EDITING

 in clients’ words, Michelle Elvy edits with…

experience ~ precision ~ compassion ~ flexibility ~ empathy ~ humour ~ integrity ~ insight ~ dedication ~ sensitivity 

Michelle’s experience varies from magazine articles and travel writing to very short fiction and novel-length manuscripts. Trained as a historian and a university lecturer, Michelle has edited texts in educational, corporate, fiction and creative non-fiction for print journals, e-zines and book-length collections. She works as a mentor and private tutor with a range of writers who have a range of goals.

Recently, Michelle has edited collections of short stories and poetry, a historical project straddling fact and fiction, an Aotearoa novella, a Te Araroa memoir, a dark meander up a speculative-world Waikato, a series of young adult adventure novels, a nonfiction sailing adventure, a philosophical rumination on love, a rollicking ride through South America, and several flash fiction and prose poetry collections.

Michelle edits in US, British and Aotearoa New Zealand English, according to the needs of clients and target audience. Having lived in the US, Europe, Canada, Mexico, Southeast Asia, East Africa and the South Pacific, she is adept at language and versatile in her approach to modern English. She is also fluent in German with working knowledge of Spanish and French, should that be of significance to your project.

 

Recent assessments / edits

Kim Rangiaonui Logan, KIM: A Journey Between Two Worlds (memoir; Ugly Hill Press, 2025)

Kiri Lightfoot, Bear (YA novel; Allen & Unwin, 2024)

Alan Goodwin, The Green Lyon (novel; Quentin Wilson, 2024)

Andrea Hotere, The Vanishing Point (novel; Ultimo Press, 2023)

David Trubridge, The Other Way (memoir; Trubridge, 2022)

Tina Shaw, Ephemeral (novel; Cloud Ink, 2020)

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If you have a short story, novel, memoir, collection or series you’d like Michelle to review, please get in touch.

Michelle works individually and carefully with each author, at a pace and rate specifically mapped out according to individual needs and desires. From an overview assessment to a more thorough structural and content edit, Michelle will work with you efficiently and effectively, and with good humour. The story is yours, and her role as editor is to help you create the best possible story you can tell.

Michelle examines documents or manuscripts with detached yet passionate interest; she is both sounding board and advisor as new ideas emerge, and she’s a tough assessor when it comes to seeing the forest and/or the trees when they’re all too close for a writer. Because she’s a writer herself, Michelle appreciates how essential it is to have a good working relationship with an editor – and how essential it is for an editor to recognise the voice and style of a writer.

Fluent in German and adept at other languages, Michelle has a natural feel for rhythm and phrasing. In both her own writing and her approach to editing, Michelle views language with precision and creativity.  Michelle encourages writers to approach their work with intelligence and a sense of play.  Language should be taken seriously, but writers should gain serious enjoyment from their craft.