![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vivienTerry Pratchett at the Tattered Cover bookstore
Terry came onstage dressed in black with a fine black hat. He is a very amiable gentleman, gray haired and gray bearded. He started off by talking about how nice it was to finish a book and how sad it was to finish a book at the same time. He told some funny stories about how you finished books in the old days – you took about a day to print everything out on the old fashioned printers, another half day tearing off the strips on the side of the old printer paper, and a little longer collating it and getting ready to send it in. Now you just press send “and your life is torn apart.” He always has a stockpile of ideas jotted down ready to go to start a new book as soon as the old one is done.
“No one has enough bookshelf space. I don’t want to talk to you if you do.” He’s having a library addition added to his office and expects it to be filled in nine months. He’s also had an observatory built in his backyard. He has a robot vacuum that he brought out to clean the observatory – he said it was a sci fi dream come true.
There are two more Discworld novels coming up – an adult and a children’s. Night Watch, The Wee Three Men, and Monstrous Regiments are the books he’s had the most fun reading.
He made mention of how dull his life is. He’s been married to the same woman for 34 years. Everyone clapped and he said, “No no no, why applaud inertia?” That got a big laugh.
I didn’t realize that he really used to be a publicist for nuclear power plants. He started writing the Discworld series then – “Life was so exciting (at work) that I’d come home frenetic and write 2,000 words just to come down.”
He talked a little about Good Omens with Neil Gaiman. He said that tour was fun because someone else was on it with him. He answered a question about writing Good Omens. Neil was a journalist who interviewed him. They hit it off, and Neil sent him this short story that didn’t have an ending. Terry wrote back that he didn’t know how it ended but he knew how it continued. They’d send computer discs with the new stuff they’d written back and forth to each other since email at that time was so difficult and slow. They wrote it for fun, and they’ll never do it again. He said, “The sequel we will never write will be much better than the one we tried to write.” When asked what it was like working with Neil, he said, “When I was working with him, he wasn’t Neil Gaiman.” They still chat occasionally.
He said his favorite characters were Granny Weatherwax and Commander Vimes. He recommended Mort, The Truth, and Weird Sisters as good books to start reading about Discworld. Not the first book, he advised.
I got to ask the last question. I was sitting on the aisle towards the back and wearing a purple shirt so when he recognized me, he said ‘One from the lady in ship’s counselor’s colors” which I thought was funny. I asked what led him into Discworld, was it a specific image or incident? He said that was an excellent question to end the session. Apparently he’s a big sci-fi/fantasy fan from way back and in the early 80’s fantasy had gotten very derivative and boring. The writers had been “influenced by the people who’d been influenced by the people who’d been influenced by the people who’d been influenced by Tolkein.” He wanted to have fun with fantasy, to make it more than wizards and trolls. He said he was taking the ridiculous seriously. And then by the time he wrote Mort he discovered plot. And then he was off and running.
He ended his speaking with an anecdote about going to Australia, driving out to Ayers Rock and beyond to look at the stars. And discovering that “there were too damn many of them” to find the constellations. He finally was able to see Orion, which boggled his mind until he realized that sometimes Orion can’t be seen in the Northern Hemisphere because it dips below the horizon. He also realized that Orion was upside down and had a feeling of disorientation where he grabbed the car to keep from falling upwards. He tries to keep that sense of wonder and unbalance with him always.
He signed my copy of Good Omens and wrote “Burn this book” which I hope was a joke. He wasn’t very talkative during the signing but I was back in the line, so I imagine he was getting tired by then. But he was only supposed to write “To so and so” and sign, so I thought it was cool he wrote a bit more.
So it was a really neat experience, and I am really excited about reading more of the Dsicworld series.
Terry came onstage dressed in black with a fine black hat. He is a very amiable gentleman, gray haired and gray bearded. He started off by talking about how nice it was to finish a book and how sad it was to finish a book at the same time. He told some funny stories about how you finished books in the old days – you took about a day to print everything out on the old fashioned printers, another half day tearing off the strips on the side of the old printer paper, and a little longer collating it and getting ready to send it in. Now you just press send “and your life is torn apart.” He always has a stockpile of ideas jotted down ready to go to start a new book as soon as the old one is done.
“No one has enough bookshelf space. I don’t want to talk to you if you do.” He’s having a library addition added to his office and expects it to be filled in nine months. He’s also had an observatory built in his backyard. He has a robot vacuum that he brought out to clean the observatory – he said it was a sci fi dream come true.
There are two more Discworld novels coming up – an adult and a children’s. Night Watch, The Wee Three Men, and Monstrous Regiments are the books he’s had the most fun reading.
He made mention of how dull his life is. He’s been married to the same woman for 34 years. Everyone clapped and he said, “No no no, why applaud inertia?” That got a big laugh.
I didn’t realize that he really used to be a publicist for nuclear power plants. He started writing the Discworld series then – “Life was so exciting (at work) that I’d come home frenetic and write 2,000 words just to come down.”
He talked a little about Good Omens with Neil Gaiman. He said that tour was fun because someone else was on it with him. He answered a question about writing Good Omens. Neil was a journalist who interviewed him. They hit it off, and Neil sent him this short story that didn’t have an ending. Terry wrote back that he didn’t know how it ended but he knew how it continued. They’d send computer discs with the new stuff they’d written back and forth to each other since email at that time was so difficult and slow. They wrote it for fun, and they’ll never do it again. He said, “The sequel we will never write will be much better than the one we tried to write.” When asked what it was like working with Neil, he said, “When I was working with him, he wasn’t Neil Gaiman.” They still chat occasionally.
He said his favorite characters were Granny Weatherwax and Commander Vimes. He recommended Mort, The Truth, and Weird Sisters as good books to start reading about Discworld. Not the first book, he advised.
I got to ask the last question. I was sitting on the aisle towards the back and wearing a purple shirt so when he recognized me, he said ‘One from the lady in ship’s counselor’s colors” which I thought was funny. I asked what led him into Discworld, was it a specific image or incident? He said that was an excellent question to end the session. Apparently he’s a big sci-fi/fantasy fan from way back and in the early 80’s fantasy had gotten very derivative and boring. The writers had been “influenced by the people who’d been influenced by the people who’d been influenced by the people who’d been influenced by Tolkein.” He wanted to have fun with fantasy, to make it more than wizards and trolls. He said he was taking the ridiculous seriously. And then by the time he wrote Mort he discovered plot. And then he was off and running.
He ended his speaking with an anecdote about going to Australia, driving out to Ayers Rock and beyond to look at the stars. And discovering that “there were too damn many of them” to find the constellations. He finally was able to see Orion, which boggled his mind until he realized that sometimes Orion can’t be seen in the Northern Hemisphere because it dips below the horizon. He also realized that Orion was upside down and had a feeling of disorientation where he grabbed the car to keep from falling upwards. He tries to keep that sense of wonder and unbalance with him always.
He signed my copy of Good Omens and wrote “Burn this book” which I hope was a joke. He wasn’t very talkative during the signing but I was back in the line, so I imagine he was getting tired by then. But he was only supposed to write “To so and so” and sign, so I thought it was cool he wrote a bit more.
So it was a really neat experience, and I am really excited about reading more of the Dsicworld series.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-10-05 08:14 pm (UTC)My husband's copy is signed by Neil Gaiman, and it says: "Reading this book will send you to Hell. P.S. See you there. I'll be in the bar." Born jokers, those two. :)
Anyway, sounds like a fun event! And how cool to be able to ask a question ...
no subject
Date: 2003-10-05 08:51 pm (UTC)I've decided my calling just might be to ask celebrities questions at Q&A's. I asked Michael Rosenbaum (Lex on Smallville)one that got the funniest story this year at a sci fi con. I plan on using my powers only for good ;)
no subject
Date: 2003-10-06 03:34 am (UTC)Wish I had of been there. I thought your question was a great one to.