Ask the Author: Shelagh Watkins
Answered Questions (3)
Shelagh Watkins
We've all been on the receiving end of a request from friends to listen to a new piece of music in the expectation that we'll love it as much as they do. Often, those who gain a great deal of pleasure from any form of entertainment feel a desire to share that enjoyment with others.
Unfortunately, readers rarely share the same kind of enthusiasm for works of fiction by unknown authors and, although new writers may be engrossed in the process of writing, this doesn't spill over to readers. Enjoying the whole process of writing a novel is no guarantee that readers would love to read the novel if only the author could get it out to them.
I say unfortunately because many writers start to write the novel they want to write and then try to attract the interest of a publisher, which leads to an endless stream of rejection slips and disappointment.
New writers, who know their characters inside out and could recite the plot backwards, have to be aware that no novel they have read before or since can conjure up such vivid pictures as those in their own minds during the writing phase. That's the joy of writing. The special ingredient is being able to convey that to readers. Only readers can tell us if we have managed to convey the story and evoked images in the readers' minds that create a magical world full of action and adventure.
Unfortunately, readers rarely share the same kind of enthusiasm for works of fiction by unknown authors and, although new writers may be engrossed in the process of writing, this doesn't spill over to readers. Enjoying the whole process of writing a novel is no guarantee that readers would love to read the novel if only the author could get it out to them.
I say unfortunately because many writers start to write the novel they want to write and then try to attract the interest of a publisher, which leads to an endless stream of rejection slips and disappointment.
New writers, who know their characters inside out and could recite the plot backwards, have to be aware that no novel they have read before or since can conjure up such vivid pictures as those in their own minds during the writing phase. That's the joy of writing. The special ingredient is being able to convey that to readers. Only readers can tell us if we have managed to convey the story and evoked images in the readers' minds that create a magical world full of action and adventure.
Shelagh Watkins
The challenge of creating an imaginary world that will captivate readers is the best thing about writing. Every writer sets out to create a world that will be as vivid in the minds of readers as it was in the mind of the writer, but not all writers succeed in doing so.
Since they cannot read a piece of their own work with the same fresh eyes that readers do, it is difficult for authors to assess their own writing. Even leaving the work unread for several weeks or months doesn't erase the storyline. You can't say to yourself, "I wonder where this is going?" Your mind doesn't try to work out whether a passage is a hint of something to come or not. Re-reading a last chapter that neatly draws together and explains all that went before, you can't feel the same sensation that a reader does -- rewarding, satisfying or disappointing. Also, the bits you get real enjoyment out of are the passages you enjoyed writing not the bits you enjoyed reading; that's for readers to decide, which becomes the real challenge for the writer: to write something that is as enjoyable to read as it was to write.
Since they cannot read a piece of their own work with the same fresh eyes that readers do, it is difficult for authors to assess their own writing. Even leaving the work unread for several weeks or months doesn't erase the storyline. You can't say to yourself, "I wonder where this is going?" Your mind doesn't try to work out whether a passage is a hint of something to come or not. Re-reading a last chapter that neatly draws together and explains all that went before, you can't feel the same sensation that a reader does -- rewarding, satisfying or disappointing. Also, the bits you get real enjoyment out of are the passages you enjoyed writing not the bits you enjoyed reading; that's for readers to decide, which becomes the real challenge for the writer: to write something that is as enjoyable to read as it was to write.
Shelagh Watkins
Last year, my first Christmas story was so well received it gave me the idea to write more stories throughout 2014. I've just published a collection of five short stories based on Christmas classics that have captivated readers for centuries. These versions turn the plot lines around to give a new, modern slant to traditional tales that have endured across the years.
The first story, A Christmas Caller, is a version of what is probably the most loved of all Christmas stories, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. The second story, Not a Single Match, is more upbeat and turns around the sadness in Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Match Girl. The third story, A Wedding and a Christmas Tree, is a modern version of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s classic Christmas story, A Christmas Tree and a Wedding. The Fourth story, The Gift of the Magpie, is based on O. Henry’s wonderful story, The Gift of the Magi. The final story, His Birthday Reality, is a modern-day version of Her Birthday Dream by Nellie C. King.
The first story, A Christmas Caller, is a version of what is probably the most loved of all Christmas stories, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. The second story, Not a Single Match, is more upbeat and turns around the sadness in Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Match Girl. The third story, A Wedding and a Christmas Tree, is a modern version of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s classic Christmas story, A Christmas Tree and a Wedding. The Fourth story, The Gift of the Magpie, is based on O. Henry’s wonderful story, The Gift of the Magi. The final story, His Birthday Reality, is a modern-day version of Her Birthday Dream by Nellie C. King.
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