"Some editors try to impose their own style and taste upon a writer's work. Ray doesn't. His job is to make you the best writer you can be. He has an eagle eye for plot inconsistencies--the minor (and sometimes, major) goofs that make a reader stumble. His suggestions were invariably helpful in polishing my manuscript. I recommend Ray to any writer who wants a professional, sharp, and considerate editor."

Lynn Knight
Author of House of Dreams

“Ray Rhamey critiqued my manuscript and provided line edits for the first chapter of my first novel. But when I say critiqued, what he really did was get in my characters' heads and tried to make sense of what they were doing. He went well beyond grammatical and consistency corrections, and tried to find what every reader wants from a novel: clear motivation and satisfactory resolution. New to fiction writing, I had to dig down deep and become one with my characters, exploring every aspect of their thought processes. Ray brought my writing to a new level, and I am most grateful. “

Jennifer Karin

“I'm quite stunned really because your edit and advice are so utterly fantastic! I paid for an edit of a different novel a few years ago and was thoroughly disappointed, but you really hit the mark with everything you said (and you spotted straight away one of my main weaknesses: scene-setting - I can see it in my head and struggle to get it onto the page!). I was really blown away.

Keris Stainton
author of My OK! Life

“What should I thank you for the most? Being always there for me to hammer you with questions? Encouraging and coaching me? Teaching me the ropes in a way no business-weary pro would? Going way beyond our agreement and your duties just to make sure everything was the best it could be? Giving me fair and blunt criticism at all times? Suggesting ways to fix the many problems you pointed out?

No. That would be incomplete. It would only recognize you as the professional editor that you are.

I want to thank you for making polishing my book--given the shape of the first draft, a daunting and apparently impossible job--a real pleasure.

Georges Melhem, Antelias, Lebanon
Author of Brotherland

"Ray Rhamey pays attention. In going through my novel manuscript, he invested more work, more expertise and more insight than I have learned to expect from editors. His observations on everything from sentence construction to story line showed me where I wasn't doing what I intended. His suggestions were helpful in simplifying the narrative and isolating problems. He was able to see where I was saying too much and where I had said too little. He brought my attention to factual details that needed research. He spotted lazy word usage. He kept me aware of the work's strengths as well as its weaknesses.

In short, Ray brought understanding, curiosity and a broad competence to his task. I was paid to edit for a number of years, and I fully recognize the focus and intensity that Ray gives to the job."

Richard Patrick Gibbons
Author of Tejocote

Sharpen your manuscript before an edit

“You have really started something! I'm into a whole major re-write of the first 150 pages of my book. But I'm enjoying it! I've taken a critical look at each chapter and I'm working on ramping up the tension in each chapter, and lots of new ideas have suggested themselves as I play with the plot. (I haven't gotten anywhere near writing the new chapters to fix the "deux ex machina" problem.) It's probably going to take me another 6 months.

I am so glad that I did the edit--it was money well spent and a real education working with a professional. You helped greatly in every single area--from grammar to characterization to plotting.

Renee Yancy
Aisling's Tale

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