Twisted Leaf Editing

Single services:

Manuscript Evaluation

£99 for 15,000 words + £5 per 1000 words thereafter

Manuscript evaluation is a comprehensive check that critically examines the manuscript’s content, structure, and overall quality.

What you get:

A comprehensive report detailing feedback on various elements such as characterisation, plot, structure, and style.

Feedback that tells you what works, what doesn’t, what needs improvement, and what needs changing.

Why it could benefit you:

Works well for lower budgets, and/or less time.

Takes less time than a developmental edit.

Gives you a big picture view of your work.

Developmental Editing

£150 for 15,000 words + £10 per 1000 words thereafter

Focusing on the overall world-building, characterisation and plot of the story, developmental editing refines and ensures the information presented to the reader.

What you get:

Editorial suggestions to elevate the flow of the plot.

Ensure your story meets the expectations of the genre and the audience.

Personalised editorial suggestions.

Why it could benefit you:

A more in-depth look at the big picture view of the story than a manuscript evaluation.

Looks at plot, characterisation, dialogue, and pacing of your writing.

Ensure the readability, flow, and logic of the writing.

Line Editing

£165 for 15,000 words + £7 per 1000 words thereafter

Line editing focuses on the use of language within the manuscript, at a sentence or paragraph level, it looks at word usage, repetitiveness, redundancy of words, reader flow, and ambiguity.

What you get:

Editorial suggestions for word choice, sentence structure, and paragraph flow.

Prioritisation of your narrative voice.

Why it could benefit you:

A line-by-line edits to look at the details of your writing.

An attention to detail that can catch details that could be improved upon.

Elevates your writing to strengthen your story.

Bundles:

The Plot Begins Bundle

£50 per hour

Manuscript evaluation with added developmental edit suggestions are done at the same time, so no waiting around for both to be done separately!

This is a great bundle if you are looking for advice concerning the overall structure, balance, and readability of your manuscript.

The Plot Twist Bundle

£60 per hour

The best of both overall structure and detail-oriented edits! This bundle includes both developmental editing and line editing.

This is a great bundle if you are looking for some feedback regarding the plot of your story whilst ensuring your use of language is as good as can be.

The Details Bundle

£70 per hour

This bundle contains line editing, copyediting, and proofreading. Copyediting is making sure the writing is clear, accurate, and correct in spelling and grammar. Proofreading is ensuring the completed manuscript is free of errors from punctuation, spelling and grammar, whilst making sure the final version of the manuscript reaches design specifications.

This is a great bundle if you are looking for edits that get into the nitty gritty of details.

Perspective follows your main character (or characters, depending on if you're writing from multiple viewpoints), and can influence the way you write the story of your book.

There are three point of views you can write from:

First person perspective -> Good for unreliable narration, diving deep into the thoughts of your main character, and for seeing the world through their eyes. Examples of this: The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb, The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells.

Second person perspective -> Good for turning the audience into the character, great for interactive reads. Examples are few, but the main one that springs to mind is the Give Yourself Goosebumps by R. L. Stine and Scholastic Press.

Third person perspective -> Good for turning the narration into a character themself (if so chosen), reliable narration and ability to hop between characters viewpoints with ease. Examples: The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson, Discworld by Terry Pratchett, most of Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere Universe.

Readers like different perspectives and each writer will have a preference, but as a writer it is your job to pick the best one for your story and your style.

As well as the perspective of the main character/narrator, you also have to choose which tense to write in.

Past, present, or future?

Past tense, this is the easiest to write in, and as such easy for the readers. Everything has already happened, you're just describing it. Think of it like writing a diary.

Present tense, this is where you write as if the scene is happening in front of you. A lot of writers have trouble with this initially as it's easy to accidentally slip into past tense whilst writing (which is why proofreading and editing are important!). However, when done correctly, it can be very impactful.

Future tense, you're writing things that will happen, before they come to pass. This, in my personal opinion is the hardest to write and more difficult to read. However, this one can work quite well with a second-person perspective.

Finding and sticking to the tense you've chosen can be a challenge, but once you do and it fits nicely with the perspective of narration, you will see that you can elevate your own writing voice and style even before an editor looks at it.

If you haven't had any experience with any of the perspectives listed above, I recommend finding and reading books or stories that feature them. Get a feel of those writing styles as a reader, and see what you like and what you don't like about each.