Mandy Berman

Mandy Berman is the author of the novels ‘Perennials’ and ‘The Learning Curve’. ‘Perennials’ was a Barnes & Noble Discover Pick of 2017 and named as Best Book of Summer 2017 by ‘Vanity Fair’, ‘ELLE’, ‘Houston Chronicle’, ‘Newsday’, and ‘Redbook’, among many others. Both novels have been reviewed by dozens of outlets, including ‘The New York Times Book Review’, ‘The New Yorker’, ‘Kirkus Reviews’, and ‘Publishers Weekly’. Her essays have appeared in ‘The New York Times’, ‘TIME’, ‘Literary Hub’, ‘Poets & Writers’, and elsewhere. She has and MFA in Fiction from Columbia University, and has taught creative writing at several colleges and universities including Ohio University, Montclair State University, and Manhattanville College. She now lives, writes, teaches, and edits from the Hudson Valley of New York.

Specialises in: Literary and upmarket fiction of all genres; crime and thriller; coming-of-age and YA; dystopian; romance; short stories. 

Mandy provides tuition for our Mentoring Service. Please note that Mandy is currently on maternity leave.

With several years of facilitating creative writing workshops under my belt, as well as a year of running my own editing business, I have developed an uncanny ability to quickly identify the heart of a story or novel. I know what makes a piece of fiction come alive just as much as I know what makes it lag, and I will help you cut the fat while further developing the most interesting parts of your story. In practice, I favor scene over exposition, and I am particularly adept at helping writers to make their work more active and engaging, as well as plotting and restructuring a piece to its greatest, most readable capacity. I also enjoy getting into the gritty, detail-oriented portions of the work, but always with an eye towards the bigger picture, sure to only give micro edits when they will service the work on a macro level.

I have experience working with writers of all ages and backgrounds, from high school and undergraduate students to PhD candidates and university professors and just about every group in between. Therefore, I have no trouble tailoring my feedback depending on the experience level of my clients. I am a novelist at heart, and I have great passion for the novel as an art form. I’m especially skilled at working through areas like structure, organization, character development, and order of disclosure. At the same time, I have plenty of experience with the short story, too, and I love working in shorter fiction, too, especially in areas like economy, dialogue, and scale.

As a mentor, my style is warm yet direct. I am personable and approachable, with a great sense of humour, but I’m serious about the work. I’m goal-oriented, organized, and a great accountability partner. My clients’ priorities are paramount. I would never try to turn a piece of fiction into something that it’s not; instead, I work with my authors on their goals rather than attempting to impose my own. No matter where you are in your drafting process, I will meet you where you are.