Writers don't get enough credit - an observation

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Alpha Echo

I should be writing.
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It's funny. I've always been a reader and writer. My mother and father both instilled in me a love for reading, and I've always had a love of stringing words together, manipulating the English language in order to create mood and tell a story.

My first two full-length novels came from things that happened in my own life.

Now, I'm exploring other things - human emotion and reaction that maybe I understand, but events that I don't.

What I mean is that writers are intelligent. We have to be.

If you're writing about adoption, you have to know the laws.

If you're writing about cancer, you have to know not only the emotional tolls it plays on the patient and the patient's family but also the medical terms and conditions, problems and side affects of chemo and radiation.

If you're writing about a crime, you have to undestand the legal definitions of that crime, police procedure, and very possibly the ups and downs of the judicial system. How does a lawyer choose who he wants on his jury? Why might a lawyer object to a statement? What is the purpose of that judge?

Politics. Sports. Hollywood. Anerexia. Teenage angst. Murder. Marriage. Divorce. Rape. Artificial insemination. Foreclosure. History. Travel. Technology. Alcholism. Gambling. Addiction. Child birth. Anger. Motivations. Fear. Drive. Ambition.

As writers, we have to know more than just our characters.

And yet, I don't believe that those in the world that are NOT writers understand the wealth of knowledge that each author they enjoy must have.

I started this post by saying "It's funny." I guess what's funny is that I'm only now appreciating the intelligence that writers have. It's hard enough to put together a compelling story or informing article or gripping short. But writers must have at the very least a hunger for research and knowledge in order to make their writing REAL.

I don't really know what kind of responses I'm looking for - I just wanted to share my newly found appreciation.

It's a shame that the majority of the population has no idea what it takes to write.
 

Alpha Echo

I should be writing.
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ooops...how'd this get on here twice? Sorry!!! I don't know how to delete it...
 

Puma

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Alpha - ask one of the mods (listed on the right side of the main page) to merge the threads. Send him or her a pm with your request. Puma
 
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