In public means in public
24 Mar
I’m not doing too many public events this year and when I read things like this I almost feel glad. It’s an account of the final event Ann Cleeves and I did in the north east last month, the seventh in three days, during which we met hundreds of people, all of whom I found very charming I must say.
The real reason I’m cutting down on events this year is because I want to focus more on writing. Going out and meeting the public is time-consuming, expensive and, let’s be frank, probably doesn’t shift as many books as we’d like to think. I do it primarily because it’s fun and often enlightening for me, particularly in the company of someone like Ann.
Obviously it wasn’t for this chap much, or at least that’s how I read it. I thought we did some quite entertaining events, particularly the one that this refers to (if I got it right). But this chap thought I was ‘dry, downbeat and a bit crusty… and very ill at ease.’ That’s not how I remember it, and given I’ve already been invited back by the library in question I suspect it’s not the way they do either.
But leaving me aside let me make one important point for authors out there who brave the public at events.
In the old days these were personal, almost private matters. You could tell a slightly risque story or anecdote without fear that it would go any further. You could be frank and forthright in a way you wouldn’t in an interview on the BBC.
Not any more. We now have the Internet. Every word you utter may be written down, perhaps misreported then put online for anyone who’s interested to see and pass on. People will record you, even video you then publish the results without ever asking permission. I was once alarmed to see a blogger make references to an author he’d seen having dinner with an attractive young lady — nudge, nudge, wink, wink. Don’t suppose it mattered to the blogger concerned in the slightest that the chap happened to be married, and for all I know was just doing that — having dinner with someone.
I’ve always loved the anonymity of being an author, the fact that even the biggest names in the business can walk down the street and never be recognised. We’re losing that. No point in arguing. But there are lessons to be learnt here, and one is you have to watch your lip in public, however small the event, because any slip may well come back to haunt you on the web somewhere. It’s a great shame really but thanks to the web that intimacy we once had at events has gone. Or you enjoy it at your peril.
As for the author of this odd post I can only say… sorry I disappointed you. My work is my writing, not legging it up to the north east to talk to public gatherings, pleasant as that is. I’m not a salesman, a marketeer, or a public relations man and I make no apologies for any of that. And I’m equally sorry that, among the hundreds of books I signed up there, I didn’t spot the obscure humour in the message you asked me to write or have time, at a very busy public meeting, to discuss a comic about a chimp.
Very remiss of me.
Tags: Writing
I don’t think writers need to be showmen/women. I don’t understand why they’re expected to be sociable and entertaining, when obviously the occupation they chose is a very individual and solitary affair. Does that mean that if an author is not funny and chatty in real life, you won’t read their books anymore?
Good point. I try to be entertaining at events – no one goes to them to be bored. But writers can’t be song and dance men/women too. At least not this one!
My daughter – 18, trendy, only read two books in her life ( Rebecca,Twilight) – thought you were a hoot!
Of course, will probs never buy one of your books, so……………..
Only 18? There’s time. I hope she got the university place she wanted.
A response to ‘In Public means in public’, I don’t quite get the point why a ‘Reader’ should expect an Author to be like the characters he writes about, surely the skill in creative writing is to create a feeling of time and place along with a cast of imaginary people who populate the above. This is Fiction after all ….if the great Thriller Writers were all like the Characters they created, they would be running the planet by now…there’s a thought (Only joking!)
Anyway I had a look at the chap in questions Blog and not to take a low swipe..oh alright just a small one …anyone who puts their Starsign second (after their name) in a blog can’t be taken too seriously.
Keep up the great work, don’t become too much of a recluse as many of us ,out in the real world, would very much like to meet and have a chat.
Thanks
Geoff
Hi David, your post is unfortunately right on the money. I don’t do many public events because between writing three books a year and raising five kids, I don’t have the time. I used to work in the California State Legislature and we had the “L.A. Times Stink Test.” Meaning, if you don’t want to see it on the front page of the L.A. Times, don’t do it. Now, that translates to what you write on the Internet. I don’t post anything I wouldn’t want my agent or editor or readers to read–even on private chat loops–for fear it will get back to them out of context.
But this goes beyond author events. I had a situation a couple years ago at a major writer’s conference. I had a bunch of personal stuff going on that distracted me, but I was still committed to a major multi-author book signing event. Apparently, I ignored someone I knew (didn’t recognize them or acknowledge them, I’m not sure which) and it got back to our circle of friends that I was now “too important for the little people.” If anyone has done one of these events, you meet hundreds of people in a short time (most of the people you see once a year and if it wasn’t for name tags, I probably wouldn’t have recognized my own editor, that’s how distracted I was!) I’ll admit, that slight hurt when it got back to me and I spent much of the conference in my room–writing.
Yep – there’s an argument for a touch of Pynchon-like behaviour here, no doubt about it.
So not only did this guy expect you to be an entertainer, you’re required to like all books
including ones where cats solve crimes? Yikes. No one with an opinion is safe.
The “ill-at-ease” comment is ludicrous; I’ve met you twice at events and you’re funny,
outgoing, and very gracious.