Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Martha,

Well, I don't mind being compared to any writer, provided it's a
reasonably positive comparison. It's a free country.  But from the
point of view of the author, this is a game played by other people. 
There was a vogue of comparing me to Wodehouse, which I found
embarrassing and a little silly. I like Dickins, Chesterton and Twain,
who were popular, wrote well and had a journalist's instinct for their
audience (and didn't equate 'popular' with 'bad'.) But I don't think
I'm *like* them.

Terry

I don't think I have a lot of talent, either, but I know how to make a
small amount work hard!

Terry
  

    
Dodge,

Death turned up in TCoM entirely because I wanted to do a take on the
'Appointment in Samara' story.  And then he never went away.

This is what I was saying earlier.  I don't think I could have
*planned* the DW Death years ago.  Things evolve...as in ToT, where the
Horsemen realise that they too are part of mankind, because they had
human shape 'wished' upon them and thus developed human perspectives
and concerns.  All that fits in with what passes for DW philosophy
*and* with what was going on elswhere in the book, but at the start of
draft 0 I didn't realise that's how it was going to go.

Stuff like that develops as you work an idea.  I don't think I could
plan everything on file cards.  I know some authors *do* work like
that, but I don't know how.  Really.  Would you believe that I made up
Ronnie Soak's name merely because it sounded a good name for a DW
character, and didn't know *which* Horseman he was going to be until Lu
Tze saw the name reflected in a window?  I just sat and stared at the
wall when that happened!  

Terry 
  

    
I believe!

I must have misunderstood Rincewind -- I thought he said you could
only use a spell once.  What a marblemouth.
  

    
If you take anything Rincewind has to say about magic seriously, you're
making a big and basic mistake.
  

    
It's been a long time since I read any of the Ricewind books - though
he's my favorite DW character -  but if I recall correctly 'only once'
referred to that one special spell that had lodged itself in his brain
and was protecting him though his adventures.

I've really enjoyed Agness' inclusion in the witch books.  Do you have
anything else on the horizon focusing on her? 
  

    
Valerie,

I've got this problem.  I can't write weak women very well. They
always end up somewhere between 'sensible organizer' and 'godawful
termagant'.  Even Malicia Grim in Maurice, while completely irrational
in the way she approaches life, does it in a loud, demanding way.  And
even Magrat, as soppy as they come, is capable of doing serious damage
when caught in a corner.

The only hope I have for Agnes is that being in two minds about
everything might slow her down.  I think she's more rounded than
Magrat, simply because of this 'flaw'.

You're right about the Great Spells, btw.

Terry
  

    
Oh, I don't know.  I think you disparage yourself unduly.  Granny
Weatherwax is one of the all-time great characters in any fiction,
to my mind.  I've seldom met a character that was so real, to me,
and almost never one that was as powerful in my imagination.
Maybe it's my belief that she'd work as a character in almost
any setting, and the fact that she lives in Lancre is just where
she happens to be right now, and not that important to *her*, 
where the other characters would be pretty much fish out of water
anywhere but Discworld.  That's a part of it, anyhow.  But I'd have 
to devote PhD-thesis amounts of thought to explain just exactly what
I think about Granny Weatherwax and why, so I probably won't.

I originally wanted to come here with questions about Granny, but just
couldn't think of any that were at all important.  Take that as a
compliment, if you will - that's certainly how it's meant.
  

    
I really didn't become a fan until you began writing
about Carrot and Nobbie and the rest of the Watch. I read
the earlier DW books, but you had a lot of competition.
Then.
Now, you top the very short list of authors I buy in
hardback, automatically.

Favorite so far? Guards! Guards!
I never liked cities much, in person, but YOUR city is a
delight to visit.

Thanks for ToT and the insight on the powers of chocolate.
It helps me understand my wife...
  

    
Mike Farren...

Thanks, but you bear out my point.  Granny is a great character to
write for, but she's also tough, in her way.  Agnes is about the
'weakest' female I've written, and she's still pretty forthright.  And
then look at Sacharissa, in The Truth -- weak and middle-class at the
start, ends up pointing bows at people and saying 'ing.'  Sooner of
later, my women always take over!

Terry 
  

    
Mike Tassano...

Thanks.  The next full-length DW novel is a Watch book -- but no quite
in the way you'd think...

Terry
  

    
Well, we need more strong female characters who are still women. So
few authors seem to be able to develop them.

Even Jean is somewhat strong in the end (albeit insane) as she, of all
the auditors to take human form, learned to care and fight for what
she felt was right.

I was very amused to see Susan teaching class since at the end of
Hogfather, Death specifically asked her if she planned to teach on a
larger scale and seemed relieved she'd no plans to. What a fortunate
bunch of children though! 

Did you model Susan after some teacher you had or did she come
whole-cloth from your imagination?
  

    
Dodge,

I remembered Susan saying that education was like a sexually
transmitted disease -- 'it made you unsuitable for a lot of jobs and
you had the urge to pass it on.' I am vaguely planning a distant next
book and, yes, she's still in teaching.

Like teachers I knew?  I wish! Obviously there are some classroom
recollections there, but as far as I know she's mostly made up.
Teachers have reacted to her in various ways -- some disapprovingly,
but most with sneaking admiration.

Terry
  

    
Weak women: Nanny Ogg's daughters-in-law.  Would love to know
more about these oppressed creatures and their sniveling
thought processes and...  a *little* more.
  

    
Susan: Yes. Even the head of the school admired her and wished she'd
the nerve to do what Susan does.

Mrs. Ogg's daughters-in-law. Yes. That would be interesting. There
must be ONE among them that's a little stronger willed. After all, they
do SAY that men tend to marry women like their mothers.

I've always been very impressed with your ability to take a tiny
little event or statement from one book and turn it into the basis of
another. I read over in alt.booksl.etc one time where you said that
often while writing one book, you'd get ideas for others but had to
finish THIS one first. 

Do you ever have problems with family and/or friends over your
obviously very busy schedule. I am amazed you have any personal life
with the writing, the touring, and all the other stuff you pay
attention to.
  

    
Dodge (and catlike treader)

I think Nanny thinks of the d-i-ls as skivvies because they *don't*
stand up to her. But, yes, I've been having some thoughts in that
direction...

Sometimes were writing I reach a state which I call *delta star* after
the Wambaugh novel.  It's when the novel comes alive and sings and the
ideas flow -- but often they're not for the book I'm working on!

It is interesting at the moment to be working on two books at once.
Each one is a a respite from the other.  Strange, but it works.

Schedule problems: oh yeah.  And it looks like getting worse now that
publication dates are becoming harmonised.  I've had to put off an
Australian tour, and heaven know when I'm going to do the Canadian one
TW wants me to do.  The writing is the least of my worries.  I
sometimes think the best way would be to say 'sorry, no more tours --
I'm just going to sit here and write...'  

I started thinking that at the end of May after doing the best part of
four weeks touring and travelling with not much in the way of time
off.  I fell asleep in my office because of jetlag, woke up, and it
took me a minute to realise where I was.  I remember thinking: 'hey,
this hotel room looks like my office.  *Nice* bookshelves.  Cool,
they've got a desk like mine!'  That was a worrying moment:-)

Terry
  

    
That sounds like a DW moment, actually.

At a party the other night we were talking about your books (what
else is there to talk about at parties, besides what the flecks are
in the dip?) and a person hitherto unaware of your work expressed
her wish to try a little.  We were discussing where she should start:
either Small Gods or whatever I have a duplicate of.  (I do have a
duplicate of SG, I find.)  What would you suggest?
  

    
I'm certainly not trying to usurp Terry, here, but my own take on the
situation is that since HarperWhatever seems to be reissuing the older
books as well as the newer ones, there are far worse ways to go about
it then by starting from or near the beginning (to my taste, the first
two books (The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic) are optional,
and have something of a different feel to them anyway, and the third
(Equal Rites) is a delight but a bit off-stream from the rest of the
series), and head on from there.  There's a bit too much stuff that's
introduced in one book and then taken for granted in subsequent volumes
for not reading them in order to be the Best Way, in my opinion.  On
the other hand, little of it is hard to figure out, so there's much to
be said for starting wherever seems right, and working outwards both
ways from there.  Small Gods is a good place, actually, since it's
the first of the unbroken series of reissues from HarperWhosit,
right after the four they haven't done yet.
  

    
How To Read DW:

I'd say that until quite late in the series it's possible to start
with the current book, provided that you're familiar with the standard
tropes of fantasy.  In fact I *know* this is true, because plenty of
people have done it.  Sure, there's this ape in the library, etc., but
I think people understand that if you dip into any series there are
some things you going to have to wait to pick up.

Personally, I wouldn't start with the first.  I regard the first two
or three as me getting up to speed.  There are, though,'entry point'
books, which offer fairly easily access because there are familiar
aspects -- Wyrd Sisters (Shakespeare) Mort (people like Death:-)
G!G! (cop novel) and particularly Small Gods (lots of religious
resonances.)  I'd say that The Truth might be another one.

Terry
  

    

Sheesh, I don't even know what "the standard tropes of fantasy" means!
  

    
Figures of speech?

According to Merriam-Webster's :

"trope"

"the use of a word or expression in a figurative sense"
  

    
You know - witches always have pointy hats, wizards always have beards,
vampires sleep all day, trolls are dumb, stuff like that.
  

    
I hate the backspace key!  The backspace key is a key from HELL!

Mike is right.  We're talking about the post-Tolkien 'classic' fantasy
universe, the whole bunch of givens that don't need explaining.  In
the same way that, these days, an sf story doesn't have to stop to
explain how FTL works.  Saves a lot of time.  

Terry
  

    
This seems kind of funny to ask after discussing your extremely busy
schedule but...


Do you have any hobbies? Anything you do to get away from the writing
for a bit? 

And considering we, the fans, will collect anything DW related though
I haven't quite gotten round to the figurines - Do you collect
anything? Antiques. Salt and Pepper shakers? Roses? 
  

    
You know, I've always thought that little ~ key was kinda worthless
and hard to reach.  

Anyway, just like to thank you for writing such intelligent and funny
books.  I read them for many years and have always be a hit a parties
because of the odd information and tidbits of trivia that are rampant
throughout the books.  My question is how much research do you do to
write a book?  When you dive in are you constantly stopping to find out
all the obscure references that you use or are you just overwhelmingly
brilliant and filled to the brim with knowledge?

I also would like to say that Susan's acceptance of her name helped me
to understand that sometimes, you just have to go with your name and
be the person it wants you to be.  Once I accepted that, I went ahead
and got my librarian degree and I'm quite pleased and content with the
career and me....as a Jane.  Thanks again.  Please take care of
yourself.
  

    
Oh, and while I'm on that theme -
Were YOU ever an obsessive fan about something?