Manuscript Consultation with Maria Dahvana Headley
Manuscript Consultation with Maria Dahvana Headley
All Genres
I'm the NYT-bestselling author of eight books in a variety of genres, most recently Beowulf: A New Translation, and The Mere Wife. My reimagining of Vergil's Aeneid into a full-cast musical for Audible came out in 2023. I've taught at Sarah Lawrence and Bennington College, and as well as teaching dozens of masterclasses and workshops at universities around the world. For the Shipman Agency Workroom, I've taught workshops on finding your voice, adapting the classics into contemporary work, and editing yourself, among others. Over the twenty years or so since I sold my first book, I've often consulted with writers (some of whose names you'd know!), helping them develop projects from ideas to actualities, line-editing drafts, and giving intricate editorial feedback. I've done everything from full novel responses to inspiration sessions in which a writer tells me what they find intriguing, and we develop it together. Many people who've worked with me have felt that I helped equip them with the inspiration to begin believing in their projects. I want you to get what you need to go deeper in your work, and I'll help you find the right tools. That's my natural inclination no matter what the project.
My consultations are pretty flexible for that reason. I'm happy to work with people who don't have manuscripts yet, as long as they have a sense of something they're dreaming of writing, and some work samples so I can tell if we'll be a good fit. If you don't have a manuscript yet, we'll have a couple of video sessions to begin plotting a course, with research suggestions, creative brainstorming, and discussions of your personal map of inspirations. If you have a manuscript, our sessions will begin with an initial discussion of the kind of feedback you're looking for, and the questions you have about the work, before I dive in. We'll make a plan that suits your workstyle. Typically, I meet on Zoom with writers twice a month in an ongoing development scenario, but we can work out a plan depending on what your project is - smaller projects, like short stories, may be more suited for written feedback.
I charge hourly because I want you to have the flexibility to choose the engagement - and because I'm available to work on many different kinds of projects, in a variety of different ways.
As a writer, I have experience in almost every corner of a storymaking career, whether it's nonfiction, fiction, scripts, translation, memoir, poetry - I've done it all. If I wasn't a writer for a living, I'd be an editor, because I love editing just as much as I love writing.
My style is both empathetic and pragmatic. I'll tell you what's great, what's wobbly, and what's not working - along with questions and suggestions for how to craft the piece you want to craft.
Maria Dahvana Headley is the New York Times-bestselling author of eight books, most recently Beowulf: A New Translation (MCD x FSG, 2020), which Vox called, “lively and vigorous.” The Mere Wife (MCD x FSG, 2018), a contemporary adaptation of Beowulf, was named by the Washington Post as one of its Notable Works of Fiction in 2018. She’s written for both teenagers, Magonia (HarperCollins, 2015) and Aerie (HarperCollins,2016), and adults, in a variety of genres and forms. Her memoir, The Year of Yes (Hyperion, 2006) is “laugh out loud funny” according to Entertainment Weekly. Headley’s short fiction has been shortlisted for the Nebula, Shirley Jackson, Tiptree, and World Fantasy Awards, and for the 2020 Joyce Carol Oates Prize, and has been anthologized in many year’s bests; a collection is under contract to FSG. Her essays on gender, chronic illness, politics, propaganda, and mythology have been published and covered in The New York Times, The Daily Beast, Harvard’s Nieman Storyboard, and elsewhere. Her work has been supported by The MacDowell Colony, Arte Studio Ginestrelle, and the Sundance Institute’s Theatre Lab, among other organizations. She's taught writing in the master's program at Sarah Lawrence, and delivered masterclasses and writing lectures at Dartmouth, Northwestern, Wesleyan Nebraska, and Newman University, among others.
