Critiques | Copy-editing | Line Editing | Proofreading
Dion Winton-Polak 
There is no manual for life but a significant amount of people grow up feeling, not only that there is one (there must be!) but that every other bastard out there knows it by rote. A sickening, creeping certainty takes hold that this secret manual cannot be borrowed from a library nor purchased anywhere, and …
Editing has been the beating heart of my life since 2015, bringing me a sense of drive and purpose that no other career previously offered me. I gave myself 5 years to build The Fine-toothed Comb up from paying hobby to a self-sustaining business, gathering clients, experience, and testimonials along the way. The COVID-19 pandemic …
History is made in the edit. That might sound absurd. Surely history is what happened in the past? It’s people, places, and events, the forward march of progress or the weary slump of decline. You can’t edit the world. But history isn’t the world. It isn’t even the past. It’s our understanding of that past, …
In Cases of Murder is the fourth Bunch Courtney novel by Jan Edwards, though the first I have read. As such, I approached it with a little bit of trepidation. I needn’t have worried about the backstory though; each book stands alone in terms of its central mystery. The characterisation is clear, the dialogue snappy, …
I was in my teens when the number of books arriving on my shelves began to outstrip the number of books I could read. I must have given away something like 30 boxes of the things over time but the bookstack keeps growing. Go figure. Sadly, since starting to work as an editor, I’ve found …
Everybody dies, there’s no getting around it, but we each hope to leave the world a little better through the lives we touch, the changes we enable and make, the children we bring up. If we are very lucky, friends and family members, sometimes people in the wider world, will reach out to tell us …
It’s been a while since I’ve played anything other than Blood Bowl 2, but when my Steam Deck arrived, I felt a powerful itch to get gaming once more. Coveted but previously unplayable titles like Control, Jedi: Fallen Order, and Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves were suddenly within reach, and I had a little bit of …
It’s the fourth week of the month, so we’re back in the realm of creativity. Read on for my latest piece of flash fiction. As usual, I’ve snagged an evocative image for inspiration: The Sickle, by Sa Fonklor. (With thanks to Eygló Daða Karlsdóttir for the heads-up. You always share such wonderful pictures!) I spotted …
‘If you go down to The Woods today, you’d better not go alone, It’s lovely down in The Woods today, but safer to stay at home…’ Hersham Horror has developed a modest range of short fiction and novellas over the last decade, always with an eye for quality, drawing upon fresh and upcoming talent. I’d …
How is it Hobby week again already? It’s crazy. Okay, well I’ve thrown myself off a bit after last month’s humungous story. Involving as it was to get into, I had no real intention of producing anything so big. This month I’ve returned to something smaller – a piece of flash fiction featuring Romans that …
Some writers are cautious about handing their manuscripts over to an editor. They worry that their work will be taken away from them, misunderstood, judged unfairly or otherwise spoiled by meddling fingers. The first time can be hard, and if you don’t know what to expect, you might find yourself overwhelmed. As such, I thought …
It’s been a while since I found myself able to *read for pleasure, and the purchases I make at conventions have (perhaps) become emblems of support for people I like and admire, more than an active pursuit of new and exciting work. It’s not that I don’t genuinely want to read them, more that the …
My urge towards fatherhood kicked in about a year after we got married. The emotional high of that (truly spectacular) day had gradually faded, settling back into the warp and weft of history, and the comparative mundanity of a day-to-day existence stretched before us. Was that it, then? The game of life complete? Hm. A …
Well, here we are for the last time. Dadi’s Little Helper comes to an end – or at least the first draft does. It’s been a funny little story, written in serial over the past few weeks. It has grown and shifted in unexpected ways, delving deeper than intended, and yet I can’t help feeling …
Um. So this was going to be the last part (I know, I know) but it seems there’s one more twist in the tale that needed to be told before I could finish. It’s a dark and painful secret that Dafydd and Mair had held close to their hearts for as long as they’ve existed. …
Here we are again, back with Dadi’s Little Helper. It’s been hella-fun writing a serial, seeing the story twist as it grows, and I see some things far clearer now as I enter the final stretch. I’m aiming to land things satisfactorily in next week’s concluding part – of course I am – but the …
Well, here we are again, back in this weird little story that keeps expanding. At time of writing, I’ve all-but finished the 4th part, and am reasonably sure there will have to be a 5th to round it all up. Writing can be funny like that – concepts unspooling, questions demanding answers, characters dropping lines …
It’s supposed to be Personal week at The Fine-toothed Comb, but when I decided to remove the length restrictions on my flash pieces they started to grow wild and turn into short stories. Dadi’s Little Helper has been particularly vigorous in its demands; thrusting roots down in search of backstory, opening broad leaves for fresh …
Time for a story. I’d normally say some ‘flash fiction’ but who am I kidding? Since I took the brakes off the word limit these things have been getting longer and longer, and to be honest I’m rather enjoying the fact. It’s letting me stretch my muscles, giving my stories permission to go where they …
If you’ve been following my business journey, you’ll know that I’ve gone from hobbyist to full time freelance editor through some tricky times. I kept my chin up and paddled – quietly confident and determined. Neither my skill nor my will has diminished, but savage waves have left my financial lifejacket somewhat deflated since I …