A Writer's Moment: 'Your writing enemy'

A Writer's Moment: 'Your writing enemy':   "'Shun security,' I advise aspiring novelists when they complain to me that they are stuck.  'Get disoriented.'  Ma...

'Your writing enemy'

 "'Shun security,' I advise aspiring novelists when they complain to me that they are stuck.  'Get disoriented.'  Maybe your agonizing writing block isn't agonizing enough.  Your enemy is comfort." - John Burdett

Born in London in July of 1951, Burdett is a former lawyer who lived and worked in Hong Kong for 12 years where he started writing, producing the sensational first novel, The Last Six Million Seconds, a murder mystery set in 1997 Hong Kong. 

 

Burdett never really wanted to be a lawyer.  He actually studied English and American Literature at Warwick University where he specialized in the unique combination of Shakespeare and metaphysical poetry.  But, out of despair during the British economic and political crises of the 1970s, he switched to Law.  

 

But, the draw of writing was too great and he abandoned law to pursue a career as a novelist, given a great setting and time – when Hong Kong was being transferred from Great Britain to China – to write  that first bestseller.  His most recent book Death Effect, features an unlikely partnership between a bumbling sheriff and a principled medical examiner in rural Alabama.  Despite setting his first book in Hong Kong and most recent in the U.S., many of his works are set in Thailand.

 “In essence, the Thai people are not materialistic at all. They're not in the least driven by the kind of ambition that drives us. The more I got to know them, and the more time I spent with them, the more I understood that this was a totally legitimate attitude to life, and why not?"

A Writer's Moment: 'It's like developing a photo'

A Writer's Moment: 'It's like developing a photo': "Something happens between a novel and its reader which is similar to the process of developing photographs, the way they did it befo...

'It's like developing a photo'

"Something happens between a novel and its reader which is similar to the process of developing photographs, the way they did it before the digital age.  The photograph, as it was printed in the darkroom, became visible bit by bit.  As you read your way through a novel, the same chemical process takes place." -- Patrick Modiano

  

Born in France on this date in 1945, Modiano is the 2014 Nobel Prize winner, author of more than 40 novels, and noted leader of a style of writing known as “Autofiction,” a combination of autobiography and historical fiction.   Modiano’s analogy of the development of the novel “before our eyes” gives us a bit of a look into his writing style.  He lets the picture slowly unfold, sometimes leaving us startled, sometimes satisfied, sometimes angry, but always interested in what’s coming next.

 

Beginning with 1968’s La Place de l’Etoile, his books delve into the puzzle of identity in ways seldom seen.  And, he tackles a time in France – the German occupation during World War II – that evokes both heroism and shame depending on whose point of view each tale is being told. His most recent work is 2023’s Ballerina.

The winner of almost every major European and French writing award, he was honored for his life’s body of work even prior to winning the Nobel and was – up until that award – one of the few international writers whose work had never been translated into English. Despite his great output and success, he said writing has never been an easy process.  

 “I quickly realized that it is difficult to get started when writing a novel,” he said.  “You have this dream of what you want to create, but it is like walking around a swimming pool and hesitating to jump in because the water is too cold.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Traveling with the characters'

A Writer's Moment: 'Traveling with the characters':   “When I read good stories, I want to write good stories too.” – Sharon Creech   Born in Ohio on this date in 1945, Creech grew up outs...

'Traveling with the characters'

 

“When I read good stories, I want to write good stories too.” – Sharon Creech

 

Born in Ohio on this date in 1945, Creech grew up outside of Cleveland but also spent a lot of time during her formative years visiting family in Kentucky where her time there helped shape both characters and setting for a number of her award-winning books.  Among those are Walk Two Moons, winner of the Newbery Medal, and The Wanderer, a Newbery Honor book shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal.  

 

She won the British Carnegie for her book Ruby Holler and was the first American to win both the American Newbery Medal and the British Carnegie.   Also an award-winning poet, Creech started writing while still in college and then taught English and creative writing for several years before writing her first children’s book.   Her most recent book – her 25^th – is One Time.

 

“I love the way that each book — any book — is its own journey,” Creech said.  “You open it, and off you go. You are changed in some way, large or small, by having traveled with those characters.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Every world has its rules'

A Writer's Moment: 'Every world has its rules':   “So many people think that if you're writing fantasy, it means you can just make everything up as you go. Want to add a dragon? Add a ...