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Conceptual Trends and Current Topics Kevin Kelly posts this interesting fan mail response which is quite hilarious. I can see it being interpreted as rude, but at least Heinlein was thoughtfully rude.
Heinlein engineered his own nerdy solution to a problem common to famous authors: how to deal with fan mail. In the days before the internet, Heinlein’s solution was fabulous. He created a one page FAQ answer sheet — minus the questions. Then he, or rather his wife Ginny, checked off the appropriate answer and mailed it back. While getting a form letter back might be thought rude, it was much better than being ignored, and besides, the other questions you did not ask were also answered! Indeed, it is both remarkable and heartwarming that Heinlein replied at all to most mail.
Found by CHarles Alden via Twitter.
Well, it’s much better than an author’s hand-written reply (to a 13 year old fan, before the internet was even thought of) that effectively implied he was an idiot for writing his ideas when the next movie was already on its way. Suffice to say he doesn’t read his works anymore.
If an author is going to be rude or thoughtless, s/he might as well just not answer fan mail at all.
As an author John, do you really think today’s ability to email/comment/chat with authors directly is a good thing or makes things harder for you?
KEWL, now here’s a post with class. Heinlein’s always been a fav of mine. Stranger in a Strange Land and/or Time Enough for Love are must reads. Thank you for sharing this fascinating insight into this fabulous author. KUDOS!
In the words of Lazarus Long – Specialization is for insects.
BTW – If Hollywood is so shorthanded for good material that they have to go to comics for scripts, why the hell is my bookcase so full of excellent sci-fi stories that have never been done?
I really hope if they chose to use Heinlein’s works they do a better job than the previous travesty’s. Starship Troopers ?, my heart weeps. I’d love to see something on the lines of Lazarus Long though. Or Number of the Beast. Friday might make it also .
#3 Totally with you there, they really gutted Starship Troopers – turned it into a comic. I guess that’s all the scriptwriters were up for.
Starship Troopers is a great movie — very anti-fascist.
Sheer genius. Even his brush offs are courteous.
#5 Have you read the book ?
I’ve not only read the book but I’ve read it about a dozen times and I LOVE the movie. I never expect a movie to be a blow-by-blow recreation of the book (it is a nice thing when it happens though) but I think the spirit of the book is alive and well in the movie. Heinlein always filled his books with subtle criticisms of social and political subjects. The movie doesn’t have time for subtleties so it goes right for the jugular. Everything from the Nazi style uniforms to the kids symbolically stomping out the bugs were things that I think Heinlein would have loved. Now, you want a really BAD Heinlein based movie go rent Puppet Masters. That’s another book I’ve read about a dozen times.
After reading ‘Door Into Summer’ as a kid in the early 60’s, I wrote to Heinlein and about 2 months later got a handwritten postcard. It was only about 3 lines, but I was thrilled. And it was very kind. Still have it, one of my few keepsakes from childhood. I wonder if this check-sheet came later, when he achieved more notoriety/fame from ‘Stranger in a Strange Land’
When I read Friday, and read the part when she visited her family at the end of the line in New Zealand, I stuck with me, 20 years later I emigrated to the country and now live here very happily, all thanks to Heinlen planting that little seed. I’ve since read, A Tramp Abroad, and now realise he hated the country ! He had a very poor view of the place 🙂 Still I like it.
Scott:
You’re referring to Tramp Royale? It contains one of my favorite RAH quotes:
I find it necessary to remind myself firmly that the customs of my own tribe are not the laws of nature.
(pg 47)
Brilliant… this is exactly how most companies, doctors and probably anyone who has to produce a lot of similar letters/answers works. Computers just make it easier to remove the unchecked answers!
#1 — this is a good question, but I am the wrong person to answer it without a lot of thought. I’ve been writing professionally for about 30 years which is the duration of the computer revolution of which I am a child. I can only write with computers (word processors) and I’ve been into online interaction from the late 1970’s! I know its values and pitfalls. For me it is just part of everything and I know no other system. I would have to seriously consider this question. I do know this. When the first e-links were dropped in at a column I was writing for CNET online (circa1995) whereby people could kvetch instantly I knew it would be an issue.
I’m curious about the interaction between author and “fan” or “reader”. I did some online writing for a while for some fan sites of an online game, both stories and news. Luckily that was before the advent of continual commenting and post/reposting; these days you can spend an entire day just reading comments about comments about comments.
In writing I found that the best fan responses were just those that said they enjoyed what I’d written and hoped I’d continue. I suspect that the instantaneous criticism that we get today would have somewhat dulled my interest (not that I didn’t get any then, I’m only talking about 1999-2002.)
It makes sense to examine and listen to other opinions or to follow up “leads”, especially in a news context. But when is it best just to stop reading and responding and turn back to the typewriter (or as we call it laptop) and write?
I have always had this image of “Authors” as those that hole up in wooden cabins or sit at cafes in Paris scribbling down notes and paragraphs on their way to the next big novel. For some of the more successful ones, that’s probably still true. But these days, it seems to me it’s far more likely they would be sitting reading blogs, googling some odd fact, arguing through email with a fanboy and constantly re-writing a perfectly good sentence.
It’s way way way too easy these days to rewrite a piece. I can see some value to scribbling your story down on a pad of paper — once it’s COMMITTED you have to continue down that path. Changing the path is tougher and less likely, thus you are more likely to complete the path and finish what you’re writing.
There is also the aspect of whether we sometimes allow the word processor or the internet itself to take over what we’re writing. An example — I’m a very good speller. However, every once in a while I’ll get a little red underline while I’m writing a comment (gotta love Firefox spellcheck.) And so, the thought I’m working on gets interrupted as I quickly check the word to be sure it’s correct.
How does this impact authors — I suspect it contributes to writing A.D.D. You keep switching gears to correct unimportant issues, rather than concentrating on the Big Thought.
Which may be why we have such a dulled-down press and mass market firewood these days.
Anyway, sorry to keep talking about something that interests me — back to the discussions of bikini models, Nazis and Christian Athiests.
# 14 Jim said:
“It makes sense to examine and listen to other opinions or to follow up ‘leads’, especially in a news context. But when is it best just to stop reading and responding and turn back to the typewriter (or as we call it laptop) and write?”
Unless you’re still researching something or have an appointment, or your spouse and/or children are ready to bean you, any time is the right time to write. (Right now, for example.)