Daniel Handler webchat – as it happened
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/feb/23/daniel-handler-webchat-we-are-pirates Version 0 of 1. 3.22pm GMT15:22 That's everything from Daniel Thanks so much to Daniel for a predictably droll set of answers! His new novel We Are Pirates is out now, published by Bloomsbury; Californians and Oregonians can go and see him read from it on tour this month. 3.18pm GMT15:18 Renz Evangelista asks: Mr. Handler, I would like to ask you what factors push or inspired you to write We are Pirates novel?? why you wrote “a series of Unfortunate Events?? who are the reader you really want to read your works?? thank you and your works are definitely the best I red.. We Are Pirates first occurred to me in high school, when I convinced the 30 other students in my homeroom to write down "pirate" as their desired occupation on a career test. Over the years, the idea of the novel was further shaped by noticing a certain type of fury in some adolescent girls, most particularly my younger sister, to whom the book is dedicated, and by my father's dementia, and his own yearning to escape from life just as life was escaping from him.A Series of Unfortunate Events took form when I thought it would be interesting if terrible things happened to children, over and over again.Whether or not these are the same inspiration, who can say? 3.15pm GMT15:15 "I have always been inspired by blank paper" Emil ‘Elmo’ Rowe asks: When beginning to write a novel, how do you motivate yourself? I have always been inspired by blank paper. Updated at 3.15pm GMT 3.14pm GMT15:14 juliafromtarget asks: Were you ever shy about sharing your work with your family? I try to finish a manuscript shortly before I travel, so I'm not in the house when my first reader, my wife, makes her way through the thing. It's terrible to be anywhere nearby when someone you care about is reading you. 3.14pm GMT15:14 Heather Brigham says: I listened to your panel at comic con at the Jarvis center in NYC 2013. I love your sort of twisted sense of humor and how you’ve been able to adapt that to children’s literature. I just wanted to let you know it inspired me to finish writing my first children’s novel. Bella Burptress which will be published soon! I love reading your books especially the All the Wrong Questions Series. As the Baudelaires say, "Mazel tov." 3.11pm GMT15:11 Gabrielle Povolotsky asks: Best book recommendations for writers who are interested in manipulating readers? There are no writers uninterested in manipulating readers. Even the briefest graffiti is meant to manipulate. Lately I've been reading Barry Gifford and Thylias Moss, and wholeheartedly recommend them both. 3.09pm GMT15:09 Emily Taylor asks: I just recently saw the news that ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’ is set to be a new Netflix series ... The article was from last year and I was hoping you could update us to the progress of the project and possible release date? Thank you! We are in the process of chasing down a director and hope to move quickly from there. In my experience, however, "quickly" is a word which in Hollywood means "not quickly." You might amuse yourself with the films of Guy Maddin while we work. 3.08pm GMT15:08 madelinespade asks: Hello Mr. Handler! I was wondering how the Netflix Unfortunate Events show is coming along. Did you find a director yet? Will there be a chance to fans such as myself to potentially audition for roles? I imagine auditions will be announced, although things like that are not my purview. On this tour I have been given many headshots by young actresses, which I send along immediately, if only so they will not be found amongst my possessions in the event of a fatal accident. 3.08pm GMT15:08 何艾琳 says: I don’t have a question. I just want to say that, Daniel Handler, you are my favorite author and for a while I only read stuff that you wrote and some Lorrie Moore stories because you said you liked her once in an interview. Basic Eight is my favorite followed by the introduction of 2014’s non-required reading anthology. Thanks for writing my favorite books. You are very kind. I can't wait to tell Ms. Moore that she owes her readership to me. 3.07pm GMT15:07 CB McC says: I wanted to thank you for introducing me to “Time Will Darken It.” I read it after reading an interview with you, and loved it. I’m currently reading “A Series of Unfortunate Events” and “All the Wrong Questions” with my 9-year-old daughter every night before bed. You’ve filled our bedtime reading hour with lots of laughs. Thank you. If I have brought even one more reader to "Time Will Darken It," my work here is done. But perhaps in mentioning it again--William Maxwell's spectacular, curious and moving novel "Time Will Darken It"---we can attract one more. 3.06pm GMT15:06 Feetunes asks: Having reached only half way through A Series Of, I have been a little put off from pursuing this enjoyable climb by a spoilsport who reported that the view from the summit is not that fantastic. So, is it the journey or the destination which is most important? I think it is neither the journey nor the destination, but the refreshments and conversations along the way. Lord knows I've stopped and rested quite happily at the halfway mark of many a hike. 3.05pm GMT15:05 FizzGoneFlat asks: I loved your anthology of poetry for children (even though I’m all grown up). Any plans for any more and what can be done to help younger people get the most out of poetry? I think often of what I might do for poets, aside from cheerleading and paying the bar bills. On my current book tour I invited a poet to read with me at each bookshop, with terrific results. It is not only children who don't get enough poetry. 3.05pm GMT15:05 lepetitpouce asks: How does it feel, after all these years, to have finally put down We Are Pirates? Are you at rest or are you missing the days when it was a mythical creature of sorts? It feels quiet. The novel was murmuring, and then roaring, in my head for a long time. I also finished the book just when my father departed from the world, wracked by the same disease the novel partially chronicles. It is a quiet feeling. Soon, like all quiet moments, it will pass, and I will be poised over paper with new sounds in my ears. 3.04pm GMT15:04 "My pen name? Uniball" Holly Peckitt asks: Why did you decide on the Pen Name “Lemony Snicket”? Mr. Snicket is a narrator, not a pen name. My pen's name is "Uniball," presumably because of an obscure medical condition. 3.03pm GMT15:03 EmilyDrabble (our children’s books editor no less) asks: Will teenage Lemony Snicket fans be able to handle reading We Are Pirates or is it really, really, really only for fully grown adults? I have already met teenagers who have enjoyed my novel very much. There is certainly no "content" in the novel that cannot be found instantaneously online. Children's literature is a genre, and We Are Pirates is not in that genre. Whoever reads it will read it, whoever finds it upsetting will likely, in my experience, write me a letter with several grammatical errors. 3.02pm GMT15:02 lewisdenson asks: Have you ever thought about writing a Lemony Snicket book for an adult audience? The ASOUE books were the most important books to me as a kid and it would be really exciting to find out more about the jaded author. Is Lemony Snicket in any way biographical? The Snicket books are children's literature, but children's literature is a genre, not an audience restriction, and it certainly appears that many adults are indeed reading All The Wrong Questions and A Series of Unfortunate Events.The Snicket books are indeed biographical - they contain the biographies of the Baudelaires, and of Mr. Snicket himself, among others. I think perhaps you mean "autobiographical," which is a more complicated question. 3.01pm GMT15:01 Elvis Chomsky asks: What is your favourite Magnetic Fields/Stephin Merritt song/album? Favoritism changes all the time, of course, but I have always loved "The Things We Did And Didn't Do," and my favorite album of Mr. Merritt's is ususally "Hyacinths and Thistles," by the 6ths. The band and album names were chosen for their impossibility to say aloud on radio. 3.00pm GMT15:00 liliana blossom asks: It is safe to say that I am one of the many who was inspired by you to become a writer in the future. What advice will you give a college student like myself who wants to persue writing and has no idea what steps to take to make and publish their first book? If you are in college and wish to be a writer, it is no time to worry about publishing. You will have a lifetime of greying adulthood to worry about publishing. You should read, and reread, and of course you should write, and rewrite. There is nothing to worry about there, either. You will be tempted to worry that what you write isn't good enough. It most certainly won't be, so there's no need for worry. One must write thousands of bad things before anything good shows up, and one might as well start early. 3.00pm GMT15:00 MeltonCarbury asks: Whenever I see a croquet mallet I get murderous tendencies....and can’t help but think that Flannery Culp is my favourite literary character...can you bring her back? Also, how exactly do write drunk people so well...? There is talk of Ms. Culp's return on the small screen, but I cannot imagine what she would be doing in another novel. Drunkenness is difficult to navigate on paper--as it is on life--despite considerable practice. 2.59pm GMT14:59 "Favourite villains? Humbert Humbert and Condoleezza Rice" FlummoxedCollywobble asks: Just want to say how much I enjoy (and enjoyed) your books. Did you have an older audience in mind when you slipped in political jokes (‘Busheney’ as Sunny-speak for ‘evil man’ anyone?) and literary references?Also, who is your favourite villainous character? The Snicket books contain cultural references that are obvious, veiled, and completely opaque, and I suspect the readers have their own individual Venn diagrams with such traits. As for villains, I find myself continually haunted by Humbert Humbert and Condoleezza Rice. Updated at 3.00pm GMT 2.58pm GMT14:58 Ante Andabak asks: If God were to exist, do you think he would be warmed to individuals who share his own, obviously contemptuous, view on life? I would hesitate to describe any diety's actions as "obvious." There is very, very little that is obvious about the world. 2.58pm GMT14:58 "Adolescent anger is often tied, dismissively, to the age of the person experiencing it" Burhill123 asks: I enjoyed your new novel enormously, thank you. I wondered whether you feel optimistic about the future for today’s kids? Beneath all the comedy of We Are Pirates I felt it also captured the dark desperation of being a teenager and how dislocated they can be from their parents and from society’s expectations? Has it always been thus or do you think it’s getting worse? As with many things, it has always been thus and it is also getting worse, I think. When I first began serious work on We Are Pirates, it was the dawn of "smart phones," and on a book tour I had occasion to meet many teenagers who had just been given them. I assumed they'd be delighted. They were not delighted. "Never again," one fuming young woman said to me, "can I call my parents and be somewhere other than where I say I am."Adolescent anger is often tied, dismissively, to the age of the person experiencing it. I would suggest it is a rational reaction to the age in which we find ourselves. Updated at 3.58pm GMT 2.57pm GMT14:57 Sohini Basak asks: Have you heard from young Beatrice? Did you pass on the important file containing crusty carbohydrates, some cordial cordite, and a map of the island’s sewage system to Mr Snicket? Is the public library the safest sanctuary? Am I asking too many questions? What was that scraping noise? "Heard?""Pass?"Yes.No.It appears to be coming from the bottom of the barrel. 2.56pm GMT14:56 Robert Perkins asks: The Lord of the Ring was one of my favourite novels, but one day I began learning that fantasy wasn’t a suitable genre to study. I’ve read all of your books, Mr Handler, and I have come to this conclusion: you certainly can write (by which I mean that stuff like putting words and synonyms and antonyms and homonyms on a page in some semblance of order). So I must not waste this opportunity to ask you a question, truly the opportunity of a lifetime. Well, here goes. Could you tell me the time? (I may wear a gold ring, but no wrist or pocket watch...) The screen tells me this question was posted thirteen hours ago, so the answer is likely "too late." 2.56pm GMT14:56 Claire Winkler asks: If each Baudelaire orphan could invite five people--alive or deceased--to dinner, who do you think they would pick? And why? I can't imagine why the Baudelaires would invite deceased people to dinner, as all those diners have suffered enough. I think they would invite five reliable law enforcement officials, the better to escape from their predicament. 2.55pm GMT14:55 Terry Craig asks: What are the best non-fiction books you’d recommend for an aspiring writer? Maybe books on linguistics, or discourses on writing (like Stephen King’s ‘On Writing’), or maybe something like ‘The Elements of Style’? There are, of course, countless glorious works of nonfiction--Clancy Martin's Love and Lies is a recent favorite of mine--but I think aspiring writers ought to read (and, more importantly, reread) works of the sort they want to write. And everyone benefits from poetry. I recently read Emily Berry's debut collection Dear Boy, which contains more to spark a writer than a stack of nonfiction how-tos. 2.54pm GMT14:54 Zarghuna Khan asks: How can I remind myself to stay happy? If you stayed happy all the time, you would be so profoundly irritating as to cause unhappiness in many, many others. But I do sympathize with anyone who finds themselves stalled out emotionally. I call up friends for cocktails; if the hour is inappropriate, the Lindsay Davenport skit by Mitchell & Webb is profoundly useful. Here’s what he means: 2.53pm GMT14:53 Tabitha M asks: Mr Handler, first of all thank you so much for all your wonderful books. There are no books I love more than A Series of Unfortunate Events and All The Wrong Questions -- obviously an indication that I live a highly suspicious and woe-filled life, but there we go. I’m currently reading We Are Pirates (I’m enjoying it immensely) and I was wondering: where do you find inspiration for naming your characters? I was thrilled when I was reading File Under 13: Suspicious Incidents and I came across a character who shared my own name, Tabitha. I always admire the names you give your characters because they seem to fit them perfectly; for instance Phil Needle, or Gwen and her seemingly more adventurous alter ego Octavia. Thank you very much! P.S. I was one of the winners of your ATWQFanArt competition. Thank you so much for choosing my artwork! Congratulations, Tabitha, on your Fan Art skills. Naming characters is like naming babies--tricky, and the baby will not be of help. I crib from old newspaper articles, literary encyclopedias and the occasional actual baby. 2.52pm GMT14:52 thisismrle asks: Firstly, please allow me to lavish excessive praise. I’ve been a fan of your books for adults long before picking up a Lemony Snicket excursion, and was inspired by your live chat to register with the Guardian. Which is what I suppose they wanted. Watch Your Mouth is a book I will happily recommend as essential reading to anyone foolish enough to listen, but always add an addendum that it isn’t necessarily enjoyable or fulfilling. Your books tend to stem from bold concepts - Jewish incest opera, 17 non/interconnecting love stories or 21stC trad. pirates - and I was wondering whether you started with the premise and slowly break it down or whether these “mission statements” appear after your months of writing.* *Please excuse this pompous query. I am charmed that you find the phrase "not necessarily enjoyable" to be "excessive praise." I hope not to get on your non-excessive side. I begin with a story. Stories occur to me. Then I think about an interesting way to tell a story. Operas interest me, as do unreliable diaries and 13-volume histories. I am at work on something fragmentary now. This interests me too, and I am lucky to have a profession in which I am almost continuously interested. 2.50pm GMT14:50 ladonnadellago asks: I’m a grandma, an avid and wide ranging reader but totally new to your work. I want to start with Pirates... will I get it??? If by "it" you mean "piracy," rest assured that the crew in We Are Pirates are captained by a man old enough to be a grandfather. If by "it" you mean "the novel's sheer beauty and power," surely an avid reader knows that the only way to know is to crack the book open. If by "it" you mean "scurvy," I hope not. 2.49pm GMT14:49 AbacusFinch asks: I know it would be solved with a quick glance at Wikipedia, but that would mean missing the opportunity to hear it from the man himself. I think I’d like to ask Mr. Handler how he started off his writing career, what led to A Series of Unfortunate Events. I’m 21 now and I still remember it as being such an exciting thing to read at a younger age. Also, there were rumours that an animated adaptation might be on the cards? Is that still a likelihood? My writing career actually began with a novel called The Basic Eight--published in the UK by Allison & Busby--which concerns a girl in high school who has a crush on a boy who does not return her affections and so she bludgeons him to death with a croquet mallet. (It's a comedy, basically.) A few editors suggested that in addition to writing *about* young people, that I might write *for* young people, and suddenly my stalled mock-gothic novel began to make more sense to me. Netflix and I are in the very early stages of an adaptation of A Series of Unfortunate Events. It will not be animated, unless by "animated" you mean "lively," in which case it will also likely not be animated. 2.49pm GMT14:49 gbrading asks: I very much enjoyed A Series of Unfortunate Events and hope to read the prequel series soon. It’s clear that you have a great love of language and linguistics; what do you think is the best way to get children engaged with language and reading generally? When I was young, my parents would read me a book and stop at a suspenseful moment, tuck me into bed with the book and a nearby flashlight, and tell me that under no circumstances could I stay up any later to read. The next day they would ignore the fact that the bookmark had moved. 2.47pm GMT14:47 Salamandertome asks: So, do you practice Pilates yourself? Is it more than a fad? For exercise and meditation I swim, almost daily, in the San Francisco Bay. Sometimes we can see people contorting themselves on the beach. I'm told it's Pilates, but we swimmers have no use for such things. We aren't PIlates. 2.25pm GMT14:25 Apologies, there is a technical hitch with the liveblog that is preventing comments from being embedded. However, you can still follow Daniel’s excellent responses below the line. Normal service will resume soon! 2.14pm GMT14:14 836125 asks: Why are standard beer cans 440ml? As an American, the metric system confuses me, but if my arithmetic is correct, someone named "836125" can consume just over 1900 beer cans at 440 ml. 2.09pm GMT14:09 ArkaBlue asks: A Series of Unfortunate Events is, far and away, one of my favourite, well, series. I wanted to ask you about the world you created for the Baudelaires. Society there is surreal enough to accept without question a baby working as a secretary, for example. Why did you wish to depart from reality while still maintaining an uncomfortable echo of it? I wish a society cruel enough to exploit children for cheap labor was indeed purely imaginary. I think the world of the Baudelaires is one that feels awfully familiar, perhaps with an emphasis on the word "awfully." 2.07pm GMT14:07 Daniel is with us now Daniel is answering your questions live, from over in the Golden State. First up is this from ID135309: Daniel, you’re known primarily for series you wrote as Lemony Snicket, but you’ve explicitly said that this is a pirate story for adults. Did you initially set out to write a book for grown-ups and, if so, why do you think the subject of pirates appeals to them so much? I think pirates appeal to everyone, as the profession embodies a longing to escape one's present circumstances, particularly in an age of surveillance. Who doesn't dream of moving off the map and living according to one's own code? But We Are Pirates is not a work of children's literature, for the same reasons that it is not a detective story or a work of science fiction: it does not adhere to the standards of the genre. It's something else. 12.11pm GMT12:11 Post your questions for Daniel Handler There are kids’ books that children adore and adults struggle to endure, and others full of archness that adults chuckle at while their children fidget. Daniel Handler has managed, with tremendous amounts of dry humour and mordant observation, to tread a line between the two. With his 13-book saga A Series of Unfortunate Events, penned as Lemony Snicket, Handler created a world that was both contemporary and Victorian, cruel and joyful. It starred a trio of enterprising, stoical children, making their way in the world after their parents die in a house fire, dodging child marriage, man-eating lions and the constantly villainous Count Olaf along the way. Now Handler is back with one of his occasional adult novels under his own name, We Are Pirates. Gwen Needle is a frustrated 14-year-old San Franciscan, dreaming of piratical adventures across the city’s bay, while her parents are hamstrung by middle-class mores and white-collar work – it all gives Handler scope for satirical jabs at class and race. With We Are Pirates sailing into bookshops this week, Handler is joining us to answer your questions in a live webchat from 2pm GMT onwards on Wednesday 25 February. Post yours in the comments below, and he’ll take on as many as possible. Updated at 9.40am GMT |