Want some professional, constructive feedback on your novel or story?

Helen Cooper and Phillip Irving offer structural and sentence-level feedback to help you improve your writing, maximise the potential of your story, and tackle everything from plot holes to pacing issues.

Who are we?

Helen Cooper is the author of three psychological suspense novels, THE DOWNSTAIRS NEIGHBOUR, THE OTHER GUEST, and the forthcoming THE COUPLE IN THE PHOTO. She is published by Hodder & Stoughton in the UK and Putnam & Sons in the US. Her debut novel was a Sunday Times Crime Club pick and one of Woman & Home's 'Best Thrillers of 2021.'

She has also had short fiction published in Woman, Mslexia, Writers' Forum, the Lincolnshire Echo, and on the Crime Readers' Association website. She was shortlisted for the Bath Short Story Award in 2014 and came third in the Leicester Writes Short Story Prize in 2018.

She is a qualified English teacher with an MA in Creative Writing, and has also co-authored two non-fiction books on Academic Writing for students. She is currently the Secretary of Leicester Writers' Club.

Phillip Irving specialises in Science Fiction, Fantasy, Speculative Fiction and satire. He has been published by Flame Tree Press and Space Cat Press and was featured in the Best of British Science Fiction 2021.

He is a member of the British Fantasy Society (BFS) and British Science Fiction Society (BSFS) and has been part of the judging panel for the BFS's prestigious novella and short story awards.

He is a qualified teacher with over 16 years' experience of teaching English and Creative Writing; a former President of Leicester Writers' Club; and a founding member of the Leicester Speculators.

What do we offer?

We will review your work in progress and provide detailed, constructive feedback. This will come in the form of comments throughout the text, and a summary of our overall thoughts at the end. We will focus on plot, structure, style, character development and pacing to help you take your story to the next level. If you are aiming to get your work published, we can also advise on ways to make it more commercially appealing. Our combined experience means we can advise on most genres and forms, though we will discuss this with you first to ensure we're the right people to help you.

If we read the beginning of your piece and decide we're unable to help you any further, we will provide some free feedback on our initial impressions of your first 2000 words, as well as suggestions for your next steps.

We are always happy to talk about your needs and what you want to get out of this process, prior to making any commitments. Please contact us at helencooperwriter@outlook.com.

How much does it cost?

This depends on your word count and the nature of your manuscript. Please email us at the above address for a quote!