Literary Birthday – 15 March – Lynda La Plante
Happy Birthday, Lynda La Plante, born 15 March 1943.
Lynda La Plante Quotes
- People are drawn to the complexity of my games, the cleverness of the solution.
- But a book is me. So when you pick up the book, it’s my humour, my twists; no one else has had their hands on it but me and the police advisers. I love that process of unstoppable writing. Oh, it’s lovely.
- My advice to any writer beginning her career is to make sure you understand your subject matter. It is a truly wonderful profession that is made by dedication and also having the confidence to self-believe. Many writers in my opinion make the mistake of constantly reworking their first chapters until the initial energy is lost.
- Don’t ask family members for their advice; they will always have ‘their story’.
- Keep going and upper most, if possible, find an agent who will read your novel and believe in it as much as you do.
- I enjoy writing crime. It’s a puzzle. It’s a craft. Can I keep you turning the pages? I love it when people are midway through a book and I say: ‘Who did it?’ and they always get it wrong.
- I still sneak into bookshops and move my books around to better spots. I think every writer does. I’m no different.
Lynda La Plante is an English author, screenwriter, and former actress. All of her novels have been bestsellers and any new La Plante series, from her first, Widows, to Prime Suspect
and the long-running Trial & Retribution is regarded as appointment television. She created and wrote the police procedural television series Prime Suspect. Her latest novels include Judas Horse, Crucified, and Whole Life Sentence. She has also written a memoir, Getting Away With Murder. In 2008 La Plante was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for services to Literature, Drama and to Charity. In 2020 Lynda La Plante launched a new podcast, Listening to the Dead. In 2024 she was honoured with the Crime Writers’ Association of Britain’s Diamond Dagger award for her outstanding lifetime’s contribution to the crime and mystery fiction genre. Follow her on Facebook.
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