Interviewing Alan

May 29, 2008 12:50

It's actually a month ago today that I did my interview with Alan Moore, but it's taken me from then 'til now to produce a final version of this.

First I had to transcribe the interview, which was recorded on a handy-dandy little machine I bought in the local Lidl. I had Alan on speaker-phone, which muffled his voice a little, so there were places where I had to go back over the same few seconds numerous times, just to be absolutely sure I had his words exactly. When I was finally finished transcribing the whole hour and twelve minutes of the interview, I was faced with a dilemma. I wanted to transcribe exactlywhat was being said, which is what I did. However, this left me with passages that looked like this:

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P: Well yeah, I suppose. I mean, the Sounds thing is, it’s, somebody was saying that it’s the longest unpublished piece of work which you’ve done...

AM: That’s probably true. Yeah, and it will probably remain unpublished. It’s sort of, I’m glad, it’s nice that it’s out there on the ‘net. The thing is, I was doing me best at the time, even if I didn’t. You know, you can understand, I just didn’t feel like, to put it out as, you know, a piece of work by Alan Moore, it would be kind of crap, because it wouldn’t be the Alan Moore that people are expecting, it would be back when I was kind of, just kind of cutting me teeth, and, eh... So I’m really glad that it’s out there, so people can see, but I’m glad that...

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Or, to emphasise what I'm getting at:

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P: Well YEAH, I suppose. I MEAN, the Sounds thing is, it’s, somebody was saying that it’s the longest unpublished piece of work which you’ve done...

AM: That’s probably true. YEAH, and it will probably remain unpublished. It’s SORT OF, I’m glad, it’s nice that it’s out there on the ‘net. The thing is, I was doing me best at the time, even if I didn’t. YOU KNOW, you can understand, I just didn’t feel like, to put it out as, YOU KNOW, a piece of work by Alan Moore, it would be KIND OF crap, because it wouldn’t be the Alan Moore that people are expecting, it would be back when I was KIND OF, just KIND OF cutting me teeth, and, eh... So I’m really glad that it’s out there, so people can see, but I’m glad that...

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On one hand I wanted to preserve the actual content of the interview, but on the otherhand I didn't want to have it made unreadable by both Alan and my assorted verbal tics. So, this is what it seems is going to happen: I've tidied up a lot of the text, and removed some of the more personal references, ands this is the official version of the interview, which will go on the Forbidden Planet International blog. So this is what the above text now looks like:

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P: The Sounds thing, somebody was saying that it’s the longest unpublished piece of work which you’ve done...

AM: That’s probably true. Yes, and it will probably remain unpublished. I’m glad, it’s nice that it’s out there on the ‘net. The thing is, I was doing me best at the time, even if I didn’t. You can understand, I just didn’t feel that, to put it out as a piece of work by Alan Moore, it would be crap, because it wouldn’t be the Alan Moore that people are expecting, it would be back when I was just cutting me teeth, and, eh... So I’m really glad that it’s out there, so people can see, but I’m glad that...

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A few weeks after that I'll put up the full version of the interview on glycon, complete with the previously removed fan witterings on my part, along with relevant links, footnotes, and anything else that I feel will enhance the interview, or at least that I'll enjoy adding to it.

By the way, if anyone that I promised a copy of this to didn't get it, or if I missed out on someone I should have sent a copy to, comment here, and I'll send it on. I'm looking especially at you lot when I say this: Kyle, Jess, Ann Marie (V), and Jody.

alan moore, interviews

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