Have you ever sent fan mail to a published author?

[stickygirl]

Understandably main stream authors hide themselves behind agencies and only occasionally appear at literary festivals. Have you ever received a reply from an author?

I'll cite one. I have a favourite s/h bookshop run by an old Zen hippy. I like to browse the titles until something jumps out and one book How the Light Gets In, MJ Hyland 2003 caught my eye. After I finished it, I wrote to the author, describing the musty old bookshop, with its creaky stairs and cobwebbed ceiling and reminding them that books take on a life of their own, long after the author's attention has moved on. They were kind enough to write back, which was a real treat.

 

[AchtungNight]

I have answered fan mail on Lit and other sites. Never received mail from a fanfic subject I’ve addressed here. On GameFAQs and the Choice of… Games forums, I have been praised for my attention to detail and enthusiasm by the lead designers of Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction & The Lost Heir Trilogy regarding my walkthroughs of those games. So it evens out. I’ve also corresponded with a few fellow authors on Lit and other sites.

 

[LexxRuthless]

 

[stickygirl]

I have answered fan mail on Lit and other sites. Never received mail from a fanfic subject I’ve addressed here. On GameFAQs and the Choice of… Games forums, I have been praised for my attention to detail and enthusiasm by the lead designers of Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction & The Lost Heir Trilogy regarding my walkthroughs of those games. So it evens out. I’ve also corresponded with a few fellow authors on Lit and other sites.

That's good to hear, but darling we've all received adoring fan mail. This is about sending it

 

[Jackie.Hikaru]

I sent a gushing fan mail once to an artist attached with an erotic story I wrote inspired by one of her artworks. She wrote back that she enjoyed the story

 

[stickygirl]

Oh, I should do that...

There's this one artist who does a lot of dark erotic images and I absolutely love her work and have more than once kept her page up for inspiration.

I'm sure they'd love to hear it!

What gave me this idea was an email I wrote a day or two ago, to a musician. The song was written back in 2010 but although it was a haunting melody, I couldn't find the lyrics. She kindly sent me the words and a thank you. The lyrics were so powerful so I'm glad I asked... and I maybe helped her day

 

[onehitwanda]

I was young and stupid and utterly in love with the voice actor for Bastila Shan from Knights of the Old Republic.

I sent her a very cringeworthy email; never got a response.

Oh, God. I hadn't winced over this one in years... Thanks a lot, @stickygirl

 

[ElectricBlue]

I sent a message to a pastel artist, after buying a book written by her, and confessed to being a beginner artist. She sent back a lovely reply, apologising for the delay, because her mother had just died, and encouraged me to keep painting. Which I sort of did.

 

[Bamagan]

I once wrote an email to a Canadian sci-fi author (Robert J. Sawyer) and received a response. Fairly prompt, too. In his case, he has a website set up to handle that, so it's probably different than receiving a directly addressed email or letter, which could easily seem stalkerish.

 

[Rob_Royale]

I have sent fan mail to Steve Alten (Meg author, but on a different story.)
Also Gillian Flynn (Sharp Objects) and Shelley Nolan (the Vines). I received pleasant responses from all three.

And mail of a more critical nature to Dean Koontz, and a female writer (whose name I've forgotten) who decided to use the Coast Guard as a major story point, but did zero research into the service. I did not receive responses. Considering what I said to Koontz, it's a small wonder.

 

[SouthernCrossfire]

I sent an e-mail to Ruth Downey, the author of a series of novels that I was reading a few years ago, and was surprised to get a very lovely reply. I glued it in the front cover of her book that I was reading at the time.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I was young and stupid and utterly in love with the voice actor for Bastila Shan from Knights of the Old Republic.

I'm just gonna assume that's Jennifer Hale.

*googles*

Yup. Nothing to be ashamed of there. It was Falls-From-Grace for me:

 

[AchtungNight]

I have sent fan mail to numerous artists online, but never an erotic story directly inspired by them. Don’t want to upset people, you know? All fan fiction is a kind of fan mail, if you didn’t know. Or at least that’s the intent with which I write it.

 

[lc69hunter]

I wrote Andy Weir, right after The Martian was published (way before the movie was announced) He sent me a signed copy.

I have also exchanged emails with several of the Erotic authors publishing on Amazon

 

[stickygirl]

I wrote Andy Weir, right after The Martian was published (way before the movie was announced) He sent me a signed copy.

I have also exchanged emails with several of the Erotic authors publishing on Amazon

Wow - a signed copy?! Now that IS a response!

 

[Jackie.Hikaru]

I have sent fan mail to numerous artists online, but never an erotic story directly inspired by them. Don’t want to upset people, you know? All fan fiction is a kind of fan mail, if you didn’t know. Or at least that’s the intent with which I write it.

In my case, the artist was an erotic artist.

 

[NoTalentHack]

Not exactly fanmail, but I was unknowingly on the same forum as an author whose book I had adored, to the point of basing a City of Heroes character on the protagonist and mentioning it there. He wrote a very nice comment to me about how flattering that was and how much he liked the detail I had put into the costume, etc.

 

[Rob_Royale]

Not exactly fanmail, but I was unknowingly on the same forum as an author whose book I had adored, to the point of basing a City of Heroes character on the protagonist and mentioning it there. He wrote a very nice comment to me about how flattering that was and how much he liked the detail I had put into the costume, etc.

That brings back memories.

 

[Wriggle]

I regularly tweet authors who I admire (some of whom I've only met at bookfairs and not read) and they're mainly great with their responses. Many will follow you back, too.

 

[IARainman]

I sent an e-mail to Ruth Downey, the author of a series of novels that I was reading a few years ago, and was surprised to get a very lovely reply. I glued it in the front cover of her book that I was reading at the time.

How are you supposed to send them suspicious samples of bodily fluids/hairs??? (And I call yourself a fan)

 

[alohadave]

Not exactly fanmail, but I was unknowingly on the same forum as an author whose book I had adored, to the point of basing a City of Heroes character on the protagonist and mentioning it there. He wrote a very nice comment to me about how flattering that was and how much he liked the detail I had put into the costume, etc.

Stephen King is on a writer's group I was in on Facebook. I never interacted with him, but one time he replied to a post and someone asked him why he was pretending to be Stephen King.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

I was young and stupid and utterly in love with the voice actor for Bastila Shan from Knights of the Old Republic.

I sent her a very cringeworthy email; never got a response.

Oh, God. I hadn't winced over this one in years... Thanks a lot, @stickygirl

The same voice actress gives voice to the MC (assuming you choose a female MC) of the Mass Effect trilogy games I recommended to you some time ago. And I must tell you she did a fantastic job. The male voice actor was quite good too, but she outshined him.

 

[NoTalentHack]

The same voice actress gives voice to the MC (assuming you choose a female MC) of the Mass Effect trilogy games I recommended to you some time ago. And I must tell you she did a fantastic job. The male voice actor was quite good too, but she outshined him.

This is my favorite voice actor on the Citadel.

 

[HeyAll]

I gave props on Twitter to Simon Kernick (my favorite crime novelist) and Lawrence Block and got a typed response from both of them. Let's hope they didn't check my profile, lol.

Twitter is an amazing place to contact authors. As it turns out, many of your favorite authors use Twitter, in fact many of them post and reply regularly.

 

[Zootonius]

Once, but it was an historian. I considered her book one of the finest I’d read on the subject. I sent her an email spelling out why I thought it was well written.

Surprisingly, I received a reply, thanking me for the compliment. I gathered she didn’t receive many such compliments.