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Editor's Report Plus story

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A fictionalised account of how WritersServices helped Joe with an expert and detailed report on his work

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 online and suggested that he should try out their Editor's Report Plus service.

What Joe needed was what a good publisher’s editor would provide: a thorough chapter-by-chapter report on 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. 

  • His characters weren’t convincing enough
  • The exciting scenes Jesse had enjoyed were not linked by a sufficiently strong storyline.
  • The novel lacked pace.

The WritersServices editor would advise Joe on all of this, helping him to get his manuscript into shape by showing him how to rework it. Then Joe could confidently tackle another draft and submit it to an agent or publisher, or self-publish it, rather than putting another not-up-to-scratch manuscript on one side, starting again on a new one and feeling a bit of a failure.

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