Manuscript Typing fictionalised story
John and his wife Maureen were on the move, heading off
from their semi in a suburb of Manchester to a retirement cottage in Devon.
There seemed so much to do before the movers arrived that John volunteered to
clear out the various old boxes filling their attic. Whilst working his way
through what seemed like a lot of old rubbish which had been moved from his
father George’s house after his death five years before, John rediscovered a
trunk full of his father’s old papers. He’d been been meaning to go through
them, but had been much too busy with his last few overseas assignments before
he retired, advising an international development company.
Amongst some interesting old family photos there was
his father’s war diary, full of fascinating stories of his three years as a
fighter pilot in the Second World War. It was quite difficult to decipher his
father’s spidery handwriting and the old exercise book he’d used had become
yellowed with age, but John found the diary a compelling read, full of firsthand
accounts of various missions which brought George’s wartime experiences to life.
His father had been injured and had lost many friends in the war and had never
spoken much about it or about his part in the Battle of Britain, and his son
didn’t realise that the diary existed or what an interesting war his father had had.
After John had finished reading the diary he started
wondering if it would be possible to get it published, perhaps using the new
self-publishing approach he’d read about. He thought his family and the few
friends of his father’s who were still alive would enjoy reading the diary,
which brought those dramatic wartime days to vivid life. But first he needed to
get it typed up and into a computer file.
Browsing around the web he found the WritersServices
site and decided to find out whether the diary could be typed up. He followed
the instructions to send it off by registered post, received a quote which
seemed quite reasonable, given the difficulty of reading his father’s writing,
and went ahead with commissioning the typing service.
When the finished result was emailed to him, it was an
exciting moment, as John realised that the diary was a really fascinating
document and that it might have a wider audience than he’d first thought. He
resolved to submit it to publishers and see if he could find someone to take it
on. Given the level of interest in well-written war memoirs, he thought he stood a good
chance of finding a publisher.
WritersServices’ Typing service can deal with handwritten manuscripts, old
typescripts produced on typewriters which need re-typing to make them into a
computer file, and audio material. Getting a handwritten manuscript into this
form or typing up an old typescript means that the material can be edited,
reworked and submitted for publication, or self-published, so it provides a way
of making it accessible for publication.
Other fictionalised stories
Manuscript typing service