“It's
a dead give away of an inexperienced writer if every character speaks with the
same voice.“ – Colleen McCullough
Born in Australia on this date in
1937, McCullough planned to be a medical doctor but was waylaid by a skin
condition that caused her to switch course and turn to teaching and writing
instead. That career move led to an
opportunity to both teach and do research at Yale University and while living
and working there for some 10 years she wrote the first two of the 24 novels
she would write during her lifetime – Tim
and The Thorn Birds.
The Thorn Birds,
of course, became one of the best selling books in history, with sales of over
30 million copies worldwide, and in 1983 it also inspired one of the
most-watched television miniseries of all time.
Tim and her third book, An Indecent Obsession, also were
bestsellers and made into popular movies.
The proceeds from those 3 left her independently wealthy.
Ultimately she left the educational
field to concentrate on her writing while living in relative isolation on
Australia’s Norfolk Island. She died
in 2015 from kidney failure brought on by a series of small strokes. 
McCullough wrote up until the time
of her death and said she always followed a strict writing regimen and
attention to detail, saying she felt like she had an editor living inside her
head.
McCullough wrote up until the time
of her death and said she always followed a strict writing regimen and
attention to detail, saying she felt like she had an editor living inside her
head.
“Once I've got the first draft
down on paper then I do five or six more drafts, the last two of which will be
polishing drafts,” she said. “The ones
in between will flesh out the characters and maybe I'll check my research.”
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