Proofread Outdoors Writing: Mountaineering, Adventure, Nature Writing

Editorial services for outdoors literature

I really enjoyed working with Philippa. She edited my collection of stories very thoughtfully and professionally, suggesting edits and some changes in structure that I think really helped. I look forward to working with Philippa again and would not hesitate to recommend working with her.

Heather Dawe, author of Dreams of Lost Buttresses, shortlisted for 2024 Banff Mountain Book Competition

I was very pleased with the work you completed: it was very thorough and well thought-out. I would certainly use your service again. It was a pleasure working with you.

John Burns, author

I spend as much time as possible outdoors, particularly in the mountains. I live in Eryri, and if I’m not scrambling or rock climbing on the mountains here, I'm probably running or camping in the Brecon Beacons, winter climbing in Scotland, or mountaineering or skiing in the Alps. It’s no exaggeration to say the freedom of adventuring in the mountains has changed my life, and I love to share that joy with others in any way I can.

I love reading outdoors literature, especially climbing or mountaineering narratives. If you're interested in what I've been recently reading in this genre, you can find some of my reviews here.

Types of outdoors writing I work with include:

mountaineering literature
adventure books (fiction or nonfiction)
nature writing
guide books
short stories.

Adventure scene safety checks

Are you struggling to work out the finer details of the dramatic escape, daring rescue or treacherous mountain journey your character needs to survive? It’s often tricky to work out the exact logistics involved for a character to do things like abseil with only a rope and no harness, or climb out of the crevasse they’ve fallen into, or pull someone out of a deep pit without falling in themselves.

Even in fantasy novels, your adventure scenes need to pass a realism check. Pre-Covid (and now pre-baby…), I was in the mountains constantly. I’ve got extensive experience of mountaineering, rock climbing, glacier travel and crevasse crossings, and ski mountaineering, and a reasonable amount of knowledge of caving and water-based activities like sea swimming, kayaking, and diving.

If you’re struggling to nail down the exact details for any sort of adventure scene, get in touch! I’ll read the scene through and ensure you haven’t confused carabiners with quickdraws or that your character isn’t going to end up falling down an icy cliff because they’ve got their crampons on the wrong feet. I can help you make sure that your scene accurately reflects how a character would move when rock climbing, or how it feels to have hypothermia, or that they actually would be able to survive the avalanche coming towards them.

I can either make edits and suggestions directly onto your manuscript in Word, or we can book a Zoom to talk the scene through.

This service is charged per hour.