Hello From The UK

home of the henge

Hello from rainy Wiltshire ...

Too much rain yesterday, but the sun is nice today!

I grew up in Wales, worked in London and now I've ended up as far from the UK as I possibly can be in Auckland. Looking to come back soon, because it's just too hot here, even at night and when it's raining. What do you even wear when it's raining and 30C?

A bikini?

... welcome to the madhouse...

A bikini is one way for me to get the beach to myself these days.

I'm up North (Elgin rather than Newcastle -- which is practically down South)

I don't think NZ would take well to me in a bikini. It's not that I don't have a great figure, it's the hairy chest and the missus's clothes are a bit small for me... Let's see what they say at the supermarket next time it rains.

Another new guy from the UK here - looking forward to getting to know you all better!

another Brits in the house

Hi all,
I live in Bedford England. This is not too far from London. Just 40 mins on the train.

HELLO to all the new UK people!

British here, Welsh valley lad living in Bristol.

Hello from North West England. It would be great to get to know other British writers here at Absolute Write. I live in a town called Chorley.

Hello from Redhill (south of London)!

Like Clemency, I moved to warmer climes - but if you think it's hot in Auckland, try Queensland, Australia!

Greetings from just outside Southampton.

Hi all you Brits and honorary Brits,

I was just wondering if anyone has had any luck recently with finding a UK agent? And how you managed to do it? Much of the advice here seems geared towards the US markets and I find it all a little confusing.

So far, I've written 2 novels and started submitting my letter, 3 chapters and synopsis to agents (on and off) with no luck. I've had one personalised reply from a very well-respected agent who said I wrote well, but she didn't connect with the main themes. But the rest have been polite/encouraging form replies. So it's difficult to know why my MS' are being rejected.

I write something bordering on Lit Fic, so I know I'll have a harder time anyway with subs. I know I'm not an awful writer, although I'm sure I could improve elements of my work. I'm wondering what the next step is. Can anyone give me some hope? Or some ideas for going forward?

Many thanks, and I hope you're all having a nice sunny day as we are down in London

I'm in the UK and got picked up by my agent in February and I write Literary Fiction. I was lucky enough to be signed off the back of the query and the first 10,000 words and then wrote the novel afterwards although I had non-fiction experience. I'm editing now, ready to go on submission in the next few months.

If you've done everything you can in terms of editing and considering your query letter itself and studying the market to see who is selling what then you could always consider the paid editor route. There are reputable editors and companies around who can give you a structural edit or even just an overview, some very well respected services will also suggest agents to approach.

Alternatively you can treat your agent search like a military operation and really go for it, research the agents, what they sell, who they sell to, what they personally like to read, then make a list, make it a long one, then send your queries out in batches with a spread of different query letters, see which queries work best, build it from there. The business changes so fast that maybe on and off querying isn't the way to go and you just need to get it out more....it only takes one yes!

Wow thank you. Utterly elated for you gramarye Thanks for the encouragement!

zclesa, gramarye - welcome!

This is a useful thread on UK querying and how it differs from the US. Also of a lot of use is this thread about recent experiences one of our members had cutting through the slushpile.

They're both in our Query Letter Hell section, which is in the password protected part of the site - the password is vista.

No problem zclesa, encouragement always helps. I also think it is useful to take a look at the catalogues of the literary fiction imprints and see what they are publishing in the coming months and how they describe it, it can help you tailor your query a little more or even find a literary publisher to approach direct if you think you are a good fit for their list.

I also have a UK agent.
For lit fic, have you considered going to the Winchester Conference and booking some one-to-ones with agents? You've just missed it for this year but I know people who have made good connections by doing this.

I am in sunny Lancashire, England. Well it is sunny at the moment but won't last long. I'm looking to make new writer friends from all over the world, including the UK.

Wow, haven't been on this forum in years! I'm from London but now living in a little Yorkshire village. How is everyone, if anyone is still active on here?

I dip in and out as time allows, it's a useful forum

Hello to everyone new in the UK
I'm still just outside of London... in Essex. My partner is trying very hard to make sure I don't start picking up the way they speak (I'm Swiss and my Swiss accent is still very much there... but apparently there's now Essex in it...)

Hello from East Sussex!


I was born in the Brighton area. I’m currently living near Eastbourne and am hoping to move soon to a place in Lincolnshire not too far from Kings Lynn. House moving hell, dontcha hate it?

I haven't completed a story yet, but I have ideas and two cracking characters, so who knows.