Robert Heinlein's Pre-Internet Fan Mail FAQ 181
Hugh Pickens writes "Kevin Kelly has an interesting post about a letter he found amongst correspondence from his days editing the Whole Earth Catalog. The letter is Robert Heinlein's own nerdy solution to a problem common to famous authors: to deal with fan mail. In the days before the internet, Heinlein's solution was to create a list of frequently asked questions, answer them, and remove the questions. Then he, or rather his wife Ginny, checked off the appropriate answer(s) and mailed it back. Some of the entries in Heinlein's answer sheet are quite illuminating and amusing. Our personal favorite: 'You say that you have enjoyed my stories for years. Why did you wait until you disliked one story before writing to me?'"
Citations? (Score:4, Interesting)
Answer to answer (Score:4, Interesting)
Because if you're a good writer, you might have pleased millions.
And if millions of people write to you, it could make the postman unhappy (and other people too).
There's already a good way to show appreciation - via the writer's bank account.
That said, do write an appreciation letter if it's for something exceptional (or your letter is going to be something worth reading).
But millions of letters just saying "I liked your latest book" might get a bit tiresome (or worse think star trek fan vs Shatner ala SNL ).
Reminds me of this (Score:5, Interesting)
via [thislife.org]
Televangelists did it better (Score:5, Interesting)
One of the big-name televanglists (Billy Graham?) had an early computerized system for answering his fan mail. A staff of people read the mail, and used highlighter to mark phrases that contained relevant keywords. Data entry operators keyed in the address and the highlighted phrases. A program used the phrases to select an appropriate canned reply, filled in keywords, added bible citations, and printed out a letter.
Re:Reminds me of this (Score:4, Interesting)
Stephen Goldin's 23 rules
I count 17 actual rules and 6 "refer to rule X" clauses where the same rule applies to other situations.
The gist however is don't be an ass, do the right thing at the right event, be generous and buy the bloke a meal or drink. Seems like common sense to me. I guess it's not so common (especially for some of the less socially adept that attend these conventions).
Re:Televangelists did it better (Score:5, Interesting)
One of the big-name televanglists (Billy Graham?) had an early computerized system for answering his fan mail. A staff of people read the mail, and used highlighter to mark phrases that contained relevant keywords. Data entry operators keyed in the address and the highlighted phrases. A program used the phrases to select an appropriate canned reply, filled in keywords, added bible citations, and printed out a letter.
BAD famous person!
I once wrote Johnny Isakson about the PDEA (piracy deterrance and enforcement act) which would have turned the p2p wars into the war on drugs, and received a canned reply about the public domain enhancement act.
Makes me want to pick up my rolled up newspaper and swat him good and proper, then lock him in the garage.
Read "Grumbles from the Grave"... (Score:5, Interesting)
"Grumbles from the Grave" is a (now out-of-print) posthumous collection of letters from Heinlein, mostly between himself, publishers, and other SF Authors. It contains many letters on dealing with Fan Mail, Fans themselves, critics, publishers, etc. Quite an interesting little book.
SirWired
Re:Makings of a slashdot poll... (Score:5, Interesting)
Heinlein was very intolerant of anyone who challenged certain of his political views, even driving away life-long friends over very minor issues. He didn't suffer those he saw as fools gladly, and I'm sure he used that check-box often. You can read Spider Robinson's biography and literary reviews of Heinleins work for the sordid details, if you care about that sort of thing. Don't mistake the author for his protagonists.
Re:Good old Robert (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Makings of a slashdot poll... (Score:1, Interesting)
So what? So am I, and good riddance as far as I'm concerned. The less fools in my life the happier I am - and really, who are you to judge? If it bothers you, I'm more than willing to let you have my share idiots. Perhaps you can give them a good home.
Re:Actually, he missed on that point (Score:5, Interesting)
For me, what's interesting in that is that one of the character says they put their phone in their suitcase so they didn't have to answer it. It's that very human interaction with technology that makes his writing so believable -- even when, as in this example, he didn't predict the exact form of the future (ie the need for a power button).
Re:Actually, he missed on that point (Score:5, Interesting)
The early stories did have some computers; Heinlein just fell into the same trap as most writers then and thought they would always be huge. "Slipstick" Libby was a special case.
Don't forget Deija Thoris Carter. But by then he was making the point (repeated in Friday) that a computer, no matter how fast, may not be able to beat human intuition.
Then there is Lazarus's clone sisters Laz and Lor who IIRC had similar talent with numbers. I won't include Dora Long because she started as a computer in the first place.
I think the TV was the sticking point (Score:5, Interesting)
Read The Door Into Summer: the guy practically designed AutoCAD in 1956, but with the computer interfacing directly with a plotter. The missing piece was the idea of using video rather than the paper itself to visualize intermediate results.
Re:It isn't "better" now, though... (Score:1, Interesting)
Once when I was in the Air Force back in the stone age (some time between 1971 and 1973) I was incredibly drunk, drew a picture of a robotic hand ripped from its arm laying on top of a book titled "Handbook of Robotics" and sent it with a short note to my favorite author, Isaac Asimov.
Yes, I did a little drinking back then, too. Dover was the most boring place I've ever been.
He responed via a post card, a very nice reply. I used that post card as a bookmark for years; I lost it some time between then and now.
I was amazed decades later when I ran the Springfield Fragfest Quake site and had people send ME fan mail. It really boosts your ego! I was ashamed of my drunken self when I sobered up after sending the mail to Dr. Asimov, but after recieving my own fan mail I felt better about it. I wonder if he kept the drawing?
Sorry for posting this AC, slashdot logged me out yesterday and I have no idea what my password is, and it's been so long since I've used yahoo mail that I couldn't log in there either. I hope I don't have to creat another /. account.
-mcgrew (sm62704)
Re:Citations? (Score:1, Interesting)
I was taught speed reading the same way. While it worked well, I found an even better use for the speed recognition skill was in debugging code. Doing an electronic search for a particular variable name or command is quick, but when I'm searching for a handful of items at the same time, I can scroll the screen at tremendous speed and stop on the right spot. People looking over my shoulder get sea sick trying to keep up. I was taught this technique in a small private religious elementary school. I have never met anybody else who had learned the same way. How common is this?
Heinlein's Hometown (Score:2, Interesting)
I wonder how much of an effect growing up in 'The Electric City" had on him and his writting and what affect he himself had on the community and its total aversion to technology (it's very much 1980 here in Butler).
In fact when I moved here I felt like a stranger in a strange land...
Re:Citations? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Citations? (Score:2, Interesting)