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Writer to Writer

Rie Sheridan

It's Just a Fantasy...

Did you ever want something so badly you could taste it, but you thought there was no way you would ever achieve it? Well, dreams can come true. Let me tell you a story...

Once upon a time, there was a little girl who wanted to be a writer. One day, she began scribbling down the story of a boy prince and his page who were captured by tiny elves. She didn't get very far, but she learned about story-generating.

Time passed, and she read Tolkien. Her elves grew taller. She realized that a vital plot point-that the page was the prince's long-lost brother was totally unbelievable because the logic of a king putting his own son into servitude when he knew the boy's origins (and at the time, he did) didn't ring true. She was beginning to learn plotting.

More time passed. She gave her only copy of her manuscript to a college friend to critique and never got it back. She had to start over from memory. She was learning contingency-and the cardinal rule: ALWAYS keep a back-up.

She continued to fuss and fiddle with that original idea for almost twenty-five years (quite an incubation period, wasn't it) before sending it off to a small press in Canada. It was rejected, but the editor took the time to write a nice note and recommend she find a Book Doctor to look it over. A few months later, she happened to meet one here in these very WVU halls, and did a complete edit/rewrite with her input. This proved an invaluable step. A manuscript really needs to have someone other than its creator look at it with a detached eye. The book grew exponentially in terms of maturity.

Then a friend, and fellow WVU student, suggested an e-publisher to submit the book to. There cannot be enough stress put on the importance of such networking. The manuscript was accepted for ebook and Print-on-Demand publication.

Downright giddy with excitement I-er... she-sent her baby off to be born. Another full, and very thorough, edit led to another growth spurt in the maturity of the manuscript.

Now, proofreading done-the copy is being readied for the printers (complete with a quote from her favorite fantasy writer, who read an advance copy for her-remember what I said about networking...?) The presses are set to roll. The book will go on sale Monday, December 3rd.

Moral? Never give up. Fairy tales CAN come true...

Next month-Shameless self-promotion