Literary Birthday – 28 June – Deborah Moggach

Nine Quotes

1. The gap between expectation and reality – well, that’s one of the bases of fiction. If things turned out as we planned there would be no story. And it’s also what makes us human – that we weave dreams. It’s what separates us from the animals… as far as we know.
2. More and more people are writing for older characters as we realise that life doesn’t end at 65; there are whole new chapters ahead.
3. I often feel like an imposter in the grown-up world I feel as if someone is going to come along, feel my collar and say: ‘Do you really think you can get people to read books you’ve made up about people that don’t exist?’
4. The only real failure is the failure to try, and the measure of success is how we cope with disappointment.
5. But it’s also true that the person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing. All we know about the future is that it will be different. But perhaps what we fear is that it will be the same. So we must celebrate the changes.
6. The world is chaotic. All artists know this, but they try to make sense of it.
7. Nothing gets easier with age Even love. Half the time, I still feel like a messed-up teenager, the other half like a wise old bird. But love remains just as complicated, just as tumultuous.
8. Everything will be all right in the end… if it’s not all right then it’s not yet the end.
9. Writers shouldn’t whinge. I’ve had two or three experiences in Hollywood, and each has been really unhappy and uncreative, a joyless process. But one can’t whinge, because everyone knows you are trousering vast amounts of money. Whining writers are a hideous sight; we should really shut up, because we are lucky if we can cobble together a living from all of this.

Deborah Moggach is an English writer. She has written 18 novels including The Ex-Wives, These Foolish Things (made into the film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) and Heartbreak Hotel.

Source for image: Author’s Website