“Well, if you boil each of the Houses down to their defining characteristic. You know -- Hufflepuff is kind, Gryffindor is brave, Ravenclaw is smart and Slytherine is cunning -- then I would have to say I’m Slytherine.”
“No!” Lev was flabbergasted.
“Yes,” said Erin. I wasn’t surprised, maybe just that she admitted to it. “And yourself?”
“Well I took a Jo-sanctioned (Lev’s on a first-name bases with J.K. Rowling because he’s interviewed her for Time) Sorting Hat test and it turns out that I’m Hufflepuff.” A collective groan erupted from the spectators. “I know. I’m still coming to terms with it myself.”
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| Images from Sleep No More which, Erin is the first to tell you, greatly influenced The Night Circus. |
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| Erin has been to see Punchdrunk's version of Macbeth at least 10 times in various locations and leaked that she may be working on a collaborative project with the director. |
These two authors of some of my favorite genre fiction did actually go on to talk shop in a way that dug into their craft and addressed the tedium of writing, the demons of self-doubt and their respective strengths and weaknesses (which were opposite). But I did find it remarkable that their launching off point was Harry Potter and both possessed unabashed enthusiasm for the moppy-headed wizard, especially as their own work tends to be for an older readership, has more roots in the “real,” contemporary world and explores the darker underbelly of what magic they conjure.
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| A piece of fan art by Christopher Shy (<-- enter at your own risk) of a scene from The Magicians. Lev revels in and stokes the fires of online fan culture. |
Anyway. These are some interesting things they said:
- They both felt lucky to have grown up in New England, believing that it is a rich land to draw from for fiction. The Salem witch trials factored in. (I was surprised by this since, for me, growing up in Connecticut always seemed so bland and regular when I compared it in my head to all the other places where I might have been a kid. But, then again, everything is “normal” when it’s all you know and it takes a special kind of sight, and often the perspective that comes with distance, to be able to see what’s been in front of you all along with fresh, inquisitive eyes.)
- Fantasy borrows more from its archives/ancestors than other genres. Steal as much as you want.
- It’s really hard to have faith that an educated, alternative, adult audience (their ideal audience) will follow you down into magic fountains and up through jungle gyms made out of clouds. Especially before you’ve established yourself as a writer. But you have to take a blind leap. Lev’s first two novels were realistic fiction and the first time he wrote about casting a spell, he nearly gave himself a hernia.
- Erin began her book during National Novel Writing Month (really!?!) where you are challenged to produce 50000 words.
- That the amount of publicity tours, readings, lectures and appearances required if/when one’s novel gets popular is toxic to the development of story that begins to grow after it.
So then the talk was over and the authors were ushered behind a large oak table. A line had snaked itself around the stacks of books before they could even assume the position.
I wanted to say, ‘Hey, so should we ditch this lineup and grab a beer?’ As if we went way back. Because in a way, we do. Their characters walk around with me and make snide comments about passersby or chill in the tent villages in my paintings on a regular basis. And I actually have written with Lev and he’s into my paintings. Especially this one.
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| When I Was A Boy |
So it figures that these authors, who write in the genre that I work in and whose characters can read minds, should be able to sense that I am part of the same House. That we should shoot the shit in the common room. But, of course, there's no spark of recognition and I’m just the girl who awkwardly holds eye contact for a beat too long and cuts through the line to get to the door.
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