Dame P.D. James maintains, “Nothing that happens to a novelist is ever wasted.” Case in point:
As her boyfriend guns his Harley into the sunset, a writer named Anne contemplates a drawer full of rejection letters, the last of her savings, and a lifetime flipping burgers at MacDonald’s.
To make things worse, the UK magazine that just accepted one of her stories goes under. But wait, there’s a silver lining.
The magazine’s editor says a small UK publisher has hired him to find new projects. Did Anne, by any chance, have an unpublished novel?
She sends him one her agent rejected as “over the top.” The editor—a former BBC comedy writer—accepts it.
He invites her to England to finish and promote the book. The trip includes accommodations at the company’s new headquarters—a 19th-century mill on the banks of the River Trent, not far from Sherwood Forest. A writer’s dream!
Anne knew the company published erotica but was branching into mainstream fiction. They’d already released the first novel of a distinguished poet. Plus, a famous Chicago newspaper columnist was in residence, awaiting the launch of his new book.
But when Anne arrives, she finds the famous columnist has stormed out, the “erotica” is serious kink, and the romantic river mill looks more like a Victorian workhouse.
If you think this tale reads like fiction, you’d be right. But it’s also true. Author Anne R. Allen transformed parts of this saga into Sherwood Ltd., the second of her Camilla Randall mysteries.
On Rejection, Strange Truth, and Starting Later
I “met” Anne online many years back and was delighted to discover that she’s a late-blooming author. At age 55, after many years in theater (both acting and managing), she published her first novel, Food of Love.
In 2012, I interviewed her for Write It Sideways, a popular Australian blog, about what motivated her to start writing. In her own words:
Writing was always my first love. My mom likes to tell a story about when I was around seven and she tried to inform me about the “facts of life”. I said I didn’t need to know that stuff because I was going to be a writer and live in a little cottage by the sea, so a husband and children would just get in the way.
I put off the dream when I fell in love with the theater. But when I turned forty, my father died suddenly and it was a wake-up call. It hit me that if I was ever going to realize my dream, I’d better get a move-on. So I gave up my theater job and used my inheritance to buy that little cottage by the sea and a word processor.
My first novel actually landed me an agent and an almost-deal with Bantam. But everything fell apart and I got discouraged and didn’t write for about five years after that.
But that writing bug wouldn’t let go of me, so I went back to writing and knocking on agents’ doors. I filled a whole file drawer full of rejection letters between 1997 and 2002—before Food of Love was accepted by my first publisher. I finally burned all the rejections in a big bonfire when I signed with my new publisher.
Then came that intriguing interlude she used in Sherwood, Ltd.
Sherwood, Ltd. was inspired by my adventures living and working in that erotica publisher in Lincolnshire from 2002-2005. A lot of things happened that were far more preposterous than anything I could put in a novel.
One of the people there was related to a famous murderer, who was never caught. Another had been a pretty well-known punk rocker. And there was a whole lot more drinking going on than I could put in the book. (Drunks are pretty boring in fiction.)
The setting is close to accurate, but none of the characters are actually based on real people. Each one is a composite. And, of course, my heroine, Camilla, is pure fiction. The truth is, life can be more outrageous than fiction. Fiction has to have a logic to it that real life doesn’t.
And that, of course, is why truth is always stranger than fiction.
Where is Anne Now?
I’ve read most of Anne’s books and love them all. They’re snarky, empathetic, and multi-dimensional. Camilla Randall, her mystery series’ heroine, is a “downwardly mobile bookstore owner and etiquette expert” (Dr. Manners) who finds murder in the most unlikely places. Camilla’s gay best friend, Plantagenet Smith, provides witty banter and sharp intuition—especially when Camilla falls for yet another charming but shady rake.
Anne’s books got me hooked on the comedic crime genre, so I started reading M.C. Beaton’s Agatha Raisin series, recently adapted for British television. The Agatha Raisin books are entertaining and delightful, but I missed the updated folklore and canny cultural observations Anne weaves into her mysteries.
For instance, Sherwood Ltd. (Book 2) ports Robin Hood and his merry men to modern England and No Place Like Home (Book 4) retells the Wizard of Oz with a few special homeless people as heroes.
Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series is also in Anne’s genre. If you like these two authors, you’ll love Anne.
Anne still lives in a beautiful California coastal town near San Luis Obispo (where, not surprisingly, Camilla also spends a lot of time). She’s a best-selling author and award-winning blogger.
If you’re a late-blooming (or any) writer, Anne R. Allen’s Writing About Writing—Mostly should be your first port-of-call (both Publisher’s Weekly and Writer’s Digest agree).
There’s so much late-blooming wisdom in Anne’s Sherwood Ltd. story:
- Sometimes life isn’t logical. Thank goodness we have fiction!
- Look for the silver lining—you may find yourself in a myth.
- Putting something aside for five years (or more) doesn’t mean you’ve failed. Return to it sometime. An adventure might just be waiting.
Have you had a real-life adventure that reads like fiction?
