travel guides, and I have the versatility to take on any job where clarity and engagement are key. I am also adept at ensuring style remains consistent across book series, where maintaining the voice of the writer is vital.

I particularly enjoy working with writers of speculative fiction (horror, science fiction, thrillers, paranormal romance) but my skills in story structure, character development are transferable to any form of fiction. I have spent plenty of time working with horror writers in particular, as a founding member of the Australian Horror Writers' Association Critique Group and a judge for the Robert N Stephenson Flash Fiction & Short Story Competition.

I love discussing the shape of a story with a writer, and helping them find their way past the roadblocks and pitfalls of plotting. Sometimes it's a tweak here or a there, sometimes it opens up a whole new direction that the writer never considered... there's nothing I love more than seeing an author light up with excitement as they take a new development and run with it!

And you can rest assured I am familiar with the editing process from both sides of the fence. As a professional writer, I have penned magazine columns and features, movie and book reviews, short stories, comic strips, and video-game dialogue. My fiction has been professionally published in Australia, the UK and the US, and adapted for podcasts, while my magazine work has seen print across Australia and the UK.

My editing services include:

Manuscript assessment and development, structural editing, line editing and proofreading for both long-form writing and short stories.

Sub-editing (fact-checking, layout edits) for non-fiction work.