I’m intrigued by the description of online interactions with fans. Readers have to accept the premises of a particular novel’s fantasy world in order to get inside the story. Yet it seems that some are just as willing to attach themselves to that world from the outside, judging by Brandon’s investment in drafts and annotations and showing readers how it’s done. I’ve attended a few conferences with publishing authors (fiction and nonfiction), and a standard audience question is “How do I get started?” For anyone who is genuinely, seriously interested in writing, not in merely being a writer, this online interaction must be a motherlode of insight.
I hope it’s all useful, though I worry that people trying to break in can find TOO MUCH information and help. The thing is, there are lots of ways of doing things, and we writers have a habit of talking about our way as if it were the only way. I was allowed to discover what worked for me working mostly in seclusion for my first decade or so of writing (counting from Jr. High age.) I’ve met writers who think they have to do things one way, but who have never tried other methods that might have worked far better for them.
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