Author Interview With Stephen Potts

The Creator of Hunting Gumnor and Compass Murphy Talks to Suite 101

Apr 21, 2009

Stephen Potts, successful author and screenwriter, talks about getting an agent, being published and dealing with the dreaded rejection letter.

Fresh from his interview with Suite 101 about his screenplay for the latest Philip Pullman film adaptation The Butterfly Tattoo, author Stephen Potts shared with Suite 101 his journey to being a published children's book writer.

Your career has been in medicine and in particular psychiatry. How do you manage to fit in so much writing around “the day job”?

For some years I've worked part time in order to write. The nature of medicine means it's difficult to restrict my duties to the hours I'm paid for, especially now I am head of my department, and I'm not as disciplined about settling down to write as I need to be, when I do get free time. I daydream when I'm out walking my dogs in the nearby hills, and steal odd moments during evenings and weekends to get words down on paper or into my computer. I'm writing this at midnight, and I still have a scene to write from my new screenplay. (Or rather re-write: whoever it was who said "there's no such thing as writing , only re-writing," was spot on. )

You are represented by Rosemary Canter of United Agents. Did you find it difficult to find an agent or was it an easy journey?

It was a long and difficult journey, punctuated by setbacks and disappointments. Over the course of several years I approached every agent in Britain identified as handling children's books. One by one they all said no: sometimes via a two-line letter, sometimes after prolonged consideration (including re-writing!) of the manuscript I'd sent them. All but one, that is. I went way on holiday, having very nearly given up hope altogether, and returned to an answer machine message from Rosemary (then at PFD). I raced down to London and was signed up the next day.

I've kept all the rejection letters acquired before that special day - to arm me against the inevitable further disappointments since. And there have been a few: having an agent is just the next stage in the struggle to get published, and to keep getting published. The whole journey is a struggle, and though there are waypoints (getting an agent, first book, sequel, new series, etc) it's a journey without a final destination: so if you're not up for the walking, it may not be wise to set off.

How did you feel when you heard that your first book was going to be published?

Not as ecstatic as you might think. It had been such a long process to that point (18 years from idea to publication!) that although pleased, I was also relieved not to have to fight that battle any more. And immediately there were the "what next?" questions, from publisher, agent and myself. No-one gets published as a one-off any more, so you need to have a series of projects in various stages of preparation. Getting the nod for my first book (Hunting Gumnor) allowed me to pitch the second (Compass Murphy) - and I was very soon off and writing that.

Do you have any advice for authors on trying to get a literary agent?

Things have changed since I acquired an agent. If I was setting out now I'd ask myself whether I really needed one, and why. What will an agent bring that I don't have or can't acquire? Contacts? Knowledge of the market? Credibility in submissions to publishers? Depending on the answers to these and other questions, I'd research the field and target my submissions accordingly.

There is no excuse for not knowing who else the agent you are wooing represents, and the kind of books they write. Do you want a a business-savvy relationship with a large metropolitan agent, or a cosier relationship of mentor/editor/ guide with a small local independent agent? If your answer is "I don't care, I just want an agent to get me published" then you've not thought it through, and you may be better off going down the road of self-publishing, which is definitely on the rise (and to be distinguished from vanity publishing, which is best avoided).

So in a word: research. Do your homework, Ask yourself difficult questions about what you want. And make your submissions (suitably targeted, carefully personalised) only when you have the answers.

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