Editor wanted

[Northernlands]

Hello there. I am hoping to enlist the help of a volunteer editor.

I live in northern Sweden in Europe and have been writing erotic fiction in my native tongue on and off for almost two decades. I believe my written English skills is decent but it's my 3rd language and I do have some struggles with grammar, punctuation and prose. Swedish has another kind of rhythm in it's sentences and sometimes I just can't tell when my rhythm is off. I can't promise it's easy work.

Ideally I'd love to work with someone that could see themselves working with me for multiple stories as I tend to write series but I'm grateful for any help. I do have friends from the site that I trust to beta read but the only one I truly I know would throw herself at this has been awol and I'm a bit anxious to get started.

I can see myself delving into some incest, fantasy or noncon down the line. Right now I'm more likely to write about infidelity, exhibitionism, impregnation, betrayal. Nothing too extreme. My stories tends to be progressive and build up towards the sexual content rather than being purely masturbation material. Can provide snippets in PMs to see if you are interested.

Hope to hear from you!

 

[SyleusSnow]

Could be fun. I've helped other writers not native to English. I'll PM you.

 

[Devinter]

Hello there. I am hoping to enlist the help of a volunteer editor.

I live in northern Sweden in Europe and have been writing erotic fiction in my native tongue on and off for almost two decades. I believe my written English skills is decent but it's my 3rd language and I do have some struggles with grammar, punctuation and prose. Swedish has another kind of rhythm in it's sentences and sometimes I just can't tell when my rhythm is off. I can't promise it's easy work.

A fellow Swede! I am no longer alone! Welcome!

I have the exact same issue as you, by the way. Despite having no difficulties making myself understood when speaking English, it's a constant challenge to adapt to the English rhythm of things. Far more difficult, I think, than native speaker's actually realize. And I don't know about you, but my vocabulary isn't as vast and grandiose as a native speaker either, making me rely on a thesaurus more than I'd prefer, and sometimes that means using words that I am not fully familiar or comfortable with, which might sound out of place in a way that I did not intend. Despite this, my stories are doing decently, so if you just put your heart and soul into it, I have faith that your work will be warmly accepted.

Alas, I cannot personally help you since I have the exact same struggles as you. But I can wish you the very best of luck! Please update us here in the thread when your work is published. I'll keep watch.

 

[StillStunned]

A fellow Swede! I am no longer alone! Welcome!

I have the exact same issue as you, by the way. Despite having no difficulties making myself understood when speaking English, it's a constant challenge to adapt to the English rhythm of things. Far more difficult, I think, than native speaker's actually realize. And I don't know about you, but my vocabulary isn't as vast and grandiose as a native speaker either, making me rely on a thesaurus more than I'd prefer, and sometimes that means using words that I am not fully familiar or comfortable with, which might sound out of place in a way that I did not intend. Despite this, my stories are doing decently, so if you just put your heart and soul into it, I have faith that your work will be warmly accepted.

Alas, I cannot personally help you since I have the exact same struggles as you. But I can wish you the very best of luck! Please update us here in the thread when your work is published. I'll keep watch.

Your stories seem to be doing more than decently, but perhaps this suggestion will help your confidence.

English is a highly rhythmic language. It's one reason why rap sounds so good in English, but awful in so many other languages (French rap, for instance, just sounds flat). In English, the rhythm is all about the stressed syllables. Find those, and you can put as many unstressed syllables in between as you want. DUM dadada DUM da DUM dada DUM. The whole business about metre and sonnets was just the Renaissance poets trying to copy Italian fashions. It just doesn't work in English as well as rhythmic poetry.

Knowing that, check out some examples of alliterative poetry. That's the poetry of Old and Middle English - from the Anglo-Saxon songs to the 14th century. Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the Pearl, Piers Plowman, the Dream of the Rood. You can find some decent translations - most notably perhaps Seamus Heaney's Beowulf from the 1990s. Also look up the songs of the Riders of Rohan in The Lord of the Rings. "Arise, arise, Riders of Theoden!" Read these aloud, and listen for the rhythm. It's a very muscular poetry, very powerful.

Hopefully this will give you a better feel for how your sentences read, in particular in direct speech. You need regular stressed syllables separated by unstressed syllables - as many as you like, as long as you can fit them into the rhythm of the sentence without sounding rushed. If you have two stressed syllables next to each other, there needs to be a natural break, like a comma, or else you want to do it to intentionally break the rhythm. Either to emphasise a point or make the reader stop and do a double-take.

This brings me to your next concern: vocabulary. You don't need a huge vocabulary to write well in English. Simple, strong words that are put together with the proper rhythm have more effect than flowery, overcomplicated words that make your sentences sound unnatural.

I don't know how Swedish rates on the rhythmic v metric scale, but considering the close links between English and the Norse languages, you might find it easier than a French or Spanish speaker. (I always struggle to understand Spanish, because I always listen for a rhythm that's not there.)

 

[Northernlands]

A fellow Swede! I am no longer alone! Welcome!

I have the exact same issue as you, by the way. Despite having no difficulties making myself understood when speaking English, it's a constant challenge to adapt to the English rhythm of things. Far more difficult, I think, than native speaker's actually realize. And I don't know about you, but my vocabulary isn't as vast and grandiose as a native speaker either, making me rely on a thesaurus more than I'd prefer, and sometimes that means using words that I am not fully familiar or comfortable with, which might sound out of place in a way that I did not intend. Despite this, my stories are doing decently, so if you just put your heart and soul into it, I have faith that your work will be warmly accepted.

Alas, I cannot personally help you since I have the exact same struggles as you. But I can wish you the very best of luck! Please update us here in the thread when your work is published. I'll keep watch.

Hi there! I had a chuckle after reading your profile. I see myself in a lot of it, the romantic/dominant/nurturing especially. I'll take a look at your stories too when I get time. Maybe it's because the heightened sense of anonymity when speaking in a foreign language, but it just doesn't feel as natural talking about stuff like sexuality in our native tongue. Atleast not between men. I've been publishing on sexnovell and darkside for more than a decade and I've very rarely been approached by a man expressing interest in my stories. It's so ingrained in our culture as a whole keeping strangers at an armslengths distance. That's why I love expressing myself in English. There are freedoms I feel like I'm not afforded when writing in Swedish.

I also share your thesaurus struggles for sure. An example is me trying describe how a character is dressed. Sometimes I find myself looking at sales descriptions in online stores, finding inspiration in how a certain garment is described. The story aspects are so easy compared to finding neat ways to describing every day beauty.

Anyways, thanks for the peptalk. I appreciate you taking the time to reply. I'll see you around

 

[Devinter]

@StillStunned - Thank you, my friend, for the stellar advice. I will listen to those poems and read those text. Hopefully it will help me out a little bit. I am still experimenting with different styles, different flows, different POV's. Some work better than others for me. Participating in the challenges hosted by the site, and setting own hurdles for myself to jump over seems to be helping a tad. I know that overly complex words aren't necessary, but I happen to like text that is at least a smidgen flowery here and there.

@Northernlands - That's interesting! We are the same age as well, I noticed. My stories are a mixed bag. Some are incredibly perverted. Some are romantic. A few have made readers shed tears. The difference between them is quite significant. I'd avoid anything in the Fetish category if you're looking for a story of mine with some substance.

The example you make about describing how a character is dressed is extremely relatable. Being a man doesn't help here either. I don't know about you, but in Swedish, I call most things either a "shirt" or "pants". I rarely get more specific than that. That feels underwhelming when trying to paint a picture with words, so I often do exactly what you wrote. It helps, at least!

As for the "not feeling natural to talk about sexual things" in our native language - you are right once again. I mean, heck, Swedish people barely talk to each other at all unless they have to.

 

[StillStunned]

(A colleague of mine from London once said that the sign of a true Brit is that you'll never get in a lift if there are already two people in it who are talking to each other.)

 

[Devinter]

(A colleague of mine from London once said that the sign of a true Brit is that you'll never get in a lift if there are already two people in it who are talking to each other.)

During rush hour times, on public transport - which is very popular in the Stockholm area (commuter trains and the subway), the train carts are often quite packed. Yet only HALF the seats will be taken! People rather stand than sit down next to a stranger. I wish I was joking, but I'm not.

 

[Sams_Island]

U.S. expat here. The thing that caught me about the rhythm of Swedish is how musical it is - like Italian. I was in Denmark and friends were watching TV, a Swedish show with Danish subtitles. I wasn't paying attention to the TV, so heard it out of the corner of my ear and really thought I was hearing Italian.

If you're still looking for an editor, I've been helping non-native speakers write for English-speaking audiences for decades (not erotica), and have recently edited some LIT stories for English-speaking writers. Go ahead and start a conversation (hover your cursor over my 'avatar' circle) if you'd like to touch base.

 

[oldhand1]

Could be fun. I've helped other writers not native to English. I'll PM you.

Hello, I have written many works and put them on my computer, but since English is not my native language, there may be word errors and so on. I would like to ask for your help.

 

[SyleusSnow]

Hello, I have written many works and put them on my computer, but since English is not my native language, there may be word errors and so on. I would like to ask for your help.

I'd like to help, especially since you're a new author. There are categories I won't touch and I only have time to look at works 10K words and less. I'll send you a private message.

 

[42Below]

Hello there. I am hoping to enlist the help of a volunteer editor.

I live in northern Sweden in Europe and have been writing erotic fiction in my native tongue on and off for almost two decades. I believe my written English skills is decent but it's my 3rd language and I do have some struggles with grammar, punctuation and prose. Swedish has another kind of rhythm in it's sentences and sometimes I just can't tell when my rhythm is off. I can't promise it's easy work.

Ideally I'd love to work with someone that could see themselves working with me for multiple stories as I tend to write series but I'm grateful for any help. I do have friends from the site that I trust to beta read but the only one I truly I know would throw herself at this has been awol and I'm a bit anxious to get started.

I can see myself delving into some incest, fantasy or noncon down the line. Right now I'm more likely to write about infidelity, exhibitionism, impregnation, betrayal. Nothing too extreme. My stories tends to be progressive and build up towards the sexual content rather than being purely masturbation material. Can provide snippets in PMs to see if you are interested.

Hope to hear from you!

‘I believe my written English skills is decent…’ I could glass over a single piece of work as follows; ‘are’, not ‘is’ sounds better to my native english ear. Drop me a line if you think that’ll work.