When people assume that the personalities and struggles of the character are something you are/ must be facing.
That's only true in the most literal sense. I think we can all admit there's a huge difference between a 'writer' and someone who is striving to be. You're a writer when one of the major publishing houses accepts your novel. Applying your logic, I'm also a website designer, a photographer, a critic, a graphic designer, an illustrator... and, erm, a good-for-nothing bum!
As a game writer, I'm sick of hearing 'so you play video games for a living?'. The indescribable pain of it.
Seems overly limiting. There have been a handful of self-published authors who have sold more copies of their books than most traditionally-published authors, so why would they not be writers under a traditional house picks them up? There's no logic there. Also, what if you write short stories that you sell to markets. You'll never have a novel for a major publishing house to pick up. What if your novel is picked up by a smaller publishing house? And so on....
Everyone in my circle knows I hate my job. So it is not so much the "what do you do?" conversation as the, "well, what do you want to do instead?" When I say I am writing a novel its usually what they don't say that bothers me. They stare at me with pity and a little mockery and clear their throat or smile sadly or some other non verbal cue that makes me understand that this writing thing is just pure stupid in their practical little minds. I should want a nice steady job with benefits and a 401k. Not this "writing" business.
Fair point. I was being a little facetious and provocative there. I just don't buy the adage that one is a writer, just because they write. Put it this way, I think you can honestly declare yourself a writer once you're published. Until then you're hoping to be a writer. Do you tell people you're a singer, because you sing in the shower?
Yeah, makes sense. I've seen some people split hairs between an "author" and "writer," saying that everyone who writers is a writer, but unless you're published you're not an "author." Not sure that distinction makes a lot of sense, but I've seen it floated.
Similar to people who race vs ride their bikes around -- rider = ride around, cyclist = race. Funny one for me is people who call themselves HTML coders, given there are no coding constructs per se. meh. If someone who was born with a penis wants to be called and known as a woman, the whole, self-titled "writer" thing looks harmless at best.
Yeah, a writer is striving to be. If you are a writer you want to write for a living and are working towards it. Once you get published you are an actual Author.
Why would anyone even feel the need to put much thought into what makes a "real" writer? Because they are insecure in their own work and they need to feel validated by society giving them a fancy title?
Probably. I mean, a writer is a person who takes the time to sit down and write something. I don't care if it's just writing in your personal journal, you're a writer.
The same could be said for those who feel the need to title themselves thusly in the first place. Still prefer typist
Authors and Illustrators are just the one's who get paid, anybody who writes can be a writer and anybody who draws can be a drawer.
I didn't realize calling people on a writing forum "writers" would turn into such a big debate. I consider myself a writer because that is my only job, despite the fact that I'm not published. I'll be an author when I'm published. I also consider myself an artist, though I don't use it as a title like I do artist, because I get paid to draw/paint things for people. Technically, "writer" is defined as "a person who writes." So I don't really understand the argument here.
I've come to realize that on this forum half of the people want to shove and clearly define everything into categories and meanings and the other half does not.
