The WordPress/JetPack writing prompt for today is:
Which author would you love to have dinner with?

Again, this is one where I feel that I should have a banger of an answer, but I don’t think I do. I’ve never been much of a fanboy. There are authors that I’d love to meet (or loved to have met for the deceased ones). But I wouldn’t want to spend the night talking shop and I don’t know them well enough to know if they’d be (or I’d be) boring or insufferable if we didn’t talk shop. In an intimate dinner setting, social anxiety would kill me.

But still… I’ll list a few I’d love to spend an evening with and why.

The first name that comes to mind is Dorothy Parker. I don’t know that I would be worthy to sit at the same table as a woman of such renowned wit but if there was a crowd, it would be fun to watch her interact with the others.

And then there’s Terry Pratchett. I’ve read more of his books than any other author (about 40 of the 42 discworld books). He was that perfect balance of being a brilliant humourist and an organized, punctual creator – not an easy or common combination.

The only living person on this list would be Aaron Sorkin. I’ve learned so much about writing dialogue by watching his works (the TV shows Sports Night, The West Wing, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, and The Newsroom along with movies like The American President and A Few Good Men). I feel that I define plot by dialogue, and this is something that I think he’d understand.

Sorkin has almost been as influential on me as Frank Herbert, my last choice. He’s the writer who has probably affected my storytelling the most, not just because of the original Dune trilogy but also some of his other stories, particularly The Dragon in the Sea, Whipping Star, and its sequel the Dosadi Experiment (The latter two being the main stories told in the ConSentiency universe).

If I ever were to write fan fiction, it would probably be in either the Dune universe or in the ConSentiency universe. So I suppose it would be interesting to talk to him, especially where we share themes in our writings (religion plays a substantial role in both). However, I have a feeling that depending when within his career I was dining with him, I might be disappointed.

And that would be enough socializing for me for a year or two!