Dan Jorgensen's Blog, page 104

'Wrapping a good story around it'

 

“Ialways try to tell a good story, one with a compelling plot that will keep thepages turning. That is my first and primary goal. Sometimes I can tackle anissue - homelessness, tobacco litigation, insurance fraud, the death penalty -and wrap a good story around it.” – John Grisham

 

Born in Mississippi on this date in1955, Grisham is the bestselling writer, attorney, politician, and activist bestknown for his popular legal thrillers. His books have been translated into 42 languages and published worldwide.  Yet, he almost didn’t become a writer.  “Writing was not a childhood dream,” hesaid.   “I always struggled with how toget started.” 

 

Grisham earned his law degree fromthe University of Mississippi and had been a lawyer for 5 or 6 years when hetried his hand at writing, inspired by a trial he had witnessed. It became thebasis for his first novel, A Time to Kill,which ironically was rejected by 28 publishers before one gave it achance.  The book – the first of over 50 bestsellershe’s now written – also was made into a feature film.

 

Ten of his books, in fact, have beenmade into films and another 5 into TV shows or series– a remarkablerecord.  He said he’s grateful for thatbecause it’s brought a lot more people into touch with his works, since he doesn’tthink being a writer in itself made him famous. 

 

 “Quite often I can be in a bookshop, standing beneatha great big picture of myself and paying for a book with a credit card clearlymarked John Grisham, yet no one recognizes me. I often say I'm a famous authorin a country where no one reads.”

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'Boredom?' Not a Chance

 

"It was the best of times, it was the worstof times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was theepoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light,it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter ofdespair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were allgoing direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, theperiod was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authoritiesinsisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degreeof comparison only.” -
Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities
Despite its “run-on” nature, Dickens' beginning of A Tale of Two Cities remains one of the most famous opening lines.   It not only introduces what would becomeone of the 100 greatest books of all time but also the universal nature of thebook, the French Revolution, and the drama depicted within its pages.   Born on this date in 1812, Dickens became the most popular novelist of his time and remains one of thebest known and most read.  His works have never gone outof print and have been adapted continually for both the big screen and television with 200-plus such adaptations (and counting).  Many of his works also have been adapted for thestage, the most famous being AChristmas Carol.  Whatmade him (and still makes him) one of the best novelists was his creation of memorable characters and great expressions and words that live on in our venacular.    Everybody thinks of “Scrooge” as an example, but he also invented "boredom," "butterfingers," "devil-may-care," "rampage," "the creeps," and, of course, "Bah, Humbug!"    He captured the imagery of his era and gave the world a view ofVictorian England that remains as vivid today as it was in its own time. 
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Perhaps anticipating where we were headed with ourcommunication tools, Dickens said shortly before his death in 1870,"Electric communication will never be a substitute for the face of someonewho with their soul encourages another person to be brave and true."

 

 

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Writing books 'that live forever'

 

“Mostbooks, like their authors, are born to die. Of only a few books can it be said that death has no dominion over them;they live, and their influence lives forever.” –William Styron
Styron - born in 1925 and died in 2006 - wrote 4books that “fit” his long life description –  the novels Sophie’s Choice (which also won multiple Academy Awards as a movie); Lie Down in Darkness; and The Confessions of NatTurner (winner of a PulitzerPrize); and his memoir DarknessVisible.
Born in Virginia in 1925, Styron jumped intowriting as a student at Duke – while simultaneously workingtoward a commission in the U.S. Marines Corps to serve in WWII and later the Korean War.  In between the two conflicts, he worked as an editor atMcGraw-Hill and wrote his acclaimed first novel Lie Down in Darkness.
Also a noted essayist, short story writer, and playwright,Styron was awarded the St. Louis Literary Award and France’s Cino DelDuca World Prize, recognizing anauthor whose work constitutes, in a scientific or literary form, a message ofmodern humanism.“A great book should leave you withmany experiences,                     and slightly exhausted,” Styron said.   “Youshould live several lives while reading it.”

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'It's all in your own mind'

 

“Every reader re-creates a novel -in their own imagination, anyway. It's only entirely the writer's when nobodyelse has read it.” – Susan Hill
Hill, born on this date in1942, is an English author of “mostly ghost stories written in gothic style to create maximum suspense and the right atmosphere." Among her works are TheWoman in Black, The Mist in the Mirror, and I'm the King of theCastle, for which she received the Somerset Maugham Award – named for British writer W.Somerset Maugham and a really coolaward that can only be used for foreign travel to do more research for yourwriting. 

An only child she said she was bornto be a writer.  “I was never really goodat anything else,” she explained.  “I hadno other option.  I could write; I wantedto write; I wrote.  Otherwise, I wasunemployable.” 
    In addition to the "Maugham" award, Hill was named by Queen Elizabeth as a Commander ofthe Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2012 and a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 2020 for her lifetime achievement and services to literature.      “Don’t overwrite," Hill says about the writing process that has led to her own success.  "Onceyou finish a book, just let it go out into the world to seek its fortune.”

A lifetime of greatness

 

“Letus forget such words, and all they mean, as Hatred, Bitterness and Rancor,Greed, Intolerance, Bigotry; let us renew our faith and pledge to Man, hisright to be Himself, and free.” – Edna St. Vincent Millay.

 

St. Vincent Millay, born in February1892 won the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry in 1923. And just to show that she wasn’t a “one hit wonder,” she won the FrostMedal for her lifetime contribution to American poetry 20 years later.  In between, she wrote many, many great poems,plays and prose.  

 

For Saturday’s Poem here is St.Vincent Millay’s,

 

   Afternoon on a hill

 

I will be the gladdest thing
Under the sun!
I will touch a hundred flowers
   And not pick one.

I will look at cliffs and clouds
   With quiet eyes,
Watch the wind bow down the grass,
   And the grass rise.

And when lights begin to show
   Up from the town,
I will mark which must be mine,
   And then start down.

 

 

                                                                               

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