 | | | Subject: Writer's Block 5
Posted Mar 23, 2012 by minorvogonpoet
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 | | My course at Sussex University included an agents and publishers day. The day started with a general overview by one of the agents (Nicolar Barr) who proved friendly and open. Predictably, she said that agents get a huge slush pile, and we needed to get used to rejection. However, many of the novels they publish come from the slush pile.
Her advice was to see what books were successful and look for trends. Keep your novel's structure tight; check that it begins and ends in the right places, and know how to sum it up in a sentence. Research agents: check out their websites, and see which writers they publish. Then send a synopsis, your novel's first three chapters and a short covering letter. Don't over-hype your achievements or the qualities of your novel in the covering letter, but do send your work to several agents at once.
I got a ten-minute chat with Nicola (having previously submitted my synopsis and first chapter.) She asked me how far I'd got and whether I had any issues with what I was trying to write. (Yes, I don't think the character of Brian is right.) Encouragingly, she thought that the plot worked, and she described my writing as 'very readable'.
But the truth is that I write because I like writing, and I wasn't expecting to get anything published any time soon. I do wonder what I will do if I succeed in finishing my story, which seems unlikely. Do I just hide it in a drawer, or post it here? Let's wait and see.
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| | | Subject: Writer's Block 5
Posted Mar 24, 2012 by cactuscafe
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2
 | | Hullo mvp, and happy Spring! Daffodils are everywhere!
That's splendid that Nicola thought your plot worked, and that she thought your work was very readable! I'd agree, of course!
As for the slush pile. heheh. I have heard about the slush pile, from others in my life, who are on the writing-path.
I always like the name, Slush Pile. It could bring on a story in itself ....
In the foothills of the mountain range known to locals (and writers) as the Slush Pile, there is a mysterious town, which many say is an hallucination, brought on by altitude sickness and the eating of a native pink flower, which looks like a rhododendron, but isn't.
However, many writers swear that they have spent hours, weeks, maybe months in this town, writing their best works in the many bars and cafes, and consorting with the spirits and demons of the Slush Pile mountains ..
And erm. Yes!
What?? You sound as bad as me, no! no! of course you don't hide your story in a drawer. I am allowed to hide my Notes in my hiking socks,  , but you're not. . Bossy I am. Perhaps you submit it for publication and also we see it in the Post?  Please? Do we?
But then of course, its your life, and you don't want to injure your creative soul by doing something you don't want to do (I'm being serious now), so ....
 and blessings on the path
cc 
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| | | Subject: Writer's Block 5
Posted Mar 27, 2012 by cactuscafe
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4
| | And some of them don't come back .... hah! Years later, though, the manuscripts are found intact, and, when published, they are finally understood by a new generation ...
...
Just to change topic  for a moment, have you ever read any books by Margaret Forster?
I'm not a prolific reader these days, but I have just completed her biography of Daphne du Maurier, which was a really gripping and unexpected read, and now someone has put me onto The Memory Box.
Her main underlying theme seems to be the secret lives of women, beneath the veneer of expected behaviour. Fascinating.
Anyway, I found this (see below link, hope it works), and I wanted to share it with you. I am interested in writers' rooms. I wonder what you think about writers' rooms.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/200...r/18/writers.rooms.margaret.forster
Happy Easter to you! 
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| | | Subject: Writer's Block 5
Posted Mar 27, 2012 by minorvogonpoet
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5
| | I haven't read anything by Margaret Forster, I'm afraid. I like the look of her room though - it looks reassuringly cluttered. 
I don't have a writer's room. If I'm lucky, I get access to the computer in what we call the computer room. (Which says something about the priorities in our house.  )
It's very untidy, our computer room. The shelves round two walls are loaded with files and boxes of old photographs. There is a spare bed, but it disappears under papers, old computer discs and wires. There is a cabinet full of geological specimens which belonged to my mother-in-law. And there are bits of outdated computers everywhere.
My attempts to tidy it up are totally ineffective.
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| | | Subject: Writer's Block 5
Posted Mar 29, 2012 by cactuscafe
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6
| | Great room description! I can really imagine it! Those boxes of old photographs, now there's a novel or two! (I always think old photographs are novels in the making) ..
..and I am really getting into the geological specimens. heheh. In my mind's eye I see an assortment of rare rocks and fossils, kind of like the Jurassic rocks of Budleigh Salterton beach, , which all tumble out when you open the cabinet. .
My Dad collected those neolithic Sussex flint arrowheads, which he unearthed when ploughing. They're magic.
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