I never have, but there are some I would love to send a letter to expressing how much I love their work. At the same time, though, I feel like it would just be a bother to them. Still, there are some that I must give praise to for writing books that have changed my life. What do you guys think? Have you ever done it?
I wrote to Chuck during his last "fan letter window" a few years back. He sent me a box with a bunch of stuff in it. I just thought that was so rad of him, to take enough time to actually write a personal letter and a box of dollar store crap to every fan who wrote him.
I've even still got pictures:
I wrote an email to Shawn Decker, author of the memoir My Pet Virus, and now we're friends. He's a super cool guy.
Other than that, no. I met Henry Rollins and dumped a bunch of "your work means so much to me" onto the table, it was awkward, he signed my books, we moved on. Since I've gotten that out of the way though, I hope to meet him again and not be a total dweeb.
Don't even question it, DorianxGrey! Who wouldn't love to get a glowy gushy letter about their work, regardless of medium? Just make sure it's well thought out and respectful, like the one I sent to my favorite author where I told her I wanted to huff her like paint.
Yeah, something like that but if you write to the bigger writers it is rare you will get a response. you are better off just going to a book signing and making an impression like when I met Clive Barker I told him to write, "Be my Victim" in my book and said it is a seductive voice. He gave me a weird look and his boyfriend looked jealous. Then in his next book he wrote about an older man fucking a younger boy, I would like to think he was thinking of me at that time cause I was a minor.
How about this: have any of you ever sent hate mail to a celebrity or writer, TV station or public figure? And if so, did you get any response?
I did once ask Poppy Brite why all her gay characters were serial killers or ended up dead. Then she stopped writing horror. I would like to think that was my fault.
I told Robert Muchmore that he was an arrogant fuck, with his cliches and attempt to do a "darker and grittier" of Alex Ryder. I explained that his books were bland, repetitive and were predictable. Oh, and I said that his protagonist was wooden and unlikeable. He told me to fuck off. I was satisfied with that answer.
(Robert Muchmore writes teenage-spy-into-hostile-situations. But they all happen in bleak, or unpleasant or bleh places. And the villains dont want to rule the world. They're just regular drug traders or traffickers, etc.)
WHICH IS BAD.
A spy novel villain MUST want to RULE THE FUCKING WORLD or KILL THE FUCKING PROTAGONIST or KILL A FUCKTON OF PEOPLE or all of them Not ship a little white girl (both the drug and the actual human). He must have this mad plan and it must be fantastic. This is why I hate Robert Muchmore.
Anthony Horowitz is better, cuz omg teenage spy. OMG GADGETS. OMFG AWESOME VILLAIN.
When I was a kid I wrote a letter to RL Stein. I don't remember much about it, but I know I wanted more choose your own adventure books, the "Give Yourself Goosebumps" series. He ended up banging out about 50 of those, so I like to think I'm the reason people could give themselves goosebumps. Take that however you want.
I write my favorite authors all the time.
Let's see... I wrote Dean Koontz when I was little. Maybe 14 or so. He wrote me back, and sent me a monthly newsletter the next few years.
I wrote Anne Rice. She wrote me back. I don't quite remember the exchange.
My favorites, though, are the exchanges between me and PW Catanese, and me and Heather Dixon. Both of them are awesome to talk to. They answered every question I had, thoroughly, and asked me questions in return. We exchanged pictures (not of ourselves, but of who we thought would play the role of their characters best) and talked about cut scenes from the books.
Letters like those make me happy, and I'm consumed with the urge to write as soon as I get a response from them.
The latter two were through email.
Trust me, they aren't bothered. It might be annoying if you ask the same questions, like, "where do you get your ideas?" and "who did you base so-and-so on?" But we're writers, and we don't ask questions like that. I'll ask them questions relevant to whatever book or series I just finished, and I'll talk about how certain scenes made me feel, and I'll ask them about themes and whatnot. Then I'll write about how amazing I think they are, and how I hope to fill someone up with emotion through writing just as they did. I don't ask for advice or anything, either, but they sometimes offer it anyway.
We as writers are constantly at war with ourselves -- we are, after all, our worst critic. Imagine how pleased you'd be if someone wrote you an email, or tweeted you, or sent you snail mail glowing with praise and whatnot. I'm sure they'd love it, no matter how big they are. I know I would!
I don't usually send hate mail. I think Steven Moffat knows I dislike him, what with all my tweets about how awful he is (both as a person and as a creator.)
I DO write hate mail to publishers, though. When I feel cheated, or when I feel an author I enjoy has been poorly portrayed (through a badly formated eBook, or horrible pricing of such) I write emails that steam with rage. I'm pretty sure they have them printed out and taped somewhere in their offices. I may have to use a pen name if I ever want to get myself published because of this.
Oh! I forgot the BEST one! I actually did write a fan mail to a wonderful M/M writer. I was sent her book to review (I sometimes write reviews for an online magazine) and I was nervous at first because I don't usually read gay romance novels (or romance novels in general) and I wasn't sure how I'd go about reviewing it. But the book was excellent! My review alone was like a love letter, so much so that all sorts of authors of gay fiction novels asked me to review their work. Eventually, this writer and I became friends on twitter, and when she came around my city we had lunch together. It was an awesome experience.
Not reviewing the other gay romance novels, though. I quit reviews half way through one of them because it was so horrible. So much info dumping! I wanted to write an "Oh, honey" letter to the guy. I couldn't even bring myself to review it, let alone get to the "good parts" of the book. :( I don't like destroying dreams, you know.
misskokamon said: We exchanged pictures (not of ourselves, but of who we thought would play the role of their characters best) and talked about cut scenes from the books.
This might be one of the cutest things I've read in a while. It's like school girl talk - Who's going to play YOU in the movie of our lives? I love it.