SF Site Interview with LKH

[delphinapterus.livejournal.com]

I found the following interview with Ms. Hamilton done September 2004 by the SF Site. The Complete Interview


There were a few choice bits that just had to be brought up. Ms. Hamilton is in italics. My comments are plain.

I have two degrees: English and biology. . . . I also was about two or three classes from having a history or Political Science major (it would have depended on what classes I finished up with, which the degree would have been in).

This is the first time I have seen her mention an English degree. The verve and originality for punctuation that she displays in her published works make one wonder how she got an English degree. I was under the impression that to acquire an English degree one had to grasp at least the basics of punctuation; full stop, comma and apostrophe.


Between the age of thirteen and fourteen I discovered fantasy and horror. From that moment on, I was hooked.

WTF! All those times she fondly talked about wanting to watch horror movies a 2, and Granny telling her fables didn't happen? Or don't they count as horror and fantasy?

And then farther on in the interview she says this:
I've been fascinated with horror movies since I was a very little girl, like under six. When I discovered the old Hammer vampire films around seven or so, I was enthralled. . . . my Scottish-Irish grandmother used to tell me that Rawhead and Bloody Bones would get me if I wasn't good.

And just something unabashedly interesting and potentially good.
We will be going back to New Mexico and doing a follow up book with Edward and his would-be family. We will see how the children have coped with what happened. . . . [it will happen during one of] the next five books probably.

Comments

[saadiira.livejournal.com]

I've got a degree in English and PPA, and was a Dean's list student. She probably stuck to creative writing wherever she could. My use of punctuation could be pretty creative even after the degree, and it didn't hurt me a bit, really, so long as I made a general attempt at spell checking, and could create a reasonably grammatically correct sentence, they really didn't seem to care overly much.

I've since tried to clean up my act quite a bit, but I could see her having an English degree. I could even see her having gotten decent grades, and having gone to a decent school, like I did.

Thing is? Degree was back like 20 years ago, for both of us, and as I said, cleaned up the act since. She's writing long term professionally, so even less excuse.

-Dira-