Navigating Between the Lines
Unveiling the Realities of Being an Author
Welcome, fellow literary enthusiasts, to a journey that delves deep into the world of words, imagination, and the fascinating realities of being an author. As Book Week Scotland unfolds its literary tapestry across the country, it's the perfect time to shine a spotlight on the creative minds behind the stories that captivate our hearts and minds.
Being an author is often romanticised, with visions of solitary writers lost in the serene landscapes of their imagination. However, the reality is a nuanced tapestry of passion, perseverance and the ever-changing landscape of the publishing industry. In this blog we aim to pull back the curtain on the life of an author.
We invited four of our authors – Alan Riach, Keith Adamson, Mary W Craig and Catriona Child – to answer three questions on their life as an author.
Whether you're an aspiring writer seeking insights into the author's life or a devoted reader curious about the stories behind the stories, join us as we embark on this literary exploration. Book Week Scotland is not just a celebration of books; it's an invitation to explore the profound, exhilarating and, at times, challenging journey of being an author.
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What is your ‘day job’/job alongside being a writer?
Mary: I am a community historian/archivist.
Catriona: My 'day job' (I do tend to call it that) is university administration work.
Alan: I’m the Professor of Scottish Literature at Glasgow University. This is the only university-established Chair in the Subject, which means to me that it carries a weight of public responsibility, professing Scottish literature to the public as well as among scholars and academics, nationally and internationally. Currently, the obligations of the job are not always perfectly synchronised with the responsibility to write as an obligation of a different but overlapping kind, especially since poetry makes its own demands.
Keith: One of the advantages of being retired is that I no longer have a ‘day job’. I used to work in the construction industry as an architectural technician, at times producing technical drawings on my computer whilst daydreaming about the plot of a novel that is still in the early stages of inception.
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What are some of the hardest obstacles in being a writer today?
Mary: Writing is a craft and needs to be practised regularly. Marketing and promotion are essential but can easily take over. Finding quiet time to think and write can be difficult.
Catriona: Finding the time and the energy to write. I'm a working mum (with two young children) so it's not always easy to find time for yourself and often, when you do have a spare half hour, you're absolutely exhausted and just want to sit on the couch with a cup of tea! Or, you have so many things you want to do that you end up paralysed by options and end up doing nothing and wasting the free time you had.
Alan: A good readership. Who can you rely on to read your work attentively, when it’s so very difficult nowadays to get good training in discrimination? You can feel as though you’re writing and being published and the work is going out, but in today’s Scotland, there is no public culture of critical thinking about literature and the arts. We used to have a thriving magazine culture, a fairly large number of periodicals with their own editorial preferences and styles, and overlapping readerships – all gone. The current climate favours celebrity – which makes icons of writers whose books sell – and exploitation – which exploits readers for money rather than encourages and helps them to read deeply.
Who would you go to, where would you go, to find out what’s happening in the real world of poetry, literature, paintings, music – classical music – in Scotland? Where are the good critics? We have a good number of creative artists of all kinds but hardly any really good critics writing for a literate and thinking public. Where are the public intellectuals? Where are they published? The first obstacle is the absence of critical thinking. And that’s the first sign of cultural decay. Because reading politics is just critical thinking in the public sphere. And maybe that’s the next step to understanding the obstacles to being a writer of any worth today: the ethos of British Unionism. If that’s the drum being beating, throughout our media, any sensitive and strong-minded writer is bound to feel repulsion. The same goes with any flag-waving, drum-beating ethos. The writer – any artist – works in a world of dissent.
Keith: The problem for many writers is that are just too many of us, creating new stories for a market already flooded with more fiction than even the most avid reader could get through. Of course, this makes it hard for both agents and publishers to separate the wheat from the chaff, and aspiring writers find themselves at the end of a very difficult chain. Most publishing houses these days don’t accept unsolicited manuscripts, making it necessary for writers to submit their work through an agent. If you thought that securing a publisher might be difficult, finding an agent to represent you is probably even harder.
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What advice would you give to someone looking to become a published author?
Mary: Write because you want to, develop your craft, ignore trends and fads, write because you have something to say, don't look to be earning millions, find yourself a good publisher that works with you and helps you to become an even better writer. Writing is about producing a body of work that you can be proud of and a decent publisher will help you achieve that.
Catriona: My advice would be to just write. Try not to procrastinate (turn off the TV, put the phone down), and don't worry if you don't have the perfect notebook or you're not in the right location (these are often important but you don't need them to be a writer). The most important thing is to get the words down on the page. The book isn't going to write itself so you have to put in the hard work. This is advice that I would do well to listen to myself sometimes
Alan: Ask yourself a few questions. Do you think the world will be a better place for your writing and publishing it? Is your writing only about yourself or do you think it will help others to live? If so, why? Will it help others to live with others? Is it a help in the practice of communal life? The consequences of your answers should direct your best actions.
Keith: Writing is a somewhat solitary endeavour, and I think most writers are tempted to keep work in progress under wraps until they feel confident that we have a finished marketable product. It’s quite a big ask to expect someone to read a book that they haven’t chosen themselves, but if they do, then you are likely to be bombarded with a number of possibilities that you hadn’t considered, or holes in the plot that you hadn’t thought of. It is nevertheless unwise to proceed with a pitch to an agent, with a novel that has never been read by anyone but yourself.
The other piece of advice that you find on publishers’ and agents’ websites is to ‘know your readership.’ Of course, there is some truth in this, and, when embarking on my novel My Margaret, Your Toshie, I was fairly confident that I already had an audience, since Mackintosh attracts so much interest in Scotland. However, there is, equally, a kind of vicious circle implied in seeking a ready-made cohort of readers, as there is little point in adding to an already over-subscribed cannon in any particular genre. My opinion is that you have to write for yourself because you need to be driven by the passion that comes from having something to say. If that something is fresh and imaginative, then the aim is to get out there and let the publisher, who is best placed to know their market, find a readership for it.
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As the curtains fall on our exploration of the realities of being an author during Book Week Scotland, we find ourselves standing at the intersection of inspiration and revelation.
Book Week Scotland has served as the perfect backdrop to unravel the layers of this fascinating journey. The celebration of literature is not just about the final product—the published book—but about the countless hours of dedication, the revisions and the determination to bring stories to life. It's about the collaboration between authors and readers, creating a symbiotic relationship that transcends the pages.
Let's continue to celebrate the authors who brave the blank pages, navigate the publishing maze and share their creativity with the world. Here's to the authors who make Book Week Scotland, and every week that follows, a celebration of the written word and the remarkable individuals who bring it to life.
