Literary Birthday – 17 September – John Creasey

John Creasey was born on 17 September 1908 and died on 9 June 1973.

John Creasey Quotes

1. Never buy an editor or publisher a lunch or a drink until he has bought an article, story or book from you. This rule is absolute and may be broken only at your peril.
2. Sometimes I fail in what I’m trying to do—perhaps it’s more than I can cope with. I’ve no idea ahead of time of what will develop; the plot and any other ideas all happen simultaneously in the … if you’ll forgive the pompous phrase … in the ‘act of creation’, as it were … None of it is easy.
3. How many words a day do I write? Between six and seven thousand. And how many hours does that take? Three on a good day, as high as thirteen on a bad one.
4. Never submit an idea or chapter to an editor or publisher, no matter how much he would like you to. Writing from the approved idea is (another) gravely serious time-waster. This is your story. Try and find out what your editor wants in advance, but then try and give it to him in one piece.
5. Everything of mine should be as good as I can possibly make it at the time of publication.
6. [My characters] live in my mind. . . I can see them and hear them much more clearly than most people whom I know in life. Some, like the Toff and the Baron and Gordon Craigie, I’ve known for nearly 40 years; some, such as Cellini, only for five or six. It never occurs to me that they don’t exist.

John Creasey was an English crime and science fiction writer who wrote more than 600 novels using 28 different pseudonyms. Before establishing himself as a full-time writer, Creasey worked in various clerical and sales jobs and received a staggering 743 rejections from publishers, earning him an entry in The Guinness Book of Records. In 1962 Creasey won an Edgar Award for Best Novel from The Mystery Writers of America for Gideon’s Fire. Other books include The Flood and The Day of Disaster. His crime and thriller novels explored justice, corruption, duty, loyalty, and the abuse of power. He also examined the motives and psychology of both criminals and investigators. He created several characters who are now famous, including The Toff, Commander George Gideon of Scotland Yard, Inspector Roger West, The Baron, and Doctor Stanislaus Alexander Palfrey. To date, his work has sold over 80 million copies in over 25 languages. Creasey founded the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) in the UK in 1953. The CWA New Blood Dagger is awarded in his memory for first books by previously unpublished writers.

Source for image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:John_Creasey.jpg

by Amanda Patterson
Are you interested in more authors’ birthdays? Please click here: The Complete Author Birthday Calendar