Having had my own experience of editing anthologies and working out what fits for the anthology and what doesn't it's really interesting to hear from someone else in a similar position. So here without further ado is Tilly Hunter!
I must confess
something: I didn’t make a submission for the first Smut
for Chocoholics because the theme didn’t really float my boat
as much as the Smut
by the Sea and Smut
Alfresco anthologies had. But when Kev
Blisse asked me if I’d co-edit More
Smut for Chocoholics with him, I was flattered that he’d
approached me and didn’t want to pass up this fantastic opportunity
to work with the ‘Smut’ brand.
When it came to my own
stories, I did what I usually do, which is to think up a somewhat
unusual take on the theme. I’d been to a real ale festival and that
set me thinking about breweries. And when I did a little research on
the subject of adding chocolate to beer, I discovered that chocolate
malt simply means that the malt has been roasted to a chocolaty
colour and has nothing to do with actual chocolate. I also found out
that ordinary chocolate’s fattiness would upset the brewing
process. So I ordered some cacao nibs from an online health food
store to try. They were horrible. Which led me to considering how a
guy who likes to joke around might trick his fellow brewery worker
into tasting them. In a suitably flirtatious fashion.
As the submissions
rolled in, I began to realise what a difficult task I’d taken on. I
already knew I would have to think outside my own preferred genres. I
had to imagine myself into a sweeter, more conventionally romantic
place to make sure there would be a balance of stories –
fortunately there are plenty of scenes of bondage and spanking in the
anthology too! There were stories I enjoyed but they maybe didn’t
engage with the theme strongly enough or develop the sensuality as
deeply as they could have. When it came to the final decisions and
Kev suggested he could inform the authors whose stories we would not
be accepting, while I gave out the good news, I took the cowardly
choice and said that sounded like an excellent idea.
We had received some
stories with a historical setting, but none so far that went back to
chocolate’s origins in the cacao drinks of the Aztecs. So I decided
to write one myself. Where stories we received had D/s themes, they
were overwhelmingly male-dom so I thought I would even that up with a
suitably femdom tale. After I’d finished, it transpired that Slave
Nano’s tale of Ixcacao, the Goddess of Chocolate, had got stuck
in a webby filter thingy somewhere and we had an Aztec tale after
all. I had to decide whether to include my story too. I took editor’s
privilege and decided to go ahead with both. I think they are
different enough.
Next up was the stage I
enjoy the best – the nitty gritty of tweaking and polishing and
tightening up the prose of all those stories, checking for continuity
bloopers and the odd typo. Yes, I am an editing nerd. Although I’m
sure practice can improve your editing skills, it does just seem to
come naturally to me and once I get stuck in, I get a real sense of
satisfaction from interrogating every sentence. Of course, I always
try to remain true to an author’s own voice and style. I think I
succeeded. Hopefully.
To see the finished
ebook go on sale with my name on the cover as editor is a bit
special. And there is a print version too, which is doubly exciting.
Kev and Victoria Blisse
will be launching it at the Manchester
Alternative and Burlesque Fair at Sound Control on July 26th
– with free chocolate treats with every purchase!
Tilly Hunter can be found here:
Twitter: @TillyHErotica
Website: http://tillyhuntererotica.blogspot.co.uk/
Thank you Tilly for coming over!
You can buy More Smut for Chocoholics in the following places:
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00L5QGZVQ
Amazon USA: http://amzn.com/1783338261
All Romance Ebooks: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-moresmutforchocoholics-1555717-354.html
