Author Birthday – 4 November – Rick Yancey

Happy Birthday, Rick Yancey, born on 4 November 1962.

Rick Yancey Quotes

1. I write best away from a desk. I use a laptop, and most of my books are written while I’m sitting in the car, during soccer practices or during karate practice (like right now!) or while I wait for my son to get out of school. I’ve written beside pools and on porches and even on my bed at night! Somehow, if I try to set aside special ‘writing time’ it never happens!
2. I usually start with a character, follow him around and write down everything he does or happens to him.
3. [It takes] Usually about six to nine months [to write a book], if it’s any good. If it’s bad, a lot longer!
4. One of the joys of reading is being able to create a character in your mind. The author may give you some clues as to what they look like, but you’re in charge.
5. I’m of the school that believes if you’re talking about something, you’re not writing it.
6. Having multiple points of view dovetailed into the whole unnerving nature of the story itself. The characters don’t know who to trust – ‘Are you really who you say you are?’ – and changing the narrators adds to the unease.
7. My feeling is, if you write a really good story, the genre is secondary. You have to write what interests you and I’ve always had a fascination with science fiction and the fiction of ideas.

Source for quotes 1-3: Book Browse and 4-7 Publishers Weekly

Rick Yancey is an American author who writes suspense, fantasy, dystopian fiction, and science fiction for young adults and adults. He explores themes of survival, identity, trust, betrayal, courage, and the moral complexity of human nature. He often places young protagonists in dangerous, extraordinary situations. He has published two critically acclaimed series: The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp and The Fifth Wave series for young readers, and The Highly Effective Detective, for adults. In 2010, Yancey’s novel The Monstrumologist received a Michael L. Printz Honor, and its sequel, The Curse of the Wendigo, was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. He has written a memoir, Confessions of a Tax Collector.

Source for Image: Penguin Books

by Amanda Patterson
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