Storytrack was the first of my how-to writing books, produced way back in 1989. It gets around; I quite often see second-hand copies out there. It is the result of a column I wrote in a writers' magazine in the 1980s. I can't for the life of me remember what the magazine was called, or how I came to be writing for it. I may have answered an advertisement in a newsletter. In any case, writing the column (and I think that was called Not Kids' Stuff) taught me a lot about grammar and also about working with editors. Editors vary between the sweet and kindly and those who are more like paint stripper. This one didn't suffer fools (or errors, or unprofessional behaviour, or bad habits, or casual sharing of magazines...) cheerfully. It was an excellent magazine, quite apart from my input, and, as I said, it taught me a lot so I'm grateful to it (and to the editor, whose name I can't recall either). I'm pretty sure it died after either the editor located or else the magazine went to recycled paper and environmentally-friendly printing and so ceased to attract the eye of casual shoppers.
Anyway, the editor, having whipped my prose into shape and forced me to mind my hyphens, suggested compiling my columns into a book, which his company would print. I got three chapters in (writing a lot of new linking stuff) when the magazine ceased publication. Left with an orphaned manuscript, I was lucky enough to get another publisher interested, The editor there asked me to get input from other writers besides myself, and requested that I aim for big names. This was in the days of faxes and phone calls, and I sent out about a dozen letters to the well-known writers of the children's book community.
The result was somewhat disappointing. From memory, I think nine of them either didn't answer or else declined to answer my questions. (Fair enough.) One wrote back and intimidated me by saying I was to print the answer in full, with nary a comma missing. I was so scared I left that material out of the book. Two more, arguably the biggest names of all, responded with a generosity of spirit that still brings tears to my eyes. I had never met either of them and one of them I never did meet, but Max Fatchen and Colin Thiele, thank you with all my heart. You were true gentlemen.
Two swallows did not a summer make, so I wrote another round of letters. This time, I targeted up-and-coming and midlist writers. The response was generous. I came to think of this, later, as a lucky break. After all, the book was for writers in the early stages of their careers, so the responses of people who had recently broken into the business were probably more relevant anyway.
After collating the responses, the columns and all the new material, I get the manuscript to the publisher and the result was one of the longer titles in my collection; possibly the longest if you count New Zealand as two words and the ampersand as a word. Thirteen words... or is it one word and a very long subtitle? Dunno.
Ouch. That long-ago editor just bit me.
If it is, then the longest title is the eleven-word monster below.
ABOUT THE BLOG
Sally is Sally Odgers; author, manuscript assessor, editor, anthologist and reader. She runs http://www.affordablemanuscriptassessments.com and Prints Charming Books. (Sally is me, by the way, and I am lots of other things too, but these are the relevant ones for now.)
The goal for 2017 is to write a post a day profiling the background behind one of my books; how it came to be written, what it's about, and any things of note that happened along the way. If you're an author, an aspiring author, a reader or just someone who enjoys windows into worlds, you might find this fun. The books are not in any special order, but will be assigned approximate dates, and pictures, where they exist. If you enjoyed a post, or want to ask about any of my books or my manuscript assessment service.
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