Does anyone else do this?

[kaitou]

I keep thinking of writing my favorite authors and telling them how much I adore their work. But halfway through my mental draft, it always turns into a critique. "Oh I love your work so much, I reread your books often....original characters...interesting plots not found in other people's work....humor.....Oh, and by the way, can you stop using so much Deux Ex Machina? And when you're borrowing from an Earth culture for your fantasy culture, can you make it a little less obvious who you're stealing from? I think you're better than that."

This is why I never do end up writing fanmail.

I have actually done this in person when meeting an author too. (Open mouth, insert foot)

Comments

[flidgetjerome.livejournal.com]

I will do this when reccing something I love to someone else.

I think it's because can't love something unless you also accept its faults.

[kaitou1412.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'm just sure that the author in question doesn't really want to hear it. Not from me at any rate.

[vengeful-god.livejournal.com]

I've done this before, but mostly with authors that exist on the edges of the mainstream. If I were to write to, say, J.K. Rowling I would be one voice in the thousands she probably hears daily and it would A) mean next to nothing to her, and B) get lost in the shuffle.

If I were to write to, say, Sue Stauffacher or Tom Perrota not only would I probably get a response (I have from Sue) but because they don't exist on everyone's bookshelves, they probably don't get as much fan mail, making the ones that they do get special. (Even if you do have that grain of reality in there...)

Does that help?