Meeting the author.
Imagine that you’ve just carefully closed the back cover on your latest book. You turn it over in your hands, stare at the cover for a moment, and allow your thoughts to coalesce. Maybe the ending surprised you; maybe you learnt something profound about humanity; maybe you are amazed that they might have got away with it if it hadn’t been for those pesky kids.
Whatever the case may be, as the imaginary world starts to trickle away, your thoughts turn to the creator. You read the brightly coloured letters that spell out the author’s name: Steinbeck, Mistry, Murata. Questions swirl and form fleetingly in your mind: what inspired them? what do they look like? what kind of person are they? would I like them?
This leads us all to the knotty question of meeting the author.
Stereotypes
The first question is usually, what will they be like? Writers are often perceived as fitting into certain stereotypes. Editors Weekly suggests the following (read the full article here):
- The Reclusive Genius
- The Tortured Artist
- The Eccentric
- The Bohemian
- The Academic
- The Romantic
- The Misunderstood Outsider
- The Celebrity Author
I know that Celine and I probably fit into (maybe aspire to?) some of those categories but it certainly isn’t everything that we are. I suspect that people may pop me into the eccentric and outsider boxes but being a professional software engineer for many years has left me well accustomed to them (you can read some more of our thoughts on stereotypes here).
If we look a little further, the Writers Bureau identifies these stereotypes (read the full article here):
- Writers are all introverts who spend their days locked away in a dark room, typing away on their laptop
- All writers have a degree in English or creative writing
- Writers only write fiction
Again, having been a software engineer for far too long, I feel that the first category is probably accurate, but I certainly don’t have a degree in English or creative writing. Outside of the odd blog article (either here or on technology) I do primarily write fiction. The learning here would seem to be that I may not fit an arbitrary set of stereotypes. The horror! The horror!
In the flesh
As a reader, I’ve met plenty of writers. Obviously, when I say ‘met’ I mean stood in a very long queue clutching a paperback to my cheat, waiting for the precious seconds it takes to awkwardly mutter my name and croak something about having really enjoyed their work, while they scribble first my name and then theirs inside.
I’ve been fortunate to be able to attend the Hay Literary Festival many times over the years and have been lucky enough to repeat this process with great authors and thinkers the likes of Terry Jones, Germaine Greer, and Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu. Similarly, with some phenomenal children’s authors, such as Julia Donaldson and Andy Stanton.
Over the years I’ve found that it’s less that I managed to grasp something profound from a snatched conversation while a tired author writes in my book, and more the cumulative impact of meeting all these inspirational people and realising that they are all after all simply people. Brilliant but just flesh and blood – just like me and you.
When meeting authors, you may not be lucky enough to chat to them for very long. You may not have a deep and profound conversation. You may not get answers to all your questions (read some that we’ve been asked here). You may walk away feeling inspired or even slightly disappointed. In some respects, these are the very reasons I’d strongly advocate for getting out and meeting them.
Inspiration
That possibly sounds like an odd statement but of the questions we’ve been asked about our book, to date, the recurring theme seems to be around the mechanisms of writing – how you start, how you build a story, how you sit down and write it. Often the positioning is, ‘I’d love to write a book but I’m not good enough’. To my mind there is enormous value in meeting authors – observing their tired eyes, scrawled handwriting and fraying jackets. In realising that they are normal people, just like the rest of us.
This not only shows us their perseverance to achieve what they have but also shows us that as they are simple regular mortals, like the rest of us, then maybe we can persevere as well. Maybe we can put pen to paper, or finger to keyboard, just as they do.
Meeting The Author
All of that said, if you would like to have a go at meeting the author, then we can be found at Script Haven’s Independent Author’s Fair in Worcester, UK on Saturday 4th October from 10:30am – 3:30pm. I can’t promise inspiration or greatness but we will have an enormous Dead Shadow banner, some fun goodies, and possilby some custom Lego figures of our characters!
You can find out lots more about it on their website or on the event page on Facebook.