Services Offered:

Editorial Assessment
Developmental Editing
Substantive Editing
Line Editing
Query Critique
Author Coaching
Presentation Consulting

Preferred Age Level & Genre of Expertise:

Middle grade, young adult, and adult fiction in all genres, with a specific interest in historical fiction, mystery, thriller, horror, fantasy, and contemporary.

Memoir and personal essays in non-fiction, as well as plays, and any work that is intended for a reading/presentation.

More About Denise S.…

Denise Santomauro (she/her) is a writer, editor, author coach, and teaching artist. She has worked with writers across genres and styles of writing, everything from secret society mysteries to coming of age young adult romance to heart-wrenching short stories and personal essays. As an educator, she has taught fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and playwriting classes, and explores the performing arts with young people as a way to help them tell their stories. In her own writing, she has contributed content to many blogs, been published in the Dear Sister anthology, developed plays and scenes for young people, written middle grade and young adult novels, and performed in live lit shows around Chicago. She holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Follow Denise on Twitter.

Favorite Books:

- Middle Grade Fiction:

• The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi

• The Mysterious Benedict Society series by Trenton Lee Stewart

• A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

• The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

• The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

• Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo

• The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt

- Young Adult Fiction:

• A Heart in a Body in the World by Deb Caletti

• Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

• The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas

• Far from the Tree by Robin Benway

• Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

• Scythe series by Neil Shusterman

• Between Shades of Grey by Ruta Sepetys

• Akata Witch series by Nnedi Okorafor 

• Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

- Adult Fiction:

• Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

• The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

• All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

• Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

• Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

• The Sanitorium by Sarah Pearse

• The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray

- Non-Fiction:

• Brown Girl Dreaming by Jaqueline Woodson

• Marching for Freedom by Elizabeth Partridge

• Bomb: The Race to Build--and Steal--the World's Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin

• Deep: Freediving, Renegade Science, and What the Ocean Tells Us About Ourselves by James Nestor

• Bad Feminist by Roxanne Gay

• We Are Never Meeting in Real Life by Samantha Irby

Favorite TV Shows:

Arrested Development, Blackish, The Good Place, Parks and Rec, The Great British Baking Show, Project Runway, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, West Wing, Slings and Arrows, Friends, Schitt’s Creek, Derry Girls

Testimonials.

"Denise is a great teacher and clearly knows a lot about YA, both from writing it and reading it. I had a wonderful time working with her and feel ready to tackle my WIP."
-Madeline Reynolds, author of Illusions

"Denise's feedback is always incredibly thoughtful and incisive and delivered gently. During the writing of my memoir, I asked her to review a section written in a YA voice - a voice I wasn't used to writing in - and she provided me with great insight and clarity that allowed me to move the work forward. She is a careful reader and listener, a beautiful writer, and a lovely person with whom to share several hours over a few manuscripts."
-Ellen Blum Barish, writer and teacher

"Ever had one of those stories you've looked at a thousand times and rewritten a hundred ways? Ever decided that your narrative is so far down the rabbit hole there is no hope? I'm here to tell you there is hope and comes to you as Denise Santomauro. She can see the story's thread through the royal tangled mess you've made of it. Denise has clear vision, a love of language, and spot on critique. She'll get you untangled. She's wonderful!"
-J.A. Cameron, writer

"Denise's knowledge and experience come through in subtle but effective reframing techniques that helped me sidestep my own doubts and find a new excitement for writing.”
-Holly Chaille, writer