My brother’s birthday is today and he’s been gone almost 17 years. He was 19 years old and his death is shrouded in mystery. It was a swimming accident but he was a strong swimmer. It was really nice to stumble upon your page and read your memoir. Thank you for sharing it. It really helps to hear about others dealing with the same things.
Hi Lee. I found your excerpts very moving, and, yes, I would read more. I have tried to write a memoir about me and my younger sister, dead ten years now by perhaps suicide, perhaps unintentional overdose, perhaps a bit of murder. Haven't found the form/how to approach it yet. She was also the victim of fundamentalist Christianity.
I am a beta-reader; at least, I have been for one author, Christopher St. John. I am also interested in the beta-reading process, although I am, for now, taking George's example to heart, and not putting my work out for critique prematurely. I am at work on a book, about a rabbit and an old Buddhist woman, which, perhaps is a backdoor into writing about my sister.
I signed up for Substack, and now I don't know what to do with it. I'm curious to see how others are using the platform. Thinking, thinking, thinking.
Hello Nancy - Well met here. I have been pivoting recently to a career in developmental editing. So when you are further along with your book, perhaps we can trade reads. It's funny that you say "victim of fundamentalist Christianity," as that's a way I view my brother, though he wouldn't describe it that way nor his friends. Still, it had a great effect on him and not always for the good. It looks like there are many substack type writing experiments going on. I think it depends on what kind of writer you are.
Thanks for reading. I really appreciate it. When I pull my manuscript together for beta-reading, I'll let you know it's available. All the best. - Lee
Hi Lee - This new era of publishing/promoting is sort of a brave new world for me. I'm 76 and long out of touch. Because I'm old, I'd always heard of (and thought of) self-publishing as "vanity publishing." Something to be scorned. But this is a new age, and that's no longer true. I have six friends I can think of off the top of my head who have gone that route, and their work is generally quite good. But of course we all would like to be published traditionally—paid and with others to do design, etc.
One of these self-published “friends,” whom I haven’t actually met, is Christopher St. John. I happened upon him because he wrote a book called “War Bunny.” I’m writing about the relationship between a rabbit and an old Buddhist woman, and. I’m devouring books about talking animals. That's how I found George Saunders--via "Fox 8." Talk about a backdoor!
Christopher is an especially talented, smart, and sophisticated writer. (Although I'm not a big fan of fantasy--which is sort of odd since my own book probably qualifies; but his is more "high-adventure" fantasy, more battles, etc.) He lives in Berkeley, CA, and seems to have a good and helpful writers' group. He's also savvier than I am about how one promotes one's work. I bring him up because he is working with a "developmental editor," which I'd never heard of and have no idea how one gets one or works with one. To some of my beta comments/criticisms he said that his developmental editor had raised the same concerns. (So, what is a developmental editor; how does it work?)
Do you have any estimate of when you'll put your book out for betas? I was eager to push through a finished draft of my book (not thinking that it would be in any way a finished draft) so I could put out to betas, because of Christopher's recommendation of the system. I beta-read his sequel to "War Bunny," "Summerday." It was an interesting process. I imagine that the quality of help one gets depends entirely on who those readers are and their tastes/experiences.
I've checked out quite a few Substacks of our fellow Story Clubbers (many, like me, have posted nothing so far). The only social media I've been involved with is Facebook, and I got sort of tired by it (and, frankly, tired of all of the "my beloved dog just died" posts, because they break my heart. I was hesitant to read your “For the Dogs,” but I survived it and thought it was good.)
So I initially wondered if Substack might serve me as a kind of blog, where I could put down anything that interests me—political rants, my dogs, my travels, reactions to current events, personal stuff about my sister, my kids, about mental illness, etc.—and invite my close friends to read it. Then I thought some more and decided to do nothing.
Then, within the last week or so, I had a SC interaction with a guy called michaeldmayo—maybe you’ve seen his posts, which are usually skewed sharply to the right. I got into an exchange with him back when we were discussing Tillie Olsen; that hadn’t been very productive, to say the least. So I have been ignoring him, but then I thought that maybe I should look and see more of what he’s about. And his Substack is quite good and interesting to me—his inner rabid right-winger is quiet, and he posts about things that simply interest him, often movie or book reviews. He’s quite good at expressing himself, and so I’ve subscribed to his Substack. (Perhaps on my part this is an experiment in getting to know one’s enemies, or learning how to talk to someone I disagree with.) Just sort of a general interest site. I thought that maybe I should do something like that.
I see that you have many, many posts for me to explore, and I’m looking forward to it. I’ve got only my big toe into the water, but, who knows?
Developmental editors are what we think of as editors at publishing companies. They acquire books then edit them. They look at big picture concerns for the genre of the book - plot and character arcs, setting and world building, pacing. They are less concerned with sentence level language which is usually the domain of copy editors and line editors. And proofreaders are the last line of defense against errors. It takes a lot to produce w good book.
Dev editors are in demand because of self-publishing. I’m with you in being raised during the time of “vanity publishing.” That world has changed. One can always get published now but that doesn’t necessarily raise the quality of work. And publishing houses still publish lots of trash. Marketing and selling books is a whole different ballgame from creating books.
Fox 8 really is a back door to story club! But there are so many good books with talking animals.
I would say for beta reads - have a draft that you feel is polished. It’s at that point that the work starts. That’s when a dev editor can do his or her best work. Take what you think is polished and then bring to the fore the concerns of storytelling. It’ll help you revise with some focus. Save works in progress for a couple close friend readers from a writing group. Beta reads benefit from strangers reading your work.
You can check out my website for my dev editing work - https://leehornbrook.com. And you can write me at lee_hornbrook@yahoo DOT com so we can take this conversation offline.
As for substack, you can totally use it as a blogging platform. I’d love to see some of your thoughts on substack.
My brother’s birthday is today and he’s been gone almost 17 years. He was 19 years old and his death is shrouded in mystery. It was a swimming accident but he was a strong swimmer. It was really nice to stumble upon your page and read your memoir. Thank you for sharing it. It really helps to hear about others dealing with the same things.
Thank you for reading, Sarah. Together we persevere in the face of great loss.
Hi Lee. I found your excerpts very moving, and, yes, I would read more. I have tried to write a memoir about me and my younger sister, dead ten years now by perhaps suicide, perhaps unintentional overdose, perhaps a bit of murder. Haven't found the form/how to approach it yet. She was also the victim of fundamentalist Christianity.
I am a beta-reader; at least, I have been for one author, Christopher St. John. I am also interested in the beta-reading process, although I am, for now, taking George's example to heart, and not putting my work out for critique prematurely. I am at work on a book, about a rabbit and an old Buddhist woman, which, perhaps is a backdoor into writing about my sister.
I signed up for Substack, and now I don't know what to do with it. I'm curious to see how others are using the platform. Thinking, thinking, thinking.
All the best, your fellow Story Clubber,
Nancy Gage
Hello Nancy - Well met here. I have been pivoting recently to a career in developmental editing. So when you are further along with your book, perhaps we can trade reads. It's funny that you say "victim of fundamentalist Christianity," as that's a way I view my brother, though he wouldn't describe it that way nor his friends. Still, it had a great effect on him and not always for the good. It looks like there are many substack type writing experiments going on. I think it depends on what kind of writer you are.
Thanks for reading. I really appreciate it. When I pull my manuscript together for beta-reading, I'll let you know it's available. All the best. - Lee
Hi Lee - This new era of publishing/promoting is sort of a brave new world for me. I'm 76 and long out of touch. Because I'm old, I'd always heard of (and thought of) self-publishing as "vanity publishing." Something to be scorned. But this is a new age, and that's no longer true. I have six friends I can think of off the top of my head who have gone that route, and their work is generally quite good. But of course we all would like to be published traditionally—paid and with others to do design, etc.
One of these self-published “friends,” whom I haven’t actually met, is Christopher St. John. I happened upon him because he wrote a book called “War Bunny.” I’m writing about the relationship between a rabbit and an old Buddhist woman, and. I’m devouring books about talking animals. That's how I found George Saunders--via "Fox 8." Talk about a backdoor!
Christopher is an especially talented, smart, and sophisticated writer. (Although I'm not a big fan of fantasy--which is sort of odd since my own book probably qualifies; but his is more "high-adventure" fantasy, more battles, etc.) He lives in Berkeley, CA, and seems to have a good and helpful writers' group. He's also savvier than I am about how one promotes one's work. I bring him up because he is working with a "developmental editor," which I'd never heard of and have no idea how one gets one or works with one. To some of my beta comments/criticisms he said that his developmental editor had raised the same concerns. (So, what is a developmental editor; how does it work?)
Do you have any estimate of when you'll put your book out for betas? I was eager to push through a finished draft of my book (not thinking that it would be in any way a finished draft) so I could put out to betas, because of Christopher's recommendation of the system. I beta-read his sequel to "War Bunny," "Summerday." It was an interesting process. I imagine that the quality of help one gets depends entirely on who those readers are and their tastes/experiences.
I've checked out quite a few Substacks of our fellow Story Clubbers (many, like me, have posted nothing so far). The only social media I've been involved with is Facebook, and I got sort of tired by it (and, frankly, tired of all of the "my beloved dog just died" posts, because they break my heart. I was hesitant to read your “For the Dogs,” but I survived it and thought it was good.)
So I initially wondered if Substack might serve me as a kind of blog, where I could put down anything that interests me—political rants, my dogs, my travels, reactions to current events, personal stuff about my sister, my kids, about mental illness, etc.—and invite my close friends to read it. Then I thought some more and decided to do nothing.
Then, within the last week or so, I had a SC interaction with a guy called michaeldmayo—maybe you’ve seen his posts, which are usually skewed sharply to the right. I got into an exchange with him back when we were discussing Tillie Olsen; that hadn’t been very productive, to say the least. So I have been ignoring him, but then I thought that maybe I should look and see more of what he’s about. And his Substack is quite good and interesting to me—his inner rabid right-winger is quiet, and he posts about things that simply interest him, often movie or book reviews. He’s quite good at expressing himself, and so I’ve subscribed to his Substack. (Perhaps on my part this is an experiment in getting to know one’s enemies, or learning how to talk to someone I disagree with.) Just sort of a general interest site. I thought that maybe I should do something like that.
I see that you have many, many posts for me to explore, and I’m looking forward to it. I’ve got only my big toe into the water, but, who knows?
Developmental editors are what we think of as editors at publishing companies. They acquire books then edit them. They look at big picture concerns for the genre of the book - plot and character arcs, setting and world building, pacing. They are less concerned with sentence level language which is usually the domain of copy editors and line editors. And proofreaders are the last line of defense against errors. It takes a lot to produce w good book.
Dev editors are in demand because of self-publishing. I’m with you in being raised during the time of “vanity publishing.” That world has changed. One can always get published now but that doesn’t necessarily raise the quality of work. And publishing houses still publish lots of trash. Marketing and selling books is a whole different ballgame from creating books.
Fox 8 really is a back door to story club! But there are so many good books with talking animals.
I would say for beta reads - have a draft that you feel is polished. It’s at that point that the work starts. That’s when a dev editor can do his or her best work. Take what you think is polished and then bring to the fore the concerns of storytelling. It’ll help you revise with some focus. Save works in progress for a couple close friend readers from a writing group. Beta reads benefit from strangers reading your work.
You can check out my website for my dev editing work - https://leehornbrook.com. And you can write me at lee_hornbrook@yahoo DOT com so we can take this conversation offline.
As for substack, you can totally use it as a blogging platform. I’d love to see some of your thoughts on substack.