Literary Birthday – 18 July – Laura Dave

Happy Birthday, Laura Dave, born on 18 July 1977.

Laura Dave Quotes

1. My parents always read to me—my father would read to me every night after work—and that love of reading and storytelling really encouraged my writing.
2. [My favourite place to write is] My local coffee shop, where I sit in the same seat and listen to the same song on repeat. I love people-watching and being around people who are going about their day.
3. I usually start with a question. For Eight Hundred Grapes, the question was: how do you figure out what you want your life to mean?
4. I treat my characters with compassion, even when they’re making questionable decisions.
5. What makes you a writer is that you write. Your only responsibility is to sit down in your chair and try to do the work. For some people, that’s every morning. For others, that’s one morning a week. Remind yourself that you’re a writer by writing. It’s the best thing to do.
6. In that first draft, I discover along with the characters what the unraveling of that mystery is going to look like. Then that writing really becomes rewriting. Once I get to the end of that draft and see the dynamics at play between the characters, I often end up throwing out 70,000 of that first 80,000 or 90,000 word draft.
7. When I used to teach, I would always tell aspiring writers, ‘What makes you a writer is as much what you’re willing to throw out as what you keep.’ I think we all have this idea we should be holding on to everything, but often it’s what you what you let go of that leads to the story you’re supposed to tell.
8. Pacing is so critically important to suspense — and to storytelling in general. I always try to write books in a way that you want to read them out loud. I listen to the same song on repeat the entire time I’m writing. And for every book, it’s a different song.
9. If you’re loyal to what is actually happening with your character, the suspense follows and in a really surprising way. And because I don’t know what’s going to happen, I feel like if I’m surprised, then my reader will be.
10. I’m an introvert, and I love nothing more than having my cup of coffee, getting to my computer at 5:00 am, and working on a book. It’s the job I always wanted. I wanted it since I was five years old, before I even understood what a job was.

Source for quotes 1-5: Books By Women and quotes 6-10: ABA

Laura Dave is an American novelist of suspense stories and women’s fiction. She has an MFA from the University of Virginia’s creative writing program. Her books are published in 39 languages and have been chosen by Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club, Indie Next, Book of the Month Club, The Richard and Judy Book Club, Best of Amazon, and Best of Apple Books. She is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling The Last Thing He Told Me, which has been adapted for television. Other titles include Hello Sunshine, Eight Hundred Grapes, and The First Time I Saw Him. She writes about relationships, family, infidelity, and marriage. Follow her on Instagram.

Source for photograph: Author’s Website

by Amanda Patterson
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