Douglas Adams THE HITCHHIKERS GUIDE TO THE GALAXY

Douglas Adams THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY (1979) THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE (1980) LIFE, THE UNIVERSE AND EVERYTHING (1982) SO LONG, AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH (1984) MOSTLY HARMLESS (1992)

Douglas Adams DIRK GENTLY'S HOLISTIC DETECTIVE AGENCY (1987) THE LONG DARK TEA-TIME OF THE SOUL (1988) THE MEANING OF LIFF (1983, WITH JOHN LLOYD) THE DEEPER MEANING OF LIFF (WITH JOHN LLOYD) LAST CHANCE TO SEE (1990, WITH MARK CARWARDINE) THE SALMON OF DOUBT (2002), UNFINISHED

Douglas Adams HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY: ORIGINAL RADIO SCRIPTS THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY (COMPUTER GAME) THE PRIVATE LIFE OF GENGHIS KHAN (1975), SHORT STORY BASED ON SKETCH CO-WRITTEN WITH GRAHAM CHAPMAN SHADA (DOCTOR WHO SERIAL) STARSHIP TITANIC H 2 G 2. COM/

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy “Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninetytwo million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea. ”

Improbability & Other Problems �Deadlines scripts novels �DNA

Improbability & Other Problems �Origins �Big endings �Big problems �Solutions �Use your problem as your solution

Influences & Influence �Vonnegut 2 �Lewis Carroll �PG Wodehouse �Arthur Dent, The Plain Man's Pathway to Heaven (1601) �Vogon Constructor Fleet/Bypasses �Vogon Poetry �Magrathea: socio-political �Deep Thought/David Hume �Mice �Dolphins

Vogon Poetry https: //youtu. be/A 8 JJH 7 ZL_Fk

42

� "The answer to this is very simple, " Adams said. "It was a joke. It had to be a number, an ordinary, smallish number, and I chose that one. Binary representations, base 13, Tibetan monks are all complete nonsense. I sat on my desk, stared in to the garden and thought 42 will do. I typed it out. End of story. " � 42: Douglas Adams' Amazingly Accurate Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything, looks at real-life occurrences of the number 42. (The book coincided with the 10 th anniversary of his death. ) � Scores of adolescents have posited theories about significance of the number. The actor Stephen Fry claimed to know the true answer, but won't tell, saying he'll take it to his grave.

Influences & Influence “Even if it’s only a dream, it’s a pretty horrible idea, ” said Mella, “destroying a world just to make a bypass. ” “Oh, I’ve heard of worse, ” said Ford, “I read of one planet off in the seventh dimension that got used as a ball in a game of intergalactic bar billiards. Got potted straight into a black hole. Killed ten billion people. ” “That’s mad, ” said Mella. “Yes, only scored thirty points too. ” �https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=AJOVUF-Ha. Dw

Cultural Influence �Small hand-held devices �Deep Thought �Babel fish �Paranoid Android �Genuine People Personalities �Software integration �Solutions �Gaming

�What did he learn from others? � imagination � bathos � characters � rhythm �What have I learnt from him? � career path � device/voice � returning to good ideas � future = present = past � problems: opportunity � weakness/strength

Names �Arthur Dent �Fenchurch �Varntvar �Ford Prefect �Frankie and Benjy �Vroomfondel �Marvin the �Gargravarr & the �Wonko the Sane Paranoid Android Total Perspective �Wowbagger the Vortex �Trillian Infinitely �Hotblack Desiato Prolonged �Zaphod Beeblebrox �Prostetnic Vogon �Zarniwoop Jeltz �Agrajag �The Great Prophet �Max Quordlepleen Zarquon �Deep Thought �Disaster Area (the �Oolon Colluphid band) �Slartibartfast �Dirk Gently

�Nomenclature �Quotability �Prescience �Reverse Engineering �Perspective �Writing difficulty �Humour �Rhythm �Attention to words

�First of all, realise that it's very hard, and that writing is a gruelling and lonely business and, unless you are extremely lucky, badly paid as well. You had better really, really want to do it. Next you have to write something. Unless you are committed to novel writing exclusively, I suggest that you start out writing for radio. It's still a relatively easy medium to get into because it pays so badly. But it is a great medium for writers because it relies so much on the imagination. You will learn a tremendous amount from it, and maybe get some useful exposure. What qualities are needed by an author? A determination to keep at it.