A Writer's Moment: 'Control of the final results'

A Writer's Moment: 'Control of the final results':   “ The one thing that makes writing a better pastime than reading is that you can make things turn out the way you want in the end!”  –  Ge...

'Control of the final results'

 

“The one thing that makes writing a better pastime than reading is that you can make things turn out the way you want in the end!” –  Geraldine McCaughrean

 

Born in London on June 6, 1951 McCaughrean has written more than 170 books and been translated into 45 languages.  But despite that success, she may be best known for writing the authorized sequel to Peter Pan.   She believes her books appeal to kids because they empower them.  “The chief thing is to make children feel good about themselves,” she said. “They want to step into the shoes of a hero who is bigger and stronger, to face tremendous dangers and come home safely for tea.”

 

She said her love of writing has been sparked by a desire to escape from an unsatisfactory world and “live” her motto:  Do not write about what you know, write about what you want to know. 

 

Among her dozens of writing prizes are Whitbread Awards for her children’s books A Little Lower Than the Angels, Gold Dust, and Not The End of the World, and Carnegie Medals for her teen book A Pack of Lies and the YA book Where the World Ends.

 

“I never dreamt I could be an author when I grew up,” she said.  “It just didn't occur to me, because I thought you had to be a) academic, so go to university, things like that, and I didn't think I was clever, or b) dead because I just assumed all the authors in the library were dead.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Words are our life'

A Writer's Moment: 'Words are our life':   “Words are our life. We are human because we use language. So I think we are less human when we use less language.” – Carol Shields   ...

'Words are our life'

 

“Words are our life. We are human because we use language. So I think we are less human when we use less language.” – Carol Shields

 

Born in Oak Park, IL on June 2, 1935 Shields grew up in America but spent much of her adult life in Canada.  She was a full-time writing professor, novelist, playwright and short story writer and won both the Pulitzer Prize and Canada’s equivalent, The Governor General’s Award, for her novel The Stone Diaries – the only writer to ever win both awards for the same book.   She died from cancer in 2003.

 

Shields’ short story collections, including Various Miracles and Dressing Up for the Carnival, also were much-honored and are part of the Collected Stories of Carol Shields published after her death.   Her nonfiction book on author Jane Austin also won several major awards.   And her plays, particularly "Departures and Arrivals" and "Thirteen Hands" have been performed countless times by amateur and professional theater companies around the globe.

 

Shields was an advocate of using life experiences in writing, but only selectively.  “There are chapters in every life which are seldom read,” she explained, “and certainly not aloud.”

A Writer's Moment: 'It's what nourishes the imagination'

A Writer's Moment: 'It's what nourishes the imagination':   “You expect far too much of a first sentence. Think of it as analogous to a good country breakfast: what we want is something simple, but ...

'It's what nourishes the imagination'

 

“You expect far too much of a first sentence. Think of it as analogous to a good country breakfast: what we want is something simple, but nourishing to the imagination.” –  Larry McMurtry

 

Born in Wichita Falls, TX on June 3, 1936 McMurtry was considered the consummate writer of “the perfect first sentence,” and readers rewarded him for it with multiple bestselling novels.  Viewers were equally appreciative, flocking to movie adaptations of many of his works. 

 

Among his dozens of bestsellers are such classics as The Last Picture Show, Terms of Endearment, and Lonesome Dove.  His movies earned a remarkable 26 Academy Award nominations with 10 wins, and the Lonesome Dove television series, earned 18 Emmy nominations with seven wins, plus a Pulitzer Prize for Literature.  And he co-wrote (with Diana Ossana) the Academy Award-winning screenplay for Brokeback Mountain.

 

A rancher’s son, McMurtry got his first taste of storytelling as a boy sitting on his parents’ porch listening to stories from them and their ranch hands.   After studying creative writing at North Texas State, he did graduate work at Rice and Stanford, where he also became a rare-book scout.  Ultimately, in addition to his writing, he became one of America’s most prominent antiquarian booksellers, amassing nearly half-a-million books.  The Larry McMurtry Literary Center, established in Archer City, TX after his death in 2021, maintains an estimated 300,000 volumes from his collection. 

 

“A bookman’s love of books,” McMurtry said, “is a love of books, not merely of the information in them.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Food for thought - and writing'

A Writer's Moment: 'Food for thought - and writing':   “Most memoir writers will tell you that the hardest part of writing a memoir isn't what to include, but what to leave out.”  – Kathlee...