Inkwell Consultants
Helen Falconer
Helen worked as a journalist and book reviewer on the Guardian in London before moving to Mayo and becoming a full-time writer. Her two novels ‘Primrose Hill’ and ‘Sky High’ are published by Faber and feature teenage protagonists, so her expertise extends from commercial fiction to Young Adult and cross over books
Helen has been teaching creative writing classes since 2005, focusing exclusively on the rewriting process. Her special interest is in literary fiction, but she believes that new writers of all genres are subject to common errors that are easily corrected.
These include among others:
- Wandering point of view
- Beginning the story in the wrong place
- Failing to describe characters until too late
- Delivering back story in an indigestible chunk
- Losing drama when focusing on getting from A to B
- Using general instead of specific words to set scenes and situations
- Breaking up action with description
Here’s what best-selling author Kate Kerrigan had to say about her experiences working with Helen:
Helen Falconer is one of the best editors I have ever worked with. Her sharp eye for detail and her innate understanding of structure meant that employing her to work on my last novel Ellis island was one of the best investments I have ever made as a writer. The novel has gone on to achieve great success, and I attribute much of that to having used Helen on my pre-publishing house re-write. I can’t recommend her professionalism, speed and encouraging attitude highly enough. As an seventh-time published author, Helen’s concise and insightful editor’s notes were among the best I have ever received – including those of some of the world’s top editors. In this tough market for books, and for a first-time novelist especially, having access to Helen Falconer’s skills at this stage could make the difference between getting published or not.
- Kate Kerrigan, bestselling author, Ellis Island
