Growing up as a “nerd” has paid off for author Jeffrey Deaver who spoke about his childhood at a literary lunch at the Grand View Hotel on June 26.
The author of 33 novels said he was a “pudgy, clumsy, inept’ child with little talent for sports and who was uniformly ignored.
“Books take away daily cares and teach about life in general. I was mortified with shyness and books can bring people together,” he said.
Deaver went on to give practical advice on writing, his simple steps covering subject matter, planning, writing, editing, writer’s ‘block’ and giving a humerous interlude to finish.
Deaver said he believed in writing not just what you love but about what you would want to read.
“Anyone who has survived childhood has enough material. A good book should grab you by the lapel and take you kicking to the end. It’s the kind of book that will make you miss class assignments, make you late for work and have you asking what is going to happen next,” he said.
He said the most important stage was creating the outline for a novel where the author can work out where the clues, the characters and the twists occur. He said this took the longest time and, if done correctly, made writing the novel “meat and potatoes”.
Deaver said he preferred writing thrillers where the reader asked what was going to happen rather than crime where the focus was on what happened.
“A book should make you laugh, cry or scream in terror. Either way it leaves you a little richer,” he said.
This was his second visit to the Grand View Hotel and he promised to return another time.
