Seth McCombs

Developmental Editor

Jul 2026 - Present • 3 mos

This is the big picture stuff. The developmental editor reads your manuscript with great attention to detail and identifies specific changes that will help your story keep its grip on the reader’s imagination. The editor digs deep on your character arcs, themes, plot, worldbuilding, and pov, with an ear towards how they all harmonize in your unique creative voice. This service includes a document with in-line commentary and a detailed overview of the editor’s critiques and insights. The advice is to be enacted by the author, not the editor, and at the author’s discretion. A session with a developmental editor is an essential step of the process, especially for longer works, and it’s also a real pleasure. A good developmental editor will leave you feeling thrilled with what you’ve already accomplished and itching to get back to work! From a recent client, author and editor Sara Simone Bennett: "Seth was able to identify issues in my story that I knew had been there, but couldn't quite place, and now it feels like the piece can finally breathe. He was great about answering any questions I had about his suggestions, and made every effort to preserve my authorial voice." Sara is a visionary author of surrealist horror. I asked a few specific questions and, from her answers, was able to determine exactly what was keeping this story from working how she wanted it to. I made very clear suggestions of what to cut. Further, I saw places where her ideas were bleeding into each other in ways that muddied the narrative and gave her suggestions on how to clean it up and give each idea the space it needed to resonate.

Illustration

Jan 2005 - Present • 21 yrs 9 mos

I would really love to find a spooky/weird YA novel to work on! I did my first freelance illustration work over twenty years ago, creating shirt designs and album covers for bands, playful branding imagery for local restaurants, and spot illustrations and comic strips for an underground newspaper. Since then I've worked in children's books, indie comics, and role playing games. My work draws inspiration from comics, toys, and video games of the 80's and 90's, psychedelic art of the 60's and 70's, and a deep fascination with the natural world. I'm most passionate about bringing a little flavor of weirdness to a project, and I deeply enjoy any opportunity to make human endeavors look puny in comparison to flora and fauna. I work in both pen & ink and digital and the two offer very different aesthetic and thematic avenues of exploration. With pen and ink, my stylistic voice ranges from a Calvin & Hobbes-like note of childlike playfulness to a Heavy Metal delight in strange character designs and textures. My digital art explores the colorful extremes of photo manipulation, drawing attention to the gap between mundane reality as we see it and the atomic and quantum levels of that same scene.