Ask the Author: Burt Boyar
Answered Questions (6)
Burt Boyar
My most recent book , LOW SOCIETY, iis a compilation of satirical Sunday pieces writtten in the 50s and 60s when I was a Broadway columnist plus writing a weekly column for TV GUIDE. Those were the days of café society and I used to make fun of the many characters of which it was composed; debutantes, phoney free-loaders, press agents, playboys, TV network owners, night club comics and Hollywood starlets.
A screen writer friend with whom I was collaborating on a movie script of YES I CAN, my first book that my wife and I wrote with Sammy Davis, Jr.
happened to read toser old columns and said they would make a great TV series because they were funny and "inside" and took place in the same era as MAD MEN. So, I thought that it would be easier to sell if it were a book first. So I selected around ten of those columns and self-published with CreateSpace.
A screen writer friend with whom I was collaborating on a movie script of YES I CAN, my first book that my wife and I wrote with Sammy Davis, Jr.
happened to read toser old columns and said they would make a great TV series because they were funny and "inside" and took place in the same era as MAD MEN. So, I thought that it would be easier to sell if it were a book first. So I selected around ten of those columns and self-published with CreateSpace.
Burt Boyar
My first book, YES I CAN, the autobiography of Sammy Davis, Jr. was inspired by the feeling that people need to know what racism is. When my wife and I took him to the "chic" and snobby supper club, El Morocco, and he was treated badly despite being the star of a Broadway show, despite the fact that the other customers were thrilled to see him and the dance band immediately began playing all of his songs, and still the management could not handle the idea of a man with dark skin (and no turban) was among the patrons, despite his perfect manners, and immaculate, elegant clothing they still didn't "get it". So, I took a one year leave of absence from the syndicated Broadway column I was writing and my dear late wife, Jane, and I spent the next six years to créate what became a huge comercial and critical success. And the big payoff was the letters from readers, like one from a girl in Texasz wbo said she was just beginning to teach Third Grade and was now going to approach it with a whole new mind-set.
Burt Boyar
A book about an Iranian woman who married a Saudi. And their divorce. The cultural differences even between those two countries are incredible. We hear only (excuse me) the tip of the iceberg.
Burt Boyar
Sit down at your typewriter or computer and DO IT. As Picasso said about painting, "The work is the thing. Do it, do it, do it."
Burt Boyar
I work at home, never get caught in traffic jams and I can do it night and day or both when I'm excited about a project.
Burt Boyar
I don't believe in writers' block. Once I get involved with characters and their lives it just keeps coming until I am too tired to continue until tomorrow. That applies to my novels as well as biographies. I hope this is not holier-than-thou but writing books is work. It's fun work but work never the less and requires heavy concentration and determined application for as many hours a day as you can physically and mentally handle.
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more