Just Under the Wire: BEDA, Day 2
Okay so I'm in a hotel in Mississippi feverishly rewriting this speech because, as happens every couple weeks, I have changed my mind about what books are supposed to do.
Onto your questions!
Q. Did you do any urban exploring while writing Paper Towns, and could you tell us about it?
A.
Q. Is the stoner Hank Walsten from "looking for Alaska" in any way based on Hank Green?
A. No. The only things ever mentioned about Hank Walsten are that A. he is a basketball player, and B. he is a stoner. Hank Green is neither.
Q. When you're writing, do your characters ever take on a life of their own, to the point that you feel like they're someone you know--a friend--and you are startled when you remember they are just words on a page?
A. Not really. I feel like a bad writer because I don't experience the whole characters-coming-to-life-and-making-their-own-decisions thing, but I don't. I mean, the characters are inside my head, right? I am very interested in them, and I care about them immensely, and I believe that they are at least as real as, say, Maureen Johnson. But they are still inside my brain. So if they do things that surprise me, that either means that A. something supernatural is happening, which I doubt, or B. I am having some kind of mental breakdown in which I don't know the things that I am thinking. I am sorry about this answer, because I know it's totally disappointing. Sorry!
Q. What is your favorite post WWI novel/writer or poem?
A. Here dead lie we because we did not choose / To live and shame the land from which we sprung. / Life, to be sure, is nothing much to lose / But young men think it is, and we were young.
Q. Question: Are you an author because of, or in spite of, the existence of the Internet?
A. The books that I have written could not have been written before the Internet (this is incontestably true of An Abundance of Katherines, but I think in small but important ways true of all my books). That said, if it weren't for the Internet, I'd like to think I would have still written books--just different ones.
Leave your questions in the comments! (You are of course also welcome to leave non-interrogatory comments.)
posted by John Green @ Thursday, April 02, 2009
48 Comments
48 Comments:
1st :)
What do you think of the newest installment of TINT, and also, are you feeling better?
Do you have any T.V. shows that are so awful, but you just can't stop watching? For example, I have two: One Tree Hill has the worst writing ever but I still tune in every Monday night to see what's going on in Tree Hill. Also, The Secret Life of Teenagers. Honestly glorying teen pregnancy is just plain horrible. I can foresee a spike in the number of teen mothers.
Do you see yourself writing a book with a female protagonist at some point?
Do you think that the author or the reader determines the true meaning of a text?
You grew up in Asheville, NC, and said this weekend on vlog TV that you were Episcopalian; therefore.. question a. If I were to say, "Kanuga Toast" would understand at all?
If not,
b. Did you ever consider going to a Great Book's school, and what is your take on the Great Books Program?
Can you share any secrets on how to overcome writer's block?
John, can I recommend a blog to you that I think you should read?
No?
Well that sucks, but if you change your mind: http://emilysaysgo.wordpress.com/
Do you think it's important for people to read classics like Austen and Salinger when there are so great modern books out there?
Do you ever have difficulty in starting a new writing project or do the ideas come easy?
Why YA fiction?
I've always been fond of the genre personally, and were I ever to actually sit down and write a novel start to finish, it's almost certain I would be writing for young adults.
But why did you decide to write for them? Are you a fan of the genre? Do you feel your voice as an author is best interpreted by the those who are in a certain age range?
Was it harder to write a screenplay than it was to write a novel since you read books all the time but you probably don't read many screenplays?
i love the urban exploring video.
in your opinion the best band ever is_____?
What are the details of your visit to Australia? Can anyone go to the youth events, even if they are not Australian high school students?
Will you come to my graduation? :D
(I'm wearsredsox21 on the ning :D)
I feel like a bad writer because I don't experience the whole characters-coming-to-life-and-making-their-own-decisions thing, but I don't. I mean, the characters are inside my head, right? I am very interested in them, and I care about them immensely, and I believe that they are at least as real as, say, Maureen Johnson. But they are still inside my brain. So if they do things that surprise me, that either means that A. something supernatural is happening, which I doubt, or B. I am having some kind of mental breakdown in which I don't know the things that I am thinking. I am sorry about this answer, because I know it's totally disappointing. Sorry!
not disappointing at all. in fact, i find that very refreshing. i think there's a very important difference between 1) an author recognizing that given his/her allotted traits, a character would be unlikely to act a certain way in a specific situation (it would be uncharacteristic, in a word) and 2) my character decided to turn left instead of right. while i do believe that characters are "real" in a sense, i think they're real in the same way a story is. stories become true through lies. authors make stuff up that says something true about humanity.
or possibly i just made that up. thoughts?
If you weren't a writer or a vloger, what would you want to do.
What is your favorite food? (Besides Peeps, of course)
Will you, in the foreseeable future, write a book that includes (but is not necessarily about, per se) a non-heterosexual character and/or relationship?
What are books supposed to do this week, and how is that different from what they were supposed to do last week?
and/or
Why do you keep changing your mind about what books are supposed to do?
If you had to make the choice between winning the lottery (like 40 million dollars) or gaining another 300,000 Nerdfighter fans, which would you choose and why?
When choosing the "Game Shows Touch Our Lives" quote at the beginning of Paper Towns, were their reasons for choosing that particualr song o(ther than your obvious love for the mountain goats, and the immediacy of the line you chose)? Like did you happen to think of the connotations of that song to Florida? I guess I'm just interested why you chose that song.
p.s. Since reading Paper Towns and hearing you rave about them I have since started listening to The Mountain Goats, and I am largely indebted to you for turning me on to such a FANTASTIC band. so Thank you!
"...and I believe that [my characters] are at least as real as, say, Maureen Johnson."
if you prick maureen does she not bleed? if you prick a character it's all figurative.
If you were an 80's pop singer, who would you be?
Will you ever get drawn into writing a series?
How do you think of the amazing names for your characters?
This may sound familiar, having been asked thus far in email and snailmail (which may or may not have been forwarded to you yet):
Beer or meal when in Philly in 2 weeks?
Which of your characters would a.) have as a friend when you were in high shool, b.) have as a friend now and c.) have as a child?
With regards to characters and having a mental breakdown, are you ever scared that you might later develop schizophrenia with all the character voices you have created inside your head? Do your characters ever "talk" to you outside your books?
If you were Francis Bacon, and Shakespeare stole your books - would you be okay with it?
When you draw rainbows (which we all know you do quite often :P) Do you start from the outside and work inward, or vice versa?
Do you believe in ghosts?
What do you think about the importance of the intent of the author vs. the interpretation of the reader?
John, I need your help... How do you deal with heavy peer pressure?? because in my school all my classmates band together to do stuff like "let's not do our homework" or "let's ALL skip class". and sometimes I don't want to do it so I don't, but everyone starts saying nasty things like "no wonder she doesn't have any friends" (I do have friends, btw) and it's not like I'm a super applied student, but it sucks when everyone's just against you and making your life miserable.... hel me plz!!
Do you speak/read other languages?
What are you're top five favorite YA books? excluding the ones you've written
Are you attending the International Reading Association conference in Minneapolis, like Laurie Halse Anderson hinted? Do you know any other authors who are going to be there?
What is the meaning behind the smokers in Looking for Alaska?
Oh my gosh! You're in MS?? Are you in Biloxi? That would be so cool :D lol
Oh no John, actually I love your answer to my question! I had no expectations when asking it. I am quite glad to hear that you are not, in fact, having a mental breakdown. Something supernatural happening might be kind of cool...but oh well.
I found all of this insightful and I liked your answers.
What's your favorite word? (Either for its meaning, or simply for its sound)
There are so many, but I like...
penultimate, haberdashery, brobdignagian, somnambulate, and qualm
In your interview with Mark Bazer, you mentioned a possible new book, The Sequel. Can you tell us anything more about it other than that it is a sequel to a fictional book?
Also, what words or phrases do you think are used too often? Which ones do you think aren't used enough?
One last question: in Paper Towns, you had Q know Latin. Actually, I guess this really isn't a question, just me saying how much that passage where he casually mentions translating Ovid made me completely and utterly jealous.
your answer to the third question on this page isn't disappointing to me, either. i do actually experience the whole my-characters-are-doing-shit-i-did-not-forsee thing, but i am also kind of crazy, and therefore attributing this phenomenon to some kind of mental breakdown makes plenty of sense in my case, and is something not a lot of people are willing to go ahead and do, because it conflicts with the basic principle that all good feelings come from sanity, and all feelings that come from insanity are entirely undesirable.
QUESTIONS: so, what is your current notion about what books are supposed to do, anyhow?
+/or
does changing your mind about something after having spoken publicly about it make you uncomfortable?
+/or
do you ever try to hold off on a mind-change just because it's kind of exhausting to contradict your former self all the time?
Actually, you're wrong. One other thing said of Hank in Looking For Alaska is that, apparently, he's not very good at Precalc. ;D
Why were you in Mississippi, John? And, why did I not know about this?
I was listening to http://www.myspace.com/colonycollapsed while I watched this and it was beautiful background music. specifically I was listening to "day in the life of a bee"
p.s. to fellow BEDAzzlers ;) come read me :)
and john, you're amazing. I think ive said that before though :)
I know this is totally random, but I just reread Katherines this weekend and I was wondering what Hollis and Lindsey do with all the money in the swear jar. So, it would be much appreciated if you could answer that.
I love that the characters you right aren't in your head. I always found it a little creepy when authers say that in interviews. My point is, don't be sorry, it's a relief not a disapointment.
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