‘The decision to become a writer was one of the three or four biggest mistakes of my life.’
So begins this oddest of entertainments by an English author who, over a period of twenty years, published more than forty books for children and teenagers. In those years books of his were translated into many languages, he won awards, appeared at literary festivals and on television, was interviewed on radio, in magazines and online, and yet…
… he couldn’t always sell other books that he’d written or most wanted to write.
Anyone who has written a book and sent it to agents or publishers and received only negative responses (or no response at all) might be surprised to learn that even someone with a considerable list of published books to his name has had many other ideas and concepts rejected by all and sundry. To this day, the author remains mystified as to why some of these were not heartily welcomed. On receipt of one series proposal, a top London agent declared herself unable to sleep at night for excitement about it, believing that it would be a ‘major international series’. She was wrong. It was shown to twenty or more publishers and every one of them resisted it.
Such background information is sandwiched between each of the sixteen pieces shown in part or in full in this volume. Here, the reader will find chapters, extracts and stories from proposed books or series which will never be published or reproduced elsewhere. But UNWANTED! isn’t a ‘dry’ book by any means. The writer, while occasionally tetchy, is known for his humour, which is evident in many of the notes and extracts.
Genre: Literary Fiction
So begins this oddest of entertainments by an English author who, over a period of twenty years, published more than forty books for children and teenagers. In those years books of his were translated into many languages, he won awards, appeared at literary festivals and on television, was interviewed on radio, in magazines and online, and yet…
… he couldn’t always sell other books that he’d written or most wanted to write.
Anyone who has written a book and sent it to agents or publishers and received only negative responses (or no response at all) might be surprised to learn that even someone with a considerable list of published books to his name has had many other ideas and concepts rejected by all and sundry. To this day, the author remains mystified as to why some of these were not heartily welcomed. On receipt of one series proposal, a top London agent declared herself unable to sleep at night for excitement about it, believing that it would be a ‘major international series’. She was wrong. It was shown to twenty or more publishers and every one of them resisted it.
Such background information is sandwiched between each of the sixteen pieces shown in part or in full in this volume. Here, the reader will find chapters, extracts and stories from proposed books or series which will never be published or reproduced elsewhere. But UNWANTED! isn’t a ‘dry’ book by any means. The writer, while occasionally tetchy, is known for his humour, which is evident in many of the notes and extracts.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Used availability for Michael Lawrence's Unwanted!