Charles’s Comments (group member since Sep 19, 2011)

Charles’s comments from the Ask Charles Yu! group.

Thanks to Goodreads for allowing us to do this, and to Patrick the Moderator (you are silent, but benevolent and, I assume, omniscient).

I loved all of the questions and discussion and ideas and recommendations. Good-bye for now. Come find me on Facebook (www.facebook.com/authorcharlesyu31) or Twitter (www.twitter.com/charles_yu) if you would like to stay in touch.

Hi Aaron,

The reading is on 10/2, at 7pm. I think they are having a book club for HTLSIASFU on 10/1...I hope I get to meet you at the reading, if you are planning on coming.

By the way, the reading is with Seth Fried, who just published a debut short story collection titled THE GREAT FRUSTRATION, which I blurbed and loved. Seth is very funny on paper, and I imagine he's also very funny in person, too...

Thanks again,
Charlie

Aviva wrote: "thanks! I added some of them to my to-read! (though I probably won't get around to them for quite a while. and it would be a good idea to read them when I'm older.)"

Now you owe me a book recommendation...

Kevin wrote: "I loved the meta aspects of your book, like the description of what it takes to be a protagonist in the "attachment coefficient" section as a job description/variable breakdown.

Was it diff..."

The meta aspects were the most fun to write, and so in that sense they came relatively easy (easier than the father-mother-son scenes, for sure). They were more like play, where I felt more free to explore some of the aspects of this Minor Universe 31. And they also did double-duty: even while I was sort of messing around and having fun writing these meta-sections, I was also figuring out the heart of the non-meta-meat-of-the-story. Especially with the diagram of the time loop. Drawing that picture helped me keep track of CY's path. (Although strictly speaking, it was more of a tool I used rather than meta- on its own, I suppose putting it in there is a pretty meta- thing to do.)

My editor (Tim O'Connell at Pantheon) loved the meta- stuff, for the most part. Some of it got cut, not because it was too meta-, but because it just wasn't as strong as some of the other stuff that made it in (or as essential to the story/world). In general, I don't think I could get too meta- or weird or experimental for them. I mean, Pantheon published Mark Danielewski's HOUSE OF LEAVES, for Pete's sake. Compared to that book, HOW TO LIVE SAFELY is about as experimental as a J. Crew catalog. I did some research on science and math, but not so much to incorporate it into the book as to steal the language and the diction and use it for my own very un-scientific purposes.

And to call back to Aviva's question from a couple days ago: I am not a musician, but I do someday want to learn to play drums so that I start a cover band called Heavy Meta.

Kevin wrote: "Charles wrote: "How about you? Any recommendations for funny things to read or listen to or watch?"

I'm a huge fan of Dave Barry for written humor. Most people who are lauded as funny fail to mak..."

Thanks for the recommendations! I'll check them out.

By the way, I'm a Hedberg fan, too.

Aviva wrote: "What is your favorite book (if you have one) or a few really good ones in your opinion? I think you've already said authors, but not specific books."

Any list I make will be incomplete, so to pick a completely arbitrary number, here are 8 of my favorites:

1) WHITE NOISE by Don DeLillo
2) GODEL ESCHER BACH by Douglas Hofstadter
3) THE FABRIC OF REALITY by David Deutsch
4) SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut
5) THE MEZZANINE by Nicholson Baker
6) A SUPPOSEDLY FUN THING I'LL NEVER DO AGAIN by DFW
7) GALATEA 2.2 by Richard Powers
8) THE GONE AWAY WORLD by Nick Harkaway

Sweetji wrote: "I definitely need a new toothbrush, thanks for the tip! hmm I guess I should have to ask if it really works, but I assume it does.

You've talked about writing and music, how about visual arts? do ..."

I can draw a decent dog, although really it's sort of a Snoopy rip-off. Other than that, I am not a visual artist. This is a bit random, but I really like the paintings of Mark Tansey, if you are familiar with his work at all.

Hi Sandi,

Absolutely. Slaughterhouse-Five is one of my favorite books. Maybe my favorite. Probably. Yeah, who am I kidding, it's my favorite. That book was heavily on my mind while writing HTLSIASFU. The idea of a protagonist who is not bound by time (but also one who is not necessarily interested in changing things so much as viewing history, at a smaller or larger scale), that was something I could not get away from.

Thanks for your question.

Best,
Charlie

Kevin wrote: "So am I allowed to quote the book here?((I'm uh. I'm going to do it regardless)) Because my favorite excerpt is,

"She says that is exactly what she's crying about. That everything is all right...."
Heya Kevin,

I'm glad you like that passage. I like what you said about it as well. On to your fine questions:

1) I don't think I write trying to be funny. I'm not a naturally very funny person, and so when I do try to be funny, I find that it often comes across as just that, i.e., trying to be funny. To the extent there are funnyish things in my stories, I think what happens is that sometimes I say something really honest or raw or direct or all of the above, and that ends up being kind of funny as well. In the words of Homer Simpson, it's funny because it's true.

2) I love the guy who does 27b/6. And Simon Rich's stuff gives me stomach cramps (and face cramps) from laughing so hard. I also love Comedy Bang Bang, the podcast. Comics like Jerry Minor, Paul F. Tompkins, Tom Lennon, James Adomian and Nick Kroll are on that show a lot, and they do characters and bits that are just amazing. I listen to the podcast in my car, and I am not kidding when I say I have almost crashed several times because I was laughing too hard. How about you? Any recommendations for funny things to read or listen to or watch?

Thanks again for your questions!

This is not a proper closing remark for this sort of thing,
Charlie

James wrote: "Hello. HtLSiaSFU is amazing. Loved it - best modern sci-fi in a long long time. Here's my question: I love closed-loop science fiction. I'm assuming you do too (because, you know.) However, I know ..."

Hi James,

I do like closed loops, in my science fiction, and in general!* It takes some engineering to figure out how to make something self-consistent, at least as a narrative (even if it doesn't necessarily operate according to the laws of physics in this universe), and it also takes some creativity to figure out how to make something interesting for a reader or viewer when they already know (or think they know) how it is all going to turn out.

However, as you rightly point out, some people hate closed loops. Also, some people have pointed out that the loop in HTLSIASFU is not exactly your classic time loop, either. Neither of these things really bother bother me. I wanted a loop structure for the novel because it was the structure that best served the story I was trying to tell. And I wanted the loop to be the way it is (i.e., sort of a squiggly, collapsing loop) for the same reason: it serves the story I was trying to tell. Certainly not to be clever! I'm not clever enough to do much more than what I did, and just making that little loop took about all the brain power I have.

Thanks for reading, and for your question. I was hoping someone would ask about that!

Best,
Charlie

*(Which is not to say I don't like open endings as well. I think HTLSIASFU has a bit of an open ending, in a way.)

I prefer to type. Unfortunately, I never produce anything good that way. Almost anytime I write something worth keeping, I started writing it longhand first. You would think I would remember that, and just write longhand. But the typewriter is so tempting. I just think, what if I get a brain-rush and the words are coming out so fast that the only way I could keep up is to be typing? And yet, despite the fact that such a brain-rush has never happened, I insist on typing most of the time.

Aviva wrote: "Charles (it excites me that I'm calling a real author by their first name),
I was a book store in NYC and saw the title of "How to Live in a Science Fictional Universe". I immediately thought "I ha..."

Dear Aviva,

Thank you for all of your questions! I'm glad you liked "Florence". I think more people have read "Florence" through this thread than have read "Florence" in the history of that story. I'm not sure that math works out, but I hope someone will check that. No, please no one check that. It doesn't make sense. It's not even math.

On to your lovely questions:

1) I started writing stories about 10 years ago, after graduating from law school. The first story I wrote was in the form of word problems from a physics textbook. I didn't even think of it as fiction. I wasn't sure what it was.

2) I don't know what kept me going. Certainly not positive feedback! I must have collected 500-600 rejection slips from my first few years of submitting to literary journals. I think it was just that I couldn't stop myself from writing. And the idea, the hope that someday I'd write a story that would actually entertain people, or affect them the way that my favorite stories affect me.

3) With "Florence" I was thinking about distance and families, and how many people spend most of their lives (5 days a week, 10 to 12 or more hours a day in the office) physically remote from their loved ones. By stretching out the time intervals and distances involved to interstellar scales, I was hoping to make it weird and yet familiar at the same time.

4) I am not a starkid, as far as I know. I suppose I should Google "starkid" to find out.

5) Okay, I Googled it.

6) I'm still not sure I'm a starkid. Although it seems like it'd be cool to be one. Am I still allowed to like red vines? because I do.

7) I'm not a musician. I wish I were. More than I wish I were a starkid. Honestly, if I could be a musician instead of a writer, I would be. Alas, I have no musical talent.

Thanks again Aviva!

Have a red vine for me,
Charlie

Kevin wrote: "@one big thread monster problem. We could always break down your responses into different threads entirely, so as to have a more cohesive structure?

Like a, "Charles Yu's inspiration"
and maybe, ..."

That is very much appreciated Kevin! Thank you.

I guess I'm being a bit self-aggrandizing, though, considering so far this "monster" thread is only 26 messages long, half of which are from me. Thank God for you kind people. Otherwise I'd be in here, asking myself questions. Or shouting just to hear the echo.

That will be nice!

If someone doesn't ask a question here, I may have to ask myself some questions.

I use a Sonicare at home. For brushing during the workday, I am currently using a Colgate 360 Full Head Soft Toothbrush, which has a unique tongue cleaner and is "tightly packed," with "tapered bristles and polishing cups [to] help remove more plaque and stains than an ordinary toothbrush."

Glynn wrote: "Hello Charlie, just a comment: I got your book from the library. Actually they didn't have it in the collection so I requested it and read it when it came in. I liked it a lot. It was funny and str..."

Hello Glynn,

Well, in that case, just a comment on your comment: Thank you! And glad to hear you are a library-goer. I'm a proud card-carrying member of the Santa Monica Public Library myself. As of right now, I owe $9.60 in fines.

Delinquently yours,
Charlie

Roxmcr wrote: "Hello Charles,
Let me tell you that it was so difficult to finally purchase your book. It was a recommendation from The Guardian newspaper (the Books section), I immediately felt drawn to the sto..."

Dear Roxmcr:

Let me tell you that I can't tell you how grateful I am that you went to all that trouble to find the book. Thank you!

If I understand you correctly, you live in Mexico, but read about the book in the Guardian (UK?), and then eventually had to buy the book from a US retailer? That is an international story. I wish they sold the book in Mexico. In English or in Spanish.

Note to Mexico: What's up? Are we okay? Why are you mad at my book?

Regarding the "tools" (and thank you for not calling them "gimmicks"): I agree they break the reading experience. I think some people find that off-putting, but I am relieved to see that you actually think they make the reader part of the story. That was what I hoped for: that these tools, or devices would act to open up the universe of the novel a bit, that they could be openings in the text, bridging our world to the world of Minor Universe 31. I wanted the book to be a time machine, but also to be a kind of self-contained world itself, and I wanted the reader to have her or his very own world to hold, a world to inhabit, a time machine to climb into. And, in a sense, each copy of the book, each TM-31, each tiny universe is a little bit different from all of the others, because it is carrying a different reader inside. The reader participates in the creation of the world, by climbing in, just as Charles Yu is actively creating the Book From Nowhere by reading/writing/thinking/dictating it.

If you felt like you were part of the story, that is my best case scenario.

Now, if we could only get the Mexican government to allow time travel...

Charlie

Okay, I am stupid! Why am I responding to everything in one big thread, making this all confusing? I mean, my writing is confusing enough as it is. Yeesh.

Patrick the Moderator: I fear that it was politeness and your extremely good manners that prevented you from telling me about my poor form. And for that, kind sir, I thank you.

I will now attempt to reply to questions using the button marked "Reply" and not by simply adding a comment to the end of the string like the silly buffoon that I am.

Dear Jess aka Sweetji:

Thank you for reading, and for your questions.

I am a fan of Douglas Adams's work, and I think it has had an influence on me, both directly (from reading it) and indirectly (through the larger ripple effects of his work on SF and humor in SF in general). I've seen some reviews where my novel was compared to Adams's work, and it is an honor, but it's probably more accurate to say I'm just a downstream beneficiary of his, someone who is swimming in the flow of ideas (and possibilities) that he is the source of.

Some of the writers I go back to again and again for inspiration and instruction: Donald Barthelme, David Foster Wallace (esp. his non-fiction), Philip Roth, Don DeLillo, Nicholson Baker, Richard Powers, to name just a few.

I am glad you said "humor, drama, suspense". I would love it if everything I wrote could be dramatically suspenseful humor. Or humorously suspenseful drama. Seriously. Those three elements, can't go wrong, right? I'm happy if I get just one of those at any given time. I have a jar that I use to collect droplets of each, and I let it accumulate over time. I find that:

1) I'm most often trying for humor, and succeeding to a greater or lesser degree (usually lesser), that

2) Drama or perhaps melodrama (in the sense of emotional conflict) comes most naturally to me, and

3) That suspense (in the sense of being able to make a plot that would make a reader turn the page) comes least naturally to me.

If I were a D&D character, I would want to add some points to my Suspense ability score, even if that meant losing some points off of the Drama score. And I wouldn't mind having a +2 Funny Hammer, if anyone has one to spare.

Thanks again for your questions!

Chaotically good,
Charlie

Dear Paula,

Thank you for saying that. Also, thank you for shoving the novel into the hands of your friends. I hope you are shoving it in such a way that you are hitting mostly the fatty part of the palm, and not, say, jamming their fingers or even cramming it into the webbing between their fingers. Because that would hurt. And I don't want your friends to be hurt. I hope that goes without saying. Especially if being hurt makes them less likely to want to read the book that was just jammed into their hands. Unless, of course, wait a minute...I was assuming you were jamming it into their hands as a kind of brute force recommendation about the literary merits of the book. But maybe you just go around jamming things into people's hands for fun. Or maybe your friends DESERVE having something painfully jammed into their hands because they don't read at all, they just play Angry Birds all day, and in fact, they all hate books. In which case I say: jam away. Use the hardcover version of my book, if possible.

Note to self: Cut back on the coffee and red vines.

Note to Goodreads: If at this point you are considering cutting this Q&A short and/or banning me from the site, I will obviously understand.

Okay, back to Paula (sorry about that, Paula):

My favorite character to create was TAMMY. I think TAMMY has a lot going on that she never shares with Charles. I like to imagine some of her interactions with other inhabitants of Universe 31, especially other software.

My favorite tangent to write was the description of past-tense memory equivalence. After I wrote that little passage, I remember thinking, well, that's the weirdest thing ever, so much for anyone actually reading this book. With most of the tangents (and the interstitials between chapters), I felt that way, i.e., this is too weird, no one will ever let me put this into an actual book. Of course, the trick is that if you connect enough of those tangents to each other, if you make a whole book out of tangents and interstitials, it becomes a different thing altogether.

I'm glad you liked Phil and Marie (The Woman Charles Never Married). I am now imagining the two of them having a picnic. I wonder how Phil's wife, the spreadsheet program, would feel about that. Probably nonplussed. Oh man, sorry about that pun. I'd better stop now.

Thanks again Paula!

Best,
Charlie