Nicca Ray

The work I have done has honed the skills necessary to take a project from inception to completion. When I first set out to write Ray by Ray I was wanting to track my father’s whereabouts during my childhood and learn about his illustrious film career. I wanted to know in what ways I was his daughter. That was the impetus for the book. That was the void I needed to fill. The journey of writing the book taught me skills I continue to use. I have experience interviewing, having interviewed 50 people for Ray by Ray, and doing extensive research at film archives also for Ray by Ray, my memoir biography about my father the film director Nicholas Ray best known for the classic masterpiece Rebel Without a Cause.

I then took all this information and turned it into a story I had been needing to tell all my life.

Writing demands truth and sometimes, when writing memoir, those truths are hard to face, but oh, those truths are what give the story meat. There are ways to go into these moments without losing ground, and I can share with you the ways in which I dove into turbulent waters and came out the stronger. There is nothing to fear but fear itself.

 Our stories are the lifeblood of society. We need to tell them. Let me share with you what I have learned along the way and help you get your story onto the page.

“This is necessary.” - Wim Wenders

SERVICES OFFERED:

OVERVIEW: Send me your completed manuscript and I will read it and within two weeks send you detailed constructive feedback including suggestions that will help you fully realize the story you need to tell. This thorough look and detailed feedback will guide you through your next set of revisions.

$2,000.00 (26.5 hours at $75 per hour)

OVERVIEW PLUS LINE EDIT: I’ll read your completed manuscript and provide written constructive feedback including suggestions that will help you fully realize the story you need to tell.  In addition to sending you constructive feedback I will go through your manuscript and provide you with a detailed edit whereby I go line by line to help you fully realize your story.

$4,000  (53 hours at $75 per hour)

WRITING YOUR STORY: Having trouble getting your story down on paper? Don’t think you’re a writer? I will help you get the words out of your head and onto the page. First, you’ll write a paragraph synopsis of the story you want to tell, then you’ll write two sentences about why you need to tell this story, and thirdly, in one sentence you’ll state your goal. I’ll provide you with exercises that’ll get your juices flowing. I will interview you on tape so that you will be able to transcribe those tapes and put down on the page what is in your head. Then, we will take those words and turn them into a story. We’ll use tools such as an outline that’ll help you focus and stay with the key elements of the story you want to tell. Then, I’ll show you how to take thee stories and connect them turning them into a cohesive whole. At course end you will have the first 25 pages of a manuscript plus a detailed outline to guide you through to completion. I will provide you with an overview of how to proceed using constructive feedback and a line by line edit of those 25 pages that you can take on the road with you as you see your memoir come to life.

 $15,000 (25 hours per week at $75 per hour for 8 - 12 weeks)

In addition I offer:

If we have started our work together and you are now working on your own but have questions or have come upon a rough patch, I will answer questions and provide you a constructive plan that’ll move your manuscript forward.

$75 an hour

If we have started our work together and you have finished your first draft or have completed a revision, I will do a line by line edit with you to help ensure you have said everything you have intended to say.

$75 an hour