[HN Gopher] Roald Dahl's writing shed (1982) [video]
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Roald Dahl's writing shed (1982) [video]
Author : vanilla-almond
Score : 64 points
Date : 2022-11-08 21:14 UTC (2 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.youtube.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.youtube.com)
| reillyse wrote:
| It's interesting to compare his setup for writing to a modern day
| setup for coding. I think there is a lot to be said for the
| little cues that give your mind the prompts it needs to know that
| you are "working". Clearly his setup helped him really get in the
| zone and it's interesting to see a 80's version of it.
| eric__cartman wrote:
| Are Roald Dahl's adult novels as good as his children's books? I
| absolutely loved to read his stories as a child and probably
| would enjoy a similar experience as an adult. Heck I should
| probably pick Fantastic Mister Fox or Danny the Champion of the
| World and read them again.
| secondcoming wrote:
| Some of his 'Tales Of The Unexpected' stories are on YT
| BeetleB wrote:
| Thanks! I read the book decades ago and had no idea they made
| a TV show out of it.
| perydell wrote:
| Check out The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More if
| you didn't read it when you were young.
| BeetleB wrote:
| I've read his adult short stories. Very good. But very
| different from his kid's novels.
| pdoub wrote:
| Boy you'll love e.g. "My Uncle Oswald" - I've only consciously
| discovered Dahl while looking for dark humored books in my
| teens and then was surprised to find out he was the author
| behind a lot of very well known childrens books also!
| neonnoodle wrote:
| His short stories for adults are even better than his
| children's books.
| alexpotato wrote:
| His two part autobiography is also excellent in both the
| writing style but also as a window into what it was like
| growing up in England in the interwar period, working for Shell
| in the late stages of the Colonial Empire and fighting in
| lesser known spots of World War 2.
| secondcoming wrote:
| 'Boy' and 'Going Solo'
| BeetleB wrote:
| I've read only the first one, and I would not consider it an
| "adult" book. I read it as a kid, and its written to be quite
| readable by kids.
|
| Great book, though.
| Aardwolf wrote:
| What a perfect chair and table for a laptop, inspirational!
| vanilla-almond wrote:
| Some quotes from Dahl from the interview:
|
| _The discipline of writing_ :
|
| "Your concentration is fairly intense. You're lost into this
| world of the story that you happen to be doing - it's
| terrifically demanding you know. What do I write four, four-and-
| a-half hours a day - so a quarter of my waking hours I am
| completely immersed in a dotty world of fantasy."
|
| _Writing for children vs adults_ :
|
| "To my mind, there's no question that to write a children's book
| of comparable quality to a fine adult novel or story is more
| difficult - it's much more difficult to achieve the children's
| book."
| piqufoh wrote:
| > You can quote Oscar Wild and say "When I am gone, I hope it
| will be said: that my sins were scarlet, but my books were read"
| LeoPanthera wrote:
| Roald Dahl also wrote the screenplay for the James Bond film "You
| only live twice", which was almost completely rewritten from the
| novel, about which Dahl said "Fleming's worst book, with no plot
| in it which would even make a movie", comparing it to a
| travelogue of Japan.
| StrictDabbler wrote:
| You probably know this, but for those who don't:
|
| Roald Dahl and Ian Fleming were both actual British spies who
| knew each other well and shared story ideas. Fleming partially
| based Bond on Dahl's work in the war.
|
| Dahl's job in WWII was sleeping with rich American women to
| gather intelligence data.
| reitanqild wrote:
| For some reason I thought Roald Dahl was a fighter pilot, but
| maybe that was just one of his stories, or maybe I
| misremember.
| jdsnape wrote:
| You are right, he was a fighter pilot but was injured and
| ended up in Canada and America doing
| diplomatic/intelligence work.
| pm215 wrote:
| He was, for the first few years of the war. His wikipedia
| article has the details of his wartime career. You're
| probably thinking of "A Piece of Cake", which was his first
| published story and based on a plane crash he'd been in in
| 1940.
| alexdong wrote:
| Goodness me. Got pointers for me to read? Thanks.
| dano wrote:
| The Irregulars https://www.amazon.com/Irregulars-Roald-
| British-Wartime-Wash...
| BeetleB wrote:
| Curious. He also wrote the screenplay for _Chitty Chitty Bang
| Bang_ - another Ian Fleming novel.
| alexpotato wrote:
| Having lived from age 5 to 11 in London in the 80s, this
| throwback to old school BBC interviewing is quite the blast from
| the past.
| ilamont wrote:
| I found it interesting that while he was very particular about
| setting up his writing nest and getting in the zone, he had two
| telephones on the desk next to him which surely would be a
| distraction, a temptation, or a combination of the two.
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(page generated 2022-11-10 23:01 UTC)