You’re sitting at the breakfast table one morning, looking at the top news stories while drinking your coffee. The top story this morning is a crazy fan who was arrested for breaking into a local bookstore and stealing all of YOUR books! He’s quoted as saying “I just want to be their best friend!” Your first crazed fan. What do you do?
I found this prompt on writersdigest.com. I set myself a time limit of 30 minutes. This is the story I wrote:
I woke up on a Sunday morning and drearily headed for the kitchen. Recently, my first novel had been published and I had been overwhelmed with joy. However, as the weeks went by, it was not exactly flying off the shelves.
I made myself some instant coffee and sat down to read the paper. It made the front page: Kayley Black’s Debut Novels Stolen by Crazed Fan. I began to read furiously. A young man, who after reading Graveyard Smash, loved it so much that he stole all the copies from the local book store. He was quoted as saying “I just want to be their best friend!” The insane man explained that he wanted to be surrounded by perfection because there was so little of it left in the world.
Needless to say, I was shocked by the story. I wanted people to appreciate my work, but not in this scenario! I pondered if it would be worth while to react publicly. I thought it would be best if I talked it over with my literary agent before proceeding. We reached the conclusion that this was a local incident, and consequently, I was to provide a brief interview on a local news station. Larger networks would be permitted to air the interview if they desired.
I told the reporter my true thoughts on the event: “I’m flattered he liked my novel, but I want it to be for the world, not an individual. In my opinion, not only did he rob the book store and myself, but also anyone who could have potentially read those copies.” My interview received mixed reviews. Some people responded by saying, as the author, how could I have responded any other way? Some said I was immodest and over-valued my own work.
Regardless of the interview, sales of Graveyard Smash had skyrocketed within the week. I was reminded of the saying “all publicity is good publicity”. The man who started it all came to his senses, and was released from jail contingent on payment to the store for damages. Luckily, not everything went back to normal. My novels continued to sell like hotcakes, receive positive reviews and I gave more interviews, which went immeasurably better than the first.
Witch of the Meadow 