Prolific Pratchett rides Discworld wave in NZ

By CATHY WALSHE

British author Terry Pratchett is, by his own admission, a hard taskmaster. And, right now, two days into his six-day New Zealand tour celebrating 21 years of Discworld novels, he's a very tired one.

But even with about seven hours sleep in the last 48, and his latest book Going Postal piled high on shop shelves, Pratchett still finds it hard to tear himself away from his laptop.

It's where he'd much rather be, 16,000 words into the 34th novel in the phenomenally successful Discworld series. It's tentatively titled Thud and Pratchett is still in what he terms the honeymoon period of writing it.

The last month of writing a book, he explains, is the grind of editing, editing and more editing. So what is the best way through it?

"You promise yourself that if you are really good, you can start another one."

And that's his favourite part of the process, the honeymoon phase, sketching out the plot, fiddling with scenes, enchanted with the endless possibilities.

"You've got to have a book on the go," he says. "I could easily stop now, in the practical sense. I'm not absolutely certain why I do it now... "

He pauses, briefly puzzled.

"Something to do with the complete impossibility of imagining what else I would do, I think."

Writing, he eventually decides, beats working for a living.

"The thing about writing, about freelancing, is that you can take time off and have a break any time you want. The other thing about it is that you don't.

"I'm a bloody hard taskmaster."

Pratchett, 56, is one of Britain's best-selling authors. More than 30 million Discworld books have been sold worldwide, translated into 32 different languages.

The Discworld is a planet of wizards and witches, werewolves and dwarves, trolls and humans, balanced on the back of four elephants and piloted through the multiverse on the back of the Great A'Tuin, a gigantic space turtle. The series is generally described as science fantasy, although Pratchett himself is quite keen on the phrase "social satire".

He was awarded the OBE in 1998 for services to literature, and has four honorary doctorates, but he suspects that the best thing he has done for literature is to deny writing it.

Pratchett's latest Discworld children's release, A Hatful of Sky, is the second in a planned series of four, featuring an 11-year-old witch and the Nac Mac Feegle, a race for six-inch high pictsies evicted from the land of the fairy queen for being drunk and disorderly.

After winning the 2002 Carnegie Medal for The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents, another Discworld novel, and with a solid background in children's writing including his Bromeliad trilogy, Pratchett enjoys the challenges of writing for a younger age group.

"Writing children's books is harder, but balanced out by being more rewarding," he says.

The major difference from writing for adults is in perspective.

"You can't peddle despair, however harrowing the story may be. You've got to give them hope."

It is important not to patronise or underestimate your audience either.

"You have to pay attention to vocabulary, which is not the same thing as keeping it simple. Children learn by context, and they're a lot more savvy than you think."

Of course, he says, adults are too, which is why the Discworld books have evolved into something more than simple science fantasy, veering dramatically towards satire with occasional accusations of literature.

"The series has developed quite a lot over the years -- it had to, otherwise it would rust and there would be no fun in writing it. And there still is."

- NZPA