So how did Dreams come about? A germ of an idea came to me when I was about 23. Don't ask me how; the 'whys' and 'wherefores' are lost in the mists of time. I remember using my summer holiday at the end of my first year of teaching to begin the writing process. The outcome was terrible. Embarrassingly terrible!
When I was about 27 or 28, I returned to the concept and made a much more serious attempt to write the novel that still lurked inside me. I got about 40,000 words in before abandoning the project in favour of doing a Masters degree. On graduating, I never retuned to the book. Until lockdown, that is. When Covid came, I knew it was 'now or never.' With a protracted period of time on my hands, I returned to the manuscript, knowing I could do a few hours' work each day for several months on end. In March 2020, I began with a re-read of the 40,000 words I had in the bank. Only about 5,000 were salvageable. And thus began the long process of constructing a novel almost from scratch. Seasons came and went, but by September, I had a first draft I was happy with. Two friends read the draft and offered their feedback, and I enlisted a professional editor for her advice too. She tore it to shreds, and was right to do so. But her pointed advice was exactly what I needed, and prompted a near-total re-write of the first draft into what was eventually to become the final version - about nine months after the first draft had been finished! Polishing a manuscript is a long old process!! But finally, it was finished, and there I was in June 2021 with a completed manuscript - but no way of publishing it. I sent it off to various agents and publishers, hoping (but never expecting) to be picked off the slush pile. Then, one day, came a reply from Arrow Gate Books. After the initial salutations and courtesies came the line I'd long been waiting for: 'we are interested in publishing it...' It wasn't in the bag at that stage, but many weeks later, and after numerous email exchanges, I was officially on their list. I signed my author contract in March 2022, and Dreams is currently in production with the publisher. Release is scheduled for summer 2022, and I can't wait to share my book with the world. :):)
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AuthorC. D. Fox is a novelist and educator from Oxford. You can keep on top of his latest announcements and thoughts here. Archives
May 2023
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