Ken Follett
Ken Follett
Kenneth Martin "Ken" Follettis a Welsh author of thrillers and historical novels who has sold more than 150 million copies of his works. Many of his books have reached number 1 on the New York Times Best Seller list, including Edge of Eternity, Fall of Giants, The Key to Rebecca, Lie Down with Lions, Triple, Winter of the World, and World Without End...
NationalityWelsh
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth5 June 1949
Ken Follett quotes about
books broke looking people push time wrote
Listen, I wrote 10 unsuccessful books before I broke through, so I'm looking all the time to keep my books fascinating. I want to write what people want to read, not push any message.
chapter characters great spend work year
I'm a great planner, so before I ever write chapter 1, I work out what happens in every chapter and who the characters are. I usually spend a year on the outline.
strong-women book hero
In my books, women often solve the problem. Even if the woman is not the hero, she's a strong character. She does change the plot. She'll often rescue the male character from some situation.
lost-everything nothing-to-lose lost
When you've lost everything, you've got nothing to lose.
literary-genre thrillers century
The thriller is the most popular literary genre of the 20th century.
ruthlessness weakness defeated
In both cases, weakness and scruples had defeated strength and ruthlessness.
fun firsts research
The research is the easiest. The outline is the most fun. The first draft is the hardest, because every word of the outline has to be fleshed out. The rewrite is very satisfying.
editors people certain
After a certain point, most people, including editors, will tell you everything you do is great.
captains kind advertising
I wanted to be some kind of captain of industry. Then I wanted to be in advertising, and then I wanted to be a newspaper reporter.
glory aim glory-of-god
His aim was the glory of God, but the glory of Philip pleased him too.
ties serious drink
James Bond is quite serious about his drinks and clothing and cigarettes and food and all that sort of thing. There is nothing wry or amused about James Bond.
one-day stories medieval
I went and looked at one of these great cathedrals one day, and I was blown away by it. From there I became interested in how cathedrals were built, and from there I became interested in the society that built the medieval cathedral. It occurred to me at some point that the story of the building of a cathedral could be a great popular novel.
degradation sooner-or-later subjects
The degradation to which you subject others comes back, sooner or later, to haunt you,
humility pride men
When you're thinking, please remember this: excessive pride is a familiar sin, but a man may just as easily frustrate the will of God through excessive humility.