I have known Dan White since late 2022, when I began to submit work to L’Esprit Literary Review, a journal he established earlier that year. I was thoroughly impressed by the ambition and artistic dedication that had motivated L’Esprit, along with its promptness in responding to submitted material. I was impressed again to discover that he was also Prose Editor for an established periodical, West Trade Review. Dan is a man of quite formidable energy and capacity for work. Further proof of this is afforded by the fact that he (and his colleague Jessica Denzer) have now set up their own press, Indirect Books.
Over the last year, I have worked closely with Dan in the editing of my novel Talbot & The Fall, which will be the debut publication of Indirect Books. Having worked professionally with around half a dozen editors in the course of a pretty long writing career, I can state with confidence that Dan is outstanding in his attention to literary copy. He has an excellent ear for the ‘off’ line; and an excellent eye for deficiencies in scene. This is combined with an attitude of gentle persistence – a really valuable quality in an editor, and one I’ve often found lacking in others: this quality is, in my view, cardinal for the successful collaboration of writer and editor. I should mention here another element of Dan’s editing which I’ve not encountered before. This is his willingness, and skill, in suggesting addition or amplification in a ‘place-holding’ manner; by which I mean that he doesn’t suggest what one should add to a scene, but how one might. This is a really effective way of improving copy, while looking after the writer’s sense of ownership.
I would recommend Dan without reservation to any writer who wishes to improve a literary manuscript.
–Michael Nath, novelist, professor of creative writing, and literary critic
I can’t express enough how much Dan has helped me with editing my essays over the years. As an undergrad student at Georgetown, Dan was instrumental in improving the overall quality of my work. He also helped me with my law school personal statements and supplemental essays, which I believe played a significant role in my acceptance to UCLA law school. Dan is incredibly versatile and will take your work to an entirely different level.
–Bianca, undergraduate student
dwhitethewriter 