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Parla Robin Hobb - The Fool - 28-04-2010
Ho pensato di inaugurare questo contenitore per segnalare vecchie e nuove interviste a Robin e i suoi interventi più interessanti reperibili in rete. Leggerla è sempre un piacere, non solo nelle pagine di un romanzo.
Volevo cominciare col segnalarvi che Robin ha preso parte a un dibattito su BabelClash, un gruppo di discussione su Borders Sci-Fi che mette a confronto coppie di autori di fantasy o fantascienza su temi particolari. Il tema attuale è l'importanza dell'ambientazione, "Setting (or the ecology of sci-fi/fantasy)... whether lush forest or bare rock waiting to be terraformed, why settings are so important", e a confrontarsi sono Robin Hobb e Sara Creasy: l'una ha creato un luogo selvaggio e lussureggiante, le Rain Wilds o Giungle delle Pioggia, che gli uomini hanno rinunciato a piegare alle proprie esigenze; l'altra, nel suo Song of Scarabaeus, descrive invece mondi alieni da terraformare a ogni costo.
Riporto di seguito il post odierno della Hobb, secondo me molto interessante:
"A few thoughts on natural settings in SF and Fantasy
I think that using the natural world as a jumping off point for fantasy or science fiction is a way of lowering the threshold of disbelief and inviting readers into the story. Despite the fact that most readers live in urban environments now, I think forests and other natural landscapes are very inviting to almost everyone.
Cities and other man-made environments always seem a bit foreign to me, even when I’m traveling in the US. “Oh, so that’s how they do it here,” I think, and try to adapt to the customs. But put me in a natural landscape, be it France or Australia or Japan, and I immediately feel more at home. Things make sense there on that primary biological level.
And that, I think, is one of the reasons why beginning with a natural setting can be so powerful. A writer can use it to chum the reader in; he will think that a tree is a tree, and a spring is a spring, right up to the moment that the oracle speaks to the protagonist or the tree whacks him with a branch. The very familiarity of such settings can be powerful tools for making people feel the strangeness of a fantastic or futuristic setting.
One technique that I use when I am writing is to employ familiar things to not only make the reader feel at home in my setting, but to convince the reader that I know what I’m talking about. If my character mentions in passing that a late frost has claimed the blossoms from the trees and there may be little fruit as a result, most readers will nod and say, “Oh, yes, that would be so.” And the more familiar cause-and-effect that I employ, the more familiar the world is, the more comfortable the reader feels. He relaxes into trusting me. Thus, when I introduce my fantastic element, being it a creature or a system of magic, I’ve already won the reader over into believing that not only do I know what I’m talking about, but that everything I say is true.
If what I’m writing about horses is correct and matches the reader’s experience, then he may more easily accept what I tell him about dragons."
RE: Parla Robin Hobb - Wintrow - 29-04-2010
Bella pensata quella della Signora. Far sembrare tutto normale e poi... ZAC! Quando meno te lo aspetti piazza a sorpresa l'elemento fantastico che rende "straordinario" ciò che fino a poco prima era "normale"!
RE: Parla Robin Hobb - The Fool - 02-05-2010
(29-04-2010, 00:47)Wintrow Ha scritto: Bella pensata quella della Signora. Far sembrare tutto normale e poi... ZAC! Quando meno te lo aspetti piazza a sorpresa l'elemento fantastico che rende "straordinario" ciò che fino a poco prima era "normale"!
Quando si dice un colpo da maestra, eh?
Ma Robin sta continuando a scrivere su BabelClash altri post meritevoli di attenzione, per esempio:"Our settings, our selves?
[...]I had a curious thought (I know, sometimes it’s curious that I have thoughts at all, but still...) I’m wondering how significant a writer’s home ’setting’ is to what he/she writes.
I do a lot of foresty backdrops, and a lot of swampy ones. Now, the first settings I can remember are Berkeley, California on Alston way near the railroad tracks. Not exactly foresty. But then we moved to Terra Linda. There I roved around the hills behind our subdivision a lot more than my parents knew. They were open grassy hillsides. We could sled on cardboard on the shiny yellow grass in summer. Sometimes I’d crest a hill and see an entire vista of bright orange California poppies. And down in the little valleys between the hills, there would be oaks. Some times of the year, the forest floor would be absolutely coated with shiny brown acorns that rolled under your feet. But what I remember best from that part of my childhood is the man made wetlands.
Again, my parents had no idea I did this stuff.
Behind our house, once you climbed over the tall wooden fence, was a strip of unclaimed land with brush and weeds. Then you came to a four lane highway. The opposing lanes of the highway were divided by a wide, flat bottomed concrete lined drainage ditch. There’s probably a word for this but I don’t know it. Anyway, run off from rain and silt and so on kept a layer of shallow warm water flowing through them. The silt built up enough that rushes and tall cattails grew in there and lots of other stuff. So, my friends and I would dash across two lanes of traffic and then slide down the sloping side of the ditch, and suddenly we were in a different world. The concrete ditch trapped the warmth as well as creating this odd pool of silence. We could barely hear the traffic rushing by. The water was always really warm and we waded in it with our flip flops on. And there was so much alive there. Lots of frogs, toads and blue bellied lizards. Salamanders. All sorts of birds.
Frogs were my favorite to catch and hold. Blue bellied lizards were harder to catch. Often I ended up only with a twitching tail in my hands. But if you caught one, it could be ‘hypnotized’ by stroking its belly. I love remembering those times.
When we moved when I was about ten to Alaska, I finally got to be near real forest. Very different sort of place. Fairbanks is a wide river valley. Not too far from our acreage there was a big slough. Again, the proximity of water meant an abundance of life. This time the life forms were bigger. Moose. Rabbits. Lynx, sometimes. Ravens. Owls. Not so many frogs. In winter it all froze over and the snow would be hip deep. Then, it would melt in spring and we’d have ‘break up’ where the water ran everywhere breaking the ice. And then everything bursts back into greenery. Those foresty places have been the back drop for so many stories I’ve written, published and unpublished [...]"
RE: Parla Robin Hobb - The Fool - 11-05-2010
Ancora su Babel Clash – dove il confronto a due è quasi terminato – Sara Creasy ha rivolto alla Hobb un po' di domande. Eccole qui, insieme alla risposta di Robin (la sua parentesi sui gatti è simpaticissima
):A few questions for Robin – newbie to veteran
SARA CREASY: "I read the Liveships Trilogy several years ago and was totally sucked in by the “family saga” aspect of those books. From a writing perspective, can you talk a bit about point of view? My book has a single point of view because, as a new author, I thought that was the simplest way to go. (It has limitations, of course, but I also felt it had the immersive quality I needed.) How do you tackle and keep track of multiple points of view? How easy is it to write from a character’s POV when you don’t necessarily identify much with that character? I’m planning to attempt two POVs for my next book, but I’m not sure I can handle more just yet. Am I worrying about nothing?
On to your dragons in the latest two books. Did you base their behavior on real animals? To me the dragons come across as rather cat-like – bearing in mind that cats express all kinds of personalities. Some of the dragons are indifferent and arrogant, viewing humans as inferior servants, while others are friendly, even doting, and I can imagine them rolling over to have their furry – uh, scaly – bellies scratched.
I know your family moved to Alaska when you were young, with the intention of living self-sufficiently. This idea fascinates me because it makes me think about colonizing new worlds, starting with close to nothing, and also about long space voyages where the spaceship becomes a self-sufficient body. Can you give any pearls of wisdom about coping with this lifestyle? What are the pitfalls? What’s the balance between satisfaction gained from raising your own food, versus frustration at not having a microwave oven?"
ROBIN HOBB: "Multiple view points in a book. Well, in my opinion, there are two parts to deciding on the Point of View or POV characters in a tale. The first rule for me is to use as few as possible. Otherwise, I confuse not only my readers but myself. The second part is to always write from the POV of the character who can tell the tale the best.
The Liveships books told a far flung tale, with many events happening simultaneously but separated by great distances. So I ended up with many POV characters. And for each scene, I had to ask myself, who has the best focus on the events? Who is really in the heart of the action. And then I wrote from that character’s POV.
I think all characters a writer creates have at least a tiny shred of the writer in the core. So, find that shred of yourself, love the character you are in, believe in what he believes in, and then you can write that character convincingly. (Or so I hope!)
On my dragons, I tried not to base them on any known animals. Because, of course, they are dragons. I wanted to create a species that is just as arrogant and affectionate as humans, a species that believes, was we do, that all belongs to it, and it can lay claim to the world, portion it up with imaginary lines, and do as it pleases with it. Cats do have some of that attitude, I suppose. (While writing this post, I’ve had to leave my chair three times to attend to some feline’s imaginary whim. As in, ‘oh, I was just scratching at the door for no reason. I don’t want in. Or out. Just to see if you would open the door.’ So perhaps there is a bit of the cat in them.)
And your last question about a self-sufficient life style? Well, I would say I learned more about that on boats than I did growing up in Fairbanks. I don’t mean to imply I’ve spent a lot of time on boats; I haven’t. But in summers, I used to go up, usually with a child or two, and spend some time on a salmon tender with my husband. It was one way to get to see him. But a boat is a very small and self sufficient world. If you don’t have something on board, then you do without it. And the closed society of a boat makes for some very interesting adaptations and interactions. Most of the crew were people who had lived on boats for years of their lives. It was interesting to come into their society, make a place for myself, and then watch the rhythms of their lives."
RE: Parla Robin Hobb - Wintrow - 11-05-2010
Da qui si capisce perchè Robin sia stata così brava a descrivere le dinamiche della vita di bordo! Ma solo io non ho capito la parentesi dei gatti?
RE: Parla Robin Hobb - Tintaglia - 11-05-2010
(11-05-2010, 09:55)Wintrow Ha scritto: Ma solo io non ho capito la parentesi dei gatti?In che senso non l'hai capita?
Io ho sempre pensato he i draghi della Hobb fossero gatti con le squame, che lei ne sia cosciente o meno; l'adorabile Musa felina ha avuto una giusta influenza. ^^
RE: Parla Robin Hobb - Althea - 11-05-2010
(11-05-2010, 11:15)Tintaglia Ha scritto:(11-05-2010, 09:55)Wintrow Ha scritto: Ma solo io non ho capito la parentesi dei gatti?In che senso non l'hai capita?
Io ho sempre pensato he i draghi della Hobb fossero gatti con le squame, che lei ne sia cosciente o meno; l'adorabile Musa felina ha avuto una giusta influenza. ^^
Chi ha avuto a che fare con i gatti nella sua vita, sa che sono dei piccoli draghi: egocentrici, pieni di sé... dei veri e propri tiranni!
RE: Parla Robin Hobb - Wintrow - 11-05-2010
(11-05-2010, 11:15)Tintaglia Ha scritto: In che senso non l'hai capita?
Nel senso che ho tradotto quello che dice, ma non ne capisco il senso! Cioè lei si alza per tre volte dalla sedia per controllare i capricci di un felino immaginario? O sono i capricci ad essere immaginari? E poi è sempre il gatto immaginario che parla e dice "Stavo solo graffiando la porta senza alcun motivo. Non volevo ne entrare e ne uscire. Volevo solo vedere se tu aprivi la porta"?
RE: Parla Robin Hobb - Umbra - 11-05-2010
Quella dei gatti è bellissima, ma sui punti di vista avrei da ridire una cosa: se in Borgomago cerca di usarne pochi, immagino il disastro se avesse voluto abbondare
marco
RE: Parla Robin Hobb - Tintaglia - 11-05-2010
(11-05-2010, 12:12)Wintrow Ha scritto:Il gatto è reale, i capricci sono reali - e tipicamente felini.(11-05-2010, 11:15)Tintaglia Ha scritto: In che senso non l'hai capita?
Nel senso che ho tradotto quello che dice, ma non ne capisco il senso! Cioè lei si alza per tre volte dalla sedia per controllare i capricci di un felino immaginario? O sono i capricci ad essere immaginari? E poi è sempre il gatto immaginario che parla e dice "Stavo solo graffiando la porta senza alcun motivo. Non volevo ne entrare e ne uscire. Volevo solo vedere se tu aprivi la porta"?
IO mi alzo decine di volte per aprire la porta a gatti che mi fissano e siedono, o mi fissano e se ne vanno.