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Faith Hickman Brynie
Faith Hickman Brynie is an experienced writer and editor of both fiction and nonfiction.
Faith critiques mainstream, science fiction, horror, and mystery manuscripts. In nonfiction, she specializes in science, medicine, & health. She has authored 17 books for children, young adults, and general readers. She is an experienced editor of science activity books, trade books for middle school and high school, and textbooks for K-college. She has worked for major publishers as writer, developmental editor, copyeditor, and fact checker.
Note: Faith is not taking submissions until March 2012.
Nonfiction
In her nonfiction work, she specializes in science, medicine, health, psychology, education, and related fields. She has authored 25 books for children, young adults, and general readers. Some of her books have earned awards from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Science Teachers Association, the Children’s Book Council, and the International Reading Association. Reviewers consistently praise Brynie for her ability to express complex ideas clearly and simply.
She holds a Ph.D. in science education (curriculum and instruction) from the University of Colorado, Boulder. She is a former high school biology teacher and university professor. She was the first "Scholar in Residence" to serve the American schools overseas. She maintains a blog titled “Brain Sense” for Psychology Today, and she is a frequent contributor to the science magazine Odyssey. She has served as editorial director for Healthy Travel Media. She writes the teachers’ and parents’ guide for The Old Farmer’s Almanac for Kids.
She is an experienced editor of science activity books, trade books for middle school and high school, and textbooks K-college. She edited a college chemistry textbook for Houghton Mifflin and an activity book on astronomy for Wiley. She frequently contributes to elementary and secondary science textbook series, and she teaches scientific and technical writing to adult audiences. She has worked for major publishers as writer, substantive editor, developmental editor, copyeditor, and fact checker.
Fiction
Faith Brynie published her first fiction in 1992, but she’s been a student of fiction all her life. She is a regular contributor to Magill’s Literary Annual and Masterplots, both of which are literary criticism reference works published by Salem Press.
She is particularly interested in the horror, science fiction, thriller, and mystery genres, but she also writes and critiques mainstream and literary fiction. Her short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Thema, Over My Dead Body!, Heart Attack, Obligatory Sin, Next Phase, Midnight Zoo, Dark Infinity, Nightdreams, Haunts, and the Good News/Bad News Anthology. One of her stories was selected for inclusion in High Fantastic: Colorado’s Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, and Science Fiction (Ocean View Books, 1995). She has won several contests. Her story “Desert Raiders” won first place in the children’s fiction category, National League of American Pen Women, 1997. “Cowboy in the Computer Age” won third prize in the 24-hour short story contest, Spring, 1999, sponsored by Writers’ Weekly. She took second place in the Next Phase science fiction competition with her story “Procrastination.” She has authored three novels, all published by Geneses.
She critiques mainstream, science fiction, horror, thriller, and mystery manuscripts, helping authors develop their characters, plot, dialogue, voice, and style. “Sometimes fiction writers wonder whether they need a critique, developmental editing, or copyediting,” Brynie says. She thinks a critique is often the best place to start. “Before you worry about polishing the language, it's important to build a solid foundation of fiction's elements. You want to make sure that your characters are rich, your plot is plausible (within the genre), and your theme and conflict are well developed,” she says. When Faith Brynie critiques a work of fiction, she reads the entire manuscript (often several times over) and writes a 5-10 page criticism, outlining what she sees as the strengths and weaknesses of the work as a whole. She suggests ways of reorganizing the manuscript for content and structure. She offers advice on plot, character development, and narrative style. In sum, she provides the author with a blueprint for revision. Her clients learn more than what's wrong with their fiction. They learn how to make it right.
Her training as a scientist makes her detail oriented and precision driven. “I write nonfiction for a living,” Brynie says, “but my passion is fiction. I love writing it and I love helping others shape their fiction works. There is no greater thrill than exercising the imagination—mine and theirs.”
Brynie also guarantees confidentiality to all her clients
Published 2009
Brain Sense: The Science of the Senses and How We Process the World Around Us (Hardcover)
2006 Society of School Librarians Honor Book award winner: 101 Questions about Sleep and Dreams that Kept You Awake Nights...Until Now
She welcomes inquiries from writers of mainstream, science fiction, mystery, thriller, and horror fiction. No romance, fantasy, or swords and sorcery, please.
Specialties
assistance to nonfiction book authors on works related to science, medicine, health, psychology, education, and related fields. Brynie provides substantive and developmental editing, rewriting, and ghostwriting of manuscripts and assistance with proposals and query letters.
critiques of novels for fiction writers working in the genres of mystery; science fiction; action adventure/thriller; literary; contemporary/mainstream; detective/crime; horror; and children/juvenile/young adult. (No romances or fantasies, please.)
Feedback
FEEDBACK FROM NONFICTION CLIENTS:
"“Faith has provided professional editing service in a timely fashion and has been easy to stay in touch with to this point. She understands the nature of the work I am doing and has provided helpful guidance for my future projects.” (On file with network coordinator)
"Ms. Brynie did an excellent job critiquing and rewriting my query letter for a nonfiction narrative." (On file with network coordinator)
“Faith is amazing: thorough, honest and helpful. She takes her time to think through her comments and helps from a supportive and knowledgeable place. She doesn’t sugarcoat her criticism, yet I always feel her respect for my efforts. I like that and appreciate her ability to be clear and straightforward. I trust Faith completely and for me that is invaluable.” (On file with network coordinator)
"Faith was great to work with. She really helped me out in a tight deadline." —(Contact information on request)
"Faith was very pleasant and professional. She was also very timely in her editing (she gave what she promised); which I don't see too much of anymore. She was very open to questions or concerns I might have after reading through her editing of my work and was quick in responding back to me." —Kim Gilliland
"Faith did a great job. She was efficient, organized and professional and delivered the project early. She made the material web friendly as I requested. I appreciated her honest recommendations." —(Contact information on request)
"Faith Brynie's writing and editing skills are of the highest caliber. She is a regular contributor to ODYSSEY magazine because she takes topics such as genetics and punctuated equilibrium and makes them fascinating and approachable for 10 to 16-year-olds. She is creative and resourceful, unflappable and cheerful regardless of how short a deadline might be. She works confidently with experts--from mathematicians to cosmologists--and her enjoyment in her work and determination to get it right set her apart from other highly competent writers and editors. Her research is amazing. The knowledge and experience that she brings to her own writing prompted me to ask her to edit a teacher's guide for ODYSSEY four years ago. The guide reaches the most important element of our buying audience. She dependably delivers it each month, often in addition to a heavy load of writing assignments from me. I definitely could use some Brynie clones!" —Elizabeth Lindstrom, ODYSSEY magazine, Senior Editor, Cobblestone Publishing
"Faith's award-winning books are nonfiction at its best. Reviewers always point out her astonishing ability to translate difficult, cutting edge science into language that is both clear and eloquent. Faith's skills as a writer, researcher, and editor have been well appreciated by Millbrook and 21st Century Books for many years now. She's a gem!" —Amy Shields, Editor-in-Chief, The Millbrook Press and 21st Century Books
"Faith Brynie helped guide my books to successful completion. Her feedback was wonderfully detailed. She told me where the manuscript was weak and explained how I might proceed. She wouldn't let me get away with mediocrity. It meant I had to rework sections I'd hoped to be done with, but the result was greater quality. Where my work was strong, her praise was just as specific. Her encouragement helped my confidence and kept me going." —Janet Parks Chahrour, author of Flash! Bang! Pop! Fizz!: Exciting Science for Curious Minds (Barron’s, 2000) and Zap! Blink! Taste! Think!: Exciting Life Science for Curious Minds (Barron’s, 2003).
"I am pleased to recommend Faith Brynie as a conscientious and creative writer. Faith is diligent in her research of a topic, innovative in her approach. and responsive to feedback in a timely fashion. I would personally seek her out for appropriate projects in the future." —Grace Freedson, Grace Freedson’s Publishing Network (formerly Acquisitions Editor at Barron’s Educational)
"Faith Hickman Brynie was hired by The Philip Lief Group to edit a manuscript for a commercial chemistry book. She was very knowledgeable about the subject matter, she was thorough, efficient, fast, independent, and reliable. Our author was less motivated than would have been ideal, and Faith took it upon herself to fix what needed fixing and delivered an acceptable manuscript. Overall, I think her work was exemplary, and I would hire her again tomorrow." —Jill Korot, project manager and associate editor, The Philip Lief Group, Inc.
"Faith helped us with editing our Operating Manual. She was very detailed in her work, which allowed us to use these changes as a standard for our future manuals. She was very easy to work with and also had a very fast turn around time. I am looking forward to working with her on future projects." —Rita J. Juan, Turner BioSystems, Inc., Marketing Services Manager
"In a word, Faith was great. Very professional yet personable to work with. I felt she was accessible and listened to my needs and the needs of my content. Very detail oriented. Very quick to respond to my requests and had a very quick turnaround time. Nothing was compromised in the experience. I would recommend or hire her again in a second." —Kristina Lamour, Professor, Graphic Design, The Art Institute of Boston
"The one quality that appeals to me the most about Faith, is her ability to pay close attention to details and to point out errors and possibilities. I had Faith look over a series of science related questions, and was impressed by the depth of her science background. She was able to scrutinize the type of questions, the difficulty level, the scope and nature of the topics involved with much ease. I feel very confident having had Faith review the sample science questions, and it makes me feel that this study guide will be a notch above my competitors given Faith’s impeccable work." —(Contact info on request)
"Faith did a great job, met all deadlines, author’s queries were spot on. I’ve worked with dozens of editors, and she’s first rate." —(Contact info on request)
"Faith Brynie is a superb editor, thinker, and professional. I was impressed with her ability to take a large amount of information and distill my research into a high quality cogent presentation. She not only evidenced exceptional skills at organizing and extracting the "hooks" and "tag lines", she did so without any alteration in my voice or message. She was a professional every step of the way. She was a joy to work with. I definitely recommend her to anyone who is serious about their writing and unafraid to roll their sleeves up and get the work done." —(Contact information on request)
FEEDBACK FROM FICTION CLIENTS:
"I got a book deal a month after I made the changes Faith Brynie suggested in her critique. It was direct and to the point." Catherine McKenzie, author of SPIN (HarperCollins, Canada, 2009)
"The work was finished early. She was very professional and easy to reach. Ms. Brynie said in the beginning that the critique would be between 10 and 15 pages and in the end it was a generous 32. What I liked most was how she gave specific examples of what needed to be changed, as opposed to sweeping generalities. I'm very satisfied and will continue working with her." —Michael Start, novelist
"The help that I received was invaluable. In a professional, authoritative, but flexible manner, Ms. Brynie helped me edit my manuscript so that the story flowed better. She honored my writing style while providing an honest critique of the overall manuscript. Her insights and recommended edits made the manuscript far more vibrant. I highly recommend her services." —K. Reichert, Novelist
"Faith Brynie is a meticulous professional. I very much admire her understanding of craft and her diligence in providing me with an excellent analysis of my fiction manuscript. Her detailed notes reflect her thorough engagement in the editing process. Any writer who is serious about being published would be blessed to have the opportunity to work with her." —Geoffrey Holland, Novelist
"Thank you for your insightful critique of my work. The many suggestions that you made will enhance my book and make it more entertaining when complete. I begin the rewrite with great confidence and look forward to your continuing assistance." —Joyce McMaster, Young adult novelist
"I didn’t know what to expect from this service and I’m pleased to say that Faith over-delivered on every promise made. I wouldn’t hesitate to work with her again and would be happy to recommend her to anyone needing such a service. She was very patient with all of my questions and, even though she remained very professional throughout the process, I felt as though I were working with a trusted friend and advisor by the second or third email. I was a week late delivering the MS to her and she still finished on time. A wonderful experience!" —Susan Goodwin (manuscript critique)
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Faith Hickman Brynie is an experienced writer and editor of both fiction and nonfiction.
Faith Brynie published her first fiction in 1992, but she’s been a student of fiction all her life. She is a regular contributor to Magill’s Literary Annual and Masterplots, both of which are literary criticism reference works published by Salem Press.
She critiques mainstream, science fiction, horror, thriller, and mystery manuscripts, helping authors develop their characters, plot, dialogue, voice, and style. “Sometimes fiction writers wonder whether they need a critique, developmental editing, or copyediting,” Brynie says. She thinks a critique is often the best place to start. “Before you worry about polishing the language, it's important to build a solid foundation of fiction's elements. You want to make sure that your characters are rich, your plot is plausible (within the genre), and your theme and conflict are well developed,” she says. When Faith Brynie critiques a work of fiction, she reads the entire manuscript (often several times over) and writes a 5-10 page criticism, outlining what she sees as the strengths and weaknesses of the work as a whole. She suggests ways of reorganizing the manuscript for content and structure. She offers advice on plot, character development, and narrative style. In sum, she provides the author with a blueprint for revision. Her clients learn more than what's wrong with their fiction. They learn how to make it right.
