BronxWench

The first time I had to deal with an editor was probably the most emotionally fraught thing I've done as a writer. There is absolutely nothing more demoralizing than having a total stranger read your work, work that a publisher has offered a contract for, and hear, "This is a great story. Really. Now, let's just pretty much rewrite everything from the dedication onward, shall we?" I cried literal tears. I was sure the emotional heart of the story had just been gutted. I knew I'd never be able to recognize what was going to come out at the other end of this literary grinder. I whined with great enthusiasm to my editor, my family, my friends, and anyone who'd listen. I even blogged my woes. And then I knuckled down and started making the changes, one by painful one. The end result was a much tighter, much more coherent story (although I still take issue with all the descriptors). I did apologize after the second pass, when I could see how much better the story was, but gods... It was brutal. I mean, I welcome concrit, but this was concrit with a box cutter. So, the second time around, I tried very hard to incorporate what I'd learned in that first editing massacre. My second manuscript that was accepted was (I thought) lots tighter. And I had a new editor as well, so fresh eyes. Okay, I expected comments. You always get comments. I got a list of words to banish, a huge amount of tweaks as far as those pesky descriptors, and a guitar. Don't ask. I had no idea one of my MCs could even play. I whined about certain things, yes. I wasn't quite as blindsided as I'd been the first time, but it was still hard, and it hurt to have to cut some of what I cut. However, this second time around, I remembered something. This is really important, too, and deserves saying, over and over again: It's MY story. There were some points where my editor and I butted heads, and I stood my ground. If I thought it was important to the story, it stayed. I dropped whole scenes when we simply couldn't make them work. I gave in places, and I stood firm in others, and the manuscript ended up as MY story. Well, except for the guitar. We're losing the guitar in the next book in the series.

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I frequently have elves or other fey as characters, so technically, "male" is more appropriate than "man" for them. But point taken in the context of human characters, very much so.

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My editor liked using alternatives to pronouns and names in my first published male/male novella. At some point, I'll revise that novella and fix some of that nonsense. I do understand that it's hard when writing to use pronouns all the time, and using names over and over is only marginally better, but you learn to find a balance, or should.

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I still tend to flinch when I get breast descriptions via cup size thrown at me, and cock measurements that are specific. Give me, "He was generous enough that her hand barely wrapped around his girth." Don't toss out, "His cock was a generous ten inches in length, with a girth of nearly three inches." My legs will be crossing as I click on by. That sort of detailed description leaves my imagination no room to play, and a bored imagination leads to all sorts of things that are unpleasant. And if we're going to get a little pedantic here, we women have to measure our breasts to buy bras. So, you've a bit of an apples versus oranges comparison there, Ark. Just saying...

Hi, I'd definitely include anal and fingering in the codes for the cavity searches. I would not think rape applies at all, although in my ever humble opinion, sexual gratification for either party isn't required for the rape tag. In this case, though, it's not rape. I would probably add contro to be safe, since you're not using rape. This is full of triggers and I tend to be very conservative in tagging anything that contains elements that can cause flashbacks, distress, or emotional trauma. So, yes to cock and ball torture, yes to violence, and yes to contro. Throw in anal and fingering, but M/M doesn't apply since it's not a sexual encounter. As far as rating this, I'd go with Adult+ as a minimum, and probably Adult++ to be safe.

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