Lia London
“Michelle Isenhoff is my #1 go-to person for feedback on manuscripts. No one does it better. As a copyeditor, she has an eagle eye, catching not only typos and spelling/punctuation errors but also repeated words and unclear syntax. Beyond her mastery of the minutiae of line edits, she has tremendous gifts as a content and style editor. She helps me find the most concise, clear, and impactful way to word my ideas all while seeking my vision for the book. Unlike other editors I’ve met who wish to reshape my manuscript into something else entirely, Michelle takes the time to understand what I’m trying to achieve and then helps me polish the manuscript to reflect exactly that. I have learned more from Michelle than from all other writing mentors and professors I’ve ever had put together.”
Lia London is the author of over 30 books. I had the honor of beta reading, critiquing, and proofreading her very first manuscript. Since that time, we have regularly served as each other’s sounding board, critic, and copyeditor. I am privileged to have contributed to many of Lia’s novels, including her Northwest Romantic Comedy series, her Shook-Up Shakespeare Retellings series, her Gypsy Pearl middle grade series, and a variety of young adult and middle grade stand-alone novels.
Project Overview
Lia asked me to beta read, critique, and proofread her latest manuscript, As You Fake It, an addition to her young adult Shakespeare parody series. Specifically, she asked for opinions on her characterization and settings. In addition, she asked me to weigh in on how well she translated the romance from Shakespeare’s As You Like It to modern-day teenagers. In particular, she was open to any suggestions on how to replace the final marriage in the original with a more plausible ending for her high school seniors.
My Work
Lia’s writing is so professional that it requires little correction, but here are some examples of my contribution to her manuscript—first a snippet from my email answering her direct concerns, followed by samples of my comments and markups within her manuscript.
Hi Lia. I’m finished! You had me laughing through the entire thing again. Meaty Knave?? LOL!
First, let me address your specific concerns.
1. Your settings are as bright and vibrant as ever. And as most of it takes place in a high school, I guarantee that every one of your readers will be visualizing their own, so no worries there.
2. And your characters are superb (especially your two leads) with the exceptions of Beau and Adam. I had a hard time keeping them straight, as both are such minor characters translated from the original. In fact, you might even want to combine them into one, as Beau hardly gets any screen time. He’s mentioned once in a passing in chapter 3, he has a short appearance at the end of chapter 3, he’s mentioned again in chapter 5, and he’s mentioned in chapter 11, which refers back to that moment in chapter 4 when he takes Roz into the gym to see the wrestling tryouts, except he’s never actually named in chapter 4, so I didn’t know that was him until chapter 11. He’s just called a kid Orlando recognizes. And that’s all of his appearances.
3. And lastly, I think your romance arc works well. It’s as cute and funny and cheesy as the original and so very teenage-y. My best idea for replacing the marriage and creating a high school happily-ever-after would be to have Orlando ask Roz out during that final shopping mall scene. He could do it in some silly, poetic way to match his character. And it could be some upcoming school event like a winter banquet or something to keep it meaningful within their school culture/setting. That way, as you finish up that last chapter, they’re a “thing” going forward. That would give them that same kind of trajectory as in the original but without a lifelong commitment in 12th grade…
Additional Projects
The following gallery contains additional projects I have worked on for Lia London.
