Jackie Collins
Jackie Collins
Jacqueline Jill "Jackie" Collins OBEwas an English romance novelist. She moved to Los Angeles in the 1960s and spent most of her career there. She wrote 32 novels, all of which appeared on The New York Times bestsellers list. In total, her books have sold over 500 million copies and have been translated into 40 languages. Eight of her novels have been adapted for the screen, either as films or television miniseries. She was the younger sister of actress Joan...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth4 October 1937
CityLondon, England
I woke up last night and thought: 'I must call somebody in my next novel Casablanca.' It's such a great name. I don't want to call anybody Fred or Jane or Susan, so when three people get into bed together, you don't know who they are.
My biggest critics have never read me.
I write synopses after the book is completed. I can't write it beforehand, because I don't know what the book's about. I invent something for my publisher because he asks for one, but the final book ends up very differently.
Where was Paris Hilton a year ago? She's a fabulous character to write about.
I write about the American dream: if you set your mind to do something, you can do it. My fans know they're getting the real thing.
I don't plan my books. I don't know what's going to happen. That's why I could pick up any one of my 30 books and I could continue the story on.
The husbands, who sometimes have another family who's grown, are going, Now I can spend time with my baby. Oh yeah, I bet your other family is really thrilled.
People are intrigued by fame, power and wealth and I think Hollywood is the only place where you get all three together.
I know that I am very popular in Holland, in fact I have visited Amsterdam several times to publicize my books. I have a great publisher in Holland and they have published all of my books in Dutch.
I wake up in the morning and I still have a passion for what I do, and I'll be doing it when I'm 105, I'll be scribbling away. If it was 100 years ago I'd be sitting by the campfire, saying, "Have I got a story to tell you."
A lot of people talk about writing. The secret is to write, not talk.
I love London and Los Angeles equally. I was born and brought up London and then I went to Los Angeles as a teenager to stay with my sister Joan. So I feel I belong to both.
I've never been on safari because I've got a phobia of bugs. I just don't want things crawling on me when I'm sleeping. It's a shame given my passion for big cats. But I really enjoy photography, so I'd love to photograph leopards in the wild some day.
I'm a storyteller, I'm not a literary writer, and I don't want to be a literary writer. People say to me, "Oh, when are you going to write something different?" What? I don't want to write anything different. I'm writing relationships between people, all different colors, all different sizes, all different sexual orientations, and that's what I want to do.