I GET TO TAKE THE NEIL GAIMAN WRITING MASTERCLASS.
I had to shout that because I am really excited. As in, got-up-from-my-chair-and-danced-in-a-circle excited.
Gaiman is my favorite living author. He described London’s many shops and parks and churches as jostling each other, not uncomfortably but without respect. He eulogized Icarus as better to have flamed in the darkness, to have inspired others, to have lived, than to have sat in the darkness, cursing the people who borrowed, but did not return, your candle. He (along with Terry Pratchett) described Crowley as an Angel who did not so much Fall as Saunter Vaguely Downwards.
The word choice! The spurious use of capital letters! The dry humor, poking subtly at religious literary history! And then there’s the following paragraph from THE VIEW FROM THE CHEAP SEATS: SELECTED NONFICTION, which encourages me greatly as an author:
Sometimes you work as hard as you can on something, and still the cake does not rise. Sometimes the cake is better than you had ever dreamed. And then, whether the work was good or bad, whether it did what you hoped or it failed, as a writer you shrug, and you go on to the next thing, whatever the next thing is. That’s what we do.
Gaiman’s style and wisdom delight me, and I cannot wait for this masterclass. I’ll be returning here to give you a full review after, and I promise it won’t be biased at all in any way. Scout’s Honor.
P. S. I wasn’t a Scout.
P. P. S. If you want some more samples of Gaiman’s writing, just check out his quotes page on Goodreads or check your local library.
P. P. P. S I actually wrote a post on Neil Gaiman’s 8 Rules of Writing.
See you soon!
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