I
was reading an article about Tippi Hedren, a woman who was a successful 1960s
actress. She was the star of The Birds. In her new memoir she says
she was sexually harassed by famous filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock. In the story, it mentions her daughter is
actress Melanie Griffith star of Working
Girl, and her granddaughter’s Fifty
Shades of Grey star, Dakota Johnson.
That’s some talented and beautiful family. It
got me wondering, are there a lot of successful or famous authors who raised
another generation of writers?
Sports,
particularly baseball, has many successful father-son duets to boast of. Ken Griffey and Ken Griffey Jr. and Bobby
Bonds and Barry Bonds come to mind. Music had Nat King Cole and Natalie
Cole. Politics had George H.W. Bush and
George W. Bush as a father-son White House team. So what does book publishing have to offer
us?
Stephen
King, the master of fear, has a son, Joseph who writes under the pen name Joe
Hill. Roald Dahl wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. His daughter, Tessa, wrote novels and
children’s books. Her daughter, Sophie,
wrote a novel. The Waugh family,
starting with Arthur Waugh features five generations of published authors. But not all make it. H.G. Wells, famous for penning The Time Machine and The War of the
Worlds, had a son, Anthony West, but his best-known book is a biography of
his father.
There
have been many famous women whose daughters took up their writing trade. Some even paired up together such as Lisa
Scottoline and Francesca Serritella, Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark,
and Jodi Picoult and Samantha Picoult.
It’s
normal to see children take up one of their parents’ professions or to serve in
a similar industry. But how often does
the child surpass the parent as a writer?
No one comes to mind where one was a best-selling or award-winning or
critically acclaimed writer who then had a child that wrote with even greater
notoriety or success. Once one attains a
level of greatness, it’s hard for another to surpass it, blood relative or not.
What
do writers hand down to their children?
Is it a great role model or the burden of a bar set too high? Is the child given an advantage being around
greatness or is he or she burdened by being in the shadows? If one’s a great writer, do they have the
time, the make up, and the ability to be there as a parent to nurture a child’s
development as a person and a writer?
The
psychologists can analyze this – and probably have. I don’t think there’s a clear-cut answer
here. The debate over nature-nurture
logically extends to writers, though I believe writers are created from a number
of sources.
First
they need to be interested in expressing themselves through the written
word. I’ve found that people who are
great speakers and tend to communicate through the spoken word are different
than those who feel at home writing their thoughts and views.
Second,
they need to be good at observing, listening, and paying attention to detail.
Third,
they should be naturally curious and at the ready with questions.
Fourth,
they write from a sense of purpose or conviction. They tend to have strong views about something.
Five,
they are fairly intelligent. Not only do
they work at having a strong vocabulary, becoming proficient readers, and good
at researching things, they naturally have a brain.
Six,
they exist in --or come from -- an environment where their circumstances push them into
feeling they are alone or that only they clearly see the truth or that they can
rescue someone or change something. They
have a hero’s complex.
Seven,
they are greatly influenced by their childhood, especially if it involves loss,
danger, victimization or witnessing atrocities or bad behavior. The more extreme and frequent the events that
explode around them, the more their trauma leads them to a writing path as a
means to express their feelings and as a process to come to grips with a world
that seems unjust, cruel or bizarre.
But
one doesn’t have to come from a broken home or negative circumstances to be a
writer nor does one have to be a genius or always pay attention to things. These are just observed patterns but who
really knows where one's writing comes from.
It’s a gift and a curse, a reward and a burden, and an amazing way to
experience life.
All
of my experiences, thoughts, and feelings get expressed through my
writings. My writing is my life, not
just reflective of it. I also want to
inspire others to write and to read – and to do so at highly frequent intervals
and levels. The world can only become
better once it’s filled with literate and engaged individuals.
The
bond of writing is bigger than genetics but it is interesting to see what
literally spawns from great writers. As
writers, we are all giving birth to a creation, and each one gives us a new
start.
Please Click On The Best Out Of 2,100 Posts
2016 Book Marketing & Book Publicity Toolkit
2015 Book Marketing & PR Toolkit
2014 Book Marketing & PR Toolkit
Book Marketing & Book PR Toolkit: 2013
Named one of the best book marketing blogs by Book Baby
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.