Steel has climbed the mountains other writers are still clambering. She is a noted genius and history has already penned her. She stayed more than 300 consecutive weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.
Born on 14th August, 1947, in New York, to an American father and a Portuguese mother, Steel spent much of her childhood in France, where she started writing poems and short stories as early as nine. She later studied literature, design and fashion after passing out of Lycée Français high school in New York.
Today, she is rich, popular and powerful, but absurdly, she is a shy person and hardly grants interviews. However, she opened up to AfricaNews. Excerpts of her interview below:
AfricaNews (A.N): Are you a writer or a storyteller?
Danielle Steel (D.S): I’m a storyteller.
A.N: Is there any difference?
D.S: Yea! A writer writes, a storyteller tells (laugh).
A.N: But you don’t tell your stories orally to your audience – I mean your readers. You write them down, and so you’re a writer too.
D.S: Look, writing is generic, but storytelling is specific. A storyteller doesn’t write only what she has seen like the writer does. She writes out what’s done in her inside. I mean, a storyteller relates the life in her with passion.
A.N: From where do you get your ideas?
D.S: This is one of the hardest questions for any author to answer. A book begins with an image or a character or a situation that I care about deeply. Over weeks and months – it’s a long process – I take notes and write scenes and become immersed in this world. At a point, ideas begin bubbling up almost of their own accord. The world gradually takes shape, the characters become real, and suddenly, I’m a bystander in the unfolding drama!
A.N: Are your books based on real people and on your own life?
D.S: Never on real people, and virtually never on my own life. I prefer to create fiction, and not be bound by “real” people in my work.
A.N: Your first novel, “Going Home”, was written in 1973 while you were just 19, how did you manage to get it published?
D.S: The usual way – through series of rejections, revising and trying again. Finally, I was fortunate enough to find a good literary agent.
A.N: You used the word “fortunate”. Does a writer compulsorily need luck to get her book published, even if she’s highly talented?
D.S: What a question! Listen; there are always many new writers out there – so talented, so innovative. And therefore, as a newcomer, you just kind of stand in need of some divine grace to meet an agent / a publisher who would throw her faith on the potentiality of your work and give it a chance.
A.N: Throwing faith on your work means belting on your manuscript that it will somehow do well in sales, right?
D.S: Exactly
A.N: Then, can we say writing career is a risky adventure?
D.S: Well, vaguely risky if you abandon every other life’s pursuit for it. But, I’d advise new writers to write out of passion first of all, before the pay.
A.N: How long does it take you to write a book?
D.S.: From the beginning to end, the entire process takes about two and a half years.
A.N: But how come you’re able to produce two to three books per year? For example, in 1978 you published two books; in 1980, three; in 1981, three again; 2008, three; and two are already announced for 2009.
D.S: See, I’ve developed the ability of juggling through five projects at a time. While carrying out research for one book, I’m writing the outline for another. And at same time, I continue writing the one in hand as I edit two others already written.
A.N: With this kind of schedule, how do you manage to have time for your family – your big family?
D.S: (Laugh) It’s a hard one – very hard. I don’t sleep! My kids are more precious to me than anything. So, I’m with them all day, and I write all night.
A.N: We’ve never seen a sequel to any of your books, and why?
D.S: No, I never do sequels. They’re an invitation to unfavourable comparison, and I’ve got too many new stories to tell!
A.N: Who is your favourite author and what is your favourite book?
D.S: Well, I always go back to the classics. I love French literature. Colette is a special favourite of mine. But at the moment, I’m enjoying John Grisham’s books quite a bit.
A.N: What’s your favourite book you’ve written?
D.S: This always changes. It’s often the last book I’ve written, just because I become so involved in it. But right now, MESSAGE FROM NAM, FIVE DAYS IN PARIS and KALEIDOSCOPE stand out.
A.N: I understand you’re a great lover of pets. What kind of pets do you have?
D.S: I’ve got five miniature Brussel Griffon dogs, one rabbit, one parakeet, and a Vietnamese pot-bellied dog named Coco. What a zoo!
A.N: In September 1997, your son, Nick Traina, who was the lead vocal of Link 80, committed suicide. And you immediately converted this loss and pain into a non-fiction book titled, HIS BRIGHT LIGHT. Was it to efface the bad experience or to honour his memory?
D.S: To honour his memory. See, he was suffering from an indisposition called bipolar disorder. All what happened to him wasn’t really his fault.
A.N: Can we say writing is another weapon for suppressing, converting or depleting ugly memories?
D.S: I think it’s a great weapon for that. The process elevates you to another plain that tends to make you stop weeping, and instead, you turn active and lively, creating characters that are passing through same experience. And rather than crying yourself, you assume the role of inventing scenes and situations that comfort your bereaving characters. Good one!
A.N: As a woman who has seen the good and the bad sides of marriage and family, how would you counsel the ideal woman?
D.S: Look, life is an open game; anything can happen. Never be too sure of yourself or anyone. Understand and believe what’s dear to your heart, and strive to protect it. Look, happiness is not perpetual. There’d be rough times, but never let yourself to be swept away.
A.N: I know you’ve never lived in Africa, but I believe you know the African Woman, a piece of advice?
D.S: Yeah! The African woman would be more productive if she had a broader freedom and a stronger independence.
A.N: Are you saying they are not free?
D.S: Not necessarily. But I believe she would dominate more if she’s fully emancipated.
A.N: Who or what would she dominate if she was fully emancipated – her husband or her society?
D.S: Her society.
A.N: How would you interpret the current global economic crisis? Is it another fiction or a painful reality?
D.S: A painful reality. I wish it was only a fiction. There are so many sufferings around the world today – loss of jobs, bankruptcies, etc. I wish we were better off. Well, I’m somehow tempted to be realist about this all. But truly, we have just one choice, and that’s hope. We must remain hopeful. This is not the first time the world is experiencing this. If people had come out of it before, we can still do. As the governments play their role, we individuals need to play ours. Everybody has to do something to solve these problems. Either by cutting personal spending or giving a helping hand to a neighbour, or even giving counsels – lets’ act.
A.N: Barack Obama is the new president and he’s becoming the world’s strongest man. What are your sentiments?
D.S: Wow, it’s a great, great, great event. Everybody seems to be happy. Well, I just hope this would bring about the real change people across the globe are hungry for – change in America, change in Europe, in the Middle East, in Africa, etc.
A.N: In 2002, you were decorated by the French government as a “Chevalier” of the Order of Arts and Letters (Chevalier de l’order des Arts et des Lettres) for your contribution to world culture. Was it an enough recompense for a 36-year career?
D.S: More than enough.
A.N: In 2006, you launched a perfume called “Danielle by Danielle Steel” with Elizabeth Arden, and then you went further to say it wasn’t a business venture. What is it for then?
D.S: It’s a perfume specially made for my readers. I wanted them to feel what my characters express in my books, which ere engagement, love and emotion.
A.N: How can a perfume do this?
D.S: Danielle perfume is a mixture of mandarin, jasmine, orchid, rose and musk. These fragrances are somehow feminine and masculine. They appeal usually, to the human sensibility and sensuousness.
A.N: And that’s why Danielle is sold only in selected stores?
D.S: Yeah, stores where my readers go to shop.
A.N: How long will you keep writing?
D.S: Until I drop.
Click for more about Steel
World renowned novelist Danielle Steel granted audience to AfricaNews over the weekend on wide ranging issues. The author of the over 60 books of 570 million copies worldwide spoke about her career, the ideal woman, the African woman, the global economic crisis and the election of Barack Obama.
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