Martyn Stanley's Blog - Posts Tagged "terry-pratchett"
'A Slip of the Keyboard'
I have to say I'm really enjoying this book. I'm enjoying it more than anything I've read recently - even 'The Long Earth'.
It turns out that Terry Pratchett did 'Life Writing' at LEAST as well as he did fiction. He's also an incredibly lovely bloke, who even if he'd never written a word in his life, would have been a cracking chap to have some banter over a pint of ale with in the local pub. I really, REALLY wish I'd met him. I watched his post EOA diagnosis documentaries and thought he was great in those too. I suppose there's no way I could have ever met him, but I'd have loved to have bought him a pint of ale and sat and listened to him for a bit.
I also have a new found respect for his writing. The fact is, his first two books, 'The Colour of Magic' and 'The Light Fantastic' are not great books. At least not to me. They don't have a strong narrative, they seem more like a bunch of parodies or sketches, lampooning traditional fantasy, strung together roughly into a story. There ARE some great characters, my favourites from these two are Rincewind, Cohen and 'The Luggage' but the story is a bit disjointed? They're worth reading and fun, but they aren't the best Discworld novels by a long shot. However, when he wrote them, writing anything must have been an utter chore!
He spends a chapter talking about his early days writing. Tapping away on ancient, massive machines that are described as portable, but weigh in at 60kg and will barely hold one chapter on their internal memory.
These days we all have it SO easy! It almost seems a little unfair. Back then there was no Spelling Checker or Grammar Checker, or KDP or Smashwords…. You had to labour away, hand-crafting your work, chapter by chapter, manually checking the spelling, grammar and consistency, and printing each chapter out until you had a manuscript ready to send to a publisher. It strikes me that in those days the slush piles were probably a LOT smaller. Writing a novel in 2016 is a doodle compared to the 1970's and 1980's. Writing a GOOD one is still not easy, but even writing a diabolical pile of crap in the early 1980's must have been a mammoth effort.
I'm not surprised publishers slush piles started to grow. I'm not surprised KDP became a thing. The amount of publishable novels being written I'm certain is greater than the capacity for the publishing industry to publish. In 1980, I'm not so sure…
The fact that we can retain control over our work and choose when and how to publish, plus we can write a book, knowing we'll be allowed to sell it - is a boon. We're all spoilt. It's so easy these days we don't understand how difficult it was. When you realise how tough it was for the likes of Pratchett to put a story into print and on sale… Well you think about Emily Bronte, Charles Dickens and Jane Austen! How hard must it have been for them?
Anyway, I'm rambling now. Slip of the Keyboard has given me a newfound respect for authors of old. I suppose I always KNEW this was true, but I never really thought about it before. It's also given me an even greater fondness for Terry Pratchett as a person. I'll miss his books, I'll miss his writing. I also know, if I'd actually known him, I'd really miss him. Not for his writing but just for WHO he was, beyond being a writer. He comes across as very sensible and down to earth. Grounded if you like? Anyone who writes or aspires to write should read this book. There are so many ways in which Terry Pratchett was a great example to us all. My admiration for him is only growing as I read the book.
Martyn
It turns out that Terry Pratchett did 'Life Writing' at LEAST as well as he did fiction. He's also an incredibly lovely bloke, who even if he'd never written a word in his life, would have been a cracking chap to have some banter over a pint of ale with in the local pub. I really, REALLY wish I'd met him. I watched his post EOA diagnosis documentaries and thought he was great in those too. I suppose there's no way I could have ever met him, but I'd have loved to have bought him a pint of ale and sat and listened to him for a bit.
I also have a new found respect for his writing. The fact is, his first two books, 'The Colour of Magic' and 'The Light Fantastic' are not great books. At least not to me. They don't have a strong narrative, they seem more like a bunch of parodies or sketches, lampooning traditional fantasy, strung together roughly into a story. There ARE some great characters, my favourites from these two are Rincewind, Cohen and 'The Luggage' but the story is a bit disjointed? They're worth reading and fun, but they aren't the best Discworld novels by a long shot. However, when he wrote them, writing anything must have been an utter chore!
He spends a chapter talking about his early days writing. Tapping away on ancient, massive machines that are described as portable, but weigh in at 60kg and will barely hold one chapter on their internal memory.
These days we all have it SO easy! It almost seems a little unfair. Back then there was no Spelling Checker or Grammar Checker, or KDP or Smashwords…. You had to labour away, hand-crafting your work, chapter by chapter, manually checking the spelling, grammar and consistency, and printing each chapter out until you had a manuscript ready to send to a publisher. It strikes me that in those days the slush piles were probably a LOT smaller. Writing a novel in 2016 is a doodle compared to the 1970's and 1980's. Writing a GOOD one is still not easy, but even writing a diabolical pile of crap in the early 1980's must have been a mammoth effort.
I'm not surprised publishers slush piles started to grow. I'm not surprised KDP became a thing. The amount of publishable novels being written I'm certain is greater than the capacity for the publishing industry to publish. In 1980, I'm not so sure…
The fact that we can retain control over our work and choose when and how to publish, plus we can write a book, knowing we'll be allowed to sell it - is a boon. We're all spoilt. It's so easy these days we don't understand how difficult it was. When you realise how tough it was for the likes of Pratchett to put a story into print and on sale… Well you think about Emily Bronte, Charles Dickens and Jane Austen! How hard must it have been for them?
Anyway, I'm rambling now. Slip of the Keyboard has given me a newfound respect for authors of old. I suppose I always KNEW this was true, but I never really thought about it before. It's also given me an even greater fondness for Terry Pratchett as a person. I'll miss his books, I'll miss his writing. I also know, if I'd actually known him, I'd really miss him. Not for his writing but just for WHO he was, beyond being a writer. He comes across as very sensible and down to earth. Grounded if you like? Anyone who writes or aspires to write should read this book. There are so many ways in which Terry Pratchett was a great example to us all. My admiration for him is only growing as I read the book.
Martyn
