Novel Editing Services for Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Romance (LGBT friendly)
Goblin Fruit does business with fanged lovers, glass-and-chrome planets, and tentacled horrors. The ethereal, strange, grotesque, and whimsical are welcome here. We believe in reading with a sense of wonder, and love for everyone.
Let’s make a new story.
My name is Katherine Ervin, and I’m a freelance fiction editor. Over the last ten years, I have provided editing services to hundreds of writers. My interests are romance, fantasy, and science-fiction. I would love to hear about your story!
Who Can I Help?
You feel like you’ve hit a plateau in your writing. There’s a huge gap between knowing the craft and applying it to the page. It can be hard to identify errors in your own work.
You love writing, and you’ve worked hard on your novel. You want to make sure your writing is as polished as possible before a major milestone, like self-publishing, submitting to agents, or applying to an MFA program.
You want to be competitive with other self-published writers, who often use professional editing services to keep their readers happy. Bad reviews don’t go away, and people care a surprising amount about even minor errors.
You’re too close to your draft. You know that there’s something wrong, but you (and your writing friends) can’t put your finger on it, or don’t know how to fix the problem.
You actually don’t have much craft knowledge—you learned to write by reading, and you fly by instinct. You’re good at what you do, but you want a qualified professional to edit your work and perhaps teach you theory.
WHAT CAN I DO?
I work with multiple plot structures in different genres, and know the particular needs of a romance-based plot structure. I am well-versed in romantic conflict, writing attraction, and putting nuanced emotions on the page. As a long-time first reader for multiple publications, I can identify mistakes which prevent manuscripts from being accepted.
I know the beats that a story needs to feel complete. I can help clients on the sentence level with sound, rhythm, and economy of language. I can explain what makes a literary image stand out and give suggestions to make descriptions and characters memorable. I can adapt my feedback to the comfort level of my client, ranging from blunt to clear-but-kind.
I always edit towards my client’s vision, enhancing their work while keeping it true to their voice and ideas.
Credentials
I’ve taught creative writing at the University of Central Florida and Full Sail University, served as a first reader for Lightspeed Magazine and Parsec Inc., worked as a graduate teaching assistant at the Florida Review, and judged the Raw Dog Screaming Press Reader’s Choice Awards. I have worked as a developmental, line, and copy editor for several years, providing editing services to both publishers and independent authors.
I am a member in good standing with the Editorial Freelancers Association, an organization of professionals who provide a wide range of editing services.
I graduated with an MFA in Fiction from the University of Central Florida, and am an alumna of the Alpha Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Workshop for Young Writers.
Testimonials
“Thank you so much for the careful reading, insightful comments and astute suggestions for developing my work. I feel blessed to have stumbled upon Goblin Fruit, and for my first exposure to the whole process of getting a piece of writing out there I couldn’t have imagined finding an editor as sympathetic towards my extravagances and yet as firm about what a novel should actually be.”
Ralph Mills, The Anthropocenian
“Goblin Fruit provided a wonderful, professional copy editing experience!”
London Price, Acoustics, Harmony
“Katherine’s editorial skills and knowledge of story are absolutely first class. During a particularly challenging project Katherine delivered an exceptional edit and significantly improved the end story, but it was her communication with the writers and other editors that really impressed us. Creative work is extremely personal and sensitive, and it can be difficult to hit the mark with communicating effectively. Katherine understands how to best give feedback and work collaboratively with writers, which is a rare but essential skill with editing. Finally, she’s a professional: never missed a deadline, great communication throughout and genuinely cared about the project. I highly recommend working with Katherine on your next editing project.”
Harry Wallett, Managing Director at Relay Publishing
“Katherine Ervin knows how to craft a compelling, original, and exciting story in dagger-sharp, gleaming sentences. She uses words like a sorcerer.”
Micah Dean Hicks, Break the Bodies, Haunt the Bones
“Katherine knows how to write a beautifully crafted sentence, and her eye for language is superb.”
Brenda Peynado, The Rock Eaters
“After receiving conflicting feedback on my manuscript, I felt confused and overwhelmed going into revision. I had concerns about pacing and where to make cuts, but I didn’t know where to begin. Katherine is a fantastic editor, both developmentally and on the sentence level. She identified specific areas to address and proposed multiple ways to fix them. Every step of the way, I felt like she understood what I wanted for my project. Her suggestions amplified my vision, and her edits clarified how to get my novel where I want it to be. I could not be happier with Katherine’s feedback, and I feel excited and confident going into my revision.”
Nicole Balsamo
“Katherine is an incredibly gifted editor as well as a savvy and considerate businessperson. I sent her a creative draft to review that was so disjointed I wasn’t sure I was even getting the point across! But Katherine knew exactly what I was trying to do, and her feedback helped me develop my draft into a more well-defined piece. She adheres to all promised deadlines and isn’t afraid to kindly ask questions if it will help to understand the direction of the work and how to make it the best it can be.”
Erica Macalintal
“I went to Katherine with a story that had undergone a few rounds of editing at that point, one I was hoping to use for my admission sample to an MFA program. I was pretty confident that it didn’t need a lot of tweaking but I wanted a fresh pair of eyes on my plot and structure to be sure that all my editing hadn’t obscured the point of the piece. Katherine came back with a helpful, in-depth list of small changes I needed to make for it- but she also came back with the suggestion of a huge plot change I hadn’t considered. I looked over her suggestion and realized it would make the whole work flow much better and so, after another round of editing, the newly revised piece grew beautifully in this new direction. I’m thankful for her being bold enough to offer such substantial changes in addition to the small ones that ultimately put me perfectly on track.”
Charlie Klenk
Reach out
If my editing services sound like a good fit for your work, contact me and request a free sample edit. I hope that we can work together on making your story the best version of itself!
The Goblin Market
“We must not look at goblin men,
We must not buy their fruits:
Who knows upon what soil they fed
Their hungry thirsty roots?”
-Christina Rossetti