Barnes & Noble interviews Terry Pratchett

26 January 2008 (15:01) Other Terry Pratchett Books Johnny Maxwell The Watch Interviews Discworld Books News Terry Pratchett News Archives

On Barnes & Noble’s Meet the Writers Podcast, an episode devoted to Terry Pratchett released last month is available on the podcast feed. Terry Pratchett gets asked all the usual: working at a nuclear power plant, working as a journalist, and his writing process and inspirations.

The Origin of the Species, by “old Charlie”: “Charles Darwin could write a book. It really was a great popular science book. I suppose you could say it was the first popular science book, and it was deservedly popular.”

Being a press officer: “You get home and you’ve been taking all the weird stuff the world can throw at you and just sitting and banging away at a keyboard was how I got through it.”

Becoming a full-time writer: “I can remember the day when I realized that I’d never need do an honest day’s work as long as I lived, if I was careful. It was a bit of a Disney moment. You know, the little tweety birds went round and round my head.”

Satire in the books: “Someone said you can pretty much tell what kind of things were in the news six months ago by reading a Discworld book, because there are kind of shadows of real world events. I don’t think this is entirely true. I mean, people said of the book Thud! that ‘Ah, yes, that’s based on the current situation in the Middle East, isn’t it?’ and I said ‘No,’ because … the current situation in the Middle East has been the current situation in the Middle East for years and years.”

For more on Neil Gaiman and Good Omens, journalism, “draft zero”, and gardening, take a listen to the fifteen minute podcast.