An Evening With Jeffrey Archer

[nikhil1772]

Had been to Jeffrey Archer session today at Landmark Book House, Pune as part of his ‘A Prisoner of Birth’ tour…Some excerpts:

On asked whether he knows the ending of a particular work when he starts it, he said he knows the last line of his short stories but does not know the ending of a novel. Then he went on to tell how with 3 days left before deadline he had no idea about the ending of ‘Prisoner of Birth’ and how it came to him suddenly one night and he made another revision to his earlier drafts and its the best thing he’s ever written.

There was a reference to Cricket and he said, ‘The best team in the world is England Cricket team’. We obviously booed. Then he went on to say how England are going to thrash India in the next test series, he added (among all the booing, jeering, laughter of the audience), ‘Sehwag out for 4!, Tendulkar 5, gone!, Laxman 7!, Dravid 3!….’ And when our jeering grew louder than ever… he said, ‘No?... See? I AM a story-teller’. (Clapping & Laughter).

Someone asked if he could write a novel incorporating Cricket for a storyline… He said, ‘I love Cricket but 10 million people in USA, 3 million people in Japan wouldn’t know a thing about it and wont read my books…I mean I love Rahul Dravid but people in Japan don’t know him’…then he added again teasingly, ‘And why do you people want me to write on Cricket? Your team isn’t any good at it!’ (More jeering and laughter). After that he opined, ‘And I’ll tell you 20/20 is NOT Cricket, its just entertainment.(Half the people in the audience cheered for it…(older folks mainly))…Test cricket is the real thing… Cricket was when Australia thought they had you, and VVS Laxman & Rahul Dravid held on for the whole day to win it; its not when there’s three overs left and some guy in a pyjama is knockin the ball all over the place’

One lady: ‘Do you have a plot in mind for your next book..’ JA: ‘Yes’
Lady: ‘Could you tell us wh…’ JA(cutting her off promptly): ‘No’… (more laughter)

A dude: ‘What drives you to write a book, how are you inspired to write, how do you get ideas for a story….?.’ JA: ‘Don’t sit down yet, I want you to answer three questions’. Dude: ‘Ok’. JA: ‘Do you play the violin?’ Dude: ‘No’. JA: ‘Do you paint pictures?’ Dude: ‘Uhh..well… no.’ JA: ‘Do you sing?’ Dude: ‘Nnno’ (laughter) JA: ‘Me neither! .I am a writer, its all I do! I get ideas in my head all the time’

A woman: ‘Who do you like more… Kane or Abel?’.
JA: (Stumped a bit) ‘You know… as a writer I have to think as a reader. I treated both as equals… Both are strong characters…(etc. etc).. and so I am not going to answer your question wicked woman.’ (again laughter)

When someone asked about movies or plays about one of his books or plays (I forgot which), he said, ‘the cast and the director have been finalized, all we need now is 40 million dollars. Those who have it please come forward’

He said he gets 354,000 hits on his website and thousands of e-mails. He gets about 150 emails daily and 25% of all mail is from Indians. He says he reads each and every e-mail.(some clapping) ‘But I gotta tell you…You people are the worst of the lot!…No, really! You guys are the worst!...You find out each and every mistake and write it to me, and no, not a two-lined letter saying Dear Jeffrey, so & so… but a two-paged one for gods sakes’… He meant it as a compliment and we enjoyed it. Then he told us how it is impossible for anyone to write any novel without mistakes, citing the example of ‘First Among Equals’ telling how after even proof reading so many times by so many experts, it still has four mistakes.

He told his favorite author is Alexander Juma (I think that was what I heard). He also said its sad how if an author becomes popular he automatically becomes ineligible for nobel prize. On being asked what books he reads, he said ‘Don’t ever read books because they are important, that so and so people say it’s a master-piece and you should read it’. He gave an example of a very unknown author whose book was totally unputdownable and worth a read more than the 7 on his ‘to-read’ list…Then he named an apparently very important book (that I didn’t quite get the name) and said, ‘Don’t laugh! Its my record. I have read 22 pages of it and I cant read it further’ We laughed.

There were a lot of other funny anecdotes and witty answers and though I am not a die-hard fan; (not having read all his books, and not motivated enough to stand for 3-4 hours in queue to get my copy signed); I certainly will read the unread ones now. I am glad I sneaked into the front and though I didn’t get the mic to get my chance to ask a question, it was a high-quality time spent.

P.S. And I had to gloat about me being there, didn’t I? Apologies for you being on the receiving end.

[pasag]

He has written a short story about cricket. Was about an Indian kid in Oxford or something like that iirc.

Edit: Called 'The Century' in A Quiver Full of Arrows.

[cpr]

Still a grade A tosspot and Category C prisoner.


Dont like the guy. Head so far up his own arse he's playing tonsil hockey with himself.

[Matteh]

Awta. Douche.

[Shaggy Alfresco]

Still a ****.

[Burgey]

Originally Posted by cpr

Still a grade A tosspot and Category C prisoner.


Dont like the guy. Head so far up his own arse he's playing tonsil hockey with himself.

Erudite observations. Spot on.

[nikhil1772]

Woah... Wrong forum!

[_Ed_]

Originally Posted by cpr

Still a grade A tosspot and Category C prisoner.


Dont like the guy. Head so far up his own arse he's playing tonsil hockey with himself.

Indeed.

[nikhil1772]

What I love most about CW is also the thing that I hate about it...Rubbishing anything 'Pop'. While I like the rubbishing part, I hate the anything part.
Anyway... lets discuss JA books, not JA himself then... or are you of the opinion that the arrogance of a person is enough to invalidate any of his work, however good?

[cpr]

The arrogance of the man is enough to put me off reading any of his books (especially the one our taxes paid for his accomodation whilst he wrote it)

[masterblaster]

Originally Posted by nikhil1772

What I love most about CW is also the thing that I hate about it...Rubbishing anything 'Pop'. While I like the rubbishing part, I hate the anything part.
Anyway... lets discuss JA books, not JA himself then... or are you of the opinion that the arrogance of a person is enough to invalidate any of his work, however good?

I agree with you mate. The main thing is that you had a great time and got the chance to see Jeffrey Archer in person. You are free to like and dislike whatever you want. Continue reading the Jeffrey Archer books if you enjoy them. That's ultimately the main thing.

[nikhil1772]

Originally Posted by cpr

The arrogance of the man is enough to put me off reading any of his books (especially the one our taxes paid for his accomodation whilst he wrote it)

I'd be happy to pay my taxes if that meant I got to read another twelve red herrings.

[nikhil1772]

Originally Posted by masterblaster

I agree with you mate. The main thing is that you had a great time and got the chance to see Jeffrey Archer in person. You are free to like and dislike whatever you want. Continue reading the Jeffrey Archer books if you enjoy them. That's ultimately the main thing.

Yeah well... but I really do dont care about people as long as their works keep me entertained... Arrogance of one person may be just a perspective and/or a result of ignorance on another person's part. Have heard a lot of negatives about Dan Brown, but the fact remains that Angels and Demons is one of the best reads...

[Sudeep]

Never really liked anything by Archer except for Kane & Abel and Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less.

[yaju]

Wow Nikhil, awesome! But you should have asked him a question.

"Why don't you change his name to Jeffrey Gunman or Jeffrey Missileman?" After all Bows and arrows are passe.