Literary Birthday – 14 May – Eoin Colfer

Happy Birthday, Eoin Colfer, born 14 May 1965.

Nine Quotes On Writing

1. Stop telling people about your idea and lock yourself in a room. Stay in the room until the work is done with only broadband and takeaway food for comfort. Writing is about inspiration but there is also a lot of work involved. Not as much work as digging a hole obviously but we like to make it sound tough.
2. I will keep writing until people stop reading or I run out of ideas.
3. Practise – write every day even if it’s only for ten minutes. Remember, nothing is wasted. Eventually your style will emerge. Persevere!
4. I have wanted to write since I can remember, and I have been lucky enough to have had my parents’ encouragement every step of the way. I have also had the support of several English teachers who gave me high marks and gold stars. I remember several specific instances when my work was praised and I honestly believe that this fed my determination to become a writer.
5. Films definitely had an impact on my writing style. I am a huge movie fan, and the action genre is one of my favourites. I realised that very few action movies are specifically for kids, even though kids love them. So, I decided to fill the vacuum with a book that reads like an action movie. Hopefully when you read the book, the movie will play itself in your head.
6. I have a lovely office at the back of my house, it’s an old stable and you can see right out to the countryside on one side and into the house on the other side. I just sit there, put on my Kate Bush CDs and work away. I love it.
7. I would tell aspiring writers to observe. They already know it is vital to read and write whenever possible, but often people forget to watch what is going on every day in their surroundings. That is where your ideas come from. Keep one eye on your computer screen and the other on the world around you
8. Nothing is wasted; don’t throw anything away. I often meet frustrated young writers who say they’ve only got so far and just can’t finish a book. Even if you don’t happen to use what you’ve worked on that day, it has taught you something and you’ll be amazed when you might come back to it and use it again. Keep all your writing in a box somewhere. I wish I had, I bet there was at least a couple of good ideas in there that I could have used.
9. I’m delighted to be in Who’s Who, but for me, the big thing is being able to call myself a writer

Eoin Colfer is an Irish author who is most famous for writing the Artemis Fowl series. Eoin (pronounced Owen) also wrote the sixth instalment of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series, entitled And Another Thing… Follow him on Twitter: @EoinColfer

Source for Image

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eoin_Colfer_at_BookExpo_(05180).jpg

Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

by Amanda Patterson

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