Hi Will,

Yeah, it was a struggle at school. I got thru it but it took a lot
of work. I really appreciate your encouragement. In High School I
worked my way out of the "Special Education" program and got
into "normal" classes. My toughest subject was English, so I
dedicated a lot more energy towards it and in doing so developed a
passion with the written word.

Growing up my love for fantasy comes from having books of that genre
read to me as a kid - and the desire to live in a different world,
if only for a short time, was also intriguing. As C.S. Lewis
said, "We were created for something better." Stories like his
Narnia helped to pave my love for imagination and fantasy. My
writing took on a form of symbolism (of which I love) and depth of
meaning. There is a lot that can be expressed and conveyed with the
vehicle of fantasy/Sci-Fi. It can help us to look at things in a
different way and discover truths we are normally blind to.

I agree that structure is important, I need to be better at that. I
used to think forcing a structure would hinder the creativity and
spontaneity of the story. But as many times as I have gone back to
rework it I'm thinking it's not a bad idea. I was thinking of using
the "Snowflake Technique" to writing to see if that helped at all.
At this point my biggest hurtle is time. After getting married and
working long hour days, free time is hard to come by. But I am
committed to one day getting it done.

Thanks again for sharing your experience with me and your
encouragement. I hope that one day I will indeed finish "A Wizard's
Tale" and be able to hold the published book in my very own hands :-)

- James



--- In friendsofanne@..., "Will Hadcroft"
<will.hadcroft@n...> wrote:
>
> James,
>
> Annedroyd.com was taken when I registered at 123 Reg, so I took
annedroyd.co.uk instead. I'll take another look. By the way, if you
do want to help on the web site front (ie design one for me), Gareth
Preston has said he would be happy to hand over duties to anyone who
wants to spend more time on it. Cheers Gareth!
>
> I understand how a learning disability can slow one down. At
school I was deemed "a bit slow" by my teachers (much to my mother's
annoyance). My desire to be a writer was fed and developed when I
signed up to The Writers Bureau correspondence course. You pay
something like £200.00 (might be a bit more now) and each assignment
is designed to be turned into a piece of work for submission to
editors. I signed up to the course in 1996 and I still haven't
completed and received my diploma - partly because I have too many
writing projects on the go, and partly because I'm slow at working
on assignments (though if it's something I'm interested in, like my
most recent novel, I can knock it out swiftly!). I have two books to
my name, both published by a reputable company. I'm now on the
search for an agent and pitching my latest work.
>
> Reading your email, I wouldn't ever have suspected that you had
learning difficulties. It reads fluently, you communicate yourself
well. With fiction, you need to understand how to plot and structure
your story. You need to know your characters (write little
biographies for them) and you need to know how the work should be
presented. If all this is in order, you could be up to publishable
standard.
>
> Good ideas are not enough to get published. You need good ideas, a
bit of flair with your writing style, and know how to approach
publishers in a professional manner.
>
> It took me ten years to get there. I have confidence that you
could get there too.
>
> Will.
>