Subscriber spotlight
Share your writing success stories. If you subscribe to Writing Magazine and would like to feature here, email Tina Jackson, tjackson@warnersgroup.co.uk
On a roll of the dice
‘Whilst walking our dog in the Peak District, I occasionally found myself wondering what it would be like to discover a corpse,’ writes subscriber Roz Watkins.
‘This (together with a long suppressed desire to kill off some of my ex-colleagues) led to me starting my first book, The Devil’s Dice, in which a patent attorney is found poisoned in a cave.
‘Realising I had no idea what I was doing, I read everything I could get my hands on about how to write a publishable novel, and I did a course with Alex Davis. It’s highly motivating to be fixed with a steely eye and asked, And how many words have you written this week?
‘I finished the first draft and, poor deluded soul, thought I was nearly done. I actually spent a further year editing, reading more and more books, swapping critiques (including on the excellent Scribophile website), and scouring the internet for advice from Sharks and Snarks and Evil Editors and other such terrifying creatures.
‘My first break came from a Writing Magazine competition where I won a critique of my first 10,000 words from James McCreet. If I’d read some of his previous critiques before I entered, I might have been too scared, but I was new and naïve.
‘At the Festival of Writing in York, my book doctor, Claire McGowan, passed my opening on to her agent, Diana Beaumont. Diana liked it and took me on a few months later when I thought my book was finished (it wasn’t). Diana helped me edit – and I still can’t quite forget the instruction to “ratchet up the drama, tension, emotions, suspense, fear and spooky elements even more – say another 20%”, a month before we were due to submit. But it worked, and we now have a three-book deal in the UK with HQ (HarperCollins), a two-book deal in Germany, and a TV option. This period of bizarre good fortune continued when the book was shortlisted for the Debut Dagger.
‘You can follow me on Twitter to find out if this is true or if I am in the throes of a psychotic episode @RozWatkins.’
Page-turning comedy
‘A few months ago, my first comedy novel, Missing Gretyl, hit the #1 spot on Amazon for British literature and satire,’ writes subscriber Si Page.
‘There has also been interest in the screenplay after gaining 156 reviews from readers on Amazon, with over 115 of them receiving five star ratings.
‘So where did it all begin?
‘I was born in Romford, Essex in 1970 and grew up with a love of football, films, frolicking and females (the priority of the four F’s reversed during my teenage years). After foolishly deciding that it was a waste of time turning up for my CSE exams, I bunked off and headed for the workplace as a carpet fitter where I found the YTS (Youth Training Scheme) waiting with little more than twenty-something quid a week and a clip round the ear for cutting carpet “very wonky”.
‘I’d describe the first ten years of my working life in grim fashion, before things changed drastically in 1999, when I gained a BA Hons theology degree somewhere outside of Essex, in a strange place that some called, “oop North”. Unperturbed by the north-south divide, I happily settled in the north west, where among more sophisticated company, I mentioned that I resided a few miles away from two world class golfing resorts – first, Royal Birkdale and more recently, Royal Lytham.