Proof readers wanted

I am in the middle of writing a short story for the publisher excite. I need people to proof read it as There is no one in my own life I can turn too (their either too shy or non existent) so I would love some help from anyone on the forums who is interested.

I can't just post the story as normal otherwise I would have. If I get a good response from this thread in the next couple of days then I will leave my email here and you can get in touch.

I am a bit hesitant to leave it now but then again i am nowhere near finished the story.

Thanks so much for taking the time (if you do decide to help) and I will check back in a day or two.

Love and hugs

Leon    

I'll take a gander at it if you want.  I'm fortunate enough to have a fantastic friend who I've given the ideas for my story to. She doesn't mind reading all the incredibly bizarre sex and horror scenes.

I expect a percentage of all profits for my help.  Nah, I'm kidding.

 Had me worried for a second, tease. Was hoping you would pick up on this Ginger as I have tried to keep in mind what you said and would love to hear how Ive done. I don't know when it will be finished but I am hoping it will be sometime in the next 3 or 4 days. Any way I will yous this thread to let everyone know.

Thanks for the support.      

 Hi Leon.

I'm happy to proof read something for you.

No problem. I'll be waiting...

Brilliant to have you on board with this as well Ruby. Like I said with Ginger when I get it done I will let everyone know and we will go from there. Just accepted you as a friend and I am glad for your help.   

You're welcome and thank you.

I look forward to reading your story.

 Hey Leon, count me in... will friend request in a mo...

Funnily enough I had been thinking about suggesting some sort of 'support group' based around this forum.  Along the lines of a bunch of us agreeing to review/critique each others work as and when posted (I was going to suggest the man Ginger as 'Editor in Chief', he's got books and things )

I was originally only thinking in terms of postings, but no reason that can't extend to an email distribution group.  I can understand not wanting to post if your looking to get published.

Anyway, sorry to hijack, happy to help in any way...

Your a friend now too Sanda yay. Your more than welcome to and its not a bad idea to have a support thing for ourselves. Poor ginger would be inundated in minutes i guess but we all have strengths and weaknesses and it would be good to learn from each other.

I guess well see how it goes but you might just be onto something here.    

Aww, thanks Sanda for exaggerting whatever success I have!

I was rather thinking of - since there's an 'Erotic Fiction' thread - a general fiction thread which doesn't involve any form of eroticism or just things in general. Seems a bit awkward when you want to share something you've written and post it in the 'Erotic Fiction' thread and there is no sex whatsoever.

Also, I'd like a sort of privacy feature on this forum which enables friends only to be able to view the thread. I've been deciding whether or not to share my ideas for my story, but feel rather insecure about it since anyone that goes on this website can view it. Who knows what they'll do with it...

Leon, lol, I had to look up 'inundated' to learn what it means. I have a knack for creating overly detailed messages suggesting improvements and pointing out strengths. Just because I feel a lot of detail makes things easier to understand and see where I'm coming from.  Would be nice to have that support anyway!

Thats a good point Ginger. I have that same fear with my story which is why I am holding back a little. Might be worth e mailing Love Honey directly if no one from the team picks up on this thread.  

Y'see, I felt the exact same thing that you said: 'I can't just post the story as normal otherwise I would have.' I knew that you felt the way that you said in the above post. It's just that I finally THOUGHT about it rather than just knocking it out of my head.

Always nice when good ideas surface. It would be counter productive if we all stopped having them.

Any way going to go and spend another couple of hours writing and then a little more work on my sleep. 

With any luck I might get another page of my story written though i doubt it. not because of motivation but quality. I'm trying as hard as I can to be really slow and steady and take my time to get everything right. 

I actually had to paste paragraph three in front of paragraph one for it to fit better and that has never happened before so slow and steady seems to be working out better.

Speak to you all tomorrow and I will update my progress.  

 I think one problem in posting openly on forums or even on blogs is that you are posting to a positive audience, so you always tend to get positive feedback.

Now we all need encouragement and its brilliant to know that people like what we write, but to improve as writers we all need to get impartial, critical feedback too. Not "critical" in a bad way, but "critical" in the academic way.  

Which is why having a closed forum or a few friends on email to act as readers is so helpful.  It is also good to have more than one test reader so you get different feedback as everyone picks up on different things.

I'm going to work on my sleep too now! (I like that phrase)

Well, at least you're not distracted by the internet!

Slow and steady's definately the way to go: lets you consider what comes after whilst you're idly fixing mistakes and the extra reading over the words will make you more confident in writing something which fits in the story correctly.

I've had a bit of go at writing some of my plan for a short story from the full-length novel I'm planning. Got half a page written so far, quite sadly. It's also specifically about myself, the short story. Don't worry, I'm not egotistical. It'd make perfect sense if you know what the full-length novel is all about! I am generally against writing myself into a story, but the ideas I have are pretty damn cool, I think. Basically, I end up getting schizophrenia due to all life's agonising jabs at me and then I start to actually live in my own story. Then I've got some really psycho stuff going on with me and my ability to keep fighting when things get difficult. A simple exaggeration of myself, really, and what's happened with me and around me.

Ruby Kiddell wrote:

 I think one problem in posting openly on forums or even on blogs is that you are posting to a positive audience, so you always tend to get positive feedback.

Now we all need encouragement and its brilliant to know that people like what we write, but to improve as writers we all need to get impartial, critical feedback too. Not "critical" in a bad way, but "critical" in the academic way.  

Which is why having a closed forum or a few friends on email to act as readers is so helpful.  It is also good to have more than one test reader so you get different feedback as everyone picks up on different things.

I'm going to work on my sleep too now! (I like that phrase)

This. Exactly this. This is the whole reason why I feel bad for providing criticism as I feel like I've upset someone or that I've got my opinions completely wrong. It's a good thing I'm a natural criticiser though. Does take me a pretty darn long time, but in the end, if something I write is bad, I will spot it. I think I'm getting a lot better though. There's a trilogy of stories I have in mind, which I have no plan for, and I've been reading back over what I've written of the first story so far. Despite a lot of it seeming like it's going nowhere and gets boring and tiresome, I can actually see the potential it has, and there are specific parts which I really like where the tone of voice is very different and provides a very unique style of character.

 Me again. After this i am going to write I promise.

Ruby is right on the money. I mean When Ginger took the time to write out that huge critique about my story I was a little shocked at just how in depth it was but that is exactly what I needed. It helped me to understand the silly little things that make the biggest difference and those are always the things we miss.

 If you are looking to get published or just seriously improve It is crucial to understand them and have good people looking out for you. which is why I started this thread in the first place and I think we might actually be able to pull it off. And all because of Sanda's idea.

Three cheers for Sanda

Yay Sanda Yay Sanda Yay Sanda      

 *blushes* Thanks Leon, it was just an idea I was mulling over...

I'm just a beginner compared to you guys,  and probably not looking to take it anywhere other than a bit of fun and a personal challenge.  But i know from other aspects of life that genuine constructive criticism is essential if you're going to improve (Ruby, you're spot on with that, just look at all those x-factor 'hopefuls' that bring their supportive family along!)

Re forums limited to friends, technically i'm not sure how you'd achieve this and it sort of goes against the general purpose of a forum.  Forums limited to memebers is easy, but limited to friends is more of a facebook thing.  If we're making recomendations to LH though then a 'private messaging' option (in addition to chat) wouldn't be a bad idea, good for swapping email addresses etc...

quite happy to read your story anytime Leon

Hello Leon. I'm still happy to read your story for you before you send it off. I believe that in your situation, you will not be able to post the story anywhere online or publish it elsewhere, so you are right not to post it on the forums publicly. It's an interesting idea on a Fiction Forum. I wouldn't be suprised if such a place existed though. Lovehoney are not as strong on their erotic fiction section as they used to be. It is still here, but it isn't as strong or popular as it once was a few years ago.

I think you already know, but my grammar and full grasping of the English Language isn't as confident as some others here. Having those who are confident in that are great people as proof readers, we all miss stuff, and it really helps to have someone else read it who can completely break it down and see if there is anything inconsistant in your writing or spelling that spell check missed, punctuation miss usage or perhaps a way your grammar can be put to better use etc etc.

But that isn't the only important thing when it comes to proof reading which was why I recommend having a more than one person proof-read it for you.

As a reader of erotic fiction who has read some (a lot!) darned terrible stuff, some (not as frequent as I'd like) utterly beautiful stuff and a fair amount that is nice to read and does it's job and have bookmarked pages (I think all us girls bookmark the good bits), I can certainly offer my help by reading it for you. Rather than breaking it down utterly, like others may be able to do, and looking at the correct and clinical use of the English Language, I would like to help by reading it as a story and let you know how it flows, if there is enough to keep the reader interested, etc etc.I know you also fear having a 'shock factor' in your writing, fear that it might be degrading to women in you bondage/S&M work, but try not to worry too much while you are writing it and let it come from what you want to say, not having to censor yourself for fear it isn't what every woman wants to read. Lets face it, there isn't one erotic book that EVERY woman wants to read, if there was, erotica would be a lot more popular than it is now. And there would probably be no need for Mills and Boon with their covers taken straight from the 80's of tanned men wearing open white shirts kissing a woman with a tumbleweed of hair in front of a sunset or a horse or a swimming pool *Gags*

Anyway. Just to let you know that I'm more than happy to read it for you and offer my insights as to how it reads as a short story and how the pace is in it and such. I'm sure the others can do that aswell, but another point of view is never a bad idea, right?

I think I rambled on too long again..