Sara Nisha Adams: 'I love writing about community because it lets me explore lots of characters'
BY Maya Fernandes
27th Aug 2026
In this interview Sara Nisha Adams, author, editor and mentor on our Complete Your Manuscript programme, shares her approach to editing a manuscript.
'As an editor, it always amazes me how the writers I work with can take my editorial letter and notes and return a book even better than I could have imagined, tackling my queries and suggestions in brilliantly creative ways.'
We spoke to Sara about her editing process, her love for community-driven stories and what she enjoys most about working with aspiring authors.
As an editor, formerly at publishers including Hodder & Stoughton, Headline and Harvill Secker, and now working freelance, how would you describe your approach to editing a manuscript?
I like to approach a manuscript with a reader’s eye first of all, so I let the book speak for itself before I start flagging up queries. I always read a manuscript through without making many, if any, notes. I want to sit with the book as it is. It’s on my second readthrough that I get my notebook out, once I’m familiar with the plot and the characters, and I notice where my questions lie, where I can interrogate a character’s behaviour, or query where or why the plot leads in a certain direction or at a particular pace. So, I’d say my approach is open, and then curious – I want the book to speak to me as it is first, and then I’ll delve into my questions and suggestions.
Both of your novels place a strong emphasis on community: The Reading List revolves around two characters brought together through their local library, whilst The Twilight Garden weaves together the lives of two neighbours and their shared garden. What draws you back to communal spaces as a setting, and what do they allow you to do as a writer that a more solitary setting wouldn't?
I love writing about community because it lets me explore lots of characters. I adore watching my characters interact with one another, how they relate to one another particularly if they’re from different walks of life, how they upset each other, learn from each other, grow together. A solitary setting would limit that for me. I’d love to write a solitary setting one day – but I’m greedy when it comes to characters, for now.
Your writing explores a wide range of relationships – romantic, familial and otherwise. Is there a particular relationship, in either book, that was the hardest to get right?
Bernice and Winston, in The Twilight Garden, were hard to write. They’re neighbours who despise each other but have a shared back garden and so find themselves thrown into each other’s paths a lot. For a while, I just couldn’t see how they would get past their hatred of one another. The blossoming of their friendship took a lot of work to feel believable. I knew Winston as a character, I understood him, but Bernice was harder for me to connect with personally, so it was all in the work in exploring her further that I was finally able to see how she and Winston could find a way through.
As both an editor and an author, do you find it challenging to separate your editorial eye from your creative voice, or do you feel that having a knowledge of both perspectives strengthens your work?
I wish I could edit my work in the detail I can edit another writer’s work, because it would save me and my editor a lot of time – but when you’re so close to your own work, you know what you’re trying to say, so often you can’t tell if you are actually saying it. It’s an editor’s role to help ask that question – is your book saying what it needs to be saying?
As an editor, it always amazes me how the writers I work with can take my editorial letter and notes and return a book even better than I could have imagined, tackling my queries and suggestions in brilliantly creative ways. Now I’ve seen all the work that goes into making that happen – the early mornings, the late nights, the ‘how on earth am I going to manage that?’ moments and the creativity and energy that come from questions a manuscript has provoked. Similarly, as a writer, I know how vital editors are – when they understand the heart of your story, notice the messages you’re conveying through your writing that perhaps you hadn’t even realised yourself. There’s magic in that collaboration – in having someone else you trust see your work as it’s taking shape.
What novel do you most frequently find yourself recommending to others?
There are so many books I recommend, but today I’m thinking of Still Life by Sarah Winman – because it’s masterful, full of wonderful, fully realised characters and it holds a special place in my heart. It’s beautiful – I need to read it again, soon!
We're so excited to have you on board as an editor and mentor on our Complete Your Manuscript – One-to-One Programme! What do you find most rewarding about supporting budding writers?
The most rewarding part about working with budding writers is watching their confidence grow, in their novel, in their voice, in their ability as a writer. I am always inspired by writers who show up day after day because of their passion to write, and their belief in their story. Writing is a solitary pursuit a lot of the time, so it is a privilege to stand beside someone writing the novel that they have put their heart and soul into and encourage them to keep going, to keep putting in the work, to find the best way to tell the story they need to tell.
Could you share your top three tips for writers who have completed their manuscript and are just beginning the editing process?
- First of all, celebrate, because you’ve just completed a manuscript! You’ve written a whole book! Now put it away – for a long time. Maybe a month, or two months, or more. However, much time you can allow.
- When you come back to it, read it like a book – printed out or on a kindle, so it feels different from the document you’ve been working on and have become so familiar with.
- Make notes of what you notice and trust your instinct as a reader – highlight the parts you love as much as the parts you think need work.
Sara Nisha Adams is an author and editor. She worked as a commissioning editor at Headline Publishing Group, Harvill Secker, Vintage and most recently as Editorial Director at Hodder & Stoughton, publishing fiction across a range of genres, in particular crime/thriller and reading-group fiction. Sara’s novels include The Twilight Garden and The Reading List, which was a finalist in the Goodreads Choice Awards 2021 and longlisted for the Diverse Book Awards 2022.
We're delighted to welcome Sara as a new addition to our expert mentoring team. She’s now a mentor on our Complete Your Manuscript – One-to-One Programme.
Sara is also a masterclass speaker on our upcoming Edit & Pitch Your Novel – Advanced course. Apply by 11 September.
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