WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.560 align:middle line:90% Thank you both for reading. 00:00:01.560 --> 00:00:02.095 align:middle line:90% Thank you. 00:00:02.095 --> 00:00:04.950 align:middle line:84% So you both, I think, are really energetic writers. 00:00:04.950 --> 00:00:08.090 align:middle line:84% I felt rushed along by what you were writing. 00:00:08.090 --> 00:00:09.630 align:middle line:84% And so I was thinking about the way 00:00:09.630 --> 00:00:12.090 align:middle line:84% I think you both maybe write kind of long sentences 00:00:12.090 --> 00:00:14.070 align:middle line:84% that have a lot of parts that build up. 00:00:14.070 --> 00:00:16.320 align:middle line:84% So how much do you think about sentence level 00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:18.990 align:middle line:84% when you're writing either part of a story, 00:00:18.990 --> 00:00:20.820 align:middle line:90% or a novel, or a poem? 00:00:20.820 --> 00:00:23.955 align:middle line:84% Or is that something that just kind of happens? 00:00:23.955 --> 00:00:25.080 align:middle line:90% Hieu, do you want to start? 00:00:25.080 --> 00:00:26.700 align:middle line:90% Oh, yeah. 00:00:26.700 --> 00:00:28.860 align:middle line:84% I don't really think about it that much. 00:00:28.860 --> 00:00:32.490 align:middle line:84% So I don't know how much I can contribute to this question. 00:00:32.490 --> 00:00:34.680 align:middle line:84% Would you mind talking into the mic? 00:00:34.680 --> 00:00:36.930 align:middle line:90% Thank you. 00:00:36.930 --> 00:00:38.580 align:middle line:84% I don't think about it that much. 00:00:38.580 --> 00:00:41.790 align:middle line:90% 00:00:41.790 --> 00:00:42.290 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:00:42.290 --> 00:00:44.290 align:middle line:90% What do you think about instead? 00:00:44.290 --> 00:00:44.790 align:middle line:90% Oh. 00:00:44.790 --> 00:00:52.770 align:middle line:90% 00:00:52.770 --> 00:01:00.900 align:middle line:84% I think about the tone, and how I want it to come across. 00:01:00.900 --> 00:01:04.910 align:middle line:84% And sometimes it's helpful to have a longer sentence, 00:01:04.910 --> 00:01:06.660 align:middle line:84% so maybe I do think about it a little bit. 00:01:06.660 --> 00:01:09.750 align:middle line:90% 00:01:09.750 --> 00:01:12.000 align:middle line:90% I think about it a lot, maybe. 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:14.190 align:middle line:84% I think a lot of the work for me generates sort of 00:01:14.190 --> 00:01:15.750 align:middle line:90% at that level. 00:01:15.750 --> 00:01:17.970 align:middle line:84% The book ends up being sort of cohesive, 00:01:17.970 --> 00:01:20.010 align:middle line:84% but I write in really small fragments. 00:01:20.010 --> 00:01:23.100 align:middle line:84% And often I'm starting with sort of a piece of language, 00:01:23.100 --> 00:01:25.460 align:middle line:84% or a line or rhythm I like, or an image. 00:01:25.460 --> 00:01:26.970 align:middle line:84% I'm just trying to unpack that as 00:01:26.970 --> 00:01:28.530 align:middle line:90% long as I can sort of hold it. 00:01:28.530 --> 00:01:30.780 align:middle line:84% And I usually can't do that for more than maybe a half 00:01:30.780 --> 00:01:32.790 align:middle line:84% a page at a time or a couple of sentences. 00:01:32.790 --> 00:01:34.840 align:middle line:84% And so I end up with lots of these sort of units. 00:01:34.840 --> 00:01:37.155 align:middle line:84% And it's sort of like trying to put them together. 00:01:37.155 --> 00:01:39.030 align:middle line:84% I care a lot about how things are filled out, 00:01:39.030 --> 00:01:40.530 align:middle line:90% and the rhythm of the language. 00:01:40.530 --> 00:01:43.560 align:middle line:84% I read a lot aloud as I'm writing. 00:01:43.560 --> 00:01:45.640 align:middle line:90% My last novel is really strange. 00:01:45.640 --> 00:01:48.090 align:middle line:84% There's a lot of weird things, like a giant sentient bear, 00:01:48.090 --> 00:01:49.710 align:middle line:90% and squid fights, and stuff. 00:01:49.710 --> 00:01:53.970 align:middle line:84% And when I was writing it, I was living in a condo 00:01:53.970 --> 00:01:55.420 align:middle line:90% in Ann Arbor, Michigan. 00:01:55.420 --> 00:01:59.320 align:middle line:84% And all the condos in our row had the same floor plan, 00:01:59.320 --> 00:02:01.890 align:middle line:84% so I knew my office wall was against the bedroom 00:02:01.890 --> 00:02:03.270 align:middle line:90% of the people next to me. 00:02:03.270 --> 00:02:05.187 align:middle line:84% And I would write at like 6:00 in the morning, 00:02:05.187 --> 00:02:07.530 align:middle line:84% and just working out the acoustics of these sentences 00:02:07.530 --> 00:02:10.080 align:middle line:84% really loudly through their bedroom wall. 00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:12.622 align:middle line:84% And I assume those people are really happy I don't live there 00:02:12.622 --> 00:02:15.210 align:middle line:84% anymore, trying to figure out the pauses in a sentence about, 00:02:15.210 --> 00:02:17.520 align:middle line:84% like, squid at 6:00 in the morning every day. 00:02:17.520 --> 00:02:18.900 align:middle line:90% But yeah, a lot. 00:02:18.900 --> 00:02:20.985 align:middle line:84% Like to me, that's what makes a sentence done, 00:02:20.985 --> 00:02:22.860 align:middle line:84% is that it's sort of filled out acoustically. 00:02:22.860 --> 00:02:27.990 align:middle line:84% And to put a synonym in, or to change where the commas are, 00:02:27.990 --> 00:02:30.300 align:middle line:84% will somehow weaken it, that there's an inevitability. 00:02:30.300 --> 00:02:32.910 align:middle line:84% And you know, it's never as good as you want in the end. 00:02:32.910 --> 00:02:35.897 align:middle line:84% My galley copy of this is already all marked up, 00:02:35.897 --> 00:02:37.230 align:middle line:90% and my final copies will be too. 00:02:37.230 --> 00:02:39.030 align:middle line:84% The changes I'd make in the future. 00:02:39.030 --> 00:02:41.130 align:middle line:84% But yeah, I care a lot about that. 00:02:41.130 --> 00:02:44.647 align:middle line:84% And sometimes like fix the sound, fix the meaning, 00:02:44.647 --> 00:02:45.480 align:middle line:90% if that makes sense. 00:02:45.480 --> 00:02:47.520 align:middle line:84% Like for me, there is something there. 00:02:47.520 --> 00:02:48.040 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:02:48.040 --> 00:02:48.540 align:middle line:90% Thanks. 00:02:48.540 --> 00:02:51.630 align:middle line:90% 00:02:51.630 --> 00:02:53.542 align:middle line:90% I have a question. 00:02:53.542 --> 00:02:56.010 align:middle line:84% It's unordinary, but I'm going to ask anyway. 00:02:56.010 --> 00:03:00.000 align:middle line:84% So Hieu, I know you're in the moment 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:03.150 align:middle line:90% of working on this second book. 00:03:03.150 --> 00:03:05.170 align:middle line:84% And your first book is over there. 00:03:05.170 --> 00:03:07.380 align:middle line:90% This is the sales pitch for it. 00:03:07.380 --> 00:03:08.400 align:middle line:90% Buy that first book. 00:03:08.400 --> 00:03:12.510 align:middle line:84% But I wonder, I mean, you're over there scratching away 00:03:12.510 --> 00:03:15.510 align:middle line:84% at stuff, do you feel like, as you're 00:03:15.510 --> 00:03:18.122 align:middle line:84% working on this second book, it feels the same? 00:03:18.122 --> 00:03:19.080 align:middle line:90% Does it feel different? 00:03:19.080 --> 00:03:20.250 align:middle line:90% Does it feel new? 00:03:20.250 --> 00:03:21.790 align:middle line:90% Or is your process the same? 00:03:21.790 --> 00:03:22.290 align:middle line:90% No. 00:03:22.290 --> 00:03:25.560 align:middle line:90% 00:03:25.560 --> 00:03:29.820 align:middle line:84% I feel like I'm having a lot more fun this time. 00:03:29.820 --> 00:03:34.560 align:middle line:84% When I was writing my first book, I felt like I just-- 00:03:34.560 --> 00:03:37.200 align:middle line:84% I don't know, I think processing, right? 00:03:37.200 --> 00:03:43.740 align:middle line:90% And it felt heavier. 00:03:43.740 --> 00:03:48.870 align:middle line:84% And I think now that I got that out of the way, 00:03:48.870 --> 00:03:52.290 align:middle line:84% I feel like I'm having a lot more fun writing, which 00:03:52.290 --> 00:03:54.320 align:middle line:90% I think is important. 00:03:54.320 --> 00:03:56.510 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:03:56.510 --> 00:03:57.500 align:middle line:90% Thank you. 00:03:57.500 --> 00:04:01.620 align:middle line:90% Is there another question? 00:04:01.620 --> 00:04:02.900 align:middle line:90% Is that an elbow or a hand? 00:04:02.900 --> 00:04:04.170 align:middle line:90% It's hard to tell. 00:04:04.170 --> 00:04:04.670 align:middle line:90% Elbow. 00:04:04.670 --> 00:04:06.350 align:middle line:90% OK. 00:04:06.350 --> 00:04:08.900 align:middle line:84% In that case, let's get to the book signing part of this. 00:04:08.900 --> 00:04:10.520 align:middle line:90% Thank you both so much. 00:04:10.520 --> 00:04:12.340 align:middle line:90% Thank you, Hannah.