darren a nash editorial services

darren nash

Darren Nash is a freelance editor with more than twenty-five years of experience in commercial publishing with multinational houses in Australia and the UK. His editorial experience embraces time with major British SF imprints Orbit and, most recently, Gollancz, where he was responsible for launching the SF Gateway classic SF ebook programme and the third edition of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Books he has edited have won or been shortlisted for major genre awards including the Aurealis, Ditmar, Philip K. Dick, Hugo and Arthur C. Clarke Awards.

why choose darren nash?

Darren offers developmental editing, structural editing, manuscript reports, line editing and brainstorming sessions. He specialises in helping you make your story and characters entertaining, internally logical and a pleasure to read. Having worked in marketing and sales as well as editorial, his expertise does not stop with the structure and quality of your manuscript but extends to the publishing and marketing possibilities beyond.

services

  • developmental edit

    ‘Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four of them sharpening the axe.’

    more

  • structural edit

    ‘If in act one you have a pistol hanging on the wall, then it must be fired by the last act.’

    more

  • manuscript report

    ‘Ye cannae change the laws o’ physics.’

    more

  • line edit

    ‘You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.’

    more

  • sounding board

    Do you need to get your characters to Rivendell but you just can’t think of a way to get them out of Bree alive?

    more

books edited include …

  • The Dragon’s Path by Daniel Abraham

    The Dragon’s Path

    FROM THE CO-AUTHOR OF ‘THE EXPANSE’ SERIES

  • The Magician’s Apprentice by Trudi Canavan

    The Magician’s Apprentice

    WINNER OF THE AUREALIS AWARD FOR BEST FANTASY NOVEL

  • The Petrovitch Triogy by Simon Morden

    The Petrovitch Triogy

    WINNER OF THE PHILIP K. DICK AWARD

  • The Terry Pratchett Diary

    The Terry Pratchett Diary

    TRIBUTES TO THE LATE GREAT TERRY PRATCHETT

testimonials

  • ‘Darren is a wonderful editor - he really gets SF and is great fun to work with!’

    Trudi Canavan, bestselling author of The Black Magician Trilogy

  • ‘Darren Nash was my editor through a four-book space opera series entitled The Sentients of Orion. Three of the books were shortlisted for national awards, and the final book won an Aurealis Award in 2010. Darren was the most insightful, gracious, and talented editor I have worked with, and I truly believe the series would not have been as successful without him. His knowledge of the speculative fiction genre is comprehensive and nuanced. I couldn’t recommend him more highly.’

    Marianne de Pierres, Aurealis Award-winning author of The Sentients of Orion

  • ‘A good editor can mean the difference between your manuscript finding a publisher, or being relegated to the top shelf of your wardrobe. Darren Nash is one of the best. His love for genre fiction and his many years in the publishing industry worldwide means that he has the experience to advise a writer and develop their skills so they produce the best possible manuscript. As an author who benefited from his input and advice, I can recommend Darren to anyone who needs an exceptional editor.’

    Glenda Larke, author of thirteen novels; winner of the Ditmar, Tin Duck & Sara Douglass Aurealis Awards

  • ‘The best editors are those who get what you’re trying to do in a story and challenge you when you’re not doing it. Also, they inculcate habits that make you better as a writer. Darren exemplified both these traits. Working with him was a pleasure, and an education. Experience both before and since has taught me that this is far from being a given.’

    M. R. Carey, bestselling author of The Girl With All the Gifts

    full testimonial here

  • ‘If you leave aside the nuts and bolts of words on a page and dialogue all in the right order, editing is 90% about bridging the gap between what a writer intends to do, and what a reader will actually see. It is about how you use knowledge and craft as a tool to fire not just your imagination, but the minds of anyone who reads your work. To see a story from every side and understand that there are a thousand ways of telling it ... this is the editor’s art and Darren has it in spades. ’

    Claire North, World Fantasy Award-winning author of The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August

    full testimonial here

  • ‘It’s hard enough to get an agent or publisher without submitting a less-than script. Darren Nash has worked with many of genre’s best writers. He can tell you what works, and equally importantly what doesn’t. He can also line edit your work to give you the best chance of success.'

    Jon Courtenay Grimwood, BSFA Award-wining author of the Arabesk and Assassini trilogies

  • ‘Darren Nash is a great editor to work with. He knows the field, he knows editing at every level, and he gets to know you as a writer. He can coax a good idea out of a conversation and thin air and (if you're very lucky) a Belgian beer. Then he'll go on to make sure you give the idea your best shot. That's the tricky bit, and there he shines.’

    Ken MacLeod, BSFA Award-winning author of Learning the World