Editing & Consulting

"Thaisa has been a professional gift from heaven for a first time novelist looking for help to shape their novel. She is an excellent technical coach, but more importantly gifted at working with a new writer to shape the work. She makes suggestions without overstepping. She is always inspiring, super clear and delightfully insightful."  
– Lisa Hedley

"Thaisa has been invaluable in helping me find plot direction and  detect a narrative arc to my nascent novel. She has coached me to home in on my strengths, while reducing all the noise that takes away from the story’s gravitational pull. Her psychological insight into my characters’ inner landscape has helped me develop a fuller, richer piece of fiction that will be more likely to immerse the reader. I would highly recommend her to both new and established authors alike for her editing and consulting services. "
– Peter Crowley, White Collar

Thaisa has published short stories, flash fiction, a novel and a creative memoir and  consults with writers working in all genres and all levels. She does extensive long-distance consulting via phone or Skype and sees writers in her North Oakland studio and her office at The Writers Grotto. As a result of teaching numerous graduate workshops she believes the public language of pedagogy is immensely useful. But she also knows that writing involves a private, idiosyncratic conversation that the writer has with herself. IF she senses that writers are feeling boxed in by conventional terms she helps them create terms that address their work and aren’t in the public language of the workshop. Her goal is to help you write a very good novel, short story, memoir, or flash fiction when you consult with her.  It’s also to give you tools that will make it easier the next time you start something on your own.    

In addition to publishing a novel, short story collections and numerous pieces of flash fiction, Thaisa is the co-author of Voice: A  Guide to Creative Fiction,  (St. Martins Press) compared to Brenda Uleland’s book If You Want to Writeand still used by writing programs. She is currently working on a new book about writing, Story: Greater Than the Sum of its Parts, in which she uses breakthrough methods that allow writers to see the story and the individual lines at the same time.  Her clients include novelists, short story writers and writers of flash fiction. She has taught creative writing  in the graduate departments of San Francisco University,  The University of San Francisco and at UC Berkeley where she was Visiting Associate Professor.  She is an Honored Instructor at UC Berkeley Extension and advisor to the Post-Baccalaureate Program at UC Berkeley Extension. She currently teaches at The Writers Grotto  in San Francisco. 

Contact Thaisa at thaisa@thaisafrank.com