Considering Looking for a Pre-Reader/Editor · 4:13am Jan 30th, 2012
It's slowly dawning on me that with Sweetie Belle's Cutie Mark I may have bit off a bit more than I can chew. Although I've presented myself as only desiring to continue if there is interest, I actually have a rather-complete roadmap in mind, and it's looking increasingly like I'll be writing something of an epic. I'm sure that I'm capable of, given enough time, putting to page everything I wish, but I'm also quite confident that my lack of experience in the area is hindering and will continue to hinder the quality. In particular, I'm not entirely comfortable with the fact that everything I write goes from my mind to this page with no secondary review.
Although I was ecstatic from the universally-positive comments on the first chapter, I was also somewhat disappointed by the complete lack of constructive criticism. I'm happy to write something that many people seem to enjoy, but recognize that there is certainly room for improvement, and perhaps having a single individual lend a critical eye is my best bet.
So, I'm considering asking someone/somepony to pre-read and/or edit for me, for this story. I can't ask a personal friend, as (without going into detail) my career is not one that is particularly populated by bronidom. My friend Mouse reads everything I write, but has no desire to editorialize, and would probably be quite happy with anything I wrote. It seems odd to ask the community at large, but I don't really have anywhere else to turn.
My biggest concerns are:
* Pacing, which does not come naturally to me. It's a very active effort to get the pacing as I wish,
* Detail, which is directly related to pacing of course, but I refer both to degree of detail and correctness/consistency, and
* Accessibility. I feel that my writing style could easily detract at times, either by my tendency to write long sentences with a rather complex structure (*cough* run-on) or by my occasional use of unusual vocabulary. I also have sometimes ended up in pronoun hell, which could probably be adjusted.
If you're interested, or if you would like to convince me that this is a bad idea, please comment or PM.
Cheers,
- Clavier
