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.
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