Consulting

Now is the best time in history to be a writer. But only one thing will help your story stand out: professional quality. Whether you're working on your first novel or fifth, revising a memoir, or adapting a screenplay to fiction, you've come to the right place.

I can save you months of frustration by helping you…

  • Decide which story to write
  • Nail your premise line
  • Strengthen your structure 
  • Solve your story problems
  • Hook your reader on the first page
  • Choose your best Point of View
  • Create more character-driven plot 
  • Hold on to the parts you love
  • Apply advanced prose techniques
  • Outline your next draft
  • Hone your query and synopsis

As a private developmental editor and the Novel Consultant for Truby's Writers Studio, I've helped writers shape bestsellers and critical darlings praised by the New York Times and USA Today  to People Magazine and Publishers Weekly.

Over the past twenty-five years, I’ve taught at the Writers Program at UCLA Extension, run private workshops, and coached seminars at national conferences. I contribute essays and how-to articles to magazines and newsletters and serve as a judge for the Women's Fiction Association’s Rising Star competition. My clients come mainly from referrals and agents.

While I have degrees from the USC School of Cinematic Arts and the MFA program at Antioch, my knowledge is more than academic. As the award-winning author of seven books, including novels, nonfiction, and memoir, my experience is real. And as an active writer in today's publishing world, I understand your struggle.

Leslie Lehr

How Would You Like to Work?

  • Hourly Consultation

    Are you stuck on a story problem? Torn between ideas? Frustrated with a work-in-progress? Translating the vision in your head into words on the page is harder than it looks. A one-on-one discussion can save you months of struggle. Together, we can shape the story that you want to tell.

  • Novel Jumpstart

    Do you have a story idea, but aren’t sure where to start? A rough draft that could go a number of ways?  A manuscript that went off the rails? Jumpstart the writing process with expert focus on your story and several rounds of feedback. First, we’ll discuss your goals, refine your premise, and examine what you have so far.  Next, I’ll suggest ways to develop your characters to create plot, hit the genre beats, and strengthen the structure. Finally, we'll discuss how to increase the narrative drive, solve prose issues, and outline your next steps. Ultimately, you'll have the tools - and the confidence - to continue on your own.

  • Manuscript Breakdown

    My goal as a developmental editor is to help shape your story to be as strong as possible. This includes both plot and prose techniques that add clarity, depth, and narrative drive. By analyzing what you already have, I can spot opportunities, connect the dots, and prompt solutions that enhance your style. If your manuscript runs too long or too short, I can show you how to reshape it to attract today's readers. A detailed contract will outline the specifics including conversations, an in-depth written report, light line editing, and the one thing most editors do not provide – a potential outline for your final draft. Price is based on word count/estimated hours.

  • Query Letters

    Want to land an agent or indie publisher? Successful query letters are sales tools with a style of their own. Save time and skip the learning curve so you can focus on the important part: the manuscript. 

CONTACT LESLIE TO SET UP A FREE TEN MINUTE CONSULTATION

Testimonials

Leslie played a huge role in mining the jewel facets of my manuscript... helping me excavate and strengthen momentum and plotline. The result? My new novel landed in a dream home and will be published in the Fall.

—Katherine Vaz, Above the Salt, People Magazine "Book of the Week" Flatiron Books 2023

Leslie Lehr took my sprawling, fitfully promising manuscript and showed me the way to a new and propulsive structure with rising stakes and characters that really mattered, developing your ability to understand the connective tissue of conflict, revelation, and rising stakes. Her recommendations didn't just improve and take my story to the next level. 

—Desson Thomson, 20-year Washington Post film critic

As a writing instructor, I recommend all of my clients to Leslie for her extraordinary editing skills and crackerjack query letters. I also found her editorial expertise invaluable with my own book.  

—Lisa Lieberman Doctor, UCLA, WGA, & Private Workshop Instructor

Leslie respected my creative intent and dug deep to find the source of the issues.  The suggestions that Leslie provided were specific and useful. Her guidance was invaluable!

—J.A. Nelson, A Man of Honor, winner of Best Literary Fiction, Nat'l Indie Excellence Awards

I have learned more about the craft of writing from Leslie than from all my profs put together during my MFA. She asked me some really tough, probing questions that certainly made me feel uncomfortable and required me to stretch – THANK YOU!

—Val Harbolovic

"Leslie Lehr’s sense of story was invaluable. She helped me find my inner novelist.
I’ll always be grateful."

—Cindy Lin, The Twelve; Treasures of the Twelve, YA Series, Junior Library Guild Gold Medal

Without her incredible focus and attention, I sincerely doubt my memoir would have been published. I would return over and over again to Leslie.

—Leslie Schwartz, Jumping the Green, Angels Crest and the memoir, The Lost Chapters.

When I asked Leslie for help, she quickly assessed the issue and saw a major hole. When she suggested a fix, it was a Voila! moment. Now, I have a solid storyline and a way forward to finish my novel.

—Susan Wingate, Amazon bestselling author, How the Deer Moon Hungers

Leslie took my sprawling, fitfully promising manuscript to a new and propulsive structure with rising stakes and characters that really mattered.

—Desson Thomson, 20 year Washington Post film critic