Evocative Characters. Intriguing Crime. Compelling Stories
(Who is happily meeting readers and writers at Left Coast Crime in Monterey!)
I recently saw a chart for Successful versus Unsuccessful People. I think it could also have been for Happy versus Unhappy People, or even... drumroll... Writers You Want to Know versus Writers You Don't Want to Know.
We hear things all the time about how gracious Laura Lippman and Lee Child are. They come across to readers as generous and kind and well... writers as people who readers want in their lives. Writers as people who readers want to cheer for.
Other than the obvious—that writers write stories readers enjoy reading—here's what I've come up with:
Writers You Want to Know
|
Writers You Don’t Want to
Know
|
Have a sense of gratitude
|
Have a sense of entitlement
|
Make decisions out of love (there's passion in every story)
|
Make decisions out of fear (they write to formula)
|
Take the high road
|
Take the expedient road
|
Exercise forgiveness
|
Hold grudges
|
Want others to succeed and
be happy
|
Secretly want others to
fail and be miserable
|
Share information and data
|
Horde information and data
|
Understand they owe their
readers
|
Believe their readers owe
them
|
Operate from a
transformational perspective
|
Operate from a transactional
perspective
|
Understand it takes a
village
|
Believe they are the village
|
Trust others
|
Doubt others
|
Continuously seek to
improve
|
Believe they’ve got
everything covered
|
Believe in others
|
Believe only in themselves
|
Set goals
|
Have that sense of entitlement
thing going on again
|
Are honest in their
assessment of how hard they work
|
Either say they slave away
24/7 or that they simply have the magic touch
|
Accept responsibility for
their failures
|
Blame others for their
failures
|
Include as many as possible
in as many ways as possible
|
With each ladder rung achieved, they pull the steps up behind them
|
Interesting post. I like people, so I'm always going to be friendly. I've been talking to strangers since I learned to speak. And I hope I'll always be honest with myself and grateful for my success.
ReplyDeleteHmmm. Would I want to meet any of my writing heroes?
ReplyDeleteI met Sir Terry Pratchett at the Winchester's Writing Conference a few years ago, when he was a guest speaker. He came across as tired and wanting to get out of there fast. I think he must have been in the early stages of his disease then :(
Authors I would want to meet (off the top of my head): Rowling, Gaiman, Wodehouse if he was still alive (he'd be a riot, I'm sure!), Douglas Adams, Agatha Christie, Ian Rankin, Terry Goodkind, and that Howey guy ;) among others. I don't think there are any I would particularly avoid like the plague. But I agree with your list, Peg.
I have had the great pleasure of meeting Vince Flynn (rest in peace), Deon Meyer, Wm Kent Krueger, Michael Sears and Stan Trollip (co-authors aka Michael Stanley), Marcus Sakey, David Housewright, Ellen Hart and James Scott Bell. All were gracious and fun!
ReplyDeleteI would love to hang out with James Lee Burke, Nelson DeMille, Jo Nesbo, John Sanford anamong others. Would be fascinating.
I am looking forward to meeting in person with Jodie Renner and Aymen Khalifa.
All the authors I've met have been interesting and personable.
Tom, I can't believe you included me in that list of illustrious authors! You must be buttering me up to edit your next novel - and I'm eager to do that, so no buttering needed! LOL
DeleteThis is an excellent list, Peg, and I'm off to share it now, on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+!
ReplyDeleteI've briefly met quite a few well-known authors at Thrillerfest and other writers conferences. The nicest and friendliest to me so far have been Shane Gericke (whom I like to call the "ambassador" of Thrillerfest), David Morrell, Sandra Brown, James Scott Bell, Robert Dugoni, and Steven James. But I suppose it often depends on whom you end up chatting with.
Of course I'd have to include my author friends on this blog! :-)