Hatrack River Writers Workshop   
my profile login | search | faq | forum home

  next oldest topic   next newest topic
» Hatrack River Writers Workshop » Forums » Open Discussions About Writing » A writer's best friend

   
Author Topic: A writer's best friend
MartinV
Member
Member # 5512

 - posted      Profile for MartinV   Email MartinV         Edit/Delete Post 
"Special thanks to my comrade in arms, Dr Hip Kantzios of the University of South Florida, who has been a friend and invaluable mentor since the first hour of my embarkation upon the wine-dark seas of ancient Hellas."

Such quotes always stir a large dose of envy in me. What I wouldn't give to have a friend of such expertise, someone who would supply me the information I would never be able to gather in the local library.

How do you think a writer gets to know such people? I've been thinking for a while to write to some expert or another and ask them about some things but the truth is why would that person want to waste their time with someone like me? And even if they did, the ammount of info written down in one e-mail would hardly be enough. That's where friendships help, I bet.

Any thoughts?


Posts: 1271 | Registered: May 2007  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Kathleen Dalton Woodbury
Administrator
Member # 59

 - posted      Profile for Kathleen Dalton Woodbury   Email Kathleen Dalton Woodbury         Edit/Delete Post 
But even a small email response can lead to you asking another question which may get its own response.

I have emailed more than one author of a nonfiction book to ask about ideas I have had from reading their books. And I have heard back each time with useful information.

If you don't email or write to them, you'll never learn anything from them anyway, and if the worst thing that could happen is that they will ignore you or ask you not to bother them, what can that hurt?

The possibility of a response and the possibility that a response might lead to a continued discussion certainly makes the effort seem worthwhile to me. I'd be willing to bet that most of those acknowledgements are in reference to relationships that started in exactly this way.

So, go for it.


Posts: 8826 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
enigmaticuser
Member
Member # 9398

 - posted      Profile for enigmaticuser   Email enigmaticuser         Edit/Delete Post 
It's like they say, you miss every shot you don't take.

I think they would be eager to reply in many cases, even if only briefly. I mean this is their work, who doesn't want to talk about their work?


Posts: 336 | Registered: Jan 2011  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
KayTi
Member
Member # 5137

 - posted      Profile for KayTi           Edit/Delete Post 
Being a storyteller, I'll tell you a story to answer this question:

In graduate school, I was responsible for creating a software program to teach something (I was studying for my current profession - building educational software for corporate clients.)

My partner was in charge of building the technology to make the thing work. I was in charge of finding the content.

Together, we selected the topic of Aztec culture and art as our subject matter. We both thought it would be fun to learn more about it.

I borrowed books from the library. I learned as much as I could. (This, FYI, was before the internet was a useful tool.) I found I still had questions, and we had placeholders in the computer program for video-based content.

So I looked in the phone book (literally) for the phone number for the department of History for our university. That phone call led to the actual department (archaeology) where I found one very receptive professor. He gave me the names/numbers of another three or four within a 60 mile radius, including the curator of the Mesoamerican Art exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago.

I ended up with the greatest content you can imagine. The curator took me through the exhibit, then showed me an Olmec mask that they had taken off exhibit a few years before when they had discovered that the mask was an elaborate and well-done fake. A local professor of mesoamerican art took me to the Mexican Fine Arts museum in Chicago, where we talked to him and other experts.

Universally, every single person I spoke to was happy to share their expertise. I was just a graduate student, I wasn't doing anything exceptional. But these folks are in the business of sharing knowledge, spreading information. I was polite, I was respectful of their time, and I thanked them each profusely when we were done.

I'll never forget the look on my professor's face when we presented the final course. "Where did you get all of these interview subjects?" (after first asking if we had just invented names for our experts, he thought we had asked other graduate students to read scripts we had written.)

My answer? I just asked.

So call or email, and find yourself some experts! Be kind, be effusive with your appreciation, and if one seems less interested in helping, move on to another (or ask if he/she knows anyone else in the field they could recommend you speak with. Then you get to drop person A's name when you call person B, even if person A didn't help you much!)

Good luck!


Posts: 1911 | Registered: Mar 2007  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Robert Nowall
Member
Member # 2764

 - posted      Profile for Robert Nowall   Email Robert Nowall         Edit/Delete Post 
I suppose being thanked is thanks enough...in my Internet Fan Fiction days, at the end of my stories, I thanked whoever beta-read them (actually, criticized and critiqued the rough draft, but "beta-reading" was the term in use in the field in those days). And I got thanked on several stories I beta-read, as well.

I also suppose that it's kind of an ego-boost for some, like getting a letter in a newspaper or magazine. (I've done that, too.)

Further supposition...a simple thank-you in print might be quickly forgotten, but if, say, the book it's in takes off, well, who knows what it might lead to. (Did J. K. Rowling thank anyone in the Harry Potter books?) I wouldn't want to become one of the new Three Witnesses and Eight Witnesses out of a misplaced sense of kindness---my own for helping, and whoever's for thanking me in print.


Posts: 8809 | Registered: Aug 2005  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Foste
Member
Member # 8892

 - posted      Profile for Foste   Email Foste         Edit/Delete Post 
I have a wide circle of friends and many of them are specialists - doctors,historians, painters, programmers, musicians, philosophy majors, skaters...
Just talk to people-chances are they love to talk about their profession. And be an annoying goofy friend. That works for me.

Posts: 628 | Registered: Nov 2009  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
History
Member
Member # 9213

 - posted      Profile for History   Email History         Edit/Delete Post 
I suppose this is the easier route.
But I would suggest this is best after one's own research, becoming an expert (or at least as far as the story requires, and outside affirmation and suggestion is best relegated to after the tale is written.

Respectfully,
Dr. Bob


Posts: 1475 | Registered: Aug 2010  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Pyre Dynasty
Member
Member # 1947

 - posted      Profile for Pyre Dynasty   Email Pyre Dynasty         Edit/Delete Post 
My brother was one of these experts mentioned. How the author got introduced to him was she called the company and asked to talk to a market analyst.

Most experts are passionate about their field and love to have someone listen to them about it. I know I love it when someone asks me about writing, although I'm hardly an expert I love to talk about it. (That is why we are here isn't it?)


Posts: 1895 | Registered: Mar 2004  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
ingersollink
New Member
Member # 9582

 - posted      Profile for ingersollink   Email ingersollink         Edit/Delete Post 
I agree with the other posts. I wouldn't sell yourself short on this issue. High profile people can be easier to talk to than you might think. When I was a photographer for the U.S. Air Force, I found myself, on one occasion, riding in a tour bus with non-other than the secretary of the Air Force and a dozen other influential Generals. While the generals were trying to get their face-time, the Secretary got up and walked to the back of the bus where I was sitting and chatted with me about my camera equipment and how cool my job must be. I was an enjoyable experience to see the looks on the faces of all the brass, but when it boiled down to it, the secretary was an amateur photographer and perhaps more interested in that than the constant buzz of his duties.
Posts: 4 | Registered: Jul 2011  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Wordcaster
Member
Member # 9183

 - posted      Profile for Wordcaster   Email Wordcaster         Edit/Delete Post 
quote:
I suppose this is the easier route.
But I would suggest this is best after one's own research, becoming an expert (or at least as far as the story requires, and outside affirmation and suggestion is best relegated to after the tale is written.

I agree. Having someone to consent that the details in your story are in fact correct is a valuable resource, but the onus of research should still belong to the writer.

The merits of seeking professional counsel have been posted (and in many cases are very beneficial). The alternate side is that many professionals will help out of a feeling of sympathy or obligation and in a sense are taken advantage of by the writer who finds it easier to type an email than to go to the library and read a book about the subject matter.


Posts: 475 | Registered: Jul 2010  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
MartinV
Member
Member # 5512

 - posted      Profile for MartinV   Email MartinV         Edit/Delete Post 
Trust me, if there were books about what I'm looking for in my country, I would borrow them already.
Posts: 1271 | Registered: May 2007  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
   

   Close Topic   Feature Topic   Move Topic   Delete Topic next oldest topic   next newest topic
 - Printer-friendly view of this topic
Hop To:


Contact Us | Hatrack River Home Page

Copyright © 2008 Hatrack River Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.


Powered by Infopop Corporation
UBB.classic™ 6.7.2