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 This is a continuation of my blogging here at WdC |
| Types Of Writer So, this is a personal opinion piece. Completely understand if you avoid it. To my mind, there are 4 types of writer (well, 5, but we’ll get there). None is any better than any other (sort of); they are just different ways that writers approach what they have written. So, let’s go through them. Repeating myself: This is my opinion. I know that won’t stop the abuse, but it is an important disclaimer here. 1) The Introvert. This is the writer who writes – often a lot – but does not share what they have written. Their piles of notebooks and journals are only opened when the writer themselves wants to go back and re-read something, but no-one else in the universe sees their work. They might even burn it after writing. Or else it never sees the light of day until they die. It is often because they feel what they write is too personal, but there is also a fear of rejection or being laughed at for even the simple act of writing. But, whatever it is, they write for an audience of one – themselves. 2) The Uncritisable (the “Idol”). This is the writer who only shows their work to people who will give them affirmation, tell them they are wonderful, and stoke their ego. That last might be a little unfair – often these writers have self-esteem issues anyway – but that is how it seems to an outsider. They have a very select group who read their work, and these people are uncritical, only give positive feedback, and lead to the writer thinking they are really wonderful and the very best. This is fine, but it can create issues if they do decide to go public and we get what I call “Idol Syndrome” ("20240131 #2 Criticism & The Writer (Idol Syndrome)"  ). Unfortunately, these people can so easily be discouraged, but that is a discussion for a different day.3) The Excited Puppy. This is the writer who puts everything out there in the public eye, regardless of quality. They just have to show the world what they are doing, they always talk about their latest projects, they blog about writing, their entire portfolio can be found online somewhere, and they are always directing people to their works. Sometimes even their drafts, their unfinished works, their ideas, their outlines and their character sketches (and anything else) are also all online for the whole world to see. Writing makes them excited, and they just want to share every single morsel with the world. This does mean that a lot of their stuff is not well-edited and not brilliantly written, as they tend to just publish and be damned. They also tend not to take criticism well or simply ignore it, because they claim they are not doing it for approval or otherwise, they just want to share what they see as their talent with the whole world. 4) The Accountant. These are the ones who take their writing very seriously. They pore over each sentence, hire editors, use beta readers, look at their writing as more than just an art, but as a business they are engaged in. They do tend towards being humourless, and take criticism to heart, feeling each comment about stories that didn’t click with readers, and trying to adapt and adopt and change to keep as many readers and publishers and editors and agents as happy as possible. They can have a tendency to overwork a story, not sure when to stop editing and changing and making things feel perfect. They are very critical of their own work, and will only put things out there they consider very good, and so have a heap of other work no-one sees. They are also very often quite traditional in their publishing aspirations. That’s the four writer types I have come across. A person can straddle two of them, and can definitely go from one state to another, and they tend to go in this order (and straddle the ones beside them), but it is circular because Accountants can become Introverts as their perfectionism prevents them from showing anybody what they have written. All have positives and negatives, and none, really, in the end, are better than each other. But I mentioned a fifth one earlier. And one that is not as good as the rest. This is the last one. 5) The Gunner. This is someone who does not write, but they are going to one day. They are “gunna” do it… honestly. They are the sort of person who tells a writer their great idea, or say to others they will write something “one day” because of how fascinating their lives have been, but never do. They annoy writers who are working by constantly telling them about their ideas. They might even grab a notebook – or a dozen – from the newsagent but that’s about the end of it. And they are extremely critical of everything everyone else writes. Because when they do it themselves, they will be the best and better than the lot of them. Writers who actually put pen to paper find the Gunner annoying and non-writers just consider them a joke. But they are out there. And they always seem to find me when I’m writing at the pub… Non-writers don’t count and definitely shouldn’t be denigrated. People have different ways of expressing themselves through their arts, or they are people who just like to appreciate the art of others. They are the readers of the world, the people who watch movies, listen to music, go to galleries. It doesn’t matter that they don’t write. They have no aspirations in that regard. More than that, they are great for one very important reason: they are the audiences. And that’s my opinion. |
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