Kevin's Watch

Newly posted on his website:

www.stephenrdonaldson.com/fromtheauthor ... hp?Page=35

Listening right now...

Finished listening. Little story-specific commentary, but quite revelatory of his philosophy. Found the reference to Ralph Waldo Emerson very interesting -- if anyone knows exactly which poem/essay that comes from, do post. Sounded related to nondualism.

(I had to hard-refresh my browser to pick that up in the Structured Interviews menu. And of course Blasius's direct link works.)

Thanks! I will listen to this soon.

Thanks for the link!

pretty good interview. I understand now how SRD could write TC first and second chrons. wow.

I thought it was a good interview, although Tellin Ellin didn't always grasp the finer points of the Chronicles. There was some material I hadn't heard SRD relate before, and I found it insightful.

Wow, thank you! I always love to hear (and read) authors speak about the 'mechanics' of writing.
{It's interesting. Even though I've heard him on FBH, his voice sounds so very much different than I imagined it would. As a musician, I've heard my own voice many times, and it still doesn't sound like me, or how I would imagine my voice sounds to others, so I wonder; when Stephen hears his own voice, in situations like this, does he like it or does he cringe (as I do), or does it matter to him in the slightest?}
Never mind, just an aside.
In any case, it's intriguing to me that he writes "backwards". The ending comes first, visualizing the final denouement, then works to understand how his protagonist gets from Z to Y to X, etc... down to A where he begins at.
Quite simply astonishing, especially when compared to how other authors who have written about how they write accomplish the deed.
Stephen King, in 'On Writing', spoke of how he discovers the 'seed germ' of an idea and likens it to a fossil that must be carefully uncovered from the dross surrounding it, or like a castle with every entry open and yet all ways but one lead to disaster. He starts with the situation and writes to the end, letting his characters tell him along the way how they will behave and discovering the end later. In contrast, Donaldson knows where his characters will end and has to listen to them tell him how they got there.
Both sound impossibly easy and yet prohibitively difficult.
As a songwriter I sometimes let the music guide me to the lyrics I should be writing, and sometimes the words lead toward the melody: an interesting juxtaposition of concepts indeed!
Well, I'm going to have to listen to that interview again!
(And I need to start a new topic before I start discussing the musicality of Donaldson's poesy!)
Thanks again!