I was honored when Katie invited me to write a guest blog, but also a little unnerved. I’m not actually published—at least not in fiction. Since I can only imagine the life of a bestselling author, what do I have to offer? “Write what you know” is the old adage, and if there’s one thing I know it’s Agatha Christie.
I’ve been a mystery buff since age eight, and an Agatha Christie fan since my teens. I’ve read every book she’s written, including her poems, plays, and the romances she wrote as Mary Westmacott. My first thought was to write a post called “What Would Agatha Do?” That proved to be a little tricky. Since Dame Agatha died in 1976, I can only guess what she would do in certain situations. But I can share her comments about writing, since she wrote frankly about this subject in Agatha Christie: An Autobiography
Everyone Has to Start Someplace, Even the Queen of Crime
In Agatha’s case it was a novel she called Agnes. As she recalled, “It had four sisters in it: Queenie, the eldest, golden-haired and beautiful, and then some twins, dark and handsome, finally Agnes, who was plain, shy and (of course) in poor health, lying patiently on a sofa. There must have been more story than this, but it has all gone now. All I remember is that Agnes’s true worth was recognized at last by some splendid man with a black moustache whom she had loved secretly for many years.”
On a Writer’s Self-Confidence (or Lack of It)
“I don’t think I went as far as being pleased with my stories—but then there always has to be a lapse of time after the accomplishment of a piece of creative work before you can in any way evaluate it. You start into it, inflamed by an idea, full of hope, full indeed of confidence…buoyed up with exultation. You then get into difficulties, don’t see your way out, and finally manage to accomplish more or less what you first meant to accomplish, though losing confidence all the time. Having finished it, you know that it is absolutely rotten. A couple of months later you wonder whether it may not be all right after all.”
On Becoming a Professional
“I had worked out the plot—a conventional plot, partly adapted from one of my other stories, and I knew, as one might say, where I was going, but I could not see the scene in my mind’s-eye, and the people would not come alive. I was driven desperately on by the desire, indeed the necessity, to write another book and make some money. That was the moment I changed from an amateur to a professional. I assumed the burden of a profession, which is to write even when you don’t want to…”
On Rewrites
“I finished the last half of the book, or as near as not, during my fortnight’s holiday. Of course that was not the end. I then had to rewrite a great part of it—mostly the overcomplicated middle. But in the end it was finished and I was reasonably satisfied with it. That is to say it was roughly as I had intended for it to be. It could be much better, I saw that, but I didn’t see just how I could make it better, so I had to leave it as it was…Then I got it properly typed by somebody, and having decided I could do no more to it, I sent it off to a publisher…who returned it. It was a plain refusal, with no frills on it.”
On Contracts
“Then he went on to the business aspect, pointing out what a risk a publisher took if he published a novel by a new and unknown author… Having given up hope for some years now of having anything published…the idea of having a book come out in print went straight to my head. I would have signed anything. This particular contract entailed my not receiving any royalties until after the first 2000 copies had been sold—after that a small royalty would be paid… I didn’t even notice that there was a clause binding me to offer him my next five novels, at an only slightly increased rate of royalty.”
What Would Agatha Say About Social Media and Self-Promotion?
“There are many careers where personalities and public relations matter—for instance if you are an actor, or a public figure. An author’s business is simply to write.”
The Guinness Book of World Records lists Dame Agatha Christie as the bestselling author of all time, although some sources show her tied with William Shakespeare. She has sold between 2-4 billion books in over 100 countries.
Note: All quotes were taken from Agatha Christie: An Autobiography
