“I think there’s something funny about abject misery,” Daniel Handler told Kenneth Oppel in a darkened auditorium last Saturday while readers of all ages listened in, keen for glimpses at fantastic worlds of imperilled orphans and outcast bats. Handler, author of the popular series Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, and Oppel, best known for the Silverwing trilogy, appeared as part of the 28th annual International Festival of Authors at Harbourfront.
“Misery can build and build and build,” Handler illustrated, drawing a steep slope with his left hand before letting it fall, “and there’s a place where it’s suddenly not miserable anymore.”
“Yeah, sometimes there’s just death,” quipped Oppel.
Too maudlin for kid lit? Not on your life. The authors pooh-poohed the idea that children’s fiction should be cheery, light, and pedagogical— standards that certainly don’t apply to adult literature and art.
“No one says, ‘Michael Ondaatje, you really need to put a more profound moral in The English Patient so people can know how to live their lives.’ When you’re young, you’re given completely idiotic examples [of right and wrong] that will never happen in real life,” said Handler.
The best-selling authors offered insights for would-be writers.
“The early stage of the creative process—I call it daydreaming—is a total avoidance of work,” Oppel admitted. “Then comes the planning.”
Handler offered up the real tricks of the trade: eavesdropping and plagiarism. “I steal a lot from other books. I believe it’s called inspiration.” But, he cautioned, “The thing about eavesdropping is that you should come up with an excuse before you are caught. Because you will be caught and you want the excuse ready.”
Oppel demanded a demonstration.
The key, explained Handler, is to weave a story with the aid of an object. “The first thing that I’d do is knock over that glass of water,” he gestured. “And then I can say, ‘What happened to it? I’m so clumsy! If you could get a towel, I believe you were just saying they’re in the closet …’”
Oppel, successfully diverted, wondered aloud at the aversion to endings. In reply, Handler argued that finishing a good book “is like taking a small child out to the backyard and shooting it.”
“If you’re honest with yourself, you want the very best for your heroes,” said Oppel, who nonetheless killed off the main character of Firewing, his third book. “You want them to get their heart’s desire, you want order restored—that’s what every reader wants.”
“And the question is, does the story deserve that kind of ending? You feel cheated if the world that you had been immersed in didn’t allow for that kind of ending.”
