Editing - a fictionalised account of how WritersServices helped Joe with some expert
editing.
Joe, a 28-year-old software engineer, lived and breathed
Fantasy. He was real fan of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time sequence. Although he was not really a creative writing type, he was a compulsive
writer with plenty of plot ideas and was already working away on his third
fantasy novel. So far he’d received only standard rejection letters from publishers. His friend Jesse had tried to be kind about the third novel,
Queen
of the Black Unicorns, but had had to admit that he found it rather hard going,
although he thought some bits were ‘great!’.
As Joe drove the 20 miles to work in Palo Alto each day,
he would brood on Queen of the Black Unicorns and wonder how to
get his book published. From what he could see, it was Catch 22 – a publisher wouldn’t take it on unless he
reworked it, but until a publisher took it on he wouldn’t have an editor to
help him rework it.
Joe was pretty much used to life turning out the way he wanted it to. A straight
'A' student, he had graduated from MIT and immediately started
a pretty well-paid job in the Valley. That’s
where he had met Donna, right there in his first real job. And Donna, a leggy blonde with a sharp brain, was also used to getting
what she wanted. It was Donna who spotted WritersServices.com whilst browsing
the Net and suggested that he should try out their Editing
service.
What Joe needed was what a good publisher’s editor
would provide: a thorough edit of the book, looking at the structure, plot, characters and writing, and advising Joe how to rework it.
As an inexperienced writer, Joe had made various mistakes.
