"So what sort of books do you write?" I asked.
Literary fiction author said, "I write literary fiction."
"I see... Um, what is your book about?"
"A woman's life's journey." Literary fiction author's nose lifted ceilingward.
"Ah, so woman's fiction?"
"Not hardly. And what is it YOU write?"
"YA paranormal," I said, "with aspects of science fiction and fantasy."
Literary fiction author gazed at me with THE look that was meant to pity and to put a lowly genre writer such as me in my place.
(Bet I had more fun writing in my nose-upturning genre than literary fiction author did with literary fiction! Just saying.)
CON JOBS
From a recent writing class, the instructor offered to edit a few chapters for a set fee. The turnaround was quick, and the editor asked for a couple of more chapters to edit as a bonus. ("I just love your writing style." "You're such a fast learner.")
For further edits the editor offered to edit for a set fee per hour. The edits took a bit longer, with the same chapters undergoing multiple edits.
Next go around, the editors fee went up 50%, and deeper editing per chapter was suggested.
I passed.
THINGAMABOBS
Hubby is my initial reader of edited chapters.
When I used the method from You Can Write a Novel by James V. Smith Jr. to adjust chapter pacing, he was impressed with the increased pace.
I was thrilled when he asked about the technique.
A few minutes into my Readability Statistics explanation, he said, "Whatever you're doing, it's working."
Off to revise using my thingamabob process.
