# I read a fiction novel, and I am convinced the author knows who I am **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 16, 2023, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-a-fiction-novel-and-i-am-convinced-the-author-knows-who-i-am/984109 "2023-05-16T03:52:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2023, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-a-fiction-novel-and-i-am-convinced-the-author-knows-who-i-am/984109/61 "2023-05-17T23:28:02Z")
The closest I’ve come is to the some of the backstory of the character Randy in Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon. The section on chasing dust devils in an area quite near to where I lived as a kid was particularly close. Plus some of the later stuff regarding cryptography. I hung out with some of the key people in PKE back in the day. OTOH, the Philipines/gold stuff is way off the mark. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2023, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-a-fiction-novel-and-i-am-convinced-the-author-knows-who-i-am/984109/62 "2023-05-17T23:52:37Z")
Any ~~kid~~ boy who grew up where dust devils were common chased the heck out of 'em at every opportunity. Now whether that was across urban parking lots or hardpan open desert varies a bunch, but you get the idea. Many experiences aren’t world-wide universal, but are certainly locally near-universal. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2023, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-a-fiction-novel-and-i-am-convinced-the-author-knows-who-i-am/984109/63 "2023-05-18T00:11:19Z")
OK, your post just weirded me out, and I’m trying to figure out if you did it knowingly and/or deliberately… ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2023, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-a-fiction-novel-and-i-am-convinced-the-author-knows-who-i-am/984109/64 "2023-05-18T01:26:11Z")
Neither, I swear! I just picked someone from my past to use as an example. Now, if you happened to be a Phi Sig, you’ll notice I used Jeff’s hometown of Chagrin Falls (was JR from there, too?) just because it’s a cool name, and Chucko wasn’t my roommate. Though I do miss Chucko… but the word on the street is that he died. Unless you’re Chucko!!! ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2023, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-a-fiction-novel-and-i-am-convinced-the-author-knows-who-i-am/984109/65 "2023-05-18T01:36:16Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > > [@Michael\_Varn](#): > > > > It’s interesting to me that at the end of the closeing credits of every single movie ever made in the USA, there is a legal disclaimer. > > > > To paraphrase: > > > > “Any similarity to any real events or real people, living or dead, depicted in this film is purely and entirely coincidental.” > > > > Can we agree that this is not always true? > > Every single movie? I’m not a lawyer, but I have a feeling that all the movies that are based on real people and real events do not carry this disclaimer. Nearly all of them do, even if they’re based on real people, there are people added to the movie for dramatic purposes. If they make up a name, someone with that name – even if not part of history – might take it upon themselves to sue. It’s been boilerplate since 1932, when MGM was sued for portraying Russian nobles in _Rasputin and the Empress._ There are a handful of exceptions, usually for comic or political effect, but nearly all the time, the disclaimers are on the film. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2023, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-a-fiction-novel-and-i-am-convinced-the-author-knows-who-i-am/984109/66 "2023-05-18T19:50:09Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Side note: @Tibby, why are you trying so hard to hide the fact that you’re Tibby Welcomer from Wauwatosa, who I spent nine days with on our “Let’s take a raft down the Mississippi” scouting trip? > > All those facts, like that you grew up over 2000 miles from there, isn’t fooling anyone… Hmm, that does kind of ring a bell. But, as I recall, it was the Chattooga River. And, I must say, you play a mean banjo! 🪕 🐖 ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2023, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-a-fiction-novel-and-i-am-convinced-the-author-knows-who-i-am/984109/67 "2023-05-18T20:54:48Z")
Long as neither of you has a purty mouth I predict this will all end OK. ;grin: ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2023, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-a-fiction-novel-and-i-am-convinced-the-author-knows-who-i-am/984109/68 "2023-05-18T23:51:54Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Any ~~kid~~ boy who grew up where dust devils were common chased the heck out of 'em at every opportunity. > **[He's outta there! Umpire rushes to rescue 7-year-old catcher caught in sudden...](https://www.usatoday.com/videos/news/have-you-seen/2023/05/16/quick-thinking-umpire-rescues-kid-caught-dust-devil/11878561002/)** > > The 7-year-old catcher got caught in a dust devil behind home plate when the quick-thinking umpire jumped in and pulled him out. ---
**Author:** ![Blindmellowjelly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindmellowjelly/32/13920_2.png) [@Blindmellowjelly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blindmellowjelly)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2023, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-a-fiction-novel-and-i-am-convinced-the-author-knows-who-i-am/984109/69 "2023-05-21T04:29:43Z")
I am diagnosed Schizoaffective, and have always grappled with the unlikely, yet ploetzlich. My first admission, into the hospital, I was carrying on intimate conversations with the TV. Everything was enigmatic and inverse, I had gone beyond the looking glass. But, i have found that there is a more than likely chance that because of my 6 degrees, I have influenced the gestalt. For instance, within the last 3 years I have gotten into the Big Bang Theory in reruns. Now I look back on my influence here in it’s heyday, and know there were writers drawing on the “nobel nerds” here. Highly likely. Directly, or indirectly. I even accused my Comedian feiend of using me as a bit for his writing gig on beavis and butthead back in the early nineties, went in the institution because of that, thought I was Beavis. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2023, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-a-fiction-novel-and-i-am-convinced-the-author-knows-who-i-am/984109/70 "2023-05-21T08:52:58Z")
> [@Michael\_Varn](#): > > She was actually shocked at how popular the song became, and threatened to sue the band for useing her name in the song! > > She even filed a restraining order against one of the band members because she feared she was being stalked! I’m not sure why I’m correcting anything in this thread, but this is not true. No threats to sue, no restraining order. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2023, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-a-fiction-novel-and-i-am-convinced-the-author-knows-who-i-am/984109/71 "2023-05-21T15:05:50Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Now the OP would be really impressed if your author had used the name of an actual local person from your town for the victim and for the killer and then the bok-named victim had actually turned up dead IRL. > > In which case the local police chief should probably interview both the book’s killer and the book’s author; they’re probably in cahoots. 😉 Or, perhaps, the author wrote their own confession! [https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna33339](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna33339) ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2023, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-a-fiction-novel-and-i-am-convinced-the-author-knows-who-i-am/984109/72 "2023-05-21T18:43:48Z")
In the biggest coincidence ever, some guy dropped a short script off at my house for some reason. The lead character had my name, and even my age right. Bizarre. It was too short to be a movie, but maybe it was a short story. The title was “Notice to Appear”. I threw it out. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2023, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-a-fiction-novel-and-i-am-convinced-the-author-knows-who-i-am/984109/73 "2023-05-21T18:54:51Z")
Wasn’t Dilbert one of the first to put his website on the strip? That would be how some of his situations seemed real. I think the messages his fans sent him about their office politics might be funnier than the strips he turned them into. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Varn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michael_varn/32/14411_2.png) [@Michael\_Varn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Varn)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2023, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-a-fiction-novel-and-i-am-convinced-the-author-knows-who-i-am/984109/74 "2023-05-23T18:13:29Z")
This premise would make for a really good horror movie! Story treatment: A well known fiction author is a serial killer. He selects his female victims when they show up to meet him at his book signings, where the first act begins. Then, the author does detailed biographical research on the victims he has selected, learning intimate details about their lives; the good times, and the bad. The author knows that his intended targets will read any future novel that he publishes. So, he begins to stalk them vicariously through fictional characters that he has created, putting these characters through the exact same life experiences of the readers he is trying to reach. But what is most concerning to the readers that he has targeted, is that these characters are all murdered, or reported missing at the end. What happens next is that the element of fear has now entered the picture. These women are convinced that they are being stalked by the author, but as you might expect, nobody believes them. It is obviuosly just a coincidence right? Their fear is unwarranted, and is just a product of an overactive imagination. Besides, all of these themes and scenarios with fictional characters have already been depicted by this author in past novels before they ever showed up to a book signing. Now, at least temporarily, these women breath a collective sigh of relief. The second act in this movie is about how all of these women meet and come together. This is done through book clubs with online networking and message boards, because these women are located in different parts of the country. They all share their stories with one another, and quickly discover what they have in common. Via the echo chamber of social media, they are all now convinced that they are being stalked by the same author, through his published works. They all decide to meet at a secluded location which they believe to be near the hometown of the author, with the intent of presenting their findings to law enforcement, but the police don’t believe them. The idea of an author stalking people via published works is absurd. Now, if they had a handwritten letter through snail mail from the author with direct threats, that’s a different story. The women are still concerned, but the police convince them that their lives are in no immediate danger, and take no further action. They are wrong! Once the author is certain that his intended victims have read the novels, and are presumed frightened by them, he begins to track their movements, and is delighted to learn that they have all convened at one location not far away. The author makes his way to their location, with plans to arrive at night. The third act in the movie begins when the women hear a news story about a murder in town, and the only evidence that the police have discovered is a copy of a novel written by the author in question laying next to the body. The police can’t figure it out, so they enlist the help of the FBI, including profilers, and a forensic psychiatrist to make since of the crime scene, and to figure out how the novel is the key to solving the case! The movie concludes when all of the principle characters meet up at the secluded location. The problem for the women is, is that the author has arrived first. Later, the forensic psychiatrist solves the case, and by putting all the peices together, he knows the women are the next targets. They are now in a race agianst time! Can they get to the secluded area on time? Or will they be too late? The rest plays out like a formulaic slasher film. He kills the women one by one with some kind of cutting tool, including a few of their male companions! Yes! You can’t have a story like this without a steamy sex scene! The author is wearing mask. And now we have the final girl! In a fight, the final girl rips off the authors mask! She screams,“Why?” The author reveals everything! The author tells the final girl that the woman that was murdered earlier was part of their book club, and was on her way to meet them. In the nick of time, the police and the FBI arrive. The forensic psychiatrist fires several shots at the author, killing him, and saving the life of the final girl. Finally, it is revealed that there has never been a published author who has used his work to set the stage for murder! The End. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2023, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-a-fiction-novel-and-i-am-convinced-the-author-knows-who-i-am/984109/75 "2023-05-23T23:01:01Z")
> [@Michael\_Varn](#): > > The rest plays out like a formulaic slasher film. > > He kills the women one by one with some kind of cutting tool, including a few of their male companions! If I’d been part of such a group, it would have long since occured to me that the killer might try this, and we would all have been extremely ready for him. Seems to me that any group of women smart enough to have figured out this odd premise in the first place would have been smart enough to prevent its working out in anything remotely like your proposed fashion. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-a-fiction-novel-and-i-am-convinced-the-author-knows-who-i-am/984109.md?page=3)