Q & A's

Latest Q & A's

I am privileged to have so many of you send through your questions about my work – thank you. I am afraid that I will not be able to answer all of them, but please still send your questions and I will do my very best to answer as many as I can.

Question:

You have run into criticism from certain religious groups who regard you as subversive, with the Catholic Herald describing your work as 'worthy of the bonfire.' Do such emotional responses concern or upset you or does it please you to generate strong reactions?

Asked on 05/03/2009 16:29:55

Answer:

I'm delighted to have brought such excitement into what must be very dull lives.

Question:

Northern Lights was re-titled The Golden Compass for the American market. Why did this change come about? Do you have a title in mind when you start a story?

Asked on 05/03/2009 16:29:04

Answer:

Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. The editor who made that change was also responsible for changing "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", which made sense, into "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," which didn't. At the time, I didn't have enough clout to resist.

Question:

You were a fan of comic books from childhood and your own stories are filled with striking imagery. Do you see your subject matter very visually as you write?

Asked on 05/03/2009 16:28:29

Answer:

Yes. I like to make various things clear: where a scene is taking place, what time of day it is, where the light's coming from, what the weather's like, who's present - that sort of thing. Not all of them all the time, but some of them most of the time. It helps the reader to see what you would like them to see.

Question:

Your work has been performed on radio, television and the stage and the film rights to His Dark Materials have been sold. Is it difficult to give up your work to someone else¹s interpretation?

Asked on 05/03/2009 16:28:00

Answer:

No. The democracy of reading (see above) means that as soon as a book is published you lose control of how it's interpreted anyhow, and so you should. To tell someone else how to read your book is to fall into the temptation of fundamentalism. When it comes to performance and film and so on, what you should do, it seems to me, is make sure the people you sell it to know what they're doing, and then leave them alone. You are better employed writing new books than arguing with people about how to interpret your existing ones.

Question:

Have you had any involvement in casting characters? Do you have preconceived notions of what they should be like?

Asked on 05/03/2009 16:27:11

Answer:

I do have ideas, and when it's useful I make suggestions. But professional theatre or film people know far more actors and have far more knowledge than I have.