'A secret to writing success'

 

“I regard the writing of humor as a supreme artistic challenge.” – Herman Wouk

 

Born in The Bronx, New York on this date in 1915, Wouk admired those who could write humor and thought about being a humor writer himself.  But after working as a gag writer for comedian Fred Allen, he decided to turn toward historical fiction, ultimately writing such massive bestsellers as The Caine Mutiny and the two-book series The Winds of War and The War and Remembrance (all three also made into popular movies).   Good career move.

Wouk actually was leaning toward business instead of writing when WWII intervened and he signed up for the Navy.  During “off hours” – sometimes between battles where he won numerous battle stars for heroism – he started writing to take his mind off the war.  His first effort, Aurora Dawn, a raucous satire about Manhattan's high-power elite, was released just after the war.  A huge hit, it established Wouk as a major new writer.

 

He followed that book with a string of other bestsellers, including The Caine Mutiny and Marjorie Morningstar often drawing on material from the extensive journals he kept about his personal experiences and the people he met or interacted with.  

 

From age 22-on, Wouk kept at least a journal a year until age 100 (he died at age 103 just 10 days shy of his 104th birthday).  He said he often referred to his journals to check dates and facts and found writing them to be a cathartic experience.  Wouk’s journals, 100 in all, are now housed at the Library of Congress – the first batch given at a 2008 ceremony honoring him with the LC's Lifetime Achievement Award for Fiction. 

 

In addition to his journals, of course, Wouk wrote hundreds of essays, short stories and more than two dozen bestselling novels, “Writing success is simple,” he said. “Write a page a day and it will add up.”