The Magic of Sir Terry Pratchett

The fantasy writer's writing tips, PLUS 5 platforms for writers

Author of over 70 books, Sir Terence David John Pratchett OBE is a favorite of many fans of fantasy, possibly one of the most important genres going forward in our changing world.

He often sported a black hat, considering himself an “urban cowboy.”

It was in the local library that he educated himself and found himself far beyond his grade level at school. (Hoping to have the opposite effect, I suppose, in Texas this month the Houston Independent School District has fired all the school librarians and turned every school library into a detention center for unruly students!)

Writing is the most fun you can have by yourself.

Time is a drug. Too much of it kills you.

Few things are hidden from a quiet child with good eyesight. —Terry Pratchett

He said he was horrified the first time he read the Old Testament, but very much liked the New Testament and the vision laid out by Jesus.

In today’s lingo, he would be called a “pantser” because he wrote without an outline by the seat of his pants. Coincidentally, he also famously mentioned the trouble he has as he’s aged with his “pants” [the British word for underwear, not trousers] to an audience at Trinity College, the exact same place where Jonathan Swift also mentioned his pants.

One-fourth Irish himself, Pratchett further amused the audience by declaring, “15 minutes of rational thought makes an Irishman out of an Englishman.”

Here is some of Terry Pratchett’s best advice on writing:

I certainly don't sit down and plan a book out before I write it. There's a phrase I use called "The Valley Full of Clouds." Writing a novel is as if you are going off on a journey across a valley. The valley is full of mist, but you can see the top of a tree here and the top of another tree over there. And with any luck you can see the other side of the valley. But you cannot see down into the mist. Nevertheless, you head for the first tree.

If you are going to write, say, fantasy - stop reading fantasy. You've already read too much. Read other things; read westerns, read history, read anything that seems interesting, because if you only read fantasy and then you start to write fantasy, all you're going to do is recycle the same old stuff and move it around a bit.

The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.

There's no such thing as writer's block. That was invented by people in California who couldn't write.

I have to write because if I don't get something down then after a while I feel it's going to bang the side of my head off.

Fantasy doesn't have to be fantastic. American writers in particular find this much harder to grasp. You need to have your feet on the ground as much as your head in the clouds. The cute dragon that sits on your shoulder also craps all down your back, but this makes it more interesting because it gives it an added dimension.

I'm a fantasy writer, called a fantasy writer. But there's very little, apart from one or two basic concepts in 'I Shall Wear Midnight,' which are in fact fantasy. You have sticks that fly, but they're practical broomsticks, with a bloody great strap that you can hold on to so you don't fall off. And you try not to use them too often.

Well, the traveling teachers do come through every few months," said the Baron. "Yes, sir, I know, sir, and they're useless, sir. They teach facts, not understanding. It's like teaching people about forests by showing them a saw. I want a proper school, sir, to teach reading and writing, and most of all thinking, sir, so people can find what they're good at, because someone doing what they really like is always an asset to any country, and too often people never find out until it's too late.

Generally I start writing when I have even the smallest idea of how a book is going to go, because the physical process of writing itself keeps the mind active and focused on the job at hand. Usually I write in about 5 drafts, but that simply means there are 5 definite times when I go in a linear fashion from the beginning to the end of the book.

…pay attention to the news and just everything that's going on in the world: you need to. If you get this right, then the writing is a piece of cake.

Money is an unavoidable consequence, but it isn't the reason I write; if it was, I wouldn't have written any of the YA books, because advances in that field are small compared to what I'd got now for an 'adult' DW. terrypratchettbooks.com