What’s On

What is [ Alongside ]?

[ Alongside ] is a reading and editorial support service for writing and ideas-in-progress. As well as meeting with you to talk about your work, I’ll spend time reading it independently and responding with comments, questions, observations and suggestions. These responses might draw your attention to connections you hadn’t noticed, identify places where an idea could be taken further, raise questions about structure, flow or argument, or suggest alternative ways of approaching a particular passage.

Our sessions will be a space to think together about this feedback, explore directions in your writing project and to work out possible next moves. My intention isn’t to prescribe what your work should become, but to offer the editorial attention, sensitivity,  engagement and conversation that can help you develop your writing and ideas in a way that feels meaningful and appropriate.

Projects might include novels, essays, poetry, memoir, creative non-fiction, academic or independent research, artist statements, proposals, applications or other forms of writing that don’t fit neatly into these categories. But you don’t need to arrive with a finished draft, a clear plan or even a fully formed idea of what the project is. We can begin with whatever you’ve got and wherever you are with it. 

Who is [ Alongside ] for?

[ Alongside ] is for women and LGBTQIA+ people who write. It’s for people who want to develop their work on their own terms, particularly when the forms, structures and expectations they’ve inherited don’t quite fit what they’re trying to do.

Perhaps you have a lot of ideas but aren’t sure how they belong together. Perhaps you’re working on something that crosses disciplines, genres, ways of thinking, or all three. Perhaps you want to experiment with form, follow an idea somewhere unexpected, or find language for something that doesn’t yet have an obvious way of being expressed.

You might be looking for more than proofreading or a conventional editorial assessment: someone who will engage closely with your work, think alongside you, notice what’s emerging and help you explore its possibilities.

Who am I?

Hi! I’m Ruth. I’m a queer, neurodivergent writer, editor, researcher and creative mentor. I have a PhD in English Literature and worked as a lecturer in universities for around ten years. I work with people who have ideas they want to explore, develop and bring into the world, but aren’t always sure how to. Maybe you’ve felt constrained by what you’ve been told (usually by school, university and/or professional environments) about how writing should happen, what it should look like, and who gets to do it. I’m interested in working with people who want to find other ways of thinking, writing and making.

My work brings together literary and critical expertise, editorial experience and a relational, embodied approach to creative practice. I’m interested in how we come to think and write in the ways we do, what shapes our sense of what’s possible, and how we might find other ways of working, thinking and making meaning.

How do I find out more?

If you’re interested in working together, or would like to talk through whether [ Alongside ] might be right for your project, visit https://www.ruthcharnock.com/writingeditingsupport

I’d be happy to hear a little about what you’re working on and what kind of support you’re looking for.