The Bent Light Mission:

Words have power. We have a responsibility when using them.

A topic may be hard to look at, but this doesn’t mean it should be avoided or hidden—represent it well, make it accessible to all, and show it in its truth.

Above anything else, this is the mission of Bent Light Writing.

If we have one reader or millions, as writers, the work we put out collectively shapes the human narrative. We have a responsibility to make sure that this work is solid in heart, accessibility, and intention. Bent Light Writing prides itself on not only editing the narrative and individual lines of stories but also challenging authors to find exactly what it is they’re trying to say.

Up until recently, Phoenix has been performing the editing services on his own. However, after growing rapidly over the last two years, Bent Light Writing is currently in the process of expanding, adding other like-minded authors, editors, and authenticity readers to help offer world-class editing and manuscript coaching.

We’re here to raise the standard of storytelling.

 
 

FAQ:

  • Bent Light Writing started on Fiverr. Here you can read many, many more reviews and a bit more about Phoenix.
    Fiverr Profile.

  • We offer everything to help take your manuscript from draft zero to ready for layout.

    • Beta Reading

    • Developmental Editing

    • Line Editing

    • Copyediting

    • Proofreading

    Note: We plan to have layout services on offer soon—we’re currently testing it out.

  • Simply click “Get a custom editing plan” above!

    Someone will be in touch shortly to talk through your manuscript’s editing history and any intentions you have moving forward.

    From here, we’ll design an editing plan for you. This is a customized, step-by-step editing agenda to help you get the most out of the services and optimize price—based on what is most applicable to you.

    The idea is to create a clear way forward, all the way to the finish.

    Editing can be a lengthy process, and potentially difficult to navigate if you're approaching it for the first time. This is why we like to lay the path, as much as we can, ahead of time.

    Once you have your plan, you can chop and change it depending on what you feel most inspired to do—the plan is our jumping-off point.
    You can even take your editing plan and approach another editor with it; it’s yours to do what you like with, even if that means not working with Bent Light Writing.

 

Services Breakdown:

  • Looking for quick feedback on a piece of work early in the drafting phase? This is what we recommend. One of our editors will read through your work and highlight the major pieces that are or aren’t working. No editing is done on the manuscript itself unless the editor should decide to demonstrate something. This style of editing is designed to be quick and cheap to help you move forward with your first draft.

  • Finished with your first draft and ready to get into the meat of the editing process? We recommend this style of editing. Developmental editing is a deep dive into the high-level story elements: plot, character, voice, tone, pace, etc. Structural rewrite suggestions and section rewrite suggestions will be made on the manuscript, and you’ll be provided with a detailed written report breaking down the various story elements and providing explanations for some of the more prevalent suggestions made on the manuscript.

    The intention is to help get the story, as a whole, feeling stable, with all the major pieces flowing together, before diving into the more fine-grained levels of editing.

  • Have you already gone through a round of developmental editing, or maybe you already feel confident in the structure of your story? This style of editing is for you.

    The editor will go through, line by line, editing the wording of the individual sentences seeking to increase flow, readability, impact, and adjust any awkward wording.

    Line editing is not to be confused with copyediting. While copyediting’s primary focus is to address punctuation and grammar, line editing seeks to give the wording the extra push it needs to leap off the page.

  • Is your story feeling stable and potent, but you feel the punctuation is shaky and inconsistent, not conforming to a set pattern? This style of editing is for you.

    With copyediting, the editor will look at the region you’re writing for, as well as your personal style preferences, and create a style guide based on industry standards, applying them uniformly to your work and bringing everything beautifully in line.

    We’ll consider every comma.

  • Throughout the editing process, it’s not uncommon for some things to slip through here and there. Even highly-popular commercial works will have the odd typo here and there. Proofreading serves as a final check of the work—quality assurance. The editor will go through and adjust for punctuation, grammar, manuscript formatting, and any other things that may have slipped through.

    Note: Proofreading is only recommended, and will only be accepted, if the work has already been professionally copyedited, either by us or some other party. Proofreading is a bit cheaper, but this is because it’s not meant to be as intensive as copyediting.

  • Sometimes we want to write a character, an experience, or a story that touches on a topic and/or theme that might be triggering, politically or culturally charged, or simply something we don’t have much personal experience with. This thing that may have initially felt like a roadblock is an exciting moment; it’s an opportunity to take the story deeper and truly represent something out in the world.

    Bent Light Writing is home to a growing collection of experiences shared, in all their intimacy and truth, by the humans that have lived them.

    Our aim is to pair you with the person who will help you tell your story, representing it in its truest beauty.

    Difficult topics shouldn’t be avoided; they should be spoken about with care, intention, and honesty.

    Note that, depending on the story you’re trying to tell, there might be some difficult questions that you’ll need to answer. The process of authenticity reading is, from start to finish, an authentic one.

    It is the heart of Bent Light Writing.