![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
David Mitchell
May. 17th, 2011 10:42 pmWe saw David Mitchell talk for the Melbourne Writers Festival tonight.
He was funny, and charming, and smart. His interviewer's Scottish accent was pretty charming, too. A. has never read any of his books, and she enjoyed it too.
He talked about his process for building a novel, comparing it building with Lego. His early novels were so crammed with ideas, he said, because he was afraid of being boring.
His take on difficulty of writing historical novels: if you write them in modern language, people say "hang on...". If you write them in the genuine language of the time, it sounds like Blackadder. So he had to develop what he called by-gone-ese.
An audience member asked him if he found writing a lonely task. After a simple "yes", Mitchell elaborated that any writer complains to you about his work, you should punch him.
Afterwards, I queued to get him to sign my book. "David," he said. "That's a good name." And my brain went Huh? Why's he saying that? Ohhh.
I was, admit, a bit star-struck.
I told him I found his first novel both inspiring and intimidatingly good, as someone who is attempting to write. He was generous enough to offer me some advice: if you have a problem, write what the problem is down on a piece of A4 paper. The solution will be there in the problem.
He was funny, and charming, and smart. His interviewer's Scottish accent was pretty charming, too. A. has never read any of his books, and she enjoyed it too.
He talked about his process for building a novel, comparing it building with Lego. His early novels were so crammed with ideas, he said, because he was afraid of being boring.
His take on difficulty of writing historical novels: if you write them in modern language, people say "hang on...". If you write them in the genuine language of the time, it sounds like Blackadder. So he had to develop what he called by-gone-ese.
An audience member asked him if he found writing a lonely task. After a simple "yes", Mitchell elaborated that any writer complains to you about his work, you should punch him.
Afterwards, I queued to get him to sign my book. "David," he said. "That's a good name." And my brain went Huh? Why's he saying that? Ohhh.
I was, admit, a bit star-struck.
I told him I found his first novel both inspiring and intimidatingly good, as someone who is attempting to write. He was generous enough to offer me some advice: if you have a problem, write what the problem is down on a piece of A4 paper. The solution will be there in the problem.
