About Will Bennett Editing

I have worked as a professional editor for literary agents for over a decade. Before this career destination, I wrote the critically acclaimed Off-Broadway play Corporate Rock among others, and produced the Off-Broadway cult hit Fatal Attraction: A Greek Tragedy, starring Corey Feldman. I have an MA in Writing for Performance from the University of London. I also worked as a journalist in NYC, and taught creative writing at the University of Virginia, where I earned an MFA in Fiction Writing.

The written word first “clicked” for me in one of Deborah Eisenberg’s workshops at the University of Virginia’s MFA program. "This is what is needed: specificity and accuracy in every word and every sentence from the ground up." Pick up one of her short stories if you want an example of what that looks like. While macro structure is critically important in a novel or narrative non-fiction, if the line-by-line prose isn’t doing its job, the big picture won't connect with your audience – you are trying to build a house without a foundation. In short, that’s how I approach each of my client’s manuscripts – to make sure every sentence is doing exactly what the writer intends. That ranges from anything as large as content to something as small as punctuation. I also believe that the most direct and efficient way to say something is usually best, unless the writer has a compelling stylistic reason to go the other way. Once those two criteria are met, I look at the big picture to make sure that the structure, tone, and narrative of the manuscript are working in exactly the same fashion.

My clients say I’m thorough, and I take pride in my assiduous approach – it helps my clients create something that they’re proud of as well. Writing is tough work. There’s nothing I can or should do to sugar coat that, but it is my job to provide content and line edits that my clients can process and apply. Writing can also be rewarding work – both personally and financially – and it’s also my job to help my clients achieve those rewards and to provide support and encouragement in what can at times be an isolating endeavor.