First-time writers – and not-so-first-time writers – often have great ideas for stories and jump right into them, pouring out pages upon pages. Once they come to the end, they look at the screen or the page and say, “Now what?”

They know that they love words and that they love to tell stories, but the writers may not be able to analyze their work to check for:

o sentimental writing
o overwriting
o clichéd writing
o powerful, first chapter punch
o tightly woven story arc
o holes in storyline
o camping and marching in a story
o developed characters

I am now offering manuscript evaluation services to help in developing your story as A STORY, one that is strong from beginning to end.

A manuscript evaluation includes the following:
o a read-through of your work (electronic or hard copy), looking at the above bullted issues to analyze your submission as a literary work; if you submit electronically, I will use the TRACK CHANGES and COMMENTS features in Microsoft Word; if you submit a hard copy, I will mark the manuscript

o assessing glaring grammatical, sentence-level, and story-level errors that hinder the work

o a written manuscript evaluation (to see template of manuscript evaluation form, click HERE)

Types of Works Evaluated**
o Submission Package Evaluation – (one- to two-week turnaround, depending on size) – if you have the first three chapters of your book, a query letter, and a synopsis, and you believe you’re ready to send it out to potential agents and editors, this evaluation will check for story structure and also offer copy editing and proofreading of material.

o Query Letter Evaluation – (three- to five-day turnaround) – there are key components needed in a query letter. The letter will be read for format, structure, “punch,” and grammatical/mechanical issues.

o Synopsis Evaluation – (week turnaround) – the Synopsis Evaluation will analyze the synopsis’ structure, development, and grammatical/mechanical issues.

o Complete Manuscripts up to 80k – (three- to five-week turnaround)

o Complete Manuscripts from 80k to 100k – (four- to six-week turnaround)

**If you wish to receive quotes for your project, please e-mail me at sdb6812@hotmail.com, and in the e-mail, tell me a bit about your project.

About Shonell Bacon

Shonell Bacon is the co-author of LuvAlwayz: The Opposite Sex & Relationships and Draw Me with Your Love, both published by Strebor Books/Simon & Schuster. She is also the author of the erotic story, “1-800-Hot-Talk,” published in the popular anthology, Chocolate Flava, published by Simon & Schuster/Atria. Though writing is Shonell’s first love, academia is a close second. She has received her BS in Communication Arts, MA in Mass Communication, and MFA/MA in creative writing (fiction) and English, respectively. Currently, Shonell lives in Lake Charles, Louisiana, where she battles fragments, comma splices, and essays in the freshman composition courses she teaches as instructor at the local university.

If you would like to learn more about Shonell, please check out her vita by clicking HERE.