Keanu Reeves + China Miéville In Conversation | THE BOOK OF ELSEWHERE

Hi everyone, thank you so much for joining us. I'm Chyna, I'm Chyna Miet. Hi, I'm Keanu Reeves, thanks for being here. Thank you for your questions and we're going to jump straight in and see if we can answer them. All right Chyna, we have a question from Todd. Hi Todd, how did the two of you meet and how did you decide to collaborate? Oh, how did we meet? Did we meet in email first? My email met, well your email came to my email and I said that's not an email I was expecting and it kind of went from there. And then we physically met in 2021 in Berlin. Yeah, because we had started talking vaguely on email about the possibility of this and then I think you said oh you know we should meet when possible that would be really great and I said that's wonderful and then someone at your end said unfortunately Keanu is in Berlin at the moment and I said okay this is going to sound creepy, I'm in Berlin and so, which was pure serendipity, so we met in a hotel lobby. Outside. Yes, I had coffee and you had... I had breakfast tea. You had breakfast tea. And we had a very nice discussion about your comic and about ideas we could do. Right, how did we decide to collaborate together? Yeah, we talked about it forever. I would say that after saying I love you, I love your work, then I think I was, then you had questions. I think I said I love you too as well first but then yeah and then because I was really nervous about like I had a nightmare scenario which was in that I say yes I'd love to do this and then two years down the line you're muttering to yourself I really really wish I hadn't got this idea that he's really terrible he has no idea so I came with questions and concern and I was like here are some of my ideas do these work for you do you like is this okay you know because I didn't want to be the wrong person to do it so we talked about that and... Which I really appreciated because I felt like we were like working right away in the best possible way like laying it out and this is what I have and this is this and we were talking about the project right away. Yeah. And it was fun. And we were treating it very seriously. We wanted to make sure that we were like right to work for each other, work for each other, work with each other because it was really like it deserved to be treated seriously from the word go and it was much better to front load all those discussions and be like yes this is actually possibly working and then relax into seeing what the idea was. Oh I didn't relax but okay but that's how it started. Okay uh Michael do I need to read anything else before starting this book? Short answer is no um short and important answer is no but if you have read some of if you've read uh the book the Berserker comic you will feel certain resonances and certain things and that seems fair. It does seem fair but I don't think you need to have read the comic to enjoy the novel. No we were very adamant that like this is a standalone thing you can come in. I think our editor Ben wrote a beautiful thing for when we were first sending out the copies that said do you know the the comic Berserker? Great then you'll love this book. Do you not know the comic Berserker? Great then you'll love this book. And that is at least the aspiration. Christine, Kiani, what was the first China Mieville book you read and which is your favorite? I started with uh Three Moments of an Explosion which is a collection of short stories that's where the explosion is but more than three moments and just I think I think just so far I mean I haven't read your all of it. Dang. I know I know but it's so much to look forward to. I've been doing it a long time. But so yeah Three Moments of an Explosion. Highly recommended. That's really why I sent a call out to see if you'd be interested in doing this. And I really appreciated that because Three Moments of an Explosion is a short story collection and short stories don't get nearly as much love culturally as novels and so you know when you if you publish a short story collection you are very unlikely to sell anything like as many copies there's it just for whatever cultural reasons many more people like full-length novels than short stories and that's fine but you know not to yuck anyone's yum but as someone who loves short stories and who loves writing them and who grew up with them being at least as formative on me as uh as novels it was a really lovely surprise that that was the book you came because I'm very you know I was that doesn't happen all that often it tends to be the novels that get quoted so that was a that was a surprise. Cameron says what sort of themes or subjects are important for you in your own writing and what do you hope your readers might come away with after this? What sort of themes? Well I mean I could do a list of things that like I'm interested in but I do and I'm you know I'm interested in monsters and the strange and you know the nature of humanity and all of that stuff and I'm but I don't want to duck the question but I think the thing is we were talking about this earlier when you're trying to either write or make music or something for me the most interesting thing is you you don't really know what it is you're interested in as you go in you don't know necessarily what the ideas are and so on and quite often I will be in a much better position to answer this in years to come that you don't you're not conscious of what it is you're you're really doing in terms of what kind of things you're experimenting with so I know that there are the things I'm always interested in but I don't sit there thinking now to explore these themes it's like you know I'm gonna write this book and as to what you know I hope what what we hope readers might come away with after this I mean I primarily just having read a book that impacted them that leaves them different than it was before that they loved and I hope a little bit surprised as well I'm I'm going to I'm going to jump on that bandwidth and say yes I mean I think yeah you hope but you know you hope people enjoy what you create so yeah from Lori Kiani what was your favorite moment in your writing process with China okay so we have the introduction the excitement of the architecture the hope dream and then I would say favorite ah I would say like the in the favorite first draft I mean favorite I guess has to be like underneath like the first time maybe or something um I just know like having seen the book for the first time you've been it's been very uh moving to see you so excited because you saw the finished product slightly after I did and I got to see you see it for the first time right and your reaction was beautiful and delightful I know but the fame favorite moment of writing or collaborating with you I think it's just every time you shared your work I don't know if that's my favorite moment though that was just like oh my gosh China Mieville's writing is amazing so anyway go ahead no I don't want to interrupt you no no no no because I get thrown by like favorites I know I know you need to think about it like worst and favorite like worst is easier than favorite like when people say what's you know what's your favorite record I've never had a record yeah this is such a good question uh although I don't think I have a good answer this is DJ did you have any creative differences on how the book should go I want to that's such a great question so now is your chance to tell me all the things I did wrong and that you have why would I do that now it's too late and I have nothing to say this is gonna yeah I mean we didn't we didn't have any we didn't have any really it's gonna sound like schmaltz but we we really didn't did we no because there when there were points where like you came in and said like to me I need something more on these motivation here I feel like there's something etc etc but that wasn't a disagreement that was the process of discussion of the draft yeah I don't think there was anything where we both tried to sort of put our foot down and have a disagreement no no sorry to disappoint it would be nice to have a story no I wouldn't thrown crockery but only if it had a happy ending um do you have a favorite place or look or location where you like to brainstorm and write your books from christian uh I mean it's very boring but probably my study I've you know over many years I've you know made my study the place I like to do my work in um the time there was a time when I if I was trying to brainstorm like what I would like to do is go for a run but my knees won't let me do that anymore so now I go for a walk which is just not quite the same I used to write in cafes but not so much anymore no it's um I'm just a homebody um okay here's for both of us from Arlene what is the most satisfying aspect of this work for you and are there any soul-crushing aspects to the process and if so how do you get through that so most satisfying and most soul-crushing how's your soul doing oh my god most is like favorite okay well all right so the most satisfying for me I think it would be a different I think it would be a different answer for this book than for most books because most of the things I've written I've written on my own um I mean you're you're never on your own you're always working with an editor but you know what I mean it wasn't such a direct collaboration and for me then the most satisfying aspect is the the the feeling the day after you you've put the final full stop on and it's and there's a draft that's finished there's a sort of lightness um and this time again this is gonna sound so schmaltzy but like it was it was getting your first reaction and your first reaction being positive it was like because because I had this huge anxiety that you were gonna hate it you know and I know we'd worked on it and so on so by then I should have been more relaxed about it but I was girded for you to sort of say yeah we turns out we were thinking very differently all along but it was a it was a very uh so that was very satisfying because it felt like even if no one else does the most important person you know feels ownership and feels love for this book so that was probably my most what about you most most most most I would just say that if you having a dream and a hope of working with you and then to have that realized and to be here with you now and to have this be alive and soul-crushing let's bring it down soul-crushing there's nothing soul-crushing except that it has to end yeah how can I do that if you're on oh I'm on thank you um how long did it take you to write the book from Daniel it was it well it depends what you mean by right and that I know that sounds like a really asshole thing to say I don't even I never asked if we should not swear in this I just realized can we swear can we swear we have a thumbs up okay we're allowed to swear but if it offends you yeah we apologize in advance it's not that we're trying to edgelord it's just it's very difficult to constantly maintain your inner censor and not swear if you have a potty mouth so it sounds kind of assholish but it kind of depends what you mean by right because I would include the planning process and if you include the planning process it took probably about a year and a half okay now exclude the planning process about a year that was simpler than I thought it was going to be I was all geared up for okay if you had to recommend a musical soundtrack uh to a company reading the book Juan asks uh what bands or artists would you choose and what kind of music do you usually listen to while you write you're the musician what are your go-tos as a reader and well I would say for this book what comes to the top of my mind Eric Satie, Radiohead, Massive Attack and John Coltrane that's so much cooler than mine um I that's fantastic you know what I love about this process is that these answers are a complete surprise to me and after all this time working together yeah I did not expect those answers and that's wonderful for me it would be the same that I wrote it to oh well what please do tell uh that I did most of the writing to which was above all the Gehrig but the instrumental version of the Gehrig's album because I can't write while there's um speech going on and or uh Godspeed You Black Emperor I mean that's to write there's I like plenty of other music that I think is absolutely brilliant oh so that's who you write to when you that's the who you listen to when you write yeah but also what I would recommend as a as a reader so I answered those questions oh okay efficient yeah it's interesting you said that the words yeah no I don't I think a lot of writers would say the same thing is that if you if you've got music with someone with someone singing there's an infiltration a distraction yeah I'm sure there are exceptions but no one I know can write to to sing from Ray who is your favorite villain of any genre who's your favorite right wait you just said it's a favorite question so my probably my obvious go-to would be the swirly goo in John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness um and to the few people in the audience you know what I'm talking about um but actually probably the most interesting villains are villains who don't realize how evil they are who actually think they're good so like Iron Man is a great villain um because he's clearly a you know sadistic psychopathic arms dealer and on that basis the best villain of all time is probably Victor Frankenstein who thinks he's a wonderful man and is a total monster for me what was his what was Frankenstein's action that you consider him a villain turning his back on his creation and leaving it lonely and alone he betrayed it yours I don't know that's not fair you can't like no you go first favorite favorite most so you're just opting out of all favorite questions is that the rule no I won't I won't be such a I mean villains I mean villains who is your favorite villain why villains who's the villains villains villains villains villains villains we're very tempted to like do one of your enemies from one of your films now I'm very tempted it's your favorite villain mister no no that's that's very cheap I don't know it's fantastic but was that a villain okay you see villain here I mean uh what event in history do you think Bee enjoyed the most you created bee you cannot opt out of this question you created bee as well you cannot opt out of this question well it's an interesting question because the idea of bee enjoying anything is straight off the bat an interesting he likes ice cream who doesn't like what he liked but is like and enjoy the same thing yes okay no fair fair repulsive um but event an event in history what did you is that human history gonna be natural history you you invented him you tell me I'm thinking of maybe a particular celestial event do you have anything pop into your mind I keep thinking about the 30 years war but I really don't know why I mean the 30 years war is in our book um and that suggests that he's a horrible horrible creation because like who would enjoy a war but I don't mean it in that but there's maybe for someone who's lost and conflicted as him there's a certain personal freedom this is kind of like almost like what you know this is almost like what Sartre would say or something like in the worst moments there's a certain kind of freedom because you're like ripped from a lot of uh the normal choices so maybe for someone like him that kind of carnage would have forced him into a certain kind of freedom but I'm groping I don't really know I keep thinking I don't know fireworks first time I saw fireworks it's like something or something it's a very big in love and seeing these humans come up with dancing lights and some kind of celebration so it's either beautiful sky colors or a mass murderous war for three decades perfect okay there you go I'm sorry all right there you go Joey would you want to be immortal Keanu Reeves would you want to be immortal only on my deathbed I think it depends what's going on around us surely sure a different kind of death yeah and ask me on my deathbed I'll probably say the same thing I know but then we need to grow up and find a way to mature into our mortality or deal with the fear of death from Adam if neither of you were in the arts what would your chosen profession professions plural you get to be a poly something okay um how modern realistically an academic in my wilder dreams a marine biologist or a pen and ink artist I was I was heading towards academia I was I was gonna be a academic and then on what international relations oh yeah different than poly sci uh more specialist but kind of a subset um and this is we're talking in the birth of the world this is a long time ago but um and then illustrator yeah I like illustrating I'm just not I'm not good enough to do it professionally but because it because chosen I I wish I was a better artist so that would be something I would love to do but um I don't think I have the chops to my eternal chagrin I don't know I guess it would come out of regret I don't know maybe something in athletics oh yeah then that has a short lifespan doesn't it which sport I mean that's a child like when I was a little kid it was like race car driver um what is it race car driver conductor of an orchestra or a nuclear physicist don't ask me how a nine-year-old comes up with nuclear physicist but that happened and there you go it says professions so you get to do all three cool Jordan uh what historical figure singular do you think that's me adding the word singular sorry it's just to be specific what historical figure do you think B would have gotten along with the most and why I mean it's got to be Keanu Reeves hasn't it that's so meta yeah I mean we could have a whiskey yeah I think you'd get on yeah we would we're good what's up dude well I mean in the novel he seeks out he does uh what the doctor yeah hair doctor yeah he seeks out Sigmund Freud I'm not sure whether that's really getting along with him though he respects him and he thinks that he can how does he want to party with but I know I think you want to talk about something yeah I guess I really don't bring that is because it would bring something the kind of something new or something that had been introduced or explored that he could benefit from or enjoy interacting with for some reason I have this image of like historical generals and stuff and I know he's not a soldier exactly but I wonder if like Alexander the Great or something someone who's like no he wants to get away from all that death no no but I specifically choose Alexander because he's also a scholar so like they understand death but like they're also thinking about other things you know yeah maybe but but hey you invented who's the famous um sitar player Ravi Shankar yeah there you go so Keanu Reeves and Ravi Shankar I think you'd like to hang out with Ravi Shankar sitting in a tree okay in a you know go a tree or something and have out you know some tea and speak about the music of the spheres and transportation if B were not cursed with violence do you both think he would still wish to become mortal or do you think he would be satisfied with his immortality this is from Charlotte that's a good question I would say yes I'm lost which yes yes he would be satisfied do you think he would still wish to become more you can't say yes to a question that has or in it because that like do you think he would still wish to become mortal first question first if B were not cursed with violence do you both think he would still wish to become okay so he would still wish to become yes okay or do you think he would be satisfied with his immortality okay okay no gotcha thank you my apologies I agree let's move on Keith besides each other who is a writer artist or storyteller that you admire I mean where do you start there are so many no specifications about living or dead or anything like that so Dorothea Tanning is an artist I admire to the ends of the earth why because very few other artists I have ever encountered make me feel like someone has been watching my dreams from the inside and is quietly letting me know about it I don't know their biography that well Dostoevsky why as you had a someone who could talk to your dreams I felt like the young person who read those works even when they didn't understand the idiot for its larger implications receives something for my aloneness so you were spoken to I was spoken to but not just but then also when he busts out with the brothers Karamazov other emanations it's interesting you say even though you didn't understand the idiot because I don't want to speak to you but for myself I often feel like I'm spoken to most by works that I love and that I don't understand it's precisely because I don't think I understand them that they that they speak to me I couldn't for a second claim to understand Dorothea Tanning's works and that's that's why she's on my list I think it is you what book do you do you remember reading and thinking wow that just changed my life and this is from Scott I mean again so many whammo finished it in whammo I am not the same oh you do this one first I'm trying to think I'm culling um candidates because I can only say one I'm gonna say Michael Sisko is the narrator because it expanded my idea of what fantastic literature could do and be and I could never read any fantastic literature the same way again after having read that book I'm gonna choose at this moment an experience connected with a novel on the road was pitched to me somehow as thinking like how I would hear about reading on the road Kirilak's novel as being this kind of work that was about the liberation and freedom and and when I actually read the novel it was like a sadness like the kind of like Neil Cassidy as this kind of crushed or trapped animal and this experience of something that was always almost like a lamentation celebration and then from that I started to think about and look don't assume anything and look at want something from a different way and then as a kid who did a lot of stuff that was inspired like let's hitchhike let's go let's do let's just go there's a lot of that there's the car let's go it's like yeah we gotta live we gotta be alive and it was shown to me that there's lamentation and mistake and there's some kind of loss in that and somehow when I read that novel I learned something I don't know so it was like cost the cost of the burning bright that's beautiful and like you say like what you're going to choose now because we probably both could have answered that without spoilers Kathleen says without spoilers Keanu this is a great question Kathleen thank you without spoilers Keanu is there anything specific from the book that China added that you thought was so original and awesome that it will make its way into the rest of the berserker universe well the China I don't know I would have to ask you beforehand but um so original and awesome is the term so original and awesome we all have a hand and they're all original and awesome but um I don't know I think I would make it a rich rich original I mean if without giving away without spoilers yeah well you could just say yes but I can't tell you because of spoilers yes I can't tell you because of spoilers that's on me that's I think the brother's chapter that that story of the of the brother has an originality to it in the perspective of something that I've not come across well that's a very distinct chapter very obvious to um identify so when people read that they could imagine it in comic form is that do you disagree with that no I think that's I honestly didn't think there'd be anything so I'm delighted um and it makes sense now that you say it so oh no it's you when you sit down to write how do you organize your plot did you plot the entire story before sitting down to write or did you discover it as you go and this is from Samuel and this question is for China well I mean you probably already know the answer because we've partly discussed it but yes we we plural you singular plotted the entire story before sitting down to write and that was like doubly important for this book because it was a collaboration and because we had to make sure that we both knew what beats were coming and that you were happy with how I was playing with your toys and that you know it was working and I was happy with how it was working so we spent a lot of time planning out doing the architecture um and I was even more kind of careful about that than I normally would be but I would say that for me if when I'm writing on my own the answer is the same um because I mean I'm not as uh you know I don't have someone to take it to and check in with but I know there are people who write absolutely beautiful amazing books who as you put it Samuel discover it as you go who just go in and write um and to me these are witches who have made a deal with the devil I just it's incredible I don't know how they can do it I can't put the first word down unless I have an architecture and I know what's happening and I know what's happening at the end and then sometimes you deviate as you're going in and then then you stop I stop sort out the structure again from that point of deviation um I feel deeply unsafe if I don't have a sense of the whole architecture I was very pleased to learn that the same is true I'm not comparing myself but that the same was true of Angela Carter because her books have this sense of a kind of almost a sort of dream strange mythic logic that feels almost like like it's coming out in a vatic rush and she planned as neurotically as I do and it's cool does it mean yes Ashley um 80,000 years is a very long time to be alive what is your favorite thing to imagine be discovering for the first time favorite thing to imagine be discovering for the first time does anyone come to you marmite oh well that's the only item of canon that is now non-negotiable is that he doesn't like marmite no he can like thank you there you go that's my answer I'm sticking to it marmite okay well then it's peanut butter it's so basic it's so basic so is breathing I mean you already mentioned firewood I would imagine it's something in the natural world like what like a particular flower or animal yeah going underwater or something I don't know I guess in that sense then you know I keep thinking of exotic things but maybe he is half human so maybe if we imagine what our favorite things are to discover like your first experience you had with marmite that changed your life so did going underwater for the first time with goggles I will say but yeah it's easier to get hold of marmite is it me yes no I did oh is it what themes in the berserker universe would you say are delivered better in novel form than in comic form and vice versa this question is from diane I think that's I love that question I'm not sure I would I themes is an interesting word that's the one that I look at to me I'm not sure I would use the word themes to me it's more a question wait so you're rewriting the question okay I mean diane is not here she can do nothing about it sorry diane um it's an excellent question and I will turn it into the question I wish to answer well because I think you can do themes in both but what I do think is different is the way you do the themes which I would talk about in terms of voice and pacing and what I think that the novel allows you to do is to do a certain kind of polyphony a certain kind of interiority and a certain kind of deliberate slowing down a certain type of pause in a way that you can't do so much in a comic and conversely I mean you can do it of course you can you can do anything but I feel that the novel lends itself better and conversely I would say that the comic and this is not I mean this with deep respect I think the comic is better at violence like I hope we did good fight scenes in the novel I'm not saying you can't do them but there's only so many times you go and then he punched with his right hand and it was really cool and it hit the jaw and the jaw exploded you know and it becomes very farcical very quickly writing fight scenes is you're like walking on a knife edge whereas with a comic you're doing this extraordinary art and you can do this terrible ghastly wonderful thing of making this horrendous or intoxicating beautiful interesting you know so so you you you show this beautiful picture that is of something terrible so I think the comic is better at violence so then there's almost like the interiority of characters can be more you have more time and more not necessarily richly explored in the novel and the external aspects perhaps I mean loosely I wouldn't want to say these as hard rules but yes I I mean do you agree do you disagree no um Ophelia uh were there any passages where you dropped easter eggs as inside jokes love this question yes and I can I say I love the formulation of easter eggs because the point of this for Keanu has heard me say this so many times but the point of this for me is that you don't need to get these references that the book does not depend a book that depends on you getting a reference is is a puzzle and that's there's nothing wrong with that but that's not the kind of book I wanted to do not kind of book you wanted to do so there's various easter eggs which are supposed to be fun for those people who may see them and who may get them so there's and if you don't doesn't matter the book is also you can just follow the story so there's various easter eggs to bits and bobs of the comic like we have a whole strand of the of the of the novel which is built entirely around one panel in the comics in the first issue there's references to a bunch of 17th century dissident religions there's a reference to a kind of indian buddhist logic school called katya scotty I apologize for the butchered pronunciation there's a bunch of stuff about freudian theory but again I'm aware that this makes me sound really like a wanker but the point is it's not obligatory it doesn't matter if you get it and you enjoy it fantastic but you really don't need to so so yes there's tons and that's part of the pleasure for me and like for example you read someone like gene wolf I know I'm well aware that I'm getting five percent of what's going on in gene wolf's books but I love what I'm reading and then every time I come back in I might see one other reference and go oh my god I'm so great I got that I now love this book even more so I know some people feel like references can be kind of snotty and off-putting to me if they're done well and I don't know if I hope we did this well they become an act of generosity it's like you don't need any of them but if you get them here's a little extra thing and if you want to look them up yeah google is very handy was it your question or mine is you when you sit down to write oh I'm sorry this is from megan when you sit down to write does it feel like you're watching a movie within your head and that the characters surprise you and sort of take on a life of their own the more you show up to write what does it feel like when you're writing I want to back that I will say what I think but I want to back this back to you first and the reason is that whenever I've heard you talk about the comic and the birth of the comic you talk in terms of this character kind of coming to you and I wonder whether you experience that literally as the question says sort of cinematically like suddenly there's a character in your mind doing these things they're surprising you and then your job is to figure out what's going on rather than the other way around right do you do you carve away the material of the stone or is the figure inside the stone um so when you sit down to write China does it feel like you're watching a movie I did try does it feel like you're watching a movie within your head I tried I really does it feel like you're watching a movie within your head no it doesn't it it it feels like I'm trying to understand a half visible uh person seen through gores walking across a room and that the characters surprise you and sort of take on a life of their own the more you show up to write did your character be surprised you all the time there you go but wait what does it feel like when you're writing it depends I mean if it's going there's no one thing no I mean if it's going well it's um it's flow I know flow is very trendy at the moment people talk about flow states and I don't mean that in the snotty way I'm big it's it's magical so when what in in in the purest and best sense when you're writing well it doesn't feel like anything at all because you're not there you're flowing and then you come out of it you're like why am I exhausted why am I sweaty why do I feel happy you know um if it's not going well the more you're feeling it for me the less well it's going so if it feels like anything it's not going that well I would relate to that in the sense of I mean I relate to that but also I mean sometimes I take on the voices of the different characters I know working on the comic book and also with scripts that I write I'll not only my own character but other characters so I'll kind of inhabit their character and speak you know dialogue how literally like literally walking around the house muttering no usually when I'm collaborating right yeah uh which character whom you portrayed do you relate to the most asks Fiona Fiona um for me it would be Diana not because I am in any way like Diana I could not be less like Diana but because Diana is probably of the of the main characters the most the least of a natural within that environment she's probably more more of a of an outsider in this you know we have moments in her head where she's like I can't quite believe that I'm here like that you know I she knows why she's there but she she doesn't she always feels a little and I think that um I that that sense of I mean I guess you could call it imposter syndrome but it's just that sense of like what if I'm found out what if I'm you know like that so so I think on that level that's probably the one what about what about you Keanu Reeves she does also have exceptional talent and genius and why she's there she's like she has like four PhDs and she's I know 28 or something I can't remember now but which character whom you portrayed do you relate to the most that question means about characters you portrayed in movies because it's only literally just occurred to me I thought we were talking about the book and portrayed in the wider sense but I feel like I may have hijacked that question I think that may have been a question about John Wick versus Neo versus yeah it might have been but but no it's Berserker now were there any part I mean if I had to answer that then I can't answer that question um most I was just in a book zone I didn't mean to be an asshole I was just no no no yeah no I got it yeah we did portray them we portrayed them I know yeah um were there any parts that got cut in the editing process that you wish stayed from Molly that's another great great question um no because actually I think what happened was uh we added a couple of things that I think the editing in this case and this isn't always the case but in this case was more a question of adding than taking out um so I can think of I can think of one section where there was a debate about whether or not to cut something and I'm glad that we didn't yeah so that's about as close as I can get to that okay Ben uh if B were if you were not cursed with violence if B were not cursed with violence do you both think he would still wish to become mortal we did this one right I maybe it was a different kind of take on that or do you think you'd be satisfied with his immortality I'm I have a real strong sense that we've done this one already I'm confused but maybe not I think we I think we thought that he would still want to yes okay well then that didn't really count what does yours count what is your advice for first-time writers are sorry we haven't been very systematic about the cars that's what's happening no no no they were what is your advice for first-time writers asks Julie um my advice for first-time writers is nothing you're not going to find all over the place nothing that everyone hasn't said before but nonetheless I will say the things that everyone says that I think are useful one is plan your novel in advance not everyone needs to do it but I think if you're if you're new to it it makes life much easier do 500 words a day only think in terms of 500 words a day stay offline no I mean it get offline no no no no I mean it get offline no no no turn it off no put it in a drawer no I mean it that would be my advice um okay so we have five minutes left oh five minutes left sorry thank you right good no no I failed at one of my few tasks which no no no it's fine in your head canon what is the most important historical event that be quietly influenced uh the first world war piano sounds good uh all right you're answering first no first okay with all of your different oh I'm sorry that was David uh from Caesar with all your different endeavors going on what made you decide to write fiction because it's really fun um how did you overcome periods of writer's block from Luigi didn't have it in this book simply because it was a collaboration work differently normally by switching to a different project switch to a different project and then come back exactly of course what is your approach to work this is from what is your approach to world building do you start with a world in mind and then consider the stories you could tell there or do you begin with the kernel of a story and then consider what type of world it implies it depends on the book in this case the world building was already initiated so uh story first in this case but it depends on the book what is your favorite all-time novel jane brooke you first come on you first you've heard about my favorites and mosts and my god jane eyre if you could have dinner with anyone was that was that a really of dismissal or of surprise i don't know i've never read jane eyre what would i do go right now and read it okay okay if you could have dinner with anyone who would it be this is from poe oh my god william shakespeare whoever that may be for both which of you which of uh the others work made you first realize hey this guy's a damn good writer joey who did you first read and you went wow this guy's a damn good he's talking about us no no which of the others work the other we are the others made you first realize hey this guy's well you didn't i mean well no i can answer that from my perspective you already said it was the short stories of mine yes from my perspective it was when you gave comments on b's characterization need i know that's not quite but nonetheless you asked like what was b's you had problems with b's characterization i was like he's absolutely right this needs work and his suggestions are going to make this much better we've read about b thinking we've read about b in the past and b in the present would you ever consider writing a berserker story set in the future by mary beth these are such good questions would you wouldn't have set in the future yeah yeah you know like the question you just read yes two minutes i think we're out of questions any any any questions in the room anyone have anything they want to ask no but we could say thank you we should we have time to do both but yes no okay okay well then okay then let's go back okay so then um my favorite moment with uh writing the novel oh i still don't have an answer but because it's got the most in it okay uh there's a thing with the thing writing the thing and i think that was um okay let's not do that i'm i picked up i picked the wrong but why did that happen i don't know why that happened why did that happen i think your favorite moment is the pig i think i think i know that you don't think it is but i think you i think it is i think that that's because the way you talk about it when you talk about it i know there's lots of things you like and that's great but i think the way you talk about the pig is i know like when that sequence when we see what happens to the the why and the how and the what of of the deer pig sorry none of you will understand that but you will soon i hope and it's good um i don't know we're out thank you so much these genuinely i have to say these have been fantastic questions i am not blowing smoke i have been really impressed and moved by these questions and if when we're you're doing things like this inevitably you hear the same questions a lot which is fine i understand it but to have a whole set of questions many of whom have not been asked before so for me this has been really fascinating yeah that's fine thank you thank you thank you so much thank you hope you enjoy the book