Went to Mrs Willis' book signing event tonight and boy what a fantastic talk. It has been a while since I went to an author's reading and actually came away with something. Connie was just so refreshing. Really honest and not afraid to express opinions. On tour for her new book, Black Out, which took 8 years to write and developed into two books it certainly sounds like a great read. I have only read one of her books (review here) and I generally liked it. As I stated back then I thought of her not as much as true sci-fi writer. Still think this but that is okay because she must cringe when she goes to sci-fi conventions because her personality is so outstanding. I couldn't imagine her having a conversation with Neal Stephenson or William Gibson although I see her and Neil Gaiman having a good go of it!
Any how loved her talk about Agatha Christie, Hercule Poirot, and Who Killed Rodger Ackroyd. She made some interesting points on how Christie wrote and how she used reader's built in bias' to write her stories. Might have to dig out some old Poirot books and reread them as an adult as I read most of them back when I was a teenager. What bias did I have then?
Finally it was interesting to note how she hates to write (a little sarcasm...I think). She was very thankful after 8 years the book was finally finished. She provided an interesting background on how she writes especially her outlining. Also she says that every plot was either developed by Shakespeare or Dickens and that all modern writing just rewrites one of these plot but using a different view point. Rambling outlines and trying to find different viewpoints seems to be a good way to start although I think every writer finds their own methods...
No comments:
Post a Comment