You may have heard of sensitivity readers. This service is for an authenticity reader.
If you’re a writer, you want your readers hooked on your story. You want them glued to the edge of their seats, furiously flipping the pages, eager to see what happens next. You want them to follow the story through every twist and turn, every moment of action and drama, all the way to the big finish.
You don’t want your readers to stop and think, ‘This can’t happen’.
Readers are a fussy lot. A single mistake will pull them out of the story, get them thinking about how you messed up instead of the brilliance of your prose. If that happens too often, they are done with your book. They’ll drop it and never come back.
Some readers are fussier than most, with much higher standards. Having experienced the kind of adventures you’re describing on the page, they will always compare what you’ve written to what they have lived. They won’t forgive anything on the page that doesn’t mesh with their lives and experiences.
These readers are soldiers and cops, martial artists and well-informed civilians, people who have either done their research or who have seen the elephant. If you are writing for them, then you don’t have any margin for error.
You need authenticity.
Even if you’re not writing for this demographic, if you’re only writing for ordinary people, your readers will still appreciate authenticity. Readers, no matter their demands, will appreciate characters who think, feel and act in character. They want cops who act like cops, soldiers who act like soldiers, gangsters who act like gangsters. They will flock to writers with excellent characterisation.
And characterisation is built on authenticity.
As a writer, my brand is built on hardcore authenticity. Hard-hitting action, high-level strategy, deep dives into the gear and mindset of men at war. I built it upon decades of research. Now I’m offering this to you.
Here’s a sample of what I can help you with:
- Action scene audits and overview
- Recommendations for tactics and strategy
- Selection and assessment of character equipment and methods of carry
- Analysis of fictitious sci fi / fantasy gear
- Character study and analysis
If you’re writing about violence professionals, you want them to act like professionals. If you’re writing about civilians caught in unexpected danger, you want to act like civilians too. I can go through your manuscript to help you create believable characters, gear and action scenes.
I built my reputation on high intensity and high authenticity. To quote from my reviews:
Training, tactics, stratagey and logistics all play a part in a well executed story of a dungeon crawl from hell… The details and planning introduce ideas and stratagies that many other authors in this genre don’t even consider. It’s not all about those on the pointy end. The psychological effects on those involved isn’t overlooked especially as the injuries and bodycount mount.
– Scott Osmond, Dungeon Samurai: Kamikaze, 5 stars
Part of what I really enjoyed was the day to day business of a cop. We aee taken on the journey of a man living a dangerous life and we are thrown into the danger with him. The authors take you along with their vivid descriptions of the step by step actions and the thoughts of Adam as he moves through what must be done to accomplish his mission. His team must go through a gangster’s home, protect themselves from injury and perhaps even death, to capture a vicious gang leader. We are privy to every thought Adam has as he pursues the killer… It was easy to connect with Adams. He was believable and likable. The characters are well-developed and interesting.
Cathy A. Thibeault, Hollow City, 5 stars
The author is skilled at making you feel the rules and regulations of police work, a far cry from most modern fiction where the protagonists routinely throw the book out the window with few consequences. There are also a few super-powered battles that are excellently described, a hallmark of this series. The power here, however, is that you feel reading this book makes you understand the real life of a policeman, a staggering literary accomplishment in this day and age. I found it hard to pull away from that portrayal, and I suspect you will, too.
Bruce Parello, Hollow City, 5 stars
If you write action-packed adventures, you’ll want to blow your audience away. You will want them to believe that they are in the story world, hovering over your characters’ shoulder, watching everything unfold around them.
I can help you with that.
As an authenticity reader, I will pore over your manuscript. I will examine actions, equipment, choices, consequences, mindset, and more. I will offer you recommendations to make your characters and scenes authentic and believable. If you have science fiction or fantasy equipment you’d like me to examine, I will also do that for you.
It’s the little things that will make or break a story. This includes:
- How professionals and civilians will treat weapons and violence
- What a pro will see, but a civilian won’t
- What tactics a pro would use—and how he can mess up
- Why a pro will act a certain way or choose a certain piece of kit
I am open to reading manuscripts of any length from any genre. I can scale up or down to fit your needs.
Maybe you only need help with a single scene. Maybe you need someone to read your entire story. Maybe you just need something in between, like a few chapters or a mix of scenes.
If you want a big-picture overview of your characters and their actions, send me the entire manuscript; I might spot things you might never have noticed. If you only need advice on certain scenes, I can do that too. Whichever your needs, I am able to meet them.
My current rates are as follows:
10,000 words or less: USD 29
10,000 to 25,000 words: USD 49
25,000 – 50,000 words: USD 79
50,000 – 75,000 words: USD 119
75,000 – 100,000 words: USD 169
100,000 words and above: USD 199 minimum. Please contact me for a quote.
If you need beta-reading and/or editing services above and beyond this service, I will also be able to assist you, but this service is extremely limited, subject to my time constraints. Please also contact me for a quote.
Do you want to take your writing to the next level? Contact me through the form below, let me know your needs, and we can get it started.