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Joanne Harris on her latest novel, Blueeyedboy.
I'd been going through some troublesome times, and my sunny disposition had taken something of a blow. I found I didn’t want to write, and spent far too much time online, hanging around various sites and searching out ever more ingenious ways of evading reality. Under a pseudonym, I made a number of online friends, wrote a great deal of fanfic, and began to take an increasing interest in the way people interact online, the communities they create and join, and the way they choose to portray themselves. I began to understand that the small communities that have always informed my writing also exist in the virtual world, with the same little cliques of insiders, outsiders, gossips, liars, exhibitionists and bullies as in the “real” world. I understood too, how emotionally dependent people can sometimes become on their virtual friends and their virtual communities, even though there can be no way of knowing how honest these avenues of communication really are.
I'd been going through some troublesome times, and my sunny disposition had taken something of a blow. I found I didn’t want to write, and spent far too much time online, hanging around various sites and searching out ever more ingenious ways of evading reality. Under a pseudonym, I made a number of online friends, wrote a great deal of fanfic, and began to take an increasing interest in the way people interact online, the communities they create and join, and the way they choose to portray themselves. I began to understand that the small communities that have always informed my writing also exist in the virtual world, with the same little cliques of insiders, outsiders, gossips, liars, exhibitionists and bullies as in the “real” world. I understood too, how emotionally dependent people can sometimes become on their virtual friends and their virtual communities, even though there can be no way of knowing how honest these avenues of communication really are.
From all this came Blueeyedboy, a dark psychological thriller set in the world of the internet, where no-one is quite what they seem to be, and every taste is catered for, even the ones to which we dare not confess...
And now I need to know what her fandom is! And, yes, since you ask, I am posting like a mad eejit today.
thoughtful
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Yeah, I've been wondering that too.
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(A founding writer in one of my fandoms, I discovered, lives a quarter-mile from me, right across the street from some friends of ours. I've parked in front of her house. But I've never knocked on her door and said, "Hi, you don't know me, but I write in your AU!" But I'd love to.)
I've never knocked on her door
I'm very intrigued that JH took refuge in fic and fandom during what sounds like a depressive stage, I think many of us came to fandom that way. If I see her again, I'll try and pluck up the courage, I'm sure she'd be amenable. She occasionally does talks and q&a's locally, I might make a point of going to one, since the novel's all about t'internet and fandom, it'd be a perfectly legit point of discussion, wouldn't it?
Re: I've never knocked on her door
I was actually a bit put-off by why she said she was writing fanfic - I get a bit defensive when people feel they have to justify their involvement. Will think more on this!
Re: I've never knocked on her door
Re: I've never knocked on her door
Oh, I agree! (And I'm glad you landed in fandom!)
Me, I was fannish from grade school, and active and buying fanfic zines from the age of 14 or 15. And only really started to write fanfic so that I could be on SentinelAngst. I'm still not all that social fannishly, compared to how I interact on some parenting lists.
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her own novels
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Oh heck - I'm dying to know which fandom now. *g*
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No offence, HP/JA fans!
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I can't quite imagine her slashing Merlin... but oh! it would make me so happy! *g*
::giggle::
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an lj-based fandom.
Re: an lj-based fandom.
Re: an lj-based fandom.
Re: an lj-based fandom.
Re: award-winning pukka novelist!
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