Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born on 15 September 1890 in Torquay, Devon into a

middle class family. She was homeschooled by her American father. Her mother didn’t want
her to learn how to read until she was 8 but Agatha taught herself how to read at the age of
5. She started writing poems when she was just a child. After her father passed away she and
her mother had some financial issues but they figured a way out and Agatha started to take
singing and piano lessons. She chose not to become a pianist because she was too shy.
When she turned 18 she started writing short stories which were published in several places
in the 1930s. Agatha Cristie started writing detective stories during the World War 1.

She spent most of her times with her imaginary friends that’s why she had a rare
imagination which lead her to create such amazing stories. She waşs that she had no
ambition to become a writer. After she was diagnosed with the influenza disease she started
to spend her time in bed writing stories. She was writin poems but she first started writing
detective stories because of the bet she had with her sister. She was described as a person
who listened more than she talked, who saw more than she was seen. “Agatha Christie
wrote about the world she knew and saw, drawing on the military gentlemen, lords and
ladies, spinsters, widows and doctors of her family’s circle of friends and acquaintances. She
was a natural observer and her descriptions of village politics, local rivalries and family
jealousies are often painfully accurate.” ("How Christie Wrote").

She used the things she saw in her daily for her plots as well. In her second book “The Secret
Adversary” she got inspired from a talk she overheard in a tea shop. She kept a note of
everything that made her think of a potential plot. She said “I usually have about half a
dozen (notebooks) on hand and I used to make notes in them of ideas that struck me, or
about some poison or drug, or a clever little bit of swindling that I had read about in the
paper”.  She was never like the other authors. She just kept a note of all the clues and plots.
Her son-in-law Anthony Hicks once said: “You never saw her writing”, she never “shut
herself away, like other writers do.”

What standed out in her writings was the characters she created. Two of the well-known
characters she created are Hercule Pairot and Miss Marple.

“To avoid stagnation, Agatha developed a habit of writing more than one book at a time.”
(Jobs et al.) She used a simple language that every reader could understand.

And Then There Were None is Christie’s most selling novel which sold over 100 million copies. It was
first published in 6 November 1939 with the name “Ten Little Niggers” but it was later on changed to
“And Then There Were None”. The novel is set on 8 August in the late 1930’s. The novel takes place
in an isolated island off the Devon coast named “The Soldier Island”. There is a luxurious modern
house in the island and that’s the place where all the guests stay.

"About Index". Agathachristie.Com, 2018, https://www.agathachristie.com/about-christie. Accessed 15

Dec 2018.
Jobs, Writing et al. "The Writing Style Of Agatha Christie | Freelancewriting". Freelancewriting, 2018,
https://www.freelancewriting.com/creative-writing/the-writing-style-of-agatha-christie/. Accessed 22
Dec 2018.
“Ten little Indian boys went out to dine; One choked his little self and then there were nine.
Nine little Indian boys sat up very late; One overslept himself and then there were eight.
Eight little Indian boys travelling in Devon; One said he'd stay there and then there were seven.
Seven little Indian boys chopping up sticks; One chopped himself in halves and then there were
six. 
Six little Indian boys playing with a hive; A bumblebee stung one and then there were five.
Five little Indian boys going in for law; One got in Chancery and then there were four.
Four little Indian boys going out to sea; A red herring swallowed one and then there were three. 
Three little Indian boys walking in the Zoo; A big bear hugged one and then there were two.
Two little Indian boys sitting in the sun; One got frizzled up and then there was one.
One little Indian boy left all alone; He went and hanged himself and then there were none.” 

Plots come to me at such odd moments, when I am walking along the

street, or examining a hat shop...suddenly a splendid idea comes into my
head. 
Agatha Christie