1000 + Books to Read: Guest Post: Author August Blythe

The Magic Land of Twitter

I’m on Twitter but not obsessively. I generally tweet when I have information to pass along (such as a link to this guest post) and then feel compelled to check the tweets of the people I follow. That’s a whopping eleven people, mind you, and I can barely keep up with that number. (Where do people find the time to read and write so many tweets? I see people who follow 800 other people on Twitter. How?!)

Three of the carefully selected eleven people I follow are my favorite novelists - Margaret Atwood, Jonathan Carroll and Salman Rushdie. I was a bit nervous about following them. As they say, never meet your idols. By reading their tweets, I’ve opened some magic window into their day. In real time. Not an edited article or calculated PR move. Pretty much as close to meeting them as you can get without actually, well, meeting them. Twitter makes them real people, not simply the big names on book covers.

I’ll admit, it’s weird peeping into their (sometimes stream-of-consciousness) expressed thoughts. Rushdie seems to regularly argue with people via Twitter. Maybe that’s what he enjoys about it; I can’t tell. I also learned that he’s a fan of ScarJo and that we both follow Gwyneth Paltrow (at least, I think that was him). Atwood seems to promote charities and literary events and on occasion recommend a really great cinematographer (as you do). Carroll tweets a lot of quotes. He likey the quotes. Sometimes several in one day.

I sniffed around a bit more to see what other authors’ tweets include. Stephen King is tweeting a lot about taxes and the Carrie remake. Neil Gaiman recently requested restaurant recommendations in Boston for a romantic dinner with his wife. Over on Jennifer Weiner’s Twitter account, in between tweets with writing links and upcoming appearances is a rundown of the men featured on The Bachelorette reality show. They all appear to respond to tweets by others and retweet the message. That’s more accessible than my husband at work.

I’m still on the fence as to whether I prefer my authors accessible or mysterious and reclusive like JD Salinger, which is probably why I only follow three. The author part of me understands that marketing is essential in today’s world and that includes Twitter. I’ve also found some great links on writing in author tweets (check out Weiner’s account). The other part of me, though, wants my author ensconced in a Wi-Fi free cabin in the deep, dark woods dreaming up a story that no one else can tell, rather than LOL’ing to followers over a youtube video. That’s me romanticizing it, I guess. I think as we get older, those of us who remember a time before Twitter and Facebook will wonder whether we weren’t better off with the idea of people instead of the constant reality of them. ~

Augusta Blythe is the author of two YA novels, Winterborne and Ravenstoke, a middle grade fantasy novel, In the Land of the Sapphire Sea, and a women’s fiction novel, Hostel Takeover, under the name of Keeley Bates.