Guy Gavriel Kay reading!!!

this was a while ago but i’m gonna post an entry about his book so thought this deserved a separate entry! on Thurs, April 15 i went to go see Guy Gavriel Kay, one of the greatest authors ever, do a reading at the Toronto Reference Library!! lemme expand on his title of ‘one of the greatest authors ever’ ;) .... out of all the tons of novels i’ve read, and out of all the ones i’ve loved, objectively speaking he is one of the best!! coz there’s other books i’ve loved as much as his, and maybe more, but there was often a personal reason that the book spoke to me loudly and made me love it. or it was a very specific genre or type of story i know doesnt appeal to everyone. but Kay’s great books i feel are soooo objectively good, they are just simply amazing pieces of writing that have to be revered no matter who you are and what type of stories you like!! in my humble opinion of course!! haha! (ps. i am not using IMHO!! that is just toooo annoying an acronym!!)

so we got there, and i came with some fellow Kay fans. and one of my friends friend was there with another couple of Kay fans... and can i just say i was in heaven!! babbling and babbling about this and that about his books etc!!! haha! soooo fun to talk “shop” with fellow fanatics!! hahaha! about one of my favourite topics!!! hahahha! soooo awesome!!

and here’s a pic from him doing the reading. he thankfully reads from early parts of the book so there arent any spoilers! :) and i gotta say i had so-so lukewarm feelings about the reading but loved the interview after!!! loved to hear some of his thoughts about writing!! and he brought up how he liked the globe & mail reviewer’s description of his setting... a historical period shifted a quarter-turn to become Kay’s fictional world. and one thing he said that really struck me... he said that he doesnt like outlining his whole book before he starts. that he just likes to sit down and just start writing. and that struck me coz i sometimes feel he almost “engineers” his plots!??! like soooo many details, and so many tiny ones, come together at the end?!?! it feels like that can only happen with careful planning?!?! so i asked him about it when i got his autograph and mentioned i was surprised to hear that. and he said what happens is he just writes and writes until about 2/3 of the way into the book, then at that point sits down to figure out how to tie up the plot. interesting!! and goddamn he does it SO well!!!!