Yesterday, Neil Gaiman won The National Book Award for his fantastic The Ocean at the End of the Lane. Following our post about his winning, Fantasy-Faction was contacted by an American Library pointing us at the following link of Neil Gaiman reading from the only surviving prompt copy – a copy produced complete with with annotations and reading directions – of the Dickens classic A Christmas Carol. Granted, it is a little bit late for Christmas, but who can resist one of today’s finest authors reading work from one of the very best of all time; exactly the way he intended it to be read?
Once you’ve finished listening to that, why not check out Gaiman’s 8 rules of writing. My personal favourites are the logical and obvious, but often not done, ‘Put one word after another. Find the right word, put it down’ and ‘Finish what you’re writing. Whatever you have to do to finish it, finish it.’
ENJOY! 🙂
Jennie Ivins
You can download an audio version of the reading here:
http://www.nypl.org/audiovideo/charles-dickens-christmas-carol-neil-gaiman-and-molly-oldfield