Literary Birthday – 7 July – Jeff VanderMeer

Happy Birthday, Jeff VanderMeer, born on 7 July 1968.

Jeff VanderMeer Quotes

1. Some questions will ruin you if you are denied the answer long enough.
2. Imbuing fiction with a life that extends beyond the last word is in some ways the goal: the ending that goes beyond the ending in the reader’s mind, so invested are they in the story.
3. Literary influences are harder for me to point to, because mostly it’s a mulch of all of my past reading.
4. A dream inspiring a story is different than placing a description of a dream in a story. When you describe a character’s dream, it has to be sharper than reality in some way, and more meaningful. It has to somehow speak to plot, character, and all the rest. If you’re writing something fantastical, it can be a really deadly choice because your story already has elements that can seem dreamlike.
5. The music I listen to while writing is really scene-specific. It’s just a great motivator, a way to put myself in the mood.
6. Trust your imagination. Don’t be afraid to fail. Write. Revise. Revise. Revise.
7. It is the nature of the writer to question the validity of his world and yet rely on his senses to describe it. From what other tension can great literature be born?
8. I believe the best creative writing lessons live in the specifics.
9. Dreams, though, are just one kind of inspiration – no more or less special than something in a newspaper article or from the world around you sparking inspiration.

Jeff VanderMeer is an American author, editor, and literary critic. He first became known for work linked to the New Weird literary genre, then reached a wider audience with his bestselling Southern Reach trilogy, which has been translated into more than 37 languages. The first novel in the series, Annihilation, won the Nebula Award and the Shirley Jackson Award and was later adapted into a film. VanderMeer often uses slipstream fiction techniques, blending literary fiction with speculative and surreal elements. During his 35-year career, he has won four World Fantasy Awards and received 20 nominations. He also wrote Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction, a fully illustrated guide for writers of imaginative fiction. Follow him on Bluesky.

Source for image: Author’s Press Kit
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by Amanda Patterson
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