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Annihilation author/reader discussion
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Diane wrote: "Nice I pictured the east coast near the coast of Georgia/Florida. I really loved how I felt that I could get a good visual of it.What are the influences to your writing?"
Oh, goodness! Everyone from Angela Carter to Kafka to Leonora Carrington to Bruno Schulz to Stepan Chapman to Ben Okri to Nabokov to John Irving to Tutuola to Rikki Ducornet to....and the list goes on...these being just a few writers who occurred to me at random. Here's a list specific to the Southern Reach: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-va...
I just read some Nell Zink and Jonathan Franzen I know will be an influence going forward. It never ends, thankfully.
Chris wrote: "Hello Jeff. I have to say I am not normally a sci-fi reader. But I was I to hooked after just a few pages. What I enjoyed most was going back and forth with the Biologist and her background. Not..."Everybody creates their own landscapes, and one reason I didn't name the state or region specifically is so I could give a kind of sense of how I've perceived the South without a state name creating a particular idea in people's heads. Like, if someone asks me if I live in Florida, at least half or more will think "Disney World" or "Miami."
Lori wrote: "I think that experiencing Area X through the confined perspective of The Biologist was perfect. She was so curious and reckless and I enjoyed that about her. Like Amy (The Other Amy), I had a har..."
It's a good question, re the audiobooks. I thought Pinchot for Authority was amazing. For Annihilation it's hard for me to tell because I have the biologist's voice in my head and so I haven't listened to much of that audiobook. I think it'd always be a tough gig, doing the biologist.
Chris wrote: "I have not read the following books yet. I do plan to. Will the following books give more information on the area, the causes, etc?"Yes, they will. And in fact Acceptance gives quite a few answers. But every page of Authority does, too. For example, just a small touch, but any time there's a "red velvet ant" around, you know Area X is near.
But what doesn't happen is any one character knowing the truth, really, and for some readers that's translated as lack of answers. Which is fine--I mean, I wrote a series I meant to be open to interpretation.
David wrote: "im nervous about participating in a discussion on the book because I want to jump into the next two ASAP and don't want any spoilers!"To burst that bubble--Area X was created by ancient people from deep inside our hollow earth. And Acceptance ends with everybody dying in a tragic dirigible accident. Now you don't have to worry! ;)
Robert wrote: "One small thing... they were not allowed to have watches or timepieces w/ them in Area X. However, when the biologists journeys to the lighthouse, she states that it was just before noon when she ..."It's just her thinking it's noon because of the position of the sun. People tend to "round off" regardless of the accuracy of their actual info, and since she's writing this much later, and wanting to be precise, it's just her "rounding off".
Jeff wrote: "Chris wrote: "I have not read the following books yet. I do plan to. Will the following books give more information on the area, the causes, etc?"Yes, they will. And in fact Acceptance gives qu..."
I think that makes it more interesting. In life no one knows the answers to what is going on. No such thing as all the story lines all cleared up.
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Did you have the whole series mapped out before you wrote it or did it unfold itself to you as you wrote it?
Which character was the most challenging to wrote?
Which one was the most fun?
Lori wrote: "Jeff, Did you have the whole series mapped out before you wrote it or did it unfold itself to you as you wrote it?
Which character was the most challenging to wrote?
Which one was the most fun?"
It's always the same for me: I have a high-level view of the full structure, but because the characters exist within that structure, they change it as the scenes are written. Or change how it is expressed.
Lowry was the most fun to write because he's almost right out of Dr. Strangelove in a way. Control was probably the biggest challenge just because due to what he's thrown into he has a more passive role at times, despite seeming to have the most dominant one.
Jeff wrote: "North Florida's wilderness and the wilderness of the coast of Vancouver Island. Along with the California coast. All places I know well. And then the starfish comes from growing up in Fiji."Hi Jeff, I thoroughly enjoyed Annihilation. I read it last week while on vacation in SW Florida. For some reason, when I starting reading about the Area X wilderness, it immediately looked and felt like Florida to me (I grew up there), maybe north central Florida (where I went to college). But the characters never complained about humidity or insects (as I recall), so I don't know why I had that feeling. The back of the book made it sound more like Eden, but my mind always wanted to make it a bit more swampy or buggy or more hostile than Eden. This made it particularly creepy when the biologist set off on her own in the dark! I now live on the California coast, which is not nearly as creepy as Florida.
I'm going to jump into the next book as soon as possible, looking forward to learning more about Area X. I'm so curious about how it got that way. What was the initial inspiration in creating this mysterious place, particularly with the psychological effects?
Judy wrote: "Jeff wrote: "North Florida's wilderness and the wilderness of the coast of Vancouver Island. Along with the California coast. All places I know well. And then the starfish comes from growing up in ..."Thanks! I think the biologist is a bit used to bugs and heat so it probably doesn't register that much. But she's also writing about the events after they occur, and it's not clear they're there in the middle of summer. In the fall and winter, North Florida doesn't get that hot and the bugs and flies aren't out in force. I believe in book three you get the bugs and flies. LOL.
The initial inspiration was having a dream of walking down into a tunnel-tower and seeing strange words on the wall. I think also the Gulf Oil Spill was an "inspiration" in that I couldn't stop thinking about it while the oil was spilling out--it kind of coiled up in my head as a steady stream and my subconscious turned that into a place protected from human eff-ups.
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I want to know why the expedition was all female. I thought it was a good idea, but would like your side.
Chris wrote: "I want to know why the expedition was all female. I thought it was a good idea, but would like your side."I wondered that also but thought maybe since the all male expedition ended up killing each other maybe they thought females were less aggressive.
I wonder how people in "the world" are not even aware of area X and it's boarder?
Diane that is a good question! Wouldn't there be people displaced? Or missing or ???
I feel reluctant to ask any further questions because, as the Biologist put it... "I am aware that all of this speculation is incomplete, inexact, inaccurate, useless. If I don't have real answers, it is because we still don't know what questions to ask. Our instruments are useless, our methodology broken, our motivations selfish." I don't know where to begin to ask pertinent questions. I will say that I began to suspect that nothing in Area X was fundamentally real. It was all psychological, and my theory is that it all took place within the mind, as a group psychological experiment in a clinical laboratory somewhere. The husband had said that it took him "no time at all" to return home from Area X. Perhaps because he had never really traveled anywhere?
I will also say that, I am wondering what lay behind the door at the bottom of the Tower, that the Biologist was so reluctant to enter? I have so many questions, but without a solid foundation on which to expect any shred of understanding.
Was it all "theater of the mind?"... A psychological experiment, or something with roots, in a cataclysmic man made catastrophe that unleashed a glacial moving terror?
Robert wrote: "I feel reluctant to ask any further questions because, as the Biologist put it... "I am aware that all of this speculation is incomplete, inexact, inaccurate, useless. If I don't have real answers..."I thought maybe they were not on earth and this was some model planet . Your observation is more likely. I do hope the answer is within the next two books. I also was stuck with the scene where the Dolphins watched her and she said they seemed strangely human.
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:)
Chris wrote: I thought maybe they were not on earth and this was some model planet . Your observation is more likely. I do hope the answer is within the next two books. I also was stuck with the scene where the Dolphins watched her and she said they seemed strangely human.That was my theory too - maybe they were tera forming another planet. I like the mind experiment thing too.
Re: where it wasI liked the idea that Area X was encroaching into our world through the forgotten spaces in the urban landscape, and the idea that we can put a border on something in name, but in reality organic borders aren't so simple to measure.
I must admit that I just assumed the dolphins were transformed humans. I may be going overly literal there.
My final question for Jeff is the significance behind the name "Ghost Bird" -- how did you come up with it?
Jeff - just want to say thanks a lot for both writing a fascinating book (s) and for taking time to answer questions. Pretty cool to be able to actually hear from the author in this type of setting.
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Jeff,
I wanted to thank you so much for hanging with us all week long. It was really cool to get behind the book and hear how others connected with it. I had a blast! You're welcome back anytime!!
Jeff, Hope to be reading lots more written by you! Excited to find another author I enjoy reading.
Chris wrote: "I want to know why the expedition was all female. I thought it was a good idea, but would like your side."Because why not.
Cory wrote: "Re: where it wasI liked the idea that Area X was encroaching into our world through the forgotten spaces in the urban landscape, and the idea that we can put a border on something in name, but in..."
I took it from the moment in Annihilation where the biologist is trying to make a point about the rhythm of things and talking about transforming from one bird to another, which is not literal but metaphorical, but that led me to in the final draft have her husband call her Ghost Bird and it just then transferred to the doppelganger as it made sense. A lot of things just feel right and you go with them, and they do then define how you think of a character. I really love Ghost Bird, in the sense that I think she's in a way even the more perfect distillation of the biologist. Besides, she gets to paraphrase a ton of stuff from Semiotext(e) MIT pamphlets in her sections, so that's always good.
Is my theory correct or not, that the entire Area X is all situated within the mind? That it is a large mental experiment performed withing a clinical laboratory somewhere, and that none of it actually exists in the "real world"?
Jeff wrote:Thanks, Jeff! I take the point about how something can feel right, and then become integral.
I've really appreciated reading your replies to my questions, and to the questions of others :) They've definitely added to my understanding/interpretation of the book. Cheers for taking the time, and for laying yourself open to our queries.
Robert wrote: "Is my theory correct or not, that the entire Area X is all situated within the mind? That it is a large mental experiment performed withing a clinical laboratory somewhere, and that none of it act..."Robert, great question. I didn't even think of this being a possibility. I hope Jeff answers this.
Robert wrote: "Is my theory correct or not, that the entire Area X is all situated within the mind? That it is a large mental experiment performed withing a clinical laboratory somewhere, and that none of it act..."No--that's interesting, but it's not my conception of it. Besides, the real world is very present in the book. There isn't a detail of the wilderness, for example, that isn't something I've witnessed first hand...sans the uncanny.
Lori wrote: "Hey there guys! Last few hours before we say goodbye to Jeff. Keep those questions coming : )Jeff,
I wanted to thank you so much for hanging with us all week long. It was really cool to get b..."
Thanks again for the invite! That was very kind.
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You all need to run out and buy the rest of the series! It only gets better and you DO get answers to some of your questions!!
It's been a week and I'm still trying to make sense of this book, LOL. I might have to read the other two after all, to find out what happens. Or I might have to read it again first. It was very weird for me, but the writing was brilliant!
I definitely have to read the other books. Thanks, Lori, for hosting this interesting discussion. It's always a rare treat to converse with an author.
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Books mentioned in this topic
Mockingjay (other topics)Authority (other topics)
Annihilation (other topics)
I noted as I read that there was an unsettling use of time and tenses; I assumed it was meant to set the reader a bit off-kilter, right from the first sentence. The first time the narrator referred to future events made me halt, and because of that and other clues, as I went one of the things I really found myself puzzling over and trying to work out was "who is the narratee?"
I thought it really worked with the overall mystery of the story.