editing – Page 4

What’s the hardest thing to do when you’ve received praise?

I believe the hardest thing for many of us is to consider that we could have done better.

Yes, you’ve done something that received acclaim, but does that really mean you’ve done your best?

No, it means you’ve done enough.

In July 2015, while I was working hard simultaneously on Give & Take: A Tale of Erotica, and Beyond The Law: Retribution, I wrote a blog titled A Review of Reviews.

I stated in the post that I intended to get my main projects published by December 2015, and then I would tackle each of my titles, one after another to perform a full critical analysis and rewrite.

Well, guess what … it’s November and those two main projects are now published.

What are my projects for the months ahead?

My agenda is flexible, but fairly well set up for the foreseeable future:

1. Continue working on my next anthologies
– The Welcome: and other Sci-Fi stories
– A Time for Courage: and other military stories

2. Dust off and get back to work on my fact-based fiction / coming of age story A Life of Choice, which I will now be producing in a series of books.

3. Continue to work behind the scenes to support and build on the success of the Indie Author Support and Discussion Facebook group, especially with the restructuring of the group website.

4. Read and review titles from the IASD group website.

5. In December 2015 I will begin what I said I would do – commence a detailed revision and rewrite of all of my titles.

– Make a copy of the main manuscript.

– Read and make notes from every review, whether positive or negative issues.

– Locate and amend the negative issues as a priority.

– Read the story as a reader, and look out for the telltale signs of the novice. I will have a list of key words and phrases in front of me to locate and zap / replace.

– Subject each chapter individually to Grammarly to double-check punctuation, grammar, and so on.

– Amend the cover and inside information to have a subtle ‘Revised Edition’ with the appropriate date.

– Ask for beta readers in advance of completion.

– When all bugs are ironed out, republish and set up a Kindle Countdown Deal to kick-start interest in the title, and my brand.

– Move on to the next title.

How long will it take?

Time is not my major concern, because if I’m aiming to achieve a higher standard, it takes as long as it takes.

I’d like to think if I don’t touch the poetry series, I might be capable of dealing with the novels and short stories by next summer. It will be interesting. I’ve no doubt there will be many things which are fine, but there will be issues and it will be a test of my mettle to deal with them properly.

I will of course report back on a regular basis. Once underway, I will not give up.
Thank you once again for joining me on my journey. All comments are welcome.

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Any venture which involves a partnership requires ‘give and take’, and it was from this perspective that I chose to attempt one of my latest projects.

Regular visitors to this blog will be aware that I said, if my book, Coming Around and other erotic stories proved successful and received positive reviews, I’d consider writing an erotic novel.

Guess what?

Okay, so I haven’t made enough money from that title to retire to a little place in the country. Neither will I be swapping spit (or anything else) with a famous author who made a fortune from a badly-plotted erotic novel which appealed to so many people – but not to me.

How have I measured success for that particular experimental collection?

1. It has been bought on a regular basis since publication.
2. It has been read by both male and female readers.
3. It has amassed a staggering seven reviews … but they are all 5*.
4. It has caused no less than four individuals to write to me asking if I’d ever consider writing an erotic novel.

That’s successful enough to give me the excuse.

What is Give and Take about?

Essentially, it is about a relationship, and I’ve chosen to focus on the weakest part of that relationship, which is the couple’s sex-life.

How can you write anything meaningful about a couple’s sex-life?

Some of you will wish you hadn’t asked, but whatever, read on.

Let’s all now prepare ourselves to be honest – I mean really honest.

If you are involved in a sexual relationship, is it all it could be?

Would you ever divulge your deepest fantasies to somebody else?

Would you consider spending a few days in a remote clinic, where you and your partner could indulge yourselves in activities that you have only ever dreamt about?

Are you even a little bit ‘curious’ in the sexual context?

If you are still reading, having hesitated just a few questions back – respect!

Give and Take is the story of a young couple who have different attitudes to the sexual side of their relationship, but although both are sexually curious, they have difficulty communicating their fantasies and desires.

They find themselves at breaking point, and in order to save all that is good about their partnership, one of them feels compelled to take decisive action. The story sees them go to a private clinic where fantasy can become reality if the desire is strong enough, and honesty pays dividends both psychologically and sexually.

I’ve had feedback from four of the writers who received my ‘rough’ fourth draft. Today, I decided to take a break from what I’m hoping is my penultimate editing session. I tend not to set up a bespoke Facebook page and play a social media fanfare with a new title, but I do like to give an introduction like this one.

In the last couple of days I’ve produced a cover which I’m content with, and for the next two weeks I will work to trim, polish, and tease the writing into shape.

My aim is to have Give and Take published by end August / early September 2015.

Who knows? If this one is moderately successful I’ll try writing another, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves, eh?

In the next two weeks I may be happy with what I would call the finished product, but before I hit the publish button I would really appreciate final feedback.

No erotica experience necessary, although some sexual experience would be preferred. Only 18+ need apply.

Contact: orderlyman@yahoo.co.uk – subject: Give and Take

If you would be interested in reading the manuscript with a view to giving feedback before I publish, please get in touch. Confidentiality is promised, because I know that not everybody likes to be publicly associated with such literature.

As always, thank you for reading … and now you can go back to your own fantasies …

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