Ask the Author: Noah Hawley
Answered Questions (18)
Noah Hawley
Many, many things.
Noah Hawley
Never take criticism personally. It’s not about you. It’s about the work.
Noah Hawley
I ignore it. The craft is a muscle and the way to be inspired isn’t to wait for a muse, but to write.
Noah Hawley
I wanted to look at empathy and fear, which are waring emotions — the care we have for each other versus our suspicion. Both can be fed by stories. So what happens when an event that naturally triggers empathy — a plane crash, a man saves a child — is corrupted and turned into a story about fear?
Noah Hawley
I like to reinvent genres as character pieces. They have a familiar structure, but if you build them as character pieces they become unfamiliar and intriguing.
Noah Hawley
Fargo is intricately plotted, because making a fake story seem true is surprisingly complicated. A novel is more a voyage of discovery, where you know which countries you want to see, but you haven’t exactly figured out how you’re getting there.
Noah Hawley
The book will be out in France soon.
Noah Hawley
I made up the paintings, because I can see them vividly as well.
Noah Hawley
It’s a stand alone book. Thanks.
Noah Hawley
I made up the plane, not wanting to cast aspersions on any existing planes flying today.
Noah Hawley
It’s just a typo. But everybody catches it.
Noah Hawley
I sleep when it’s dark out (preferably early) and wake when it’s dark out (definitely early).
Noah Hawley
It’s set up at Sony and I am writing a script.
Noah Hawley
In my other job I make a TV show that begins “this is a true story.” but it’s not. So I think a lot about what makes a story feel true. Often times it is to build a fictional story around events that echo real world events. So a private plane that crashes off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard is an echo of the JFK jr flight. I don’t do it to exploit the true story, more to tap into that part of the brain that says “I remember a story like that,” which automatically adds a sense of authenticity to fiction.
Noah Hawley
I’ve found my way over the years to the idea of an “emotional thriller,” which is a character driven story that usually starts with a catalyst — a plane crash or the assassination of a politician — and then I work hard to make character and not plot the driving force of the book. So while you want to know why the plane went down, for example, you’re more emotionally invested in the man and the boy who survived.
Noah Hawley
I don’t tend to outline fiction. I find and develop characters, usually around a premise or a question. Certain landmarks suggest themselves, plot points or character turns I know I want to get to, but the how is usually a discovery.
Noah Hawley
This title came pretty easily. They don’t normally. There is both a literal and figurative quality to it, which I liked. The story hinges on a moment in time, a literal fall, and solves the mystery of why by telling the story of what came before.
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