You can read my writing, but do you have to read me?

What exactly is an author, to the world? Each one has a public persona, which is inevitably linked to how much of themselves they put into their writing. Emily Dickinson's poetry is often highly autobiographical, with her admitting in one poem that it is her 'letter to the world', and John Cheever often has characters in his stories who have traits commonly associated with him, such as alcohol and depression. To an extent, knowing this can detract from the narrative and cause the reader to over-examine it for signs of the author.

Sometimes, a text is about something so far from the author's own life that to bring themselves into it would lessen its brilliance. Bronte's Wuthering Heights, for instance, is about dark, mysterious characters with wild passions and extreme hatreds, while the author herself was, from most available accounts, a very genteel, sheltered young lady. It is her incredible exploration of these characters that has made the novel stand out among others of the same period, and is the reason it is still enjoyed today.

But an author's public visibility is more than just how much of them you can see in their writing, it's also how much of them you see outside of it. Writers like Terry Pratchett, who frequently feature in news articles and put their opinions and personal lives on display, can bring something extra to the table that makes readers admire them. Similarly, many of my favourite writers work in multiple formats. Because of that, I have gained and become attached to a vivid image of, say, Neil Gaiman, from the various projects he has been involved with.

Terry Pratchett, discussing his Alzheimer's in an interview.