I thought I’d start off this
year by writing an article that’s been eating me up on the inside for the best
part of the previous year. It was all up on the walls of my mind the last
months of 2013 like a neon sign in front of a night club. There are three
writers whose first name is Terry on
the top 10 bestselling fantasy series of all time, I thought I’d profile the Terryfic authors in a unique article.
The trio has managed to sell copies
of their series in excess of 20 million each. The least books sold by any of
the authors are about 21 million copies. They are all in the same age group
born in the 40s; two of the men have wives whose first names start with J;
two are American and there are several other similarities.
Terence Dean ‘Terry’ Brooks was born in January 8,
1944 in Sterling, Illinois, USA.
Brooks’ choice of genre is epic
fantasy of which he has sold millions of books. He practiced law before
becoming a gentleman of the page. Brooks’ kicked off his writing career in high
school. He wrote in several and diverse genres until somebody offered him a
copy of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. That single act decided him. Tolkien
influenced the author’s choice of genre—the genre for which he’s become
internationally known. Brooks now writes only in the fantasy genre
Despite Tolkien’s influence, Brooks
credits Faulkner for his style of writing. In 1977, he began his most famous work—The Sword of Shannara. The series which,
combines magic and primitive technology, has spanned over 20 volumes and still
counting. The Sword of Shannara has
sold over 21 million copies worldwide.
Brooks is quoted as saying, “I find it harder o write short stories than
long fiction. Give me a 500 page sprawl as an assignment any day.”
Brooks has written 23 New York Times Bestsellers and as a
bestselling fantasy book series author, he is one of the living highest selling
fantasy authors.
Goodkind was born in Omaha,
Nebraska in 1948.
Goodkind was once into
painting, carpentry and auto racing. He still finds time to drive a race car
for his own Rahl racing team. He also built cabinets and violins before turning
to writing.
The prolific author started
writing his first novel, Wizard’s First
Rule in 1993 while constructing his home in Maine and his writing career
was launched by the time he published the book the following year.
Besides, Stone of Tears and Wizard’s
First Rule, every other book by Terry Goodkind was a New York Times Bestseller. Even though, he writes fantasy, Goodkind’s
works focus on philosophical and human themes and are strongly influenced by
the books of Ayn Rand. His first book was auctioned to a group of three
publishers at a whooping sum of $275,000!
One critic described Goodkind
as part of a “host of brand new writers
(with) no previous experience writing fiction but who could turn out one large
epic adventure after another.”
The author’s popular series The Sword of Shannara has sold over 25
million copies across the globe making it one of the bestselling fantasy book
series of all time.
Sir, Terence David John ‘Terry’ Pratchett (OBE) was born in
Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England on 28 April, 1948.
Terry Pratchett writes comic fantasy;
his most notable work is Discworld
which apparently, has sold over 70 million copies and therefore qualifies as one
of the top 10 bestselling fantasy book series.
From the time he published The Colour of Magic in 1983, Pratchett
has churned out an average of two books a year.
Pratchett is the UK’s second
most read writer. The famous author had dreams of becoming an astronomer but
lacked the mathematical skills required for the trade.
The young Pratchett read H.G
Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle and “every book
you ought to read.”
He published his first story at
age 15. It was during his interview with Peter Bander Van Duren, co-Boss of a
small publishing outfit that Pratchett let slip about his then manuscript, The Carpet People. It landed him a
publishing deal.
Pratchett resigned his job at
the electric firm where he worked after he wrote his fourth Discworld novel and took up writing as a
full time job.
Three Terrys doing their thing;
strung up on their craft while churning out bestsellers at will you wonder,
could being a writer be more fulfilling than this? But who wants more when you can settle for an accomplished less?
Keep your pen bleeding!
Akpan
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