Editing Fiction: First look at a first-time novelist’s masterpiece
About the Client
A few months back, Mark Payne (pictured), Brooklyn-based entrepreneur and co-founder of Fahrenheit 212, a NYC-based innovation strategy & design firm lately acquired by Capgemini, asked me to read his first crack at a novel, “Driver’s Ed”. He’d shown it to no one yet, had no idea if it was any good, promising me that even if I thought it stank, he’d brook the honesty.
I’ve known Mark since 1990s Singapore
There, he oversaw accounts at Saatchi & Saatchi’s East Asian offices, while I was a copywriter for hire. Mark’s first book, “How to Kill a Unicorn …and Build Bold Ideas that Make It to Market, Transform Industries and Deliver Growth”, shared his wild career and insights in advertising, branding, product design & innovation, and was very well received.
I read “Driver’s Ed” over a weekend
It was brilliant. A clever, hysterical, linguistically masterful, submission-worthy novel with a triple entendre for a title – which you only realize ¾ of the way into it. I told him his book was all that. Mark then hired me to edit the manuscript and write a 500-word synopsis pitch deck, including a 25-word logline. My edit addressed story structure, language consistency, continuity, omissions, typos, etc. He concurred with my recommendations and is preparing to shop it. I do hope his novel succeeds. The world could use a weekend-long belly laugh right about now.
Sometimes a project comes along that redefines why a man does what he does. This was that.
Get In Touch
Contact Me
Get a quote, check on availability or just run an idea by me. I’ll get back to you within a day.