It’s Worldcon time! From 8th to 12th August 2024, thousands of SFFH fans will descend upon Glasgow, Scotland, like a plague of nerdy locusts to talk, read, write, and listen to all things genre, while likely consuming vast quantities of food, drink, alcohol, and hangover cures.
In honour of the beautiful chaos to come, Anna is offering a 20% discount on all editing and manuscript evaluation services.
But wait! There’s more!
If you email thewritingadvisors@gmail.com during the course of Worldcon itself (i.e. between 8th and 12th August) quoting WORLDCON20 in the subject line, you’ll secure the 20% discount but you don’t need to have a MS ready to go immediately. The discount code is valid for THREE CALENDAR MONTHS, giving you chance to finalise your manuscript, decide on the level of service you need, and/or set aside the fee.
The usual payment structure will apply, with the 20% discount applied up front.
20% off, to be used within 3 months, with nothing to lose by enquiring? Sounds like a damn good deal to me.
Book 1 of the Mages of the Wheel series was so much fun I forgot to update my reading progress on Goodreads, forgot to do my day job, and (almost) forgot to eat.
A brilliantly balanced political fantasy with a beautiful, heated, slow burn romance at its centre that was as tantalising as it was well-crafted. Let’s just say, Makram and Naime’s particular brand of lightshow was of great personal enjoyment to me.
I loved the worldbuilding, the political machinations, and the magic. The idea of the Wheel was simple and yet very effective. More than that, it was very plausible as a magical device/construct.
I loved Makram as a character, and the exploration of his character as a gentle man with a lethal magic held in check was handled really well. The glimpses into his trauma and backstory and how rigidly he held himself strong against them were delivered with a deft touch and great compassion. As well as the usual author’s gloating glee at getting to do terrible things to characters (unless that’s just me projecting).
Naime was also great, an astute example of a woman in power having to tread with so much poise and care because of the fragile masculinities around her who can’t conceive she might be able to do a better job than them. It made me want to cheer her on and borrow a bit of Makram’s power to show them the error of their ways all at the same time.
I found the handling of the Sultan’s dementia-like symptoms to be written with skill and care, and the gift that Makram offers him at the end was so bittersweet, it really hit me in the heart.
Lastly, I’ve got high hopes for my two favourite secondary characters, Tareck and Samira. I can see them getting up to all sorts of shenanigans together, to the general detriment of their enemies. And I wouldn’t be particularly sad if Kadir was accidentally pushed down a steep flight of stairs.
The copy editor in me couldn’t help but pick up on some instances of error in grammar and continuity, but nowhere near enough for me to consider deducting a star, or even half a star. Maximum stars, in fact. I cannot wait to read the next in the series ~ Anna
You may know that Steve runs an excellent YouTube channel where he talks all about his own work, interviews indie and trad published authors, and offers advice.
Recently, he answered a load of questions posted by viewers on everything from, do trad publishers even want series anymore, to the best way to introduce magical elements to your fantasy story.
Back in June 2024, we were invited by The Fantasy Hive to contribute a series of articles about our services to writers. This article discusses how best to avoid the common issues we find in query packages that writers plan to send to literary agents.
It gives practical advice for writers seeking a traditional publication route, but the advice itself is helpful for authors on any publication path.
Our second article with The Fantasy Hive discussed types of editorial feedback to help writers work out what they need – a developmental edit, a copy edit, or a manuscript evaluation.
Read on to learn more about the levels of editing we offer, and the stages of writing at which an editor’s expert eye is valuable. You can check out our Services page for more detail and our prices.
The Write Advice 