Re: how to get published - fiction
Scottie Bowman (rbowman@indigo.ie)
Fri, 01 Oct 1999 07:53:54 +0100
Dear Sean,
Initially, I wasn't sure.
But when I read:
'…the smug, self-promoting 'advice' that one
of our published bananafishers has condescended
to give ...' - I knew you must have meant me.
No, the books were useless - rather derivative juvenilia,
as I think I knew even then, though the opinion
wasn't shared by others. (Ever heard of Elizabeth Bowen,
Claire Tomalin? Probably not.) They embarrass me
& I've been at moderate pains to keep them hidden -
a job made easier by the fact of their being out of print
& virtually unavailable for many years.
The smugness which you recognise, though, arises
from the knowledge that within those two rather
flat cakes were a few startling pieces of fruit from
my own orchard - where there still grow some vigorous
young trees.
If a writer doesn't enjoy that knowledge, that confidence,
all the praise in the world won't help him. And if
he does possess it, nothing else will matter very much.
Publication - which we all long for - is, finally, irrelevant.
Even so, while there are occasional exceptions, most marketable
products will be recognised fairly early on by the professionals
who make their money selling stuff in the market.
Scottie B.