r/books • u/ransom_riggs AMA Author • Oct 08 '15

ama 6pm I am Ransom Riggs, author of the Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children books, frequent lurker on Reddit, amateur photographer, urban explorer, cat petter. AMA!

Well, hello there! My name is Ransom. I wrote the Peculiar Children books, which began with Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children in 2011, Hollow City in 2013, and Library of Souls, which just came out two weeks ago. They feature atmospheric islands and time loops and children with strange powers and talking heads impaled on pikes, among other things. They're illustrated with somewhat unsettling vintage snapshots I found. Tim Burton is making a movie of the first book and it's coming out Xmas Day 2016.

I'll start answering questions at 6pm EST and go until my hands get numb. (An hour or so?) I am sitting at a desk in a quiet room in a coastal bit of Los Angeles with a tiny espresso. Thank you for joining me today!

Oh, and here's proof: https://twitter.com/ransomriggs/status/652181195724185600

Edit: my first AMA is complete! I'm no longer a reddit virgin! Thanks, guys, this was fun. I'll pop back later to answer more questions for those of you who couldn't make it here during the hour!

878 Upvotes

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27

u/fartmon Oct 08 '15

I really love your books and the vintage photographs ! My questions are did you find the photographs as you were writing the book or did you already have the photographs and then created the story? Also, are they all vintage photographs or do you take some yourself for the book?

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u/ransom_riggs Oct 08 '15

Thank you! I started collecting old photos at flea markets a bunch of years ago, because I loved old B&W photography but couldn't afford to collect work by the famous photographers I admired. At the flea you could find discarded old pics for a quarter, and some of them were really beautiful (and sometimes creepy). I had a little collection of these when I approached my editor at Quirk Books about doing a book with found photos, and he said: go for it! I started writing but kept collecting as I went. The story drove what sort of photos I went looking for, but sometimes I'd find something so awesome that I'd bend the story around the image to make it fit.

And yes, they're all found photos, except for three in the final book which I took myself while on my honeymoon in turkey. :)

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u/[deleted] Oct 08 '15

Librarian here: how do you classify your Peculiar books: children's, teens, or adults? All the libraries I search have them classified differently. Even my own library has the first book in the Teen section and the second in Adult Fiction :-/ But technically, aren't they meant to be children's books (despite the fact that I LOVED the first one as an adult--still waiting to read the others) :)

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u/ransom_riggs Oct 08 '15

They're definitely young adult books, though they do have plenty of adult readers so there seems to be crossover happening. Age level isn't the only confusion ... some bookstores have them in sci-fi, others fantasy, others general fiction, and some in horror! I guess it's whatever you want it to be? :)

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u/gingerleesnap Oct 08 '15

I'm curious if any relatives or friends of the people in your vintage photographs have reached out to provide context and if so, what is your favorite story? Your work is such an inspiration, I've truly loved every moment with the Miss Peregrine series.

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u/[deleted] Oct 08 '15

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u/ransom_riggs Oct 08 '15

salamet po! It took me about 10 months to write Miss P, and during that time I was collecting photos, too. The second novel took way longer, but I wanted to get it just right and I kept revising and throwing stuff out and starting over until I was happy with the story. (In situations like that it helps to have an understanding / forgiving editor.) It's hard to know just where inspiration comes from ... anywhere and everywhere! Things I've experienced, places I've traveled, conversations I've had, books and movies and plays I've loved, all mashed and mingled up in the espresso-fueled brain-haze I live in while writing.

Right now I'm reading BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME by Ta-Nehisi Coates , which is devastating and beautiful and important .

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u/pooticlesparkle Oct 08 '15

I gobbled down Miss Peregrine's, and am interested in what Tim Burton is going to create from it. Were there any characters in that novel that you identified the most with? If so why? Thank you for taking the time to do this.

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u/AmpersandFriends Oct 08 '15

Thanks for doing this!

What are some musical influences (if any) that are influential to your books or personal life?

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u/ransom_riggs Oct 08 '15

Thanks for asking! I love talking about music. (I did a guest DJ thing a few weeks ago for my local radio station and had so much fun talking about my favorite songs -- you can listen to that here: http://www.kcrw.com/music/shows/guest-dj-project/ransom-riggs)

Musicians/bands I can't live without: tom waits the arcade fire morrissey / smiths alt-J band of horses will oldham sleeping at last nick drake

... what about you?

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u/owllicksroadya Oct 08 '15

How much creative control did/do you get in the making of the movies? Was it a difficult decision or are you excited to see Tim Burton's take on your stories?

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u/ransom_riggs Oct 08 '15

I couldn't be more excited. I've been a huge fan of Tim Burton's since I was a kid. I even used some of Danny Elfman's music for Edward Scissorhands in the book trailer I made for Miss Peregrine way before there even WAS a movie deal ... it just seemed to fit the story so well ... so it's some kind of insane, perfect twist of fate that Tim's making the movie and Danny may well be composing the music. I can't even process.

this is the trailer btw: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWrNyVhSJUU

I didn't have much creative control but that's par for the course when working with a force of nature like Tim. I love what I've seen so far, though!

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u/TheCoralineJones Oct 08 '15

how do you approach writing characters with different belief systems than your own?

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u/Diarygirl Oct 08 '15

Hello, Ransom. I absolutely adored the trilogy, and I love the calendar. My question is, should I be concerned about this Sunday, the "Day of Reckoning"? And what are you doing to celebrate on Monday, "Be Nice to Normals Day?"

P.S. I've had a question answered by Chuck Palahniuk in his AMA, and also one by A.J. Jacobs in his. Please answer my question to make it a perfect trifecta for me!

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u/Agnes4224 Oct 08 '15

Hi Ransom! I love your books and all the photographs in it! Do you have a favourite photo from the books? Which one?

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u/WendySpinale Oct 08 '15 edited Oct 08 '15

No question, just a comment. Ran into you at SCBWI conference in Aug 3013. It was awesome to meet you and so many other great authors. You inspired me and I chased my dream. My debut novel is coming out next year. Thanks for being an inspiration!

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u/[deleted] Oct 08 '15

Not a question. Just wanted to say thank you for existing. Thank you for your talent. And thank you for writing these books. I can't wait to follow your career and read what you come out with next.

Also, thank you for the calendar that came when I pre-ordered Library of Souls.

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u/Fan-of-Simon-Pegg Oct 08 '15

Wow, surprising. I have LOVED the Miss Peregrine's series, but for some odd reason my local book stores and supermarkets aren't selling it. Strange...

Stillhypeaboutit,though.

I have wondered though: Where did you get the idea of the trilogy from? Just looking at the pictures and going off them, filling in bits in between, or something else?

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u/imayposteventually Oct 08 '15

Oh my gosh, thank you for doing this! I am a woman in her 50's but I read your first book and was unable to put it down until I finished it. It was amazing. I had no idea there were two more and now will be busy reading the next one tonight!

I was wondering how much your own schooling, in going to a special school for the gifted, influenced your book? Did you feel "peculiar" during those years? Thank you.

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u/copperwasp Oct 08 '15

I bought Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children solely based on the cover! Is that wrong?

I loved it by the way.

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u/cornicula Oct 08 '15

What about connecting the story of the persecuted Peculiar children to the struggle of the Jews in Europe was compelling to you? Why that struggle, that time?

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u/Chtorrr Oct 08 '15

What were your favorite books as a child? As you got older?

Have they influenced your writing now?

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u/Samuel-pena Oct 08 '15

Do you have any tips for writing? Can you tell me what you went though getting it published and if you were at all supported in this book. It's one of my favorite books and helped me get through depression, anxiety, and eating disorders. Just want to say thank you for writing this.Can't wait for the movie :)

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u/leahtheminx Oct 08 '15

Hi there, you've said you're planning UK events, any more details on that? Hollow City has some great scenes based here (would be quite interesting to do a Peregrine walking tour around London - walking tour is euphemism for pub crawl in this context!)

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u/BaconWise Oct 08 '15 edited Oct 08 '15

Hi Ransom,

Congratulations on your forthcoming collaboration with Tim Burton (I think I've heard of him before...)! I have a few hard-hitting, Barbara Walters, make-you-cry, kind of questions for ya:

  • What is your stance on bacon?

  • What is your favorite 80s movie?

  • What is your muse of choice when it comes to your photography? (i.e. Landscapes, Portraits, Macro Flowers/Bugs, Stalking w/ a Telephoto Lens, etc.)

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