Literary Birthday – 3 January – Patricia Lee Gauch

Happy Birthday, Patricia Lee Gauch, born 3 January 1934.

Quotes

1. The passion for the story is the wind in your narrative sails. Begin at the heart. We must hear the heartbeat of the story. Love your characters into existence.
2. A writer’s heart must beat. A reader’s heart must hear it.
3. A writer is driven to write. It is not a Sunday afternoon digression. Writing is life itself to the writer, of both children’s and adult books. This kind of commitment will drive what the writer creates to the heights necessary to discover an unforgettable character and a story, and with luck and good contacts, publish a successful book.
4. Too many writers believe that merely capturing scene or moment in sufficient sensory detail is good writing; capturing a scene or a moment in sensory detail is only the beginning. What does the detail or scene or chapter mean to the story or the growing ideas behind the story or character.
5. The author is observant, used to noticing the life around him or her, no matter how small or large. I think it begins there.

Follow this link for more advice: Two Plus Four: Major Ideas for Writers

Patricia Lee Gauch is an American author. She has written thirty-nine books for young readers, among them Thunder at Gettysburg, This Time, Tempe Wick?, Christina Katerina and the Box, and Dance, Tanya.

 by Amanda Patterson

Are you interested in more authors’ birthdays? Please click here: Literary Birthday Calendar