Comments on PaulCornell.com: The 12 Blogs of Christmas: Six. On Being Starstruc...

I think we should call being starstruck 'the C...

2011-12-22T07:03:01.683Z

I think we should call being starstruck 'the China syndrome'.

Loved reading this, it brought back fond memories ...

2011-12-21T12:54:40.097Z

Loved reading this, it brought back fond memories of our chat in the bar at Bristolcon. Nice to see I'm not the only one who suffers from the China effect. I almost typed in China Syndrome then, but caught myself just in time.

And hooray for the coat return!

I didn't even consider musicians. There are qu...

2011-12-21T09:38:59.674Z

I didn't even consider musicians. There are quite a few I'd have trouble talking to, I think. And cricketers, though I did okay in my brief chat with Sir Viv Richards.

I'm usually OK with writers and actors, unless...

2011-12-21T08:04:23.196Z

I'm usually OK with writers and actors, unless they're Nick Courtney (every time I met him, I saluted. It was Pavlovian and humiliating). I was quite starstruck around Nicola Bryant, but that faded around the moment she started shouting something about Brian Blessed's sperm.

I think because I do a bit of acting, and a lot of writing, it's given me the confidence to view writers and actors as people who do what I do on a greatly superior scale, rather than people who are from a completely different Universe.

Having said that, put me next to a rock star and watch my vague articulacy melt away. I bumped into Richard Ashcroft in the pub this year, and only the fact that Roger McGough was laughing at me from his corner restored the power of speech to the point where we were able to have a crushingly awkward 20 seconds of conversation until I could run back to my pint. There's a photo of me standing next to the Manics' Sean Moore looking utterly terrified.

Steve: my instant reaction to Mike Carey is also t...

2011-12-20T08:07:38.257Z

Steve: my instant reaction to Mike Carey is also to try and hug him. I think he's just very huggable. 'He's behind me, isn't he?' Tony: aww!

Oops, wrong Marjorie. Well, no of course you'r...

2011-12-19T13:31:28.325Z

Oops, wrong Marjorie. Well, no of course you're not the wrong Marjorie. You're quite right to be the very Marjorie you are. But you're not the one I thought you were. I assumed it was Marjorie Liu who posted. My embarrassment is vast.

By brother in law was too star-stuck by you to tal...

2011-12-19T12:50:42.340Z

By brother in law was too star-stuck by you to talk to you.

At our wedding.

At which he was the gobby Master of Ceremonies....

The two times I met/had things signed by Neil Gaim...

2011-12-19T10:08:41.198Z

The two times I met/had things signed by Neil Gaiman were the worst one for me, I don't think I did anything but laugh too much and ask stupid questions; I'm quite relieved that whenever I've met other people I haven't dissolved into a giggling, inane blob that then runs away, very quickly.

I do have a friend who loves Mike Carey so much that her instant reaction is to try and hug him: I'm not sure who runs away from who in that situation (also I must admit that it was very strange to catch the same train as him coming back from FantasyCon and to have my wife point and mouth to me on the Tube from Victoria to Euston that Mike was standing right behind me - I have absolutely no idea why, but it felt almost like I was unintentionally stalking him).

Paul; Nervous I can(kind of ) understand. Starstru...

2011-12-19T09:45:32.692Z

Paul; Nervous I can(kind of ) understand. Starstruck not so much :-)
It's why I don't normally admit to it in social settings

I was at your Kaffeeklatch at BristolCon - I don't think you sensed it and got nervous.

Ha! They were probably urgghing sounds!

2011-12-19T08:26:13.790Z

Ha! They were probably urgghing sounds!

Darth: I'm so pleased you did. I'm always ...

2011-12-19T08:17:37.510Z

Darth: I'm so pleased you did. I'm always happy to be stopped while eating ice cream. Do say hello to Nicholas for me. (He's probably a surly teenager now.) Marjorie: I once asked Charlotte Church 'so what do you do?' (And she told me, without a moment's ego.) Drew: China's physically intimidating, which doesn't help. But he's really sweet, and makes fun of himself. Eddie: clamming up is, I think, cooler! Bristow: I was once given directions by Tom Baker, and was too shocked that it was him I'd turned round in the street to ask to say anything other than 'thank you'. Anon: I'm going to hear that phrase a lot now, aren't I? And I don't think intelligent questions are ever rude. (Though they're sometimes framed rudely!) Bill: that's a very welcome revelation, because I feel exactly the same way around you. And everyone at Eastercon. You'll have noted I get all singing all dancing in such company, to violently attempt to not be 'that comic guy' sneaking in. Who did you think this Marjorie might be? Mind you, I get nervous around solicitors. Rich: I should have added something about how actors like to be concretely told what to do and where to be, without polite options. I call up Alan sometimes, and he's very lovely, and highly sociable, but yeah, that's still scary. Heath: indeed, I remember it to this today. (No, not really!) Ian: were those urgghing sounds, or were you urging her to do something?

Bill, you don't need to worry abput speaking t...

2011-12-19T08:05:38.407Z

Bill, you don't need to worry abput speaking to me,(Unless you get starstruck around high-street solicitors) I'm not a writer!

It's the Jonathan Ross scenario, isn't it?...

2011-12-19T07:50:57.511Z

It's the Jonathan Ross scenario, isn't it? Does Jonathan Ross think 'Bloody Hell... I'm interviewing whoever it is [insert A-lister name]', or does he think 'Hey, I'm Jonathan Ross...'?

I get close to (or sometimes actually) physically sick with nerves if I have to ring someone for an interview ... Toyah was the worst, violent urging sounds were heard ... and she's lovely to talk to!

I have a feeling I burbled uselessly in your prese...

2011-12-18T23:54:55.046Z

I have a feeling I burbled uselessly in your presence while getting my Captain Britain trades signed at Worldcon in Melbourne last year.

I got a lot of starstruckness bashed out of me wri...

2011-12-18T22:50:51.764Z

I got a lot of starstruckness bashed out of me writing and directing radio ads. I just had to tell these people, these wonderful famous people what to do and say, or it just wouldn't get done.

Of course, in comics, there's always the possibility someone wants to punch me in the face. And twice in the stomach.

But whenever I came back from coventions I got emails from people saying they'd seen me and wanted to speak to me and didn't. And this is me, not like an actual in-any-way famous person. So before shows I post stuff like "if you want to say hello, please do, don't leave it to email." And I've never had a bad experience from it. And plenty of good ones.

Mind you having to phone Alan Moore up about something gave me the shits everytime. I felt like the man from Porlock. What thought did I spoil by calling in the middle of it?

I think I go the other way, Paul. I've not yet...

2011-12-18T22:39:24.102Z

I think I go the other way, Paul. I've not yet gotten starstruck in the few times I've met television or movie stars (Johnny Weissmuller did make me cry when I was three, but I don't think that counts. I didn't know about his Tarzan movies at the time and simply found him extremely scary). Actors are too far removed from what I do to be anything but fascinating aliens to me. And somehow that doesn't preclude being relaxed around them.

But I often (perhaps always) get starstruck around writers. I know it's a product of the very useful self doubt you spoke of, but I also suspect it's because I feel they have the shared experiences to be able to know and judge me and find me wanting. They know I didn't legitimately get into the club, but instead found a way to sneak in through the back door. Oddly enough, this even happens with writers I've helped get into the business. They've grown into something real, with real skills, talents and accomplishments, where I am still hoping to earn my way in someday.

With writers long established I get positively useless. I was once so panicked and distracted at meeting Orson Scott Card that I accidentally kidnapped him (Years later, at our second meeting, he very graciously forgave me, but I don't know -- there was that look in his eyes...).

One day I hope to have a completely relaxed conversation with you, and Marjorie, whom I see has posted above, and everyone else in our circle of professional friends and acquaintances, but I can't actually imagine it.

Ah, this is not only interesting and re-assuring, ...

2011-12-18T21:22:32.919Z

Ah, this is not only interesting and re-assuring, but also very practical. I now have a crib sheet at the ready should there be a possibility of meeting you at SFX: 'Hello, Paul, a pleasure to meet you, I really liked Knight and Squire and your stories in Action Comics as well as your work in Dr Who. What are you working on at the moment?'

I have only ever approached one famous person, a writer, and i launched straight into my questions about a situation in the story that i hadn't understood. You dealt very well with why the Dr could have been so ticked off with Rose for saving her dad, despite the vast difference in experience and knowledge between them.

It did immediately occur to me that my approach was rude and impertinent but it was already too late and it seemed ruder to exit stage left having started the conversation!

Thanks to you i'm now armed with a script for next time. i just need to be sure that you cannot under any circumstances mistake me for an actor. ani

Oh, this rings so true! Thankyou for sharing. (And...

2011-12-18T20:57:53.428Z

Oh, this rings so true! Thankyou for sharing. (And now I'm wondering just how much of an arse I've made of myself in my attempts to be reasonably normal in your presence, Good Sir. Didn't help that the first time we met I was in the middle of an extended anxiety attack *anyway*, but well, Proud Lion is just down the road and you were going to be RIGHT THERE, and...

So I suspect my outrageous cheekiness when we next crossed paths at Bristolcon was a case of overcompensation. Or maybe that's just a feeble excuse. Ho hum.

I have on tape somewhere an interview I conducted with Cliff Richard (before he acquired the "Sir"), for a student radio station. In I bustled with my tape recorder, shook the interviewee's hand, let him lead me to an out-of-the way corner for the recording, checked my levels, and rolled the tape. First question: Clear, confident, no problems at all.

Cliff's answer is about 2 minutes long. By the end of which time, of course, I've stopped fussing over the tape recorder and trying to memorise the list of questions off of my pad, and actually looked him in the eye, and *taken it all in*...

The second question is a very stuttering little squeak. Amazing that he made it out all, actually. Or maybe he didn't - the tangentiality of his answer might indicate he was politely giving a stop-gap answer to give me time to re-compose myself. =:o} But it gets gradually better after that.

Still, having survived an entire two-sentence encounter with Tom Baker (in which I had the audacity to mention God, of all things! How to trigger an instant and forceful diversion of topic from the man...), I'm hopeful I can cope, in at least some sense, with whatever lesser gods may cross my path in future. =:o}

I share your feeling of being Starstruck, but for ...

2011-12-18T19:08:00.812Z

I share your feeling of being Starstruck, but for me it has just been an extreme form of what I feel to some extent when trying to converse with anyone socially. My reaction is usually to clam up rather than to wibble though.

Oh gods yes. There is, as yet, only one author wh...

2011-12-18T18:49:34.513Z

Oh gods yes.

There is, as yet, only one author who does this to me; early exposure to reasonably famous and wealthy people convinced me they were as human as the rest of us.

This completely fails to be remembered when I meet China Miéville. At this point I revert to being about five, and feel like I should hide behind things in case he looks at me. China's a lovely guy; I've interviewed him, had at least one lengthy conversation, and so on, and yet it keeps on happening.

I get this too - except that I have really poor fa...

2011-12-18T18:25:02.770Z

I get this too - except that I have really poor facial recognition skills so it can hit me half way through a conversation when I suddenly put 2 + 2 together and start going *urk*.

(I have to say, you do a pretty good job of defusing this reaction in others, yourself)

It must be very hard to be constantly on the receiving end.

Love hearing that you get starstruck yourself. It...

2011-12-18T17:56:52.234Z

Love hearing that you get starstruck yourself. It reminded me of our own starstruck experience with you at Phoenix Comicon this past summer. My 12-year old son Nicholas and I had been to your panels, and enjoyed them immensely. We (him especially!) wanted to meet you and say how much we appreciated your work. But alas, every time we made it down to your table in the vendor's room, you were out running amuck.

Finally, on the last day, the last thing we did was stop at your table, only to find a note that you'd already left. Nicholas was very sad indeed. A short time later, we were at the hotel waiting for our car to be brought 'round, and suddenly you strolled by with an ice cream cone. We had a quick debate as to whether to let you enjoy your ice cream in peace, or whether to bother you and say hi. Obviously, the "MOM-MOM-MOM-OHMYGOSH-MOM-IT'S-PAUL-CORNELL-AND-WE-HAVE-TO-SAY-HI-BECAUSE-HE'S-STANDING-OVER-THERE-RIGHT-BEHIND-US-AND-IT'S-PAUL-CORNELL" won out. Once we approached you, our mouths ran dry and I began to stutter and my son couldn't do anything but grin cheesily. Of course, you were gracious and kind and posed for a picture with Nicholas. He was on air for several hours afterwards, and still talks about meeting you. His fellow Whovian schoolmates are very impressed. :)