The WELL: inkwell.vue.292: Neil Gaiman, "Fragile Things"

#61: Dan Guy (dfowlkes) Wed 28 Mar 07 02:58

Wed, 28 Mar 2007 02:58:00 PDT

You can see/hear Neil read it at Temple University here:

http://www.neilgaiman.info/index.php?title=The_Day_the_Saucers_Came [Read entire topic]

#60: Cynthia Dyer-Bennet (cdb) Tue 27 Mar 07 13:15

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 13:15:00 PDT

Wish I could have heard that, (notshakespeare). I, too, loved "The Day the Saucers Came." I've read it to several friends who've all then wanted to grab the book out of my hands. [Read entire topic]

#59: Keeper of Rat Gravy (notshakespeare) Tue 27 Mar 07 11:39

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 11:39:00 PDT

After going to multiple signings last year, it was odd to read The Saucers after hearing it twice. I really hear Neil's voice in my head as I read. [Read entire topic]

#58: Dodge (clotilde) Sun 25 Mar 07 10:32

Sun, 25 Mar 2007 10:32:00 PDT

I haven't been able to read all the way through here. I don't get to go onto the Well as much as I used to though I'm working on that.

Finished Fragile things. And, like most of Neil's works, had to start re-reading immediately. The Fairy Reel was kind of sad. The Saucers was hilarious. The stories all were wonderful. Now I have to debate whether or not I take my first edition hard copy to the SciFi book club and let them borrow it. I agonize. But I may anyway. After all, what's the purpose of a book but to read and get your friends to read so you can talk about it. [Read entire topic]

#57: Gail Williams (gail) Thu 22 Feb 07 16:40

Thu, 22 Feb 2007 16:40:00 PST

What a sad tale of Carousel Overdose.

Thanks for all the great comments, fun to read. [Read entire topic]

#56: Neil Gaiman (neilgaiman) Thu 22 Feb 07 15:24

Thu, 22 Feb 2007 15:24:00 PST

"These days you get serious money for your work. You said in an interview a few years back that the problems of success were definitely preferable to the problems of failure. (Let's skip for the moment the questions raised by my elision of money and success there.) Does your situation now give you more access to better tools to do your work? How about time -- how much time does it cost to look after property-money-business-connections? A great many people imagine that being a financially successful writer means you get to sit on a plush upholstered cloud with next year's computer and have people bring you ambrosia whenever you're feeling a little peckish, and otherwise they tiptoe around you in velvet slippers so as not to disturb you -- but that sure doesn't seem to match what really happens."

I think I'd be bored if it did.

But yes, there are a lot of distractions. I found myself, at the end of last year, idly musing on the idea of retirement. "I could retire," I thought. "Then I'd have lots of time to write..."

It was a very odd thought which left me mentally rearranging my priorities.

" One of the first sacrifices required of some of your characters at the entrance to truth, or magic,or story, is part of their dignity, their attempts at appearing sophisticated - Richard Mayhew in Neverwhere, Tim Hunter in Books of Magic, and so on. Is part of the entry fee being willing to look stupid or be embarrassed?"

I suspect that if you're English -- possibly if you're human -- embarrassment is a very potent threat or weapon. I've run into people who said they couldn't read ANANSI BOYS because Fat Charlie embarrassed them... I'm easily embarrassed, and usually undignified, at least on the inside.

"Some of the fun in your stories is things combining in unlikely ways and then going on to be very much themselves in unlikely places. Maybe it's their matter-of-factness: of course that item was in a thrift shop; of course one tries to fend off improbable carnivores with one's umbrella; of course one behaves such-and-such a way, even if all Hell is breaking loose and/or the world is ending. (Just because it's the apocalypse doesn't mean one should forget one's manners.) The joyful absurd combinations go back a long way with you, especially when they are joyful absurd combinations that also say something serious. Isn't this also part of what the early feedback on "Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Secret House of the Night of Dread Desire" was missing the point of entirely? Why is laughing about something seen as an unacceptable form of analysis? It's like some people don't think silliness is one door to the sacred or the magic or the truth or whatever you want to call."

I don't know what to say to this except thank you. It's also how I cook.

""Harlequin Valentine" in Fragile Things has a connection to something rather like a clockwork machine; what is it, and when did you first see it? Do works by this artist live with you now?"

You're thinking of the thing in my nook (or possibly cranny) ont he stairs...? The art of the inestimable Lisa Snellings. It makes me happy -- I first saw it in New Orleans over a decade ago, and felt like someone else saw the universe like I did. Then I got to know Lisa and discovered that, no, she sees things even weirder than I do. But we're both in the same country... If I could afford it I would fill the house with her art and sculpture...

"What was it like going to House on the Rock when you were working on American Gods? Did you get to spend much time with the carousel? Have you been back since?"

It was fine and fun. But then Entertainment Weekly made me get my photo taken in front of the carousel, and the shoot lasted for hours, and the music was being played at maximum volume.... (It's set loud in there to stop people lingering too long, I think...) And I've not been back.

...

Madman, I've read some, but not every issue. Sometimes I like them, sometimes I shrug.

Mostly it doesn't bother me;if I do another story it all goes back like it want it to. I'm sure I took characters and ideas in ways the original creators wouldn't have planned or wanted. It goes with the territory. [Read entire topic]

#55: Cynthia Dyer-Bennet (cdb) Thu 22 Feb 07 09:06

Thu, 22 Feb 2007 09:06:00 PST

I don't mean to interrupt, and I hope Neil will have the time to answer these last few questions. I simply wanted to say "Thanks for joining us!" to both Neil and Elise, and to say how amazing this conversation has been for the past two weeks.

This topic will remain open for further conversation indefinitely, and you're welcome to stick around and keep talking as long as you like. If other responsibilities are calling, we'll reluctantly bid adieu for now, and will welcome Neil back again when his next book comes out. [Read entire topic]

#54: Not actually tofu... more like tofu-to-be (madman) Wed 21 Feb 07 14:03

Wed, 21 Feb 2007 14:03:00 PST

Hi Neil, it's good to see you back here again. I haven't managed to read Fragile Things yet, but I do have a question about something else entirely. How intently do you follow your worlds once other people start playing in them? Have you read each issue of The Dreaming, of Lucifer, of various spinoffs like Marvin Pumpkinhead, Agent of Dream or The Girl Who Would Be Death?

Every now and then, they tackle interesting questions about the rules of the world (an example: in The Girl Who Would Be Death, Eblis takes a shotgun to a monster and wonders if he can kill it, since wouldn't that also be destroying it? And that's supposed to be something he can't do...). Do you ever look at this and think 'ah, they got that wrong.'? Are the rules and laws of story and world fixed enough in your head that you can look at the later players in those sandboxes and see them break what you think would have been the rule?

As a related question, what do you think when someone outright contradicts or retcons something? (For those reading who may not know the term, "retcon" is "retroactive continuity"- a common authorial tool in long running comics where they decide to retroactively change the history of a character or the like.) (An example here: in Season of Mists, the Silver City is defined as not heaven, not hell, and not being part of the order of created things; in Lucifer, which seems meant to be from the same storyworld, the Silver City is revealed to have been built well after Creation was kicked off.) Do you feel like, well, it's their story, they can do what they like? Or do you regret the changes made to "your" world? [Read entire topic]

#53: Elise Matthesen (lioness) Tue 20 Feb 07 11:21

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 11:21:00 PST

Four cards appeared this time: the King of Pentacles again, and three new ones.

In addition to what's quoted earlier, Rachel said, "Traditionally, the King of Pentacles is a master of wealth, a man of property and power. This King seems to look deeper, with his wonderful hooded eyes."

These days you get serious money for your work. You said in an interview a few years back that the problems of success were definitely preferable to the problems of failure. (Let's skip for the moment the questions raised by my elision of money and success there.) Does your situation now give you more access to better tools to do your work? How about time -- how much time does it cost to look after property-money-business-connections? A great many people imagine that being a financially successful writer means you get to sit on a plush upholstered cloud with next year's computer and have people bring you ambrosia whenever you're feeling a little peckish, and otherwise they tiptoe around you in velvet slippers so as not to disturb you -- but that sure doesn't seem to match what really happens.

The Hanged Man - Shade, the Changing Man (Neptune) "The most important symbol in the traditional card is the face. The Hanged Man does not suffer. We see him radiant and joyous, for the tree is the Tree of Life, and he has bound himself to spiritual truth. [...] For Shade, the tree is the Madness, which for him is both a place and a tangible force. Shade gains power from it, but he cannot separate himself from it. Like the Hanged Man, he can only surrender."

Characters who tie themselves to the truth get into interesting predicaments if it's a truth that's not visible to other people. And their sacrifices (literally self-sacrifices, in the case of the Hanged Man) look crazy to other characters. One of the first sacrifices required of some of your characters at the entrance to truth, or magic, or story, is part of their dignity, their attempts at appearing sophisticated - Richard Mayhew in Neverwhere, Tim Hunter in Books of Magic, and so on. Is part of the entry fee being willing to look stupid or be embarrassed?

The Devil - Lucifer, from "Sandman" - "People who know the traditional Tarot Devil will recognize the horned face, and even the chains in this picture. The beach chair, however, might strike them as odd."

Some of the fun in your stories is things combining in unlikely ways and then going on to be very much themselves in unlikely places. Maybe it's their matter-of-factness: of course that item was in a thrift shop; of course one tries to fend off improbable carnivores with one's umbrella; of course one behaves such-and-such a way, even if all Hell is breaking loose and/or the world is ending. (Just because it's the apocalypse doesn't mean one should forget one's manners.) The joyful absurd combinations go back a long way with you, especially when they are joyful absurd combinations that also say something serious. Isn't this also part of what the early feedback on "Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Secret House of the Night of Dread Desire" was missing the point of entirely? Why is laughing about something seen as an unacceptable form of analysis? It's like some people don't think silliness is one door to the sacred or the magic or the truth or whatever you want to call.

Six of Swords - "We see the Swords poised, a little like a fence, before complicated images, the productions of the mind. On the left we see wheels and ratchets, like some eighteenth-century brass clockwork machine."

"Harlequin Valentine" in Fragile Things has a connection to something rather like a clockwork machine; what is it, and when did you first see it? Do works by this artist live with you now?

What was it like going to House on the Rock when you were working on American Gods? Did you get to spend much time with the carousel? Have you been back since? [Read entire topic]

#52: Neil Gaiman (neilgaiman) Tue 20 Feb 07 07:22

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 07:22:00 PST

Indeed, I did play the double bass, until I was about 14. There are probably a bunch of stories you could use to build an unreliable autobiography, one that would be emotionally accurate, if sometimes factually dodgy (Of course it happened -- it just didn't happen exactly like that...)

There's time travel in being a father. There's probably time travel involved with being around kids. Violent Cases began as a moment with my son, Mike, aged 3, and flashing back on when I was 3 or 4...

I miss telling stories to my kids.

Happy characters aren't boring. (Death is a perfectly happy character, for example. So was Simon Templar.) But they're harder to write because a lot of the time they're too smart to have something be their story, so they have to get involved in other people's stories.

I don't like to repeat myself unless I think I got it wrong the first time and that this is my chance to get it right. [Read entire topic]