Literary Birthday – 28 May – Ursula Vernon

Happy Birthday, Ursula Vernon, born on 28 May 1977.

Ursula Vernon Quotes

1. Never underestimate the power of a good cup of coffee. (Goodreads)
2. I write a thousand words a day, I draw two illustrations a day, day in and day out. (readerkidz)
3. If I may bend your ear for a moment, I like Terry Pratchett. I like footnotes. I like footnotes even when they are not as entertaining as a Pratchett footnote, even when they are in the middle of a book on evolutionary biology and briefly explain the Red Queen hypothesis or the fate of the Stephen’s Island Wren or how many bunnies can dance on the back of Australia. Footnotes fill me with a very mild glee. The endnote simply does not compare. (A-Z)
4. It’s a reality of art that the fewer lines you get, the harder it is. Cartooning is actually harder than realism. You have less to work with. It’s like trying to build a house-if you have unlimited resources, you’re in much better shape than if you get two bricks, a hammer, and a bent nail. (A-Z)
5. You’ve got to start with the characters – well, I have to start with the characters, anyway. I know there are people who are like, ‘I have a plot, and I will just invent someone who goes through the plot,’ but I need to have the characters and get them talking before I have any idea what the plot is. (LocusMag)
6. Writing for kids usually requires you to write very tight and fast-paced to keep readers engaged. In an adult novel, you have more time to stop and smell the roses, go off on tangents, and just plain noodle around. You can’t be boring in either, but you get a lot longer to prove yourself in an adult book. (MichaelAVentrella)
7. I’m one of those people who can’t read the genre I’m writing while I’m working on it, so when I write horror, I read romance, and when I write fantasy, I read non-fiction. Then I try to cram all the amazing genre books into my eyeballs while I’m doing edits! (MichaelAVentrella)
8. I outline a little but it’s more like I write a synopsis – I aim myself in that direction and keep going. What usually saves me is a breadcrumb I dropped that later becomes useful. (PublishersWeekly)
9. [Writing for children] I know that by 10,000 words, I need to be getting to the climax, and by 15,000 I need to start wrapping it up. When I see a lot of text, I know I need to add an illustration here. Generally I’m a seat of the pants kind of writer, and I hope I can pull it all together at the end. (PublishersWeekly)

Ursula Vernon is an American writer, artist, and illustrator known for her storytelling across fantasy, graphic novels, and short fiction. She has won numerous major awards, including Hugo Awards for her graphic novel Digger, fantasy novel Nettle & Bone, and fantasy novella Thornhedge. She also received a Nebula Award for her short story ‘Jackalope Wives’. She writes books for older readers under the pen name T. Kingfisher, while continuing to write short fiction under both names. Her genres include horror with books like The Twisted Ones, dark fantasy with Bryony and Roses, and romantasy with Paladin’s Grace. She is known for her quirky humour, memorable characters, unsettling atmosphere, and retellings of classic folklore and fairy tales.

Source for photograph: jojocruise.com

by Amanda Patterson

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