Ask the Author: Ronald McGowan
Answered Questions (7)
Ronald McGowan
I'm old school British. I'm afraid I don't go in much for inspiration.
The oldest manuscript that I have published, 'The Golden Apple' dates from my teaching days, and was based on stories I told the pupils in my Latin and Greek classes to keep them quiet. You don't need much in the way of inspiration when it's a question of finding something to keep thirty-odd little tearaways out of mischief. There are a couple more in the series lying around which I must dig out and put on Kindle one of these days.
"What I did in my Holidays' was written for a competition, hence its odd length, and, like most things I do, at the urging of she who must be obeyed, my ever-loving wife.
'Barset Revisited' was the nearest I have come to anything I would call 'inspiration', although it was more like frustration really. I just couldn't stand the way Trollope had left the Barsetshire sequence dangling at the end, even though he had continually signposted what was going to happen all the way through. As far as I can make out, he either lost his bottle or just lost interest, and moved on. I found this just too, too annoying - like most things these days - and decided to do the job for him. I liked the outcome if nobody else did.
As for the Austen series, they were started for a bet ,and have since rather taken me over. I came very late to Jane Austen, but the more I read her, the more I find in her.
No doubt the above will be just as useless as most of the drivel I turn out, but I wish you well in your striving. Just remember that inspiration is a contrary beast. The more you look for her, the more she will hide away, but ignore her and she will come looking for you.
Margaret has quite a bit to say on the subject in 'Miss Dashwood's Dilemma' actually. I might see if I can send you an extract if you haven't got the book.
Ron.
The oldest manuscript that I have published, 'The Golden Apple' dates from my teaching days, and was based on stories I told the pupils in my Latin and Greek classes to keep them quiet. You don't need much in the way of inspiration when it's a question of finding something to keep thirty-odd little tearaways out of mischief. There are a couple more in the series lying around which I must dig out and put on Kindle one of these days.
"What I did in my Holidays' was written for a competition, hence its odd length, and, like most things I do, at the urging of she who must be obeyed, my ever-loving wife.
'Barset Revisited' was the nearest I have come to anything I would call 'inspiration', although it was more like frustration really. I just couldn't stand the way Trollope had left the Barsetshire sequence dangling at the end, even though he had continually signposted what was going to happen all the way through. As far as I can make out, he either lost his bottle or just lost interest, and moved on. I found this just too, too annoying - like most things these days - and decided to do the job for him. I liked the outcome if nobody else did.
As for the Austen series, they were started for a bet ,and have since rather taken me over. I came very late to Jane Austen, but the more I read her, the more I find in her.
No doubt the above will be just as useless as most of the drivel I turn out, but I wish you well in your striving. Just remember that inspiration is a contrary beast. The more you look for her, the more she will hide away, but ignore her and she will come looking for you.
Margaret has quite a bit to say on the subject in 'Miss Dashwood's Dilemma' actually. I might see if I can send you an extract if you haven't got the book.
Ron.
Ronald McGowan
Don't aspire.
Do it if you want to.
Opportunities have never been better. Forty years ago when I first started hawking manuscripts around London, life was much more difficult. In one sense it was easier, in that there were more publishers around and they were more open to considering works by authors who had not previously been published.
The sheer manual labour of thumping out the words on a manual typewriter is difficult to appreciate for those brought up in the computer age, however. Add to that the difficulties and expense of touting your wares around publishers, either in person or by post, and the amount of time and money you had to spend merely on the off chance that someone would like what you were offering is quite out of proportion to nowadays when almost everything is done by clicks on the screen.
There are a few particular points I would encourage every aspiring writer to consider, however.
DONT WRITE UNLESS YOU REALLY WANT TO. If you're doing it for any other reason, you're probably going to be disappointed.
The odds against fame and fortune coming your way, if that's what you're after are better if you do the lottery.
DON'T WRITE UNLESS YOU ENJOY BOTH WRITING AND WHAT YOU ARE WRITING. If you don't much care for what you are turning out ,the odds are that nobody else will either.
DONT WRITE UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE WRITING ABOUT. If you don't then sure as hell, someone out there will spot the gross error you have just made, and word will get around that you haven't got a clue, whether you have or not.
DON'T WRITE UNLESS YOU CAN WRITE. By that, I mean, make sure you can cope with basic grammar, syntax and spelling, which - even in the English language - are complete mysteries to many people these days. I have seen many good stories published on Kindle, for instance, which have been rendered almost unreadable by being awash with solecisms . If the reader can't make out what you are trying to say, or if he or she simply can't stand any more of this illiterate bilge, he or she is going to stop reading,and stop buying your books.
I'm sure you won't have this problem. Basically, what it boils down to, is find a subject you love, write about it with love, and the chances are your readers will love it too.
Thanks for showing interest. It's always nice to know that someone out there actually reads the darned things.
Ron.
Do it if you want to.
Opportunities have never been better. Forty years ago when I first started hawking manuscripts around London, life was much more difficult. In one sense it was easier, in that there were more publishers around and they were more open to considering works by authors who had not previously been published.
The sheer manual labour of thumping out the words on a manual typewriter is difficult to appreciate for those brought up in the computer age, however. Add to that the difficulties and expense of touting your wares around publishers, either in person or by post, and the amount of time and money you had to spend merely on the off chance that someone would like what you were offering is quite out of proportion to nowadays when almost everything is done by clicks on the screen.
There are a few particular points I would encourage every aspiring writer to consider, however.
DONT WRITE UNLESS YOU REALLY WANT TO. If you're doing it for any other reason, you're probably going to be disappointed.
The odds against fame and fortune coming your way, if that's what you're after are better if you do the lottery.
DON'T WRITE UNLESS YOU ENJOY BOTH WRITING AND WHAT YOU ARE WRITING. If you don't much care for what you are turning out ,the odds are that nobody else will either.
DONT WRITE UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE WRITING ABOUT. If you don't then sure as hell, someone out there will spot the gross error you have just made, and word will get around that you haven't got a clue, whether you have or not.
DON'T WRITE UNLESS YOU CAN WRITE. By that, I mean, make sure you can cope with basic grammar, syntax and spelling, which - even in the English language - are complete mysteries to many people these days. I have seen many good stories published on Kindle, for instance, which have been rendered almost unreadable by being awash with solecisms . If the reader can't make out what you are trying to say, or if he or she simply can't stand any more of this illiterate bilge, he or she is going to stop reading,and stop buying your books.
I'm sure you won't have this problem. Basically, what it boils down to, is find a subject you love, write about it with love, and the chances are your readers will love it too.
Thanks for showing interest. It's always nice to know that someone out there actually reads the darned things.
Ron.
Ronald McGowan
Only doing it to please myself. If you're doing it for any other reason, you're probably going to be disappointed.
The odds against fame and fortune coming your way, if that's what you're after are better if you do the lottery.
Do it to please yourself. If you manage to please anybody else as well, that's a bonus.
Ron.
The odds against fame and fortune coming your way, if that's what you're after are better if you do the lottery.
Do it to please yourself. If you manage to please anybody else as well, that's a bonus.
Ron.
Ronald McGowan
The best way to deal with writer's block is to ignore it. If you try to 'deal with it' you just make it worse.
That may sound a mite flippant, but actually, I used to agonise over it and it did only make it worse.
Nowadays, if the words won't come, I do something else until they do come. I find a long walk often sorts my mind out, and passages come to me from somewhere. The trick after that is to get the down before you forget them.
The worst thing you can do is sit staring at the page -or, rather, the screen nowadays, cudgelling your brain to produce something striking and irresistible.
If you really must get something down, wax lyrical about the scenery, or a character, or an incident you intend to use. You may decide to cut what you have written in the end, but then again, you may not, and in the meantime you are clearing your brain. Why do you think there are so many long passages of description in authors like Dickens or Trollope?
That may sound a mite flippant, but actually, I used to agonise over it and it did only make it worse.
Nowadays, if the words won't come, I do something else until they do come. I find a long walk often sorts my mind out, and passages come to me from somewhere. The trick after that is to get the down before you forget them.
The worst thing you can do is sit staring at the page -or, rather, the screen nowadays, cudgelling your brain to produce something striking and irresistible.
If you really must get something down, wax lyrical about the scenery, or a character, or an incident you intend to use. You may decide to cut what you have written in the end, but then again, you may not, and in the meantime you are clearing your brain. Why do you think there are so many long passages of description in authors like Dickens or Trollope?
Ronald McGowan
I'm afraid my life hasn't been at all mysterious, but just as boring as everyone else's.
I have had my traumata (my classical education refuses to allow me to use a bastard word like 'traumas'), the most serious of which I got out of my system with "What I did in my Holidays'.
There is a sequel to that I may write one of these days, but until then it will have to remain a mystery.
I have had my traumata (my classical education refuses to allow me to use a bastard word like 'traumas'), the most serious of which I got out of my system with "What I did in my Holidays'.
There is a sequel to that I may write one of these days, but until then it will have to remain a mystery.
Ronald McGowan
I am currently near the end of a sequel to 'To Make Sport for our Neighbours', taking account of the comments readers have made on that book. It is tentatively entitled 'More Sport for our Neighbours', and I hope to have it ready in time for the bicentenary of Jane's death in July.
In an effort to avoid spoilers, all I will say is it tells of the Bennet Family's adventures in the North of England while visiting Lizzie in Derbyshire and Lydia in Newcastle, and links in with several stories of that part of the world from Jane Austen's time.
Thank you for your interest.
Ron.
In an effort to avoid spoilers, all I will say is it tells of the Bennet Family's adventures in the North of England while visiting Lizzie in Derbyshire and Lydia in Newcastle, and links in with several stories of that part of the world from Jane Austen's time.
Thank you for your interest.
Ron.
Ronald McGowan
Do you mean my most recently published, or the one I am working on now?
For the one I am working on now, so many people made helpful suggestions about what they would rather have seen in "To Make sport for our Neighbours" that I thought it would be a good idea to take them onboard.
Given that there was no point going over the 'Pride and Prejudice' bit again, I took to thinking about what else would be happening after Lizzie and Jane got married, and remembered that Wickham and Lydia had moved to Newcastle.
Since I am from that part of the world myself (although Newcastle is the traditional enemy), I thought it would be interesting to see what Mr Bennet thought of the part of England where all the real progress was happening in his day, and everything flowed from there.
For 'Miss Dashwood's Dilemma', I simply wanted to do one about Margaret from Sense and Sensibility, another character too often neglected. I find that if I sit down and start thumping keys, while thinking of what the character would have done in her circumstances, ideas tend to come along. Or not. I have a question about writer's block to answer and you might like to check that when I get round to it.
On this question of reader comment, I never know what to do about translating the quotes etc in my narrative, and have often wondered whether I should do annotated editions.
I am currently setting up a blog, and this will be the first subject I comment on.
Thanks for your interest,
Ron.
For the one I am working on now, so many people made helpful suggestions about what they would rather have seen in "To Make sport for our Neighbours" that I thought it would be a good idea to take them onboard.
Given that there was no point going over the 'Pride and Prejudice' bit again, I took to thinking about what else would be happening after Lizzie and Jane got married, and remembered that Wickham and Lydia had moved to Newcastle.
Since I am from that part of the world myself (although Newcastle is the traditional enemy), I thought it would be interesting to see what Mr Bennet thought of the part of England where all the real progress was happening in his day, and everything flowed from there.
For 'Miss Dashwood's Dilemma', I simply wanted to do one about Margaret from Sense and Sensibility, another character too often neglected. I find that if I sit down and start thumping keys, while thinking of what the character would have done in her circumstances, ideas tend to come along. Or not. I have a question about writer's block to answer and you might like to check that when I get round to it.
On this question of reader comment, I never know what to do about translating the quotes etc in my narrative, and have often wondered whether I should do annotated editions.
I am currently setting up a blog, and this will be the first subject I comment on.
Thanks for your interest,
Ron.
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