If you're a yet-to-be published writer, these road to publication stories can be truly inspirational. In the recent summer issue Susan Elia MacNeal talks about how long it took her to write the right book, and how many agents it took to get it to the right editor (two) and how many people contributed to getting it right (lots!)
"Her overnight success only took a dozen years, numerous rewrites, and countless rejections. And the help of a very lovable bear."
MacNeal writes a spy series set at the start of World War 2, one of my favorite time periods. After reading the article I promptly bought the first two books in the series: Mr. Churchill's Secretary and Princess Elizabeth's Spy.
A three year subscription is $90 I consider it money well-spent.
5 comments:
...and Mystery Scene Magazine's subscription rate doubles overnight...
Thanks for the link. I've found some wonderful authors via your recommendations.
I'm in that boat. (Yet to be published, agent, but no sale)
I'm glad you shared this - b/c the sentence about writing the "right" book seems to be my issue. The one that went on submission never stood a chance b/c the bar was set high by the books it ended up being compared to. And that in of itself is a problem. Being compared. It needed a different spin, and it was a hard lesson to learn after years of working on that ms.
I'm working on another ms about a topic that I hope will be intriguing to an editor somewhere. This book is in a genre (suspense) I don't generally read, so I have to imagine, mystery, thriller, or suspense, writers would benefit by reading it. (which btw, the lines always seem a bit blurry to me between those genres)
Ooops, clarification!
I meant to say this - "This book is in a genre (suspense) I don't generally read, so I have to imagine, mystery, thriller, or suspense, writers would benefit by reading THIS MAGAZINE."
If you like world wars, try WWI sometime. Overshadowed and forgotten because of Hitler's war, but intensely interesting and filled with great stories, most of them unknown to contemporary readers.
@ Steve Stubbs - true... one particular WWI scene I recall was in the movie, A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT, where the youngest son is blinded by an explosive. He can hear his brother coming for him. Both are trying to run through barbed wire...and, of course the brother is too late, and sees the wounded one cut down by enemy fire.
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