Helpline: Your writing problems solved
SIMON LEOPOLD, Cheltenham
Your writing problems solved with advice from Diana Cambridge
Email your queries to Diana (please include home-town details) at: diana@dianacambridge.co.uk or send them to: Helpline, Writing Magazine, Warners Group Publications plc, 5th Floor, 31-32 Park Row, Leeds LS1 5JD. She will answer as many letters as she can on the page, but regrets that she cannot enter into individual correspondence. Publication of answers may take several months. Helpline cannot personally answer queries such as where to offer work, or comment on manuscripts, which you are asked not to send.
Q I went to a talk at Waterstones by a writer I admired, and I did ask a question. I was disappointed by the answer, as he did not seem much interested in my work or in the problems I have had finding a publisher or an agent.
A This can happen at bookstore talks. The trouble is, we can expect a lot from our favourite writers when we see them in the flesh! I imagine there were a lot of people there who wanted questions answered, and it would have been hard for him to give you a lot of personal advice at a public event. Most writers steer clear of recommending publishers or agents, which is often asked of them. It’s really up to you to research and find your own. Use the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook.