When Do You Call Yourself A Writer?

[gordo12]

I was at a New Years Day dinner party. There was a bunch of people there I didn't know. Sitting around the dinner table someone asked me what I did for a living. I usually just answer "retired" and that's the end of it.

But one of my buddies piped up..."He's a writer!" (Yeah, last time I tell that asshole anything )

You could see the shift in interest around the table, but before anyone could ask I shut it down.

"It's just a retirement hobby!" I guess I said it sharply enough that people realized I didn't want to talk about it.

Afterward, I realized I'd disparaged myself and asked myself why?

On the face of it I've done reasonably well in 2019. Better than I expected. To me the real measurement of success is in the voting and there I attracted close to 14,000 votes on 11 stories in 2019. Mostly between 4 & 5 in a difficult category. Why wasn't I proud enough of what I wrote to talk about it?

There is the error factor. Looking at the stories and wincing ever time you see an error that you didn't catch or know was an error at the time. There isn't one of them I wouldn't rip apart and redo. But that's the learning curve.

So when do you (or did you) consider yourself a writer?
Is there some mythical point where you become a writer?
Do you admit to it publicly?
Talk freely about your work?
Does writing here for free mean it doesn't count?
Does writing porn mean it doesn't count?

Thoughts? Reactions? Successes?

 

[yukonnights]

Personally, I don't want to get into explanations about writing erotica. While I have no personal qualms about any of the stories I've written, I don't want to defend them to a friend or family member who might.

Then, there's the whole need to educate Aunt Sally about the difference between porn and erotica. And of course, everyone will just have to know where they can read my published stories ...

No thanks. I think you answered properly. I might suggest that you write some non-erotic piece of crap so you can prove to anyone asking that it's just a hobby about cowboys in the old west

ETA: Or maybe, you need to write a non-erotic western? Perhaps it's time to find out if you can move your creativity to another level. I'm not sure I could come up with a decent plot without the erotica ... or maybe I'm not interested in that? But, that's me.

 

[KeithD]

I have no trouble with being called a writer as I do that in the mainstream and as soon as I mention my earlier career, all attention seems to go there. But I do sometimes get a little twinge when I get an "Oh, really?" response to some forty titles in the mainstream when I have to hold myself back from saying, if I included the erotica, it would be more like two hundred titles.

 

[gordo12]

Personally, I don't want to get into explanations about writing erotica. While I have no personal qualms about any of the stories I've written, I don't want to defend them to a friend or family member who might.

Then, there's the whole need to educate Aunt Sally about the difference between porn and erotica. And of course, everyone will just have to know where they can read my published stories ...

No thanks. I think you answered properly. I might suggest that you write some non-erotic piece of crap so you can prove to anyone asking that it's just a hobby about cowboys in the old west

ETA: Or maybe, you need to write a non-erotic western? Perhaps it's time to find out if you can move your creativity to another level. I'm not sure I could come up with a decent plot without the erotica ... or maybe I'm not interested in that? But, that's me.

Good points YK and yes those feelings have bedeviled me too. Even those I've told I've refused to tell them where. But sex? Really? How many stories (novels) get written nowadays without some sex in them. And yes I'm 23k into a Western novel that hasn't had any sex yet. Lots of flirting, romance and misinterpretations though.

 

[gordo12]

I have no trouble with being called a writer as I do that in the mainstream and as soon as I mention my earlier career, all attention seems to go there. But I do sometimes get a little twinge when I get an "Oh, really?" response to some forty titles in the mainstream when I have to hold myself back from saying, if I included the erotica, it would be more like two hundred titles.

So you do hold yourself back. I wondered about you specifically given the huge number of erotic books you write.

 

[KeithD]

So you do hold yourself back. I wondered about you specifically given the huge number of erotic books you write.

Yes, I hold myself back. In the mainstream I give no hint whatsoever of erotica production. People must just think it takes me a whole lot of computer time to produce a mainstream work.

 

[oggbashan]

Only when I am actually writing.

When I'm not, I have many other roles e.g. grandparent, community volunteer, political activist, charity worker...

 

[yukonnights]

Good points YK and yes those feelings have bedeviled me too. Even those I've told I've refused to tell them where. But sex? Really? How many stories (novels) get written nowadays without some sex in them. And yes I'm 23k into a Western novel that hasn't had any sex yet. Lots of flirting, romance and misinterpretations though.

I don't write many hetero stories, but it seems that it would be easier to share those. But still, I doubt I would tell the details. No upside, IMO. The only person that matters already knows and helps me proof read, so it's not like I'm hiding much. (she thinks my 2020 V-day story is one of my best ... I have some doubts, so we'll have to wait and see.)

Only 23k? Day'um boy, it takes that many words to describe my cowboy outfit, get my six guns strapped on 'an get saddled up on ole' Paint. And of course, a few words in there for a little flirting with ole paint

(She twernt always called ole' Paint, ya know. In her younger years she didn't need it, but as the years wore on ... and the rough rides added up ... well, she had to go the makeup route, or go broke, ya know?)

 

[yukonnights]

Only when I am actually writing.

When I'm not, I have many other roles e.g. grandparent, community volunteer, political activist, charity worker...

You left off; Anomaly That's an important one too.

 

[SamScribble]

I'm tempted to say that you are a writer when others - publishers, broadcasters, film makers, consulting organisations, even end readers - pay you for what you write.

I was 17 (a long, long, long time ago now) when I got my first regular pay-cheque for writing - and that's pretty much how I have paid the grocer and the wine merchant ever since.

It's true that I don't get paid for the stuff I post here at Lit, but it's written - in between paying jobs - to try out ideas and for my own entertainment.

 

[JaxRhapsody]

I have called myself a.writer since I started writing. If I get on Kieths level, I might start calling myself an author. I have no paranoia about telling people I write and what I write.

 

[sbrooks103]

I was at a New Years Day dinner party. There was a bunch of people there I didn't know. Sitting around the dinner table someone asked me what I did for a living. I usually just answer "retired" and that's the end of it.

But one of my buddies piped up..."He's a writer!" (Yeah, last time I tell that asshole anything )

You could see the shift in interest around the table, but before anyone could ask I shut it down.

"It's just a retirement hobby!" I guess I said it sharply enough that people realized I didn't want to talk about it.

Afterward, I realized I'd disparaged myself and asked myself why?

On the face of it I've done reasonably well in 2019. Better than I expected. To me the real measurement of success is in the voting and there I attracted close to 14,000 votes on 11 stories in 2019. Mostly between 4 & 5 in a difficult category. Why wasn't I proud enough of what I wrote to talk about it?

There is the error factor. Looking at the stories and wincing ever time you see an error that you didn't catch or know was an error at the time. There isn't one of them I wouldn't rip apart and redo. But that's the learning curve.

So when do you (or did you) consider yourself a writer?
Is there some mythical point where you become a writer?
Do you admit to it publicly?
Talk freely about your work?
Does writing here for free mean it doesn't count?
Does writing porn mean it doesn't count?

Thoughts? Reactions? Successes?

To me, if the question is, "What do you do for a living?" unless you have significant income from your writing, writing isn't what you do for a living.

 

[sbrooks103]

I'm tempted to say that you are a writer when others - publishers, broadcasters, film makers, consulting organisations, even end readers - pay you for what you write.

I was 17 (a long, long, long time ago now) when I got my first regular pay-cheque for writing - and that's pretty much how I have paid the grocer and the wine merchant ever since.

It's true that I don't get paid for the stuff I post here at Lit, but it's written - in between paying jobs - to try out ideas and for my own entertainment.

Well, I'd say you're a writer if you write, but as I said to the OP, the question was what do you do for a living. If it's not "paying for he groceries," then it's not what you do for a living.

 

[sbrooks103]

I have called myself a.writer since I started writing. If I get on Kieths level, I might start calling myself an author. I have no paranoia about telling people I write and what I write.

Yes, I also make that differentiation. An author has a talent, a writer has a skill.

 

[gordo12]

Yes, I also make that differentiation. An author has a talent, a writer has a skill.

That's an interesting differentiation. I never thought of it like that. Millions write, few have the talent to draw in others to their worlds. And get $$$$$

 

[KeithD]

Oh, I think if you spend a significant amount of your time writing, you're a writer, no matter whether you make a living (or any amount of money) from it. I think of an author as being published. For either, I look for any categorizing adjectives in front of the noun.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Oh, I think if you spend a significant amount of your time writing, you're a writer, no matter whether you make a living (or any amount of money) from it. I think of an author as being published. For either, I look for any categorizing adjectives in front of the noun.

That's a good definition and separation. Here on Lit I had the chutzpah to call myself a writer when I gave myself the challenge to start my Arthurian myth tell - "I'm a good enough writer to do that, now."

I guess I can call myself an author too, because I've published a few books and sold a few. Someone in the UK bought a print copy just the other day, and I made $5.42, so that was a nice surprise.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Oh, I think if you spend a significant amount of your time writing, you're a writer, no matter whether you make a living (or any amount of money) from it. I think of an author as being published. For either, I look for any categorizing adjectives in front of the noun.

Now that’s a distinction I totally agree with.

 

[TxRad]

I started out saying I was a storyteller. Then I got paid for a mainstream novel and then two more and so on and so forth. To me, I'm still a storyteller because that is my style.

Sometimes I'm asked what I do now that I'm retired. My usual reply is that I write porn, uh, I mean erotica. Sometimes, I leave the pron part out. It is all according to how much shock factor I want to impart.

If you have to write, then you are a writer.

 

[gordo12]

I started out saying I was a storyteller. Then I got paid for a mainstream novel and then two more and so on and so forth. To me, I'm still a storyteller because that is my style.

Congrats. I didn't know that about you.

If you have to write, then you are a writer.

I have trouble controlling the urge. Here I'm supposed to be writing a Vday story and haven't got started. In the meantime I've gotten into three other stories ideas that grabbed me, while continuing on with 10 others I'm working on.

Lack of focus would be my biggest enemy. but the urge...

 

[SimonDoom]

My starting point for this question is that discussions/debates over labels are, generally speaking, neither helpful nor illuminating. If you write, you write. What you choose to call what you "are" says much more about you than it does about what you have achieved.

I've written and published 28 stories here in three years, but I haven't published any fiction anywhere else. Am I a "writer"? I don't actually ever ask myself that question. What label you put on a thing doesn't change what it is. I think of myself as a writer, but nobody who knows me thinks of me that way, although certain people I've known have encouraged me to write based upon the little that they've seen.

I've told only two people I know that I write erotic fiction, and I didn't tell them my pen name or where I publish. So no one knows (for the present, but I want that to change, eventually) that I am a "writer." I'm fine with that for now.

 

[oggbashan]

You left off; Anomaly That's an important one too.

I left off a lot more:

Chairman of 5 local organizations; Vice-President of Chamber of Commerce (don't forget the Vice - They haven't forgotten that I recruited a local whore who specialised in middle-aged men and offered a 10% discount to Chamber Members); Committee member of more; Founder member of three; Fellow of a Society starting with 'Royal'; 0rdinary Member of more than I can remember; etc.

I have been trying to shed some roles but more get added.

But as a writer I used to get paid for text books and manuals.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I don't think I ever thought of myself as a "writer", I tell people I write books, stories really, fiction.

They of course assume by saying, "Oh, you're a writer?"

I said, "No, not really. I just write stories."

Seeing as how I have no set time during the day that I sit down and write, how can I be a writer? I write when I feel the urge.

 

[CoffeeWithMonkeys]

So when do you (or did you) consider yourself a writer?
Hasn't happened yet.

Is there some mythical point where you become a writer?
Maybe I'll know when I get there?

Do you admit to it publicly?
I tell people I write erotica, but I never say I'm a writer.

Talk freely about your work?
Yep

Does writing here for free mean it doesn't count?
No

Does writing porn mean it doesn't count?
No

Thoughts? Reactions? Successes?
I know this is just me, but I'm never going to feel like a 'writer'. I don't think anything will make me thing I'm a writer or author. I feel like a poser posting here

 

[litfan10]

There is the error factor. Looking at the stories and wincing ever time you see an error that you didn't catch or know was an error at the time. There isn't one of them I wouldn't rip apart and redo. But that's the learning curve.

Seeing errors is a proofreader's job.

To me: you put words on paper because you want/need to then you are a writer

you get money for writing then you are a professional writer

you publish a book then you are an author.

Again this is very much my opinion.

When I teach writing classes, I tell my students since they are turning in their work to me that is a form of publishing. I am paying them in currency of a grade. The better the quality, the better the pay(grade.) They need to take their work seriously.

I remind them that in the professional world of writers there are actually five different jobs that my students must fulfill in order to succeed: The researcher, the writer, the editor, the proofreader and the publisher. To make it work, they have to pay attention to each job as a distinct step leaving none of them out.

You write smut - you are a writer, pure and simple.

Enjoy.