The Red Pen of Love: Advice From Post-Acceptance Edits
Writing is deeply personal. It’s hard to do, and it’s harder still to put those words out into the world. You want someone to read them! You’re terrified someone will read them! So it’s thrilling when an editor says they love those words enough to publish them. But wait, now they want to change them?
It’s no wonder authors bristle at the thought of post-acceptance edits. If it’s good enough to get published, why fix what ain’t broken? But editor Atlin Merrick of Improbable Press gave me some sage advice: an editor loves your work or they wouldn’t have accepted it. They don’t want to butcher it. They want to make it shine. So don’t lose heart when you see your story marked up by that dreaded red pen. In post-acceptance edits, that red ink stands for love.
The small stuff
We think of grammar as immutable, right and wrong, but the truth is many editors have personal preferences. As an example: We think of grammar as immutable—right and wrong! But the truth is, many editors have preferences. Same sentence, different punctuation, a deleted word. Which is better? Which is “right”? Nobody knows!
My advice with tiny edits like this is to let them lie. The meaning of the sentence has not changed, and I personally do not care where an editor wants a comma. And do remember these edits are almost always for style. Your editor does not think you don’t know where commas go. Promise.
The big stuff
Your editor reads a lot of work, and when they were reading yours, they were thinking, Oh, I love this. Oh, what a beautiful phrase. But they were also thinking, That paragraph really starts two sentences in, and This one line doesn’t really fit the tone.
(They were NOT thinking, This is the worst paragraph I’ve ever read, why does this person even think they can write?! That’s your anxiety talking.)
Your editor is just doing their job, and it’s the same job you’ve done with this piece, over countless revisions and drafts. Most of the time, they’ll be right. That paragraph is much more elegant without those first two sentences. That one line is jarring and should be reworded. Just remember, this isn’t a tear-down. It’s a tune-up. At the end, your piece will shine its brightest.
The hard stuff
A few years back, I sold a story to the anthology Clamour and Mischief from Clan Destine Press. The editor was fabulous and edits progressed easily, until we got to this sentence: “But now that Branwen had seen what the palace of the Sun was really like, she recalled the tales of the Moon with an uneasy nostalgia.”
Now, I was thinking uneasy nostalgia was the perfect way to express the character’s mixed feelings about visiting a place from a beloved childhood story but suspecting it was going to be terrifying. But the editor was thinking uneasy nostalgia didn’t really make sense. Objectively, she was probably right. But I had an emotional attachment to those two words. So I contested the edit.
If you’re going to contest, remember, you’re not defending your precious writing from the big mean red pen. You’re working with your editor. So I politely explained that yes, the phrase was weird, but I wanted it to be weird, and I’d really like to leave it in. The editor wrote back and basically said Eh, it’s two words, who cares, leave it. Success!
The unexpected stuff
I once wrote a story about a man holing up in a drafty cabin during a blizzard with a weak wood fire that burned down to coals. My editor kindly pointed out that wood fires do not have coals. That’s probably my favorite edit ever.
Then there’s the stuff that’s really out of left field. I’m always careful to hit the suggested word count for a submission call, so I was surprised when after an acceptance to an anthology, the editors offered me 2000 words to write an expanded ending, and could they please have it in 10 days? (Boy, did I feel like a professional writer getting that done in 10 days!) So it’s good to expect the unexpected in the editing phase.
The bottom line
It can dampen the thrill of acceptance when you find out your editor’s been at it with their red pen. But it’s never the case that the editor thinks badly of you, your writing, or your story. Your editor is the fan standing half a mile before the finish line of the race, handing you that cup of water that makes all the difference. They already think you’re a winner. Let them help you prove it.
This article originally appeared in Freelance Magazine from the Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild.
DannyeChase.com ~ AO3 ~ Linktree ~ The Vampire Haven erotic romance series ~ Weird Wednesday writing prompts blog ~ Resources for Writers
Enemies to lovers is a beloved trope. Readers love characters who feel passionate about each other from the beginning, whether it be love or hate. There are endless variations, but here are three main ways to write an enemies to lovers romance.
Opposite sides
Sometimes characters are enemies by circumstance, cast by fate onto opposing sides of a war or political situation. But when they meet, they find they have a lot in common and start to feel friendly toward each other. There are a few ways to go here. Your characters could already think the war is stupid and distrust their own side, happily forsaking it for each other. Or they could harbor intense hatred for anyone on the other side because they’ve been raised that way, only to find their assumptions were wrong and end up in a crisis of faith. Or the characters could be in an epic, forbidden romance: something that would doom themselves and their families if it was ever discovered.
It’s personal
Sometimes characters just don’t like each other. Maybe they’re rivals at work or in sports. Maybe they have a meet-ugly fender bender or photo bomb. Whatever the case, these two seriously can’t stand each other…until they can. The change might come about because one unexpectedly helps the other, who then realizes their enemy is actually a nice person. Or maybe there are explanations and apologies for a misunderstanding. Perhaps they just get snowed into a hotel room with only one bed. However it happens, their intense relationship then ignites in the other direction.
Enemies with benefits
Okay, so these characters are clearly not right for each other. They can’t stand each other, and even if they could, the narrative dooms them to be enemies. But they’re definitely hooking up. Maybe they find each other attractive and agree to seek some mutual release from stress. Or maybe it happens unexpectedly in a moment of passion. Either way, the physical closeness and trust they find in bed are at odds with their outward relationship. And something’s gotta give.
Enemies to lovers often draws in other tropes like single or mutual pining, slow burn, and forced proximity. However you write it, readers love when characters get dragged kicking and screaming into their Happily Ever After.
This article was first published on my writing blog
DannyeChase.com ~ AO3 ~ Linktree ~ The Vampire Haven erotic romance series ~ Weird Wednesday writing prompts blog ~ Resources for Writers
Y’all I wrote a sequel to my Riddler/Scarecrow fic
Chapters: 1/2
Fandom: Batman - All Media Types
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Jonathan Crane/Edward Nygma, Jonathan Crane & Edward Nygma
Characters: Jonathan Crane, Edward Nygma
Additional Tags: Edward's POV this time, Competence Kink, as in Edward loves Jon being casually terrifying, Pining, Pining While Fucking, yep Ed is still pining for his freak of a boyfriend, consensual sex on fear toxin, Happy Ending, Happily Ever After, Sexual Tension, Resolved Sexual Tension, Jealousy, Possessiveness, Masks, Seduction, and even some domestic fluff!
Series: Part 2 of Generous
Summary:
The problem with the Scarecrow was, he was the hottest thing Edward had ever seen in his life. Even before the fear toxin took effect.
The sequel to Generous, in which Ed's got one last step in his seduction. Only this time, Jon's got his eyes wide open.
Ed's POV this time so you can see behind the scenes of all his plans. Jon missed so much lol
Writers: looking to do the ethical thing and avoid AI images in illustrating, promoting, and selling your work?
There are many places to find public domain and free to use images. Always double-check the license before you use an image and remember to credit your source with a citation and/or link.
Pexels: photographs uploaded by contributors – does not allow AI. I found the photo for this post on Pexels. My blog post citations are usually a link on the photo itself or at the bottom of the page/post.
Unsplash: photographs and art uploaded by contributors – does not allow AI. Make sure you select the “free” license.
Public Domain Image Archive: out-of-copyright historical images.
Artvee: public domain paintings, posters and illustrations.
Smithsonian Open Access: images and data from across the Smithsonian’s 21 museums, nine research centers, libraries, archives, and the National Zoo.
Getty Research Institute: images of Getty-owned artworks in the public domain.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art: public-domain artworks in the Met collections. Be sure you select “open access.”
New York Public Library Digital Collections. Be sure you select “search only public domain.”
Wikimedia Commons: lots of free-to-use and public domain images. This is my other go-to for blog posts.
Remember, if you want custom artwork and book covers, there are tons of real, live artists you can commission to create for you! And as a fellow creator, you should not have a problem paying artists for their work. Artists, feel free to reblog this post with info on your commissions.
PS: please don’t use AI to write, either…nurture your own voice! We want to hear it.
This article was first published on my writing blog
DannyeChase.com ~ AO3 ~ Linktree ~ Weird Wednesday writing prompts blog ~ Resources for Writers
Why people in life-or-death situations sometimes have trouble counting
Who is the third who walks always beside you?
When I count, there are only you and I together
But when I look ahead up the white road
There is always another one walking beside you
–TS. Eliot, The Waste Land, written about Ernest Shackleton’s 1916 third man experience.
On this day in 1916 Ernest Shackleton reached a whaling station in Stromness in the South Atlantic, completing an epic 26 day journey to reach help after losing his ship. While crossing the mountains, starving and without climbing gear, Shackleton famously saw a fourth person in his group of three desperate sailors.
And he’s not the only one. The “third man,” named for the poem above, is the phenomenon where people in life-threatening or highly stressful situations sense another person (of whatever gender) with them. The solo hiker has a companion, or the group of four becomes five, of which most or all report seeing the extra person.
Read all about the Third Man Phenomenon and get writing prompts on my blog, such as:
The little man who wasn’t there. If the third man is a scientifically explainable brain phenomenon, you could have a plot where people try to induce it on purpose. Maybe a company sells a headband with an electric pulse that brings out a companion for lonely people, or perhaps it’s part of training for soldiers, a way to keep themselves calm in stressful situations. A horror plot could have a person uncertain whether a third man experience is an expected hallucination…or if someone is actually there.
DannyeChase.com ~ AO3 ~ Linktree ~ The Vampire Haven erotic romance series ~ Weird Wednesday writing prompts blog ~ Resources for Writers
There are physical and emotional aspects to kissing
Welcome to the most popular article on my writing blog...
Writing a First Kiss
There are a million different ways to write a great first kiss. Here are some of my thoughts, and a few prompts!
We’ll deal with the physical first.
Writing physical intimacy is just logistics: who’s got their [specific body part] where? For kissing, you’re obviously dealing with mouths, but also usually hands, and eventually some sort of embrace.
Kisses are dynamic, meaning there’s some movement going on. Here are three of the many physical possibilities for kissing that are particularly suited for a first kiss:
1. Lean-lips-hands. This is a quiet kiss: First, character A leans close, or else they both do. There is often eye movement, where one or both gazes are shifting from eyes to lips and back again (sometimes this is written as silently seeking permission). Then their lips meet. For a first kiss, you may want to pause here, because this is probably a Big Deal. After that, hands move, usually to the other person’s shoulders, neck, or collar, where they rest. It’s not an attempt to move the partner, it’s a simple desire for more touch.
For a quiet kiss there’s probably not going to be a ton of movement, because usually when characters open their mouths and deepen a kiss, there is more hand/arm involvement. (Of course, that’s not a rule, feel free to write a passionate kiss where hands never move from lighting resting on shoulders.)
2. Embrace-kiss. A lot of first kisses start with hugs. But it needs to be a lasting hug, and it helps if it involves shoulder and neck contact. Then have the characters move back from the hug slowly, without breaking it. At this point, you can go for some super intense eye contact if you want, followed by both partners leaning in and starting the kiss, which can range from shy to suddenly passionate. The embrace will likely tighten back up at some point.
Or, instead of eye contact, you can have them moving from the full contact in the hug to resting their cheeks against each other, and then slowly shifting back just enough for mouths to meet. This is a kiss where there is no “seeking permission” phase, they just both move into it together. Because the shifting is slow, this kiss will probably at least start off quiet. And again, the embrace will probably renew itself.
3. Kissing everywhere but the lips. Oddly enough, this is good for both shy and really confident first kisses.
The mechanics are simple and sensual: one person (A) is doing the kissing here, and they place kisses on cheeks, foreheads, eyebrows, ears, jawline, etc, and then finally the mouth. This works for a shy exploration, where A is gently testing boundaries (Is here okay? What about here?) and communicating something like I want to kiss you, but I can’t just go for it, that’s terrifying.
On the other hand, this is also a method for sweeping someone off their feet (metaphorically, we don’t need to get into foot movement here). It’s romantic to shower someone in kisses, and it’s charming to tease: I know you want me to kiss you on the mouth, but I’m going to make you wait for it.
In either case, by the time you get to the mouth part, usually both people are a) on the same page about what’s about to happen, and b) really impatient for it, so it can work to go right into open-mouthed kissing here, even for a shy first kiss. Hands will probably come into play at this point, moving to the back of the neck, into the hair, or holding cheeks/jaw. The more passionate the kiss, the more likely the characters will move into a full embrace.
4. Actually ask permission. Or skip all that and have one person say “Yo, can I kiss you?” and the other say “Hell, yeah!” From there, the possibilities are endless!
But that’s just the physical part. The emotional aspects of a kiss are also very important. Here are a couple of first kiss ideas:
1. Confession via kiss. Sometimes it’s hard to say I love you, especially if the situation is as complicated as romances tend to be. The first-kiss-as-confession works for a variety of set-ups: a character who’s better with actions than words, characters in a situation where they don’t have time for a confession and have to say it all with a two-second lip press, characters who are having an argument and are misunderstanding attempts at love confessions, or even characters in a place where they can’t make any noise.
2. Lust to love. Let’s say your characters have discovered some mutual desire and are finally doing something about it, starting with a first kiss. But somewhere in there, things take a shift in another direction. Now they’re not just madly kissing newly-bared skin, they’re just kissing. And kissing. The sexual desire takes a backseat to needing to say something else, whether it’s This actually means more to me than sex, does it mean more to you? or Please don’t die in [upcoming dangerous situation], I can’t live without you, or some other emotional statement.
3. Best friends to lovers. This is one of the gold standards of romance for many reasons, one of which is that there is lots of room for pining. Unlike strangers just getting to know each other, best friends are always together and often in physical contact, which can get very emotionally charged.
So how do best friends get a first kiss? So many amazing possibilities here: a hurt/comfort cheek kiss that turns into more, an outgoing friend introducing a shy friend to kissing (like in my free-to-read story Life of the Party), a hug feeling un-platonic because they’re all dressed up in fancy clothes, or a kiss to keep up appearances while fake dating.
So how does one actually write this?
Again, there are endless ways to weave together the physical and emotional aspects of physical intimacy in a kiss scene. One basic possibility is having emotion lead to physical movement. This is your classic I need to touch you right now creating hand-to-body contact and kissing. But you can also do it the other direction, from physical to emotion: Wow, I did not think physical contact with you would make me feel like this and now I am having Realizations. Once you get into the kissing, it becomes a feed-forward-feed-back loop, where physical contact both stems from and leads to emotions.
Questions? Comments? Hit me up on my social media. Looking for ideas? Get some weird writing prompts.
This article was first published on my writing blog
DannyeChase.com ~ AO3 ~ Linktree ~ Weird Wednesday writing prompts blog ~ Resources for Writers
Doomed love stories are a staple of romance, and one of the greatest is the tragedy of an immortal being in love with someone whose lifespan is finite. But of course, romance fans don’t always want the tragic ending. So here are three ways to take your doomed immortal/mortal romance and give it a happy ending.
1. Change the rules
Your human becomes a vampire, or your vampire becomes human. An angel falls to earth to be with their human lover or a human is elevated to angel status. In other words, solve the problem by avoiding it altogether. For a twist, you could have your mortal become some other brand of immortal than their lover: a psychopomp (I love that word), demon, ghost, god, etc. Either way, your lovers spend the rest of their lifetime (of whatever length) together.
2. End of story
You can always end a story by killing off your couple. Your mortal comes to the end of their lifespan, and your immortal also kicks the bucket: a stake through the heart, magical weapon, or holy war. Then maybe they get to be together in the afterlife. After all, if Swan Lake did it, why not you?
3. Reincarnation
Or you can tell your love story over and over again. Your mortal character dies and is reborn, while your immortal waits and pines. The possibilities for romance are delicious: does your reincarnated human remember their lover every time? Maybe at a certain cue (like a kiss), or just on meeting them? Or do they have to fall in love anew every time? Maybe your immortal has to search the world over for their reborn lover, or maybe they know where to look. Throw in a soul bond if you like. Either way, the story could involve tropes like pining, meet-cutes, and strangers to lovers.
In sum, immortal/mortal love stories are great for high-stakes happy endings. Have fun writing!
Check out other articles on romance between ghosts and humans and vampires and humans
This article was first published on my writing blog
DannyeChase.com ~ AO3 ~ Linktree ~ The Vampire Haven erotic romance series ~ Weird Wednesday writing prompts blog ~ Resources for Writers
