Illuminate your writing...

I have 18+ years of editing experience specializing in historical fiction & nonfiction, speculative fiction, and screenplays. My books have been published by Random House and Brindle & Glass, and my 2019 short film won numerous awards. With my creative eye and vast historical knowledge, I can help hone your book to a professional level and prepare it for publication.

Services

Mentoring by the hour can be purchased as needed and includes a more educational approach to your project as you develop it.

Mentoring

$80 CAD per hour

This flat rate editing package includes a developmental edit for most manuscripts between 70k - 100k words.

Editing

$1,200 CAD

Consultations can be purchased as needed and include feedback and suggestions for screen or prose work.

Consulting

$80 CAD per hour

Testimonials

"Claire was the main editor for my first young-adult fiction novel Forgive Me, Mr. Hunter, and I was incredibly impressed with her knowledge, her insightful advice, and her efficiency. She brought to my attention so many important elements that I otherwise would have overlooked. I will call on her professional wisdom for my next novel, to be sure. I highly recommend Claire's services."

— Tom Cullen, Media kit website: www.tncullen.ca

"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

Claire Mulligan of Luminous Edits in Victoria, BC offers over fifteen years of experience as a professional 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 is of particular help to authors of historical fiction, memoirs, family history, historical non-fiction, historical fantasy, and speculative fiction.

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.

About Claire Mulligan

Published Works

About

Claire’s debut novel, The Reckoning of Boston Jim (Brindle & Glass, 2007) 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 Scotiabank Giller Prize – Canada's most prestigious award.

"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

About

Her second novel, The Dark (Doubleday/Random House, 2013), 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.

"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

Film Work

Claire's first screenplay, The Still Life of Annika Myers, was 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 as Best Actress awards for the film’s leading lady, Barbara Wallace, at the Overcome Film Festival and the Global Shorts Awards, 2019. The Still Life of Annika Myers showed at the prestigious Sedona International Film Festival in February of 2020.