Look Here

In the comments trail of the last post, someone said:

(1) You talk so much here about fellow writers’ appearances and how beautiful they are. (2) It’s apparent from your own pictures that you’re very attractive as well and that must certainly help when people come to get a book from you or the author, Gina, you mentioned. How much does this mean for a writer? Obviously your writing still has to be good, but what do us “Plain Jane” authors do to publicize ourselves more when we can’t fall back on natural beauty like so many of the people you mentioned here from BEA. (3) Are looks a hindrance when trying to write in a certain genre? (4) Do you advice writers who get bought to do a makeover, lose weight, get a tummy tuck to hide the three kids you’ve birthed? (ha!) It’s certainly something I fear since I’m anything but glamorous (my husband and kids think I am, of course.)

(1) Wow, first of all, do I talk about how people look a lot? Well, okay, Barack Obama… but I don’t think I’m alone here. That man is seriously smokin’ and seriously smart, and also a U.S. Senator, and those things lend a very definite air of attraction. (Cf. JFK.) And I suppose I mentioned Gena, but I think that was because the lady doth protested WAAAAAAY too much about not getting a chance to fix her hair pre-signing due to flight lateness and I was publicly ribbing her about how she looked stunning even without her curling iron, which, I do these things, because we’re buds and you know, fellow League of Extraordinary Gentlewomen. But when I talk about what writers look like when I meet them at BEA, it’s mostly because before I met them, I had no clue what they looked like. Of course I think finding out what they look like in person is one of the cooler things about actually meeting them in person.

I think any time you meet someone that you know a lot of through some other medium, there is a moment when you coincide what you thought they looked like in your head with what they actually look like. It’s that whole, “Yeah, Marky Mark is so much shorter than I thought he’d be…” moment. I think that the effect is strengthened with writers. At least movie stars and rock stars and stuff you tend to see on television, so you at least have a clue what their facial features are like. Ever meet a radio DJ? Meeting a writer is kind of like that. I read and fall in love with the works of writers and most of them, I wouldn’t know from Adam if I saw them on the street. It’s always interesting to see how well they match up to the way we’ve pictured them (or not)! Like a few years ago, when I met James Patterson? Don’t laugh, y’all, but in my head, he looked exactly like Morgan Freeman. Um, wrong.

(2) Nothing. I think it means absolutely nothing. I don’t think anyone came to pick up a copy of my book because they thought I was cute. I can’t stress this enough. I actually am not really interested in going into it again. Nobody buys books because of what the author looks like. People go to movies because the star of the movie is pretty– there’s that whole joke about turning down the volume and just watching pretty people on film. But that doesn’t work for books. Books are just black text on white pages. So what an author looks like doesn’t matter one little bit. And no writer is “falling back” on what they look like at all. Absolutely, positively, not one bit. Because a book is just words, and it has to stand on its own. The only writers at BEA that seemed to draw folks in any large number were celebrities (the line for Jim Belushi was out the door!) or famous authors (ditto Charles Frazier). I was lucky enough to discover a few famous authors signing on the DL (or at least, discover them before the masses did) and didn’t wait in a long line for Dave Barry, Geraldine Brooks, or Holly Black. And when I met HB, I got to add to my list of “Reasons to be Jealous of HB” a second reason, right behind “1. Frickin’ amazing writer” I put “2. Wears eyeliner like no one’s business.” I must admit a seething envy towards anyone who can figure out eye makeup. I’m hopeless.

(3) It might get a bit sticky if you’re trying to write a beauty manual. Of course, I could be wrong — as long as you know how to make other people beautiful, right? Other than that, see above re: black text, white page.

(4) Holy Scott Westerfeld, no way! One thing you will not be seeing on Diana’s Diversion is a suggestion that anyone get plastic surgery (except for in the case of oh, disfiguring burns or cleft palates or etc.). Which is not to say that I think it is in your best interest to go into any kind of public situation looking slovenly. Take a shower, brush your hair, wear a smart outfit. You know, the usual.

Don’t focus on the wrong stuff. Worrying about what you look like is totally not important in this business. Write well. Just write well.