tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098049071459822748.post4285526721368191477..comments2024-02-18T00:24:05.514-08:00Comments on The Zoë-Trope: THE SADNESS OF A READERZoë Marriotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01275368005359548134noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098049071459822748.post-34559944816625218582013-08-20T15:18:27.885-07:002013-08-20T15:18:27.885-07:00I'd give my writing arm to have tea with Rosam...I'd give my writing arm to have tea with Rosamunde Pilcher.~ Marihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11791869629938128432noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098049071459822748.post-30323841032361752652012-07-29T01:00:50.520-07:002012-07-29T01:00:50.520-07:00Megha: That's a definite bonus of the age of b...Megha: That's a definite bonus of the age of blogs and Twitter - contacting an author is just less formal and you feel like you can chat and make friends. That's why I love this blog :)Zoë Marriotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01275368005359548134noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098049071459822748.post-2993980735381691942012-07-28T08:03:36.177-07:002012-07-28T08:03:36.177-07:00Ya know, YOU'VE always been a writer I wanted ...Ya know, YOU'VE always been a writer I wanted desperately to contact somehow and now I feel like I know you more than just someone who's my idol, but like a friend! So I'm glad I didn't have to regret that. (But unfortunately I can't come to meet you - it's too far away for me, notwithstanding the traffic from the Olympics and all!) <br /><br />Unfortunately I've discovered a few writers after their deaths like DWJ and stuff :( But I can't regret never having contacted them because I didn't know about them earlier, though I *do* regret discovering such good books so late!Meghahttp://meghaz.blog.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098049071459822748.post-13213694053556069692012-07-25T23:46:57.011-07:002012-07-25T23:46:57.011-07:00Artax: Thank you :) That sort of comment makes my ...Artax: Thank you :) That sort of comment makes my day.Zoë Marriotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01275368005359548134noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098049071459822748.post-21131685218430569682012-07-25T19:42:21.657-07:002012-07-25T19:42:21.657-07:00While I'm thinking about it, I've really l...While I'm thinking about it, I've really liked reading your books, Zoe, and I look forward to reading many, many more. Plus, I'm a big fan of your blog. You've shared a lot of helpful advice and a lot of yourself, and it's all been great reading (though I rarely comment). Thanks!Artaxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13841147515999189957noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098049071459822748.post-29632264146081628962012-07-25T14:15:56.284-07:002012-07-25T14:15:56.284-07:00The Changeover is exactly the one I was thinking o...The Changeover is exactly the one I was thinking of starting with - after hearing you raving about Sorry, I want to see what he's like!Phoenixgirlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098049071459822748.post-45381758876861265352012-07-24T23:24:45.359-07:002012-07-24T23:24:45.359-07:00Phoenix: I wish I had done that. I wish I could ha...Phoenix: I wish I had done that. I wish I could have gotten over my sense that I was too insignificant to dare try and communicate with her. I think it would have given me a feeling of peace, maybe. And as for Margarget Mahy - DO, Phoenix! Try 'The Changeover'. Gosh, I love that book, I really do.<br /><br />Isabel: That's true, although back before email was a viable option I don't think most of us considered writing letters *difficult* exactly. Except in the same way that writing emails is - you know, finding the words to express yourself without coming off a tiny bit unbalanced!Zoë Marriotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01275368005359548134noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098049071459822748.post-28235014081416361662012-07-24T12:16:15.200-07:002012-07-24T12:16:15.200-07:00Really good advice. Thankfully, with the internet ...Really good advice. Thankfully, with the internet nowadays, it's so much easier to contact other authors to tell them how much you love their work, even if you never get the chance to meet them.Isabelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11342147057396470743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098049071459822748.post-7041633596823273542012-07-24T10:21:52.971-07:002012-07-24T10:21:52.971-07:00I know just how you feel about DWJ. For years I t...I know just how you feel about DWJ. For years I thought vaguely of writing her a fan letter, but was afraid I'd just be saying the same things she'd heard a million times before. Then when she got sick, the woman who runs her official fan website posted an offer to pass email tributes and well-wishes on to her. I realized then that I really didn't want to see her go without telling her what her books meant to me. I don't have any way of knowing if she saw my letter, but I like to think she did, and I'm glad I wrote it. <br /><br />It's so sad about Margaret Mahy too. I always loved her wild-and-wacky middle-grade books like Tingleberries, Tuckertubs and Telephones and The Greatest Show Off Earth, but I never actually tried any of her supernatural ones. I'm thinking I might do it now, as a tribute.Phoenixgirlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098049071459822748.post-85642408844598155922012-07-24T07:33:45.989-07:002012-07-24T07:33:45.989-07:00Emily: I think it's different when you read a ...Emily: I think it's different when you read a book by an author who is already deceased (such as C.S. Lewis) isn't it? It's a fact you accept right from the start. But when an author you've loved for a long time - especially one you've loved from childhood - goes... it really is hard. In a way I know how you feel about D & L Eddings. I loved their books too - but I discovered them as an older teenager. The books you read as a really young person seem to reach deeper into you, I think.<br /><br />Kate: Well, that's certainly the way that *I* feel, personally - getting letters and emails makes my day. But I also think sometimes that writers who've been hearing the same sorts of comments from readers for forty years must get to a certain point where, nice as it is to hear those things, it stops being *interesting*. A bit like if you built a wall in your garden and people complimented you on it all the time and you had to think of ways to respond every time, even though they were all praising the exact same things (neat grouting? Excellent herringbone work?). Forty years later you might be wishing you'd never built the wall in the first place.Zoë Marriotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01275368005359548134noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098049071459822748.post-74743619388821001282012-07-24T07:23:25.072-07:002012-07-24T07:23:25.072-07:00I dunno. I've found that most authors, at leas...I dunno. I've found that most authors, at least when I ask, say that they get great joy hearing about the happiness others have found in their work. I think it's probably selling yourself - and the authors - a bit short to think that their life wasn't a little less bright for not being able to hear how much they influenced you.<br /><br />If someone finds it boring to know what joy they've brought someone, then that says more about them (and it's not too flattering) than it does you.<br /><br />Writing is a labor of love, eh? And what greater joy can there be than knowing other people share a love of that which inspired you to write in the first place?Kellyhttp://www.kellyhills.com/blognoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098049071459822748.post-51379884170696421192012-07-24T07:13:19.190-07:002012-07-24T07:13:19.190-07:00I don't have a lot of regrets, but one of them...I don't have a lot of regrets, but one of them is never writing a letter to David and Leigh Eddings thanking them for The Belgariad and The Rivan Codex. The latter in particular taught me most of what I know about writing (before I started actually writing, anyway...I've picked up a few more things since then!). Marion Zimmer Bradley taught me to look past the story you think you know. Anne McCaffrey taught me to dream big. Madeleine L'Engle taught me how faith and science co-habitate. And CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien taught me that the stories you want to write are the stories you should write.<br /><br />I have other authors, now, that I love. But those six...they always make me a little bit sad.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com