Consulting

Welcome to my Consulting page!

I offer editing, consulting, and development for writing projects, primarily fiction and memoir.

With over twenty years of experience as a teacher of English and creative writing at Yale University, Bread Loaf School of English, and Stanford University, I love the chance to work one-on-one with writers of all ages and at all levels.

As your editor, I strive to help you make your work the best it can be, within the goals you have created for it. Whether you’re immersed in your first short story, or your fifth novel, whether you simply want to get your toes wet, or polish a full manuscript, I attempt to inhabit your work, and to understand it from the inside, as I help you see what could fulfill its internal promise.

You are welcome to email me for more information at hschessman@gmail.com. I will be glad to offer you an estimate for a specific project. I would be grateful if you could include a short description of your project, plus the first 5 pages, if you have them.

Thank you so much for contacting me! I wish you all the best on your path as a writer.

“Harriet Scott Chessman is simply without equal in her literary insight, kindness, generosity, and wisdom. She is both learned and intuitive, and her comments—of any length or depth—help writers of all abilities see their work more clearly. She doesn’t so much tell you how to move your project forward as show you that the path was right there all along, waiting for you. She is the perfect teacher, guide and mentor. Those who seek her counsel are lucky indeed.”

—Ann Packer, Author of The Dive from Clausen’s Pier , The Children’s Crusade , Swim Back to Me and more

“Harriet Scott Chessman knows exactly how to bring out the best in your writing. She has a perfectly attuned ear for voice and dialogue and character, and the uncanny ability to know where you are trying to go with your writing (even before you might actually know yourself), and then to show you how to get there. Even more important, she is inspiring—she makes you believe in yourself as a writer. I never would have published my novel, if it were not for her. ”

—Maud Carol Markson, Author of Looking After Pigeon and When We Get Home

“Harriet Chessman’s unique combination of high standards and unfailing support makes her a rock-solid guide for your prose and a balm for your writerly soul.”

—Leslie Berlin, Author of The Man Behind the Microchip

“Harriet is an amazing, sensitive writer, editor and academic. She could be both critical and exceptionally supportive of my writing – in a way that I remained passionate to continue. I will never forget her wonderful comment, ‘Göte, I see another book in you!'”

—Göte Nyman, author of Perceptions of a Camino and more; professor of psychology at University of Helsinki, Finland