Scott Oden (author of Men of Bronze, Memnon and The lion of Cairo, with contracts for three more novels) is now editing novel-length (up to 130k) Fantasy, SF, Ancient/Medieval Historical, Alternate History, at The Editorial Goblin.
Posted by axeminister (Member # 8991) on :
Very interesting. I wonder how many 5 pages they'll get from people who have no intent to purchase their services, but just want to know if they're in the 1%.
Hell, I'm tempted to do that. But I believe I know what I'll hear back, so I'll spare them the time debt.
Axe
Posted by MartinV (Member # 5512) on :
I'm tempted to send a piece of my recently published novella. Might be a problem since it's not a novel.
Posted by InarticulateBabbler (Member # 4849) on :
If it's already published, what's the point. Scott's a good guy. He's trying to supplement his income with a select amount of side-work a month.
Posted by MartinV (Member # 5512) on :
It's self-published so I think there's a lot of point still there.
Posted by rabirch (Member # 9832) on :
I don't have a novel in a state to benefit from this service as yet, but I have to say I love the title "The Editorial Goblin" and the presentation of the website. Very clever.
Posted by InarticulateBabbler (Member # 4849) on :
Well, in that case, Martin, you may well benefit.
Posted by LDWriter2 (Member # 9148) on :
Sounds interesting especially for the price of a full critique. He said something somewhere about a lite line edit which is what I need more than the rest though. Or so I think.
But I'm tempted to do the five page thingie, to see what he might think of my writing in the novel I'm revising. I keep going back and forth whether to do it the usual way or e-publish it.
Posted by extrinsic (Member # 8019) on :
I sampled Scott Oden's three published novels, one of his published short stories, and surveyed his editorial service web site.
Oden offers manuscript evaluation services, reports on concerns he encounters about craft. His rates are comparable to and competitive with similar services offered by other evaluation freelancers I've encountered online.
I feel Oden's writing tends to open with summary backstory recitals. The openings are on the slow side, slow to introduce a bridging or main dramatic complication, though the narratives eventually get into the crux of a dramatic action.
Posted by InarticulateBabbler (Member # 4849) on :
Key words: published novels... Men of Bronze (2005) had a star review in PW, Memnon (2006), The Lion of Cairo (2010), and Serpent of Hellas (2011). Frankly, Scott is a published author, and where I want to be.
He's not going to tell you how to write, but help polish your own style.