If you’re writing fiction, you’ll need to create interest in characters and craft imaginative scenes. Both will keep your reader reading. But how do you do that?
EDITOR’S NOTE: SEE PART 1 IN THIS SERIES⤵︎
Oddly enough before the PC revolution began to monopolise people’s lives, only those who were dedicated enough would post typed or handwritten manuscripts to publishers.
We all owe a debt of gratitude to businessmen like Sir Alan Sugar who brought Amstrad to the masses. His business invented that little white box with a black-screen and luminous green-type, not only did everybody believe they had a book in them but they managed to get them out too.
During the past thirty years, I’ve witnessed many fantastic innovations in the keyboard. But, I’ll wager that was the one product that made a huge difference to a writer’s life.
You can probably guess, from the day Amstrad leapt onto the market, publishing houses all over the world were inundated with manuscripts.
Sadly, most stories were horrendously written, had awful spelling and grammatical errors abounded in every sentence. Yours truly had a job as a PA at a prestigious publishing house at that very moment in time. While there I saw, first-hand, how it fast became an arduous task to examine those offerings. They even created a whole new department to cope with the demand!
I hate to say it, but most manuscripts were simply wedged into the growing slush pile, sliced through the shredder or banished to the bin.
From this, people learned:
It takes more than a typewriter to make a writer of type.
The author had to know their craft, they had to have passion and they had to have ability. And an awful lot of luck didn’t go amiss either.
All the best,
Kaye Bewley
EXTRACT from: How to be an Author – Vol.1: Writing Your Writing
Thank for you post. I look for ward to reading more.