I don’t really like to write letters to people I don’t know. I don’t feel any need to try and interact with people I look up to. I figure they’re so high up there, they don’t need me interfering. Plus there’s always the awkwardness of that caste difference. What would Stephen King have to say to me? I haven’t published one novel, and he’s killed an entire forest. But there was one author I felt like he was accessible enough to write to–Barry Lyga. He’s the guy who wrote “The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl”, the one that made me think about “Blood: I Live Again” (which I…
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Research: fact or fiction?
For reference today, please see a John Scalzi’s article here about a article by Brit music critic Ben Meyers. Short version: Meyers criticized the way the Internet makes research too easy for would-be writers, so you don’t get the ‘real’ experience or facts. Scalzi says he’s using the Internet as an excuse for his own laziness. Now despite that Meyers is a hideous arse candle, and Scalzi serves him a heaping bowl of Snarkies for breakfast, this brings up a question: Say you’re inspired to write a story that takes place in ancient Rome. You know nothing of ancient Rome, but that’s where the story takes place. That’s where it…