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On Looking Up to Your Little Brother

2019-11-01 · letter vlog · John · 3:57 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Books & writing · mode: Personal update · tags: calendar ritual, self promotion

Prompted by Hank's writing video, John recalls his first Looking for Alaska signing in 2005, attended by three people, and learning that books exist for their readers; he praises the new TV adaptation, recalls writing the novel during a mental health crisis in search of radical hope, and congratulates Hank on finishing his sequel, saying he now looks up to his little brother as a novelist too.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — John's first Looking for Alaska signing in Naperville (2005) and the lesson that books exist for readers

  • ★★ John says Hank's writing video took him back to his first book signing, on March 5, 2005 at Anderson's Bookshop in Naperville, Illinois, days after Looking for Alaska came out. — 00:00:00 · Looking for Alaska (novel)
  • ★ John notes that YouTube had launched a couple of weeks earlier, but he had not yet heard of it. (playful) — 00:00:00 · YouTube
  • ★★ John promoted the signing by emailing his few mailing-list subscribers and telling everyone he knew; on the drive he and Sarah agreed 12 people would make it a success. — 00:00:00 · Sarah Urist Green
  • ★★★ Three people came, one of them John's boss at Booklist, who generously pretended to be a stranger; the store had set up about 40 chairs and a podium. — 00:00:29
  • ★★ John read a passage including the line about a party attended only by two deeply uninteresting people, thereby insulting the few who came. (playful) — 00:00:29 · Looking for Alaska (novel)
  • ★★ Driving back to Chicago, Sarah told John honestly that the event was bad. — 00:00:58 · Sarah Urist Green, Chicago (city)
  • ★★ For his first three years as a writer John's signings drew zero to five people, even after Looking for Alaska won the Printz Award; crowds reached double digits only in 2008. — 00:00:58 · Looking for Alaska (novel)
  • ★★★ John says he learned that books exist not to make authors famous or successful but for the people who read them; his only job after writing is gratitude to readers who find them meaningful. — 00:00:58

00:01:41 — The Looking for Alaska TV adaptation, writing the novel during a mental health crisis, and radical hope

  • ★★★ John says the TV adaptation of Looking for Alaska has just come out and is really wonderful; per Rotten Tomatoes it is the freshest adaptation of his work. — 00:01:41 · Looking for Alaska (novel)
  • ★★★ Watching it took John back to writing the first draft of Looking for Alaska alone in a small furnished Chicago apartment, recovering from what would now be called a mental health crisis. (hedged) — 00:01:41 · mental disorder, Chicago (city), Looking for Alaska (novel)
  • ★★ John says he wrote every night trying to work out how to live with guilt that can't be excused and how catastrophic it is to romanticize or essentialize people you claim to love. — 00:02:10
  • ★★★ For John these were matters of life and death: he needed radical hope, the theologians' idea that hope is available to all people at all times, even the dead, and he still depends on it. — 00:02:10 · hope

00:02:39 — Hank's finished sequel: John looks up to his little brother as a novelist

  • ★★★ John says Hank has just finished a sequel to his first novel, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing. — 00:02:39 · Hank Green, A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing
  • ★★ John can't remember being this excited to read a book since perhaps Deathly Hallows. (hedged) — 00:02:39 · A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor
  • ★★★ John says Hank writes the kind of stories he loves: about human individuals and the big ideas they must wrestle with to get through life. — 00:02:39 · Hank Green
  • ★★ John says Hank was lucky to have a built-in audience but had no years of practice talking about his writing; he handled the pressure amazingly and still wrote another book, a hell of an accomplishment. — 00:02:39 · Hank Green
  • ★★★ John says he is used to looking up to Hank as a philanthropist, a YouTuber and his boss at Complexly, and now gets to look up to him as a novelist too. — 00:03:09 · Hank Green, Complexly, YouTube

00:03:37 — Pizzamas sweatshirt and scarf plug with a joke from John's notes

  • ★★ John shows the Pizzamas sweatshirt and scarf, available only during Pizzamas, then reads his note about pretending supplies are limited. (playful) — 00:03:37 · Pizzamas

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor · Looking for Alaska (novel)

Also: People: Sarah Urist Green

Projects: Complexly · Pizzamas

Works: An Absolutely Remarkable Thing · Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows · Looking for Alaska (miniseries)

Organizations: Anderson's Bookshop · Booklist · Michael L. Printz Award · Rotten Tomatoes · YouTube

Concepts: guilt · hope · mental disorder

Places: Chicago (city) · Indianapolis · Naperville, Illinois

Replies to

  • continues · Book News! — “I really loved your video about writing yesterday”

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