The collapse of the author/reader divide

[gwynraven]

I am, and always have been, a book lover and a fangirl. I admit it - I don't just get enjoy books - I get obsessed with authors, devouring everything they've written, dreaming up fantasies of somehow being transported into their worlds, meeting and befriending their main characters, and generally writing epic Mary Sue fanfics in my brain long

Comments

[dameruth]

. . . Not to mention that a lot of authors are just plain *cool* people, who have lots of fun things to say and chat about (gardening, cooking, gaming, beekeeping . . .) -- people I would like to hear from whether they were famous or not. I started out where you were, back when, with authors up there on their distant, unattainable pedestals, but am now happily following several blogs and newsgroups and enjoying it greatly. Yay for the good side of the internetz! :D

[gwynraven]

Exactly! It's a brave new world :)

[gwynraven]

It's great, isn't it?

[malinaldarose]

I still have the letter Andre Norton sent me asking if I wanted her to hold my manuscript for the contest she was running until the following year because I got it in just too late.

Andre Norton sent me a letter!

Yeah. (I also have all the rejection slips hand-signed by Marion Zimmer Bradley.)

Also? On CompuServe, I was, in certain places, known as Starsong k'Treva. Yeah. So, you know...if you ever come across early TH posts from Starsong at CompuServe...that's me.

[queenbookwench]

I've definitely felt the thrill of having commenty exchanges with authors (when ellen_kushner commented in my journal the first time, there was definite squee! And now I really like that feeling of interacting with authors as just regular people--janni and sartorias, as well as ellen_kushner, have a wonderful, down-to-earth style.

On the other hand, the collapse of the divide has also made it easier to see creators whose work I like be all too feet-of-clay-ish in their human interactions. Fortunately, I compartmentalize well, and always remind myself that being recognized for creative works doesn't necessarily make a person nicer or less neurotic.

[inishglora]

Hello, I was looking for Ellen Kushner on LJ and this entry turns up in a general search. I hope you don't mind a total stranger commenting but I fell over laughing when I read this: I'm embarrassed to say that there are still floating out in cyberspace posts I made on the Mercedes Lackey fan list in the mid-nineties signed "Gwyn'he'far shena Tale'sedrin." I'm with you! Somebody archived all those old Queen's Own newsletters and articles, not to mention the Arrow's Message fan-zine that I wrote for waaaay back when. So When I do a search for my Real Name to see what comes up, they have me listed in the Bardic College under the name I used then, all my Gifts and such. Gawd... I feel so OLD now. :o) Cheers!

[gwynraven]

I don't mind at all! Glad to see I'm not the only one with a slightly embarrassing past :)

-Gwyn