ok so im reading good omens and im really enjoying it (although i can see how it could be a little bit confusing had i not known the story already, as the exposition often isnt linear) but not having read any other of their books I was just curious what each author specifically brought to the table in writing this one or in which parts you can feel more of one or the other’s style. Both, as I said for personal curiosity and to maybe read more pratchetts or gaimans work.
by Icy_Seesaw_7385
3 Comments
I’ve always been curious about this too. Just based on reading other books of theirs, I’ve always guessed that most of Crowley and Aziraphale dialogue was Pratchett, and the majority of the kids and the Horsemen were written by Gaiman.
The bit about how every cassette left in a car for 2 weeks turning into Queen was almost definitely Sir Terry.
There are a variety of opinions on this, and I’ve read about comments from Neil Gaiman that state the book was a genuinely collaborative work.
However, my personal view as a long-time reader and fan of both is this: the style and tone of the writing seem to me to be very much from Terry, and if that’s part of what you enjoyed then you should definitely look into reading some of his many books in the Discworld series. A real giveaway is the use of the humourous footnotes throughout the text, which is a signature stylistic touch you’ll see in other books from Terry.
Neil’s writing tends to be quite a bit darker and grimmer in feel than Good Omens.
The basic original premise was Gaiman, Pratchett had read the first part of it and a year or so later asked Neil if he’d gotten any further with it. When Neil said “no” Terry told him he had an idea of what should happen next and either he could buy the idea off Neil or they could collaborate on it. Neil Gaiman has described this as “being asked by Michelangelo if you’d like to do a ceiling”.
Having read a lot of both I feel Pratchett is definitely there in the conversations with Crowley and Aziraphale. Also given Terry’s love of Death as a character I have to believe a lot of the horsemen come from him. Neil’s finger prints on the other had are all over the infernal and divine bureaucracies.
That said the rest of the book feels like a genuine blending. Neil and Terry’s writing tends to explore and lean into a lot of the same ideas and themes, Neil usually handles those issues more seriously and Terry with more humour but that’s not always the case.