Perusing Twitter one day (I must have been very bored) I noticed a tweet by Pam Howes mentioning the editing
services of a John Hudspith. Now, I was already familiar with John, having passed by him in various writing forums, but had never really thought of him in his editing capacity. The reason I noticed anything at all on Twitter is because
I needed an editor.
The first thing I did was check out his page. I read through the testimonials, and thought, what the hell, I’ll wing him an email. John got back to me very quickly and asked for the first three chapters, a rough synopsis and any other info, notes and inspirations. In return, he would edit the first chapter so I could see the quality of his edits and suggestions. Nothing to lose, I thought, and sent over everything he asked for.
This was the beginning of a two month long collaboration. I wanted him as my editor about five seconds after I finished reading his initial edits. My work was short – a novella – so I knew it would be a quick project. But John gave so much more than I expected. Not only did I get errors pointed out and fluff removed, I got suggestions where I needed to flesh the plot out and places where I needed to cut entire paragraphs. I was nervous at first, especially when large amounts of text were going under the delete button, but then I rationalised. They are just words. I have a saved copy. If I read it back afterwards and the section seems to be missing something then put the words back. It was at that point I really began to trust John, because every single time he suggested I make a big change (and it’s always a suggestion) he was right. Without a doubt, I could re-read that day and see how much cleaner the chapter was.
In terms of attitude, I suppose you get out of these things what you put in. I came to John with an open and accepting mind, and what I got back was a super-nice editor who was a dream to work with. I thoroughly recommend John Hudspith – if you want a short story, novella or novel edited, he is your man. I will be returning to him with my next work and the one after that. (John, this is your first official warning.)
Plague is now available at Amazon for free until the end of today, the 4th of January (price normally 99c/77p).
Plague – US
Plague – UK
services of a John Hudspith. Now, I was already familiar with John, having passed by him in various writing forums, but had never really thought of him in his editing capacity. The reason I noticed anything at all on Twitter is because
I needed an editor.
The first thing I did was check out his page. I read through the testimonials, and thought, what the hell, I’ll wing him an email. John got back to me very quickly and asked for the first three chapters, a rough synopsis and any other info, notes and inspirations. In return, he would edit the first chapter so I could see the quality of his edits and suggestions. Nothing to lose, I thought, and sent over everything he asked for.
This was the beginning of a two month long collaboration. I wanted him as my editor about five seconds after I finished reading his initial edits. My work was short – a novella – so I knew it would be a quick project. But John gave so much more than I expected. Not only did I get errors pointed out and fluff removed, I got suggestions where I needed to flesh the plot out and places where I needed to cut entire paragraphs. I was nervous at first, especially when large amounts of text were going under the delete button, but then I rationalised. They are just words. I have a saved copy. If I read it back afterwards and the section seems to be missing something then put the words back. It was at that point I really began to trust John, because every single time he suggested I make a big change (and it’s always a suggestion) he was right. Without a doubt, I could re-read that day and see how much cleaner the chapter was.
In terms of attitude, I suppose you get out of these things what you put in. I came to John with an open and accepting mind, and what I got back was a super-nice editor who was a dream to work with. I thoroughly recommend John Hudspith – if you want a short story, novella or novel edited, he is your man. I will be returning to him with my next work and the one after that. (John, this is your first official warning.)
Plague is now available at Amazon for free until the end of today, the 4th of January (price normally 99c/77p).
Plague – US
Plague – UK
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