Position:Home>Books & Authors> Why are authors so reclusive, while being (maybe) the most entertaining people o
Question: Why are authors so reclusive, while being (maybe) the most entertaining people on earth!?
Why does everyone want to throw a cocktail with a famous author, yet, while the cocktail party he was asked to be at is jookin and jivin, the author is away in his studio pounding away!? Can someone take a hard cut at this question and answer!? Take DeLillo, Roth or Pynchon!. All live in NYC (Manhattan)!. They could be on the guest list at every party in the Hamptons but you know they are not and you rarely see a picture of them not already on the book's jacket!. Why don't these types take advantage of their fame!? It seems they live ultra-reculsive lifestyles when they could be partying with the world's most elite!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
To be honest I think it's in a writer's nature to be a little more of an introvert!. As a writer you spend most of your time alone so that you can concentrate and write!. I've met a few authors in my time, both published and not, and most of them are the most down to earth people I've ever met!. Writing is something that gets into your blood!. And when you're not doing it, or when you're going through a patch where you can't get words onto a page it drives you nuts!. It's like there's a part of your missing!. I don't think that they're reclusive so much as the choose not to let their fame go to their heads!. The simple reality is that famous people are still people!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
That's the trade-off!.
Authors exchange their time and energy to create!. If they've done that well, the only real obligation they have is to those they choose!. They have no need for their personal lives to be entertainments for others!.
Additionally, writers don't create well in party atmospheres!. They work from the inside out, and jookin' and jivin' are major distractions for most of them!.
Fame is an annoying nuisance for just about anyone who's well-known, and frankly, the elite are generally pretty boring!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Who but a recluse would ever sit down to write a book in the first place, when they could be doing pretty much anything else and seeing more people!? Just the fact that they love to write means they love the area between their ears more than any of their surroundings!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
They would lose their edge if they consorted with the majority of insipid celebrities throwing these parties!. They're invited to pump up the host's ego!. The author becomes a trophy!. I think most authors have select groups of friends they can be themselves with!. They probably attend salons of "their own kind" who genuinely care about a WIP rather than use it as fodder for the next cocktail party!.
I know East Hampton well and in the majority of parties they would be like I described above!. It's a shallow world!. A great place to get material, but shallow nonetheless!. Authors of any ilk are more comfortable with people they can be themselves with!.Www@QuestionHome@Com