Tags
authors, clive cussler, comparrison, nonfiction, pattern, puzzle, reader, reading, review, virginia andrews, writers
do you ever get madly into the works are a particular author and suddenly find you have over 10 examples of their writing in your possession? I do.Eventually you start to notice trends which act as puzzle pieces which can be used to build up a profile of the creator. Two good examples of these little reading obsessions are Clive Cussler and Virginia Andrews.
When I was 12 and graduating to ‘grown up’ books. Andrews was my first love. My mum had a couple of her novels lying around and they could be found in most charity shops for about 50p. The more of her work I chewed through the more I began to notice certain themes. I won’t go into detail for fear of spoilers and I hate to slate her, but after about 9 books I was fairly bored of the storyline. One day, it clicked. Why the same events cropped up in the lives of so many of her fictional characters; it was her life. She was dealing with her own tragedies by thrusting them upon someone who did not exist. This is what made her work so powerful, so believable and so honest.
As I stumbled through my teenage years I found the family drama and romance genre a bit dull and advanced into the scientific adventures that can be guaranteed in a Cussler novel. My college is probably 30% his books, I have at least 25. After my brief fling with Andrews i began to assume that all novelist based their main character on themselves and for a while Clive Cussler seemed to to this. His action heroes Dirk Pitt and Kurt Austin share many qualities and i had assumed this where Cussler’s fiction selves. However, he surprised, he wrote himself into one of his books by name, as a mysterious side character. I was stunned. I tried my hardest to analyse the situation and the best i could do was gander at the possibility that this was him admitting to himself and the world that he wasn’t this perfect main character. It seemed to me as though Dirk Pitt may be a representation of who Clive wishes he was.
To conclude. I believe most writer tend to base they’re characters around themselves. its gives out work more reality. So next time to pix up a book, just question how much is actually fiction.