I'm Daniella Marie—
–a published writer and former creative writing teacher. I’m also a beta reading freelancer, lover of cats, beaches, and books, ready to help you craft a manuscript readers love.
I nurture creativity, not cripple it.
I have had the good fortune to be on both sides of the writing process. As a published writer, I know how challenging the feedback and revision process can be. As a teacher at Washington University in St. Louis, I have given a lot of notes to talented, aspiring writers. I know that the best beta readers give notes that respects your vision for your work.
I know how to work with writers of all skill levels to provide targeted feedback that respects your work and your vision. From published authors to aspiring novelists, I provide thorough, insightful reader reactions to help you make your book the story you want it to be.
How I Fell in Love with Stories (And Helping Others Tell Theirs)
My first essay, “The Little Fugitive”, was published in 2017 by Emrys Journal, but my reading and writing journey started long before that.
At three years old, I took charge of the storytelling at bedtime. In elementary school, I convinced my friends our school was haunted by a ghost that looked like a Pokémon. We rallied to raid its basement lair during recess. In middle school, I used the back half of my algebra notebook to write an epic fantasy about twins destined to save the world. High school found me writing more fanfiction than research papers.
University was where I fell in love with memoir and the alchemical partnership of memory and storytelling. I also fell in love with workshop. There is something very special to me about finding and realizing a writer’s vision through a collaborative effort.
My favorite workshops were the ones where everyone disagreed. Funneling those disparate ideas into a purposeful strategy for revision was some of the most fun I’ve ever had as a creator.
Seeing in real time how a single scene can be read in five vastly different ways made me grow not only as a writer, but as a reader.
Through my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in creative writing, there was nothing as fulfilling as helping writers hone their craft and transform an idea into a finished product. My favorite part of teaching creative nonfiction was the opportunity to work one-on-one with young writers and discover the true potential of their creativity.
A memorable student once wrote an essay about her inability to communicate with her grandmother, who only spoke Russian. She had been inspired by my use of Spanish in my own work, which heavily featured my Cuban upbringing. We discussed incorporating foreign language into a work without alienating readers. After our discussion, playing with language became her semester project. Getting to witness this young writer testing the limits of what she thought was possible was a privilege, and one of the highlights of my time as a teacher.
She also wrote an essay about her and her friend’s midnight escape through an IKEA parking garage while evading an Uber driver trying to kidnap them. I would never say one project was more striking than the other, but rideshare has never been the same after reading that.
As a teacher and as a beta reader, I have been honored by every writer who has shared their work with me. There is nothing I enjoy as much as stepping into a new world and helping an author realize the potential of their story, but also their creative skill.
Today, I live in Tampa, Florida, with my own magical distractions companions, Toothless and Shadow. They are opinionated and don’t take feedback very well. But, they can be coaxed into cuddles with some catnip and the good ol’ cardboard box.
