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© 2019 -2024 Your Best Story | Niels Kwakernaak
Christian Nonfiction Editor and Writer
I help you organize your narrative and thrill your readers with crisp, precise, and evocative language so you’ll write stories they’ll remember.
Connect with me via LinkedIn or my contact form.
That would be me, Niels Kwakernaak, a Christian nonfiction editor and writer from Israel.
As a lifelong writing and language aficionado, I’m fluent in English and Dutch, and to a lesser extent, in German and Hebrew. I’m fast learning, goal oriented, and reliable. In my spare time, I’m a singer-songwriter, a classical (counter) tenor, and an amateur theologian. I have always been writing, painting, and composing music. And in so doing, I’m ever striving for perfection. With my inborn tendency to dive into projects with my heart and soul, I can bring all this creativity and perfectionism to the table of those who hire me.
I’m looking forward to working with you!
I love quality.
I’ve always desired to see things come to their full potential, and I’m happy when I can do something to make that happen. For a long time, I worked as a copyeditor for a large editing company, where I felt limited in what I could do to improve the text.
The dream emerged to start a company in which I could take the time to guarantee the best results. I wanted to help authors go the extra mile to build, inspire, and engage the world with their stories.
And that brings me to . . .
I was born and raised a Christian in the Netherlands, where I spent most of my life—until I met my lovely Israeli wife on the walls of Jerusalem. After we got married, in 2015, I moved to Israel to start a new life in the Aravah desert. By now, three kids have joined our little fold.
Since boyhood, I’ve had a passion for music and arts—I loved painting and playing drums, guitars, and piano; later, I started singing (classical, gospel, metal, and everything in between).
Books, however, were a mystery to me. I loved leafing through them, sniffing them, posing for pictures with them—but reading them was an idea that didn’t cross my mind. But when Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings hit the theaters, I realized couldn’t run from books anymore. And ever since, I have been a book junkie.
I had been writing stories and essays all my life—not knowing that real writers are readers—but then I began taking things seriously. I took writing classes and read every book I could find on writing and editing techniques. When I moved to Israel, I started a job as a copyeditor for a multinational editing company, where I later got promoted to senior editor.
I love stories, and I love storytelling. And for the past twenty years, I’ve been studying the art and craft of writing. What makes a book suspenseful? How do you write dialogue that’s technically correct and has this tension that keeps you up at night? I had to understand these things.
I read every book I could find on the subject, and from 2013 to 2022, I studied at the Institute for Writers to deepen my knowledge and experience. From 2020 to 2022, I studied editing at the University of Washington, further honing my skills in the written word.
In 2023, I started an additional editing course at the Schrijversacademie to ensure consistent high quality in my Dutch editing as well.
I can’t decide what I love more, fiction or nonfiction. But the magic that happens when literary techniques are used in nonfiction makes my heart beat faster.
Therefore, I’m particularly interested in narrative nonfiction. This can be anything from personal stories, testimonies, and memoirs, to creative books on Christian theology, music, history, philosophy, psychology, linguistics, science, and writing techniques.
In short: I love everything interesting and inspiring that’s written to engage.
Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues with injustice.
Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.
I’m a Christian nonfiction editor. But that doesn’t mean that the books or articles I edit have to be about Christian topics—nor do they have to be written by Christians.
I’m open to every subject available on the market. But the content must be compatible with these underlying values:
Interpretations of Biblical principles may differ among Christians. Therefore, I will not avoid content that discusses different stances on these values, as long as God’s will is being sought.
Similarly, it is no problem if characters within narratives act in ways that oppose Christian values, as long as the story itself respects them.
My goal in life is to promote God’s Kingdom and goodwill to mankind. I wouldn’t want to work on projects that promote the things God hates.
In light of this, I retain the right to reject assignments, in full or in part, if I believe the content is a mismatch with my goals.
I’m looking forward to discussing your project.
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