Search Results for : 

I’m now offering a low-cost fiction critiquing service. Whether you’re an up-and-comer who wants advice, or an experienced pro who just wants a second set of eyeballs, my experience to date makes me your guy.

Please note that I’m just getting this off the ground, and such I cannot yet speak to details such as what percentage of client requests I’ll be able to accept, average turnaround times, and so forth.

What do I mean by "critique"?

Basically, I’m offering a less formal variant of a "content edit." I will offer overall opinions on the work as a whole, and I will look for, and suggest solutions to:

• plot holes
• inconsistencies
• unclear or repetitious description
• general issues of style

That said, this is not a proofread or a line edit. I will point out any typos or formatting errors I happen to spot, but I won’t be specifically looking for them. I will not be doing line-by-line commentary, and while I will point out the above problems and offer suggestions, I won’t rewrite them all for you.

In essence, come to me for help on the story, not on the text.

What sorts of jobs do I accept?

I’ll critique basically anything that falls under the umbrella of "speculative fiction." Fantasy, science-fiction, supernatural horror, steampunk, that sort of thing. Nonfiction, and fiction genres outside the speculative, are outside my wheelhouse.

I’ll accept short-form or long-form fiction, within reasonable parameters. See below.

Rates

I charge based on word count, at a level that varies slightly based on project length. All prices are in US dollars.

Up to 1,000 words: Flat fee of $15.

Up to 10,000 words: 2.5 cents/word for every word beyond the initial 1,000.

10,001 to 40,000 words: 2 cents/word for every word beyond the initial 10,000.

40,001 to 100,000 words: 1.75 cents/word for every word beyond the initial 40,000.

Longer works may be negotiated on a case-by-case basis.

Rush Jobs

I cannot normally provide a guaranteed turnaround time, but if you absolutely must have your critique by a certain date, we can negotiate that for a slight up-charge.

I’m now offering a low-cost fiction critiquing service. Whether you’re an up-and-comer who wants advice, or an experienced pro who just wants a second set of eyeballs, my experience of over a dozen years and a dozen novels makes me your guy.

Please note that I’m just getting this off the ground, and so cannot yet speak to details such as what percentage of client requests I’ll be able to accept, average turnaround times, and so forth.

What do I mean by "critique"?

Basically, I’m offering a less formal variant of a "content edit." I will offer overall opinions on the work as a whole, perform a basic level of proofreading, and I will look for, and suggest solutions to:

• plot holes
• inconsistencies
• unclear or repetitious description
• general issues of style

What sorts of jobs do I accept?

I’ll critique basically anything that falls under the umbrella of "speculative fiction." Fantasy, science-fiction, supernatural horror, steampunk, that sort of thing. Nonfiction, and fiction genres outside the speculative, are outside my wheelhouse.

I’ll accept short-form or long-form fiction, within reasonable parameters. See below.

Rates

I charge based on word count, at a level that varies slightly depending on project length. All prices are in US dollars.

Up to 1,000 words: Flat fee of $15.

Up to 10,000 words: Base fee of $15, then 2.5 cents/word for every word beyond the initial 1,000.

10,001 to 40,000 words: Base fee of $200, then 2 cents/word for every word beyond the initial 10,000.

40,001 to 100,000 words: Base fee of $800, then 1.75 cents/word for every word beyond the initial 40,000.

Longer works may be negotiated on a case-by-case basis.

Payment

I vastly prefer working through Paypal, but we can discuss other options. Unless we’ve made other arrangements, I’ll be asking 25% of the fee up front, with the remainder due upon completion. (Longer works may require 50% up front.)

Rush Jobs

I cannot normally provide a guaranteed turnaround time, but if you absolutely must have your critique by a certain date, we can negotiate that for a slight up-charge.

How to request a critique

Solicitations for a story critique must come to me via the following form. Requests sent to other addresses, or entered into other forms, may well not be seen at all.

Please change the subject line to read "Critique [story name]". (If it doesn’t yet have a name, call it Untitled.) In the body of the e-mail, please provide

• Your name
• The approximate word count of the work you want critiqued
• Genre(s) of the work
• A brief (one-to-three sentence) description of the story

I’ll contact you and, if I’m able to accept the job, discuss with you total fees, means of delivery, and other requirements.

Formatting

If and when I request that you send me your manuscript, it must be as either an RTF or a DOC (not DOCX!) file.

Further Questions?

Contact me via the form below. Please change the subject line to read "Critique Questions." Or you can ask in the comments section, below, if it’s a question you don’t mind discussing publicly.

Important disclaimer! Read before emailing me:

While it’s not common, authors do occasionally have very similar ideas. By clicking this box, or sending me any sort of request for a critique, you are agreeing to hold me blameless if any of my work–past, present, or future–bears any resemblance to the material you sent.

Please Fill In All Fields

[formbuilder:3]

Dragon Moon Press

(Because we all know they read my blog with baited breath on a regular basis.)

I’m not a big-name author. I’m not a scriptwriter. But I have written and published enough that I think I can say I have a pretty good grasp of story. So I’m going to point something out that you’ve probably already thought about.

No matter how good the writers, no matter how good the scripts, you cannot do justice to a five-year mission with movies that come out every three-to-five years.

The third Star Trek movie of the new continuity is coming up. We know that the cast signed a three-picture deal, and we know that at least some of them have already said they’re ready to move on.

So… You’ve had blockbuster movies, films that did better than any prior Star Trek films. And you’re going to have to recast anyway.

Cast actors willing to sign on for a series and bring Star Trek back to television.

You have an audience; the success of the movies proves that. You have a clean slate, to create brand new stories and revisit old ones, as you choose. You can write episodes to satisfy the action-lovers, and episodes to satisfy the more cerebral fans.

A five-year mission. A five-year series. Or heck, do a couple years, then a movie, a couple more years, then a movie… Have your cake and eat it, too.

The fans are ready, the franchise is ready. And it’s the only way to truly do Star Trek–five years of exploring the galaxy–any justice.

Let’s start hearing "These are the voyages…" on a weekly basis again.

Time for the Enterprise to come home. We’re waiting for her.