Literary Birthday – 29 September – Elizabeth Peters

Elizabeth Peters was born on 29 September 1927 and died on 8 August 2013.

Elizabeth Peters Quotes

1. The way to get on with a cat is to treat it as an equal – or even better, as the superior it knows itself to be. (The Snake, the Crocodile and the Dog)
2. It is much more sensible to be an optimist instead of a pessimist, for if one is doomed to disappointment, why experience it in advance? (The Snake, the Crocodile and the Dog)
3. There are too many people in the world as it is, but the supply of ancient manuscripts is severely limited. (Crocodile on the Sandbank)
4. I hope I number patience among my virtues, but shilly-shallying, when nothing is to be gained by delay, is not a virtue. (Crocodile on the Sandbank)
5. I have become somewhat testy when people ask where I ‘get’ my ideas. Expressed in that fashion, the question implies that ideas can be ordered, singly or by the dozen, from a catalogue. Ideas aren’t ‘got’. They grow like a coral reef, by slow accretion, starting with a single, simple concept — a one-liner, one might call it. Gradually this basic premise develops details — a specific setting, the names and personalities of the characters, various plot devices. When enough material has built up, the structure rises out of the murky depths of my subconscious and becomes visible as a possible plot. (Vocabbett)
6. I didn’t want to be a writer. I wanted to be an archaeologist. My parents wanted me to be a teacher.
7. My first book, an espionage thriller, was written in collaboration with my then-husband. He provided the plot outline, I wrote the book. It was AWFUL, partly because I was just learning how to write and partly because it wasn’t my kind of book. I wrote two more novels, solo, before I began to get a sense of what I wanted to write.
8. I am not an organised person. However, when a deadline looms I can work like a demon, eight hours a day, seven days a week. Set schedules work for some people, not for others; but any writer who waits for ‘inspiration’ to strike will never finish a book. Inspiration is all very well, but it will never replace sheer dogged determination.
9. The actual writing process is only the final step. You ought to have some idea of what you are going to write about before you put your fingers on the keyboard or clutch the pen, and that part of the process can take weeks or months or even years, as you mull over an elusive idea and try to develop it into a workable plot.
10. Sometimes I start writing with only a vague outline in mind, and have to go back to insert useful clues, develop characters, or even change the identity of the murderer! Naturally it takes longer to write this kind of book.

Source for quotes 6-10: BookBrowse

Elizabeth Peters was the pen name of American author Barbara Mertz. Mertz published mysteries, including her Amelia Peabody historical mystery series, using a nom de plume drawn from the names of her two children. Her Peabody series began with Crocodile on the Sandbank. She also penned The Vicky Bliss Mysteries, The Jacqueline Kirby series, and a number of stand-alone books. Peters earned her Ph.D. in Egyptology from the University of Chicago’s famed Oriental Institute. During her 50-year career, she wrote more than 70 novels and three non-fiction books on Egypt. She received numerous writing awards. She was named Grand Master at the inaugural Anthony Awards in 1986 and Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America at the Edgar Awards in 1998. In 2012, she was given the first Amelia Peabody Award, created in her honour.

Source for photograph: Goodreads

by Amanda Patterson
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