Writing, Editing, and Proofreading (Small Projects Are Free!)

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Cipher
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Writing, Editing, and Proofreading (Small Projects Are Free!)

#1 Post by Cipher »

A summary of this info (with much better formatting) can be accessed via this link!

My portfolio—which contains the above, a full resume, and writing samples—can be found here.


Note: If either of the links above stops working, please contact me via email or Discord. I'll do my best to troubleshoot the issue—and it helps to know one exists in case others are experiencing it!

About Me


I started writing as a hobby when I was very young, but was essentially doing fanfiction of things I liked at the time (RPGs, adventure games, and fantasy stories). In 2011-2012, I progressed into forum roleplay—and was absolutely dismal at it. If I'm honest, it's only thanks to some dear (and patient) friends from that time that I am where I am today. Those people not only helped me grow as a creative, but encouraged me to start freelancing.

By 2015 (age 16), I was hired to ghostwrite an ebook. Unfortunately, that was not meant to be—and on an artist friend's advice, I joined Lemmasoft to escape the difficult and often unclear working conditions. Between December of that year and the present, most of my experience as a writer and editor has been on visual novels; video games; and adjacent media like Kickstarters, Steam pages, and marketing material.

Although I've gone by a variety of pseudonyms over the years, my current credit is typically Tristan “Cipher” Hallihan—a combination of my usual pseudonym and my real name. In the past, I went by Cipher or CipherSeraph (no relation to certain fanfiction writers; yes, this has come up).

I'd say my biggest strengths are:
  • Experience with a wide variety of writing styles (e.g. dialogue / narration, item / skill descriptions, other forms of "flavor text", crowdfunding campaigns / Patreon pages, comic dialogue, and developer updates to name a few!)
  • Some experience with game balancing (more so via tabletop games) and ample experience with different genres' conventions and tropes.
  • Being incredibly communicative, whether I'm asking questions or answering them.
  • The ability to balance positive and negative feedback, as well as provide reasons and examples to ground it.
  • A passion for world-building and characterization, especially when shown through natural dialogue.
  • A keen eye for detail, and a desire to ensure scripts are error-free.
  • Ample experience working with and for non-native English speakers.
  • Striving to help the writers grow too, just like my friends and peers once did for me. If we stop growing as artists, our industry stagnates… but I'm also biased—since I view artistic pursuits as forms of indefinite self-improvement.
  • Open-mindedness and a desire to learn / improve myself, too.
Summary:
  • Has been a freelance writer and editor since December 2015.
  • Credited as Tristan “Cipher” Hallihan.
  • Has been credited as Cipher or CipherSeraph in the past.
  • Very passionate and experienced, often looking to improve the work, the writers working on it, and himself.
Turnaround Time & Content
My free time varies because of real-life circumstances—namely that, because freelancing does not presently pay all of my bills, I work afternoons into nights several days a week. Even with this setback, I still try to be as fast as humanly possible: my personal goal when given an assignment is to finish it within 21 days, though 14 is most ideal.

With that said, the type of commission and its length will also factor in. Editing is generally faster because I'm more experienced with it, and may only take a day or two as a result. Writing projects, meanwhile, require greater effort and are affected by inspiration, how detailed the outline is, word count, additional research (if needed), and more.

As far as content is concerned, my limits are guro (gore in a sexual context; gore itself is fine, I just have difficulty sexualizing it), scat, and vore (one character consuming another in a sexual context).

Outside of these, plus explicit sexual content needing to be between adults, I don't think my tastes should affect my writing. I have no issues with violence, gore, cursing, dark themes, or drug / alcohol use or abuse in particular. If something isn't on this list, don't hesitate to ask me!

What I will say is that while I am experienced with cyberpunk, different kinds of fantasy, horror, mysteries, and other genres… I don't have much experience with Boys' Love (Otome), homosexual or homoromantic relationships (Yaoi or Yuri), or more "hardcore" sexual fetishes / content. I'm still happy to do them, but they may need more feedback and refinement than other types of material.

Summary:
  • Turnaround time may vary, but aims to finish things within 14-21 days. Long-term collaboration is most preferred where possible, too (e.g. salaried or consistent work).
  • No guro, gore, scat, or loli / shota (under any circumstances—especially the last two).
  • Most experienced with cyberpunk, fantasy (and subgenres), horror, mystery, slice of life, and supernatural themes / tropes.
  • Some inexperience with topics like Boys Love / Otome, Yaoi / Yuri, and hardcore fetishes.
Services


Writing:
  • Outlining and discussion (if needed; I prefer having an outline to work from, however)
  • Research on relevant topics (if needed)
  • Writing in Notepad, Google Docs, or Google Sheets.
  • Adding basic Ren'Py (dialogue tags, bold / italic / underlines, comments) or similar formatting.
  • Free editing (to my own work only).
  • Responding to or asking questions as needed.
  • Additional consultation as needed.
Editing:
  • Rewriting, notating, or providing feedback on written material (game / VN scripts, crowdfunding pages, developer updates, webcomics, light novels, etc.).
  • Improving spelling, grammar, punctuation, word choice, and sentence structure.
  • Trimming, tweaking, and rewriting dialogue to be more natural.
  • Adding or removing dialogue to further bolster characterization and pacing.
  • Checking for and fixing issues with the content's length / pacing, tone, consistency, and plot (where applicable).
  • Giving feedback (positive and negative critique) on the script, with examples.
  • Leading other editors / proofreaders (if needed).
  • Responding to or asking questions as needed.
  • Additional consultation as needed.
In short, I essentially do all five major kinds of edits as needed: developmental / content, structural, copy, line, and mechanical.


Pricing
For editing, my standard rate is 2 cents per word US in whatever material I'm provided (minus any code)—and for writing, it's 3 cents per word written. The final amount is then rounded to the nearest $5 and paid through Paypal (e.g. $122 = $120; $122.50 = the same; $123 = $125). Due to Paypal's minimum withdrawal amount, all commissions below $15 will be rounded to that amount (my deepest apologies!)

I generally prefer to be paid some up-front, as well. Half is the most common, but I'm highly flexible! The absolute last thing I want is to isolate smaller developers when they may need my help!

As I provide professional quality work for less than a professional rate, projects below the rates above will be handled on a case-by-case basis. Free / volunteer ones must be free to the public and under 15k words. Put simply and bluntly: if you stand to make money off of my work in some way, I expect to be paid.

Lastly… another important limit of mine is that revenue share, royalties, and trades are not a substitute for normal compensation. They're fantastic bonuses for my efforts, but only being paid that way is tantamount to saying "I'll pay you later for services you're giving now."

Summary:
  • Editing is 2c/word and writing is 3/c word. These are in USD and rounded to the nearest $5. As a note, 4c/word is generally a professional rate for an editor; 5c/word is a professional rate for a writer.
  • Pay is through Paypal only. There is a $15 minimum per commission.
  • Prefers partial up-front payment, but is highly flexible and open to negotiation.
  • Projects less than the standard rate are treated on a case-by-case basis.
  • Free and volunteer projects are also case-by-case, but must be under 15k words and free.
  • Revenue share, royalties, and trades are not an acceptable substitute for normal pay.
Contact Me!


Discord [preferred method for VNs & games]: Cipher5605
Email: tristan.hallihan@gmail.com

Note that my email and PayPal address are different.
Last edited by Cipher on Thu Nov 23, 2023 6:06 am, edited 59 times in total.

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RamRam
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Re: Seeking Paid Work Writing, Editing, or Proofreading.

#2 Post by RamRam »

I really recommend him. He works very fast and he does a great job in editing and also, co-writing! He adds whatever the story needs, resulting in better character development and less choppiness! He also does his best to reply to your requests and questions as fast as possible. :D

~currently doing a VN project, Lifted Dreams, with him, more details will be revealed when enough assets have been created. http://www.tapastic.com/episode/244652
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Re: Seeking Paid Work Writing, Editing, or Proofreading.

#3 Post by shortycake »

Hello! Just dropping by to say if you're looking for fast and reliable writer, Cipher is the one you're looking for.
He/She help me edit my short story very efficiently, I can't thank him enough for the wonderful job s/he done.

Thanks again Cipher! Hope you'll get tons of commission!

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Cipher
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Re: Seeking Paid Work Writing, Editing, or Proofreading.

#4 Post by Cipher »

I am still looking for work, and having looked at my original post I didn't provide much in the way of information. That post has been edited to reflect this.
Last edited by Cipher on Sat Jun 25, 2016 7:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Seeking Paid Work Writing, Editing, or Proofreading.

#5 Post by HumanToaster »

I can recommend Cipher, who recently has helped me with editing my short game's text.

Cipher helped to make the game's text more 'artistic' and fixed the mistakes. It was a great help, since I'm not a native speaker and because of that there were still many mistakes or strange grammar constructions.

Fast and professional.

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Cipher
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Re: Seeking Paid Work Writing, Editing, or Proofreading.

#6 Post by Cipher »

The original post has been edited to reflect my current state (transitioning into University this coming September). As a result of this, I have an ample amount of time... And can work for more than 3-5 hours on weekdays.


Writing / Editing Services | Cipher#5605 on Discord | Portfolio

TheRedHare
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Re: Seeking Paid Work Writing, Editing, or Proofreading.

#7 Post by TheRedHare »

Pm'ed

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Cipher
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Re: Seeking Paid Work Writing, Editing, or Proofreading.

#8 Post by Cipher »

Schedule has been updated. In addition, I have midterms the first week of October and the first week of November - so nothing will be done then.


Writing / Editing Services | Cipher#5605 on Discord | Portfolio

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dragondatingsim
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Re: Writing, Editing, and Proofreading! (Small Projects Free

#9 Post by dragondatingsim »

Post deleted.
Last edited by dragondatingsim on Tue Jun 04, 2019 10:09 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Writing, Editing, and Proofreading! (Small Projects Free

#10 Post by Hazel »

Can I ask what types of editing work you usually do? Primarily proofing for spelling and grammar, or also line editing for style, or plot/characterization editing?
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BookSLEEPer (writer) * Girlfriend Material (writer/programmer)

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Cipher
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Re: Writing, Editing, and Proofreading! (Small Projects Free

#11 Post by Cipher »

The sections have been reorganized into bullet points, and what editing entails has been added to answer Hazel's question.


Writing / Editing Services | Cipher#5605 on Discord | Portfolio

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Re: Writing, Editing, and Proofreading! (Small Projects Free

#12 Post by Turboragnar »

As the posts above this one; this guy does his thing well. I'm still considered a newbie at writing (Especially VN) and I got the opportunity to have him edit my text that I sent him, he made it not only better (Such as removing repetitive aspects) but also much more consistent as a whole.

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Re: Writing, Editing, and Proofreading! (Small Projects Free

#13 Post by Rfpnj »

A pleasure to work with, Cipher worked much faster than I could have expected. I contacted him on a Friday and was looking at a first draft Sunday morning. They were more than willing to work with my ideas and to take the time to make sure things were done right. I would be more than willing to commission them again.

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Re: Writing, Editing, and Proofreading! (Small Projects Free

#14 Post by pyopyon »

Writing to express how appreciative I am for Cipher's volunteering to proofread one of the routes for my NaNo VN project, Pairs. Despite having a busy schedule, he completed the work given him in a short time, as NaNo requires, shredding through my typos with bomb precision.

Much appreciated.
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✿ Writer for Trade/Commission ✿

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Re: Writing, Editing, and Proofreading! (Small Projects Free

#15 Post by piro_shiki »

We asked Cipher for proofread of our new game text.
His work was very fast and our text became much better.
It was very helpful for group with no regular native English speaking members like us.

Thank you very much!

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