Ford avoided repetition not only of the work of others, but also of his own work. Where many Writers make a name for themselves by developing a known style that repeats in many books, Ford always surprised with his ability to use a variety of styles that best suited the world, characters, and situations he had chosen to write about. (John Clute expressed this in 1993 The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction as "Two decades into his career, there remains some sense that JMF remains unwilling or unable to create a definitive style or mode; but his originality is evident, a shifting feisty Energy informs almost everything he writes, and that career is still young.") This might have limited his readership, however he was much respected by his fellow Writers, editors, critics and fans. Robert Jordan, Ford's lifelong close friend, called Ford "the best Writer in America – bar none." Neil Gaiman called Ford "my best critic … the best Writer I knew." Patrick Nielsen Hayden said "Most normal people had the slight sense that something large and super-intelligent and trans-human had sort of flown over ... There would be a point where basically the plot would become so knotted and complex he would lose all of us."