31st
Editorial variety
I spoke via Skype last night to a Toronto erotica writers group and emphasized that as an editor I look for original and varies plots, but another thing I look for is variety in tone. I want first person and third person, light and funny and deep and intense, variety in location, characters, tone, tense. I cannot just pick the stories I like best, but the stories that work best in concert with each other, that create something that I hope is greater than the sum of its parts. It’s always a challenge, even as this weekend I’ll be working on the orgasm and anal sex anthologies, which I think are taking me up to 50 anthologies. Like any piece of writing, they all start with a blank page. I’m more confident now than I was the first time, but I still learn with each book I work on and, I hope, the editing makes me a better writer, and the writing makes me a better editor, and I’m constantly learning and trying to figure out how to make the books sell. I’m excited to dig in to these new projects, and see what’s next. Editing anthologies can be tough because you are at the mercy of so many variables but it’s always an honor and writers’ creativity blows me away and inspires me.
