[ SECRET POST #2466 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2466 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Late day at work, sorry.

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 010 secrets from Secret Submission Post #352.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 2 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ], [ 1 - omgiknowthem ], [ 1 - troll ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

NO.

There's not one perfect ideal way to be a writer, and the idea that someone's not a real writer if they're not constantly inspired or constantly writing is really discouraging for people who are struggling with their writing, whether it's the difficulties of the actual act of writing or the difficulties of being published or something else. People get writer's block. People lose their inspiration. People get discouraged for what others see as 'silly' reasons. That doesn't mean they aren't writers.

[(Anonymous)]

Writers write. If you are not writing, because you've given up out of what is basically envy and spite, then no, you are not a writer.

[(Anonymous)]

Still no. Do you think there's no published writers out there who have ever gone through a period where they got so discouraged they gave up on writing? And does doing so somehow invalidate any writing they've done before? All this 'you're not a writer' stuff is seriously such a shit thing to tell someone, especially while they're feeling discouraged. How tremendously unhelpful. Writers are not some special club of magical creatures who never hit roadblocks, and to jump on someone for feeling like giving up when that happens, whether you think their reasons are petty or not, and tell them that they're not really a writer is ridiculous. That accomplishes nothing except discouraging them further.

[(Anonymous)]

OP can do with some discouraging, if you ask me.

[(Anonymous)]

Going off the actual content of the secret, this is not someone who is going through a dry spell feeling discouraged. This is someone who's ragequitting writing and saying they don't want to write anymore because someone they deems Unworthy is popular. How, exactly, are you still a writer if you've decided you're not going to write anymore, because you're not going to cast your pearls before swine? We have no way of knowing whether OP has ever even done any actual writing. TBH, my money is on "No."

[(Anonymous)]

Maybe we're reading the secret slightly differently? I'm in no way saying that the OP has a good attitude (my original comment was more directed at the idea that people aren't really writers if they're not a certain way, and I was thinking more in general terms than just the OP's situation), but I'm not reading it so much as 'this Unworthy person is popular so I must ragequit' but more like 'I've realised that talent isn't the only factor in people being published and I haven't figured out how to deal with that reality so I'm lashing out at the unfairness.' I would hope that they do get over that attitude. It's pretty crap. But I also don't think that acting like that now somehow means they'll never get over it.

So curious what you're defining as 'actual writing'.

[(Anonymous)]

Anything that involves expressing, organizing and polishing your thoughts in order to convey them to someone else in the most felicitous way possible. So short stories, poetry, newspaper articles, book reviews, fanfic, essays, nonfiction, novels, plays--anything from a one-paragraph blurb in the newspaper to a seven-book fiction series to a mongraph about agricultural economics. On the other hand, I don't count posts on forums, or RP chat logs, or character profiles, which are basically just notes for yourself, like a to-do list. To me, the crucial part is that you are doing the work of expressing yourself in an organized way, as precisely and even gracefully as possible--the work of writing to be understood by someone else. (Including your future self.)

[(Anonymous)]

SA

Oh, and one more thing, which I suspect you'll disagree with: actual writing requires that you finish something now and then. People who never finish anything (like me) are not writers; we are playing at writing.

[thene]

It's very one-size-fits-all, too. The reality is that writing is a rag-bag of different talents and motivations that produces a huge variety of work. I really hate when people act as if all real writers spend all their lives writing full-length imaginative novels and all the poetry, comedy, short stories, plays, erotica, journalism, academic work and nonfiction around us just appeared by fucking magic.

[(Anonymous)]

Hilariously, I am a short story writer. I've had more than one (bestselling!) novelist tell me that they envy my ability to write "short," while I stare at them in befuddlement from my tiny stack of semi-pro sales.

[(Anonymous)]

Where do you see anyone here suggesting that only novel writing counts as real writing or that poets, dramatists, nonfiction writers and journalists aren't real writers? Because I sure don't see it. But whatever it is they're producing, real writers write--whether they feel inspired or not. If you ragequit writing FOREVER, on the other hand, you're not a writer anymore, you're a flouncer.

[(Anonymous)]

My friend writes short stories and novellas for publication, but no one in her writer's group takes her seriously because she hasn't gotten a novel published...despite her making more money then them.

So it IS a thing.

[(Anonymous)]

Oh yes, I'm not surprised that some people think that way--but I didn't see anybody saying it here, in relation to the OP's issue.

[thene]

'Writers can't stop writing even if want to. Stories are always popping in their heads.'

Not all writers produce 'stories' and many can and do stop whenever we like, and regularly take a break due to lacking the inspiration or having more important things to do. The above characterisation of 'writers' is clearly slanted towards novelists over the many other kinds of writers that exist. (FWIW I am a 'published writer' in that a small part of my day-job is writing industry articles. As my team collectively has to write a certain number of these per week, I can & have ducked out of it when I'm not inspired and built up a buffer of material when I am inspired).

[(Anonymous)]

But this isn't what you said. You said "not all writers produce novels--nonfiction, short stories, plays, and journalism are all real writing." Now, when I point out that no one in this thread said they're not, you change your tune--now it's "not all writers produce stories" you claim you said.

I don't see anything in "stories are always popping in their heads" that privileges novelists over writers of short fiction or plays--or nonfiction and news either. Because it's the gift of writers to recognize stories where other people hear "blahblahblah who cares?" Hell, even a lot of technical writing involves casting whatever has to be conveyed in the form of a narrative, because that's a primary way we have of making sense of our world.

[thene]

Those weren't my words - I was quoting the first line of this subthread and explaining why I feel that line clearly refers to novels and novelists. Plays, poetry and academic writing are not generally referred to as 'stories'. The 'constantly inspired storyteller who never stops' stereotype is most often associated with novelists and obviously fails to reflect the full universe of people who write things that other people read.

Personally I think narrative is overrated and what matters is a) craft and b) do you have anything worth saying? and those metrics rather than 'stories' motivate my own writing. This approach doesn't seem particularly rare.

[(Anonymous)]

Writers can't stop writing even if want to. Stories are always popping in their heads.

Still don't see how that "clearly refers to novelists" to the exclusion (as you implied) of people who write short stories, plays, nonfiction and news articles. Also, if short fiction, plays, screenwriting are not "stories," what are they?

[thene]

In normal usage if someone says they're 'writing a story' that means either a traditional piece of fiction (of any length - I never said that short stories were not referred to as 'stories') or a news article. If someone's writing a play, poem or technical work, they would usually be specific about the form rather than saying 'I'm writing a story'. (I can imagine situations in which 'story' would be used for a play, film script, or narrative nonfiction piece of some kind but in general those are things that have stories rather than things that are simply referred to as being stories.) [ETA: just occurred to me that at the place I work, the articles we write are never referred to as 'stories', even when they are news pieces.]

I think there's a pretty clear slant here toward the stereotypical novel writer - many of whom do exist, but they're not the only writers who write. If you disagree, that's cool.