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Before I was published, I had several novels that got close – well, that’s what the glowing rejections suggested. However, I did feel that those novels were – in their way – reserved in some areas. I was holding back. It was intimidating to put work out there where people who knew me would be reading it, and possibly judging me through what I’d written. I’m sure lots of writers feel the same. So I wrote through a filter – I held back in scenes (be they explorations of emotional vulnerability or realisations, intimacy, etc.) where I thought somebody might think of me, I can’t believe he wrote that! Going…
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Lots of people – usually inexperienced writers, or those who know very little about the publishing industry – have lofty misconceptions about being an author. I can admit to having them, when I was a young, inexperienced, and naive writer. But now I’m older and wiser. Well, older. This week, I thought I’d look at some of the misconceptions that commonly do the rounds. Being an author is lucrative. I heard a joke yesterday: What’s the difference between an author and a pizza? A pizza can feed a family of four. The top-end authors – JK Rowling, Stephen King, Lee Child, etc. – would be rich. But most authors…