There is a book in every one of us, or so the saying goes. I do believe that each one of us has a story to tell, but life seems to get in our way of actually writing it down. We watch with not a little envy, as those lucky, gifted or determined enough, knuckle down and bash out thousands of words a day — until that magic moment arrives, they have written a book!
Writing is a solitary activity and during the process, the writer exposes innermost thoughts, dreams, fantasies and experiences to craft their own unique story. Where should we start? What kind of book should we write?
Some may have set their sights on Harry Potter’s Hogwarts, while others see true triumph in The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Each book will win its own audience and neither is more valid than the other — although we can probably guess which is going to be the biggest seller. Again, though, is consumer spending an effective and reliable measure of literary success?
Is it right, for example, that in Nielsen’s ‘Top UK Book Sales of All Time’, Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code should be at number one with 5 million copies sold, followed by seven Harry Potter novels, Fifty Shades of Grey and Dan Brown’s second biggest hit, Angels and Demons? What does it say about today’s average reader that these are the top ten highest grossing books? What does it tell us about current reading tastes and habits?
JK Rowling’s creation of Harry Potter and her wonderful seven stories creating a world of fantasy, led to a huge upsurge in children reading for pleasure. Unprecedented midnight openings at bookshops around the world heralded the launch of each new Harry Potter book. Children waited with bated breath to get their hands on the latest book, and would forgo all else whilst they read the story from cover to cover. It was front-page news. It was suddenly cool to read! What it also demonstrated is that JK Rowling is responsible for an entire generation of new readers. Children’s books were no longer second-class citizens relegated to some dusty shelves at the back of bookshops. I witnessed this evolution personally and I was overjoyed. Anything that helps children read for pleasure is cause for celebration.
It is fascinating to learn that Don Quixote, penned by Miguel de Cervantes and published in 1615, easily tops the table with more than 500 million copies sold and Dickens fans will be delighted that Tale of Two Cities comes in at number two with 200 million copies. Paulo Coelho, JRR Tolkien, Agatha Christie and Lewis Carroll also make the elite list of more than 100 million sales in the fiction genre.
At the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, we passionately believe in not just encouraging reading but inspiring writing and supporting emerging writers. Our events and prizes are designed to bring on young poets and adult authors alike. Montegrappa Prize winner Annabel Kantaria, for example, secured a three-book deal with Harlequin and has published two books, the latest of which, The Disappearance, was launched at the 2016 Festival.
No right way to write
One of the most popular and intriguing authors we have had the pleasure to host is Lord Jeffrey Archer. A brilliant mind, an outstanding writer and a truly natural storyteller who engages us, toys with us, stuns us and ultimately leaves us desperately wanting more. With Lord Archer, however, fingertips do not touch keyboards. He is meticulous in his routine, disciplined in approach but in his own words: “I can’t type.” Instead, he writes the first four drafts of a new novel in felt tip pen on lined notebooks.
There is no right way to write — for some the connection between pen and paper allows the creative juices to flow. Others are inspired as soon as their fingers make contact with the QWERTY keyboard, and they switch subconsciously to writer mode and there are authors who scribble down the key facts of the plot on backs of menus, scraps of paper, whatever they have to hand. Writing is a creative work of art. The author paints the scene, draws the characters and colours in the details for the reader’s delight.
So, we have our benchmarks and we know that it’s going to be a tall order to get into the top ten. We also know there is some stiff competition — if you Google ‘I want to write a book’, there are 285,000,000 results. Still there’s nothing like a challenge. Chapter One…
Isobel Abulhoul OBE is the founder and festival director of the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature.
