Amusement Which Author Would You Be?

SWWJ manuscript appraisal

Amusement Everybody Loves Me, Baby!

Status
Not open for further replies.

Paul Whybrow

Full Member
Jun 20, 2015
Cornwall, UK
Woody Allen said that My One Regret In Life Is That I Am Not Someone Else.”

Assuming reincarnation and time travel are possible, which author would you come back as?

They can be dead or still alive...and feel free to change gender, nationality, sexual orientation.

This fantasy question is rather different to being asked which authors you'd have to dinner. For instance, when I think of my writing heroes, irrespective of their talent, some of them had unhappy lives. I might still risk it, as I'd be fascinated to see how their creative process worked.

My choices would be:

Of the dead

* Rumi: the Persian poet, revered for his love poetry. I wonder what his love life was like. He had a decent innings surviving until the age of 66...impressive for the 13th-century.

* Guy de Maupassant: A great short story writer, who rubbed shoulders with such luminaries as Alexandre Dumas, Gustav Flaubert, Ivan Turgenev and Émile Zola. Sadly, his own story was short, for he died of VD in an asylum at the age of 42.

* Richard Brautigan: A writer of bizarre comedic stories, a real maverick, but dead by his own hand at the age of 49, his body not found for a month.

Perhaps I should change gender. French writers Anaïs Nin and Colette led fascinating and erotic lives, surviving until the ages of 73 & 81. Their stories are still popular today.

Among the Living

Shape-shifting into the careers of living authors would be interesting. I note that all the writers I've chosen have retained the common touch, not abandoning their humble roots.

* Larry McMurtry: his output is impressive, with his books adapted into respectful movies and television series. Lonesome Dove is a great Western. He's a used book-store owner & cat lover.

* Dennis Lehane: brilliant novels that win awards and are turned into decent films, which is something of a miracle. Also, wrote episodes of The Wire.

* James Lee Burke: an illustrious writing career, and he's still actively publishing at the age of 81. I like how he stays true to his characters, writing series of novels about them. Daughter Alafair is also a best-selling crime author.

* Alice Hoffman: my favourite author of magical realism, which she inserts seamlessly into her tales of characters struggling against the odds. Great at showing how what someone considers to be magic provides them with the courage to endure.

Who would you be? One of the Brontës? Charles Dickens? William Shakespeare?

Or someone contemporary and still living, such as Hilary Mantel, Margaret Atwood or Paul Auster?

Just think of the fun you could have getting these famous authors to write something radically different!

Maybe Woody Allen had a better idea of what to do with a reincarnated life, by living it backwards!

woody-allen-born-old-end-life-as-an-orgasm.png
 
I'd like to be a blend of Mary Renault, Thomas Hardy and PG Wodehouse. Clearly this person would not be healthy, but imagine the laughter, misery and exquisite attention to historical detail ...
 
Mary Renault....mighty writer a favourite of my teens. You mentioned the other day @Susan that there might not be much of a market right now for what you're writing. There is David Vann and 'Bright Air Black', Medea's story.

Oh yes, I read that one! Intriguing way to explain how a mother could have done what Medea did.

There are actually quite a few novels based on Greek myth at the moment. There's Colm Toibin's House of No Names, the novels of Madeleine Miller and Natalie Haynes, plus modern interpretations such as Home Fire (Kamila Shamshie).
 
I find him a terrifying writer. Quite apart from that one. Thanks for those title suggestions, and that's good news. There is a current market.
 
Woody Allen said that My One Regret In Life Is That I Am Not Someone Else.”

Assuming reincarnation and time travel are possible, which author would you come back as?

They can be dead or still alive...and feel free to change gender, nationality, sexual orientation.

This fantasy question is rather different to being asked which authors you'd have to dinner. For instance, when I think of my writing heroes, irrespective of their talent, some of them had unhappy lives. I might still risk it, as I'd be fascinated to see how their creative process worked.

My choices would be:

Of the dead

* Rumi: the Persian poet, revered for his love poetry. I wonder what his love life was like. He had a decent innings surviving until the age of 66...impressive for the 13th-century.

* Guy de Maupassant: A great short story writer, who rubbed shoulders with such luminaries as Alexandre Dumas, Gustav Flaubert, Ivan Turgenev and Émile Zola. Sadly, his own story was short, for he died of VD in an asylum at the age of 42.

* Richard Brautigan: A writer of bizarre comedic stories, a real maverick, but dead by his own hand at the age of 49, his body not found for a month.

Perhaps I should change gender. French writers Anaïs Nin and Colette led fascinating and erotic lives, surviving until the ages of 73 & 81. Their stories are still popular today.

Among the Living

Shape-shifting into the careers of living authors would be interesting. I note that all the writers I've chosen have retained the common touch, not abandoning their humble roots.

* Larry McMurtry: his output is impressive, with his books adapted into respectful movies and television series. Lonesome Dove is a great Western. He's a used book-store owner & cat lover.

* Dennis Lehane: brilliant novels that win awards and are turned into decent films, which is something of a miracle. Also, wrote episodes of The Wire.

* James Lee Burke: an illustrious writing career, and he's still actively publishing at the age of 81. I like how he stays true to his characters, writing series of novels about them. Daughter Alafair is also a best-selling crime author.

* Alice Hoffman: my favourite author of magical realism, which she inserts seamlessly into her tales of characters struggling against the odds. Great at showing how what someone considers to be magic provides them with the courage to endure.

Who would you be? One of the Brontës? Charles Dickens? William Shakespeare?

Or someone contemporary and still living, such as Hilary Mantel, Margaret Atwood or Paul Auster?

Just think of the fun you could have getting these famous authors to write something radically different!

Maybe Woody Allen had a better idea of what to do with a reincarnated life, by living it backwards!

woody-allen-born-old-end-life-as-an-orgasm.png


oooh Anais Nin. Getting kinky there. I wouldnt mind being her at all, granted I wouldnt have to deal with Henry Miller.
 
Wow. It's hard enough being myself.

On a totally unrelated note.... I met Bradbury. He seemed like a very upbeat sort of guy.

I might already be too much like Anais Nin in her personal life. The woman had no boundaries. She suffered and her writing suffered. When I think of Anais Nin, I can't help feeling sad. Even though she had such sterling moments...

We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are.

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.

I wouldn't even want to be Heinlein. But if you'd asked me who I'd want to spend time alone with...

But you didn't.

I need to go get a Mary Renault novel. I feel like I've read one ... the woman's name keeps popping up... it seems like a message from the universe.
 
Yes. Just not feeling the old pull in that direction. Dorothy Dunnett is also an extraordinary writer. How did she do it? The mind boggles. King Hereafter.

Omg, do you know, Dorothy Dunnett was a local girl though no one seems to remember her around these parts. She seems to have a bigger following in Canada and the US, if I’m not mistaken. It’s criminal. She’s not the easiest read and she does like to include continual references to old/ancient books, but those references are a joy to follow up. The King Hereafter is sitting unread on my shelves though, along with some others. Need time and space for such huge, complex books.
 
I can't believe she's not more widely known. I haven't read her Niccolo series. But I'm betting it's wonderful if I ever find the time. King Hereafter is truly epic. Magisterial.
 
I can't believe she's not more widely known. I haven't read her Niccolo series. But I'm betting it's wonderful if I ever find the time. King Hereafter is truly epic. Magisterial.

You've got me now - I'm going to have to put King Hereafter nearer the top of my reading list. Haven't read the Niccolo series either. Think it makes references to Lymond, so will have to work my way through that series first.
 
'Lymond'. That's it :) I've got a reading back-log stacking up too. Ah well. What can we do? Sometimes the days aren't long enough.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

SWWJ manuscript appraisal

Amusement Everybody Loves Me, Baby!

Back
Top