Okay, I get to post silly nonsense every now and then, and yesterday was my birthday, so this is a perfect opportunity. My tip for you this week? Don't be a stereotype. I don't mean your characters, I mean you as a writer.
I’ve never identified as “a writer,” and the main reason I give for this is “I’m Crossworlds.” I’ve never been good at pulling ideas out of the air, and just writing about anything I’m prompted to write about. When people say I should be good at so-and-so "because you're a writer," I'm guaranteed to be terrible at that thing. I’m Crossworlds, that’s all I know, that’s all I can do.
But the other reason I’m not a writer is because, well, I just don’t want to identify with some of the stereotypes associated with us, and there are some that I’d really like to disprove/tell other people to stop doing. By the way, I’ve done (almost) all of these, I just try not to do that many on a regular basis.
Correcting other people’s grammar. This is usually the first thing people think of when the stereotypical writer comes to mind, and I don’t think I’ve ever done it. I just don’t care. It’s all about context. I don’t care if you use the “wrong” words in casual conversation, or if you misspell things on Facebook. I mean, if you ask me a grammar question, I’ll certainly do my best to answer, but I'm not going to give unsolicited opinions. If it’s not formal writing, it just doesn’t matter to me. Writing that needs to be done for school or business, or of course, if you want to publish a book—that should all be properly edited. But in ordinary life, who cares? Do you really? I mean, really?
Staying up all night/being a night owl: This is fine, and I’m not at all bothered by people who do it. I personally, cannot. Part of me says maybe I would if I didn’t have to work early in the morning, but then again, I really love sleep. So, maybe there are writers who get inspired by that late at night mindset and inspiration thrives on lack of sleep, and other writers who sleep a ton and get more inspiration from dreaming. Let’s just stop saying all writers do things one way. You're not better or worse if you enjoy sleep.
Talking about your book way too much: Okay. Most of us don't do this because we're scared of being annoying. To the people who let us go on and on, we love you. We appreciate you. We only want to talk a lot because we love what we do, and we're really excited to share. Your feedback matters to us. Seriously, thank you, because not many people understand how much it means to be able to have someone to share with. But there are writers who have given the rest of us a bad name, and ramble on when someone clearly doesn't want to hear it. Why do you think most people think writers are annoying, and immediately roll their eyes and say "oh, that's um... interesting, I guess," when we say we're writing books? Be self-aware, please.
Calling your work in progress "my novel." Okay, this is just a weird pet peeve of mine that probably makes zero sense. But when we first start writing, if we're truly carried away in a story and not just trying to cross something off our bucket list, we don't know where the story will go. Before I self-published, I called my stories "my stories," because I didn't know if they would be short, long, or anything. Now that I've self-published, I call them my books. I don't know what it is about hearing an aspiring writer say "my novel." It just sounds self-important and pretentious. Like you care about status more than passion.
Telling the same writer jokes over and over. I used to post statuses on facebook like “Here’s what I did today instead of editing,” or “This is terrible! This is fantastic! No, this sucks… Wait, it’s great again!” about my book, the writing process, etc. But I got annoyed seeing other similar posts. No more of that, it gets old really, really fast.
Being crazy, talking to imaginary people, being a shut-in, etc. I'll freely and shamelessly admit this is 100% me. But I'd also like to put it out there that not all writers are going to be this way.
Reading all the time: Let’s all keep this up please, this is the only stereotype that should be true for every last one of us writers. This has zero negatives, and I'd love it if not only writers would embrace it.
Second reminder that this is all for fun. Please don't be offended if you do any or all of these. Everybody's weird, and everybody should be.
I’ve never identified as “a writer,” and the main reason I give for this is “I’m Crossworlds.” I’ve never been good at pulling ideas out of the air, and just writing about anything I’m prompted to write about. When people say I should be good at so-and-so "because you're a writer," I'm guaranteed to be terrible at that thing. I’m Crossworlds, that’s all I know, that’s all I can do.
But the other reason I’m not a writer is because, well, I just don’t want to identify with some of the stereotypes associated with us, and there are some that I’d really like to disprove/tell other people to stop doing. By the way, I’ve done (almost) all of these, I just try not to do that many on a regular basis.
Correcting other people’s grammar. This is usually the first thing people think of when the stereotypical writer comes to mind, and I don’t think I’ve ever done it. I just don’t care. It’s all about context. I don’t care if you use the “wrong” words in casual conversation, or if you misspell things on Facebook. I mean, if you ask me a grammar question, I’ll certainly do my best to answer, but I'm not going to give unsolicited opinions. If it’s not formal writing, it just doesn’t matter to me. Writing that needs to be done for school or business, or of course, if you want to publish a book—that should all be properly edited. But in ordinary life, who cares? Do you really? I mean, really?
Staying up all night/being a night owl: This is fine, and I’m not at all bothered by people who do it. I personally, cannot. Part of me says maybe I would if I didn’t have to work early in the morning, but then again, I really love sleep. So, maybe there are writers who get inspired by that late at night mindset and inspiration thrives on lack of sleep, and other writers who sleep a ton and get more inspiration from dreaming. Let’s just stop saying all writers do things one way. You're not better or worse if you enjoy sleep.
Talking about your book way too much: Okay. Most of us don't do this because we're scared of being annoying. To the people who let us go on and on, we love you. We appreciate you. We only want to talk a lot because we love what we do, and we're really excited to share. Your feedback matters to us. Seriously, thank you, because not many people understand how much it means to be able to have someone to share with. But there are writers who have given the rest of us a bad name, and ramble on when someone clearly doesn't want to hear it. Why do you think most people think writers are annoying, and immediately roll their eyes and say "oh, that's um... interesting, I guess," when we say we're writing books? Be self-aware, please.
Calling your work in progress "my novel." Okay, this is just a weird pet peeve of mine that probably makes zero sense. But when we first start writing, if we're truly carried away in a story and not just trying to cross something off our bucket list, we don't know where the story will go. Before I self-published, I called my stories "my stories," because I didn't know if they would be short, long, or anything. Now that I've self-published, I call them my books. I don't know what it is about hearing an aspiring writer say "my novel." It just sounds self-important and pretentious. Like you care about status more than passion.
Telling the same writer jokes over and over. I used to post statuses on facebook like “Here’s what I did today instead of editing,” or “This is terrible! This is fantastic! No, this sucks… Wait, it’s great again!” about my book, the writing process, etc. But I got annoyed seeing other similar posts. No more of that, it gets old really, really fast.
Being crazy, talking to imaginary people, being a shut-in, etc. I'll freely and shamelessly admit this is 100% me. But I'd also like to put it out there that not all writers are going to be this way.
Reading all the time: Let’s all keep this up please, this is the only stereotype that should be true for every last one of us writers. This has zero negatives, and I'd love it if not only writers would embrace it.
Second reminder that this is all for fun. Please don't be offended if you do any or all of these. Everybody's weird, and everybody should be.
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