On Serious Writers

Huh?

I have no idea of what you mean by "serious writer".

I'm a professional writer, I make a fair amount of money writing, I take my writing seriously, but I also approach it was a sense of humor. (Plus I obviously don't mind having run on sentences and mispellings in my posts.)

Sorry, it's late (and Pete's whacked my brain a couple of times tonight) so maybe I'm missing something here.

Kira, I'm not sure about the exact question. In my opinion, something like a blog, is part of the writer being free to express his/her own opinions. However, when writing a book, the writer must express the character's opinions. Perhaps the character has different opinions than that of the writer, yet, the writer wants to share some valiant points. So, IMO, writing a blog, for example, should not be as pristine and polished as a novel, or even a posting here in SYW. However, other postings in AW, such as replies and comments, even questions need not be proofed, because, IMO, it's just conversation where the main point can be discussed. When writing a book, there is no room for discussion, and all points must be clearly defined.

There's a couple of different assumptions in here. First, perhaps we should define a "serious writer." I'm taking this phrase to mean a professional writer, someone who is striving to earn their living through writing, regardless of whether they are at that stage or not.

Now, going on that definition, it is unlikely that the writer would publish on free sites, except perhaps in their own blog, but would look for online publications that paid. While online publications typically do not pay as well as print publications, there are many out there that do indeed pay actually cash instead of just in exposure.

There is a great deal of fiction which is written for publications that are never sold in bookstores; that does not mean the writer has not been paid for their work.

To your final point, most work, even novels and short stories sold in bookstores, are not distributed worldwide. The earth is a very big and very diverse place and translations into multiple languages do not happen by default.

The next assumption is about slang. As addressed in your post, it makes it seem like a lesser part of language. It is not. As with all language, all words, it has it's time and place. No part of language is lesser. In some stories, regardless of where it is being published, slang would be entirely appropriate to use and would add flavor and texture.

That said, the use of slang or non-grammatically language should be a conscious choice on the part of the writer. Again, this is true regardless of what type of publication the writer is creating the work for. It is part of weaving the story, knowing one's audience, and creating the best illusion possible for the reader's benefit.

KiraOnWhite said:

Whoops, sorry guys for not phrasing the correction correctly.

What I meant was, should a person who wants to be a professional writer in future write like this on his/her blog or in the forums:

" omg soh c00L !!!!ONEONEONE"

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If you do that here, we'd have to hurt you. Nothing personal; it's just a moral imperative.

KiraOnWhite said:

Whoops, sorry guys for not phrasing the correction correctly.

What I meant was, should a person who wants to be a professional writer in future write like this on his/her blog or in the forums:

" omg soh c00L !!!!ONEONEONE"

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Ah, much easier to answer.

Sure if you want to. (Though you risk having Birol slap you down. Don't worry I've been whacked in the head by Pete at least twice tonight it doesn't hurt.)

To me blogs are kind of informal and "off duty" you should be able to write whatever you want. Especially when you are "off the clock".

Back in the old days (the 80s) when people found out I wrote freelance gags for the Tonight Show and Joan Rivers Show they'd always say to me, "say something funny." I'd say, "I'm off the clock. Give me $100 and I'll say something funny." We can't be on all the time. At least I can't.

omg, lori s0 meAn!!!!?!!!?!!! 33K!!!!

I once pointed out to someone that you can really tell if someone's a serious writer or not, because 1) They write and 2) You can argue that they aren't a serious writer, and they don't really give a crap what you think about it.

I realize that's not related.

Yeah, I think you should present yourself well in a blog, for what that's worth. I didn't entirely follow the original question, but I get what you mean when you clarify. I think you should present yourself politely and decently and write intelligently.

It's like going outside. You want to have your clothes on properly and maybe look like a human being. No one's going to take you seriously as a Major Literary Figure if you're dressed like you're thugging it.

On the other hand, you don't have to wear a smoking jacket with shiny elbows and corduroy pants either.

Just be decent and human and polite. I think most of the rest takes care of itself.

And like Lori said, if you talk like "omg lol r0xx0rs!!!!" then I'm going to break your kneecaps. Honest.

maestrowork said:

omg, lori s0 meAn!!!!?!!!?!!! 33K!!!!

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lolololo!!!!!111 u pwnd h3r!!!!!

Just because I'm no longer a supermod, do not think I can't still hurt you both.

U guys R 2 bad. I feel sorry 4 U.

As Birol said, there is a time and a place for everything. Just be yourself. Write whatever you feel like. Make comments, jokes, or whatever. Right now, at this moment, I'm not concerned with the mistakes in my posts, I'm just want to get my point across.

Seriously, blogs are informal. I don't think anyone should be penalized or scrutinized for writing something like "my cat just puked all over my shoes. Ewwww!!!" They should just each work on its work merit. Stephen King writes a lot of stuff, some of which is fluff, silly things in magazines or online. I'm not going to say Mr. King is not a serious writer because he doesn't write with the same quality or professionalism in everything he touches. Writers don't have to be "on call" 24/7.

That said, I do think writers have a responsibility to themselves to uphold an image, as a whole. People are going to judge you by what they see or read. First impression is important, too. What if the first thing they ever read about you is your blog where you just screamed: "omg, omg, omg, I just pinched Paris Hilton's butt! omg, I'm not going to wash my hand for three years"? That's not a very good impression, don't you think?

Ray, wasn't that your first blog post?

Yes. It would. Seriously.


ETA: That doesn't mean it has to be perfect and that it can't be informal, but there are limits. You want to portray yourself as if you have a solid grasp of the English language. You never know who will google you or come across your blog.

The things I posted here sometimes... I hope people still respect me afterwards.

Birol said:

Ray, wasn't that your first blog post?

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Shhh! IM gonna hurtya.

KiraOnWhite said:

" omg soh c00L !!!!ONEONEONE"

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No human being, no matter what their endeavors in life are, should EVER write like that.

KiraOnWhite said:

I referred to 'serious writers', as those wanting their work to be the the best it could be and is willing to further improve. As of other works posted on the web, I'm talking about fanfictions, ...Would this degrade their image as a writer?

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Use a pen name if possible.

But still, no matter what, you gotta keep it real. Out in public, I wear my jeans and t-shirt on any normal day. In winter, no coat, just a hoodie, with my jeans. But, I know how to dress up when the occasion calls for it. I am still ME.

In terms of writing lik3 thizz, I would be more worried about embarrassing myself than anything else.

Birol said:

ETA: That doesn't mean it has to be perfect and that it can't be informal, but there are limits. You want to portray yourself as if you have a solid grasp of the English language. You never know who will google you or come across your blog.

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That I really do agree. It doesn't matter if you're talking about your cat puking, but if you make all kinds of grammatical mistakes or spelling errors, and so on and so forth, sooner or later someone will catch on and it's going to be detrimental to your image as a writer.

Whenever I find a typo or mistake on my blog -- which does happen; I am not perfect -- I try to correct it immediately. I don't necessarily censor what I write -- I had a "F*** IT!" post on my blog not too long ago.

czjaba said:

But still, no matter what, you gotta keep it real. Out in public, I wear my jeans and t-shirt on any normal day. In winter, no coat, just a hoodie, with my jeans. But, I know how to dress up when the occasion calls for it. I am still ME.

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I would judge you less by how you dressed, and more by how you acted and spoke when I got to know you.

WHich is STILL not to say I expect you to act all scholarly and speak in perfect English sentences. I certainly don't. I'm too Cajun to ever speak really perfect English.

...

I find that if I polite and decent and try to behave as humanly as possible, I do okay, both as a human being and a writer.