The setting: All of us make mistakes. Many times, we say, do, or write things that we wish we never had.
The why: As we go throughout life, we have a tendency to grow and improve ourselves. As I have grown older, and I hope wiser, I have decided that I have done things that I should not have. I have made mistakes, as we all have. I do not necessarily regret these mistakes, but have admitted the error of my ways to myself and to others.
The question: Orson Scott Card, as an author, have you ever written anything throughout the years in any of your novels that you wish you had not? After growing in wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, are there things in some of your works that you wish were never put in?
The reason: To satisfy an inquiring mind wanting to know a small piece of the character and thoughts of a great author.
The response: Don’t answer if you don’t want.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
IIRC, I've seen Card say, here on this board, that he thinks that the openings of both Hart's Hope and Lost Boys were mistakes.
Posted by Orson Scott Card (Member # 209) on :
There are artistic mistakes in all my books - always clearly visible after they are published. I rewrote Hot Sleep completely and drastically revised the opening of Treason and published them in new versions. So clearly I had second thoughts. With later books, though, I endured the flaws, figuring that each one represented the best I could do with the material at that time.
There are short stories that I cringe a little about - not because they're bad, really, but because they could have been better. But ... I was learning my craft, so I don't try to hide them or even fix them. They are what they are.
I also took replaced a passage in the novel Ender's Game that was causing some schools to ban the book - because it used the N word. My purpose was benign - Ender was making an anti-racism point - but in our deliberately absolutist age, that fact made no difference. So I took it out so that such a trivial issue would not be a barrier to the book being available to readers.
Apart from that, I'll live with my choices. I hope that I've learned more as a human being and as an artist over the years; I'd like to think that my later books will show both more skill and more wisdom. BUT ... the earlier books were not written by 54-year-old me, they were written by my younger self, and faithfully show who I was at the time. I don't have to erase my youthful self in order to prove my present "wisdom." Besides, who knows but what I might eventually be so much wiser than I am now that I'm able to recognize that my younger self was right after all <grin>.
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
now now Mr Card, you shouldn't be telling us your age so carelessly, we all loved the mystery with Isaac Asimov who never seemed to mention his real age for love or money.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
OSC != Asimov.
Asimov was great, but we don't really need another one of him.
Posted by RunningBear (Member # 8477) on :
Nope we dont...
WAIT WAIT YES WE DO! he was an excellent writer and I wouldn't mind having another one of him. He was really good "out there" sci-fi, while I think Mr. Card has excellent "hmmmm I can relate" sci fi.
Posted by wad (Member # 8605) on :
Asimov is a legend. One of my favorite contemporary sci-fi authors is Vernor Vinge. Amazing books, amazing.
quote: [snip] ... was causing some schools to ban the book - because it used the N word. [snip]
Don't all the Tom Sawyer/Huck Finn books use the N word all over the place? Are they banned too?
Don't tell me there is a double standard in education!
\/\/ /-\ [)
Posted by Ziusudra (Member # 8601) on :
I am really curious about some of these books. Some books, like Catcher in the Rye I can see why people would have a problem with it, even if I don't agree. But with some of the books, I have no idea why people have problems with them. Does anybody know what problems people have with:
To Kill a Mockingbird A Wrinkle In Time Flowers for Algernon Where's Waldo
Posted by Treason (Member # 7587) on :
The Giver A Light in the Attic James and the Giant Peach How to Eat Fried Worms
Y?
Posted by hiro1000 (Member # 6905) on :
More then half those books I read in School. Thats where i got my crave for OSC work, just brilliant work.
Posted by Omega M. (Member # 7924) on :
In the beach scene of Where's Waldo, there's a kid putting a cold ice cream cone on the back of a face-down topless sunbathing woman in order to make her jump and expose herself. In later editions, the picture is altered.
But if one of the Waldo books had to get banned, Where's Waldo would be the best choice, since (being the first) it has the crudest and least-crowded drawings.
Posted by Omega M. (Member # 7924) on :
quote:There are short stories that I cringe a little about - not because they're bad, really, but because they could have been better. But ... I was learning my craft, so I don't try to hide them or even fix them. They are what they are.