看看大道边的书店：自传、畅销书和买三赠一的减价书堆叠起来，犹如层层高楼般，无不吸引着你的眼球。店内的海报上是一位曼•布克奖（Man Booker prize）的获奖者，笑容可掬地看着你。冠冕堂皇之下，新进作者可能觉得不是那么自在。

如何使我的作品得以出版？
“实际一些”是创意性写作课程给出的建议，因为学生们都敢梦想名望和财富。和大多数作者一样，我宁愿浮想联翩，但我最好不要幻想获得狄兰•托马斯（Dylan Thomas）奖（奖励30岁以下的作者）或橙子（Orange）图书奖（奖励女性作者）。尽管如此，我还是会寻找文学经纪，让他们拿着我的小说去找出版商。我知道一定会有其他方式让读者认识我。

Short and sweet
Short stories may not offer riches but they can provide an ideal, low-investment read to a busy audience (think of train rides, waiting rooms). They’re also a good way for writers to leave a ‘calling card’, to help promote their talents. While less words doesn’t always mean less work, short stories are also a way for writers to produce a complete piece while still working full-time.

Visit the fair
At the last Manchester Book Fair, many new readers and writers visited the stalls of independent publishers. One of the organisers is Ra Page, editor-in-chief of Comma, who since 2002 has published a huge variety of short stories from writers outside London. Through Ra I published my first short story in 2004: The Proofreader. Fingers-crossed my second, The Gloaming, will be appearing later this year in a Comma Christmas horror special.

So, you see, it’s possible. Already I’m making my way towards the big book.

Pete
January 2007