“Sometimes the characters develop almost without your knowing it. You find them doing things you hadn't planned on, and then you have to go back to page 42 and fix things. I'm not recommending it as a way to write. It's very sloppy, but it works for me.” – Barbara Mertz
Born in Illinois on this date in 1927, Mertz wrote under her own name as well as the pseudonyms Elizabeth Peters (the first names of her children) and Barbara Michaels. Best known for her mystery and suspense novels – especially as Peters – Mertz (who held a Ph.D. in Egyptology) also wrote two scholarly books on ancient Egypt. Both have remained in print since the 1960s.
Her 20-book “Amelia Peabody” mystery series earned her wide acclaim and millions of readers with the final book – The Painted Queen – published in 2017 after her death. Her heroine is an Egyptologist and the stories all relate to the "Golden Age" of Egyptology, beginning with Crocodile on the Sandbank (set in 1884) and ending with Tomb of the Golden Bird –the discovery of Tutankhamen's (King Tut’s) tomb in 1922.
Despite writing some 75 books, she called herself “undisciplined” as a writer, saying she really never developed a writing habit, per se. “I work when I feel like it, and I work when I have to - mostly the latter, and it works for me.”
“I can do a book in three months if I spend all day, seven days a week at it and, in fact, I work better that way.”
Share A Writer’s Moment with friends
No comments:
Post a Comment