Authors Electric

  The 11-year-old girl who inspired the book concerned I am no stranger to scams. There are two I would like to mention, both telephone calls. The first was in the 1980s by a man who wanted to know what underwear I was wearing. I hung up, but he was persistent. This was a landline, and I was waiting for a phone call, so I couldn’t just leave the phone off the hook. I tried everything, blowing a whistle down the phone, saying nothing for as long as I felt I could before I hung up. I think it was the eleventh call when I decided to take a different approach. I listened carefully to what he wanted to do to me, then I said, “I don’t think you’d like that very much. You see, I have this disease…” and I went on to describe some imaginary condition which had every disgusting visual manifestation and smell I could think of. He hung upon me, and never rang back. The object was to destroy the picture he had in his head, and it was very successful. I wrote and article about it, and had it pub...

Editing   If you’re considering the self-publishing route, you need to be your own editor which is very hard work. Always remember that writing is about communicating; if you cannot express yourself adequately, without waffling, you won’t achieve the impact you want. In the commercial world, word-count is very important, and children’s books may be part of a series with a house style that doesn’t vary. If you know the age-group for whom you are writing, have a good look at the word length for similar books.  It is always possible to cut, even if it doesn’t feel like it. For the first pass, look at ways of eliminating repetitions, condensing what you say, and cutting out unnecessary adjectives and adverbs. It’s surprising how much you can get rid of this way. For the second pass, look at the order in which you present information. Would it be more economical to do it another way? Do you have any superfluous characters? If they’re necessary for furthering the plot, can you com...

The days of reliable editors in publishing houses and magazines are long gone. Although many of them are still excellent, the changes in English teaching here in Great Britain over the decades have taken their toll. I notice far more mistakes in professionally-published books than I ever did forty years ago. And if you’re considering the self-publishing route, you need to be your own editor which is very hard work. Always remember that writing is about communicating; if you cannot express yourself adequately, without waffling, you won’t achieve the impact you want. In the commercial world, word-count is very important. Magazines have specific slots to fill, and children’s books may be part of a series with a house style that doesn’t vary. Competitions will have a maximum word-lengths for short stories, and if you run over you’ll be disqualified. It is always possible to cut, even if it doesn’t feel like it. Honestly. For the first pass, look at ways of eliminating repetitions...

It’s only since I’ve been regularly reviewing two books a month for a magazine that I’ve started to think about how I read, as well as how I write. I have reviewed one AE book – TheSurvival of Thomas Ford by John A. A. Logan.  I could fill every slot with books by friends and associates, but I don’t think that would be terribly ethical! The children’s review is written by a nine-year-old, so I’m limited to adult books and I’m meant to select ones that I have enjoyed. Easier said than done. Although I occasionally choose a classic -   Cold Comfort Farm and The Day of the Triffids , for instance, I’m mainly meant to be looking at work that’s been published fairly recently, for people who read a lifestyle magazine. This has meant buying a lot of books for my Kindle, frequently by authors who are new to me, and it’s pot luck as to whether I’ll end up reviewing them or not. I find that many of them start off well, and then tail off, which is always disappointing. What has surpris...