I coach writers nationally, over email, in person, and via Skype. I am currently accepting new students.
What coaching includes:
- Discussion of narrative choices influencing the work
- Craft-based line comments
- Detailed end comments geared toward revision strategies
- Pointing out the strengths of the work, both in the end and line comments
- Response to questions/concerns included with the submission
- Response to follow-up questions after feedback is processed
- Recommended writers to read
- Recommended craft books to study
- Advice/guidance about the writing life.
What coaching does not include:
- Revising or rewriting your book or story for you. I advise, based upon my expertise, but the work remains yours to bring to fruition. If you share your work with me, I will mark it up and return it to you. My primary goal isn’t only to “fix” individual pieces, but to help writers develop their skills and grow as practicing writers.
I work with:
- Short Stories
- Story Collections
- Novels
- Memoirs
- Fiction & Creative Nonfiction MFA Application Portfolios & Statements
- Novellas
- Flash Fiction
- Micro Essays
- Essays
- Narrative Nonfiction
Testimonials
Lesley Heiser, MFA
Valerie Fioravanti teaches her writing students to soar. She finds those layers of story and character that the writer has been neglecting. She helps the writer to identify more fully with his or her characters and to experience much more deeply what those characters might feel and what it is like to say what they say and do what they do.
After Valerie finishes looking at your story and you work on it some more, you find that story richer, deeper, more painful, more haunted, and more immersed in longing. It is more of a pleasure to read and more of a pleasure to revise. One of her great accomplishments as a teacher is that she makes the writing experience even more fulfilling for the writer–on its own terms, regardless of the future and the vagaries of publication.
Debbie Graber, MFA
I was under the impression that once I’d written 10 plus stories, I had a story collection. Wrong! Valerie showed me first hand that finding an overarching vision is key to shaping a collection. Her outstanding advice and honest criticism helped me revise with an eye towards not only digging deeper and enhancing individual pieces on their own merits, but validating that each piece adds to the value of the collection in its entirety. Valerie not only improves the quality of the stories she critiques; she gently urges the writer to face his or her own writing demons. She truly cares about the evolution of each writer she works with.
Manuscript Preparation:
In order to maintain consistent billing, manuscripts should be:
- Double-spaced
- Times New Roman 12 point font
- One inch margins
Billing:
Per Page Rate (for pieces under 100 pages) = $8 per page
Bulk Rate (for larger manuscripts) = $800 – $2,500, depending on word count.
To contact me regarding private coaching, email valfiora (at) yahoo (dot) com or fill out the contact form below.
