Holy shit, guys. Today I saw NEIL GAIMAN. In person. I heard him speak his beautiful words and read from his beautiful new book and just generally be awesome. He told stories about Shirley MacLaine pulling his hair in Santa Fe, his son at age 4 wanting a goldfish instead of a dad, the best way to maintain one's humility (a cat!), how he thinks and other wonderfully normal things. His flight and subsequent arrival was delayed due to complications at the SF airport from the crash yesterday, so we were entertained for a good two hours with old BBC archive footage of interviews and readings, our crowd laughing along with the one on the screen. As Neil caught his breath once he came onstage, I was reassured of the incomparable humility most of my favorite writers have. He told a story about how there was a girl on his plane who recognized him who was on her way to Ann Arbor to see him, still distraught that she was going to miss the show (even after seeing the man himself!). He signed her boarding pass just in case, but said "the show can't really start without me, now can it?" But in a totally non-douchey way. Just humble and logical and reassuring.
Being at his book tour for his new novel, Neil read from said new novel, The Ocean At The End Of The Lane, which he wrote for Amanda. Then answered with "terrifying randomness" a bunch of index-carded questions that he hadn't had time to go through before the show due to his tardiness. We got to hear how weird he was as a kid, sitting under tables to read (it's dark and quiet and no one will bother you!); how to actually pronounce his last name (his grandmother changed it not-quite-legally between the engagement and the wedding because she liked the spelling better); he acknowledged his grumpiness at his wife being away which led to the writing of this short-story-accidentally-turned-book.
As a writer myself, I think my most meaningful memories of the night will be when he talked about himself as a writer. About where he gets his ideas. How he decides to do what he wants to do next. He said he got his ideas out of his head, by taking one thing that people know all about and another thing that people know all about and pushing them together and seeing what happens. (like...a chairwolf!) When asked about writing sequels (specifically of Stardust), he made a comment about doing something that he knows absolutely how to do and everyone expects him to do and something that's already half formed, but then on the other hand there's this thing that he has no clue how to do and no one at all is expecting..."and I generally just hare off after that!" he said with a flourish and a laugh. I love that idea of new territory. I am exploring it more and more every day, what with being recently graduated and trying to find my way in the "Real World." Neil is a self-professed "maker-upper" and I try every day to emulate that beautiful feeling.
I didn't stay to get my book signed. I was alone and tired and hungry and had waited for two hours before I even got close to having my section called, at which time I would've still had to wait in the serpentine line that snaked up the grand staircase at the Michigan theater, around the balcony, and back down the stairs to Neil Himself. I wrestled with my decision for a long time; because this is Neil's last US signing tour, it would be special to have that, and i could've traded in my copy for a presigned one if I really wanted to (he signed hundreds throughout the actual meeting-people parts, as is apparent in the really grainy camera photo below), but I'd already written in my copy, notes and little hearts and things that it made me think of, and I didn't want to let those first blushes go. I was there, I heard him speak, I laughed with the rest--I didn't need a signature to make myself feel validated. I didn't want to be one face out of 1700 on a conveyor belt. Who knows what the future will bring?
Some of the best quotes of the night:
and of course, my favorite:
No comments:
Post a Comment