Fiction Editing
You start with an idea: the kernel of a premise, a voice, or a setting that feels promising. So, you sit down to write—and then you work for months, or more likely years, typically in private, trying to bring that idea to life.
Along the way, it’s easy to lose all sense of perspective. You suspect the plot sags near the middle of the book, but wouldn’t changing it mean you then have to rewrite the beginning and the end? The pacing: too slow, or too fast? You have a crystal-clear vision of the novel’s world, but you fear at this point you may know it too well. Have you done enough for your readers to imagine the world as you do, or are you assuming too much? Is there a narrative hook here? Do you even need one?
Is what you’ve written. . . any good?
Then there are the external pressures: readers, agents, and markets. Maybe you shared the novel with a few trusted friends, only to find that they all have different reactions to your ending, none of which add up to a cohesive revision plan. You know a fresh, objective read is in order, but you don’t know who you can trust to be honest with you. Or perhaps initial feedback has been dispiriting, and you wish you had a supportive, workshop-like space to meaningfully wrestle with the criticism.
Your agent worries the novel tilts too far into a genre that isn’t selling, or too closely resembles a book everybody’s already read. Perhaps the publishers you reached out to were encouraging but stopped short of a definite yes, for reasons you don’t fully understand. Or maybe you’re a second-time novelist whose first book didn’t do as well as you’d hoped, and it feels like a strong developmental edit is your last shot to get this right.
What we do
We strive to be every author’s ideal reader, and to engage with every piece of fiction on its own terms. We’ll help you identify the primary needs of your novel, view your story in ways you might not have before, and break the revision down into a series of manageable steps. We believe the best fiction edits are both warm and incisive, encouraging an author’s inherent talents of imagination while identifying clear steps for improvement. Wherever you are in the process, our ultimate goal is to make the prospect of writing feel exciting rather than daunting, through guidance that feels generative rather than restrictive.
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Submit your opening 50 pages to receive focused feedback on whether your voice is compelling, your premise is enticing, and your early narrative beats are laying the foundation for a truly engaging read. Are the characters, themes, and genre elements you’ve introduced resonating? What structural advice, specific to your story, should you keep in mind as you write deeper into the novel?
Critical to this early feedback is our understanding that writing a novel requires creative exploration—in the world of fiction, taking two steps forward often means taking one step back. We never want to deprive you of that exploratory mindset or prescribe a vision of a book that doesn’t feel like your own. Instead, we approach early feedback as co-brainstormers who want to set you up with the greatest possible chance of success.
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For authors with a complete (or nearly complete) manuscript, we offer a full novel read and a one-hour phone call to discuss your work. With this read, our aim is to provide you with big-picture insight into the reading experience you’ve created, through the eyes of publishing professionals. In the grand scheme of the novel, what’s impressing your readers and what’s not? What are the broad contours of the manuscript’s strengths and weaknesses?
An initial read is especially useful for authors who need fresh perspective on their work, either because they haven’t yet shared their work with others or because they’re feeling overwhelmed by too many conflicting voices. It’s also an efficient way to determine whether our vision of the book would align with yours if we were to continue working together.
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After our initial read and conversation, we offer more detailed, comprehensive feedback in the form of an editorial letter. Typically 5–10 pages, this letter identifies the strengths of your novel and areas for improvement with greater specificity. Is the plot coherent and satisfying? Are your characters and settings convincingly depicted? Are the best features of your authorial voice coming through on the page? By the end of the letter, you’ll have a clear sense of what’s working and what’s not, and a set of practical, process-oriented steps to guide you through your next revision effort, along with writing advice tailored to your own style and goals.
With the editorial letter and an accompanying one-hour follow-up call, we strive to capture the most useful, most rewarding aspects of the best writing workshop you’ve ever participated in, and to stand out as the supportive but sharp collaborators you’ve been looking for.
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Though some novelists are content to work in solitude, most others benefit from knowing they have a reliable team in their corner. After an editorial letter, we can continue to support you through the revision process by helping you set goals, discuss roadblocks, and read pages when you’d like feedback. We also help writers navigate the trickiest parts of their revision with structured writing assignments that turn what may feel like unwieldy challenges of worldbuilding, plot, voice, and character into trackable, bite-sized tasks. These assignments make the process of writing your novel collaborative and iterative, with more frequent opportunities to check in, test new ideas, and, if needed, correct course.
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We offer close line edits of working manuscripts, typically reserved for authors who are in the later stages of drafting and feel prepared to address the sentence-level concerns of their book. Is your prose as enticing as you hoped it would be? Are your sentences offering your readers enough surprise and depth? Is the cadence of your scenes satisfying and well-paced? Are you keeping your readers engaged through each turn of the page, or is there connective fluff that could be sharpened? We’ll start with about 25 manuscript pages before you commit to a full line edit, to ensure our editorial approach matches your hopes for the novel.
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We have a real appreciation for the short story: an important launchpad for emerging writers, the genre of choice for plenty of experienced authors, and an impressive art form in its own right. For writers with a single short story they hope to publish, or for MFA fiction applicants looking to improve their writing samples, our short story package includes reading notes, line edits, and a 30-minute phone call to discuss your story. Together, we’ll assess and strengthen the imaginative and craft elements of your story to ensure you’re connecting with your intended audience and making the best possible use of the short story form.
Note: We treat short story collections as full manuscripts, covered by our other services.
“Chaz has an extraordinary ability to see what my story is trying to become, even when I can’t see it myself. His editorial process combines insight, sensitivity, and structural precision—protecting me from blind spots while elevating every aspect of the work. If writing fiction is a high-wire act, Chaz is the safety net that makes me feel safe putting my work out in the world.”
— Todd Gilbert, 30-year film industry veteran and author of the upcoming novel Prelude to Power
Verto’s Fiction Program
As Director of Fiction, Chaz Curet combines extensive craft training with years of experience editing across storytelling genres and styles. He earned his MFA in Fiction at Syracuse University, where he studied fiction writing, narrative technique, and story structure under true literary giants. While there, he taught undergraduate fiction writing, which, along with his previous teaching experiences, informs his editorial philosophy today: he takes pride in not just improving the manuscript at hand, but helping authors discover opportunities to elevate their craft and expand their artistic range. Prior to joining Verto, he managed the editorial projects of Plympton, a digital publisher, where he helped hundreds of authors—including winners of prominent book prizes and short story awards—bring their fiction titles to life. He is especially drawn to narratives that are ambitious in scope or daring in form—making him the ideal editor for fiction that challenges literary conventions, upmarket commercial work that blends genres, and novels that defy easy classification.
Beyond producing a novel that surpasses even your own expectations, our greatest possible win is for you to also feel that you’re becoming a stronger and more assured writer along the way. One of the strengths that Verto offers your project is that our full-team, collaborative approach means that you will receive the benefit not just of our fiction expertise but also our knowledge of nonfiction writing—from structural ideas for how your narrative might unfold, to thoughts on how to solve for the tricky middle act, to guidance on rigorous character development, to suggestions on research that will enrich your writing. We bring all of our combined experience to your project, in other words, to help you be the best fiction writer you can be.
Is Verto Right for Your Project?
Decades of experience; expect a response within two days.