One of Us/Writing Wonks: Difference between revisions

*** Confirmed by the [http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/index.html Annotated Pratchett File]. In fact, Foul Ole Ron's catchphrase "millennium hand and shrimp" came about as the result of running TMBG lyrics and a Chinese restaurant menu through a Markov-chain text generator.

** About Pratchett as a gamer, there's the quote about the (terracotta) Red Army in ''Interesting Times'':

** There is also a suspicion, noted by fans versed in both ''ouevres'', that Terry has more than a passing knowledge of the works of that great Gothic/heavy rock band, the [[Blue Öyster Cult|Blue Oyster Cult]]. The family motto Latinified for the extended Mort family is in itself a dead giveaway: ''Non Timetis Messor'', or ''Have No Timidity Towards He Who Brings In The Harvest''. The song itself is used as a running gag throughout Hogfather, and evidence has been garnered from the books that points to homage references to other BÖC songs. Interestingly enough, the band themselves may be aware of Pratchett and may have reciprocated the homage, or paid homage of their own. Take a look at the back cover of ''Cult Classics'' and then go read [[Reaper Man]]. See here:- [http://wiki.lspace.org/wiki/Blue_%C3%96yster_Cult\].

*** And of course, there's the Yetis, which in his world can meditate, live out the next few minutes, die, and then time-jump back into their meditative self with the knowledge of what is going to kill them. In other words, quicksave and quickload.

** By the way, he also has a hobby of growing carnivorous plants.

*** The Luggage is based on a magic item he invented while DM'ing- a chest on legs with infinite storage space that does what you tell it. ''Exactly'' what you tell it. Wonderful, until you forget to tell it to stop at the cliff edge...

*** Well, there's a few stories, all originating from Pratchett himself, about the origin of The Luggage. Another version is that he was inspired by rolling suitcases at an airport that you tugged with a leash. Pterry has said even ''he'' doesn't really remember which version is true.

** According to a recent blog post, he is apparently a fan of ''[[Xkcd]]''.

** He has also mentioned being a fan of ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]''

** He also wrote the only episode of ''[[Babylon 5]]'' in Seasons 3, 4, or 5 on which J. Michael Straczynski received no writing credit ("Day of the Dead").

** British RPG magazine ''Imagine'' was his first publisher with two of his early short stories, ''Featherquest'' in 1984 (#14) and ''How to Sell the Ponti Bridge'' in 1985 (#24).

* [[Stephen King]] is pretty nerdy. He loves comic books, writes fanfiction (check out ''Nightmares and Dreamscapes'' -- it has a [[Sherlock Holmes]] story, one or two [[H.P. Lovecraft|Lovecraft]]-themed stories, and a story based on a picture in a Chris Van Allsburg book), and plays in a band composed entirely of authors, including [[Dave Barry]] and [[Amy Tan]].

** He is especially fond of ''[[Lost]]''.

* Another "Proper Literature" one: A.S. Byatt is a ''[[Discworld]]'' fan.

** But she has expressed the opinion that adult [[Harry Potter]] fans should read a real book already. And went on to [http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/07/opinion/harry-potter-and-the-childish-adult.html?pagewanted=3&src=pm blatantly insult the intelligence] of adult fans:

** Eight years on and it's approaching [[Never Live It Down]] status, unfortunately; it's still brought up in discussions about literary snobbery. Telling millions of adult readers that their lives must be confined to "the worlds of soaps, reality TV, and celebrity gossip" was not the best way to express her disapproval of the books.

* Scottish thriller writer Ian Rankin wrote an arc for ''[[Hellblazer]]'', named "Dark Entries".

** She was also reportedly once the Director (head honcho) of Transformers 2005 MUSH, possibly the oldest still-running Transformers MUSH. She supposedly (at least) played Soundwave.

* [[Brandon Sanderson]] is a fan of, among other things, ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' and ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'', the latter of which [[Promoted Fanboy|he has now been chosen to complete]].

* [[J. R. R. Tolkien|JRR Tolkien]] and [[C. S. Lewis|CS Lewis]] were both huge fans of epic fantasy and grew frustrated that no one seemed to be writing it anymore. Finally they both decided "If no one else is going to write the books we want to read, we'll just [[Let's See You Do Better|write them ourselves]]."

* No mention of [[John Green]]? Between him and his brother Hank, they founded a community known as ''Nerdfighters''. So not only does he take [[Proud to Be a Geek]] to a high level, he uses the [[Vlog Brothers]] videos to teach you how to insult like Shakespeare, educate you about the French revolution/Giraffe sex/Obamacare/ect, and do other decidedly nerdy things.

** And the real kicker: claimed in one interview that he learnt how to write by reading [[TV Tropes]].

* [[Larry Niven]], multiple Hugo Award, Nebula Award, and [[H.P. Lovecraft]] Award winning science fiction author, space-program booster, and generally all-around nice guy, has publicly stated that of all the projects he's been involved in, writing the "bible" for the post-''[[Crisis on Infinite Earths]]'' ''[[Green Lantern]]'' comic book series is probably his favorite, because it let him play with a lot of the "toys" he enjoyed "playing with" when he was younger.

 

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