Elevate your prose, sharpen your storytelling, deepen your writing process.

Advanced prose coaching for fantasy writers who want to master the sentence—and forge a voice as enduring as your worlds

Every professional athlete has a coach.

Why not every writer?

My goal isn’t to help you write a book. It’s to help you become the kind of writer who can create and finish the books you’ve always imagined.

I work with committed writers—whether you’re published or preparing to be—who want to dive deep into the fundamentals of writing, as well as the process it takes to achieve masterful storytelling and (seemingly) effortless prose.

My philosophy as a coach is this: meet you where you are, take a thorough look at the strengths and weaknesses of your game, and then chart your trajectory.

If you took the actions and attitudes (conscious or not!) that you practice today, and you repeated those actions and attitudes for 90 days straight, where would you be in 90 days? What would the quality of your writing be?

It’s my job to help you see the gap between where you could be and where you will be, and to help you bridge that gap.

Finally, I offer something I’ve searched for in other programs and coaches and found lacking: dedicated attention to improving your prose.

We will assess how you’re making decisions on a line level (yes, prose is a game of decision-making!), and how to improve your ability to make those decisions.

The goal is not merely to improve your manuscript—it’s to level up every manuscript you ever write.

What I offer:

A holistic, tailored approach to every level of your writing and process.

I don’t offer “standard packages”—there is no “standard” journey to writing mastery. Every strategy we develop to help you is custom-built based on one person: you. With this in mind, we will begin with a comprehensive diagnostic, assessing your fiction on four levels: story, scene, line, and process. These levels will also serve as the framework for the improvement plan I’ll build for you (with your input). Regardless of what stage of writing you’re in—writing the first draft, editing, etc.—we’ll look at every level to get a sense of our starting point.

Here we’ll dive into your story structure and plot, looking at everything from how genre affects your manuscript to elements like causation, worldbuilding, pacing, character arcs, etc. Essentially, anything that affects more than a single scene.
Arguably, the single most important skill to develop in writing is the ability to write a scene. Here we’ll look at your vision for each scene, whether it’s having the effect you want, how to craft your scenes so they hit harder, etc.
One of my favorite parts of fiction writing: making prose sound awesome. When I was younger, I could spend 8 hours working on one paragraph (a process mistake!). Here, we’ll look at how you make your decisions when you write, what factors you’re considering, whether you’re missing elements, etc. We’ll talk about how to actually improve your writing, even if you’ve already published five books.
In addition to your writing goals, you will always have a “meta” goal. This is an “out-of-fiction” objective that focuses on improving an area of your writing process. This could be related to consistency, accountability, the productivity and/or intensity of your writing sessions, making sure you improve at writing every session, etc.

Book a free Diagnostic Session

How we work together

Diagnostic Session

This isn’t a discovery call or a sales pitch—it’s a genuine conversation about where you are, what you’re working toward, and whether coaching or editing together makes sense for you. You’ll leave with an action plan for what your next steps could look like, whether that means working with me or not.

Every coaching plan is custom-built around your goals and needs. Coaching starts at $500/mo.

Improvement Strategy

Based on your goals and what stage your manuscript is in, I’ll design a plan for getting you toward where you want to go. This will include both writing-focused goals, based on your vision for your current manuscript, and process-focused goals, aimed at improving productivity and writing quality in a sustainable way.

Coaching

The meat and potatoes. Accountability, consistency, progress. There is simply no substitute for having a dedicated person who will read your work as you write it. Every so often (based on our plan), I’ll meet with you via video call, giving you actionable feedback and edits that connect to the fundamentals of writing. The goal is that not only does your current manuscript improve, but your writing ability improves.

Refinement

As we continue working together, we’ll turn our focus from establishing habits and principles to refining them. Our target will be small, deliberate shifts that create lasting change. This is where most breakthroughs occur.

Next-Level Writing Confidence

My coaching is not done until you know what to do after my coaching ends. By the final session, you’ll have a clear roadmap for continuing your growth, with tools and strategies you can apply independently.

Client Reviews

After working with Alex on the first act of a feature, I began submitting it to MFA programs around the U.S. Due to Alex’s guidance, I was accepted into two MFA programs in screenwriting at prestigious universities. Even while attending grad school, I kept in contact with Alex and continued to meet with him. His guidance and feedback on my writing remained supportive and impactful. Even as my knowledge and experience was expanding rapidly, I had more to learn from him about structure, character, and theme. In truth, it wasn’t because my professors weren’t doing a good enough job. It was because Alex brought a unique style and approach to instruction and guidance that I couldn’t find anywhere else.

Whoever you are or whatever stage you’re at, Alex can help and will give you some of the best feedback you’ve ever been given. If you’re still unsure or on the fence, know that even one meeting with him will have a measurable impact on your writing. If you’re truly serious about writing, it’s worth investing in yourself.

— Timothy S.

“...a revision that ultimately resulted in the piece being accepted for publication in a literary magazine.”

I’ve worked with Alex on two projects. For each, Alex showed a remarkable ability to zero in on the major themes, and he offered specific suggestions about how to improve each piece to hang more cohesively around the themes. For one of those pieces, he also suggested a reorganization that dramatically improved the overall narrative, a revision that ultimately resulted in the piece being accepted for publication in a literary magazine. Alex’s feedback also prompted me to revise individual sentences and words to improve the overall quality of the narratives. I’d absolutely work with Alex again.

— Dean K.

As someone who is critically shy and nervous to speak, I have always felt comfortable sharing my work and conversing with Alex. Thanks to his personalized feedback and consistent attention to detail, I was offered admission into two separate MFA programs for fiction. Even in my current MFA program, I still brag about Alex to all my creative writing professors.

One thing I love about Alex’s guidance and feedback is his straightforward approach. He has a clear eye for what’s working and not working in a piece, but delivers feedback in an easy to understand and motivating approach. He’s friendly and asks all the right questions that can easily go unnoticed and forgotten as a writer. I always leave our feedback sessions remembering why I love writing, and feeling excited for the revision process. Alex puts genuine care and attention into the feedback he provides, and I always look forward to hearing his thoughts for improvement.

Another thing I love about Alex’s feedback is that he does what the fiction crafts books can’t —personally guide you to writing better prose. Whenever you have those overly specific prose-related questions that the books never seem to answer, he’s always able to answer and explain why in a way that’s relevant to you and your work.

— Stephanie S.

Working with Alex is a great experience for many reasons, but not least among them is his ability to guide the aspiration to write into a real practice, both as an accountability partner and keen-eyed reader of the work itself. He offers insightful feedback, bringing his own considerable prowess as a professional writer to bear to critique that which needs improvement and enhance the positive qualities in prose.

He is particularly adept at expanding a writer’s perspective to include the reader, helping the writer better experience the emotional and aesthetic resonance of a piece. Working with Alex has been invaluable and I would whole heartedly recommend his service to any who wish to improve their creative writing or develop their process!

— Tim E.

Yes—I offer focused, line-level coaching on your writing as a streamlined service, but it is always over time. It takes consistent effort, practice, and feedback to improve your prose, and we can absolutely design a system that puts its primary focus on your lines.
I focus on fantasy because that’s what I love reading the most, and I focus on writing quality because I love great sentences. I grew up reading everything from Anna Karenina to Lord of the Rings to Ender’s Game. I’d read Hemingway one day and Jim Butcher the next. I still do. As for coaching other genres outside of these, it depends on the specific project. I’d be happy to discuss this in a Diagnostic Session to see if your project is a good fit.
I find the traditional model of developmental edit—where you give me a manuscript, I read it, and then give you a long editorial letter—to be insufficient. An editorial letter doesn’t hold much value if the writer doesn’t know what to do with that information, or the principles underlying why the editor suggested their changes. To that end, I always include one or more virtual sessions to make sure you understand the reasons behind my edits, and how they align with your vision.
Each engagement is tailored to your goals and writing schedule. You may want several months for longer projects, or a one-month intensive for short or nearly-complete ones, or you might have specific deadlines (I help some writers prepare for grad school, for example). I’ve been working with some clients on and off for years, and it’s very rewarding to see how far their writing has come.
No. I also do not work with AI-generated writing. Prose is an art of decision-making, and I believe it’s important for the writer to go through the process of making decisions. Generating prose with AI bypasses this decision-making process, which undercuts the purpose of getting coaching.
Results vary depending on your writing experience and focus. Most writers begin seeing clarity, stronger scenes, and more consistent flow within the first few sessions. The Refinement stage is where most breakthroughs occur, turning your work into something sharper, clearer, and more confident.
The best first step is a Diagnostic Session. We’ll talk through your goals, challenges, and the work you want to do, and determine how a fully personalized coaching plan can help you grow. Plans start at $500/mo, always built around your needs.

FAQ