SHELF LIFE
The author, journalist and Classic FM presenter shares the five books that shaped him as a writer
JOHN SUCHET
‘Mozart - The Man Revealed has just been published in paperback. I had previously written Beethoven – The Man Revealed and The Last Waltz – The Strauss Dynasty and Vienna. My boss at Classic FM said he’d like me to write a biography of Mozart. “But there are so many books about Mozart already,” I protested. “Yes but none of them have been read by my Mum,” he replied. That is how Mozart – The Man Revealed came about.
‘I wrote all five composer biographies while presenting the morning show on Classic FM each weekday morning from 9am to 1pm. I would then get home, have a light lunch, and write for four or five hours until mid-evening. It nearly killed me. I am naturally a morning person. I would rather get up at 5am and write, than do it in the afternoon/ evening. I now present an evening show on Classic FM – perfect opportunity for another composer biography, but not until I’ve enjoyed a nice lengthy respite from the laptop and the research.
‘Scratch a journalist and they’ll tell you that one day they’ll write the great novel that’s inside them. I’m no exception, except that it turned out to be composer biographies, and they didn’t come along until I was in my sixties. That was when some advice I once read from a writer (can’t remember who) came into its own. Set a deadline, work out how many words you need to write a day, and stick to it. Leonard Bernstein put it perfectly: To be creative you need an idea and not quite enough time.