Paper Towns Tastic Question Tuesday

2009-02-11 · John · watch on YouTube · Books & writing · conversation qa

John answers Nerdfighters' questions about Paper Towns, explaining that it is about how we misimagine other people and our stories: Margo as a mirror, colours after Moby-Dick, the Black Santas and Gatsby's self-made man.

What is said

00:00:00 — Greeting; Paper Towns questions: what it is about, why Song of Myself, will it be a movie

★★ John finally answers real Nerdfighters' questions about his new book Paper Towns, for the Nerdfighter Blurbing Book Club per the description. — 00:00:00 · Paper Towns, Nerdfighteria, Blurbing Book Club, Question Tuesday
★★ John says Paper Towns is about Margo Roth Spiegelman, her next-door neighbour Q, the state of Florida and Walt Whitman. — 00:00:00 · Paper Towns, Margo Roth Spiegelman, Florida, Walt Whitman
★★★ Song of Myself is central because it is a beautiful poem deeply involved with how we can imagine other people more effectively (and, he jokes, Whitman is hot). — 00:00:00 · Walt Whitman, perspective-taking
★★ The Paper Towns movie rights were acquired by Mr. Mudd and Mandate, the people behind Juno. — 00:00:00 · Paper Towns
★★ The description says several more questions will be answered in a video on Friday or Saturday. — 00:00:00
★★ The description asks viewers to leave questions in the comments for the Question Tuesday after next. — 00:00:00 · Question Tuesday

00:00:46 — Screenplay; Quentin's parents; the name Spiegelman (mirror maker) and the two covers; a 20-year-old reader

★★ John does not know whether Paper Towns will be a movie; he is writing the screenplay, so it is up to him whether it is good enough. (hedged) — 00:00:46 · Paper Towns
★★ John says Spiegelman is a German word meaning mirror maker, the man in old German villages who made the mirrors. — 00:00:46 · Margo Roth Spiegelman
★★★ Margo is the book's mirror maker: people looking at her see a funhouse-mirror reflection of themselves, not what is true of her, hence the two different, equally inaccurate covers. — 00:00:46 · Margo Roth Spiegelman, Paper Towns, perspective-taking
★ Asked by a 20-year-old whether they are too old for the book, John says no: that day an 82-year-old woman emailed that she liked it. — 00:00:46 · Paper Towns

00:01:22 — Misimagining (Q/Margo, Pudge/Alaska); colours and Moby-Dick; purposeful vs random details; Q vs John

★★★ Q's misimagining of Margo resembles Pudge's of Alaska; John argues that imagining someone as more than a person does them and ourselves a profound disservice. — 00:01:22 · Margo Roth Spiegelman, Looking for Alaska, Edward Cullen, perspective-taking > «whether we're Edward Cullen-izing them or Alaska-izing them or Margo-izing them»
★★★ On colours: the book has much Moby-Dick in it (white imagery, Black Santas, Margo's middle name meaning red); like Melville, John wanted to subvert white as a symbol of purity and put Margo outside the good/evil dichotomy. (hedged) — 00:01:51 · Margo Roth Spiegelman, Paper Towns
★★ Ideally nothing in a novel is totally random, John says, though asked about Ben's beer sword he concedes some things are random. — 00:01:51
★ Q is not really based on John's high-school self; he thinks they share nothing except being tall and vaguely nerdy. (hedged) — 00:01:51

00:02:36 — Paperback; the Black Santa collection; writing from experience; the Great Gatsby comparison

★★ The Paper Towns paperback will be out at the end of this year. — 00:02:36 · Paper Towns
★★ The paperback will probably not have either current cover, so John tells viewers who want these covers to get them now. (hedged) — 00:02:36 · Paper Towns
★★★ The book is about how we misimagine other people and our stories; Radar's parents own the world's largest Black Santa collection because John finds it funny and it asks us to imagine the world more complexly. (hedged) — 00:02:36 · perspective-taking, Paper Towns
★★ John very rarely steals directly from his own experience, though he says there are two occasions where he clearly did (where to find them is unclear in the audio). — 00:02:36
★★ Paper Towns shares many of The Great Gatsby's questions, above all whether there is such a thing as the self-made man; John then jokingly declines the 'modern-day Gatsby' label. — 00:03:05 · The Great Gatsby, Paper Towns

00:03:27 — Alternate titles; thanks to Nerdfighters; sign-off

★★ Alternate titles: 'More Light Than Heat', from a line in Hamlet, and 'Under the Red, the White, and the Blue', one of Fitzgerald's alternate titles for Gatsby. — 00:03:27 · Paper Towns, The Great Gatsby
★★ John thanks Nerdfighters for reading Paper Towns and responding with thoughtfulness and depth, which reminds him why he loves his job. — 00:03:27 · Nerdfighteria, Paper Towns

Humor (significant)

Second reason Song of Myself is central to Paper Towns: Walt Whitman is hot. — 00:00:00 > «that guy could sound his barbaric yelp over the roofs of my world anytime.»
Asked whether Quentin's parents are based on his own parents or people he knew. — 00:00:46 > «No, but I have had a lot of therapy.»
After explaining the colour symbolism, John stages a cow fighting a Black Santa. — 00:01:51 > «That is the first time in the history of YouTube that a cow has had a fight with a Black Santa.»
Right after saying nothing in a novel is random, John reads: does Ben's beer sword represent inner conflict? — 00:01:51 > «Okay, fair enough. Some things are random.»

Threads in this video

result · John asks for Paper Towns questions for the Blurbing Book Club wrap-up (2008) — John answers Nerdfighters' questions about Paper Towns. (00:00:00)
update · John: two videos answering questions about Paper Towns for the Blurbing Book Club (2008) — John makes the first Paper Towns question video for the Blurbing Book Club; the description says more questions will be answered in a video on Friday or Saturday. (00:00:00)
open · John asks Nerdfighters for questions for the Question Tuesday after next (February 2009) — The description asks viewers to leave questions in the comments for the Question Tuesday after next. (00:00:00)
tell · John writes the Paper Towns screenplay (2009) — John says he is currently writing the Paper Towns screenplay, so whether it becomes a movie is up to him. (00:00:46)
restate · Can we imagine other people complexly, and what stops us? — John argues that imagining someone as more than a person (Edward Cullen-izing, Alaska-izing, Margo-izing) does them and ourselves a profound disservice. (00:01:22)
open · John urges viewers who want the current Paper Towns covers to buy the hardcover now (2009) — John tells viewers who want the current Paper Towns covers to get them now, since the paperback probably will not use them. (00:02:36)

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