Author Insight: Fangirl/Fanboy Moments

Have you ever had a fangirl/fanboy moment over another author? If you’ve never had one, who could inspire it?

"Have them all the time. Ray Bradbury, Russell Hoban, Brian Francis Slattery, Bill Mantlo, Richard Brautigan, Mark Richard, Chuck Palahniuk... When I was younger I was even more obsessed with European cinema than I am now. One of my proudest moments was getting a note from director Jean Jacques Beineix in response to a fan letter I sent him. Oh, also getting an email in broken English from the incredible Alejandro Jodorowsky." - K. Ryer Breese, author of Future Imperfect. 

"To be honest, I don’t get too fangirlie. But every time a famous author follows me on twitter I get a tummy flutter. I’ll see who I meet at BEA this year; I might just have my very first fan girl moment! I’ll keep you posted. LOL." - Leigh Fallon, author of The Carrier of the Mark. 

"Oh, absolutely. It was Beth Revis. We met in a ghetto parking garage when I stepped off the elevator. Lots of jumping up and down and screaming ensued. It was pretty hilarious." - Elana Johnson, author of Possession. 

"I've had quite a few actually. When Melissa Marr told me she wanted to read my book (this was before it came out), I flipped. When I met Laurie Halse Anderson at ALA, I was shaking and don't think I managed at all to explain what Speak meant to me. When I met Ellen Hopkins, I nearly cried thanking her for writing Crank. And if I ever get to meet Francesca Lia Block I will probably faint on the spot." - Stephanie Kuehnert, author of Ballads of Suburbia. 

"I spent a nice few hours with Christopher Moore. He’s as funny, smart, and fab as I hoped he’d be, and quite deserving of his cult following. But for the most part, I don’t idolize writers; I have a passion for books, and there’s a difference. A lot of writers lack social skills, which is how they found themselves alone scribbling. I’ve met terrible writers who are marvelous in person, I’m met terrific writers who are annoying and boring in person. I’d rather not judge a book by the author, but on its own merits." - Marta Acosta, author of  Haunted Honeymoon.

"Absolutely. I am at one with the fangirl squee. Meeting both Tanya Huff and Charles de Lint was huge for me, as was being on a panel with Holly Black.  And I adore Mary Oliver’s work, that’s one repressed fangirl squee  waiting to happen." - Alyxandra Harvey, author of Haunting Violet.

"I recently waited two hours to hear Audrey Niffenegger speak because I was blown away by The Time Traveler's Wife and then knocked over dead by The Three Incestuous Sisters. She was fun, funny, witty, irreverent, and incredibly honest and down-to-earth, both as an artist and as a person. I couldn't stop imagining a connection between us and imagined telling her how I treasured her books and was a debut author myself and... it was a nice daydream. The reality was that she signed by program book politely as I stammered something about having her book in our guest room (which was *not* what I had rehearsed in my head) and she smiled in a slightly strained-and-polite way and I scurried aside. Thank goodness I hadn't tried to catch her the previous ngiht when she was presenting with Neil Gaiman! I doubt I would have survived." - Dawn Metcalf, author of Luminous. 

"I haven’t had a fangirl moment yet, but if I ever met J.K. Rowling I’d probably freak out.  It’s not every day you meet someone with their own theme park." - Josephine Angelini, author of Starcrossed. 

"Yes, I once met Anne McCaffrey at a Worldcon. I could barely get a word out, and mutely thrust my book at her to sign. Then I managed to stutter out a “thank-you-I-love-your-books” before wobbling off to have a quiet lie down." - Alison Goodman, author of Eona. 

"I got to call Nora Roberts to tell her she’d finaled in Romance Writers of America’s RITA contest. I think I giggled (I never, ever giggle) and gushed and it was embarrassing. She was gracious, as always. I’ve met Simone Elkeles a few times, but I still want to sit in her lap and tell her she rocks my world." - Trinity Faegen, author of The Mephisto Covenant.

 

"I have internally but luckily I have gotten pretty good at keeping it cool on the outside. Hopefully I don’t have any embarrassing ones at BEA and can keep up the cool factor." - Emma Michaels, author of The Thirteenth Chime.

 "Of course! I totally fangirl over Ally Carter, Meg Cabot, Kristin Cashore, and Julia Quinn. And I would go totally nuts over Jaclyn Moriarty." - Tera Lynn Childs, author of Sweet Venom. 

 "Megan Whalen Turner is one of my favorite authors ever. When I found out I was going to be published by the same imprint as her, that was fangirl moment #1. Then Cindy Pon, another Greenwillow author, put me in touch with her when she was going to be in Boston for ALA - and we met! Fangirl moment #2 (slightly complicated by the fact that I was waiting for her in the wrong Starbucks). Then she asked me if she could read Mistwood, and I gave her an ARC! Fangirl moment #3. THEN she blurbed Mistwood. Fangirl moment #infinity." - Leah Cypess, author of Nightspell. 

Come back Thursday to find out if the rest of the authors have had an extreme fan moment.

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