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shadowkatWorth watching or listening to: Tim Ferris Interview with Neil Gaiman -- he discusses among other things the little known fact that Ian Fleming hated writing, but was a great plotter and gave Ronald Dalh two of his best plots and Gaiman even tells us the plots.
1. Apparently at 15 he started a Magazine where he interviewed writers and artists.
He interviewed Michael Moorcock, when he was 15.
The second interview was with Roger Dean, who did the covers of Yes albums. (He didn't like the music (I agree, I don't either, forgettable -- brother was into it) but loved the album covers (also agree the album covers were better than the music.). He loved his book. They interviewed him -- and then discovered that the tape wasn't going round at the end of it. And the interview was screwed. (30 seconds talking, then higher, higher, faster, faster as chipmunks.)
Then 7 years, later he really was interviewing people. Learned from the Roger Dean Interview, to always carry spare tapes, spare micro-recorder. So now, he makes sure he has spares at all times. And back ups, when he does interviews.
Gaiman's fascinating due to his fascination with other writers and other artists. He's curious about what others do and how they do it.
He read an article by Ian Fleming in 1987 -- about how he wrote the James Bond Books, and through the article, he began to realize that Ian Fleming really didn't enjoy the process of writing at all. (That actually explains a lot, and why his books were so thin but so well-plotted.) Apparently Ian Fleming gave Dahl the two best short story plot twists. He also plotted a lot of Ronald Dahl's stories. (I can see that -- Chitty Chitty Bang Bang...reads like a Ronald Dahl story.)
2. Gaiman gets across how hard it is to write. He talks about his rules -- which is you have permission to not write, but no permission to do anything else. He devotes himself to writing. And will lock himself in a room. And isn't permitted to do anything else. He either stares into space or writes.
Writing isn't easy. But people do it differently. I steal time to write. At lunch, at home, at night, during weekends, on the subway, on the train. I don't have the luxury to do what Gaiman does. I'm not paid to write.
Although, I do the same thing he does -- which is write in notebooks (but cheap five star ringed college ruled notebooks) and then type it in. Works well. And I play with pens...although not fountain pens (too bleeding expensive). (I don't have Neil's money.) And my handwriting is hard enough to read, without being spiderly.
"Anything you can do can be fixed, what you can't fix is the blankness of a blank page. If you don't write anything on it...it will remain blank."
Interesting.
3. He does talk about how hard it was getting started -- and how he began on a manual typewriter...and with the money from first book, bought an electric. And the joy of getting the first computer. And the liberation that nothing mattered until he pressed print. Then he went back to writing in notebooks and with fountain pens.
He was told "Caroline" was un-publishable. He wrote it for his kids. (See? Acquisitions Editors are the root of all evil!!! Although this is very reassuring.)
He was at Avon and it got bought by HarperCollins. The children's publishers wouldn't but the adult did. (He was stuck with American Gods and finished Caroline first...American Gods was 17 months and counting. And publisher wanted American Gods first not Caroline.)
Now that he's older...he's having trouble jumping from book to book, or writing more than one book at a time. He's getting less done. And he's no longer doing the thing of getting stuck on A, jumping to D, or E...now, he groans, and makes a cup of tea and plays with his son. He's realizing just one thing at a time. That he has to pull back a bit. He says, you need to know thyself and be kind to oneself -- to give yourself permission. No one "should" write, write because you have decided to write.
4. He was a late night writer -- a real late night writer. So am I. Unfortunately.
He was that way in his early 20s. I gave up smoking and coffee in 1993. And couldn't write late at night any longer -- and discovered somewhere around 1 AM - 4Am, wake up with three thousand pages of the letter m.
He said writing works best as a novelist if you relive the same day over and over again. Do the same thing over and over again. Same routine. Get up, jog, yoga, get dressed, go to cafe with tea and write in a corner. And several months later had Ocean at the End of the Lane, which was meant to be a short story anyhow..
"We need to be open to change...that sometimes we just don't it any more. Be open to that."
Neil Gaiman's secret? Is he is kind to himself. And as a result, he's kind to others. It's hard to be kind to oneself sometimes, I think. He knows his limitations, what he needs to do, and he doesn't overindulge.
5. Where Ideas Come From..
You get ideas from asking yourself simple questions. (That's how I get them. But also I observe things and get curious...about how people would do things and why, and the tricky emotions behind them. )
Where did The Graveyard Book come from?
"What would it be like to be brought up by dead people?" And he got the idea from looking at a cool old house next to the graveyard.
Wrote a few pages. Then misplaced it. Found it years later. And it wasn't very good.
Great portrait of the boy -- who reminded him of his older son. But the story didn't work -- yet, there was a central idea there. And he remembered thinking at the time, this is a better idea than I am a writer. Then a decade later, he tried it again. But he realized, still not good enough yet. Can't quite make it work. So put it aside. But he knew it had legs. He even kind of gave the idea to Terry Prachett -- who did a riff off of it, but not enough to make it so Neil couldn't do the story.
Then he finished Anasi Boys, and realized that he's not getting any better -- and has no excuse to put it off.
He decided to do something different this round. Instead of starting in Chapter 1, like he did the last two times, he started right in the middle of the book. And his daughter came up to him and asked him to read it to her...and he did, and she asked "what happens next" and he kept going. And after he finished, he went back to the beginning and started it -- now that he had the characters and the outline of the story.
The story was loving, about growth, families, but the first few pages will be absolutely terrifying.
6. Terry Prachett and Good Omens
(Americans (who aren't on my flist) are less familiar than they should be.)
He describes him as a humorist and satirist, writer and his friend.
They met when his first book came out in paperback. (They met in an Italian Restaurant not in the Chinese one he remembered, proving how bad memory can be...and often embarrassingly so.) They realized they had the same mind or overlap. They were discussing Grimoire's -- and what they'd come up with. They thought alike.
They sent each other each others books. And if writing, would call each other...and read lines back and forth, or just to talk to someone.
After writing the Companion to Hitchhiker's Guide, he realized he could write in that style. And then he got an idea reading the Jew of Malta -- and thought, hey, I could do the story with demons, along with a baby swap similar to the Omen. He wrote a bit of it, sent to friends, then lost himself in Sandman. Then several months later, Terry Prachett called him up -- that idea you sent me, well, I know what happens next. Either sell it to me or we can write it together. And from Gaiman's perspective this would be like getting to paint the ceiling with Michael D'Angelo.
So he said yes, and wrote Sandman, Books of Magic, and Good Omens at the same time.
Basically he didn't sleep. And wrote fast.
(Dear Reader? I've read all three. I liked Books best.)
They'd had a deal they would never do anything individually on it -- together or not at all. But then, one day, he called Neil and said you have to do it. And so when Neil did it -- and if it is good, it is, because he refuses to compromise on it. Because Terry Prachett in the back of his head -- because usually he's very compromising, but he had Terry telling him not to -- Terry who he felt he had to please. Terry who wanted to see it before the lights went out...and tragically died before he did it.
What a beautiful story. And inspiring.
Also Good Omens -- if you read the book, there's a lot of things for people who read it. The series is more talky than the trailer. Also Michael Sheenan and David Tennant are perfect, and interesting because often go up for the same roles and similar actors.
What he learned from Terry...you may know what happens next but not what happens next but it's okay, because you will figure it out.
GRR Martin divides writers between architects and Gardners...and Gaiman says he can be an architect, but rather be a gardner, to build and to pruin and to play and find the story as it comes.
How did Terry Prachett approach mortality? And Alztheimers?
Boldly. He had the death cocktail -- ready for it, there. But he knew Terry would never take it.
What he says at the end of the interview about Alztheimers...and Prachett and right to die...is, well, you need, REALLY need to listen to THAT. I can't reproduce it correctly here.
Terry had rear brain altzheimers, where his perceptions of space, objects, etc were completely off. His description fits my father. So well, it made me cry.
1. Apparently at 15 he started a Magazine where he interviewed writers and artists.
He interviewed Michael Moorcock, when he was 15.
The second interview was with Roger Dean, who did the covers of Yes albums. (He didn't like the music (I agree, I don't either, forgettable -- brother was into it) but loved the album covers (also agree the album covers were better than the music.). He loved his book. They interviewed him -- and then discovered that the tape wasn't going round at the end of it. And the interview was screwed. (30 seconds talking, then higher, higher, faster, faster as chipmunks.)
Then 7 years, later he really was interviewing people. Learned from the Roger Dean Interview, to always carry spare tapes, spare micro-recorder. So now, he makes sure he has spares at all times. And back ups, when he does interviews.
Gaiman's fascinating due to his fascination with other writers and other artists. He's curious about what others do and how they do it.
He read an article by Ian Fleming in 1987 -- about how he wrote the James Bond Books, and through the article, he began to realize that Ian Fleming really didn't enjoy the process of writing at all. (That actually explains a lot, and why his books were so thin but so well-plotted.) Apparently Ian Fleming gave Dahl the two best short story plot twists. He also plotted a lot of Ronald Dahl's stories. (I can see that -- Chitty Chitty Bang Bang...reads like a Ronald Dahl story.)
2. Gaiman gets across how hard it is to write. He talks about his rules -- which is you have permission to not write, but no permission to do anything else. He devotes himself to writing. And will lock himself in a room. And isn't permitted to do anything else. He either stares into space or writes.
Writing isn't easy. But people do it differently. I steal time to write. At lunch, at home, at night, during weekends, on the subway, on the train. I don't have the luxury to do what Gaiman does. I'm not paid to write.
Although, I do the same thing he does -- which is write in notebooks (but cheap five star ringed college ruled notebooks) and then type it in. Works well. And I play with pens...although not fountain pens (too bleeding expensive). (I don't have Neil's money.) And my handwriting is hard enough to read, without being spiderly.
"Anything you can do can be fixed, what you can't fix is the blankness of a blank page. If you don't write anything on it...it will remain blank."
Interesting.
3. He does talk about how hard it was getting started -- and how he began on a manual typewriter...and with the money from first book, bought an electric. And the joy of getting the first computer. And the liberation that nothing mattered until he pressed print. Then he went back to writing in notebooks and with fountain pens.
He was told "Caroline" was un-publishable. He wrote it for his kids. (See? Acquisitions Editors are the root of all evil!!! Although this is very reassuring.)
He was at Avon and it got bought by HarperCollins. The children's publishers wouldn't but the adult did. (He was stuck with American Gods and finished Caroline first...American Gods was 17 months and counting. And publisher wanted American Gods first not Caroline.)
Now that he's older...he's having trouble jumping from book to book, or writing more than one book at a time. He's getting less done. And he's no longer doing the thing of getting stuck on A, jumping to D, or E...now, he groans, and makes a cup of tea and plays with his son. He's realizing just one thing at a time. That he has to pull back a bit. He says, you need to know thyself and be kind to oneself -- to give yourself permission. No one "should" write, write because you have decided to write.
4. He was a late night writer -- a real late night writer. So am I. Unfortunately.
He was that way in his early 20s. I gave up smoking and coffee in 1993. And couldn't write late at night any longer -- and discovered somewhere around 1 AM - 4Am, wake up with three thousand pages of the letter m.
He said writing works best as a novelist if you relive the same day over and over again. Do the same thing over and over again. Same routine. Get up, jog, yoga, get dressed, go to cafe with tea and write in a corner. And several months later had Ocean at the End of the Lane, which was meant to be a short story anyhow..
"We need to be open to change...that sometimes we just don't it any more. Be open to that."
Neil Gaiman's secret? Is he is kind to himself. And as a result, he's kind to others. It's hard to be kind to oneself sometimes, I think. He knows his limitations, what he needs to do, and he doesn't overindulge.
5. Where Ideas Come From..
You get ideas from asking yourself simple questions. (That's how I get them. But also I observe things and get curious...about how people would do things and why, and the tricky emotions behind them. )
Where did The Graveyard Book come from?
"What would it be like to be brought up by dead people?" And he got the idea from looking at a cool old house next to the graveyard.
Wrote a few pages. Then misplaced it. Found it years later. And it wasn't very good.
Great portrait of the boy -- who reminded him of his older son. But the story didn't work -- yet, there was a central idea there. And he remembered thinking at the time, this is a better idea than I am a writer. Then a decade later, he tried it again. But he realized, still not good enough yet. Can't quite make it work. So put it aside. But he knew it had legs. He even kind of gave the idea to Terry Prachett -- who did a riff off of it, but not enough to make it so Neil couldn't do the story.
Then he finished Anasi Boys, and realized that he's not getting any better -- and has no excuse to put it off.
He decided to do something different this round. Instead of starting in Chapter 1, like he did the last two times, he started right in the middle of the book. And his daughter came up to him and asked him to read it to her...and he did, and she asked "what happens next" and he kept going. And after he finished, he went back to the beginning and started it -- now that he had the characters and the outline of the story.
The story was loving, about growth, families, but the first few pages will be absolutely terrifying.
6. Terry Prachett and Good Omens
(Americans (who aren't on my flist) are less familiar than they should be.)
He describes him as a humorist and satirist, writer and his friend.
They met when his first book came out in paperback. (They met in an Italian Restaurant not in the Chinese one he remembered, proving how bad memory can be...and often embarrassingly so.) They realized they had the same mind or overlap. They were discussing Grimoire's -- and what they'd come up with. They thought alike.
They sent each other each others books. And if writing, would call each other...and read lines back and forth, or just to talk to someone.
After writing the Companion to Hitchhiker's Guide, he realized he could write in that style. And then he got an idea reading the Jew of Malta -- and thought, hey, I could do the story with demons, along with a baby swap similar to the Omen. He wrote a bit of it, sent to friends, then lost himself in Sandman. Then several months later, Terry Prachett called him up -- that idea you sent me, well, I know what happens next. Either sell it to me or we can write it together. And from Gaiman's perspective this would be like getting to paint the ceiling with Michael D'Angelo.
So he said yes, and wrote Sandman, Books of Magic, and Good Omens at the same time.
Basically he didn't sleep. And wrote fast.
(Dear Reader? I've read all three. I liked Books best.)
They'd had a deal they would never do anything individually on it -- together or not at all. But then, one day, he called Neil and said you have to do it. And so when Neil did it -- and if it is good, it is, because he refuses to compromise on it. Because Terry Prachett in the back of his head -- because usually he's very compromising, but he had Terry telling him not to -- Terry who he felt he had to please. Terry who wanted to see it before the lights went out...and tragically died before he did it.
What a beautiful story. And inspiring.
Also Good Omens -- if you read the book, there's a lot of things for people who read it. The series is more talky than the trailer. Also Michael Sheenan and David Tennant are perfect, and interesting because often go up for the same roles and similar actors.
What he learned from Terry...you may know what happens next but not what happens next but it's okay, because you will figure it out.
GRR Martin divides writers between architects and Gardners...and Gaiman says he can be an architect, but rather be a gardner, to build and to pruin and to play and find the story as it comes.
How did Terry Prachett approach mortality? And Alztheimers?
Boldly. He had the death cocktail -- ready for it, there. But he knew Terry would never take it.
What he says at the end of the interview about Alztheimers...and Prachett and right to die...is, well, you need, REALLY need to listen to THAT. I can't reproduce it correctly here.
Terry had rear brain altzheimers, where his perceptions of space, objects, etc were completely off. His description fits my father. So well, it made me cry.