TRUTH, IN A WEEK, PLEASE
Over the years I have helped lots of students with projects, but this questionnaire stands out from the crowd. Of all the “assignments” I have received, this one has to be the most challenging and, proportionately, interesting.
Here, minus the name of the sender, is the e-mail I received:
Hello, Ms. Springer. I am writing a paper for my high school English class that requires me to survey a certain demographic of people, and I have chosen authors. If you could take just a few minutes to answer my questions, I would really appreciate your insight! I need the responses back in a week if possible. Thank you!
Here’s what I sent back:
I found your questions highly intelligent and insightful but very difficult to answer concisely!
Name: Nancy Springer
Age: 65
Race: human
Gender: kinda wish that were irrelevant
Q: What qualities do you consistently put into the protagonists of your novels? Why?
A: Writing fiction is not putting qualities into characters. I mean, it’s not like baking a cake; let’s add some nutmeg and a dash of integrity. . . . It’s instinctive, intuitive, holistic, and if there’s any consistency in my protagonists, it’s only because they come out of me. I suspect, although I haven’t taken a survey, that most of them are either lonely or loners, because that’s how I am.
Q: How has being an author changed you?
A: Being an author literally saved my life and turned it around. I had clinical depression, I think since childhood, and starting in my twenties I had obsessive thoughts of suicide for years at a time. But in the process of writing fantasy novels, I gradually discovered who I was, stopped hating me, and learned to deal with life more positively. Writing is not a cure-all but it made a huge difference for me.
Q: How does love in the real world compare to fictional love?
A: It depends on whose fiction the love is in. I think many romance novels do readers a disservice by giving them unrealistic expectations of “being swept away by love.” In my early fantasy novels, the love relationships between characters are extreme, unusual, and probably unrealistic because of my psychological problems. In my later work, I hope, I depict love more realistically!
Q: If you truly had the power to change anything about the world, where would you start?
A: I’d start all over, tens of thousands of years ago, and have humankind develop in harmony with the world’s other living creatures and in profound respect for the planet we live on. I envision a world with far more forest and far less pavement. I’m a dreamer.
Q: What is the difference between reality and perception?
A: Once I was sitting in an airport watching an older woman, a younger woman, and a young man. I formed the preconception that the young man was traveling and his mother and wife had come to see him off. I saw them embrace him – or that was actually what I thought I saw until the young woman walked onto the plane. My perception was different than the reality. People tend to see what they want to see, hear what they want to hear, and remember things differently than other people having the same experience.
Q: What is truth?
A: I don’t know. I’ve spent most of my life just trying to figure out what is good or what is right. Truth is too abstract for me. I do know that Keats said, “Beauty is truth; truth beauty,” but I think he was wrong. I don’t like to favor beauty over ugly. They’re two sides of the same coin. Things seem to work by opposites. A great gift is a great burden. A strength may well become a weakness. Maybe truth is a double-edged sword that cuts both ways.
Here, minus the name of the sender, is the e-mail I received:
Hello, Ms. Springer. I am writing a paper for my high school English class that requires me to survey a certain demographic of people, and I have chosen authors. If you could take just a few minutes to answer my questions, I would really appreciate your insight! I need the responses back in a week if possible. Thank you!
Here’s what I sent back:
I found your questions highly intelligent and insightful but very difficult to answer concisely!
Name: Nancy Springer
Age: 65
Race: human
Gender: kinda wish that were irrelevant
Q: What qualities do you consistently put into the protagonists of your novels? Why?
A: Writing fiction is not putting qualities into characters. I mean, it’s not like baking a cake; let’s add some nutmeg and a dash of integrity. . . . It’s instinctive, intuitive, holistic, and if there’s any consistency in my protagonists, it’s only because they come out of me. I suspect, although I haven’t taken a survey, that most of them are either lonely or loners, because that’s how I am.
Q: How has being an author changed you?
A: Being an author literally saved my life and turned it around. I had clinical depression, I think since childhood, and starting in my twenties I had obsessive thoughts of suicide for years at a time. But in the process of writing fantasy novels, I gradually discovered who I was, stopped hating me, and learned to deal with life more positively. Writing is not a cure-all but it made a huge difference for me.
Q: How does love in the real world compare to fictional love?
A: It depends on whose fiction the love is in. I think many romance novels do readers a disservice by giving them unrealistic expectations of “being swept away by love.” In my early fantasy novels, the love relationships between characters are extreme, unusual, and probably unrealistic because of my psychological problems. In my later work, I hope, I depict love more realistically!
Q: If you truly had the power to change anything about the world, where would you start?
A: I’d start all over, tens of thousands of years ago, and have humankind develop in harmony with the world’s other living creatures and in profound respect for the planet we live on. I envision a world with far more forest and far less pavement. I’m a dreamer.
Q: What is the difference between reality and perception?
A: Once I was sitting in an airport watching an older woman, a younger woman, and a young man. I formed the preconception that the young man was traveling and his mother and wife had come to see him off. I saw them embrace him – or that was actually what I thought I saw until the young woman walked onto the plane. My perception was different than the reality. People tend to see what they want to see, hear what they want to hear, and remember things differently than other people having the same experience.
Q: What is truth?
A: I don’t know. I’ve spent most of my life just trying to figure out what is good or what is right. Truth is too abstract for me. I do know that Keats said, “Beauty is truth; truth beauty,” but I think he was wrong. I don’t like to favor beauty over ugly. They’re two sides of the same coin. Things seem to work by opposites. A great gift is a great burden. A strength may well become a weakness. Maybe truth is a double-edged sword that cuts both ways.
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Denice
(new)
Apr 09, 2014 07:54AM
Hi Nancy...I did not realize you had such demons in the past...I hope they do not come to you very often any more...I have read your much earlier fantasy books, Fair Peril being my favorite (still is)...Chance, Wings Of Flame, Larque On The Wing, The Sable Moon, The White Hart, Godbond, Mindbond, Metal Angel, etc. (not in order of course...these are how they are on my book shelves)...I devoured all of these stories...many times..I am presently re-reading The Case of the Left-Handed Lady and have actually decided to read over the whole series again <3....Thank You for sharing your wonderful stories!!!!
reply
|
flag
Denice wrote: "Hi Nancy...I did not realize you had such demons in the past...I hope they do not come to you very often any more...I have read your much earlier fantasy books, Fair Peril being my favorite (still ..."Denice, wow! You must be one of my best fans. THANK YOU for being a reader! Regarding my demons: yes, I had just plain ol' clinical depression, which compared to bipolar is a piece of cake. Yes, my troubles are largely over, but I keep telling the story, hoping to help others accept and understand.
Again, thanks!
Hi Nancy,I'm right there with Denice when it comes to enjoying your books since the early 80s. My favorites will always be the books in the Silver Sun series, especially The Golden Swan.
I've had the same psychological problems since I was young and, although things are better for me now at 50, they will always be with me. Your characters in the Silver Sun series are so true to me, because they couldn't express their fears and feelings to one another for fear of losing respect, love, and friendship.
In essence, I really just want to thank you. Your books mean so very much to me, demons and all.
Carole S.
NYC
Carole wrote: "Hi Nancy,I'm right there with Denice when it comes to enjoying your books since the early 80s. My favorites will always be the books in the Silver Sun series, especially The Golden Swan.
I've ha..."
Carole, I'm incredibly lucky to have such fans as you nurturing my shaky ego. THANK YOU for that, and for adding your voice to the "psychological problems" chorus. The more of us who speak up, the more we'll know we're not alone. Thanks again for enjoying my fantasy books. Hey, pretty soon they're all going to be available again, electronically!
Nancy, that is wonderful news ... I can't wait to be able to read all of them on my phone! I hope we don't have to wait too long ;)
Carole wrote: "Nancy, that is wonderful news ... I can't wait to be able to read all of them on my phone! I hope we don't have to wait too long ;)"People are working on it right now. So, um, a year or two? :)
Sounds like Maui time. That's ok ... your books are definitely worth the wait!
:-) I really enjoy these questionnaires, and your answers. Interesting to read about how writing helped with your depression... I've always thought it a therapeutic experience myself in many ways.And as for...
I’d start all over, tens of thousands of years ago, and have humankind develop in harmony with the world’s other living creatures
That's so true. An excellent answer!
Carole wrote: "Sounds like Maui time. That's ok ... your books are definitely worth the wait!"Maui? As in the big mysterious stone dudes on Easter Island? Yes, publishing is about that slow.
Richard wrote: ":-) I really enjoy these questionnaires, and your answers. Interesting to read about how writing helped with your depression... I've always thought it a therapeutic experience myself in many ways...."
Thank you, Richard. Therapeutic is putting it mildly. And thanks for liking my answers.
Maui, as in the island in the state of Hawaii. I lived there for 21 years before moving back to NYC in 2010.There's Hawaii time, which is slow, and then there's Maui time, which is even slower. Think of it as the extreme opposite of NYC time, Nancy ;)
Carole wrote: "Maui, as in the island in the state of Hawaii. I lived there for 21 years before moving back to NYC in 2010.There's Hawaii time, which is slow, and then there's Maui time, which is even slower. T..."
Okay! Thanks for elucidating, Carole. Easter Island, even though its people are Polynesian, belongs to Chile, and I'm married to a Chilean, and those honkin' big long-eared statues on Easter Island are called maui, pronounced as if a cat were meowing it. I wondered how you would know that. (Gentle laugh at self.)
So, like myowee? I had no idea that's what they were called. Thanks ... I like little factoids like that. They make good non sequiturs.You know, I've always wondered if you created the Old Language from Gaelic (of which I know nothing) or if you created it yourself from bits and pieces of other old languages. That particular series really affected my outlook on how I looked upon and treated everything around me. It still does, actually.
Carole, I think I was trying for a Gaelic vibe, but I really just made the words up. I kept a notebook for reference. Now I've lost the notebook, I can't remember a single word of my invented language. Must reread those books!
Lisa wrote: ""most of them are either lonely or loners, because that’s how I am."Interesting to me in light of this Nancy, that never had a character felt more like a companion melting away the edges of my own..."
Thank you, Lisa! I, too, found Enola to be excellent company. Introverts often are. We revel in good conversation; it's so hard to find. :)
Last Seen Wandering Vaguely
Befuddlements of a professional fiction writer
- Nancy Springer's profile
- 2293 followers
