About The Editors

With 25+ years of military experience, let me help you make your military characters and action scenes more authentic. Contact me and tell me about your writing project.

Hi, I’m Randy Surles.

I’m one of only a small handful of Story Grid Certified Editors in the world. I trained as an editor under Shawn Coyne, who originated the Story Grid method based on his 25 years’ experience in New York publishing, and I’ve been using Shawn’s techniques to help make authors better, as well as to write my own books.

I spent over 20 years in the U.S. Army as a Ranger and Green Beret, working in the Middle East, South America, and Africa.  While in the Army, I earned a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Texas at El Paso so I could pursue my dreams of writing and editing once I retired.

While I am open to editing all genres, because of my background I find I am a huge benefit to authors writing novels with a military flavor.  I am a big fan of Action, Thriller, Science Fiction, and Fantasy novels.  I love a good story, but I want my clients to become writers of great stories.  To do that, I give them recommendations on how to move their projects forward, identify those parts that are ‘just not working’, and make them better writers overall.

Listen to a Podcast with Briauna about how I mentor her to plan her book

Listen to interview with Randy Surles by Victor Marx Part 1.

Listen to interview with Randy Surles by Victor Marx Part 2.

And I’m Laura Graves.

Randy trained me to be an editor, which I combine with the other training I received in my years as an English teacher when assessing manuscripts for authors, as well as my own personal writing.

My personal favorite genre to read is Romance. I love a good Love Story in all its forms, from dark gritty romance that crosses over into the Action and Thriller Genres to the cozy contemporary romances that inspire Hallmark movies. I also love Fantasy, which is probably why my favorite subgenres are Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy.

As a former elementary and middle school English teacher, I also have a love of middle grade and young adult fiction from a multitude of genres. My heavy reading in these age categories, combined with my extensive work experience with the target readership, gives me unique insight into the genre-specific rule variations that come into play when writing for these younger audiences.

What We Do

What Clients Are Saying

Randy exceeded my expectations. The level of detail and analysis he provided me was tremendously helpful. He digested my manuscript so thoroughly that he was able to give me unique observations and suggestions that will enable me to greatly improve the story. In addition, he provided me a host of references and resources to better understand the writing process and my genre. I can’t recommend him enough.

– Lance B., Author

I’ve gotten to know Randy over the past year as the editor of my novel. His patience and expertise have been immensely beneficial to me and the material. His approach is both tactical and strategic and he is ready and willing to dive into the mechanics of each scene to make them operate as efficiently as possible. His drive to make each scene work individually and as part of the larger whole has kept me on track as a writer . I wouldn’t be where I am today not for him.

– Steven E., Author

Get in Touch!

Interested in hiring us to edit your manuscript? We offer a free scene analysis (up to 3000 words) to include a 30 minutes video call in order to discuss our analysis, talk about your manuscript, and review editing options.