Last night I crossed 'Meet Neal Stephenson' off my Things to to before I die list (assuming I have such a list). He was on a tour for his latest creation of speculative fiction, Anathem. Things kicked off with a couple of short readings, and then it was time for the Q&A - which, naturally, ran too long because he is a GOD and everyone wants to know more about GOD.

• He writes his first draft in longhand with a fountain pen.
• His writing room is a nook in the basement of his house in Seattle.
• He occasionally meets up with other SF writers who live in Seattle because it's easier to be odd amongst others who are also odd.
• Eliza Peak and other minor details in Cryptonomicon were re-written for the final manuscript when he got the idea for The Baroque Cycle (he said he might be 'spoiling the magic' by saying so, but no).
• He considers The Baroque Cycle to be one book, when it is a series of three massive novels (because he said he'd only written "seven or eight" books).
• He tends to write fiction because he doesn't need to be fact-checked (i.e. he can lie).
• Writing only takes him a few hours in the morning, because he needs to go and do other work the rest of the day so he doesn't obsess over his writing and bury the good stuff in crap.
• He did not tell us the correct way to pronounce Qwghlm.
• He pinched the story of Jack Shaftoe being healed from his syphilis infection from a real-life Victorian explorer.
• He did not study how to write - he just practised a lot.
• He does not go to conferences about the Metaverse (i.e. places like Second Life) even when invited because finishing Snow Crash marked the end of his intense interest in virtual reality.

He also has a massive goatee beard, is extremely down-to-earth, and very well-spoken. If he wasn't already a superstar I would say he was destined for greatness.

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