Melissa || 🌻✨Fiction Editor

Hi #WritingCommunity I thought I'd re-introduce myself! I’m Melissa—a queer and neurodivergent Fiction Editor living in 🇨🇦 I spent over three years working for PRH and now own my own editing company where I get to do the thing I love most: read! Also, this is my dog.

@JennLeeWriting This sounds sooo good.

DON'T LET THE FOREST IN x BENT NECK LADY When Simone dreamt of The Drowning Girl she didn’t know she was seeing her Cousin's murder They call her The East River Wraith A vengeful ghost who drowns deserving boys—but Nina might take her rage out on the wrong boy #PitDark #YA #H

A teen outcast from a secret line of Irish plant magicians must harness newfound powers to protect herself from a poison-wielding ancestor who hunts her family across time. 🍄 Plant magic 🌿Poisons + elixirs 💌 Romance subplot 🎂 Magical baking #amquerying #GhostPit #ya

The dead speak at Innisawen University of Occult Sciences. For one skeptic, answers may rest in a cosmic bargain with a disgraced sorcerer whose web of lies grows tighter by the day. Unfortunately, falling in love with him wasn’t part of the deal. #PitDark #A #DR #DF

…ANYWAY I am surprise opening to queries from underrepresented/marginalized writers ONLY! If you’re an underrepresented writer and think we would be a good fit, use this link to query me! 🤩 QueryTracker.net/query/AlexBrow…

@mokb444 If it was based solely on merit the publishing industry wouldn’t be made up of predominantly white/cis/straight/able-bodied men and women.

If you feel rejected as a white, straight cis person, this is part of the problem. Agents aren’t "rejecting" you, they’re creating space so marginalized stories, ignored for decades, can finally be heard in an industry predominately made of straight/white/cis voices.

@andrewcareaga It’s still there as far as I know. This was the post I was responding to.

@MelDurston What happened to the original post?

"You look happier." Thanks, I left traditional publishing and started my own business as a Fiction Editor. I now work with NYT, USA Today, and indie authors and I've never looked back.

@AmeliaGThorn Ahhh, thank you!! ☺️

@MelDurston my jaw dropped so fast I got carpet burn because OMG that first line is INCREDIBLE Melissa

@Lavishrareness That’s so kind! Thank you!!

@lexduncan 👀👀

@MelDurston 👀👀

@joyful_joy5 That we do! 🥰

@MelDurston This sounds absolutely fabulous and I’m in love! Seems like we have very similar tastes! 😎🙌

@RachelxRussell I got you. 👀

@MelDurston oh i NEED this!

@itsrisachang Thank you! 🥹

@MelDurston oh GOSH this sounds amazing!!! my eyes are so open rn

One of the best things you can do for your craft as a writer is read. Read outside your genre. Read outside what comforts you. Challenge your biases. Challenge your taste. Ask questions. See what is/isn't working. Learn from it all and then put it to practice. #WritingCommunity

@RichardAHJr Yes! I loved what I read of yours ☺️

@MelDurston Like a lgbtq retelling of this?

Would love to connect with any authors writing horror, thrillers, or spec fiction. In fact, the weirder the better my friends 🍄‍🟫🍂🤎

When I couldn't sleep last night (insomnia), the last thing I expected was to write an entire short story about the cannibalization of grief, and a boy who carries it too long, too deep—until it curls inside his ribs, and the river feeds on him instead. 🤷‍♀️

Being a 🇨🇦 editor, I know how rough the exchange rate can be. In light of recent events, I’m matching my USD prices for Canadian authors on manuscript evaluations. Just a little way to make things easier. If that helps, let’s connect. #WritingCommunity #ElbowsUp

For #amquerying authors, if you’re unsure if it’s the query or the pages, I’m a fiction editor who previously worked for PRH and would be happy to review your materials! 🖋️ Feel free to DM me for a price list! ✨

Editing tip—before the catalyst hits, you need the calm before the weird. Readers should see your character’s flawed norm. Not just their routine, but how they navigate their world, what they believe, etc. Let the reader settle in *before* you pull the rug out. #WritingCommunity