Le Octopus

The cliché of an author is that they’re recluse people, practically hermits, with strange habits and several cats and a strong dislike for people. Here are two cliché defying writers that I admire and want to be like should I ever become an author.

Neil Gaiman

He was an obvious choice. He’s probably one of the biggest fantasy writers today. I mean is there anything he doesn’t write? He’s done novels, graphic novels, short stories, poems and guest writer episodes of several television shows. He’s also on Twitter and has a blog. In fact, I became a fan of Neil Gaiman as a person, through his blog and Twitter account, before I became a fan of Neil Gaiman as a writer. He puts himself in the public eye through his social networking but also seems to be involved in tons of other things working side by side various artists in different arts. He’s done numerous cons, oversees plenty of his movies turning into television shows and movies and generally seems to be always on the move to somewhere doing something, while simultaneously causing websites (known as Neil web fails) to crash by linking them from his twitter. 

John Green

I’ve mentioned John Green before in one or two of these articles that I’ve written. He and his brother, Hank Green, have a video blog that they update regularly. They also created Nerdfighters to “fight against suck,” and anyone can be one by just being awesome. He and Hank organized Vidcon, are involved in other cons, co-founded DFTBA (Don’t Forget to Be Awesome) Records and he does regular tours with his brother around the country. Aside from the youtube video channel, he also has a Twitter and a Tumblr account. Like Neil Gaiman he’s got numerous causes that he supports and encourages others to support as well. Recently his unreleased book made number one best seller on Amazon. He’s also personally signing all the presold books often during live video streams. 

I respect these writers and others like them who are very involved with their fans rather than locking themselves up in their studies and only writing. I use them as role models for the kind of person I want to be if I ever rise to a position of influence, however slight, through my own writing prowess. I think it’s important for writers to be in the public sphere. Imagine if writers were considered celebrities, on par with rock stars and movie stars. Writers are often intellectuals and thinkers. If we put them in the spot light and their opinions carried as much weight with the public as some of the other celebrities do I honestly believe our society would be greatly enriched.