Earthy, he says, and millions read him

Press, 23 November 1976, Page 2

Earthy, he says, and millions read him

Wilbur Smith, a South African and Africa’s bestselling novelist, describes his writing a disease — a strange sort of disease, coming regularly in January or February each year and forcing him to sit down and write for up to nine months until a novel is complete. He has been enormously successful in the 13 years that he has been writing his popular novels. The first was a disaster — rejected by about 15 different publishers — but they have been bestsellers ever since.

When the paper back version of “Eagle in the Sky” was released in America recently it sold a million copies in four months. It took nine years for Wilbur Smith to sell a million books; now he is selling two to three million a year. He is in New Zealand as part of a promotional tour, something he, has refused to undertake in the past. With him is his well-groomed wife. Dee. Sitting in their suite at the Chateau Commodore yesterday, the Smiths might have been a Couple of soberly well-dressed business people. In fact, he has a degree in commerce, and worked at that before writing began to pay. After the disaster of his first novel Wilbur Smith went back to commerce for a year, but still managed to write “When the Lion Feeds.”

This time it was rapid success. Within a week of posting his manuscript he had it accpeted by William Heinemann.

A week after the publisher accepted the novel, he was told that "Readers’ Digest” had accepted it for condensation, and the next week was told that the film rights had been sold. At that, he quit commerce. When sales of “The Lion Feeds” stood at about 6000 in South Africa, someone

complained to the Board of Censors that, the book was obscene, and it was banned. The author and publishers took the matter to court and won; but the board appealled and the ban was reinforced. Immediately, his second book, “The Dark of the Sun” was also banned.

The bans stayed in force until they were lifted just this year. “It gives me great hope that South Africa, in its covered wagons, is cautiously approaching the twentieth century,” said Mr Smith yesterday. He writes a book a year now, sitting down to it punctually every January or February. He starts at 8 a.m. and works through until about 1 p.m. He writes always in longhand. “It gives me time to think as I write.”

Each year he has a new hard-cover title published and the soft-cover version of the previous year’s new book. He now sells 50 per cent more books in South Africa than did lan Fleming at the peak of the James Bond craze.

At the end of a book he feels drained: “I sit there like a victim of a car crash, and decide never to write another book.” He takes time off, frequently spending it in the outback of South Africa, looking for animals, or the nesting place of rare birds. After three months or so he is back at his desk. His wife sets up a stable environment and he goes about his task methodically, with a plan of his book worked out. He describes his writing as turning on a camera in his head and writing down what the people say. His wife is a constant help. They both do research before the book starts, but she copes with the little bits and pieces that crop up along the way. Before “Eagle in the Sky” they had three months in Israel, where they spent a lot of time with squadrons of pilots, and both “flew” Mirage jet simulators. His wife reads voraciously and he values her advice while writing. She gives the novel “preliminary edit” and also acts as an arbiter of good taste: "Though I do not write pom, I do get earthy at times.” Wilbur Smith does not consider that he has any insights to convey to hte readers: "I am just a person who has a way with words,” he says. He does not talk about being a great artist, but knows that he is a successful author. A collection of his books has recently been Cublished in a one-volume ard-cover version. It is one of several such collections published simultaneously throughout the world. Others in the series include D. H. Lawrence, Somerset Maughan, and Franz Kafka (the last of whom has done surprisingly well). “It is nice to know that you are in the first team — even if you are playing eleventh man,” says Wilbur Smith.