Last week I went to a reading by the wonderful and excellent Patrick deWitt, who was reading from his newest, The Sisters Brothers.
I've been to a lot of these. They all go pretty much the same way. The author gets up to a podium, reads something (which can be sort of disappointing as I don't think I would go see an author I wasn't a fan of, yet they are almost always reading something I've already read), and then goes for the Q&A portion.
This is where things tend to get fun.
At one memorable reading with Chuck Klosterman, who read an excerpt from Killing Yourself to Live that included a reference to the fact that Thomas Jefferson told Lewis and Clark to keep a sharp eye out for Mastodons during their trail time, a guy stood up with this "question": "Lewis and Clark did find something out in those woods that no one had ever seen before. Do you know what it was? Bears." After which he promptly sat down and let that one sink in on all of us.
I wish, for the life of me, that I could remember the answer because Klosterman did a really nice job of not saying something like, I don't know, "What the fuck are you talking about?" Because, though I am not an expert on bears, I am relatively sure that bears were discovered long before Lewis and Clark were even ovum exploring the fallopian tube trails of their respective mothers.
Also, what the hell kind of question is that? It reminds me of the times I visit grade schools. There is a certain age, maybe 3rd or 4th grade, when kids start to understand what a question is, what it's purpose is, and how to ask one in such a way that it can be answered. But when you visit a preschool, for example, and ask for questions, you're likely to get stuff like, "We went to California this summer."
Every reading, without fail, has a person like this, someone who comes up with a bizarre, strange semi-question that is very loosely based on one small thing the author said over the last hour. Something lights up a little part of their brain and the train is now rolling out of the station.
This last week was no exception.
Now, to be fair, the weird questioner was at least asking questions that were related to the material. She'd clearly read it, so she wasn't some berserk hobo off the streets who wanted to make sure we knew that bears were out there and that they could strike when we least expected, while our backs were turned because we were on the lookout for mastodons.
And, to be fair, Mr. deWitt did a damn good job of answering her questions even though they seemed completely insane to me. For example:
"Do you think Eli [the narrator] will ever settle down and have a wife and kid?"
Hmm...maybe a little explanation is necessary.
The book she was referring to is about two brothers who are assassins in the old west. They travel a long way to kill a guy, have some adventures along the way, and end at their mother's house. The entire book takes place over maybe the course of a couple months out of their entire lives.
So, to speculate on whether a character will do something not in the story feels like the thoughts of a crazy person to me. Because, truthfully, the answer is absolutely not. No, of course not, because that character will never do anything ever again because that is the end of his story. He will not do anything that hasn't been written in those pages.
I was completely blown away by the question and had no idea how one would answer it. I felt nervous, sort of like those times when you were watching other kids give speeches in class and you were waiting your turn, not really thinking about what was going on up front but just thinking about how it was almost your turn.
He answered it well, and clearly he thought of his characters as much more than just a few pages worth of a person, which is probably why the book turned out as good as it did.
Like a lot of these question weirdos, she asked several questions. Her last one: "Clearly you got your MFA somewhere. Where did you go and what did you think of it?"
What an odd question.
It turned out that no, in fact, he had never gotten an MFA, nor gone to college, nor finished high school. The answer turned out great because he told a long story of him not being interested in school, becoming interested in writing, working hateful jobs, and so on.
Prefacing can be everything, and why you would preface that question with a "Clearly you" is beyond me, especially when you could just say, "Did you/and if so" instead.
But, if I'm being honest, these weirdos are what make these sorts of things worth going to. I can hear some guy read from a book any day, and it's pretty rare that the author reads a book aloud better than you read it in your head. Even the audiobook, most times, is better read than it is by the author, which shouldn't be a surprise because one person is a writer who is used to writing things down and the other is an actor who is used to taking things written down and giving them expression and life.
If it weren't for these weirdos we'd just get a few words followed by the rote questions When did you know you wanted to be a writer? Who are your influences? and Are they making anything of yours into a movie?
The weirdos are what make it fun, make it an event. If you are unsure about going to a reading, I would say go and bring a really bizarre, obnoxious friend who can't keep his or her mouth shut. It'll be a party.
I've been to a lot of these. They all go pretty much the same way. The author gets up to a podium, reads something (which can be sort of disappointing as I don't think I would go see an author I wasn't a fan of, yet they are almost always reading something I've already read), and then goes for the Q&A portion.
This is where things tend to get fun.
At one memorable reading with Chuck Klosterman, who read an excerpt from Killing Yourself to Live that included a reference to the fact that Thomas Jefferson told Lewis and Clark to keep a sharp eye out for Mastodons during their trail time, a guy stood up with this "question": "Lewis and Clark did find something out in those woods that no one had ever seen before. Do you know what it was? Bears." After which he promptly sat down and let that one sink in on all of us.
I wish, for the life of me, that I could remember the answer because Klosterman did a really nice job of not saying something like, I don't know, "What the fuck are you talking about?" Because, though I am not an expert on bears, I am relatively sure that bears were discovered long before Lewis and Clark were even ovum exploring the fallopian tube trails of their respective mothers.
Also, what the hell kind of question is that? It reminds me of the times I visit grade schools. There is a certain age, maybe 3rd or 4th grade, when kids start to understand what a question is, what it's purpose is, and how to ask one in such a way that it can be answered. But when you visit a preschool, for example, and ask for questions, you're likely to get stuff like, "We went to California this summer."
Every reading, without fail, has a person like this, someone who comes up with a bizarre, strange semi-question that is very loosely based on one small thing the author said over the last hour. Something lights up a little part of their brain and the train is now rolling out of the station.
This last week was no exception.
Now, to be fair, the weird questioner was at least asking questions that were related to the material. She'd clearly read it, so she wasn't some berserk hobo off the streets who wanted to make sure we knew that bears were out there and that they could strike when we least expected, while our backs were turned because we were on the lookout for mastodons.
And, to be fair, Mr. deWitt did a damn good job of answering her questions even though they seemed completely insane to me. For example:
"Do you think Eli [the narrator] will ever settle down and have a wife and kid?"
Hmm...maybe a little explanation is necessary.
The book she was referring to is about two brothers who are assassins in the old west. They travel a long way to kill a guy, have some adventures along the way, and end at their mother's house. The entire book takes place over maybe the course of a couple months out of their entire lives.
So, to speculate on whether a character will do something not in the story feels like the thoughts of a crazy person to me. Because, truthfully, the answer is absolutely not. No, of course not, because that character will never do anything ever again because that is the end of his story. He will not do anything that hasn't been written in those pages.
I was completely blown away by the question and had no idea how one would answer it. I felt nervous, sort of like those times when you were watching other kids give speeches in class and you were waiting your turn, not really thinking about what was going on up front but just thinking about how it was almost your turn.
He answered it well, and clearly he thought of his characters as much more than just a few pages worth of a person, which is probably why the book turned out as good as it did.
Like a lot of these question weirdos, she asked several questions. Her last one: "Clearly you got your MFA somewhere. Where did you go and what did you think of it?"
What an odd question.
It turned out that no, in fact, he had never gotten an MFA, nor gone to college, nor finished high school. The answer turned out great because he told a long story of him not being interested in school, becoming interested in writing, working hateful jobs, and so on.
Prefacing can be everything, and why you would preface that question with a "Clearly you" is beyond me, especially when you could just say, "Did you/and if so" instead.
But, if I'm being honest, these weirdos are what make these sorts of things worth going to. I can hear some guy read from a book any day, and it's pretty rare that the author reads a book aloud better than you read it in your head. Even the audiobook, most times, is better read than it is by the author, which shouldn't be a surprise because one person is a writer who is used to writing things down and the other is an actor who is used to taking things written down and giving them expression and life.
If it weren't for these weirdos we'd just get a few words followed by the rote questions When did you know you wanted to be a writer? Who are your influences? and Are they making anything of yours into a movie?
The weirdos are what make it fun, make it an event. If you are unsure about going to a reading, I would say go and bring a really bizarre, obnoxious friend who can't keep his or her mouth shut. It'll be a party.
No comments:
Post a Comment