Reading Is Secret To Good Writing, Sparks Tells Students
Real life inspires books but magic still elusive, author says
Last updated Friday, October 10, 2008 6:52 PM CDT in News
By Lana F. Flowers
THE MORNING NEWS
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ROGERS -- Author Nicholas Sparks has five children at home, but he had about 200 children Friday at Rogers Heritage High School.
The author spoke to students from Bentonville, Rogers and Rogers Heritage high schools about the writing process. The best way to be a good writer is to read a lot of books and then to practice writing, Sparks said, to master language mechanics.
He recommends reading anything by Stephen King and "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich," which he called a well-done book examining the rise of a dangerous culture and the fall of a society.
The author said he did not start out writing, but had aspirations of being an airline pilot, a lawyer and a track star. He has a Notre Dame track record that still stands, but an injury put an end to his running career.
It encouraged him to pick up a pen and start his writing career.
"My mom said, 'Don't just pout.' Do something," Sparks said.
He replied that without track, he did not know what to do.
"Write a book," his mom said.
At 19, he was proud just to finish writing something, Sparks said. He tried again at 22, while waiting tables to make ends meet after college and renovating a house without having any money or credit.
The first two efforts, Sparks said, won't ever be published, because he knows they are terrible. One was a horror novel and the other a murder mystery, far cries from the touching tales of life, loss and love his female readers now devour.
Sparks said he knows his audience is mostly women.
"Men have no taste," he said.
Olivia Austin, 16, a Bentonville High School junior, said she read "The Wedding," "Dear John" and "A Walk to Remember." Her favorite of the three was "The Wedding," in which Noah from "The Notebook" reappears as his son-in-law plans a surprise for his wife of 30 years.
"It's more of a family thing. Love isn't taken lightly," Austin said.
Her boyfriend, Caleb Bourland, 17, a Bentonville High School senior, said he had not read Sparks' books but Austin "drags me to all the movies. I watched 'The Notebook' and 'A Walk to Remember.'"
Bourland expected his peers might tease him about liking "chick flicks."
"I'm man enough to admit it," Bourland said. He said he might give "Dear John" another try, after initially discarding it after the first chapter, because the story of a man serving in Iraq intrigued him.
Most students wanted to know where Sparks gets his ideas, how long he writes each day and how he pieces his stories and characters' lives together.
Sparks said he writes each day from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. while his children are at school, and he takes time to have lunch each day with his wife of 19 years, Cathy.
Bringing his characters to life sometimes means sacrifice.
"Writing novels is a thief of your life. You are not interacting with the real world, feeling the real wind, seeing the real sun shine or seeing the real spring," Sparks said. "You are staring at a computer screen inventing a fantasy world."
However, the effort was worth it when he sold his first manuscript, "The Notebook," for $1 million. Sparks said it took him three days to find a literary agent and another three days to hear about the check from Warner Books.
Sparks said he uses items from real life in his books. For example, the letters Noah wrote to Allie in "The Notebook" are based on real letters Sparks wrote to his wife. A beach scene in "Dear John" when Savannah tells rowdy college boys to tone down their language because families are near, is something his then-girlfriend Cathy did when the couple first met on Spring Break in Florida while Sparks was in college.
Pursuing the magic of a good story take a long time, Sparks said. He might get an idea, image or theme in his mind, then run 5,000 scenarios of what characters do, how they act, even whether they raise parakeets or like dogs.
"I hold all those ideas in my head until something makes me go, 'A-ha!'" Sparks said. "What about it makes me go a-ha? I have no idea.
"When I sit down to write a novel, I don't know how to do it, even now. Because I am trying to capture magic, what if the magic left? If I don't know where it comes from in the first place, how do I stop it from leaving?" he said.
However, Sparks said he still has a few stories in him and does not plan to stop writing soon.
More of his books are to become movies, including "Dear John," slated for release in October 2009, and a future project Disney bought to feature Miley Cyrus.
"Which, if you want to be specific and technical, I have not written yet," Sparks said. "Disney called and asked if I had another book. I said I had another idea for a book. They are buying, like, air and words."
Grab and Read
The Works Of Nicholas Sparks
Books are listed in chronological order of publication. Most require multiple tissues and someone to hug while/after reading.
• "The Notebook," Warner Books, October 1996
• "Message in a Bottle," Warner Books, April 1998
• "A Walk to Remember," Warner Books, October 1999
• "The Rescue," Warner Books, September 2000
• "A Bend in the Road," Warner Books, September 2001
• "Nights in Rodanthe," Warner Books, September 2002
• "The Guardian," Warner Books, April 2003
• "The Wedding," Warner Books, September 2003
• "Three Weeks with my Brother," Warner Books, April 2004 (nonfiction)
• "True Believer," Warner Books, April 2005
• "At First Sight," Warner Books, October 2005
• "Dear John," Warner Books, October 2006
• "The Choice," Grand Central Publishing, September 2007
• "The Lucky One," September 2008
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