Hi Charlie,
Thanks for signing up to the Friends of Anne Droyd. You are the 18th member.
Anne Droyd is something new to me that I suddenly realised that I'm not the only autistic author there is.
It's funny, because although I'm happy to have the tag "Asperger syndrome", I don't see myself as autistic, even though Asperger syndrome is on the lower end of the autistic spectrum. I suppose it's because the word autism puts me in mind of the more stereotypical image of a man who talks in a monotone voice and who is reluctant to speak about anything other than his pet subjects.
People who meet me today as an adult never suspect that I have any autistic traits at all.
However, when I was in my teens it was different. I had problems reading the subtleties in face expressions and body language, and as a result I could be quite paranoid. I also had problems discerning the boundaries of a conversation, what was appropriate and what was not. Thanks to poor hand-to-eye coordination, I was hopeless at all sports, and so did not share the love of football so profoundly exhibited by my peers. And so, because I felt alienated, I retreated into a world of television science-fiction, Doctor Who and The Tripods in particular, and obsessed about them to the Nth degree.
If Asperger syndrome had been a recognised disorder during my school years, I have no doubt at all that I would have been diagnosed with it.
I suppose most of us are the rejected sort that require a level of academic advice as I had tremendous rejection and therefore took a course in creative writing.
Most new writers receive "tremendous rejection" whether they are on the autistic spectrum or not. I believe JK Rowling was rejected about 30 times before Bloomsbury took her on. Recently I was told by one publisher that there is no market for Anne Droyd, and this was after Jessica Kingsley had published it. The fact that there is a small but loyal following for Anne also demonstrates that in time I might well prove that particular critic wrong.
I am glad to know you took a course in creative writing. Sometimes we have to be humble and realise that we are not as good as we think we are and learn the craft properly. I joined the Writers Bureau correspondence course in 1996 and I still haven't finished it (not because I can't be bothered, but because of my writing projects in the interim).
I once met one man who had lots of great ideas for characters and storylines, but his grasp of English grammar was terrible and he really needed to go on a basic English language course. At the other end of the writing spectrum, I also met a man who had a perfect grasp of the language, but his ideas didn't really appeal to the mass market.
To succeed you have to have both, really. You need to have the great ideas and characters and a good understanding of English.
It is also good to get other people to read your work before you publish. If you know people well versed in English, get them to read your piece and comment on it. You cannot afford to get precious with your work. If they suggest changing certain things, don't be crushed by it. Listen to what they have to say, and apply the changes if you see they have a point. If you can get someone to act as your editor, even better.
I've had one novel published and a few articles.
Well done. A lot of new writers start out writing for fanzines and things like that (my first published piece was a short story for a sci-fi fanzine called Really Quite Cosmic. It was entitled Capped and was based on The Tripods. It wasn't a very inspiring piece, but it was lovely seeing it, along with my name, in print. I believe it has since been uploaded to the internet). The more you write, the better at it you get.
My first novel is the oddly titled 'A Baffling Unoriginal looking with a Voice to Prove Postive'.
That is a strange title!
It's out now and read it if you will, because you'll be surprised by the number of engaging themes to emerge from it!
I've had a look at it on Amazon. I see that it was published by Grosvenor House, a group endorsed by GP Taylor, author of Shadowmancer (which started out as a self-published title before Faber & Faber bought it up). As I understand it, Grosvenor will produce your book for a few hundred pounds. I nearly signed up with them myself until a good friend put me on to Lulu.com and Lightning Source. Both of these companies produce paperback books in the same way that Grosvenor do (print-on-demand) but without taking any money from you in advance. Their fee is built into the royalty for each copy. So when you sell a book, they take their cut and you take your cut, but if you don't sell any or you sell only a few, you've not lost out financially.
If you self-publish anything else, Charlie, do it through a company like Lulu.com.
I have had a quick look at your first chapter online and I can see that your book is quite individualistic in style. That's a good thing, since it means you have a voice that stands out as different. In reading it, though, I think you could have done with some help on the editorial side. Maybe next time get a trusted friend to read your manuscript through and cool the errors before you get it ready for publishing.
However, I think it is commendable that have been able to knock out a 124 page paperback. That in itself is a great achievement. I shall be requesting a copy from Amazon as soon as I've finished typing this.
I haven't read Anne Droyd yet, but I do hope it's something like I've tried in my novel. A breakaway from all those cliches of autistic characters being special needs dependent, muttering, clumsy people whose only usefulness in a story is they're ability to be fully usefully knowledgable about most subjects like Rain Man and the characters of Magnificient 7.
Anne Droyd and Century Lodge was written between October 2000 and January 2001 (though I had the idea for it as early as 1996). The original small press edition was published by CK Publishing in June 2002. I knew nothing of Asperger syndrome at this stage.
When I discovered the syndrome in 2003, I submitted my autobiography The Feeling's Unmutual to Jessica Kingsley Publishers, and then as an after thought, Anne Droyd (reasoning that Anne herself was quite like a child with AS). I was utterly astonished, when, a few weeks later, Jessica Kinglsey emailed to say she was going to publish both books. Now Anne Droyd and Century Lodge is listed as "an Asperger adventure". There are no characters in the story who actually have the syndrome. Anne herself is an android, and as such does not understand social cues and what might be deemed as inappropriate. It was thought that AS children might identify with her.
Sales have been modest. JKP chose not to do any of the sequels, so I'm now on the self-publishing wagon like you. I'm up to page 185 of Anne Droyd and the House of Shadows and I will be publishing it myself next year.
More background can be found here: www.annedroyd.co.uk
I know what you mean about authors putting autistic characters in stories. I recently attended an autism conference where all the specialists and psychologists present thought Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime was terrific and all the Asperger people present (myself included) felt that the author had just raided all the books on Aspergers and created a stereotypical character.
Really an author needs to be an Aspie himself to truly understand what it's like.
So, thanks again for your comments and for signing up.
Thanks also, Charlie, for your private email. I shall reply to that soon.
Best,
Will.
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