A Seed of Hemlock
Mar. 26th, 2011 03:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
swan_towerDiana Wynne Jones has passed away.
I deeply regret, as I knew I would, that I didn't make it to the special Diana Wynne Jones convention in Britain a few years back. It was my one real chance to meet her, and honestly? If I could meet any writer in the world, I probably would have chosen her. Possibly even if "any writer in the world" is expanded to "in history, too," because Shakespeare's cool and all, but what would I say to him? His plays may be awesome, but Diana Wynne Jones is the one who made me into a writer.
It was Fire and Hemlock that did it. Polly and Tom telling their story, within the story about them, and the blurring between the two -- it's a story about stories, in many ways, because among other things the book is about "Thomas the Rhymer" and "Tam Lin," too. I was nine when I read it, and when I put the book down, one thought stood out clearly, for the first time in my life: I want to tell a story.
I did get to tell her that, at least, via the proxy of Sharyn November, when her (I think) seventy-fifth birthday rolled by. Sharyn was collecting birthday messages, so I typed up the tale of how Fire and Hemlock turned the nebulous storytelling impulses so many children have into a firm intention, and lo and behold I am now a writer. But I would have loved to shake her hand, and to thank her for inspiring me to my purpose in life. I don't think I write anything like her -- I don't think I write anything like most of the authors I really admire -- but it all grew out of the little seed of hemlock she planted in my mind.
. . . to heck with the part of me saying, "um, this would be a huge project and I'm not sure you really have the time." I think I will undertake to re-read her complete works, and to blog about them as I go. It's the best tribute I can think to give.
That, and to keep on writing.
I deeply regret, as I knew I would, that I didn't make it to the special Diana Wynne Jones convention in Britain a few years back. It was my one real chance to meet her, and honestly? If I could meet any writer in the world, I probably would have chosen her. Possibly even if "any writer in the world" is expanded to "in history, too," because Shakespeare's cool and all, but what would I say to him? His plays may be awesome, but Diana Wynne Jones is the one who made me into a writer.
It was Fire and Hemlock that did it. Polly and Tom telling their story, within the story about them, and the blurring between the two -- it's a story about stories, in many ways, because among other things the book is about "Thomas the Rhymer" and "Tam Lin," too. I was nine when I read it, and when I put the book down, one thought stood out clearly, for the first time in my life: I want to tell a story.
I did get to tell her that, at least, via the proxy of Sharyn November, when her (I think) seventy-fifth birthday rolled by. Sharyn was collecting birthday messages, so I typed up the tale of how Fire and Hemlock turned the nebulous storytelling impulses so many children have into a firm intention, and lo and behold I am now a writer. But I would have loved to shake her hand, and to thank her for inspiring me to my purpose in life. I don't think I write anything like her -- I don't think I write anything like most of the authors I really admire -- but it all grew out of the little seed of hemlock she planted in my mind.
. . . to heck with the part of me saying, "um, this would be a huge project and I'm not sure you really have the time." I think I will undertake to re-read her complete works, and to blog about them as I go. It's the best tribute I can think to give.
That, and to keep on writing.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-03-26 10:22 am (UTC)I had the privilege of meeting Diana on several occasions, and a nicer, more interesting, wittier person you could not meet. I am crying now: she will be greatly missed.
no subject
Date: 2011-03-26 10:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-26 10:36 am (UTC)Next time you're due to come over, you'll have to let me know if there's a British writer you really want to meet, though, and I'll see what I can do.
no subject
Date: 2011-03-26 11:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-26 12:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-26 01:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-26 04:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-26 05:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-26 05:59 pm (UTC)I think that what you've said here, that she infected you with the spark of writing - is the greatest tribute I could think of.
no subject
Date: 2011-03-26 06:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-26 08:46 pm (UTC)I know what you mean about not getting to meet someone. I passed up my one chance to see Rich Mullins in concert. However, in the last year, I taught the last song he ever recorded to our AWANA kids. I can think of no more fitting tribute to him than hearing a hundred kids singing his songs.
Make toast!
Date: 2011-03-31 04:09 am (UTC)mathematics game download
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