Literary Birthday - Charlaine Harris, 25 November

Happy Birthday, Charlaine Harris, born 25 November 1951 

Charlaine Harris: 11 Quotes

1. I’m quite disciplined. I go to my office at 8am and work until 4pm just like any regular office worker. My office is five feet from my house – it’s not a long commute.
2. If it pleases you and you can write at all, it’s gonna please somebody else. 
3. I certainly think we’re going to see more and more graphic novels and more illustrated novels. 
4. Well, you know, writers just suck up new experiences - we’re just like the vacuum cleaners of newness. 
5. Read everything you can cram into your head, for years. Research how to get a book published on the web; there’s an amazing amount of material. Start writing. That’s what it all boils down to.
6. Maybe the best I can give is … don’t be afraid to write what you want to write. Don’t decide to write a serial killer book because they’re selling, or steer clear of a subject some readers might find objectionable. Once you’ve decided on the book you want to write, work intensely until it’s the best book it can be. Don’t be afraid to listen to criticism, but pick your critics carefully.
7. I don’t always write in the first person, but most often I do, because that gives me a sense of immediacy.
8. Characters are the most fun. I love establishing characters and growing them into rounded people. I think you should be able to get in their skin enough to know what they’d listen to on the radio and what they’d have for breakfast.
9. I do most of my plotting in my head before I ever begin writing the book, at least establishing the main strokes. I think about plotting a lot while I’m in the shower, or while I’m driving.
10. I grew up reading mysteries. My whole family liked reading them. I was confident when I started writing that that was what I could do. Growing up I was a great fan of Jane Austen, Edgar Allan Poe and the Arthur Conan Doyle books.
11. Here’s to books, the cheapest vacation you can buy.

Harris is a New York Times best-selling author who has been writing mysteries for thirty years. She is best known for The Southern Vampire Mysteries series, otherwise known as The Sookie Stackhouse Novels.

by Amanda Patterson

From Writers Write