Sunday, 25 May 2025

Three times

A short post this month. 

(I’m stuck into the first draft of a new story, and plotting for me is like wading through treacle wearing lead-filled wellington boots. Exhausting.)

Anyway, I’ve been reading a critical study of crime fiction from 1800 – 2000. And in the section about Agatha Christie, I came across this sentence:

Like some other deeply original books [her first novel], The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920) found a publisher with some difficulty, being rejected three times.

I had to stop and read that again to let it sink in: three times.

Only three times?




4 comments:

Rowena House said...

Very best of luck with plotting Draft 1. I hope the process will bring you pleasure again soon. It's tough enough when it is fun! I choose to believe it was A LOT easier to get published in Ms Christie's day. Whoever said everyone's got a story in them should be taken out behind the shed and given a good talking to. With a stick.

Mystica said...

Good luck.

Nick Garlick said...

Yes, probably a lot easier in Ms Christie's day. And I agree about the shed. Oh yes.

Nick Garlick said...

Thank you.