Sheila Quigley

For authenticity. And publicity. Most thriller writers have considerable "editorial support". The publishers know exactly what they can sell and they help a writer to that product.

Yeah, I thought that programme was really interesting. I liked Sheila even though I know I would hate her book. And as for her editors and advertising people - what a bunch of creeps. I think it's fair enough to give her punctuation, time sequencing editing because that is the bit that an editor is supposed to be good at. The story-telling and characters are left down to Ms Quigley. I liked the scene in the womens institute place where one woman complained that a character who had just been shot was using the F word too much. Good Tv. What a lucky cow though.... Joe

Flash, my understanding of the Sheila Quigley book is as follows: She wrote a book and submitted it to agent Darley Anderson. He didn't like it but thought she showed promise and asked her to try something else, even specifying the broad outline - it resulted in the book that was eventually published. Today most agents have taken up the editing work that publishers used to do. So it would have been the agency that helped get SQ's manuscript into a saleable format to approach publishers - that means grammar, punctuation, spelling, presentation and the like. That's not to suggest you can approach an agent with a bunch of post-its about "your idea". If you exhibit talent they can guide you - once they are sure that the talent they suspect is there can ultimately deliver and hence earn them their 10-20%! Getting to publication isn't so different from selling anything else. And it's "buyer beware" carrying much the same level of risk as builder risk. Will it turn up on time, or at all? Will it be completed to the schedule we agreed? Will it look as I anticipated? However, I think agents must have some fun at the end of the day. They have lunches afterall!

Michael Casey 10 Reginald Rd Bearwood Warley B67 5AQ England Email michaelgcasey@hotmail.com Web http://msnusers.com/michaelcasey Internet Story © By Michael Casey So all I had to do was send an email , and then I’d be a writer , my book in every shop , my face smirking from cardboard cutouts of me holding my book aloft . My book had a great title , so it was bound to sell . A Nation Of Shopkeepers was a great title , if only people could remember their History , were people interested in History , and for that matter my book . It wasn’t a history book , would people think it WAS a history book , and then not buy it . It was a comedy drama , about a street of shops , interconnecting short stories , for all the family , but would people notice the levels , the strands of humour , or would they say it’s a Ma & Pa book , and miss the joke , just as one publisher called did ? I decided to keep the title , though I had a reserve title , The Butcher , The Baker and The Undertaker . Then I realised the US market would rename it The Butcher , The Baker And The Funeral Arranger . You don’t think about such things when you are writing the book , you’re just happy , on a roll , in love with your own intellect , or just surprized you actually DO have any intellect , then you discover that you are dyslexic , you really are dyslexic , thankfully not a really bad case , just dyslexic . As you proof read you see you have put BUT instead PUT , LEAD instead of READ , things like this and other strange things . Sure there are spellcheckers but or is it put , you have to check it anyway . As you read you are surprized at your own ability . You didn’t waste 4years in journalism school , but your writing is GOOD , Did I write that ? Then your chest filled with pride you get somebody else to read it , and guess what ? They think its crap . So now you have to decide , should I give up or should I carry on ? I gave up for as while , while is a unit of years in my case , my life took another path , so the writing was forgotten , it lay dormant for years , then like a phoenix it arose , or more truthfully , like a tortoise awaking from hibernation , sleep still in my eyes I slowly poked my head out , then back in , went back to sleep again , then finally with the pangs of hunger in my stomach I just had to do something . In my case it was eat , as in really eat , then I turned to my old Atari and realised it was not PC compatible , so I bought a new , or rather an old new Atari which was PC compatible . Then I spent a day copying my files so that I could read them on a PC . Then I wrote a few more pieces before I realised I’d get nowhere in England . The chances of being published were 1 in 2000 . So like a bear , I went back in my cave and slumbered . Meeting my wife Jing Jie was a turning point in my life , and not just because it was like Thunder as Jing Jie calls it , it was a turning point because I had a professional opinion on my writing , from a journalist at the very top of the tree . Her uncle is an editor in chief , so his comments were and are like gold , worth more than my first coffee and Cadbury’s chocolate , the pleasure rush I treat myself to every day , his comments really were that important to me , and I really DO like my Cadbury’s , so being better than Cadbury’s is the highest praise I can give . So I knew the quality of my writing , even if others said and say its crap . Getting a modern PC and internet connection was another turning point . Email in our house is like water and electic in any other homes . Jing Jie can “talk” to her mum in Shanghai every day . To friends all over the world as well . Birmingham IS the centre of the universe .So with hope and fear I had to transfer my files from my old Atari to the new PC . The floppy discs were old and battered , several were unreadable , finally my work , my babies were safely on the new PC . Just to be on the safe side I set up a website , so now my work was on somebody’s server in the US , thousands of miles away , safe from fire or theft . I could also put our new baby’s photos on the web site so that my Chinese family in Shanghai and Maimi and friends all over the world could see Annie and Jing Jie and me , they could even read my work too . So now all I had to do was market my work in the US , simple really , soon I’d be doing something useful with my life , making people laugh . I’d be a writing whore , I’d get paid to make others laugh , the best job in the world . So how would I set about it ? I got a list of radio stations from the internet and started sending emails galore . I’m talking in the hundreds now , to radio stations the length and breath of the US .They could publicise my site then eventually I’d get published , or my play would get produced . It was simple wasn’t it . So merrily I went about my business , sending emails galore . Years before I used to send off big heavy envelopes with my work in , with more persistance than hope in my heart .”Thank you for your pieces of paper“was the best put down . I once even met a writer and he agreed to to read my play Shoplife , then he wrote back calling me a plagerist , because it was so good . So I used his note as toilet paper , Shoplife was so good because I had 20years of experience given to me by my sister , I just improved on it , but yet I was called a Copyist , so naturally I was angry and used his note to wipe my bum . I wondered why my strike rate was so low with my emails to radio stations , then somebody casually mentioned , “You do know they will just delete anything with an attachment” . In these days of viruses or worms which I’ve discovered is the new trendy word , nobody can risk their PC , so I merrily send and they merrily delete . I’d been wasting my time , but not my money because I’d got a 24/7 package on my internet from AOL .However one radio station did read Shoplife . The DJ or is it Host , he called it hilarious and he could not stop reading it . It turned out he was an actor as well , though isn’t everybody an actor in the US ? So I thanked him , and quoted him in my future advertising .Humour is a funny thing . The things that make English people laugh are not the same as the things that make Americans’ laugh . We are constantly told by people on tv that English TV is the best in the world , the US material we see is the top 10% , the rest is rubbish . But I know I’d never get my foot in the door in England so I had to persist with my American campaign , so now I pasted in my material , no attachments . Just get them hooked , then paste in a sample then direct them to http://msnusers.com/michaelcasey Then bingo part2 of my life could begin ,I’d be the man that made America laugh , a naïve sentiment , but it was honest .Only AOL turns things into zip files and some people cann’t unzip your files , its like wanting sex but your zipper is broke and you cann’t get your trousers off . Such a strong urge , but no forfillment . I switched to MSMAIL and pasted in my stuff , things started to happen , my files weren’t being deleted or too zipped up to be read . At least I wasn’t frustrated any more . Now I had an agent interested , and a new magazine , even a theatre replied .All praise to Bill Gates , and to a Christian called Pat Verato who pointed me in the direction of a few good sites .However some of the sites that I trawled through were just , so very American . Hey , you too can be a writer , just send me 10 dollars and I’ll send you my book “How to make 10 dollars” , and he does . Then there’s magazines you can subscribe to , yes you’ve guessed it , just send another 10 dollars “Writing for Beginners” . There’s all these agents too who are so successful , persuading tap dancing bus drivers to write about Tap Dancing For Bus Drivers , the complete self help book , costs 10 dollars . The agent gets 20percent , and the bus driver pays 5000dollars to print 500 copies , then he can boast he’s a writer , not just a bus driver , and guess what if you pay 10 dollars you can learn to tap dance too . As for me , what do I think of all this ? I’d say just keep on writing , stop your selling , or attempts at selling , just write a bit . Add to your catologue of 3 poems and 2 short stories , then search for an agent . Believe you’ll never be published and then you won’t be disappointed. There is one final thing you can do though , just tell everybody to go to http://msnusers.com/michaelcasey And help find a publisher for my book , and then you’ve guessed it , just send me 10 dollars ! End

i had to search really hard here in L/derry to find the book. when eventually i found it, i couldnt put it down. the story itself i found was really good, but i was let down slightly in the final chapter. but having said that it was a very well told story. lets hope the next one is just as good.

Because the publishers go for work that will sell. As soon as you realise that you're ignorance and cockiness is boring, ie. not interesting (like your personality) then you will have made a start to a writing career. Until then have fun up your own bottom.

yeah, we know. That wasn't you. (you're ignorance... haha... you useless arse.)

It never is.

With punkchewayshun like that, it cud be no one els.

It's always easy for a literate to fake ignorance, but an ignorant is bound by their ignorance.

i have kept up with the topic of sheila quigley and am most horrified that a lot of people who have things to say have not bothered to even read the book,which i may tell you is fantastic,i read it in a weekend where i could not put it down,in my opinion she writes the best charactors i have ever known and her plotting is out of this world with more than one back story running,put your money where your mouth is and read the book,you will be wondering why it has been left out of every award and every television program on books. could it be that the snobs who are now choosing our reading material,that the sheep are buying in droves cant belive that an uneducated house wife from a sink estate can actually tell a good story.

It's always easy to disprove a self-righteous literate by incessantly highlighting their own puncuation errors. But only the ignorant would do such a thing.

Don't start a sentence with "but".

Have you ever considered using capital letters to start a sentence? Those posts were unreadable.

>> It's always easy to disprove a self-righteous literate by incessantly highlighting their own puncuation errors. << Does that sentence actually mean something? Is puncuation (sic) anything to do with the Sex Pistols?

It means that you are so so incessant in higlighting peoples errors but fail to understand that you posts are also littered with them. Other people don't tend to highlight them for you because only a twat with a grossly blind opinion of himself would do so. Namely you.

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