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Paper Towns and PUPPY

2009-02-21 · John · watch on YouTube · Books & writing · conversation qa

In a bonus video, with Willy and pre-recorded 'past John', John answers remaining Paper Towns questions: appearances in Indianapolis and Amsterdam, writing time, road trips as metaphor, Omnictionary, and his next book with David Levithan.

What is said

00:00:00 — Greeting; Willy tries to eat the tripod; bonus video answering leftover Paper Towns questions

  • ★★★ In a bonus video, helped by Willy and pre-recorded questions from 'past John', John answers Paper Towns questions he didn't get to in his last video. — 00:00:00 · Willy, Paper Towns

00:00:30 — Public appearances: Indianapolis Second Story fundraiser reading; Amsterdam Dutch launch and Nerdfighter gathering

  • ★★ On Friday, March 13th, John will do a reading in Indianapolis as part of a fundraiser for the organization Second Story; details in the sidebar. — 00:00:30 · Indianapolis
  • ★★ On Thursday, March 19th, John will be in Amsterdam for the launch of the Dutch edition of Paper Towns. — 00:00:30 · Amsterdam, Netherlands, Paper Towns
  • ★★★ John invites European Nerdfighters to a public Nerdfighter gathering that Thursday night in Amsterdam; details are not set yet, but he asks them to sign up via the sidebar. — 00:00:30 · Nerdfighteria, Amsterdam

00:01:00 — Q&A: three years of writing, the ending, road trips, Omnictionary vs Wikipedia, the cover girl, other countries, Brotherhood 2.0 references

  • ★★ John says writing Paper Towns took about three years. — 00:01:00 · Paper Towns
  • ★★ John denies the ending was rushed: he did not want to say everything on the page. — 00:01:00
  • ★★ Road trips appear in two of his three books because they are fun and a really, really good metaphor. — 00:01:00
  • ★★ He named the book's wiki Omnictionary not for fear of a Wikipedia lawsuit but for literary reasons: the name means it contains all knowledge. — 00:01:00 · Wikipedia
  • ★ John doesn't know whether the girl on the cover is a Nerdfighter; he only knows she is a nice young woman from Canada. — 00:01:45
  • ★★ Paper Towns is out in Australia, though apparently hard to find, and is coming out in a number of other countries. — 00:01:45 · Australia, Paper Towns
  • ★★★ There are Paper Towns references in Brotherhood 2.0, not the reverse: viewers shared the last year and a half of writing and revision, so they saw what he was thinking about. — 00:01:45 · Paper Towns, Brotherhood 2.0

00:02:15 — Next book with David Levithan (spring 2010); Carrie Bradshaw punishment; sign-off

  • ★★★ John's next book, out in spring 2010, is written collaboratively with his friend David Levithan. — 00:02:15 · David Levithan
  • ★★ Relaying a question, John tells Hank he needs to do the Carrie Bradshaw punishment now. (playful) — 00:02:15 · Punishment

Humor (significant)

  • Willy keeps trying to eat the tripod while John films. — 00:00:00 > «Do you want to be a YouTube celebrity and I'm not doing a good job of letting you?»
  • Past John asks if the ending was rushed; John starts to say he spent three years on the book, but the end... — 00:01:00 > «Ten minutes.»
  • People assumed John avoided the name Wikipedia for fear of being sued. — 00:01:00 > «no one in all of human history has less standing to sue anyone for anything than Wikipedia»

Threads in this video

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