Douglas Preston

Literary Birthday – 20 May – Douglas Preston

Happy Birthday, Douglas Preston, born 20 May 1956.

Nine Quotes

  1. Hubris and science are incompatible.
  2. When I’m writing fiction I’m thinking, God, this is so hard – I have to make all this stuff up! I wish I were writing a non-fiction book where all the facts are laid out and I don’t have to be so much at sea.
  3. The wise and good are outnumbered a thousand to one by the brutal and stupid.
  4. A human being creates complexity by writing a novel on the surface of paper; a weather system creates complexity by writing waves on the surface of an ocean. What is the difference between the information carried in the words of a novel and the information carried on the waves of the sea? Listen, and the waves will speak, and someday, I tell you, you will write your thoughts on the surface of the sea.
  5. Once again, we shall have to operate not only outside the box, but outside the room containing the box.
  6. Make sure your family and loved ones don’t interrupt you during your writing time. If you’re a lawyer or doctor, friends don’t just stop by the office to chat or interrupt you from your work. But for some reason, people think writing is different. It isn’t, and you need to make clear that this is sacred time.
  7. Sometimes it takes courage—maybe all the courage you’ve got—to just live life.
  8. I need to write in a small room – the smaller the better. I can’t write in a big room where someone might sneak up behind my back.
  9. One can reach the gates of hell just as easily by short steps as by large.

Douglas Preston is an American author of techno-thriller and horror novels. Most well known for his collaboration with Lincoln Child on the Agent Pendergast series and Gideon Crew series, he has also written six solo novels, and non-fiction books on history, science, exploration, and true crime – including The Monster of Florence.

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Author’s bio page

https://www.prestonchild.com/authors/preston/Author-Bios-Douglas-Preston;art63,97

by Amanda Patterson

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Posted on: 20th May 2016
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