2 March 2020 - What's new
2 March 2020
- 'Anyone who has ever tried to write a novel knows what an arduous task it is, undoubtedly one of the worst ways of occupying oneself. You have to remain within yourself all the time, in solitary confinement. It's a controlled psychosis, an obsessive paranoia manacled to work completely lacking in the feather pens and bustles and Venetian masks we would ordinarily associate with it, clothed instead in a butcher's apron and rubber boots, eviscerating knife in hand. You can only barely see from that writerly cellar the feet of passers-by, hear the rapping of their heels...' Olga Tokarczuk, Polish Nobel Laureate for Literature and author of House of Day, House of Night and Primeval and Other Tales. Our Comment.
- Last year we launched the Writer's edit, a top-level new service for writers who want line-editing as well as copy editing. Does your manuscript need high-level input from an editor to help you get it into the best possible shape for submission or self-publishing? This may be the service for you, offering the kind of editing which publishers' senior editors used to do in-house on their authors' manuscripts and which is now hard to find. Our other copy editing services.
- The Moth Short Story Prize 2020 has now launched and is open to all writers over 16. The entry fee is €15 per story. 1st prize is €3,000, 2nd prize a week-long writing retreat at Circle of Misse in France plus €250 travel stipend and 3rd prize €1,000. Closing date 30 June.
- An must-read for children's authors is Suzy Jenvey's special series for WritersServices, the four-part Essential Guide to Writing for Children. The first article looks at the all-important question of age groups and what you should be aware of in writing for each one. The second part is - Before You Write: What is My Story Going to be? The third part deals with Starting to Write and the fourth part is about Submitting Your Work to Agents and Editors. This series by a hugely experienced children's editorial director and agent helps you get started on your own story or develop what you're already working on.
- Our links: was the delay in calling it off putting people's health at risk and placing an unfair financial strain on publishers? London book fair cancelled over coronavirus fears, amid growing anger | Books | The Guardian; an excellent guide to setting up that author's essential, your own website, How to Build an Author Website: Getting Started Guide | Jane Friedman; there is nothing more sustaining to long-term creative work than time and space - and these things cost money, A dirty secret: you can only be a writer if you can afford it | Life and style | The Guardian; and editing is energising, where you take your solid creation and nudge it into brilliance, When Revising Your Novel, Look for These 4 Problem Areas | Jane Friedman.
- Rotten Rejections an extraordinary collection of rejection letters sent by publishers to writers - many delivered to now famous authors of classic books - will make you laugh and provide comfort if you're having a struggle to get published. 'I regret we have reluctantly come to the conclusion that we could not publish it with commercial success...' An unnamed editor at Constable and Robinson, in turning down J K Rowling's first Harry Potter book.
- More links: as a reader of thrillers and mysteries for close to my whole life, I've always been drawn to the flawed protagonist, The New Vulnerability in the Mystery Genre | CrimeReads; Writing in the Observer in 1980, Martin Amis took to task a young New York-based writer, Jacob Epstein, for plagiarising him, Appropriation or plagiarism? Booker novel poses difficult question | Books | The Guardian; as we celebrate World Book Day in the UK, it is a reminder of how fortunate we are to have a strong children's book publishing industry, Ending illiteracy begins with children seeing themselves in books; and our world, more than at any time in history, is all about stories, but Are novelists obliged to tell the story of their private life? | Books | The Guardian.
- Which service should I choose to help me get my work into good shape for submission or self-publishing? Our editorial services have been added in response to demand, so whatever you want we've probably got it covered with our 20 different services.
- From our Writers' Quotes: 'Writers are liars, my dear, surely you know that by now? And yet, things need not have happened to be true. Tales and dreams are the shadow-truths that will endure when mere facts are dust and ashes, and forgot.' Neil Gaiman.
