A Writer's Moment: The key to 'transporting her readers'

A Writer's Moment: The key to 'transporting her readers':   “I don't believe in writing anything that I don't know about or haven't researched about personally. I like to transport the r...

The key to 'transporting her readers'

 

“I don't believe in writing anything that I don't know about or haven't researched about personally. I like to transport the reader to places, and in order to do that I have to do the research.” –  Jackie Collins

 

Born in Hampstead, England in October of 1937, Collins was the author of 32 novels, all of which appeared on The New York Times bestseller lists.  Her books, many still going strong, have sold over 500 million copies and been translated into 40 languages.

A naturalized U.S. citizen who also maintained her British citizenship, she started writing in 1968, encouraged by her husband who called her “a born storyteller.”  And so she began writing, turning out the bestselling The World is Full of Married Men on her first try.  From that point on she never really stopped writing, her final book The Santangelos released just before her death from breast cancer in 2015.  

 

Eight of Collins' novels have been adapted for the screen, either as films or television miniseries and others are still under consideration.  And while her books often were lambasted by critics and even fellow writers, the public loved them.

 

 “Inspiration is all around me,” she said of her prolific output.  “I can read a newspaper article and come up with an idea for a book.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Those stories behind the truth'

A Writer's Moment: 'Those stories behind the truth':   “I can't speak for readers in general, but personally I like to read stories behind which there is some truth, something real and abov...

'Those stories behind the truth'

 

“I can't speak for readers in general, but personally I like to read stories behind which there is some truth, something real and above all, something emotional. I don't like to read essays on literature; I don't like to read critical or rational or impersonal or cold disquisitions on subjects.” – Laura Esquivel

 

Born in Mexico City on this date in 1950, Esquivel wrote the worldwide bestselling novel and award-winning screenplay Like Water for Chocolate.  The book is the all-time bestselling novel in Mexico and the film the winner of more than two dozen international awards.   It was the first of 10 novels for Esquivel, whose latest is the Spanish language My Black Past. 

 

Also noted for her essays on life, love and food – based on the culture of Mexico but resonating around the globe – Esquivel’s compilation of many of her best were published in another huge bestselling book Between Two Fires.   She characterizes the kitchen as the most important part of the house; “a pleasurable source of knowledge and understanding.” 

 

When asked if she likes fiction or film better, she leaned into fiction.

“In film you can use images exclusively and narrate a whole story very quickly, but you don't always so easily find the form in cinema to dig deeper into human thoughts and emotions,” she explained.  “In a novel you can much more easily express a character's inner thoughts and feelings.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Write what you most enjoy'

A Writer's Moment: 'Write what you most enjoy':   “Sometimes the characters develop almost without your knowing it. You find them doing things you hadn't planned on, and then I have to...

'Write what you most enjoy'

 

“Sometimes the characters develop almost without your knowing it. You find them doing things you hadn't planned on, and then I have to go back to page 42 and fix things. I'm not recommending it as a way to write . . . but it works for me.” – Barbara Mertz

 

Born in Canton, IL on this date in 1927, Mertz wrote under her own name and the pseudonyms Elizabeth Peters and Barbara Michaels.  A noted academic, she held multiple degrees in ancient history and Egyptology, including a Ph.D. in the latter field, and one of her mystery series (written as Peters) focuses on a professor who holds a degree in Egyptology.

 

Mertz wrote 71 mostly mystery and suspense books, although two of her nonfiction books on ancient Egypt also are still in print. More than a dozen of her books were nominated for or won best novel or best mystery awards, led by Trojan Gold; Naked Once More; The Last Camel Died at Noon; and Night Train to Memphis.

                                  

Named an Anthony Awards Grandmaster for mystery writing in 1986 and Mystery Writers of America Grandmaster in 1998, she wrote bestsellers right up until her death in 2013.   When asked why she liked writing mysteries, suspense and thrillers instead of “scholarly” works, she replied that it was what she most enjoyed. 

 

“There are lots of things to write about,” she said, “but I think it would be difficult to write books I don't like to read.”

A Writer's Moment: 'A great path to vicarious living'

A Writer's Moment: 'A great path to vicarious living':   “Fiction, for me, is sort of a protracted way of saying all the things I wished I said the night before.” – Christopher Buckley   The...