about
Marissa van Uden is an independent manuscript editor based in Hollywood, Los Angeles. Her clients' books have won reader awards, become Amazon #1 bestsellers, and consistently receive high star ratings on Amazon and Goodreads. She edits all genres, including non-fiction, and specializes in science fiction, fantasy, & horror.
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LINE EDITING
Line by line guidance to help you polish your prose and strengthen your unique voice.
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Content Editing
Connect ideas, create atmosphere, and induce vivid experiences for your audience.
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Developmental
Big-picture feedback for novels and non-fiction.
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Editing for Business, Academic & Marketing
Ensure your words are clear, compelling and accurate.
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BORNE by Jeff VanderMeer (book review)
Another gorgeous and strange novel from the mighty lighthouse keeper of the Weird, Jeff VanderMeer (whose Southern Reach Trilogy blew me away a few years ago and is still the series I most often recommend to my friends and clients). Borne is a story about nature vs nurture, and about love, set in a city ruined by a biotech-related ecological disaster. The[…]
Editing for the Voices of Reason!
Are you an atheist, humanist or science-loving writer who’s looking a professional editor? I’m seeking new clients who write about free-thought, skepticism, and science, or whose love for these things seeps through into their fiction worlds and characters. Years ago when I first started out as an editor, I worked for a company where I had to[…]
The Strawberry Moon and What It Means For Your Love Life
Hey, northern hemisphere friends, tonight is the Strawberry Moon! AKA the Rose Moon, the Honey Moon, the Birth Moon, the Hot Moon, the Moon of Horses. Time to plant the corn and pick the strawberries! But more importantly, it’s a minimoon too, which means it’s the farthest away any full moon will be all year. You know what[…]
The Romeo Catchers – Book Release Party in New Orleans
Recently, I got to do an editor’s favorite thing… attend a book launch and see a shiny new novel released into the wilds! Then watch the books be carried away into the night, clutched to the hearts of excited fans. And best of all, it was in the magical city of New Orleans. Editing Alys Arden’s[…]
Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge
“Sometimes the biggest disasters aren’t noticed at all— no one’s around to write horror stories.” One of the best science-fiction experiences I’ve ever had was reading Vernor Vinge’s Fire Upon the Deep. I read it a few years ago but was inspired to write this review now because it’s the Tor book club’s free ebook this[…]
The Sundered Oath series by Ciara Ballintyne
On the Edge of Death, the sequel to In the Company of the Dead, is approaching release date! As Ciara Ballintyne’s editor for both of these books, I’ve had the pleasure of reading them multiple times in various drafts, and I’ve enjoyed every single reading. Ballintyne is a brilliant author who writes deeply layered characters, and the series[…]
104 Adventures Challenge!
Hey nature-lovers and book-fiends, I just signed up to attempt 104 fun and healthy adventures this year: the 52 Hikes Challenge and the Goodreads 52 books challenge. No idea if I’ll even come close to completing this (especially as I’m writing this on a day where it’s too rainy to hike and I’m too busy to read),[…]
H.P. Lovecraft’s THE CALL OF CTHULHU podcast
I recently joined a very special line-up to talk about one of the most influential speculative stories of all time — the story whose creepy, tentacley touch everyone has felt, even if they don’t know it. “When the stars were right, They could plunge from world to world through the sky; but when the stars were wrong,[…]
THE ROMEO CATCHERS Cover Reveal!
Happy cover reveal day to Alys Arden! At long last, here is the gorgeous cover for The Romeo Catchers, the much-anticipated sequel to the Amazon #1 bestseller, The Casquette Girls! I’m so excited to finally be able to show you this. I’ve been helping Alys edit Romeo Catchers over the last year, watching the story unfold and get better and better[…]