I have no idea how you go about the step in publishing of moving to stage two, outside assistance. I have researched enough and read through my content enough to know this is the next step and it is very much needed! Remember, it may look perverse, looking for an editor in week 4, but I have been writing my collection of short stories for a few months, and it is only recently that I have started documenting them.
As a novice writer are my stories even worthy of such a process? As I said in last week’s blog I have a friend called Louise who amongst other things does proofreading and this is something I know I’ll desperately need. So I have reached out to her as I’ve asked for some help with overseeing and the general editing off the material. A second pair of eyes.
I really hoped Louise would be able to help, because it is so much easier working with someone, who in this case I have previously worked with on another project, and I know we work well together. I would not have a clue how to hire somebody who would not just look at my material with a sense of bewilderment, do the job, yeah sure , but with a detachment and a stern look of disapproval.
Thankfully, Louise agreed to help and has already cracked on with making changes. I’m still finishing off my last story, which I have to say is the one I’m enjoying the most. It involves a family of crooks from Brighton taking over one of the village pubs. I won’t give anything away, suffice to say I’m enjoy creating some really ugly roguish but comedic characters and a slightly abstract storyline. I am disorganised, but I think this is story number nine.
As part of my purging of Chat GPT, which keeps on changing its mind on the difference in length between a short story and a novellas, you will note I am dropping the moniker of novella. To me they are short stories, so that is what they will be called moving forward.
Depending on what Louise decides with the editing, I actually nearly completed all of the stories. If she feels the content I’ve sent through so far is OK, then I’ll probably not need to expand them with more character and plot detail as well as other nuances, in which case I will probably have to write another couple which really won’t be a problem at all, still brimming with ideas and plots!
Louise is currently unavailable for a meeting, to come up with a strategy. For now, one by one, I am finishing off the stories with a rough edit, and over the next few weeks will send them to Louise. I believe I will be getting the first three back over the course of the next week, with suggestions, on Google Docs, so things are really moving forward. How much I have no idea, I am new to this and my style is independent and alternative.
So I’m going through this process in an organic manner, hoping for the best and hoping doing it this way will keep the material fresh. It may well be in a couple of months I have a completely new strategy, but for now I am just letting this evolve.
I have sent three over for editing. I ran them through ChatGPT just so that I could get a little pre amble which I have posted below, so you the reader, and thank you for the support from many of you, can have a little insight and familiarise yourself with the genre and atmosphere, I guess, of what I am writing about. I like them because it makes them look ever so smart!
- Set in the village of Denham, A Mid Life Crisis is a fast-moving satire that blends small-town humour with sharp social commentary. When Anthony, a retired dentist reinventing himself as an antiques dealer, is outfoxed at auction by a narcissistic TV “expert,” a single £500 mistake spirals into scandal, social media frenzy, and tragedy. With vivid characters, witty dialogue, and a backdrop of pubs, auctions, and village politics, the story skewers vanity, midlife reinvention, and the dangerous allure of online fame. Wry, authentic, and darkly comic, it captures the eccentricities of modern British life while telling a story of ambition, regret, and redemption.
- Cath Brown has a windfall, two terrific boys, and a High Street lease she probably shouldn’t sign. One disastrous makeover and a vicious local review later, Denham’s newest café looks doomed—until a Christmas epiphany and the kindness of friends flip the script. Charming, funny, and gloriously British, Who’s Cath Kidding? is a love letter to small towns, second chances, and the courage to trade gloss for genuine.
- Howzat! is a satirical, heartfelt novel about legacy, class, and renewal. For decades, Denham Cricket Club was propped up by the Simmonds family’s money, corruption, and misplaced pride. Now, as the pavilion crumbles and relegation hits, Barnaby Simmonds discovers his father squandered the family fortune and bought its trophies with bribes. Haunted but not broken, Barnaby faces a choice: cling to ghosts or embrace the villagers rallying to save the club. With wry humour, vivid village life, and a redemption arc steeped in cricket and community, Howzat! captures the fall of an old order and the birth of something new
#Writing A Book #Content Creation #Novice Novelist #Writing Fiction #Writing for Dummies
Welcome to Denham nr Lewes 