Writing Game

Based on the author’s own experience The Writing Game answers questions such as ‘how long does it take you to write a novel?’, ‘where do you get your ideas’, ‘do you do much research?’, ‘ have you ever had a manuscript rejected?’ and ‘do you write every day or only when you get the inspiration?’ The Writing Game is an informative guide to the pitfalls and hazards of dealing with publishers (is imprint important?) and agents (do you need one?), tells you what to do about writers’ block and how to survive the disappointments and rejections encountered by writers such as Bernard Shaw, Scott Fitzgerald, George Orwell, Vladimir Nabokov, Lewis Carroll, Somerset Maugham, Frederick Forsyth, John le Carre (told ‘he has no future’), William Golding and Iris Murdoch. Those who doubt their potential as writers would do well to remember the literary establishment’s reaction to Ian Fleming’s fiction: ‘James Bond will never sell’.

The Writing Game gives the lowdown on the vexed questions of titles and book-jackets and. by way of encouragement, points out that a statue has yet to be raised to a literary critic. Chapters on Writing for the Small Screen (in which the goal-posts are constantly being moved), and Writing for the Big Screen give hilarious accounts of Friedman’s encounters with producers and directors both in the UK and Hollywood, and are interspersed with a personal account of the ups and downs of her own action packed life. ‘The Writing Game is a must for both established and would-be writers as well as for readers who want to know how it’s done.

‘A vivid and revealing exploration of creative writing. It is thoughtful and fluent and deserves to be widely read’ Mark le Fanu, General Secretary, Society of Authors. ‘THE WRITING GAME is a fascinating analysis of the modern professional novelist from the inside: by turns elated, downcast, inspired, splenetic and mystified by the caprice of the Muses, Rosemary Friedman’s voice has the unmistakable ring of authenticity’ John Walsh, The Independent