Today, I'm talking about a category I've spent the last year identifying with more than ever, as I'm working on my masters in creative writing: writer. For the purposes of this post, I am defining "writer" as someone who writes creative work with the goal of being published online or in print by someone else (a magazine, a publishing house, etc.).
Here's what people say, and my thoughts on the stereotypes out there about writers:
So what do you write? Romance? Horror?
It's really not surprising that most non-writers assume writing should fit into a neat little genre, and sometimes it does. But a lot of us, particularly those who go the MFA route (re: study creative writing academically) write literary fiction, which is to say it's not supposed to fit into the genres. I have the hardest time describing what I write and have only recently landed on an answer of listing a few topics/themes that recur in my writing.
How's the book coming? (Said in a patronizing/sarcastic tone)
A book, be it poetry, short stories, a novel or something else, is a Huge undertaking. And in the publishing world, it's often not the 1st or 2nd step. Writing a book is not remotely close to cranking out that essay for freshmen comp due tomorrow.
I feel like I know you so well, since I read your book. (AKA I can't believe you wrote that about your grandmother!)
Let's be clear, just because I write a character who is a woman in her 20s, that does Not mean that character is in any way/shape/form meant to be me. I did not have X terrible thing happen to me just because it happened to a character in my writing. You should always assume writing is fictional unless I've specifically said it's not.
Writers are all drunks and druggies. It's because they're all emo and misunderstood.
Yes, there are writers who drink and writers who smoke and writers who partake in drugs. That's not to say all of us do, or that if we drink for example it's the only way we can write. Personally, I write best sober. Writers are people too, and we all have different methods and make different choices.
Writing must be so lonely.
It doesn't have to be. MFAs, writing conferences, fellowships—there's a whole world of writing communities out there. Some writers write collaboratively. And editing, where some say the real writing happens, is almost always collaborative.
I don't see what the big deal is. Anyone can write.
True. Most people can write. But writing well takes effort, and practice, and a whole lot of time and some luck/talent/stubbornness too.
Writing isn't a real job.
Ask your favorite author if it was easy writing your favorite book. I'm betting the answer is no. Writing is hard, and it takes work. Just because it may not pay the bills doesn't mean it's not a job.
Why are you even in school? Isn't writing all about being in the real world?
I've committed myself to becoming a better writer, and for me the way to do that is through working with others who care about the craft, peers and mentors. That doesn't mean it's what's right for everyone. Plenty of established writers have been in MFAs, plenty haven't. But just because I'm in school, that doesn't mean I've stopped experiencing life. The world is "real" wherever you are, be that in a classroom or a house or an office of anywhere else.
In closing, I'd make a plea to all you non-writers out there to cut writers some slack. We work hard. We're individuals. And we have something we want to say, something you might want to hear. Otherwise we wouldn't be writers.
~AC
Whoo hoo! I like it. I'm okay its not what we talked about lol--it's a post!
ReplyDelete