O is also for the Opera House in Sydney. Emily and I headed there yesterday to see author Garth Nix interview mega-author Sir Terry Pratchett. OMG.
Apparently the Concert Hall seats 2,679 people, and it looked pretty darn full. Emily commented she'd never seen that many people before, that there were more people in that hall than in the whole of our hometown (Gross hyperbole Emily, there are at least 5,000 people living in Yass).
During the talk, Sir Pratchett's wonderful reader shared a section of his newest book in the Discworld series, Snuff. Emily and I only recently discovered Discworld, but, while we are about 30+ books behind Snuff, we still can not wait until it is released later this year. It was hilarious!
Although the talk was for just over an hour, I felt I gained a lot of insight into successful writing from Sir Pratchett. Here are just a few snippets I'd like to share:
- Terry Pratchett has FUN writing. It is obvious that he delves right into his fantasy world he has created and adores his own characters (or adores to torture them).
- A lot of his stories have connections with our own myths, legends and history.
- He sees stories as a lineage back through his own family and thinks the reason people get old is so they can say to the kids, 'back in my day...'
- He enjoys research - it's a break from writing.
- Terry Pratchett believes writing is a way of showing the reader another way to look at the world.
Some of Pratchett's books I prefer as an audio book (which I get from audible.com), because they sound so good read aloud. Emily and I are listening to the main Discworld books that way. Emily also loves Only You Can Save Mankind.
But, I did manage to pick up a few more books while I was there. Here's my latest stash:
And, because he's also very awesome, I got these Garth Nix books:
O is also for Opportunity. And, if you get the opportunity to see a professional author speak, then you should jump at it. You can learn a lot from the Sir Pratchetts of the world.
Yes, Emily has green hair. Only for the holidays, then all those green bits must be snipped off before returning to school.
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