Back to school Toby at Tobias Buckell Online

Journal Entry

Back to school Toby

October 17th 2007 at 2:09 pm

Yesterday I woke up after snagging an hour’s nap and drove down to a local high school for Teens Read week. I’d packed up a box of my various magazines and anthologies I’d appeared in, as well as copies of the novels to show them.

From 7:55am until 2:45, with a 30 minute break for lunch, I did 7 45 minute presentations that I chopped into 4 parts: 10 minutes about who I was and where I grew up, 10 minutes reading the opening chapter to Ragamuffin, 10 minutes talking about the life of a writer, and 15 minutes (usually longer, I kept the 10 minute pieces shorter) of questions.

To my immense satisfaction, only 3 students dozed off (and with only an hour of sleep they had my envy) throughout the day. A surprising number of them did pay attention during the reading, and the questions were good from most of the classes.

Questions included things like: how do your name your characters? Where do you get your ideas? How long does it take to write a book? Did you paint the cover? Do you like reading your own books?

Some reactions that stuck with me were a couple students who were amazed that I was so young (aren’t most authors like, really really old?) and that I played X-Box 360 (discussions were had about Medal of Honor Airborne Assault and whether I’d played Halo 3 yet). Judging by the Halo comments, I should have talked about the sf-nal nature of Halo 3 and Larry Niven’s Ringworld, I would have engaged the audience a lot better.

A lesson learned…

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7 Responses so far

1. Mark Terry on Oct 17th, 2007 at 3:57 pm

“…aren’t most authors like, really really old?”

No, the publishing industry makes them feel like they’re old.

No: when’s the movie going to come out?

No: do you make a ton of money from your novels?

No: do you know JK Rowling?

No: do you know any famous writers? (See JK Rowling question)
2. tobias buckell on Oct 17th, 2007 at 4:20 pm

Movie questions were there, but even adults ask that, so it wasn’t a question that stood out. Adults also think there’s big money in novel writing, so I can’t blame the students for thinking similarly, but they didn’t assume I made big money either. They did ask if I knew any famous writers or famous actors.
3. S.C. Butler on Oct 17th, 2007 at 4:53 pm

I’ve found that opening the floor up to questions is always the best way to go, for both large and small groups. And especially when giving school talks. Get the audience engaged and they really pay attention.

Though only someone who hates reading could doze off during Ragamuffin.
4. Tobias Buckell on Oct 17th, 2007 at 5:09 pm

Yeah, I like questions. The format is roughly the same as my readings at cons, so it was natural for me.

And thanks for the Ragamuffin kudos.

I also meant to talk about how I learned how to project my voice, as it was a much larger room than I was used to reading in, and with no microphone…
5. Jeremy on Oct 19th, 2007 at 9:06 pm

” how do your name your characters? Where do you get your ideas? How long does it take to write a book? Did you paint the cover? Do you like reading your own books?”

I’d be interested in hearing the answers to these questions, or at least pointed to where I can find them if you’ve already done so.

I was surprised at your age, I just realized you’re the same age as me, which, instead of making me feel old, makes me feel like I haven’t done as much with my life as I’d like to. Good thing we’re living longer these days.
6. Emily on Oct 22nd, 2007 at 5:56 am

And now you know what I do daily! Silly people think we should have year-round school with no air conditioning.