Neil Gaiman

I was privileged enough to sit in at a telecasted conference with renowned fiction writer Neil Gaiman, who wrote Coraline, Stardust, American Gods, and The Sandman series. Mr. Gaiman spoke regarding Libraries, and their importance in Democracy. It was really interesting to hear about Neil’s experience in school in Sussex, where he became enthralled with The Lord of the Rings books. He mentioned that his school library only had The Fellowship of the Ring, and the Two Towers, but not Return of the King. Regardless, he reread those two books constantly, enjoying them tremendously. However, he had won a school contest later on during his high school career, and had earned the privilege to ask for any book to be included in the school library. Naturally, he chose Return of the King to see how it ended. I thought that was a great anecdote on how if you’re passionate about something enough, eventually it will pay off.
Also, another great aspect of the conference was when he talked about his writing and creative process. He said that he uses genre in his writing, in the same fashion as a chef would use a certain type of spice. I thought this was really a profound statement regarding creative arts, not just solely writing. People can combine genres and styles and sometimes it makes a unique and great blend, while other times they simply just don’t go together.
It was just great to hear a great author speak about his work, his philosophies, and in general his viewpoints on various aspects of society.