Neil Gaiman Awe

I will not be surprised if the title of this post caught your eye. Neil Gaiman has a following the likes of which isn’t seen very often when it comes to writers. But he’s so cool! And just a little bit odd. Or a lot odd. Take your pick.

I was lucky enough (in no small part because of Kate’s ingenuity), this past Monday, to have a ticket to see Gaiman speak as the University of Calgary’s Distinguished Writers Program’s guest. It was incredible!! For a man of many varied works, Gaiman is not a man of very many spoken words. At least he wasn’t at this venue. With is slightly Americanized English accent, he speaks with great care and thought, something I truly appreciate.

I took so much away from the talk. SO MUCH, but I won’t write all of it down. Because I don’t have time, or space. And attention spans will wane with my nattering.

I will discuss the most important thing I think Gaiman said: don’t ever let anyone put you in a box. When he was a young journalist, he told us of bestselling authors he interviewed, ones unhappy with their writing lives because publishers wanted them to write the same thing over and over because they were so successful at it the first time. It’s a money game to some, life for others. Gaiman never wanted that, he didn’t want to be told what to do and he consistently says no when publishers ask him to perform repeats. He’s an artist that wants to create, not paint by numbers.

I love an author with spine.

This was his first topic and the one that resonated with me throughout the rest of the evening. I’ve always been multi-generic: I read nearly every genre and I would honestly like to write in all the genres I love. Right now, for ease of explanation, I claim to write urban fantasy because when people ask me what I write and I say, “Oh, just about anything,” they’re lost. It’s frustrating for me because I don’t want to be confined and frustrating for them because they want to label me.

The box metaphor has inspired me though! I’ll write what I want and people can say what they want about it. I have lots of stories in lots of genres to tell and I’m going to do just that.

Like I said, I could continue to gush, but I’ll keep myself under control. I will end with yet another solid gold piece of advice (paraphrased!) from the incredible Mr. Gaiman: “If the world doesn’t care what you have to write, don’t fret, because the world can’t read. It’s a world. Besides, if you reach just one reader, you can potentially change the world for them. And that’s a heck of a lot more awesome.”