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Given that I am some random who tweeted him out of the blue with a statement that I thought was pretty snarky when I was typing it, he could have done several things.
He could have:
-Completely ignored me
-Replied with a hearty “Fuck off”
-Said “How dare you random person snipe at me, I am famous and awesome”
-Said “How dare you random person snipe at me”
and probably he had a few other options at his disposal.
Instead he had a little chat with me wherein we toyed around with names for creative persons who ostensibly make money from their mad brain skillz. And he was very polite. I really, really appreciated that. Here’s why.
I admire William Gibson a lot. I’ve readon some of his work. Perhaps not enough to qualify as a “hardcore fan” but if I happened upon something of his I would read it. I envy him his ability to put together these stories in which he so presciently depicts the intersections of technology and humanity. Art, politics, entertainment, socializing. It’s as if he has the future in his head. I do not aspire to become William Gibson, firstly because I lack some necessary parts and have some extras which he does not.
I don’t even want to write like him, because he is himself and I am me. I just want to be able to grasp, in the ways that he does, the topics which interest me. To be able to take the various and seemingly discrete bits of life and pull them together into a coherent and thought-provoking story.
I really envy the depth and breadth of his imagination and while I don’t believe I can hope to be the visionary he is, I can surely hope to develop my craft and someday be able to tell meaningful stories that make people think. I want to make people look at themselves and the world around them and make connections or explore something or ask questions. I want to be prescient. I want to write such multidimensional stories too.
I’m working on it, and much in the way I admire Tiptree I admire Gibson. No, I don’t feel like I know him now nor do I think we are Liek totes best friends(!) or anything. I don’t even know if I will ever have the occasion to speak (tweet?) with him again. I only know that a writer whom I have long admired and who probably has a lot of things to think about/deal with took a little time out of his night to speak to me and that was a really nice thing to do.
So, Thanks, William Gibson (unicorn aqui)
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