Literary Birthday – 25 September – Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Carlos Ruiz Zafón was born 25 September 1964 and died 19 June 2020.

Quotes On Why He Writes:

1. I am in the business of storytelling. I always have been, always will be. It is what I’ve been doing since I was a kid. Telling stories, making up tales, bringing life to characters, devising plots, visualising scenes and staging sequences of events, images, words and sounds that tell a story. All in exchange for a penny, a smile or a tear, and a little of your time and attention.
2. I believe this is not a hobby, it is a profession. If you’re pretentious enough to believe that what you write might be worth other people’s time (as I am), you should work hard enough to earn that privilege (as I do).
3. Sometimes people ask me what piece of advice I would give to an aspiring author. I’d tell them that you should only become a writer if the possibility of not becoming one would kill you. Otherwise, you’d be better off doing something else. I became a writer, a teller of tales, because otherwise I would have died, or worse.
4. I have written for young readers, for the movies, for so-called adults; but mostly for people who like to read and to plunge into a good story. I do not write for myself, but for other people. Real people. For you. I believe it was Umberto Eco who said that writers who say they write for themselves and do not care about having an audience are full of shit, and that the only thing you write for yourself is your grocery shopping list. I couldn’t agree more.
5. As I said, I am in the business of storytelling. This is an art, a craft and a business, and I thank the Gods of Literature for that. I believe that when you pick up something I’ve written and pay for it, both in terms of your money and something much more valuable, your time, you are entitled to get the best I can produce.

Read: 10 Captivating Carlos Ruiz Zafón Quotes About Books

Carlos Ruiz Zafón was a Spanish author of six novels, including the international phenomenon The Shadow of the Wind. He was the most successful contemporary Spanish writer, along with Javier Sierra, whose works have been published in 42 countries, and Juan Gómez-Jurado, whose works have been published in 41 countries.

Source for Image

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carlos_Ruiz_Zaf%C3%B3n_-_002.jpg

Mutari, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

by Amanda Patterson

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