Tag Archives: Blogging From A-Z Challenge

S is for Steinbeck

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John Ernst Steinbeck Jnr was born in 1902 in rural California and spent his childhood summers working with migrant workers on ranches, which later supplied him with the material for his novels.

At the age of 23, after leaving University with no degree, he travelled to New York where he took odd jobs while trying to write. But returned home after being unable to find someone to publish his work.

His parents gave him free lodging and loans so that he could continue to write but it wasn’t until his first commercially successful novel (Tortilla Flats in 1935) that he was able to build his own home.

Subsequent successes, Of Mice and Men, Grapes of Wrath (which has now sold over 15 million copies) and East of Eden guaranteed his place amongst the American literary greats and his work is now a constant feature on school curriculums across the globe.

The Nobel Prize for Literature, which he received in 1962 described his work as “realistic and imaginative writing, combining as it does sympathetic humor and keen social perception.”

He died of heart failure in New York at the age of 66.

My favourite Steinbeck quotes:

“Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.”

“If you are using dialogue – say it aloud as you write it. Only then will it have the sound of speech.”

“Unless a reviewer has the courage to give you unqualified praise I say ignore the bastard.”

“In utter loneliness a writer tries to explain the inexplicable.”

“The writer must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And he must hold to this illusion even when he knows it is not true.”

“You see this book is finished and it is a bad book and I must get rid of it. It can’t be printed. It is bad because it isn’t honest. Oh! The incidents all happened but — I’m not telling as much of the truth about them as I know. I’ve written three books now that were dishonest because they were less than the best that I could do. One you never saw because I burned it the day I finished it.”

Steinbecks Nobel Prize Acceptance speech:

I don’t know about you, but the thought of burning a whole novel ive written, just because I wasn’t happy with it, makes me feel almost faint! Lol. But it got me thinking just how many great writers over the years (pre computers) would have just thrown their work in the bin! 😦 Ive kept absolutely everything ive written since I took up writing (but I did burn some journals a few years ago because they were full of unhappy times). Have you kept everything or are you happy to throw it away?

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R is for Rankin

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Ian Rankin was born in Fife, Scotland in 1960. He started writing whilst still a student at Uni, and after leaving held down various jobs (grape-picker, swineherd, taxman, alcohol researcher, hi-fi journalist, college secretary and punk musician) before becoming the UK’s most widely read crime author.

He didn’t set out to be a crime novelist, believing that his first 2 novels (the first of which was published in 1986) were actually mainstream fiction. But it is for the creation of Inspector Rebus that he has become famous, having written 18 novels featuring the Inspector.

To date he has written 25 novels (virtually one a year since the first publication) and begins each novel by looking through his idea folder (a folder where he places notes and cuttings) for something to inspire the next plot line. Edinburgh, where Rankin still lives, plays a very important part in his novels, becoming a character itself.

My favourite Rankin quotes:

“The novel will decide which way it wants to go.”

“The first draft is me getting to know the characters and their motives. So I start the book knowing almost as little as Rebus does. So it’s a process of investigation and finding out for me, as it is a process of investigation for them.”

“I think writers have to be proactive: they’ve got to use new technology and social media. Yes, it’s hard to get noticed by traditional publishers, but there’s a great deal of opportunity out there if you’ve got the right story.”

“Whenever I heard that someone had taken 10 years to write a novel, I’d think it must be a big, serious book. Now I think, No – it took you one year to write, and nine years to sit around eating Kit Kats.”

“It’s a lovely pair of furry handcuffs to be in, but the more successful you get, the less time you get to write. It seems that the actual writing is taking up less and less of my life, and I’m not happy about that.”

Rankin being interviewed.

I love the whole idea that Rankin becomes a detective himself when it comes to writing his novel. It’s almost inspired me to write crime myself…I said almost 😉 Do you feel comfortable working that way? Discovering things about your novel as you go?

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Q is for Quick

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Ok, well as you can imagine, Q was difficult. There doesn’t seem to be any well known “Q” novelists 😦 Soooo, I’ve gone for a prolific genre writer, who writes under several names.

Amanda Quick aka Jayne Ann Krentz was born in California as Jayne Castle in 1948 and has been actively writing romance since 1979. To date she has over 35million copies of her novels in print and writes under various pseudonyms. She wrote the first ever paranormal futuristic romantic suspense novel and to date has published 120 novels, 32 of those being placed on the New York Times Bestseller list.

She spent 6 years writing and submitting her romance novels to publishers, getting rejection after rejection and tried to stop writing several times during that period, but found that she couldn’t.

Finally getting her first acceptance in 1979 (as Jayne Castle) she wrote for various romance lines but had to change her name as the contract she had signed with the publisher meant they “owned” her name and she was unable to use it on any further published work for 10 years.

She is very outspoken on the merits of “romance” as a genre and was editor on a collection of essays Dangerous Men and Adventurous Women: Romance Writers on the Appeal of the Romance that won an award (and i have a copy *pokes tongue out*). She has a huge fan base in The States.

Jayne writes under 7 different names, but the main 3 are:
Jayne Castle (futuristic romance)
Jayne Ann Krentz (contemporary romance)
Amanda Quick (historical romance)

I did manage to find some great quotes:

“Popular fiction encapsulates and reinforces many of our most fundamental cultural values. Romance is among the most enduring because it addresses the values of family and human emotional bonds.”

“I can only focus on one book/name at a time. It would drive me crazy to try to write two or more books at the same time.”

“I am a very disciplined writer. Sadly, I learned long ago that if I sit around and wait for inspiration to strike, it never hits! I start work at my computer at seven in the morning and I write until about noon. After that, most of my creative energy is shot. In the afternoons I work on plot points, research and serious shopping at Nordstroms.”

“Writing, for me, is an addiction; a compulsion; an obsession. I couldn’t give it up no matter how hard I tried — and believe me, I did try on several occasions during the six long years it took me to get published. I think that if you can walk away from your writing, you are probably not fated to be a writer. If you keep going back to it regardless of all the rejections, you’re doomed to be one.

“This is one business in which perseverance pays.”

“A writer must believe in his or her own voice because there will be times in this business when no one else will.”

And an excellent interview with the lady herself:

I know a few people who read my blog publish different genres under different names (mainly erotica) but doesn’t it get confusing? Imagine having 7 pseudonyms? Lol 🙂 Have you ever thought about using a different name to write a different genre?

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P is for Pratchett

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Sir Terence David John Pratchett (he has an OBE) was born in 1948 in Buckinghamshire, England. An only child, he spent hours at the local library and had a fascination with Astronomy. This led to an interest in reading science fiction and attending conventions.

He published his first short story at the age of 13, in his school magazine, but it wasn’t until he was 20 that he got his first break. Whilst working as a journalist he met a publisher and his first novel was published in 1971.

The first Discworld novel was published in 1983, but it wasn’t until 4 years later that he gave up work to write full time. The Times named him as top selling and highest earning UK author in 1996. To date the Discworld series of books (39) have sold over 55 million copies worldwide.

Known for his distinctive writing style, which includes footnotes and lack of chapters, the characters, place names and titles of his work often include puns and cultural references. A hallmark of his dialogue is the use of capital letters and no speech marks.

In the past he has dabbled in sci-fi and horror genres, but now, focuses entirely on fantasy. He has built an observatory in his garden and even has an asteroid named after him. In 2007 he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Because of his condition he currently writes by dictating to an assistant or by using voice recognition software.

My favourite Pratchett quotes:

“You can’t build a plot out of jokes. You need tragic relief. And you need to let people know that when a lot of frightened people are running around, with edged weaponry, there are deaths. Stupid deaths, usually. I’m not writing ‘The A Team’ – if there’s a fight going on, people will get hurt. Not letting this happen would be a betrayal.”

“Writing is the most fun you can have by yourself.”

“I have to write because if I don’t get something down then after a while I feel its going to bang the side of my head off.”

“I like writing. I get cranky when I cant. Yes, I write books back to back, and I work very hard on them.”

“My own books drive themselves. I know roughly where a book is going to end, but essentially the story develops under my fingers. Its just a matter of joining the dots.”

Pratchett explains Discworld:

Pratchett interview from last year:

Im not a real fan of fantasy I have to say, but that’s probably because, apart from The Hobbit, I haven’t read any 😦 But im pleased to see a fantasy genre author with an OBE! Do you read fantasy, and if so, what is it about the genre that you like?

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O is for Orwell

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George Orwell was born in 1903 as Eric Arthur Blair to English parents living in India but when he was 1 year old the family returned to England and settled there.

As a child he dreamed of writing a book in the style of HG Wells A Modern Utopia and whilst still at college produced the college magazine. Instead of attending University (the family couldn’t afford it) he returned to India as part of the Imperial Police and on a trip back home to England after suffering an illness he decided to quit the police and become a writer.

But it wasn’t until he visited his aunt in Paris and received her financial support that he began to write novels. On his return to England he began research into his a memoir entitled Down and Out in Paris and London, and changed his name for publication so that it wouldn’t embarrass his family.

The publication of Animal Farm in 1945 plunged Orwell into worldwide success and followed up by Nineteen Eighty Four in 1949 (which has sold over 25million copies to date) cemented his place amongst the great writers of the 20th century.

While he was alive, Orwell was best known for his essays and journalism. He died at the age of 46 having suffered from reoccurring symptoms of Tuberculosis (which troubled him for several years) leaving behind his own adjective “Orwellian”.

My Favourite George Orwell quotes:

“Rules on Writing – Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print. Never use a long word where a short one will do. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out. Never use the passive where you can use the active. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.”

“The best books…are those that tell you what you know already.”

“Good writing is like a windowpane.”

“For a creative writer possession of the ‘truth’ is less important than emotional sincerity.”

George Orwell’s Essay – Politics and the English Language

The first part of a documentary on Orwell.

Orwell went to great lengths to research his project Down and Out in Paris and London, to the point where he explored the slums of London, even staying the night in a common lodging house. You often hear of other authors who will go to great lengths to research their books. Personally, I haven’t, but what lengths have you gone to for research?

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N is for Nabokov

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Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov was born in 1899 in St Pertersburg Russia to a prominent wealthy family, his father being a lawyer, statesman and journalist.

As a child he was taught Russian, English and French and could read and write in English before he could in Russian. After the Bolshevik Revolution the family fled to Europe and after a brief stay in England, settled in Berlin.

He published 9 novels in Russian between 1926 and 1938 but it wasn’t until he arrived in America (fleeing the Germany army in 1941) and became a Lecturer that he was able to fund his writing career. The huge financial success of Lolita in 1955 (that has now sold over 50 million copies world wide) meant he was then able to devote his time to writing on a permanent basis.

Noted for his clever use of words and complex plots, he enjoyed using “Alliteration” in his work and suffered from synesthesia. He died in 1977 in Switzerland after suffering from severe bronchial congestion. At the time of his death he was working on a novel, which he requested to be burnt on his death. His son went against his father wishes and published it.

My favourite Nobokov quotes:

“I think like a genius, I write like a distinguished author, and I speak like a child.”

“Caress the detail, the divine detail.”

“The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible.”

“Style and structure are the essence of a book; great ideas are hogwash.”

“Some people, and I am one of them, hate happy ends, we feel cheated.”

This is a really interesting documentary about Nabokov….it’s an hour long, but includes interviews with him….worth a watch 🙂

I don’t think I’ve ever used Alliteration in my writing, but it’s an interesting concept that I might explore one day. How about you? Do you use Alliteration?

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M is for McEwan

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Ian Russell McEwan was born in 1948 in Hampshire, England and was one of the first graduates of a creative writing course run by the University of East Anglia under Malcolm Bradbury and Angus Wilson.

He published his first collection of short stories at the age of 27 and his first novel 3 years later. He is often referred to “Ian Macabre” due to the nature of his earlier stories.

During his career he has been nominated for the Man Booker Prize 6 times, winning it for ‘Amsterdam’ and was featured on The Times “50 Great British Writers Since 1945.” The New Yorker named him as “Englands National Author.”

He writes “contemporary fiction” and has written short stories, novels, children’s books and screenplays, but critics, and readers seem to be divided on whether he is a master of prose or if his novels are so perfectly crafted that they are infuriating and beyond the enjoyment of the average man on the street. He is best known for his novel “Atonement”.

My favourite McEwan quotes:

“How often one reads a contemporary full length novel and thinks quietly, mutinously, that it would have worked out better at half or a third the length.”

“I often don’t read reviews.”

“I think of novels in architectural terms. You have to enter at the gate, and this gate must be constructed in such a way that the reader has immediate confidence in the strength of the building.”

“Im quite good at not writing.”

“You can spin stories out of the ways people understand and misunderstand each other.”

“You could say that all novels are spy novels and all novelists are spy masters.”

5 Minutes With Ian McEwan

I find it interesting what he says about reading “contemporary” novels, as personally, I found (whilst reading McEwans Saturday) that 7 pages to describe the main character leaving his house and arriving in the theatre of the hospital (the main character is a surgeon), a little excessive. So I totally agree! 😉 But isn’t that what defines contemporary literature? What is your interpretation of a literary novel as opposed to popular fiction?

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L is for Lawrence

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David Herbert (DH) Lawrence was born in 1885 in Nottinghamshire, England and used his working class background and tension between his parents as inspiration for his work.

During his childhood he developed a love of books and wrote poetry, but it wasn’t until he won a short story competition (at the age of 22) for a local newspaper that he gained any recognition for his work.

Qualified as a teacher, it was a move to London in 1908 where he met Ford Maddox Ford that was to be the start of his writing career. He spent time in Europe and America, and listed Huxley, Katherine Mansfield, TS Eliot and Ezra Pound amongst his friends.

At their time of publication most of Lawrence’s novels were considered controversial, especially Lady Chatterleys Lover, which was classed as obscene by many. Until 1960 it was only published in highly edited versions. Penguin Books decided to publish the full edition and found themselves embroiled in a court case, which they won, proving that the novel was an important work of literary merit.

His work centered around relationships, which fascinated Lawrence. He was particularly interested in “Haptics” (the way we communicate by touch) and although he is best known for his novels, he also wrote almost 800 poems.

He died at the age of 44 in France from complications of Tuberculosis but was working right up until his death.

My favourite Lawrence quotes:

“I want to live my life so that my nights are not full of regret.”

“Oh literature, oh the glorious art, how it preys upon the marrow in our bones. It scoops the stuffing out of us, and chucks us aside.”

“I cant bare art that you can walk around and admire. A book should either be a bandit or a rebel or a man in the crowd.”

“I like to write when I feel spiteful. Its like having a good sneeze.”

“One sheds ones sicknesses in books – repeats and presents again ones emotions, to be master of them.”

“The novel is the highest form of human expression so far attained.”

“Never trust the teller, trust the tale.”

Good documentary, if you want to know more about Lawrence. Ive only skimmed the surface in this blog post lol

I found Lawrences comment on liking to write when he felt spiteful very interesting. Personally, I have to be in the mood to write, but im not too sure exactly what that mood is. I know I don’t feel like writing when im highly emotional, but then saying that, ive never tried it. Would my writing change direction if I, say, wrote whilst I was upset, or angry?Have you ever tried experimenting by writing through different moods?

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K is for King

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I was spoilt for choice when I was looking for an author for K, but, in the end, there was no contest, as my aim with the challenge was to highlight authors, I, as an aspiring author myself, could learn from. So please raise your glass, or coffee cup to….

Stephen Edwin King was born in 1947 in Maine and has published over 50 novels, 5 non fiction books and over 200 short stories…so far 😉 His books have sold more than 350 million copies.

He says that his inspiration for writing horror came from his uncle and finding a copy of The Lurker In The Shadows in his attic, but people have also speculated that the experience of whitnessing his friend killed by a train is what influenced the darkness in his work.

He spent his teens reading horror comics and his first story (serialized over 3 editions) was published in 1965 in a fanzine but it wasn’t until he was at University that he started writing short stories with the intent to sell them.

King published his first novel, Carrie, at the age of 26, but had initially thrown the first draft in the bin. Luckily, his wife retrieved it and encouraged him to finish it. And just like Dickens, 100 years earlier, it was to set him on a path of world wide success.

King has written extensively on “writing” and is eager to encourage aspiring authors. He sets himself a goal of writing 2000 words a day and doesn’t stop until he achieves that and considers “the finest word processor” to be a fountain pen and a notebook.

He often uses authors as characters, or mentions works of fiction in his stories, and sites his biggest influence as the author Richard Matheson. Love him or hate him, Stephen King is an icon amongst authors.

Again, I was spoilt for choice on Stephen King quotes, (thanks to his book On Writing) so heres a small selection I like:

“Read and write four to six hours a day. If you cannot find the time for that, you can’t expect to become a good writer.”

“The scariest moment is always just before you start.”

“Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open.”

“So okay – there you are in your room with the shade down and the door shut and the plug pulled out of the base of the telephone. You’ve blown up your TV and committed yourself to a thousand words a day, come hell or high water. Now comes the big question: What are you going to write about? And the equally big answer: Anything you damn well want.”

“Reading in bed can be heaven, assuming you can get just the right amount of light on the page and aren’t prone to spilling your coffee or cognac on the sheets.”

“I’m a slow reader, but I usually get through seventy or eighty books a year, most fiction. I don’t read in order to study the craft; I read because I like to read.”

“If you’re not reading, then you’re not going to be a writer. Read things you don’t normally read. Read things you don’t want to read. Be open minded enough to look at work others don’t respect. Have you ever read a romance novel? Read one. Never read a horror story? Pick one up and read it. A western? Give it a shot.”

I was also spoilt for choice on YouTube for interviews and talks by King, but I chose this one, where he goes into a school and talks to kids about writing 🙂 Boy, what I’d give to do a class with him!!!!!

It did make me laugh to hear that he is a slow reader, but still manages to read 70-80 books a year! OMG, is that really a slow reader? I used to read a book a week, now, im lucky if I can finish one every 3 weeks to a month 😦

Going by Kings scale…..are you a slow or quick reader? How many books do you read a year?

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J is for Joyce

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James Augusta Aloysius Joyce was born in 1882 in a suburb of Dublin, Ireland. Considered to be one of the most influential writers of the 20th century he wrote his first poem at the age of 9.

He attended University College Dublin and after graduating went to Paris to study Medicine, but returned to Ireland when he heard his mother was dying, where he made a meager living by doing book reviews after her death.

In 1904 he tried to publish an essay entitled “A Portrait of The Artist” unsuccessfully, and years later, completely reworked as a novel this became “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.”

After various stints in Europe (mainly Zurich and Paris) where he met Harriet Shaw Weaver (who became his mentor and gave him thousands of pounds to allow him to write and not have to work) he wrote his famous short story collections and novels such as “Ulysses” and “Finnegan’s Wake.”

Joyce perfected the stream of consciousness technique of writing and his fiction is centered on Dublin, his characters resembling friends and relations he had there.

An alcoholic, he died at the age of 59 due to a perforated ulcer.

My favourite Joyce quotes:

“Mistakes are the portals of discovery.”

“No pen, no ink, no table, no room, no time, no quiet, no inclination.”

“When I die, Dublin will be written in my heart.”

”I shall write a book some day about the appropriateness of names. Geoffrey Chaucer has a ribald ring, as is proper and correct, and Alexander Pope was inevitably Alexander Pope. Colley Cibber was a silly little man without much elegance and Shelley was very Percy and very Bysshe.”

Clip of Joyce:

Ok, so he pioneered “stream of consciousness” aka “interior monologue” in his novels, which means I have a lot to thank him for. I love using interior monologue (although i call it internal monologue) perhaps too much lol. Do you use interior monologue in your writing?

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