Neil Gaiman public interview on the WELL

Neil Gaiman's back in the hotseat on the WELL's public interview conference, Inkwell.vue. The interview is world-readable, and non-WELL-members can send their comments and questions in.

The occassion is the launch of Fragile Things, Neil's new, stupendous short story collection. The stories are vintage Gaiman: magic, understated, funny, and charming. I'm very fond of the unabridged audiobook, which Neil reads himself -- he's one of the best readers in the field.

All stories are too big to get onto the page, if they're good stories. Just like the world is too big to get onto the page. But you can sketch and scratch it, and show bits that imply the whole. You can let the reader put it together in her mind.

"Inner laws of creation" makes me think of your set of instructions for what to do when you find yourself in a fairy tale. Where did you write that one? Any of those instructions particularly pertinent lately?

I don't remember where I wrote it (in the basement? on the road?). I remember the feeling I had in my head before I wrote it, a sort of bubbling conviction that there was something there and that the tone of voice, flat and simple, would carry me through. Trust your story.

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