You’re in good company
This is what previous clients have had to say about our work.
“Sometimes, you don’t know you’re in a fog until the sun shines through. Thank you for sending me Fire in the Belly. It’s perfect for a new writer like me. I’m trying to address many of the things I’m learning about: fewer-info dumps/fewer adverbs, adjs/Active vs. Passive voice /alliterations/sarcasm/metaphor/simile, tightening, trimming, etc. etc. etc. I think my muse is you! Or your book!”
Holly Butler
Published Author
“I toiled long and hard for years on my book Raw Man before I met Thornton Sully. He helped me realize that I did have a story to tell and his belief in me raised my own hopes of being a published author. I would never have had such a wonderful experience without his enthusiastic help. He is easy to work with and a joy to be around. He guided me through the rough spots and as a team, we created a work that has drawn praise.”
Fred Rivera
Published Author and 2015 Winner Isabelle Allende Miraposa Award for Best New Fiction 2015 and Pulitzer Prize Nominee
Kristine Grant
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and author of Relationshift© Your Heart—My Words…What You Meant to Say
“I have known Thorn in friendship over the past 15 years…However, I was not really aware of his superb talent for editing and development assistance. Over the last five years, I worked on my manuscript…a self-help project with a new twist for helping readers to heal their interpersonal relationship matters. Although I had previously written a children’s program for self-empowerment versus relational aggression; and produced a character-building card deck, this new manuscript was a hefty project. Luckily, Thorn came to my rescue.
Rather than agonizing over the next collaborative editing session, I actually found myself looking forward to our meetings and Thorn’s refined tutelage. Thorn intuitively seemed to get where I was going and lent remarkably sound and salient advice for honing and refining my manuscript to its best outcome. Thorn has great “people skills” and is able to impart his professional wisdom including constructive critiques in a very firm yet gentle and palliative way. I have emerged from Thorn’s care with a new-found confidence regarding my soon to be manuscript. I have already sung his praise to many of my friends and colleagues. I highly encourage you to allow Thorn to take the helm and steer your writings past any stormy seas and into a safe harbor….where the sun shines brightly, and you can wiggle your toes in the warm sand…knowing you have arrived!”
As the program manager of Pen in the Classroom, it is my pleasure to endorse Thornton Sully as a capable and inspiring creative writing instructor. His engaging teaching style and unique lesson plans helped draw stories out of our students and convinced them that they were talented, innovativestorytellers. Thorn’s students produced an anthology of truly compelling stories. I am happy to endorse any endeavor that Thorn germinates to help people discover their unique, creative voices and provide them with the tools they need to exercise their freedom of expression.
Heather Simons
Project Manager, Pen in the Classroom, Beverly Hills
The funny thing about working with Thorn is that I can’t exactly say what he does that helps me. I usually start out not agreeing with his suggestions, only to end up following them. Maybe it’s the very act of resisting his ideas that serves as an exercise in clarification. After all, more times than not, this exercise leads me to see the wisdom of his direction. Perhaps it’s Thorn practical wisdom on the art and craft of writing. I’m still not sure. All I know is I’ve become a better writer since working with Thorn.
Mark Cohen
Attorney at Law
“Thornton Sully is one of the best editors I’ve ever worked with. Several years ago I wrote a memoir that needed editing. Before I met Thorn, I retained a well respected and highly recommended editor to red line my manuscript. It took her several months and the results were helpful, but not what I was looking for. So, when Thorn brought up the idea of sending the first few pages of my manuscript to him to review for free, I was hopeful, but didn’t expect much. I’m so glad I sent them over. I learned more in two pages from him than I did on the entire manuscript from the other editor! I quickly retained his services to help me with the rest of my book. The quality jumped up markedly. Another thing I appreciate is Thorn’s interactions. Some editors are too harsh; others are push overs. Thorn has the perfect balance of respecting your feelings and artistic choices, while strongly voicing his opinion (which usually made the book much better). I didn’t always agree with everything he said, but the way he said it never got my back up, which is an art in itself.
Since retaining his services for my book, I have also invited him to contribute to Legacy Arts, which is a magazine my company publishes. It’s the leading publication for Meaning Legacy planning and is distributed to financial professionals, business executives, and philanthropists all over the United States. He’s able to quickly get the gist of an idea without much direction and write something of exceptional quality. My company (Paragon Road) also works with people who want to write their own life stories either as an exercise in self-exploration or to pass on to their families and I have recommended his services to them as a writing coach and creative editor.”
Laura Rosser
CEO and Editor-in-Chief Legacy Arts Magazine
“I have had the pleasure of working with Thornton Sully now for the past few years. He recently worked on an historical fiction novel for my client. He is exceptionally talented as a developmental editor/ghost writer. He reworked an already great manuscript by: smoothing out the rough spots; putting action into areas where there was too much dialogue; adding dialogue into areas where there was too much story; fleshing out characters; adding details that pull the reader into the story further; weeding out extraneous or repetitive text; building greater drama; having a keen eye to details; while being ever aware of the author’s voice and feelings. His suggestions were excellent. His references were vast and excellent. I have met many of the people he has done work for and ALL sing his praise. I am sincerely honest with all that I have said about Thorn, and you would be most fortunate to have him bless your story. Thorn is a classy, extremely intelligent, gentleman who I am proud to know and work with. I will be definitely utilizing his great gifts on future projects.”
Jan Kalish
Publishing Project Manager
“Thorn and I worked in collaboration for Mo Bjornestad, the founder of the SafeTFirst Corporation, who developed an innovative range of personal safety and tracking apps that interface with Emergency Services and other First Responders.We held conference calls with the client, agreed a schedule of work, created web and product content, and also drafted promotional scripts. Our primary objective was to assimilate technical details and then make that information reader-friendly and engaging.Our client, Mo, was happy to sign-off on our work.”
Derek Thompson