The Day Jobs That Inspired Famous Authors

THE DAY JOBS THAT INSPIRED Famous auithors re day jobs just a way for authors to pay the bills, or do they provide the experiences needed to write a masterpiece? KLRKK mpirin work Pays the bills Bram STOKER Theatre Manager While a theatre manager for the Lyceum, Stoker wrote Dracula imagining the actor Henry Irving playing the role. John GRISHAM Attorney Grisham woke at 5am every day to write A Time To Kill before his day job as an attorney. 66I never dreamed of being a writer. I wrote only after witnessing a trial.99 - John Grisham Stephen KING Teacher As a high school teacher writing at weekends and evenings, King crafted literature's ultimate prom scene in Carrie. RRARA JK ROWLING Teacher Rowling finished the first Harry Potter book on welfare benefits, but like Snape and McGonagal she was once a teacher. RRAA. George RR MARTIN Teacher Martin wrote one novel while teaching, but quit after a friend died to focus on writing. A Game of Thrones followed 19 years later. Harper LEE Airline Ticket Agent Lee quit her job as an airline ticket agent after friends gave her money - she came up with To Kill a Mockingbird. (6 It takes a woman to do that kind of work.9) - To Kill A Mockingbird Joseph HELLER Copynriter Heller began Catch-22 in 1953 while working as a copywriter, but was inspired by his time in the Army Air Corps. RRRA. ( While none of the work we do is very important, it is important that we do a great deal of it. 99 - Catch-22 Nicholas SPARKS Pharmaceutical Salesman Sparks wrote The Notebook over 6 months while a pharmaceutical salesman, but his wife's grandparents inspired the story. RLRR. Dan BROWN D tÓK A н Teacher Brown gave up teaching in 1996 to focus on writing, gaining worldwide fame with his fourth novel, The Da Vinci Code. Robert Langdon, a rvard professor, is his alter ego. Arthur CONAN DOYLE Medical Practitioner Sherlock Holmes was created by Conan Doyle while writing A Study in Scarlet as a medical practitioner waiting for patients. RRRAK Franz KAFKA Insurance Officer The administrative bureaucracy Kafka faced as an insurance officer (his 'bread job') can be seen in The Trial. (6I like to make use of what I know. 99 - The Trial JM COETZEE University Professor For decades Nobel prize winner Coetzee was a university professor which may have helped inform his 1999 novel Disgrace. Haruki MURAKAMI " Business Onner Murakami wrote his first book, Hear The Wind Sing, after midnight on his kitchen table while he ran a coffeehouse and jazz bar. RRRRA Joseph CONRAD Merchant Seaman Heart of Darkness wouldn't have been the same were it not for Conrad's journeys to the Congo as a merchant seaman. 6I don't like work--no man does, but I like what is in the work, the chance to find yourself. 39 RRRAA - Heart of Darkness Gabriel Garcia MARQUEZ Journalist Out of work, Marquez sold his car and ran up debts in order to focus on writing One Hundred Years of Solitude. RRRAR Oadzuna Every job. Everywhere. adzuna.co.uk Sources http://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/authors/10-facts-about-Bram-Stoker/ http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/history/2015/10/21/bram-stoker-and-actor- henry-irving- inspiration-dracula-visited-1884/74305880/ http://www.jgrisham.com/bio/ http://stephenking.com/the_author.html http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/Sir-Conan-Doyle-s-time-Plymouth-inspired-world/story-28035377-detail/story.html and http://archives.cnn.com/1999/books/news/12/13/heller/ http://www.mediabistro.com/So-What-Do-You-Do-Nicholas-Sparks-Bestselling-Romance-Novelist-a11126.html http://nicholassparks.com/stories/the-notebook/ http://www.kafka-online.info/franz-kafka-biography.htm http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2003/coetzee-bio.html http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/2/the-art-of-fiction-no-182-haruki-murakami http://www.biography.com/people/joseph-conrad-9255343#early-life-and-background and http://modernism.research.yale.edu/modern_british_novel/authors/conrad/ http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2014/03/george-r-r-martin-interview http://uk.businessinsider.com/the-rags-to-riches-story-of-jk-rowling-2015-5 http://nymag.com/arts/books/features/58850/ http://eoa.auburn.edu/article/h-1126 http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/26/gabriel-garcia-marquez-legacy-mona-simpson