h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The title says it all.
They write very much in the same style and I was wondering if they actually acknowledged each other.

Well, their writing styles are actually very different.

Pratchett's books are well plotted; Adams' plots for the Hitch Hikers Guide vary from radio to book to tv show.

DNA was the master of the one-liner; Pratchett will build a joke up over several pages and slide the punchline in in the middle of a paragraph about something else.

DNA parodied Science Fiction; Pratchett originally took a swipe at Sword and Sorcery Fantasy, and then spun off in a genre of his own. But never a space ship in any of them.

And Pratchett has a clear understanding of stuff like the efficacy of belief and cause and effect.

I have no idea whether or not they knew each other. But Pratchett is (imho only) the better writer.

On the other hand - DNA was more interested in the social changes which could be brought about by the Internet. Which is why we are all here...

Ben

First off, I like both of them. And I don't think they're writing styles are very similar. Both parody established genres, that's the only similarity I can pick up on.

Regarding Pratchett and sci-fi. I think he did write some sci-fi spoofs early on (Strata etc) but these are now pretty much ignored under the mountain of fantasy stuff he does.

Good point, I had forgotten Strata. Isn't that the one where someone has a godfather who is a planet? Definitely a touch of the McCaffreys there. Though even that was more 'life on other worlds' than 'life in space'.

B

Their writing styles can hardly be called identical when Pratchett puts out a book a week, or so it seems.

Pratchett does parody. Douglas did satire.

And Douglas was the better writer. Taller, too. And they didn't know each other - I think they might have met once.

I basically came here to say that I think that their style in not really similar let alone identical... but then again agcBen (hi! long time no see) and the others said that already.

And while I would not want to argue with an Italic (, well, not on a DNA-related subject at least )I would hazard the guess that they were at least aquainted to some degree seeing that they're both very famous authors and working in *roughly* the same area.


Tube

You'd be right not to want to argue with me on this point. As I said, I believe they may have met once, but I'm pretty sure no more than that. Terry Pratchett said as much when asked about Douglas when he died. I'd cite the source, but I can't remember which magazine it was - probably SFX.

Let's face it, if you were Douglas, and had the enormous reputation as the world champion deadline misser, would you want to hang around with someone who churns them out?

Trust me - they were not 'showbiz pals'. In any case, Douglas preferred to hang around with scientists and rock stars.

I personally like both their writing styles.They both have the ability to make me roar with laughter and to make me think while I'm laughing.I personally do not intend to compare them nor to say one is better than the other because it isn't necessary.It isn't a competition you know.Also just because Pratchett may be more prolific DOESN'T make his work worse.In fact his latest offerings have been terrific.I was particularily struck by The Truth.It was very clever.I'll let you know what I think of the New DNA when my pay slip arrives next week and I can afford to go buy it.

Incog.

I agree with everyone.

Once I saw a picture of John Lennon in a book I was referencing to... and for some strange reason he looked exactly like DNA in every aspect... not sure about height... but it was quite uncanny!

I once saw Pratchett do a talk on his early days in Brighton - he seems to have actively disapproved of Mr.Adams, or at least did that night. There seemed to be a bit of jealousy about height, for one matter.
Also, Mr. Adam's opinion of the sci-fi 'greats' may have jarred (he largely dimissed them as 'unreadable'). Pratchett engorged himself on sci-fi from an early age - to have a tall person dismiss his early loves in a word might have jarred. Especially since the tall person in question had produced the best selling sci-fi serial in the history of, well, history.
And finally, Pratchet seems enamoured of august colleges, but never actually went to one. Adams went to one, but seemed less than utterly impressed by the experience.
Also, as Jim pointed out, his list of mates was rather impressive.

I'm not saying he didn't like him, mind you, or that he was consumed by jealousy about height, education, social skills and sci-fi book sales, it was just that, well, on that night he was certainly getting the sly digs in. He also made a disparaging remark about Stephen Fry, which again made me wonder about the height, education, social skills thing.

So although I enjoy the occasional Pratchett book, and have placed a few on the 'bed time reading for daughter' list, as far as I'm concerned DNA was (and is) the superior force (even though his sentances go on a bit).

Well, there you go. Exactly why I would not argue with Italics on that point.
I never met him. Just have this picture in my mind...

I don't think their styles are similar at all.

I have eagerly devoured everything I have been able to get my hands on written by either of them and I think arguments about which is better are totally irrelevant. They're both wonderful .

I think there's always a very artifical thing, especially in genre fiction, where you're only supposed to like one thing. If you love Star Wars, you have to hate Star Trek, if you love Douglas Adams you have to hate Terry Pratchett (although actually, it's far less prevalent in written fiction although I still see such opinions).

But you *can* like different things. I've enjoyed the Terry Pratchett I've read - as I said before, what he does is very much parody, and I enjoy parody as much as the next person. But if we have to make comparisons, I'd always rate Douglas as the better writer. Than just about everyone, in actual fact.

Maybe I feel just a teensy bit of antipathy towards Pratchett because, before he ever wrote anything, I wrote an essay for my mock English O-Level which was a fantasy story written in Douglas' style. Luckily for me, this was either shortly before, or shortly after the first Hitchhiker novel was published, so my teacher didn't spot the outrageous homage. (Not that I lifted anything per se, but the voice was obvious.) And I got a really good mark for it. If only I'd persevered, maybe I'd be the world-famous novelist, and Terry Pratchett would be writing community website code for the BBC.

On the other hand, I doubt it.

I hear he's crap at C++.

Here ya go... Slashdot's interview of DNA:

http://slashdot.org/interviews/00/06/21/1217242.shtml

The very first question is:

One author who is often compared to you in terms of style and humor is Terry Pratchett of Discworld fame. What is your opinion of Pratchett's work? Do you agree or disagree with the comparisons between your works?

And DNA's answer is nice and simple:

I can't really answer this one. I've never read anything by Terry Pratchett.

@ C++

Tube
liking both

a) good answer.
b) did you notice that the URL ends on 42.shtml?

I have read books by both and I think that we are all at this website say's a lot ( just to erk some people)

I've never got the impression of similar style, I liked both but D Adams is king.

I got lucky and my wife last year brought me the hard cover bible (5 books in one) with a forward of a few pages by D Adams and a photo.

This forum prompts me to ask. How tall was he? I've only seen head and shoulder publicity shots.

Larger than life.

How tall is Life, then?

Smaller than DNA , obviously.