Sebastian uses his experience as an instructor at the college level, his years as a copy editor, and his background in fiction writing to help students discover and refine their stories and to express their passions with clarity and elan

Location:
Brooklyn, NY

Education:
MFA, Creative Writing, University of Florida
BA, Economics and German Literature and Language, University of Virginia

Bio:
An essay coach with Moon Prep, Sebastian draws on his background in copyediting to help his students express themselves with precision. He draws on his master’s degree in creative writing and his years as a fiction writer to help his students identify, develop, and perfect their personal narratives. Sebastian loves helping students craft statements that are uniquely their own to help them stand out from the pack of generic college essays. From the initial brainstorming sessions, to exploring the possibilities expressed in first drafts, to the final tweaks, Sebastian derives enormous satisfaction from shepherding student essays to their successful conclusions.   

Alongside his essay-coaching role at Moon Prep, Sebastian is a fiction writer and an essayist, and has recently begun translating from German to English. His background in fiction writing, and especially his years participating in fiction-writing workshops at the University of Florida’s renowned MFA program, prepared him for evaluating student essays. The workshop environment of an MFA program forces writers to think carefully about their choices: what makes a story pop and what makes it fall flat. Sebastian brings the fruits of this training to bear for his students.

Previously, Sebastian has worked as a proofreader, a copy editor, a technical writer, an instructional writer, and as a graduate instructor at the college level. His professional writing career gave him a firm grounding in the finer details of good writing, while his term as a college instructor honed his understanding of how a carefully composed essay is made and how to transmit the steps of that composition process to his students.