September 8th, 2023

I have had the privilege of attending several workshops and presentations delivered by Cristina Schumacher, and I am delighted to provide this reference for her as she applies for a job as a manuscript assessor.

Cristina Schumacher is not only a highly competent and intelligent author but also an accomplished editor and language expert. Last year, I had the opportunity to engage her to assess my manuscript, “Crow’s Song” (ASIN: B09Q6GYNT3) on Amazon. Over the course of several one to two-hour sessions, we delved into various aspects of my WWII true story, narrated through the eyes of two children growing into teenagers in different countries. This manuscript was technically complex, especially when compared to standard commercial fiction.

Cristina’s feedback was consistently constructive and supportive. Her insightful advice and her willingness to challenge me to improve the story were instrumental in transforming this biographical tale into a successful book. Her skills as a lecturer and teacher further enriched our interactions, as she introduced me to various methods and techniques to enhance my writing style. Cristina’s guidance was not only excellent but also delivered with remarkable clarity and conciseness.

With her extensive publishing experience and pragmatic approach, Cristina possesses a unique ability to elevate a good story to greatness. I also frequently shared draft chapters with her, and her editing and suggestions significantly enhanced my manuscript.

The impact of my sessions with Cristina on my writing has been profound, taking it to the next level. Anyone fortunate enough to benefit from Cristina’s advice and writing skills for their manuscript will undoubtedly experience a transformation in their work. She unquestionably “knows her stuff.”

I wholeheartedly recommend Cristina Schumacher for the role of a manuscript assessor. Her expertise and dedication will undoubtedly be an asset to any author seeking to refine their work.

Kind regards

Wellington, New Zealand, 10 September 2023

In January 2023, Cristina did an assessment of my new historical fiction novel ‘Reinoldus – the Life of a Saint’. My manuscript comprises 142,000 words or 472 pages (A4, Times New Roman 12pt, double-spaced). It is a large piece of writing.

Cristina’s assessment really was a personal appraisal. She made a very valuable and helpful contribution, and was very positive about my writing and all the hard work that had gone into it.

She picked many weak points, which I was able to improve. Especially including more details about my characters and the environment around them as they speak, which happened mostly in the second half of my manuscript.

Honestly, I must have rushed to finish it, but Christina picked this weakness up.

Other weak points she identified were the sheer number of characters and places, the macro plot itself and the micro plot scenes. Furthermore, she recommended to look at loose ends, of which I had some in my novel, and how to better integrate them into the main plot. And quite a few other things, which I think, I managed to improve, thanks to her identifying them.

I was very pleased to hear from her that my story has a lot of potential and that my main character is a person one can readily empathise with. This is really one of the most important things in a story, she said, and it is fully there.

My original manuscript had been assessed before by a male writer already, and after that I had done a major rewriting. For that reason, I was keen to get another assessment done, preferably by a female author. I was pleased that Cristina agreed to do this. I was surprised how many weak points Cristina still found in my novel.

Honestly, it was not easy finding assessors, as every writer seems to be busy doing their own work. I am grateful that she took the time to look at my novel.

With Cristina’s recommendations, I have been able to improve my story considerably.

This testimonial is about Cristina Schumacher’s evaluation of my unpublished novel, Dangerous Research, or The Quest for Sinbad’s Map. I requested the evaluation on March 11, 2023. The manuscript is approximately 92,000 words or 308 pages. The
evaluation was received on May 10, 2023, a very timely period.

The evaluation was easy to read, sensitively written, and provided an excellent guide in thirteen pages.

On the first page, Cristina indicated three areas to consider. Before discussing issues, in approximately three pages, she noted the strengths. This placement made it much easier to accept the areas which needed work.

As a result, I developed a guide for revision. This guide included:

Action

1.  Titles – Changed to the scene settings and year the events occurred – e.g., Persia 780 AD, New Zealand 2023 AD.
2. Conciseness – more than 2000 repetitive words and overused phrases removed, some left because of necessity.
3. Improvement of scene building occurred through conciseness, placement of chapters, and the sharpening of components of specific chapters.
4. All POVs were revised and changed where appropriate.
5. Line breaks in chapters occurred only when the POV changed.
6. Clumsy statements revised.
7. Prose and dialogue checked for ‘show, don’t tell’.
8. The consistency of the central characters’ dialogues and the story’s aims, were considered.
9. Scene development revisited.
10. The final revision used MS Word’s Read-Aloud function.
11. All chapters were re-sent to my editor for further evaluation.

I intend to use this guide for future novel writing.
Cristina is a kind, bubbly person and an excellent evaluator of my work.

I write here to note that Cristina Shumacher has an effective and pleasant way of providing suggestions that will improve one’s written work. I asked Cristina to assess my novel that I had progressed to having an ending but which, in the body of the manuscript, had elements of confusion, thinness or inappropriate scenes or characters.

I was much encouraged by the positive comments Cristina made early in her document. Her comments were both general (such as on presence of dialogue and use of language) as well as including specific examples (as in metaphors and effects of particular paragraphs). This information set me well for the matters in which Cristina thought there could be improvement (such as internal thoughts of characters, the place of POV and increased tension in some scenes).

Cristina’s comments were clear and focussed, and thus they were easy to understand. This attribute was valuable for developing a scene, but also for keeping calm and accepting of a particular deficiency.

Cristina provided nine pages of inspiring information in a clear and respectful style that, in the end, produced encouragement for me to reengage positively with my manuscript.

Cristina has been an integral member of Waikato Writers (Waikato Branch of NZSA) and another group (Hamilton Central Library Writers Den) for a number of years.

I have personally had regular contact with her through these groups and Cristina has been an enthusiastic contributor.

She is always forthcoming when we critique each other’s writing with valuable input.

She and I have also exchanged pieces of our writing and she always seems to be able
to offer excellent suggestions for improvement.

She has had her own success also in the Micro Madness 100 word competition and has been a winner in our local branch flash fiction competition.

She is a valuable assessor of any writer’s work.