Claire Mulligan

LUMINOUS Edits

Editing, Mentoring, Story Consulting for

Screen & Prose

ABOUT CLAIRE

Claire Mulligan at Luminous Edits in Victoria, BC, will bring to your project over fifteen years'
experience as an editor of fiction, creative non-fiction, short stories, essays, screenplays and screenplay adaptations. As the author of two novels of historical fiction and a passionate student of history, Claire can be of particular help to authors of historical fiction, memoirs, family history, historical non-fiction, and historical fantasy.

Claire holds an MFA in screenwriting and a BA in English. She teaches creative writing at Camosun College and the University of Victoria. Her courses include: Writing History, Writing the Family Memoir, Writing Historical Fiction, Dialogue Bootcamp, and Screen Adaptation. She is a member of PEAVI (Professional Editors Association of Vancouver Island and Victoria) and is on the board of CineVic (Victoria's independent film society). Her literary work is represented by the Cook/McDermid agency.

Her first novel The Reckoning of Boston Jim (Brindle & Glass) is set in British Columbia in 1863 during the tumultuous building of the Cariboo Wagon Road. It was nominated for the BC Book Prize as well as the Giller, Canada's most prestigious prize. Her second novel The Dark ( Doubleday/Random House) was nominated for the Canadian Authors Award and was translated into French by Sophie Voillot as Dans Le Noir (Editions alto). The Dark is based on the true story of the infamous Fox sisters and the rise of Spiritualism in the 19th century.

Claire Mulligan’s multiple-award-winning short fiction has appeared in Writers's Magazine, The Hourglass, The Antigonish Review, Grain, The Tulane Review, and Canadian Author, amongst others

Her first screenplay, The Still Life of Annika Myers, has been made into a short film by director Matthew Blecha. Most recent awards for The Still Life of Annika Myers include the audience favourite award at the Ottawa film festival 2019, as well best actress awards for Barbara Wallace from the Overcome Film Festival and the Global Shorts Awards, 2019. The film is showing at the prestigious Sedona International Film Festival in February of 2020.

Claire has this amazing ability to see both big picture things alongside the tiniest details (ship's lighting, pockets, 19th-century names of body parts, etc.) and the book is so much better because of her. Claire, thank you ---Peggy Herring, Anna, Like Thunder, Brindle & Glass, 2018

In my opinion, Claire is one of the finest editors I have had the privilege to learn from -- Marylyn Holman, Rylan's Highway, 2019

Claire helped me tremendously in organizing a long story. Her help was invaluable and took my work to the next level. I highly recommend her as an editor and mentor. -- Amando Garcia, The Trip

Claire’s ability to write award-winning stories makes her an impeccably effective editor - Susan Mongar, Shame on Me, A Memoir

Claire brings an encyclopedia of helpful fixes to your writing problem--new learning, changes in viewpoint, voice, conflict and drama. With sensitivity (she’s been there herself) she gives you the tools and encouragement to rework your story so that it shines brighter.

- Erik Peterson, Harry Bennett

SERVICES

STORY CONSULTING

MENTORING

Are you just embarking upon a project? Pondering the pros and cons of one story over another? Have a thrilling ghost of an idea? What next? The combinations and approaches are both daunting and exciting.

COPY EDITING

LINE EDITING

Is the structure and content of your manuscript more or less finalized? Line and copy-editing is a word-by-word process and includes ...

DEVELOPMENTAL

EDITING

Have you completed the first or second draft of your manuscript? Are you worried about clarity? Structure? Character development? Plot threads? Marketability? Worry no more.

SCREENPLAY ADAPTATION

SCRIPT EDITING

Do you have a short story, novel, or memoir you would like to turn into a screenplay? Are you struggling with the structure and dialogue of an existing screenplay?

CONTACT CLAIRE FOR A FREE CONSULTATION

Please provide:

a brief synopsis (200 words max) or notes about your project
the genre, target audience, and word count
the service you are considering

We can then set up a phone or Skype session to discuss which service best suits your needs. Custom packages are available.

MENTORING & STORY CONSULTING ($40 an hour)
CONTENT EDITING (.018 per word) & EDITORIAL REVIEWS (.010 per word)
LINE & COPY EDITING (.013 -.020 per word)
SCREENPLAY EDITING & ADAPTATION (variable)

Contact Now

FICTION REVIEWS

The Dark is a triumph. It delves into the past with skill and precision. It feels palpably real and it is hugely entertaining. — Vancouver Sun

Style meet content; content meet style—Mulligan’s novel has it all. Emotionally resonant and artfully drawn. Mulligan’s style is wry, assured and gorgeously wrought. An equal stylistic phenomenon is that the 500 pages feel as precise as a novella. -- The Globe and Mail

[An] intricately detailed venture. Boundaries of all kinds are thrown into shadow—not only between life and death, but between truth and mystery, fraud and sincere longing. — Georgia Straight

Mulligan has a historian's eye and a storyteller's touch. She is a master at capturing the cadence--and the spirits--of the time. -- The Gazette, Montreal

The Dark walks a tightrope between mystery and literary fiction. Mulligan's writing is sharp and propulsive ... and the dense, detailed plot refuses to buckle. -- Quill & Quire

The historical milieu is breathtakingly convincing ... The Reckoning of Boston Jim marks the appearance of a writer fully in command of her talents. It deserves every accolade that can be applied to it. -- Vancouver Sun

Mulligan writes with compassion for her characters and a sharp eye for detail. So deft is Mulligan’s touch and so skillful is her writing that the larger themes of the novel never overwhelm what remains. A sensitive and first-rate piece of story-telling. -- BC Studies

Rich in character and detail. It is a novel of obsession, constructed through an intricate weave of stories. A clever and assured first novel that deserves to be noticed. -- Quill and Quire

A complex and evocative exploration of the repayment of ethical debts and the power of human memory ... Mulligan's novel leaves readers with despair at human greed and cruelty and simultaneous hope through its rich evocation of time, place, and the force of human character. -- Can Lit

I think that here lies the sense of literary creation: to portray ordinary objects as they will be reflected in the kindly mirrors of future times.- Vladimir Nabokov