18 June 2018 - What's new
18 June 2018
- ‘I got insomnia because I was so freaked out. Everyone else was delighted for me but it was destabilising. My friends had to process the success for me. I didn't realise writing was not the final stage. You hope the book speaks for you - you write because you want to make sense of the world through your books, so to have to be the representative of it was challenging... When I started writing it was like I didn't need to ask permission. Unconsciously perhaps, the roles I created in The Miniaturist were dream roles I wanted to play...' Jessie Burton, author of the bestsellers The Miniaturist and The Muse, in the Evening Standard. Our Comment.
- Myriad's First Drafts Competition 2018 is open to unpublished women writers of any nationality and of African heritage or descent. Prizes are publication in the forthcoming anthology New Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby, and a week's writing retreat. Closing 6 July.
- Other writing competitions which are still open.
- Our article on How to get your book translated into English (without it costing the earth) asks writers with a manuscript which needs translating or has been written in English by a non-native speaker: "if your English is good enough, what about translating your book yourself, or writing in English, and then getting your translation polished and copy edited by a professional editor who is a native English speaker?" This could be a cost-effective way of reaching the international English-speaking market.
- Translation Editing is a polishing service for writers who have translated their work into English or written it in English when it is not their native language. If you need to make sure it's good enough to publish, or send to a publisher, this service is for you. Acknowledging the growth of world English, Translation Editing is designed for the many non-native English speakers throughout the world who want to publish their work in English.
- Our links: sixty novels, ten collections of short stories, and half a dozen nonfiction works, Stephen King: Master of Almost All the Genres Except "Literary" | Literary Hub; 'another stunning display of both truth in publishing and meticulous attention to the data', AuthorEarnings Debunks Industry Lies Surrounding SciFi, Fantasy; latest thoughts on the audiobook revolution from Mike Shatzkin, Words-to-be-read are losing ground to words-to-be-heard, a new stage of digital content evolution | The Idea Logical Company; and life post-publication for one author, Dana Schwartz: Writing a Book Did Not Change My Life | Literary Hub.
- Bob's Journal is a long-running column from writer Bob Ritchie described by fellow EastEnders script-writer Pippa McCarthy: 'Just discovered your web page... I've just spent the last hour crying with laughter with periodic yelps of 'been there!'... I'm going to make my entire family read your diary. Then perhaps they will understand own bizarre behaviour every time I start a script... Anyway, will shut up now but just wanted to say you have cheered me up no end. It's brilliant.'
- More links: Geraldine McCaughrean has castigated the books industry for dumbing down language in children's literature, Carnegie medal winner slams children's book publishers for ‘accessible' prose | Books | The Guardian; less than half of publications achieved gender equality, with the New York Review of Books halving its coverage of female voices, Vida report: 'Dangerous lens' of male bias remains in literary criticism | The Bookseller; a tongue-in-cheek list of what publishing words really mean, An Exclusive New Column Series: Richard Charkin on the Vocabulary of Publishing; and OUP is asking members of the public to submit local words, phrases and expressions from around the world for inclusion in the OED, Oxford English Dictionary hunts for regional words | The Bookseller.
- Have you ever wondered why you don't win any of those competitions? What can you do to improve your chances? Our tipsheet on Entering Competitions.
- 'If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it. Or, if proper usage gets in the way, it may have to go. I can't allow what we learned in English composition to disrupt the sound and rhythm of the narrative.' Elmore Leonard in our Writers' Quotes.
