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(Continued from page 8)
Although we enjoyed reading it, we didn't feel it was suitable for our current publishing list.
Due to the large amount of manuscripts we receive each week it is difficult to give personal criticism to everyone who writes to us. I'm sorry for this disappointing response, but wish you every success placing your work elsewhere, and lots of luck with your writing in the future.
With best wishes,
As always, their loss. It shall be interesting to see what the other letters are like.
I immediately drafted another letter to the next publisher and sent the package off to them. That was two weeks ago, and I have heard nothing. I don't know if that is a good or bad sign. How long do I wait before approaching another publisher? I'm a bit too busy at the moment to worry about that.
On a related topic, I've started having thoughts about a sequel book. At the moment I only have a vague overview of the plot and only one or two incidents. There is a long way to go. I'm trying to think of an original way of writing it and I think I've got one, but I'm certainly not going to tell you. You'll just have to read the book when I've written it. Give me another ten years.
What I have got though is a number of characters from my short stories that I want to use. So many of my stories are open ended that I can't help wondering how they are getting on since I last visited them. My mind starts dreaming up new situations, which I hope I can put together in a coherent form. I think I shall complete my story collection before I start another epic. It needs time to develop in my subconcious.
20th December 1999
Still nothing from the publisher. I shall move on to the next one and hope that I get a better response. I really ought to make good use of this time and get on with the corrections in the manuscript. Unfortunately, I have been a bit busy up to now, but as Christmas approaches, life is beginning to calm down. School and Brownies have stopped, so I have a couple of weeks holiday.
Interestingly, no matter how busy I am socially, I still manage to keep writing in some form. I scripted the nativity play for my Brownies to perform at the district carol service, and have completed a piece of B5 fan fiction. Fan fiction is a strange thing, as because of copyright, I cannot earn any money from my story. In this case, it doesn't matter to me as I wouldn't like to do that with someone else's characters, and the story just appeared in my head and forced me to write it. Basically, I had fun, and I hope that I have crafted a story that others will enjoy reading. Still, I do consider the story a serious piece of work and took as much trouble over it as I do everything else I write. I have submitted it to a B5 fan fiction site, and await any response.
On the T'Tenneb front, I have rewritten chapter one; or more precisely, added a bit to the beginning. I am inclined to do this, at least in this case. The first draft began with the sisters in bed and being visited by Cire. Then I added a piece on the front that introduced the fairy and told us some of his thoughts. This version now starts with the sisters again and sets up their characters and the relationship between them. I adjusted a few other things as well, and now the first chapter is a half decent length. It was always a bit short. I would love to know what you think.
1. An unexpected visitor
Rachel was feeling confidently smug. She was about to score a major point over her little sister, and it would be a long time, if ever, before Alex would be able to claim superiority.
It had begun that afternoon, when Alex's loose tooth finally came out. Their Mum had mopped up the blood and comforted Alex by telling her that if she put the tooth under her pillow, then the toothfairy would come and give her fifty pence for it.
As soon as they were alone, Rachel had told Alex that there was no such thing as a tooth fairy, and that it was really their Mum. She had not seen their Mum ever take the teeth, but she considered herself too old to believe in things like fairies anymore, and it was her duty as a big sister to prove it to Alex. Of course, Alex would not be persuaded and so they had begun to fight, which led to them being sent to bed early.
There they were now, lying still in their beds, pretending to be asleep, but determined to stay awake. Each sister wanting to prove that they were right and they other wrong. Alex was still angry, and worried that Rachel might be right. What if there really was no tooth fairy? That would mean that her Mum had told her a lie all these years, and Alex had always been told that lies were bad. Rachel was practising her smug 'told you', and thinking ahead to Christmas. If this worked, she could use the same plan for Santa Claus. Surely no one would want to
(Continued on page 10)
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