The Beginning...

In the beginning, there was a small boy who sat under a holly tree and read books. That was me, 40 years ago. Happiest having adventures in other worlds, as if this one wasn't exciting enough. Things have moved on a tad. After working in wildlife parks, studying entomology, playing rock music and doing my time in industry (still doing some of the aforementioned), I wrote my first book. That was the easy bit. About 5 months of fun and getting nagged by my eldest son to make it more scary, I thumped the 336 pages onto my desk and sat back with smug smile of satisfaction. I pondered on how I might best spend the first big advance and listed the charities I might support before looking at the process of getting a deal. You mean Boomsbury weren't going to ring my doorbell, out of the blue? I peered over the hedge for any paparazzi then got to work. Agents, letters, postage, rejections... Agents all too busy. Well, yes. But some did write encouraging comments and add helpful hints to their standard letters. It was a start. I re-examined my text and took on board what they said. 1. Less PoVs. What? - Point of Views. Keep it in one or two character's view point. Okay... 2. Less adverbs, they weaken sentences... Oh, fine, I'll ease back on them. Etc... etc... All part of the learning experience...
Part 2. next...