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Linwood Barclay Biography

Author

Linwood Barclay is a renowned Canadian author known for his suspense novels. His works are characterized by complex plots and unpredictable twists, which have won him a dedicated following.

Life Home Trust Eyes Places

Book:Trust Your Eyes

Source: Trust Your Eyes

“When an artist–author, songwriter, moviemaker, whatever–created something, put it out there for the world to critique, to love it or hate it, it was impossible to control how people would react. There were as many ways to respond to a creative work as there were people who read it or watched it or listened to it.”

Books Authors Publishing Industry

Book:Whistle

Source: Whistle

“Maybe this was what marriage was, Gilbert mused. Unrelenting unhappiness, but at least you had someone to talk to.”

Marriage

Book:Find You First

Source: Find You First

“Sometimes, it`s easier to tell a stranger something very personal. It`s like there`s less risk, opening yourself up to someone who doesn`t know you.”

Knows Sometimes Risk Easier Stranger Opening

Book:No Time for Goodbye

Source: No Time for Goodbye

“Once you come up with a premise, you have to work out how it all happened. It's a bit like coming up with a spectacular roof design first. Before you can get it up there, you need to build a solid foundation and supporting structure.”

Needs Firsts Bits Happened Design Foundation Structure Come Up Work Out Roof Spectacular Premises Solid Foundation

Author:Linwood Barclay

“Switching over to a hybrid car is one of those right things, but, unfairly or not, it still has a reputation among car enthusiasts as something you have to pedal really fast when you're on the ramp merging into traffic on the 401.”

Stills Car Reputation Right Thing Traffic Hybrid Pedals Switching Merging Ramp Hybrid Cars

Author:Linwood Barclay

“I was filling entire school notebooks with stories by Grade 3. Of course, they were double-spaced, and the handwriting was huge.”

Stories School Courses Huge Grades Filling Notebook Handwriting

Author:Linwood Barclay

“My life isn't much different than when I worked full time as a journalist.”

Different Journalist

Author:Linwood Barclay

“Al Gore, the former vice-president of the United States, lives in a mansion that uses more electricity than the average family's bungalow! David Suzuki rides on a bus that uses more fuel than a Smart car to get across Canada! Oh my God! And this is just the tip of the vanishing iceberg!”

States Use President United United States Car Smart Average Vices Former Fuel Canada Als Bus Electricity Gore Vice President Mansions Vanishing Iceberg

Author:Linwood Barclay

“Crime fiction makes money. It may be harder for writers to get published, but crime is doing better than most of what we like to call CanLit. It's elementary, plot-driven, character-rich story-telling at its best.”

May Character Stories Fiction Rich Crime Harder Driven Making Money Plot Crime Fiction

Author:Linwood Barclay

“Even if I couldn't get my early novels published, I could still write. I went into newspapers, where I got paid to write every day. If there's a better school for would-be novelists, I don't know what it is.”

Ifs Knows Writing Stills Would Be School Novel Paid Newspapers Novelists

Author:Linwood Barclay

“Facebook, from what I can tell, is the virtual equivalent of dropping into the homes of several million people, all of whom say at the same time: 'Hey! Let's set up the slide projector!”

People I Can Home Millions Hey Slides Dropping Projectors

Author:Linwood Barclay

“Generally speaking, rural drivers are a much better behaved species than city drivers. I'm not sure whether they're intrinsically this way, or there are just fewer opportunities for them to do behave badly. You can't go around running red lights if there aren't any red lights to run.”

Ifs Way Light Running Opportunity Cities Red Species Behave Not Sure Drivers Fewer Red Lights

Author:Linwood Barclay

“I was born in Darien, Connecticut, but in 1959, when I was four, my parents moved to the suburbs of Toronto. Then, in the late 1960s, they bought a cottage in a resort/trailer park in the Kawarthas region of Ontario, and we moved up there. I wrote a book about it in 2000 called 'Last Resort: Coming of Age in Cottage Country.”

Book Country Age Lasts Parent Born Four Late Moved Parks Regions Coming Of Age Resorts 1960s Suburbs Trailers Toronto Cottages Connecticut Ontario Trailer Park

Author:Linwood Barclay

“It's one thing, holding open the door for someone at a grocery store, or the library, or just about anyplace else. But the doughnut shop is a different thing altogether. This is a get-in-and-out-as-fast-as-you-can operation. There's no room for courtesy or chivalry here.”

Different Rooms Doors One Thing Library Stores Operations Shops Different Things Courtesy Groceries Chivalry Grocery Stores Doughnut

Author:Linwood Barclay

“My biggest complaint about drivers out in the country has tended to be that they're not in a great hurry to get where they're going. This is particularly true of old men wearing hats. If you get behind an old guy wearing a hat on a winding road, you might as well just phone ahead on your cell and tell your friends you're going to be late.”

Ifs Men Wells Country Might Guy Behinds Late Phones Cells Hats Drivers Old Man Complaints Old Guys Winding Road

Author:Linwood Barclay

“Once I have a hook I think has potential - enough to spin out more than a hundred thousand words, then I start turning my attention to characters. Who are these people? Why did this thing happen to them? But the hook always comes first.”

People Thinking Firsts Enough Character Happens Attention Thousand Hundred Things Happen Hook

Author:Linwood Barclay

“Some authors, when starting a novel, imagine a place first. Others, a character starts taking shape in their head. I start with a hook, a situation, a 'what if.”

Ifs Firsts Character Situation Novel Imagine Shapes Starting What If Hook

Author:Linwood Barclay

“These days, my subjects are murder and mayhem and other terrible things that happen to people - things that are even worse than cutting yourself shaving. And these are not the sorts of things you feel the need to experience before you write about them.”

People Needs Feels Writing Happens Cutting Subjects Terrible Murder These Days Terrible Things Shaving Mayhem Cutting Yourself

Author:Linwood Barclay

“When I was in my early 20s, my dream was to write mystery novels. I wanted to do what my favourite crime writer, Ross Macdonald, did - crank out a book a year. The only problem - and it was a considerable one - was that I stank.”

Writing Years Book Problem Dream Wanted Novel Mystery Crime Favourite Crank Mystery Novels Early 20s

Author:Linwood Barclay

“Before I left the 'Star' last year to write books full-time, I welcomed catastrophe. It was material. Missed planes, broken pipes, dead lawns, digestive disorders, you name it, if it was something that had gone horribly wrong, it was worth banging out 600 words about.”

Ifs Writing Years Book Lasts Names Left Stars Gone Materials Broken Planes Disorder Last Year Catastrophe Pipe Lawns Banging

Author:Linwood Barclay

About the Author

Born: 1955
Known for: Author
Quotes: 21

Books & Sources

Find You FirstRelated source material

No Time for GoodbyeRelated source material

Trust Your EyesRelated source material

WhistleRelated source material

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