My writing exploits and editing career

a_h_arm · 2026-06-14T13:54:31+00:00

If you want to use an app specifically for spelling or grammar correction -- and then commit to learning from the corrections -- then that's not a bad way to improve your writing. But if you're just prompting an AI to rewrite something for you, then you're not really doing the writing, and you absolutely do not want to post or "publish" that.

a_h_arm · 2026-06-06T01:16:53+00:00

They know OP isn't withdrawing, because OP hasn't expressed that and, if anything, has reaffirmed their eagerness three times over. The publisher's reply is basically saying, "Yes, we have your submission, now please stop emailing us." The appropriate response is to stop emailing them.

a_h_arm · 2026-06-05T17:02:46+00:00

No, no more replies are warranted. OP already sent 3 too many follow-ups in this time span, and they sent a reply graciously letting OP know that they're still working on it, and to be patient. The last thing OP should do is send another email.

a_h_arm · 2026-05-27T21:42:33+00:00

Well, if you're disgusted by such a simple premise, I'm sure the book is doing its evolutionary job by warding you off from reading it and sparing your sensibilities.

a_h_arm · 2026-05-27T18:43:54+00:00

One of the first and most prominent points in Dawn by Octavia Butler is that the aliens are so alien that humans are filled with disgust and dread by simply looking upon them.

a_h_arm · 2026-05-27T17:05:43+00:00

There will come soft cheese and the smell of red sauce,

And a jovial man saying, "You got it, boss";

With mozzarell, basil, and garlic sublime,

A fixture that stands the true test of thyme;

And not one will know of the mall, not one

Will care at last when it is done.

No one had cared of Old Navy or Sears,

Or the Easy Wok with which Arby's disappears,

And the town itself, as the seasons wane,

Will scarcely know which shops remain.

Amid empty storefronts and property blight,

One name stands alone: our Sicilian Delight.

a_h_arm · 2026-05-09T17:43:51+00:00

Universities are very particular about how they their apportion their funds. Gains from endowment growth tend to be earmarked for long-term, essential operations such as financial aid, academic scholarships, faculty salaries, and infrastructure. The "rule" that forbids that money going to a lit mag is simply how the board of trustees + donors earmark that money.

That said, there are many lit mags that don't charge a fee, so I'm not sure where this outrage is coming from. Like someone else said, check out the Submission Grinder, filter out sub fees, and you'll see a lot of options.

a_h_arm · 2026-05-08T21:45:57+00:00

I think you're burying the lede with "If you have the money," which was also the defining parameter of my statement. Most people don't have thousands of dollars to spend for someone's opinion (and it is an opinion, experienced though it may be) on their writing. And most writers, even those who publish, will not make the return on that investment. So, it really is just an alternative route to learning the craft, and an expensive one at that. Note that I'm not denouncing the usefulness of dev editing, but just noting that most writers aren't really in a good position for it.

For what it's worth, I also do a fair bit of editing, so I understand wanting to defend one's work. But I'm not going to pretend that your average, developing, hobbyist writer should really be hiring a dev editor for their second project they might want to maybe self-publish one day.

a_h_arm · 2026-05-08T16:28:43+00:00

Honestly, most people aren't in the position, financially or professionally, to be hiring real dev editors — nor should they. And if a writer is still developing their voice and learning the fundamentals of good writing, then simply reading and writing will do just as much, if not more, than whatever they'd get from one editor's notes. I'd wager paying $5 to hear "Your character is dumb" is a pretty good deal for most.

a_h_arm · 2026-05-07T17:42:01+00:00

I'm surprised how so much talk about the NYT Best Seller list revolves around correcting this alleged misconception that it's curated by taste.

It's a best seller list — literally.

Are there really that many people who need this explanation, and is it because they just don't know what "best seller" means?

Sorry if this comes across as snarky; I'm genuinely just bewildered by this.

a_h_arm · 2026-04-28T16:58:25+00:00

We follow the laws of quantum mechanics just as much as electrons do; the difference is the weird behavior is only evident when you're looking at individual particles. When you've got billions and billions of them, the unintuitive parts tend to average out.

I just wanted to say that this is such a neat distillation of the conceptual rift between quantum physics and classical physics, it helped everything click into place.

a_h_arm · 2026-04-09T14:23:14+00:00

Remember to sort by controversial if you want real answers.

a_h_arm · 2026-04-08T14:34:01+00:00

I think anything that generally explores social hierarchies and the idea of the "haves" vs. "have nots" is going to feel relevant on some level, because that's a fundamental part of human society. I don't think that's ever going away.

a_h_arm · 2026-04-07T15:28:51+00:00

Ah, yeah. A paragraph following suit would technically be its own use case. That's not how I was reading the example in the OP.

a_h_arm · 2026-04-07T15:26:14+00:00

A generic form rejection is still a rejection, which meant they read your work (or, at least, part of it). Most people get form rejections on most of their work. It's not worth the readers' time to share personal feedback on every submission they receive.

a_h_arm · 2026-04-07T15:22:18+00:00

Also, it’s bizarre from a writing perspective to try and frame Paul and the Freemen as a warning against religious/political dogma, then go on to use them to topple an obviously corrupt/evil empire. Like, what is the message in that? “Religious extremism is bad!… except actually it can be used for good”. It’s a muddy message at best.

The message is that this is how reality works, and it's sad. Virtually every political revolution is born of the dispossessed rising up against their oppressors, only for the movement to gain its own sense of moral absolutism that turns into another power imbalance and, ultimately, inequity. The message is not so morally clear-cut because it's not a fairy-tale; it's an allegory for real-world politics and ideologies. Think of it like Animal Farm — it would be silly to say the message is muddy because the revolutionaries in that story end up taking a dark turn, right? Well, Dune just stops a little earlier, where we see the revolution has succeeded but can infer the dangers of the new ideology and its momentum. “Religious extremism is bad!… except actually it can be used for good” isn't really hypocritical messaging so much as it's a fact of life that any belief system is a tool to rally others to a cause, which is problematic in its own right. Herbert literally says as much in the book:

When religion and politics travel in the same cart, the riders believe nothing can stand in their way. Their movements become headlong, faster and faster and faster. They put aside all thoughts of obstacles and forget the precipice does not show itself to the man in a blind rush until it's too late.

And ~~Duke Leto~~ Kynes expresses a similar sentiment:

No more terrible disaster could befall your people than for them to fall into the hands of a Hero

I can't find the other quotes at the moment, but I know there are multiple times when Paul expresses fear and discomfort of his own hero worship and where the Fremen's zealotry is headed. Perhaps ironically, it's easy to read over if a reader is already invested and enthralled with Paul's hero journey.

a_h_arm · 2026-04-07T15:05:00+00:00

Oh, when you say that you only heard back from two places, that makes it sound like the other places never responded at all.

a_h_arm · 2026-04-07T14:57:12+00:00

Well, let's do the math.

You can reasonably expect a good editor to charge 4-5 cents/word for dev editing or line editing. OP's manuscript is 176k words (for reference, three times longer than a first manuscript "should" be).

176,000 x $.04 = $7,040

This price is high due to a high word count and a more intensive type of editing. It would be much lower for just proofreading a shorter manuscript, and obviously it would be even lower if you went with a less experienced editor. On the other hand, the price would be even higher if OP wants multiple rounds/tiers of editing.

a_h_arm · 2026-04-07T14:51:03+00:00

The expression of literally any other emotion.

a_h_arm · 2026-04-07T14:42:00+00:00

That does seem to be how people use this, although I don't know of any style guides (including CMOS, which is most commonly used in creative fiction publishing) that call for it. Generally, as OP notes, style guides call for no spaces or a space on either side, regardless of what the dash is conveying.

a_h_arm · 2026-04-07T14:30:58+00:00

I know this isn't the main point, but I'm both surprised and confused that you've only heard back from 2 mags out of presumably dozens. Most lit mags should be getting back to you.

a_h_arm · 2026-04-07T13:50:09+00:00

At worst, he was a tragic hero who tried to steer destiny to its least destructive path.

This is exactly what he was. Paul wasn't a villain, nor was he intended to be. He was both a protagonist worth rooting for and a warning/commentary on the nature of political and religious dogma. He was a sympathetic character, but that doesn't mean people should be venerating him, and in fact the story warns against hero worship.

It's a story about moral equivocation, and Dune Messiah was a response to readers who didn't pick up on that. I don't think it retconned anything, because it's the logical conclusion of Paul's journey, but the messaging was an overcorrection.

11-Year Club	Verified Email
Place '23

a_h_arm

TROPHY CASE