Do you look like a writer?

Not that there's a certain look for a writer, but do you think you look like one? I just got glasses for the first time and my lover said, "Now, you look like a writer." I know it was just a silly comment and probably cliche on top of it, but it sort of got me thinking about what we presume writers to look like. Do you have the look or how would you describe the look of a character who's a writer? This is totally just for fun, but often times people or characters have professions that line up with their appearance. If not a writer, what sort of profession might someone guess you have?

 

I don't think I do but nor is anyone surprised when they find out I am one. I think it answers a few questions they have about my overall demeanor and explains it to them. But people don't assume that about me.

 

Tired, burned out from deadlines and stressed by low pay... yes I look like a writer.

 

Nuh, I usually look like I own the first prize-winning cabbage patch of the county. Except for events with a dress code or dates - then I have to fit myself into something fancy.

A lot of my favorite writers didn't quit their day jobs, they looked like common doctors, teachers, journalists etc., so I think it totally depends on the person's background and personality. I go with the same principle for my characters. A former fisherman? Politician? Outlaw? That's what would build their image.

 

I used to wear glasses, but I had the lenses in both eyes replaced, so no longer do.

I look like a 90s computer programmer - because that's what I am really. I suppose I might look like a writer of certain types of fiction.

 

I'm not sure what, if anything, a writer is supposed to look like, but I don't think I'm it. There seems to be a consensus of opinion that I look a bit like a musician or an artist—the latter of which I am, to some extent. If you ask me, I look like I could be just about anything, from accountant to cage fighter, by way of yarn & knitting paraphernalia vendor. Fairly nondescript, face-in-the-crowd sort of... well, face. An unusually handsome crowd, I mean. My clothes are bland and suggest nothing about the person underneath, except of course that he's an apathetic dresser who just happens to look great in anything.

 

Never judge a book by its cover, or so they say

 

My avatar is my high school graduation photo, so I'll let you decide.

 

This thread made me wander if I should actually do something about my look. Unfortunately, most of sites I came across can be divided in two categories: pages that begin with 'never judge a book by its cover' followed by a fat report on how the authors went to a stylist and the wonderful impact it had on their life, or 'fashion help' pages that in fact can be replaced with a big flashing banner saying 'Waste all your money here!'. Nope. Back to my plaids.

 

Well I figure if a writer has a certain look, it follows their personality. If you look wacky and eccentric it's not because you're a writer, it's because you're a wacky eccentric.

 

I don't.

We have a lot of students that HATE academics, whereas I teach trade, and so I told the academic literacy teacher that he can use me for an example because students tend to gravitate to our side of the school. In short, trade teachers have a lot of persuasion with these kids, and so letting them know that I have written books is great for them to know because it makes writing cool.

But no one would ever suspect me of being a writer...EVER, but I use that element of surprise to my advantage.

 

I agree. I just find it odd how a fine phrase was used in texts, claiming the opposite.

 

I have been told that I look like G. R. R. Martin, by people who happen to know both of us personally. But that was before I shaved off most of my beard to accommodate a COVID mask.

The scholarly fellow with glasses (and if male, facial hair) is a common stereotype in film and television. But if I had to describe the "look" of a writer, I would define that as the look of a person whose mind is elsewhere sometimes, wrestling with a rhyme or a plot point or the perfect way to express something, instead of engaging in the present moment. They don't live in that state of mind all the time, of course; they can be great conversationalists and interviewees. But there are those moments where they seem to disconnect from the environment, because something in their minds is calling them.

 

If I can be intolerably contrarian for a moment, many artistic movements from history indicate that writers are best when they are the exact opposite - the Romanticist movement brought us the likes of Joseph Warton, Walter Scott, Laurence Sterne and the Brontes, and these were all studious characters deeply engaged with everything going on around them. These writers even began the movement of travel as aa sense of holiday and adventure - they sought out experiences in order to write about them, because if you're not engaged with the world around you, what is there to write about?

For me, a brilliant writer's mind is fully engaged in almost every moment, and those calculations made to express something - an encounter, a conversation, a view - with beauty and clarity is concurrent with their interests and passion.

Charles Dickens is one of the best examples I can think of. He used his powers of observation honed as a journalist to create the iconic and beliavable characters in his works and bring to public attention the evils of the Victorian age. How nany other famous writers began their careers as judges, clerks, journalists, whose passion in life was intense observation and interest in human behaviour.

And I have always been taught myself that good writing comes from observing everything around you. Overhearing a conversation on a bus, listening to the sough of wind in the boughs, the babble of a brook or the liquid birdsong of a forest in spring - these are all things that you can only fully appreciate when you are switched on to everything happening around you. One of the best pieces of writing advice I was given early on was to switch off Fall Out Boy and listen to the real world ...

Anyway that was really long and probably got way too sidetracked but I think writers shouldn't be distracted and disengaged but the complete opposite.

 

I don't look like a writer. I'm not actually calling myself a writer because I'm a learner compared with folks here.

I'm an English teacher in my own country and I'm often told I look like the quintessential English teacher!

My students tell me if they saw me in the street and didn't know me, they could tell I'm an English teacher. I don't know why!

 

Of course I look like writer, I even got the hat.

In reality, I am just a tall jawa with glasses, a pony tail, pierced ears, and clean shaven.
Also, I don't typically wear hats, so this has been a rare sighting.
Not too sure what profession I look like I belong too...

 

If glasses mark the writer as such, then yes. Otherwise no. For I am a potato. Not even a fancy potato. Just a raw potato in a field.

 

I am pretty sure I do not look like a writer. But I write, I promise!

 

I've got medical wrist supports due to overuse of the computer keyboard. Does that make me a writer? I suppose so. It's probably more accurate than the trope wood-panelled study mahogany writing desk with typewriter and bookish glasses resting on the end of the nose as the writer pores over research and types or writes with an expensive pen.

 

Face dancer!

 

I am not going through a mid-life crisis or anything, but I got a lot on my plate right now. A few weeks ago I came home from work to an empty house: kids, furniture, guns, pets, food, kitchenware, cars, and wife...all picked up in one day...and gone, with a 2 page "You suck as a husband" letter on the kitchen table...only because it was too heavy to move...with no hint that was going to happen when I left that morning.

So I am not sure what to do.

It is just me here now, so I thought about building a small cabin and being the a typical hermit. I have lived in (2) Tiny Houses wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy before it was cool, so its nothing new to me. I got a nice house now, but it is way too big for just me. I don't even use 3/4 of it now that everyone is gone.

It is too late in the year to start building a cabin, but being a writing hermit would definitely give me that "you look like a writer" look. You know, nasty dog that scares people, muttering to myself all the time, unkempt, off-grid, no cell phone, by-humbug type scrooge planting mason jars of money down in the ole black swamp. Its kind of creepy, but I could play the part well I think.

 

I totally look like a writer. No kidding. I was once mistaken online for Anne Rice.

 

I'm right there with you, and that's a look you can't just buy. You have to earn those dark circles under your eyes, messy hair, and that frazzled glow.