“I strongly recommend Karen Finneyfrock’s editorial services. With expertise in both poetry and novel writing, she offers incisive, constructive critiques of style, technique, and large-scale character, scene, and plot development. An admirer of her fiction and poetry, I ultimately came to her classes on recommendation from a fellow writer who described her as “the best teacher I’ve ever had in my life.” She is truly an excellent teacher. Through her instruction and critiques, I was able to diagnose problems in my work and completely revamp a book that, despite the advice of other writers and teachers, wasn’t working. I’ve found her critiques of my own and other writers’ work to be honest, accurate, enlightening, and highly sensitive to the writer’s intentions and to what the book wants to be.”
-Ruth Schemmel, Hugo House student
"I'll take anything Karen Finneyfrock teaches, and I'm never disappointed. The one-on-one care and knowledge she generously offers in class is constrained only by time and the number of students. I can't begin to imagine what I could accomplish during an independent manuscript consultation. I guess I'll be signing up to find out!"
-Allison Augustyn, former music critic, Chicago Sun-Times
"As an instructor, Karen helped catalyze my bud of a story into a full-length manuscript and provided the guidance I needed to avoid many pitfalls of novel creation along the way. Once I began the revision process, her belief in my work and ability to see what was strong about my writing buoyed me through uncertainty. Karen has the ability to pinpoint specifically what is special, naturally successful, and uniquely genius about any writer’s work, regardless of their experience level or genre. Her encouragement helped me to pinpoint my own strengths, and her critique was always delivered with curiosity and care that allowed me to think deeply about less successful aspects of my work without feeling discouraged. Karen is careful to make distinctions between her personal likes as a reader from more objective advice on craft, and her questions and observations are thorough and thoughtful. Karen is not only a brilliantly talented writer, but also a present, engaged, and caring instructor. Her attention to my work has strengthened not only my manuscript, but my confidence as a writer and my ability to guide my own growth."
-Molly Thornton