Writer Stereotypes (Part 2)
- Writers are insomniacs and night owls who stay up to the wee hours of the morning to write. My hallmates can confirm that this is not the case. While I have occasionally, in a fit of inspiration, stayed up to an unholy hour because the words just kept coming, I typically try to turn in no later than 10:30, maybe 11. After 11 PM, I am definitely not in a state where I can write coherently, nor am I inclined to try. I would much rather get up early (or early-ish) and write before the sun comes up, accompanied by a lovely mug of chai.
- Writers cannot survive without coffee. I'm pretty sure that this is directly caused by the last stereotype? In any case, I strongly dislike coffee, even the smell of it, and the best efforts of my coffee-loving friends haven't changed that. Tea, on the other hand? Like I said last week, I love it. But I can survive just fine without it, especially during the summer.
- Writers delight in the pain they can cause to their characters (and readers). There seems to be a trend among certain writers to treat their characters' pain as either a competition or a joke. People brag about how horrible their characters' lives are, they laugh about how much they torture their favorites. And, yes, causing your characters (and, by extension, your readers) pain to some degree is required to tell a good story. But I don't agree with pain for the sake of pain. I believe there's no such thing as purposeless pain in life, and so I don't put it in my stories.
- Writers use their writing to get revenge on people whom they dislike. I used to threaten to do this on occasion, but it's not a threat I'm likely to carry out. When I'm writing, the last thing I want to think about is the people who frustrate me; part of why I write is to get a break from those people. So why would I want to put them in my novel, even as dragon food?
- Writers hate editing but will correct your grammar anyway. I do dislike editing, though I dislike it less when it's my own book. However, the odds that I'll actually correct you grammar are pretty small. Most of the time, I don't care. Or, if I do care, I'll just judge you silently from my side of the internet. No pressure.
Thanks for reading!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)
Oops, number four is kind of true for me. In my WIP, I'm writing a prof who is very similar to my advisor, who hated YA and SFF, and was just a terrible prof for many of us. She didn't want to help us pursue the paths we wanted to follow, and I have to channel all my frustration somehow so it's all going into this one antagonistic professor, haha.
ReplyDeleteY'know, you do what you have to do. If that's how you cope, there are much worse ways.
DeleteWell I'm definitely a night owl, and I do love my coffee, but I'm not any of the others so much. Editing is something of a compulsive habit of mine. And I agree with you--I disapprove of needless pain in books. If I'm going to torture my characters, there's usually a good reason.
ReplyDeleteI think this is the first time I've heard anyone refer to editing as a "habit," compulsive or otherwise. And thank you; I'm glad you agree.
Delete