Alan Dean Foster is a best selling author who has written original novels, movie adaptations, and even music and a graphic novel. As his Covid year was as difficult for many reasons as anyone else's I am grateful for the time he took to answer my questions.
You've lived in NY, California and for the longest time Arizona, (I
think). How does region play a role in your creative experience? Mad
Amos I see lots of Arizona. In Midworld or Icerigger not nearly so
much.
How does a creative person recreate using their locale? How
does a creative person imagine something that they might not have
experienced. Is it enough to read about something to write or paint or
write music about the place?
Forty years in Prescott, Arizona. Same house. When we moved from L.A. I wasn’t sure I could handle it, but it’s amazing how fast you get used to peace and quiet. All I miss from L.A. is the ocean, and I’ve been fortunate enough to travel to places where the sea is clear and unpolluted.
Research allows you to construct worlds you would like to visit. The key is to travel there in your own mind. If I’m on Tran-ky-ky, or Midworld, or Prism, I envision myself in those surroundings, then describe what I’m seeing. Actually visiting exotic locales here on Earth does permit a writer to build a more viable world, as in Into The Out Of, or The Journeys of the Catechist. Everywhere I’ve traveled and everyone I’ve met is grist for the mill.
You have recently been composing music. How does that work with
your
creative mind. Do you hear it before composing it, or do you try
out
different ways of making it happen and find yourself surprised by
the
result? Do you think being creative in one area leads to
possibly
being creative in other areas? What other areas of creative
fire would
you like to try out?
I have been hearing orchestral music in my head since I was a teen. When I was 16 I bought a composition workbook and tried writing down a couple of the themes I heard in my head. No luck. Sometimes I hear the music before setting it down, sometimes it develops as I’m writing. No different, actually, from writing prose. In fact, when I started composing last year the similarities surprised me.
I think if you are creative it’s perfectly reasonable to expect that ability to lap over into other areas. It’s a matter of applying one's self and studying what you want to try. If I have the time, the next thing I would like to try is sculpture. The key is time.
Speaking of the confluence of creative fire, do you think of a scene
you write for a book like a screenwriter might? Or do you not
consider lighting, outside factors, the specific actors and meaning of
a scene prior to writing it? Is drama, wherever it occurs the same
thing, only interpreted and created differently for different media?
I don’t design a scene in a book the same way I would write it in a
screenplay because with a screenplay, much of the background falls to
specific technicians. Those who handle the lightning, sound, costumes,
etc... In some ways, the novel has changed very little from when the
first stories were written. The difference is that the writer has to be
all those technicians from the beginning. You have to do the lighting,
sound, etc... entirely by yourself.
When I write a scene or a
sequence, the story takes precedence. When I go back and rewrite,
that’s when I touch up those cinematic details.
The creative arts are often a career field where retirement only
happens when the artist is unable to continue. Do you think you have
a force inside leading you to create that refuses to stop and take
time off to enjoy the fruits of your labor? How does being creative
affect other parts of a person's life? Does being creative cause you
to like things less or instantly think, oh, I could do that too? How
does it work in the positive?
Actually, I could stop. I simply have no desire to. I love telling stories, and as long as readers keep asking for them I’ll keep writing them. But I could quit, I suppose. And do what? Imagine stories I’d no longer write? Being creative is like having this little demon sitting on your shoulder, always egging you on. Not because you have to be creative but because every story idea is a challenge.
Where it hurts is when knowledge of the workings of a story, or film, or music, detracts from letting go to simply enjoy what you’re reading, or watching, or listening to. I can’t watch a film without a part of me departing to analyze the sfx, or the lighting. Now that I’m writing music, I can no longer just listen to a symphony, or a film score, without involuntarily analyzing the orchestration, or the counterpoint, or some such. It’s a bit of a curse.
I wanted to discuss your Disney experience. I've had contracts not
only not honored, but in retrospect I was the only one possibly
penalized if the situation had changed. When a large entity doesn't
honor their contract obligations, what recourse do smaller artists
have to adjust the situation? How did your situation play out and did
you find the resolution to be worth the effort expended?
The Disney imbroglio is fully and satisfactorily resolved. So yes, it was worth the effort. What became rapidly apparent is that when dealing with, as you say, a large entity, nothing is more effective in today’s interconnected world than publicity. Once it was made public, the issue went viral within 24 hours. It’s one thing to have good folks working on your behalf. But when a discussion appears in media around the planet, it becomes hard to ignore.
This is as true of any issue as it was with mine.
No comments:
Post a Comment