She is a writer so her words have imagery. She is Lionel Shriver, an American who wanted to be a writer even when she was but seven years old, shortly after she learnt to read. “I loved story telling and loved the way words could bring something to life which is so imaginary. And I am still fascinated by that. So fascinated by the way in which a novel, little by little, creates something that is so real and tangible, even to me and yet it is gossammer really...it is just words...that is magic to me and I have never got over that, I hope I never do.”
Shriver says, “...I grew up in a literate household because both my parents have written books and that made writing books doable and accessible not just what other people did...it also helped a lot that both my parents were well spoken. They always talked with the children using a large vocabulary...I believe that the words you learn when you are a child get deeper inside than those you learn later...so I was fortunate to be exposed to nuanced language.”
Shriver does not show her manuscript to anyone because, “...it obscures the fact that the buck stops here. You have to be able to trust your own judgement. That does not mean that I do not sometimes take my editor’s advice, but fundamentally I have to rely upon my own opinion of my own work...it all begins and stops with you.”
Failure to communicate
She makes another assertion, “I think the interest to write comes from a failure to communicate through any other means. I think most natural writers are socially incompetent. Talking only works so well...the feeling when you have had an encounter with someone and thinking of what you should have said...writing is like rewriting history and get at what you should have said. Social interaction has always more than one layer...no matter how many layers you go down, there is another one which you have not even tapped. Writing is an effort to get to the bottom layer...it could be a failed effort too!”
Shriver says, “...the secret is to keep at it...plodding...writing books, you are better off not waiting for inspiration...it is something that you demand of yourself that will appear in due course if you sit before the computer long enough...”
She draws on people whom she knows and, “...any writer draws on himself or herself. But I do think in the recent years I have got fairly bored of myself...what I enjoy about creating my characters is the way in which they achieve an integrity of own...when even in my own head they achieve a certain independence quite apart from whoever may have helped to inspire them then I know my book is working...it is all an illusion but a delightful ilussion. My characters stay with me and I get protective about them...my little wards.”
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Web link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iVc1qMhetE