Stupid things non-writers say

Pup said:

In addition to that, which I do think is the main annoyance of the remark, there's also the implication that all it takes is time. If they had the time, they could sit down and knock out a novel or two just like you, because it doesn't take any special talent or skill or research or practice, y'know. Just some spare time.

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True, true! No dedication or honed skill necessary, just a few hours. Sheesh.

PattiTheWicked said:

I totally agree. I was talking to an acquaintance who's always been snarky about my accomplishments, and she commented how she "wished she had time to do all that fun stuff."

I looked dead at her and said "If you'd quit watching two hours of reality television every night, you'd have that time."

Her response? "Oh, I can't live without my reality shows!"

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Ha! Oh dear, that's painful...

PattiTheWicked said:

Her response? "Oh, I can't live without my reality shows!"

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*shudder*

Reality TV is evil, and dumbing down the human race.

bsolah said:

AHHHHH!!!!

Why is this so stupid?????? Some people don't have the time and would love to write!! Get over it and let them be.



...for the millionth time!

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Yes, it does seem like the millionth time, doesn't it?

You've made your point. You hate this thread. You hate the very concept of it. You've said so over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over...

But you seem to be missing the fact that this thread is really about writers supporting one another. Some of us don't get any support, don't get any respect, get to feeling down when it seems that no one understands our drive or the work involved in writing. Some of us hear people belittling what we do and it makes us want to SCREAM.

Instead, we bite our tongues and come here. We tell people how we feel, or what the latest little jibe that nearly sent us over the edge was. We vent. And we find some support.

It's not really about the non-writers; it's about us.

Now, if you feel that we have no right to vent, or that we shouldn't be sharing these feelings or stories, or whatnot...then fine. That's your opinion. I just wonder...if you hate this thread so much, why keep coming back to it? Why not just move on? I mean, if you've made your point for the millionth time why do it again?

You have the right to, just like we have the right to vent...but it seems to me that you are pushing the line between commenting and trying to stir poop.

Wow. You poor guys.

I can't say I've ever had any negative comments ( mostly they are 'oooh cool can I read it?', the occassional blank stare.)

Possibly the worst is 'can you not write tonight, we need a fifth for [insert WOW instance here]'. Which means I don't get much writing done of an evening

If it makes anyone feel better, other professions get strange reactions too. My husband is a work comp claims adjuster. He either gets (1) an angry person who didn't get their check in the mail for disability and takes it out on him or (2) they hear "insurance" and run. Or when I was a primary grade teacher, I'd get "Oh, that must be sooo easy! You don't have to know math or science." Or "Gee, you're sooo lucky you get so many vacations" (yet teachers do a lot of planning etc during those vacations).

So, yeah, as a writer, we get it too. But we need to sound off, and this is a good place to sound off about the negative or insane inane remarks.

My mom is editing my romance. She is having a hard time getting through it. Her problem? The dating couple left church, went home and shared lunch, then wanted to jump each other's bones! Then she said, well, I guess I felt that way too! God, I love my mom.

crazynance said:

My mom is editing my romance. She is having a hard time getting through it. Her problem? The dating couple left church, went home and shared lunch, then wanted to jump each other's bones! Then she said, well, I guess I felt that way too! God, I love my mom.

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At least your mom is reading your romance--if I even so much as mention a tingling feeling (mine's YA) when one character looks at another, she gets all weirded out that her daughter thinks about these things.

Me, too. I mostly get support. Most of the people around me are creative types of one sort or another (painters, actors, inventors). The people I know through my husband tend to be academics, and they understand me pretty well too. (I think the process of putting together a thesis and then trying to raise grant money has some rough parallels with writing a novel and facing the publishing process.)

So, luckily, when I face such uncomfortable comments as described here, they're the exception. It must feel awful for people for whom they are the rule.

IdiotsRUs said:

Wow. You poor guys.

I can't say I've ever had any negative comments ( mostly they are 'oooh cool can I read it?', the occassional blank stare.)

Possibly the worst is 'can you not write tonight, we need a fifth for [insert WOW instance here]'. Which means I don't get much writing done of an evening

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bsolah said:

AHHHHH!!!!

Why is this so stupid?????? Some people don't have the time and would love to write!! Get over it and let them be.



...for the millionth time!

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It's annoying because I don't have the time to write, I make the time to write. If you love something and it really matters, you'll make time to do it regardless of how much you've got going on. I really feel that when someone remarks -I'd write if I had the time- they're diminishing the fact that I work really hard to make time for writing. There are lots of times where I get up two hours early (at four AM) because I know it's the only time I have to write that day, other times I get less than four hours of sleep because I can't squeeze anymore time out of the day. I have a toddler and two elderly parents to care for, not to mention and small farm so, I don't have piles of time to draw from.

I guess my point is that everyone is busy- if they want to do something do it and stop whining. I'm sorry but I just don't feel sympathy for them. If it mattered, they'd do it.

After having my first news story published, the lady I interviewed said, wistfully, "I guess cold, hard facts won the day."

Blink.

She wanted me to lie?

Wow. That's, uh, baffling...

Bartholomew said:

After having my first news story published, the lady I interviewed said, wistfully, "I guess cold, hard facts won the day."

Blink.

She wanted me to lie?

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jessicaorr said:

It's annoying because I don't have the time to write, I make the time to write.

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I agree. I set my alarm for three so I can write until five, at which point I get ready for an hour-and-a-half commute to my workplace. I'm exhausted at the end of the day, no time for much of a social life, but the greatest vocations demand the greatest sacrifices. My mentor in college left her two kids behind in India with their grandparents when she went to the States to get her PhD. I've read of gymnasts who practised for hours each day from the time they were five or six years old. And one of my favorite anecdotes is about a famous violinist who gave a beautiful performance, and afterwards met a member of the audience who'd come to congratulate him.

The audience member said, "I would give my life to play like that!"
The violinist replied, "I did."

I write three pages daily, and yeah, I sacrifice my time (TV watching, talking on phone or just zoning out) to do so. And still when I tell people (my pesky relatives) I'm busy, I get comments like: I don't know what the big deal is? Or my other favorite: Well I gave you an hour!

As if they're doing ME a favor by living the @#*! alone while I'm writing. Ugh!

I think the biggest disconnect between me and most of my peers comes when they try to equate something I write to something they already know.

"Your story has mutants in it? So it's basically X-Men, right?"
"Actually, no..."
"But you derived the idea from X-Men, right?"

...

...

I don't think I've ever come so close to killing someone as I did that day.

But he apologized later.

i gave up televison because i caught myself re-watching a "parent trap" marathon. swear to god--both the lindsay lohan and the haylie mills movie--one after another, over and over. i probably blew 16-20 hours of writing time just to watch something i had paid .35 cents to watch in 1962. so the tv had to go. kind of that "pluck your eye out" thing. and i took long distance off the phone.
i purposely live in a town with no grocery, no doctor, no traffic lights.

except for the occasional killer tornado or ice storm, nothing ever happens here: no distractions. if i want to go shopping i go to the po and look at the new stamps. my neighbors speak spanish so unless we are sharing my basement or chasing chickens we don't visit. once a month i submit something. it always gets turned down.

i teach school. i grade papers. i visit family once a week when i go for groceries 60-40 miles away. i read books. i have my life whittled down to bare bones to focus on my writing. this was not easy. i am a social person. i cannot tell you how frustrating it is to have my writing minimized as just a matter of spare time, spell check or luck. sorry--but you are the one who needs to get over it.---s6

"So... is Fabio on the cover?"
This, from my male cousins. Several of them bought the book, so I forgive them.

non writers idiocy

TrainofThought said:

I try to stay away from writing topics, but a month ago my aunt asked the title of my book. I told her the title with others sitting around and she said, along with another, “What? I don’t know that word. I don’t like the title, so you need to change it.” Being the smart a$$ I am I responded, “I don’t care whether you like it or not. If you don’t know the word, you definitely aren’t part of my target audience.” She shut up, we moved onto another topic and I doubt we will be discussing my book again.

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Well....that reply was genius! I would loved to have been sitting there, watching the tense-ness meter peg over into the red.....LOL

Me, I would have probably told that person to go buy a dictionary.

I must add to this list. In discussing my difficulties in finding an agent for my novel, one of my friends asked me if I couldn't just start by selling a few short stories and work my way up.

I tried to explain that it's a completely different market and that I would need to learn HOW to write short stories, and even then, the short story market is smaller than the novel market so it would be just as difficult (if not more so) but just kind of got a blank look in response.

If that can make you guys feel better, it's actually normal that people outside your profession don't know a thing about it. Don't take it personal! Have a smile about it. It's as it should be. Consider your computer ; you turn it on, it works. If it doesn't, you say "It doesn't work", not "I ran out of virtual memory so I need to increase the swap file". A computer geek might make fun of you for not knowing the exact problem.

Personally I'm lucky since my aunt is a writer and so is her husband, so they know what it's like.

AbruptlyLavender said:

I think the biggest disconnect between me and most of my peers comes when they try to equate something I write to something they already know.

"Your story has mutants in it? So it's basically X-Men, right?"
"Actually, no..."
"But you derived the idea from X-Men, right?"

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One of my friends caught me working on my chapter outline in class (because, yanno, you write when you can, which means writing during the class where you'd fall asleep anyway) and I knew if I said it was a fantasy story, she would either think a.) harry potter, b.) harry potter, or c.) harry potter, so I cut to the chase and said it was like harry potter but without wands, lightning-bolt scars, a dark lord, or Danielle Radcliffe.

She still didn't seem to get it.

The context: I posted an advertisement on a sales board soliciting my writing services. Namely, doing short stories about 1500-3000 words for $5-$7.

The one reply was as follows:
"I don't quite understand why people would pay for the writing when there are so many high quality writers out there who would do it for free."

Alexandra Little said:

One of my friends caught me working on my chapter outline in class (because, yanno, you write when you can, which means writing during the class where you'd fall asleep anyway) and I knew if I said it was a fantasy story, she would either think a.) harry potter, b.) harry potter, or c.) harry potter, so I cut to the chase and said it was like harry potter but without wands, lightning-bolt scars, a dark lord, or Danielle Radcliffe.

She still didn't seem to get it.

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Why is it completely inconceivable that somebody might actually be capable of writing something new? I mean, they READ original things. Don't they realize those ideas had to come from someone too?

Though people seem to think of "authors" as nonhuman Godlike beings with magical magic and therefore don't count. Like it's impossible that a REAL writer could possibly ever do mundane real-human things like get the flu or shop for groceries or study for finals.

Sorry for the rant! I just hate it when people say my stuff is derivative just because it has mutants. Why not actually know something about the plot, setting, characters, style, and themes before you go making generalizations?

tresshort said:

If that can make you guys feel better, it's actually normal that people outside your profession don't know a thing about it. Don't take it personal! Have a smile about it. It's as it should be. Consider your computer ; you turn it on, it works. If it doesn't, you say "It doesn't work", not "I ran out of virtual memory so I need to increase the swap file". A computer geek might make fun of you for not knowing the exact problem.

Personally I'm lucky since my aunt is a writer and so is her husband, so they know what it's like.

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True that! I think having a smile (and a giggle) about it is the main point of this thread. I personally don't get frustrated when people don't 'get' it. It's just amusing. But I know if I had to talk to, say, a chemist, about their job, I would have nothing intelligent to say. And they would then be able to post on their chemist board laughing about the stupid girl who made a comment about such and such.

Viral said:

The context: I posted an advertisement on a sales board soliciting my writing services. Namely, doing short stories about 1500-3000 words for $5-$7.

The one reply was as follows:
"I don't quite understand why people would pay for the writing when there are so many high quality writers out there who would do it for free."

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Aggghh! *Runs for the bottle of schnapps.*