Classes & Editing

 
Ellen with many pages, many pens

Writing Classes

Since 2011, I’ve been teaching creative writing to adults and teens, and have seen students take their writing to the next level, and then the next and the next. It’s been both a joy and an inspiration.

My philosophy is that every writer can improve. As a teacher, I help my students understand their greatest strengths, and identify the areas that need work. I don’t tell anyone how to write. And, aside from providing creative prompts, I don’t tell anyone what to write. Rather, I give students the tools they need to develop a critical eye for their own work, so they can keep rising. 

I currently teach small, intensive writing workshops via Zoom for intermediate to advanced writers. My students are people interested in digging in to do the work necessary to improve. They’re also respectful and generous workshoppers, and learn a great deal from critiquing their fellow students’ work. These classes offer a lot of individual attention. 

If you’re interested in more information, please drop me a line and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.


 

Editorial Services

I offer individuals a range of personally-tailored editorial services, including:

  • Coaching and Mentoring – Whether you're in the early or later stages of book development, I can work with you one-on-one as a teacher and editor, helping you reach your writing and publishing goals.

  • Developmental editing – If you’d like big picture input on your story, characters and pacing—as well as the marketability of your work—I can help.

  • Line editing – This type of editing focuses on language usage. So when your work is near completion but you’d like input on individual sentences and paragraphs, I can make those corrections and suggestions.

  • Copyediting – When your work is very nearly ready to submit, but you’d like corrections on grammar, punctuation, repetition, and inconsistencies, inquire about copyediting.

  • Query letters – As the “query whisperer,” I’ve helped many writers get the attention of literary agents.

  • Ghostwriting – I have extensive experience writing books for clients. Your privacy is always respected.


Many writers require a combination of these services, and I’m happy to provide a free and confidential consultation to discuss your needs and my prices. For more information, use the contact form or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Praise from students

"I've been studying in Ellen's advanced class for almost four years. My writing has grown enormously and I now feel confident to submit for publication. If you want a small workshop with specific, technical feedback from an accomplished author, this is the place."  – Jayne P.

"It's always a pleasure and an inspiration to be part of Ellen's writing workshops.  Her critiques are on-point as she makes superb suggestions that help transform submissions into powerful and deeply emotional stories.  Ellen always gets her critiques across in both a gentle yet effective way.  She is encouraging and enthusiastic with every idea that she shares.  I always look forward to Ellen's workshops." – Ruth E.

"Ellen understands how to encourage, fuel and deepen her students writing, and gently directs her students to find their own writing voice. She has a unique ability to bring out the best of all different types of writing , and has volumes of information to share about her craft. She finds great joy in sharing her knowledge and I have grown tremendously as a writer since having the pleasure to attend her workshops and college courses." - Melissa M.

"What a treasure to find an author who so generously shares her writing skills and insightful critique with her students. Ellen’s class has helped me grow as a writer in a wonderfully supportive environment." 
- Madeleine G. 

"Ellen has proven to be an insightful and elegant editor. Her knack for story is top notch and she is ready with a gentle suggestion to help you illuminate your story. In each class I’ve taken with her, she has helped me to bring my writing to the next level. If you are in need of direction, or would like to step up your game, look no further. " - K. Shaffar

Praise from clients

“Ellen is not only a thoughtful, witty author who creates memorable characters, but she understands how to articulate the writing process, which is a rare gift. I spent years in workshops and received an MFA in creative writing and yet working on my novel one-on-one with Ellen is the best writing classroom I’ve ever encountered. It’s like Ellen is inside your head helping alleviate the doubts as well as guiding you through the very painstaking decisions of what to leave in and what to leave out in the storytelling process. She has both the macro big-picture perspective as well as a micro level detail being able to help me construct better sentences and perfect interior monologues than I truly had yet to see another writer share. She’s a wonderful, generous writing coach.”  – Mary Ellen Walsh

"A first-time author, I came to Ellen Meister for advice on how to improve a rough draft of my novel. She showed me how to deepen my characters and how to build tension within the plot. Ellen also taught me how to strengthen my writing, position my novel, and ready the manuscript for official submission. In the time that I have worked with her, Ellen has become a true mentor, advising also on the nuances of querying as well as how to begin navigating the agency/publishing landscape.  Having completed Ellen’s recommended revisions, I’ve had five agents offer full manuscript reads, and I look forward officially thanking her as a published author. I highly recommend Ellen Meister to any author looking to take their project to the next level." – Lauren Anderson, Aspiring Author

I thought I’d written a good story. Ellen’s editing made it bettermore compelling and a lot more interesting. Many thanks to Ellen Meister for helping make my novel ready for publishing. She was like literary hairspray sprinkled on my unwieldy manuscript.” – Ivan Debel, author of Solar Jihad

"When I embarked on my book journey, I was very excited to write a bold themed novel. I managed complete a manuscript without any knowledge of the book industry. I sent several queries and was rejected but with positive feedback that I didn’t how to incorporate into a new revision. My novel was short at 40K words and even though I had plotted out new chapters to increase the word count I was insecure on how to make them align with my original story. My novel had flatlined. I began to search for editors and that’s when the universe brought Ellen and I together. I was very excited for her positive feedback and ability to fully understand my complicated story. Ellen motivated me as an author and brought my novel back to life through amazing editing and understanding the message I wanted to convey. I would highly recommend Ellen not only as an editor but as a mentor. She’s someone I admire and would like to work with for all my future novels.” - K. Langers