Orson Scott Card Author of Homebody |
Orson Scott Card Mailing List Members Get Answers!
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Editor's note: Some of
the questions below were prepared in advance and sent to N. L. Thompson, who compiled
questions from all participating listmembers and e-mailed them to Orson Scott Card.
They were resubmitted by N.L. in the Barnes and Noble Forum on March 20, 1998. Card
answered every question that his moderator sent to him.
Moderator: Welcome to BarnesandNoble.com! We are joined tonight
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Scott from Fillmore, Ut: Did you write Homebody specifically with the film market in mind? Seems it would make wonderful film fare.
OSC: The first draft of Homebody was a screenplay. The second
draft was the novel. The third draft was a new version of the screenplay. Then another
quick pass through the novel added the "cool stuff" from the second version of
the screenplay. And it was done. One of the most exhilarating writing experiences
I've had. So I thought I'd do it again with Enchantment. Nope. didn't work. I couldn't
write the screenplay because I had to invent so much. Homebody was set in Greensboro,
right now. I didn't have to invent anything but the story and characters.
Enchantment is set mostly in Russia and entirely with Russian Jewish and Orthodox
Christian characters - cultures I know almost nothing about. I had to do research and I
had to do exploratory drafts. It's been killing me because it seemed each new chapter was
like starting over. The first chapter is in Ukraine in 1975. Second chapter is in an
Ithaca-like city in upstate New York in 1990. Third chapter is back in Ukraine, but after
independence from the USSR in 1990. Fourth and fifth chapters move us into the foothills
of the Carpathians in the 9th century A.D. Nightmare time! As much research as I had to
expend on Pastwatch! No way can you do a screenplay to "explore" such material.
It has to be done as a novel; then the screenplay can be pulled out of the novel. In the
meantime, Del Rey is getting a bit impatient. Where's the damn book? All I can say is: It
took me only a month and a half to write Homebody. I honestly thought Enchantment
would be just as painless. Oops. But it's nearly done. Just a week-and-a-half of mad
writing to go. Then back to my novel-writing class at Pepperdine to see what my students
have been doing while I was writing Enchantment!
Aaron Plikt from Temple, TX: Mr. Card, I deeply respect the way that you are able to connect with your readers. You have an uncanny knack for showing us to ourselves without (necessarily) our prior consent, and then somehow bringing us out of such a harrowing experience in a peacable mood. (I'd respectfully ask for lessons on that, but I'm not certain it's something that can be taught. ) You have connected with me at some level with everything of yours that I have yet had the pleasure of reading, and I eagerly look forward to reading each new novel you turn out. However, as a writer of music and a flutist in the local symphony, I have never felt you more inside of my thoughts than when I read Songmaster. Would you mind sharing with me what inspired you to write Songmaster? If you aren't a musician, then this is some of the best research into a novel that has ever been done. And whether you are or not, I have never heard the heart of a musician spoken or presented as well as you did it in Songmaster. I would love to know what kind of musician you are, if you are one. Also, I want to know from you what drew you to music (if you're a musician) or what about music interested you enough to write Songmaster (if you're not a musician). I apologize for my over-eagerness, but see, I never thought I'd meet fellow musician who can use words as well as you do!
OSC: Thank you for the kind words about the effectiveness
of my work. Let me suggest that for some readers my work has that sort of effect,
but for many others my work simply leaves them cold, or even annoys them. Would that I
could write with UNIVERSAL insight. But alas, I'm merely mortal. As to the specific
question dealing with Songmaster: I'm a musician, but not a good one. I was a boy soprano.
I also played French horn and tuba (now THERE'S a change in embouchure) in junior high and
high school (back in the days when California had a great school music program - you know,
before Proposition 29). During the sixties I played guitar and sang folks songs with my
friends. Nowadays I sing and sometimes conduct the church choir (I'm a baritone, but since
I can usually hit the tenor notes that's the section I generally sing in). Music is
important in my life - I have music playing constantly while I write (at the moment, I'm
playing through a nifty set of 13 cds of the complete piano music of Chopin).
specifically, though, Songmaster was really my attempt to duplicate Ender's Game - the
short story. That is, the short story "Mikal's Songbird" was a deliberate
attempt to imitate the short story "Ender's Game." That's because after selling
Ender's Game, I sold two more stories in rapid succession - but each needing more rewrites
than the one before. Then I wrote four or five stories which did not sell immediately and
I panicked. I went back to Ender's Game and tried to figure out what worked. Like every
idiot in Hollywood, I tried to duplicate the formula: Child in jeopardy; fate of the world
hangs in the balance. Ender was a genius at war; what could I make Ansset a genius at? Ah!
Music! Bingo! By the time I wrote the novel, I had outgrown that panicky need, and so the
novel is much more mature and developed (and nonformulaic). And, in case anyone's
wondering, the many other books and stories that deal with children are NOT further
attempts to duplicate "Ender's Game." Instead, they are merely reflections of
the fact that character is formed in childhood, and you can't understand the adult without
seeing the child. And because I loathe flashbacks and try to avoid them wherever possible,
it is more direct and effective to begin the story with the main character's childhood and
go from there.
Victor Neves from vcneves@plato.qi3.com: I first read Ender just after I went to a BSA leadership training camp, and the processes in the book reminded me a lot of my experience on the hill. It this a coincidence, or have you been to some advanced leadership training in the scouts?
OSC: BSA = Boy Scouts of
America? Forgive me, but Boy Scouts is officially incorporated into the LDS church program
for boys ages 11-13, and optionally beyond that. We are all forced to take part, and with
rare exceptions I loathed every moment of scouting. I know that there are other boys who
feel differently, but my idea of roughing it is staying in a hotel without room service.
If I never camp again it will be too soon. Nor am I much enamored of the whole Scouting
program. I think it's good for the boys it's good for - but for boys like me, who love
theatre and reading and poetry and debate and art and music, scouting is such an utter
waste of time that it is beyond comprehension why anyone thinks that it's right for EVERY
boy - as the LDS Church leadership persists in thinking. I realize that this may take you
by surprise, and you certainly don't deserve the vehemence of my response! As I said, for
those boys who enjoy and benefit from the program, Scouting can be wonderful, I'm sure.
But I was forced into it and found myself insulted by its feeble attempts at dealing with
my interests. So ... I guess my answer to your question is: no, I've never been to
advanced leadership training in the scouts. Furthermore, I am terrified if the monstrous
training program in Ender's Game reminded you of scouting. This may be the most disturbing
comment I ever received from a reader.
Kyle from humbuggy@earthlink.net: Dear Mr. Card, I would first like to thank you for all the hours of entertainment and reflection that your books have given me, though I do have a rather minor complaint in that I m a person that had rather prided myself on being able to think deeply on different subjects, but after reading one of your novels I always feel quite humbled in that respect! Oh well. Now as to my knavish inquiries... I ve noticed that in recent years that many artists seem to be communicating more and more with their public (such as over the net) - and so I was wondering whether, upon reflection, you feel that a writer's interaction with his readers is necessarily a good thing or could it be a case of too much of a good thing? (In the sense of maybe having an overload of input or feedback, and thereby perhaps running the risk that some of a work's original vitality and freshness may be lost). Also, is there any topic or person that you haven't yet written about that you would like to? Anyway keep up the good writing (after all, someone has to keep me humble...)
OSC: I appreciate well-done flattery, and yours was clever
indeed. I've found that the best interaction with my readers is in the form of
writing novels or stories (or scripts) and then putting them out for volunteers to buy and
read . I know that some readers like to put a human face with the author of a book, but
the main frustration for me is that I know that readers are invariably disappointed when
they meet me. My fictional characters all get to say the clever things that I only think
of on the way home from the party; my fictional characters can be extravagantly noble or
undergo great suffering, while my life is quotidian and my virtues of quite ordinary
dimensions. Also, my characters are, every one of them, better looking than me. So with
each public appearance, I can almost see people saying, "Oh. I was expecting someone
more, um, Ender-like." And yet ... writing is a lonely profession. I'm a dramatist by
inclination. I need the audience. Sometimes I need to see them face to face, talking to
them and feeling that enormous swell of energy that comes from such living communication.
More often, I simply need to be among the audience watching their response to something
I've written. How can I get that for a novel, though? I doubt you'd really enjoy reading
my novels the way my wife has to read them, with the author watching intently and at the
faintest trace of a smile saying, "What? What was funny?" And then there's the
problem of time. I get the same questions over and over - why shouldn't I? They come from
people who have read the same books! . Each one deserves a courteous answer; yet if I
answered each inquiry individually, I'd have time for little else. A website helps me by
answering some of the more obvious questions - though it's discouraging how many people
email me, tell me how much they liked my websites, and then ask me questions that are
CLEARLY answered on the website already! I guess they don't read software manuals, either
. Every public appearance I make ends up interfering with my writing - and also with my
free time with my family. So I am trying to hold them to a minimum. At the same time, it
can be energizing and exhilarating to give a talk or reading or to do a signing - I
generally enjoy them when I'm actually doing them, except for the occasional needy person
who perches him or herself near me at a signing and tries to dominate every conversation
with every person who comes up to have a book signed. If you have ever done this, repent
at once! Each person who comes to the front of a signing line deserves the UNDIVIDED
attention of the author for those moments. A signing is not a time for a three-hour chat
with the author! . There. you've heard my grousing. Thanks for listening.
Penny Freeman from Texas: Mr. Card: I think your book I relished reading most was "Saints," as it put the human face/touch on an otherwise tight-laced history. Besides growing to love your main character, I was also intrigued with your treatment of Emma Smith. I appreciate your compassionate portrayal of a sometimes maligned/unsympathetic character. (I also fancy I feel this same tone in your portrayal of Peggy Larner). My question: Would you be interested in penning a similar fictional historical biography of Emma as the main character? Her story is a Greek tragedy to which I think few could do justice. Sounds like a job for OSC.
OSC: I'm glad
you liked "Saints," and the treatment of Emma was one of the most delicate
tasks I set myself. She was a woman much to be admired, but came out on the wrong end of a
quarrel with Brigham Young that permanently stained her reputation in the LDS Church. I
think non-Mormons have no trouble at all seeing her sympathetically - it's Joseph Smith
they have trouble with . so my task was to make Joseph Smith sympathetic (or at least
comprehensible) to non-Mormons (and to Mormons who deify him), while making Emma
comprehensible and sympathetic to Mormons, who have got the other version of her. However,
I've done all the representation of Emma that I intend to do in my fiction. A full
exploration of her character by a fiction writer will have to await another author - why
not you, since you believe in and care about her?
Simon Tanner from University of Hertfordshire: Dear Mr. Card, "Does OSC have any control or input over his book cover art? There seems to be such diversity of standard and style, accuracy to the book content and appropriateness that I would be interested in whether he actually likes the way his own product is presented." Explanation: I'm thinking here of the lovely cover for Pastwatch, the evocation of the Lost Boys cover, the constantly changing art style for the Alvin series (some really great art (Red Prophet) and some really average art (Alvin Journeyman) - plus the changing appearance of Alvin), the disaster of Hot Sleep an early work with the nude robot woman, the spaceship theme for the Ender series, the good representation of content in the Homecoming series matched by the dull edge to the artwork. There seems to be an evolution here and I wonder if this is OSC's doing as he gains more overall control of his product.
OSC: I have no
control whatsoever over my cover art. Sometimes I love it (the cover of Memory of Earth).
Sometimes it's downright shameful (the covers of the US hardcover of Wyrms; the original
US paperback of "Woman of Destiny"). Most of the time, I'm grateful merely not
to be embarrassed or annoyed by the cover. The changing style of art for the Alvin books
is partly, I suspect, because the artist, Dennis Nolan, has become much, much more
expensive in the years since the series began . Perhaps (and I'm only guessing) they're
trying to keep the cost the same, and so they get less and less art from him for each new
cover . I won't go into detailed criticism of covers on my work beyond what I've said. I
know that the editors and art directors are generally doing their best. The fact that the
Homebody cover tends to disappear on the stands and the title can't be read is a design
problem; the concept was all right. But could I have chosen or designed or thought up a
better cover? I doubt it. I don't think that author control guarantees better covers - it
is likely only to reveal authorial ineptness at cover choice. I've published some books,
you see, where I had cover control over OTHER authors' books - and most of them hated what
I did. However, the thing to keep in mind is that the cover of a book is a BILLBOARD. It
is the primary advertisement for the book. It is not an illustration, and it is not an art
gallery. If you look at the book, pick it up, read some of the blurbs, read the opening
paragraphs, then the cover was a good one - regardless of what you think of it as art or
as illustration.
Paige Porter-Brown from paigepb@atlantic.net: You have diversified your interests recently, writing not only SF, but mainstream fiction and screenplays while continuing your interest in the stage. If all goes the way you hope, what do you see yourself doing five and ten years from now? Do you think that you might chose one medium over the others? Or will the range of your writing interests remain as broad as (or broader then) they are now? I understand that it is very hard to predict one's own professional path, so I will not, in any way, feel offended if you choose not to answer this question.
OSC: I really haven't
"diversified my interests recently." My interests have always been
diversified. My first published book was a child-rearing book; my historical novel Saints
was published (as "Woman of Destiny," damn them) in 1984, before Ender's Game.
All through my early sf years I was writing a series of audioplays for Living Scriptures
in Ogden, UT, dealing with American History, LDS Church history, and the New and Old
Testaments. (Hundreds of half-hour scripts, over the years.) I think what you're seeing is
the willingness of various publishers to gamble on publishing my out-of-genre writings.
Even at that, they won't touch anything without some supernatural element. Straight
mainstream stuff? Not a chance. No one wants to publish it, and I can't afford to write
what won't get published. So ... I tell ghost stories. I tell stories I care about and
believe in - but some stories I would love to tell I can't afford to write and publish.
Yet. In film, however, I am writing things that are not completely in genre. There's a
chance. In film, you aren't so locked in. Yes, if you're known as a sitcom writer, you
won't get picked easily for a drama - but if you write a spec pilot for a drama, and it
gets bought, THEN you're picked for it! There's less of a chance of getting something
produced at all - but more of a chance of not getting locked into writing only one kind of
thing.
D.R. Commander from akmaro@flash.net: Dear Mr. Card, In reading many of your novels, particularly the sagas like _Ender_, _Alvin Maker_, and _Homecoming_, I have noticed that one of the threads that binds these seemingly disparate works together is the similarity of experiences and personalities of many of the characters. One could argue that Ender =Alvin = Nafai = Lanik, at least on some level, and there are often the same types of conflicts present in these stories (brother vs. brother, child vs. bully, etc.) Your portrayal of these experiences and many others is so real and vivid that I often wonder how many of them are based upon real-life experiences you or people you know may have had as a child. So, I guess my question is this: in creating the characters that we know and love, do you try to mold them specifically after people in your own life or even on events in your own life? Growing up, did you have any brothers or sisters, and if so how did your relationship with them compare with that of Ender's and Nafai's siblings? Were you ever traumatized by bullies like Ender? (I apologize for getting personal.) Your novels bring to life such wonderful creations who seem almost as real to me as people I've known for years, and you seem to have such a firm grasp on human nature that often in reading your works, it seems like I'm reading about myself instead of someone in a far distant future setting. Keep them coming!
OSC: One could argue
that Ender=Alvin=Nafai=Lanik, and one could argue that they are as different as,
say, any of the main characters in Hemingway or Twain or Austen. Where is the
brother-brother conflict in the Alvin books? Where is the deformed body in Ender, Alvin,
or Nafai? Where is the extraordinary power in Nafai? If there are similarities, it is
because unconsciously I am drawn to stories about similar things; but I certainly have no
common theme binding them all together. To me, at least, each story has its own origin.
Ender began with the battle school and was extrapolated from there; Alvin is an
allegorical American history based on the life of Joseph Smith; Nafai's story is flat-out
based on the man Nephi in the Book of Mormon; Lanik came from the "cool idea" of
people who inadvertently grow extra body parts and what it might mean within a society in
which this is not entirely uncommon. The brothers in Nafai's story were dictated by the
source material. The brother and sister in Ender's Game were based loosely and
subjectively on my perceptions of my older brother and sister when I was a child. (My
older brother didn't torture animals. Let's set the record straight on that! ). On the
rare occasions when I base some aspect of a character on someone that I know personally, I
go to great pains to make sure the character resembles that person in NO other way. The
only exception is in my novel Lost Boys, which is explicitly based on my own family in
1983 and for a few years afterward. My oldest son is definitely still alive, however; but
Stevie was definitely based on my son Geoffrey and on experiences he had (except, of
course, the experience with the child-killer); Step and Deanne are based on me and
Kristine. Even then, I made them different from us in important ways. I do much better,
actually, when I invent my characters than when I base them on real people. That's because
real people are impossible to understand, while my made-up characters ARE exactly what I
think them to be. But then, unconsciously certain things do show up. Was I
"traumatized" by bullies as a child? Oh, that's a bit much. But I did get
frightened by a couple of bullies when I was a child, yes. I had victim written all over
me, apparently. Like the troll on the bridge, one bully let every other kid but me pass
him on the path to Millikin elementary in Santa Clara, CA. But me, of course, he had to
pounce on. Go figure. However, I never did an Ender-like thing in those cases. Mostly I
cried and ran away. I was, after all, only six. Most humiliating, though, is the fact that
the bully was five. No Ender here, obviously!
Ender Wigin from ewigin@rocketmail.com: Dr. Mr. Card What event in you life has affected your writing most and why? or if that is to personal: Some people say that a writers style "Evolves" to encompass each individual story that is told. Do you feel that your writing Evolves for each story... How about evolution between novels (IE: Enders' Game and Speaker For the Dead) These are questions I have wondered about for awhile as I try to understand how one Man can write so many varied topics...
OSC: There is no
single event that I can point to. Everything in my life shows up in my fiction, one way or
another. My handicapped son Charlie shows up in the story "The Fringe" and the
Homecoming novels. My Mormon upbringing is all-pervasive. My siblings show up in
various books. My son Geoffrey and my daughter Emily are here and there. Incidents from my
school life, from the lives of my children, from my wife's life; dreams that friends have
told me; everything I've ever read - how can I single out one incident or event and
declare it the one that has most affected my writing? As to a writer's "style,"
I have no patience with writers who even think about it. A narrative voice matters; a
writer's style matters only insofar as it interferes with his ability to communicate with
his audience. I find the voice that is appropriate for the narrator, and the narrator that
is appropriate for the story. So it can be the polemic by a character in Hart's Hope, or
the account narrated by a character in many people's voices in the Alvin Maker books, or a
neutral voice that remains as unobtrusive as possible in the Ender books, or the
deliberately musical, cadenced voice in Songmaster ... etc. But style? My style consists
of annoying habits, which I get rid of or control as best I can. So does every writer's
style. After we have eliminated all the annoying habits we are conscious of, only the
unconscious ones remain; that is our style.
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This page last created March 23, 1998 by N. L. Thompson.
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