What’s interesting, because I saw an Orson Scott Card boksigning, where OSC was, you know signing books, and the signee was saying that he admired OSC and wanted to be a writer.
OSC looked up at him. “Do you write?”
Signee looked confused “well, yeah.”
OSC went back to signing. “Ok then, so you’re a writer.”
By that definition every literate person is a writer, and the term loses its usefulness in language.
There was a more subtle subtext, maybe I’m not quoting it well. As in, if you are currently writing, in the sense of prose and not bad checks, then you are a writer whether or not you are published.
I’m a wannabe writer who doesn’t write, but I don’t go around calling myself a writer either. Once I’ve eBayed off the clothes I’ve had in storage I won’t even have an excuse to not be writing anymore. I feel crappy when I hear stories about writers who were single mothers, worked 2 jobs, and wrote their novel during the 30 minutes they had free during the day. I’m lucky enough that I don’t have to work - I could write all day every day if I wanted … and I don’t.
Well-meaning stranger: So what do you do for a living?
Me: I shop
We’re storing it up.
Hell, I’d even take the smackdown from Ray Bradbury! faints
You don’t know the half of it. She simply won’t stop talking about her novel, even though it’s become embarrassingly obvious that she has no real intention of writing it.
She’s quite open about the fact that she hasn’t actually written anything. It’s baffling, really.
I don’t have the time at the moment to go through all the replies here and reply in turn to some of them (uh oh, an excuse!), but I will. I find this topic fascinating.
Because I consider myself a writer. And I don’t write. Er, I haven’t, much. Lots of reasons/excuses, as anyone in the same boat will tell you. But I’m a deeply introspective person and I cannot lie to myself, no matter how hard I try, so maybe I could help explain some of what happens deep inside? It’s what I can offer.
I’ll be brief. For me it was because it was what I always wanted to be, and I think like a storyteller. I’m not a positive person, this is as close as I’ve come to “positive thinking.” It was because it was what my father wanted most for me, and what I wanted to do to make him proud of me. It was because, to me, a (professional) writer had a job I really admired and I admire the blend of skills and talents it takes to be successful at writing, and I want people to admire me in that same way. I want to convey the notion that I have those same skills (someone earlier mentioned it being an artsy and sensitive thing to appear to be).
I don’t write, mainly, because I’m terrified of finding out I’m not any good at it. I’ve lived my entire life with the idea that this was what I was going to do because this is who I am, and to find out I’m a hack would be a big problem for me. For a long time I thought, without realizing or understanding it, that it was better for me to think I could write and never know for sure, than to try and fail, and know without a doubt I wasn’t up for it. I’ve never allowed myself the opportunity to fail and learn from failure. This attitude cost me more than any other I’ve ever had. I don’t write because I’m lazy (I’d be stuck trying to think of a way to be any lazier than I am), and because I’m pessimistic. I don’t write because I don’t have any passion in my life.
I’m fixing it all. I’ve been writing in what time I could find of late, but I kick myself because I always think I’m not trying hard enough. Real writers stay up all night and shun their friends and family and their lives for their craft. I don’t. Maybe I can’t, but I’m trying to do it my way. Hope this wasn’t as incoherent as it felt, hope it helped a little.
Most people aren’t any good at it. The vast majority of people, I’d say. But you certainly won’t get better by not writing at all. I think a good rule of thumb is that you have to go through one million words of crap before you start to get to anything worthwhile. That’s a lot of trunk novels and notebooks full of scribbling that nobody should ever see. It’s worth it, though.
Yeah, but the life you think you should have really isn’t that fun. I currently teach part time, go to grad school full time, and have another part time job. That means I work some 60 hours a week, and find writing time around that. Which means I only sleep about 4-5 hours a night (that’s a big sacrifice for me, I prefer 10), I never go out with my husband, I have no friends, and my sister misses me something awful. I wouldn’t trade it because I’m like a junkie and I’m addicted to my stories (and my writing partner), but sometimes I really do wish I could just take a weekend off and not feel guilty, or out-of-sorts, or weird, or anxious. But you don’t have to be neurotic to be a full-time writer, and if you’re currently balancing everything to your satisfaction, you should keep at it. If you write 2000 words/day, you’ll have the first draft of a novel in 2 months. That’s really not too shabby.
That’s probably my number one fear. For most of my life I’ve chosen to believe that I might be a great writer rather than find out that I’m an average writer, or worse, a bad writer.
To go even deeper, I think the root of my problem is that a portion of my self-esteem is predicated on this hope. “Well, I suck at X, but I’m probably a really good writer, so I’m not a complete waste of skin.”
Upon reflection, I think this is an insanely unhealthy way of looking at oneself. If your self-esteem is based on a hope rather than some kind of concrete skill or trait, of course you’re going to go out of your way to protect that hope – even if it means avoiding all situations that might cast doubt upon it (like actually writing and getting feedback and criticism).
As I’ve grown up and become a more well-rounded person, I care less about being a great writer, but paradoxically I write more than I ever have, and I’m getting better.
I guess you have to care more about writing than being a Writer. If you love to tell stories and put your ideas on paper, then who gives a fuck-all if you’re a “good writer”? If you have something to express, then work toward the goal of expressing it as clearly and skillfully as possible. If you are doing this, then you have earned the right to call yourself a writer. Greatness is elusive and intangible – even if you’re successful, people will disagree about your level “greatness”. There are folks who think Hemingway is a hack. And writers like John Kennedy Toole never lived to see their work appreciated.
I’m starting to think of myself as a writer. I used to be one of those wannabe novelists who didn’t actually write.
Well, except for the journalism and the published short stories and the anthologised poetry (see, I can’t even fake it that I was a published poet, because it was an anthology of several writers.)
But I’ve written.
More importantly I’ve edited. Gone back and looked at the stuff and polished it and honed it and got advice from trusted readers, like my old editor.
I’m currently doing the rounds of rejections (which are uniformly encouraging while saying it’s not for them) and each rejection makes me reach for google and find the next viable place to send the MS to.
I believe that one day, and it may be years away, I’ll have my series of books on the shelf and the occasional cheque in the bank.
Because I’m actively working towards that goal, I’m a writer.
Hi there, writer!
Seriously, I think that you’re being just a leetle bit touchy. Nobody was saying that writing had to be fiction, or that figuring out characters or plot was an essential part of all writing. (In fact, there are posts that do lean the other way, that it’s an incidental even for novelists.) As a journalist, you compose words into original sentences and paragraphs - that makes you a writer, and in my opinion,
a fortunate one for getting a bit of money out of your craft.
As for me, I’m another who would be much more likely to tell people ‘I write’ than ‘I am a writer.’
See Dave Gorman’s show, where he describes travelling around the World rather than actuakky sit down and write the novel he was contracted to.
Apocryphal story involving Peter Cook (or Noel Coward or Stephen Fry depending on who’s telling it):
He was at a party and one of the other guests dropped into conversation that he was writing a novel.
To which he responded: “Oh really? Neither am I.”
When I’m at the office working for other people, or doing something else I don’t feel like doing, I think about how I’d rather be at home working on my very own neato keen writing projects.
Then, when I’m at my keyboard at home, with free time and nobody telling me what to do. . . almost anything seems easier and more tempting than really digging in and trying to make progress at getting vague ideas down on paper in coherent form. Lots of good ideas; producing an actual finished project is where I’m lacking.
Go in a large bookstore, and you’ll see tons of stuff that’s almost irredeemable crap, yet apparently somebody has been paid money for it. All these folks have one thing in common: they finish their crappy books. The hard truth is that Dean R. Koontz is a real (bad) writer, and I’m not.
So, I don’t go around telling people I’m a writer, but I think I’d that once I get to the point where I’m consistently finishing stories, screenplays, or novels, regardless of whether they’re ever professionally published, I’d be justified in using that description.
Bradbury’s something else. I think he said he wrote over a million words before publishing anything; just kept pounding away, producing a lot of crap as he gradually found his narrative voice and learned how to construct stories. That’s a writer, all right.
Oh, I wasn’t being defensive, or at least didn’t mean to come off that way. It was just sort of an academic discussion of the differences and similarities between the two sides of the coin.
I’ve been invited to teach a newswriting course at the local community college next year. One of the things I warned the administration about is that if I’m teaching those kids to write I’ll insist that they WRITE. Every damn class. And if they can’t get a story ready in an hour-fifteen by the end of the term they won’t pass.
I’d like to write TV or movie scripts, rather than novels or non-fiction, but I work better as a co-writer.
In the past, all the things I’ve completed writing have been motivated by having a second person working with me in some capacity, be it co-writing, or they’ve set a firm due date for me; something that inspires and forces me to knuckle down.
Plus, sharing ideas, or having a sounding board you trust, is a great way to work through some knotty issues you may have. It’s a great way to work, and I really miss having that kind of working environment.
As Billy Joel put it: “Paul is a real estate novelist”
I work in real estate, and we once had “Paul” working here. He was writing the great American novel. He had given a outline to a major publisher who was sure it was going to be a hit and would publish it as soon as “Paul” finished writing it. So why wasn’t “Paul” doing it? Because “Paul” didn’t know how to type!
“Paul” died without writing a novel.
I have good ideas for stories and I know I can write. But I can’t handle rejection, so it stays a dream. But I do recognize that.
I had an idea for a series of novels about 40 years ago. The narrator would be the sidekick and would tell the adventures of the hero from the narrator’s point of view.
I named the hero and had a few plot lines sketched out.
Never did any more though.
So, according to your friend… I’m a writer! :eek: 
:smack: