[UNPAID] Editor/Assistant Writer Needed [FOUND]

[kitsubasa]

Hi all! Work on my main VN project, Like She Had Wings, is currently going very slowly due to me having no help with writing and some things I’m well and truly stuck on. So, to remedy this, I’m looking for an assistant writer/editor to help me figure out what’s working, what isn’t, and bounce ideas to improve the project going forward… since I’m hitting a brick wall here and I’d really like to stop doing that.

What I’m looking for is essentially someone to offer editing help (checking whether scenes are necessary, giving opinions on the dialogue, offering feedback on characterisation and consistency, pointing out where I’ve mixed my metaphors or lost my plot) and some assistance bouncing ideas. No hands-on writing will be needed. You’ll be working in a feedback-based role, helping me improve my own work without needing to actually write any of the VN yourself. For providing this help, you’ll be credited as an editor and/or assistant writer (depending on your preference).

Now, here’s the fun part. Since I’ve been working on this game for seven months already, I have detailed plans written out for all but one of the routes and approximately ¼-⅓ of the actual dialogue written out. So, if you come aboard, you’ll have a lot of reading to do, and also certain things that you won’t be able to change. I’ll try and keep my mind open to as many fixes as are needed-- I don’t want to be a stick-in-the-mud who makes your job redundant-- but the big picture of the plot will need to go pretty much unaltered, or a lot of work will get thrown out the window and we’ll get set back a long way.

Got all that so far? Well, next up: here are the topics the game includes, obviously it’d be better if you’re interested in at least some of these, or you’ll probably have a boring time jamming them with me:

-GSRM/LGBT characters and relationships (non-male gaze-y lesbians, transgender characters, and more)
-Vampires, Frankensteinian creatures, werewolves, shapeshifting dragons, time travellers, ghosts, witches, wizards, and demons
-Fairy tales
-Mad science
-Genre deconstruction
-Australasian culture

And then finally, a few pertinent notes:

-With regards to the GSRM/LGBT stuff-- I’m a lesbian, the game stars a pansexual woman, and it’s written with other not-straight women as a target audience. If you feel uncomfortable offering advice on a game primarily aimed at lesbian/bisexual/pansexual women, then this might not be the project for you.

-On a similar note; while two of the transgender characters don’t seriously discuss or allude to trans issues, the third one does, and you’ll need to be comfortable with a few heavy discussions of transgender relationship issues. By the by, while I myself am cis, these were drawn from my experiences dating a transgender person. I aim to approach all these conversations with full respect and empathy given to the trans character’s perspective. They are included with the approval of my ex, whose stance was that as long as I only explored these issues with one character and gave them the required gravitas, then they should definitely be included-- to give some insight and honesty into the love life of the character as it becomes relevant in their route.

-No explicit sex scenes will be included, however there are several moments with characters discussing sex offhand. Characters will also be swearing frequently, and there will be some gore (most extreme example so far: character has their skull crushed under a villain’s foot).

-Script is dialogue only with no NVL segments; this is non-negotiable for reasons you’ll find out if you come on board! : D

-I’d prefer to use Skype for discussion, with scripts/notes on Google Docs. If you can’t use these, email can be substituted.

-Script is currently running about 30-50k words per route, over five routes, for a 150-250k total.

-An appreciation of urban fantasy would be really helpful for anyone looking to edit my work, since I’m basically writing a love letter to my favourite parts of the genre. Bringing your own favourites to the table to jam with would be awesome.

Phew! Okay, if you’ve made it this far and you’re still interested, let’s chat and see if I can finally get some help wrangling this beast of a project. Thanks for your time, and have a great day/night/whatever! : )

EDIT: Found some help! : D