Q&A with Best-Selling Author - Daniel Handler

Before I went on exchange, I found out that there was going to be an event that was going to be held on the 12th of September, where Daniel Handler, the best-selling author of "A Series of Unfortunate Events" will talk about his latest book called the "Bottle Grove". I was super excited about meeting him, and last Thursday was when it finally happened. The event was held in Books Inc., which is considered the West's oldest independent bookseller, originating back in 1851.

"Bottle Grove" is a story with capitalist themes revolving around the San Francisco tech boom, as well as social themes, including marriage and wealth. It ties in freaky, individualistic, entrepreneurial stories with supernatural elements into the mix, including a shape-shifting fox that brings in trouble for the main characters in the story. The title of the book is a reference to Daniel Handler's friend, Dan Stone, who is an owner of a book store and bar called "North Light", where one of his alcoholic drinks is called the Bottle Grove.

The event also had Kathy Wang, a UC Berkeley Haas alumni and current author, who moderated the event, as well as Andrew Sean Greer, a 2018 Pulitzer prize winner. These three amazing authors was what made the event so much more insightful. Here, I have posted some questions that were brought up by Kathy Wang to Daniel Handler during the event, as well as my own that I had the opportunity to raise. Hopefully, this advice from Daniel himself could spark some inspiration for other writers out there!

1. How did you begin writing "Bottle Grove"?

It's inspired by an album. Which is a secret. Though in social media, people are beginning to guess the secret album, which charms me. I was kind of inspired by albums in general. I love pop music or a rock 'n' roll album even. I'm also pals with some musicians and it's sometimes fun to hear how they work, and so I tried to make it like I was making a record by myself and that I tried to do it really quickly and then sit on it for a while and see if it got better.

2. Where did you go in San Francisco to inspire the setting?

I like the idea of little wild places. For instance, a grove. I was on my way to one while I was writing this novel, and I saw a fox, which I had never seen before. That was the beginning of a time when foxes and coyotes started wandering around my neighbourhood. They were being driven to these residential areas, and there was so much new construction happening in San Francisco.

So I started reading about foxes, and every culture has the same myth about a fox. It's the same amoral, trickster, master of disguise who does all kinds of horrible things for no good reason. And so to think about young people making mistakes, and a fox that disguises itself and sneaking around was really interesting to me. There was something about looking at San Francisco getting more and more glammed up and full of money and technology, but also freaky foxes that sneak into my house. It seemed like a good part of a book.

3. What has been the most challenging part in writing this book?

Making it good. It was my first book in present tense. And it seemed like the right thing to have it in, because everything was happening, but I don't write a lot of books in present tense, so I had to figure out that too.

4. You write both adult novels and children's books. How do you adapt your writing styles to those different genres?

I have written some of these books under my own name and some of them have things that you shouldn't do. And often times, someone comes to me and never finish the story. They would say, for instance, that one of my books "All The Dirty Parts" had a lot of sex in it, and I remember when I was a kid, I read a book with a lot of sex in it. People worry about it a lot. I really like it a lot literature, but I'm not scared of it.

So I don't really adapt to any style. I have a really airtight productive method where I carry a notebook with me, and when the notebook is full, I type it into a word document and then print that out then cut it like a crazy person into index cards. Then I move the index cards around the dining room table. And then I go to cafes and libraries, and write on a legal pad with the index cards next to me then I type that up. It's super efficient. Then I walk to the same parks where I think about marriage or horrible things that could happen to orphans.

5. How did you integrate and balance dark comedy into a children series like "A Series of Unfortunate Events"?

I don't know. I think there's something a little bit funny about terrible things happening over and over again. And I'm Jewish, so that's the kind of culture that I have been raised in. I'm assuming you're talking about the Netflix television show. And there was an argument that happened a lot with Netflix, and they literally asked me "Do they have to be orphans?". And I was like "Yeah, they do." Then we made up that whole thing with the scene in the first season where you think maybe for a while that they're not orphans and that their parents are alive. Then we had a whole conversation about that.

6. Do you think the way you write your young characters changes as you get older?

I hope I'm getting better. A lot of writers produce really brilliant work when they're old. That's comforting to me. But I'm interested in all types of people. My book, "All the Dirty Parts" and the book before that, "We Are Pirates", talk about teenagers, but it also talked about old people. So I'm interested in a lot of things. I wander around and take notes and figure things out. We live in a weird planet, but it's the only one.

7. Any advice you want to share to aspiring writers?

Keep reading. Keep reading books that respond to you. I usually get a stack of books that I find inspiring and read them over and over again, and internalize the scenes that I find the most interesting. It could be a bit sad since you may start to lose the spark the more you re-read them. But basically, just try to get inspired by both real-life experiences and scenes from your favourite books.

After the event, I was happy I had the chance to engage in more in-depth conversation with all three authors. I was able to chat a bit more with Kathy and learn about her path from business to literature, which is a similar route I'm thinking of pursuing. I learnt more about the literature world from Andrew's insights and advice. He also invited me to go to one of his upcoming events in Oakland, where he will be in conversation with Salman Rushdie, an international best-selling author.

And finally, I was able to get a lot of useful advice from Daniel Handler on writing about what I am passionate of. I had the chance to briefly pitch my story idea to him. Honestly, after him telling me that he found the idea very exciting and encouraging me to continue writing it, it made me more motivated and confident to push through with the story and begin sharing it with more people to further polish it up.