My Work
My Story
Hi I’m Clare Donoghue, I have always loved reading, so one night, after finishing Mo Hayder’s Pig Island, I turned on my battered PC, poured myself a drink and started to write. And I’ve never looked back – forgive the pun!
I did an MA in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University, where I wrote my first book, Never Look Back, a crime novel set in south east London – if you like stalkers and serial killers, this is the book for you! Never Look Back was longlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger award. After graduating I secured an agent and a publisher. Pan Macmillan published four novels in my Lockyer & Bennett series. I have also been published in the US, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.
I discovered my passion/obsession for editing, not only from working on my own books, but from teaching and mentoring aspiring writers in my classes and workshops.
I’ve been editing for over fifteen years. It’s an absolute privilege to be part of someone’s writing journey; to work with them and earn their trust. It is a personal and collaborative process. I know how important your story, characters and aspirations are to you – I am here to invest my time, expertise and enthusiasm to take your novel to the next level, and help you realise your goals.
Whether you’re writing for yourself, or you dream of seeing your books as a pile of cakes at your publication launch, I am here to help!
I work with writers of all levels, from beginners to already published authors. The difference between me and an AI editor? I care. Your work matters to me.
Never has a book tasted so good!
Working With Me
Clare is a brilliant editor. She instinctively ‘gets’ the essence of a piece of writing. Her observations and suggestions are astute and clever. She is really skilful at helping writers to hone their prose, tighten their storylines, develop their characters. When I began writing my novel, Clare’s intuitive understanding of my protagonist, and the advice she gave me, were key in its development and eventual publication. I will be forever grateful for her wise words and encouragement. Any writer who works with Clare has lucked out! She is hugely talented (and also lovely), and I wholeheartedly recommend her editorial services.
Elizabeth Delo - Author
Clare has an incredible ability to 'see' a story from the first moment. But she also has extraordinary skill in drilling down to those minute details that make or break the storyline. That clarity of vision, along with such eye for detail made her an essential part of my writing process and I am very grateful to have had her help and advice.
Luana Codo - Writer
Clare patiently guided me through the laborious task of publishing my book on Kindle. This involved sorting out an appallingly inaccurate scan of the original published manuscript then coping with the infuriating idiosyncrasies of Amazon ("the computer says NO") . Patience has never been one of my main qualities, but I would have given up several times had it not been for Clare's own calmness and understanding. I can thoroughly recommend her.
Colin Clifford - Author
Clare has an eagle eye for detail and helps you get to the heart of the matter, whatever you write. She is constructive yet compassionate in her guidance and feedback, but doesn't compromise in putting better writing first. She is extremely likely to edit these words and cut out my superfluity or hopelessly misplaced adverbs.
Bel - Writer
Clare was new to me so always a bit of a gamble with a new proofreader. Luckily she did a lovely job , asked for as much information on background, vocab etc., (I write hist fic so v important) which was refreshing. It was a learning process as ever, but she listened to me, fitted in with my style and we got on famously. No hesitation in recommending her.
Simon Fairfax - Author