Has Mr. Pratchett ever discussed how he decides what to write about? Where does he get his ideas?
I assume he creates his characters first, but who knows, beside TP that is? I'm reading _The_Last_Continent_ right now, and I wonder what inspired him to send Rincewind to Aussieland. Had he recently visited there? Was Australia in the news at the time he was fishing around for a new MacGuffin?
Does he order his ideas wholesale from a little shop in Dunkirk?
Dave Adalian wrote: > Has Mr. Pratchett ever discussed how he decides what to write about? Where > does he get his ideas?
He has, and there are a number of places in which he talks about it. I think he ascribes a lot of his originality to reading vast amounts of obsolescent (and up-to-date) reference books. He is a particular fan of Brewers Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, but I think this is just a well known example.
> I assume he creates his characters first, but who knows, beside TP that is? > I'm reading _The_Last_Continent_ right now, and I wonder what inspired him > to send Rincewind to Aussieland. Had he recently visited there? Was > Australia in the news at the time he was fishing around for a new MacGuffin?
I think Fourecks is a composite derived from three or four enjoyable and interesting (in the sense of Interesting Times) signing tours. He has written semi-factually about them as well (see Guilty of Literature) from which the inspiration is fairly clear.
However, I think he also says, as do many authors, that many of the ideas come from staring at a blank sheet of paper wondering whar the hell should go on it.
MEG wrote: >> Has Mr. Pratchett ever discussed how he decides what to write about? >> Where does he get his ideas?
> It's a mystery. Perhaps you should ask him at the next book-signing?
Hi Dave, I don't remember this too well, but I do still have a vague memory of how I was listening Pterry on a "Five-Live" radio show interview sometime last year, and the interviewer asked him that very same question.
I think Pterry replied something like he the ideas were his dreams, and he got up in the morning and wrote them down before he forgot them.
Perhaps MEG's right though and you ought to ask the man himself, as it was last year that I heard it so it may not be completely correct - maybe somebody else heard it too though!
> "Dave Adalian" <dave.adal...@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message > news:K%8pi.52909$5j1.42229@newssvr21.news.prodigy.net... >> Has Mr. Pratchett ever discussed how he decides what to write about? >> Where does he get his ideas?
> It's a mystery. Perhaps you should ask him at the next book-signing?
Next time he gets to central California, I will. Until then, however, I've got to rely on the resources at hand.
Dave Adalian wrote: > Has Mr. Pratchett ever discussed how he decides what to write about? Where > does he get his ideas?
> I assume he creates his characters first, but who knows, beside TP that is? > I'm reading _The_Last_Continent_ right now, and I wonder what inspired him > to send Rincewind to Aussieland. Had he recently visited there? Was > Australia in the news at the time he was fishing around for a new MacGuffin?
> Does he order his ideas wholesale from a little shop in Dunkirk?
Oh, come, come. Everyone knows that it's a post office box in Schenectady, N.Y.
- Steven ________________________________________________________________________ Steven Winikoff | "They've given us the answers", he Concordia University | said. "Perhaps we can find out what Montreal, QC, Canada | the questions should have been." s...@alcor.concordia.ca | http://alcor.concordia.ca/~smw | - Terry Pratchett
Dave Adalian wrote: > Has Mr. Pratchett ever discussed how he decides what to write about? Where > does he get his ideas?
> I assume he creates his characters first, but who knows, beside TP that is? > I'm reading _The_Last_Continent_ right now, and I wonder what inspired him > to send Rincewind to Aussieland. Had he recently visited there? Was > Australia in the news at the time he was fishing around for a new MacGuffin?
> Does he order his ideas wholesale from a little shop in Dunkirk?
At least once, it would appear, from an untidy but charming little shop in Leicester, no?
MEG wrote: > "Dave Adalian" <dave.adal...@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message > news:K%8pi.52909$5j1.42229@newssvr21.news.prodigy.net... >> Has Mr. Pratchett ever discussed how he decides what to write about? >> Where does he get his ideas?
> It's a mystery. Perhaps you should ask him at the next book-signing?
I suppose you realize you might go to heck for suggesting that.
Elliott Grasett wrote: > Dave Adalian wrote: >> Has Mr. Pratchett ever discussed how he decides what to write about? >> Where does he get his ideas?
>> I assume he creates his characters first, but who knows, beside TP >> that is? I'm reading _The_Last_Continent_ right now, and I wonder what >> inspired him to send Rincewind to Aussieland. Had he recently visited >> there? Was Australia in the news at the time he was fishing around >> for a new MacGuffin?
>> Does he order his ideas wholesale from a little shop in Dunkirk?
> Oh, come, come. Everyone knows that it's a post office box in > Schenectady, N.Y.
Well, I have been making suggestions to him since 1996, but he has yet to do one with Cowboys and Indians.
On Mon, 23 Jul 2007 21:23:54 GMT, Dave Adalian wrote: > Has Mr. Pratchett ever discussed how he decides what to write about? Where > does he get his ideas?
Neil Gaiman's written an essay about this. While he's only speaking for himself, his answer probably holds true for most writers:
"'I make them up,' I tell them. 'Out of my head.'"
On Jul 24, 2:42?am, -Wee Rocket <rocknatu...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Dave Adalian wrote: > > Has Mr. Pratchett ever discussed how he decides what to write about? Where > > does he get his ideas? > > Does he order his ideas wholesale from a little shop in Dunkirk? > At least once, it would appear, from an untidy but charming little shop > in Leicester, no?
Nope, that's where I get mine. It's nice and handily placed between the two jewellery-making supplies shops I frequent, too. And not that far from Next.
Take a letter Miss Jones: To Dave Adalian, [A] Ideas:
> Has Mr. Pratchett ever discussed how he decides what to write about? Where > does he get his ideas?
Okay, I'm not supposed to tell you this, but since you asked nicely, and used the wrong tag and everything, I'll do it this once.
There is a department in the British Govenment called the Department of the Extraordinary, known as the DXO[1].
If, when you're filling in your UK passport application form, you fill in the "Occupation" field as "Writer", your application is flagged at the Identity and Passport Service for forwarding to an anonymous PO Box in Whitehall, where Dr Stack or one of his assistants will take a photocopy - well, kind of a photocopy, it's complicated, but involves your soul - of the application before sending it back on its normal way.
Stack will assess the duplicate, and if it passes muster you will be assigned the designated code Lorenode, and your name will be placed into a database. When a new, original idea comes up that furthers the DXO's plan for the next century of British Empire Rule, it will be passed into the pool and then on to the most deserving Lorenode. When you recieve one of these ideas - it will arrive though the post in a manilla envelope with purple ink for your address - you must not waste it (Doing so will prevent you from ever recieving another assignment), and you must complete it to the best of your ability. Terry is one of the star officers of the DXO, second only to Neil. Once they got one of the coverted double assignments. Some authors whose duplicates did not pass Stack's audition know of the DXO's idea pool, and have been known to attempt to hijack one of the ideas, but without the tremendous power of the DXO's contacts, such books are rarely sucessful. There is a single exception, so far, and she appears to be be working for the DXO's mirror organisation. But I have said too much already, and you must learn yourself if you want to know more.
'Twas on the 24 Jul 2007, that Nigel Stapley <u...@judgemental.plus.com> did say:
> Aquarion wrote:
> <snip>
>> There is a single >> exception, so far, and she appears to be be working for >> the DXO's mirror organisation.
> Presumably this is the American version, the Office of the > Extraordinary, known as OXO for short, and which also > manages to be a mirror of *itself*.
I suspect OXO may also have a rivalry with the Bureau of Interesting and Strange Things Office.
-- Dave Official Absentee of EU Skiffeysoc http://sesoc.eusa.ed.ac.uk/ "There *is* no Niels, the Bouncing Cat! He's gone! Now, there is only ... P-Cat, the Penitent Puss!"
Daibhid Ceanaideach wrote: > 'Twas on the 24 Jul 2007, that Nigel Stapley > <u...@judgemental.plus.com> did say:
>> Aquarion wrote:
<snip>
>>> the DXO's mirror organisation.
>> Presumably this is the American version, the Office of the >> Extraordinary, known as OXO for short, and which also >> manages to be a mirror of *itself*.
> I suspect OXO may also have a rivalry with the Bureau of > Interesting and Strange Things Office.
Ah!
They're the one who provide non-stock characters and events, yes?
> I suspect OXO may also have a rivalry with the Bureau of Interesting > and Strange Things Office.
Ah! BISTO!
Gravy, booby... -- Brian Howlett - Email to From: address deleted unseen ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "Are you the Prime Minister?" "No, but I've often been mistaken." "What, for the Prime Minister?" "No. I've just often been mistaken..."
-Wee Rocket wrote: > Dave Adalian wrote: >> Has Mr. Pratchett ever discussed how he decides what to write about? >> Where does he get his ideas?
>> I assume he creates his characters first, but who knows, beside TP >> that is? I'm reading _The_Last_Continent_ right now, and I wonder what >> inspired him to send Rincewind to Aussieland. Had he recently visited >> there? Was Australia in the news at the time he was fishing around >> for a new MacGuffin?
>> Does he order his ideas wholesale from a little shop in Dunkirk?
> At least once, it would appear, from an untidy but charming little shop > in Leicester, no?
Did you mean Lancaster, or is there something more I didn't know about?
On Mon, 2007-07-23 at 20:46 -0500, -Wee Rocket wrote:
> Well, I have been making suggestions to him since 1996, but he has yet > to do one with Cowboys and Indians.
Thud has plenty of references to things like Custer and Little Big Horn. And Cohen's band has a lot in common with the Hole-in-the-Wall gang.
I think the main reason why there's no cowboys is that the cows would eat all the cabbage and cause discal warming and a godawful stench. And, of course, there's a lack of revolvers on the disc.
Alec Cawley wrote: > -Wee Rocket wrote: >> Dave Adalian wrote: >>> Has Mr. Pratchett ever discussed how he decides what to write about? >>> Where does he get his ideas?
>>> I assume he creates his characters first, but who knows, beside TP >>> that is? I'm reading _The_Last_Continent_ right now, and I wonder what >>> inspired him to send Rincewind to Aussieland. Had he recently visited >>> there? Was Australia in the news at the time he was fishing around >>> for a new MacGuffin?
>>> Does he order his ideas wholesale from a little shop in Dunkirk? >> At least once, it would appear, from an untidy but charming little shop >> in Leicester, no?
> Did you mean Lancaster, or is there something more I didn't know about?
Lesley Weston wrote: > in article 1185272280.146783.79...@q75g2000hsh.googlegroups.com, CCA at > sphira9...@aol.com wrote on 24/07/2007 3:18 AM:
>> On Jul 24, 2:42?am, -Wee Rocket <rocknatu...@gmail.com> wrote: >>> Dave Adalian wrote: >>>> Has Mr. Pratchett ever discussed how he decides what to write about? Where >>>> does he get his ideas? >>>> Does he order his ideas wholesale from a little shop in Dunkirk? >>> At least once, it would appear, from an untidy but charming little shop >>> in Leicester, no? >> Nope, that's where I get mine. It's nice and handily placed between >> the two jewellery-making supplies shops I frequent, too. And not that >> far from Next.
> So you visit it on Thursdays?
Finally a reference I get. 8p Wasn't there a new Fforde book coming out shortly?
Daibhid Ceanaideach wrote: > 'Twas on the 24 Jul 2007, that Nigel Stapley > <u...@judgemental.plus.com> did say:
>> Aquarion wrote:
>> <snip>
>>> There is a single >>> exception, so far, and she appears to be be working for >>> the DXO's mirror organisation. >> Presumably this is the American version, the Office of the >> Extraordinary, known as OXO for short, and which also >> manages to be a mirror of *itself*.
> I suspect OXO may also have a rivalry with the Bureau of > Interesting and Strange Things Office.
Don't forget the organisations based in the southern hemisphere commonwealth areas that was originally called the Ministry of Australian Reading Materials Influencing Territorial Endeavours but later had to be renamed to Vehicle for Exemplifying Grossly Exceptional Memes In Traditional Entertainments after realisation that it wasn't quite the same as the original British concept, and was found to actually be a New Zealand-only interest, despite appearances.
> > There is a single exception, so far, and she appears to be be working > > for the DXO's mirror organisation.
> Presumably this is the American version, the Office of the Extraordinary, > known as OXO for short, and which also manages to be a mirror of *itself*.
And which, with typical Merkin brazenness, has set up shop right in the middle of London[1] _and_ for a long time used to announced this to the entire city.
in article 1185272280.146783.79...@q75g2000hsh.googlegroups.com, CCA at sphira9...@aol.com wrote on 24/07/2007 3:18 AM:
> On Jul 24, 2:42?am, -Wee Rocket <rocknatu...@gmail.com> wrote: >> Dave Adalian wrote:
>>> Has Mr. Pratchett ever discussed how he decides what to write about? Where >>> does he get his ideas? >>> Does he order his ideas wholesale from a little shop in Dunkirk?
>> At least once, it would appear, from an untidy but charming little shop >> in Leicester, no?
> Nope, that's where I get mine. It's nice and handily placed between > the two jewellery-making supplies shops I frequent, too. And not that > far from Next.
So you visit it on Thursdays?
-- Lesley Weston.
Brightly_coloured_blob is real, but I don't often check even the few bits that get through Yahoo's filters. To reach me, use leswes att shaw dott ca, changing spelling and spacing as required.
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