Mary Torjussen – Jericho Writers
Jericho Writers
Box 321, 266 Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 7DL, United Kingdom
UK: +44 (0)330 043 0150
US: +1 (646) 974 9060
Mary Torjussen

Mary Torjussen - Editor

Mary Torjussen has an MA in Creative Writing from Liverpool John Moores University and writes psychological suspense. She loves to write about women who find themselves in a perilous situation where the danger is close to home. She lives near Liverpool and likes to use local settings for her novels.

She was previously a teacher who took a gamble when redundancy was offered, deciding she’d take time off work to write a novel. Luckily this paid off when her first novel, Gone Without a Trace (2016) was simultaneously bought by Headline in the UK and Penguin in the US. Ecosse bought the TV option and it was also translated into nine languages. Her follow up novels are The Girl I Used to Be (2018) and The Closer You Get (2020).

She gives talks in bookshops, libraries and to students on creative writing courses, and has been on panels at CrimeFest in Bristol, ThrillerFest in New York, Bouchercon in Toronto and Iceland Noir in Reykjavík.

Testimonials

'A huge thanks to Mary, who was motivating, helpful and fantastically generous with her time, her insights and her personal stories.'

- Chris S.

'Mary was frank but tactful, with lots of helpful suggestions... including scores of notes made on detailed points as she read through it. She also replied to my replies, which was great. I've been addressing every single point she made.'

- Jonathan B.

'I just thought I'd let you know that the copy edit Mary Torjussen did was incredibly helpful. She picked up a whole lot of mistakes/inconsistencies etc, and also provided some detailed notes that have been really helpful. It meant rethinking some issues quite carefully, which was a useful exercise. Overall it's improved the book a lot.'

- Anonymous

'Mary is a wonderful copy editor. She is quite amazing with her support and I would always use Jericho Writers now that I have found you. I would like to thank her for all her work to make my MA document look so professional. She worked so hard to make my story, which has great meaning to me, look beautiful and top standard. I am thrilled with the result.'

- Lucienne Sharpe

'Thank you very much for your manuscript assessment report and for your kind words of praise and encouragement! Your assessment is exactly what I was looking for. I was aware of some of the shortcomings in the plot and the structure (character POVs in particular), but your detailed review has unearthed lots of areas for improvement that I wouldn’t have been able to see for myself. Your observations and suggestions are spot-on, and I now have a much better platform for taking the manuscript to the next level.'

- Paul C.

WHY WE LOVE MARY

Mary is prominent in the crime-thriller writing scene and has travelled the globe furthering this passion and experience. It is for this reason she brings a well-rounded perspective to her edits and is clued in on a variety of writing techniques that are important to, not only crime, but all commercial fiction. Her books have been translated into three languages and demonstrate she knows how to elevate manuscripts to have widespread appeal – this shines through in her tremendously observant reports. Knowing what works and what doesn’t is integral to any author, and Mary is a wizard with character, plotting and pace. The key ingredients to any gripping book.

WHAT MARY SAYS ABOUT EDITING

Editing is something I love most in writing. The blank page is both exhilarating and terrifying, but once the words are down, there’s something so creative about editing it into shape. We can be too close to our own work, especially if we’ve spent a really long time on it and the story’s changed many times; it’s great to get another perspective from someone who has respect for the work you’ve done and can give kind and constructive criticism.

I love to look at other writers’ work in the raw. With each editorial project my goal is to see what the novel is actually about. Does the story arc work? Are the characters convincing? Whose point of view is the most interesting? Most of all: do I want to keep reading and if not, why not?

I also love line edits, where I can suggest changes line by line which would make such a difference to a book. After teaching for so many years, I’m also a wizard proof-reader!

Genres Mary specialises in

Fiction
Contemporary
Literary (Including ‘bookclub’)
Crime / Thriller / Action
Women’s
Romance & Erotica
Young Adult
Historical

Mary's published books

Gone Without A Trace

Gone Without A Trace

The Girl I Used To Be

The Girl I Used To Be

The Closer You Get

The Closer You Get

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