Non-Writers: They're Everywhere

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MightyScribbler

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I'm guessing some of you have experienced some or all of the complaints I have about non-writers.

Non-Writers - They're Everywhere. They look like us, they sound like us, but they're not one of us.

1. They come to your sacred writing venue and hang out or try to get you to leave with them, and when you resist they point out that you can write later or another day. You explain that you have a schedule and you must stick with it, but they give you the old "whatever" response, as if you're giving them a fake reason why you can't go as their date to the prom.

2. They come to parties you are attending, and when you tell them you're working on a book they a: roll their eyes; b: say "good luck with that" without even trying to mask their sarcasm; c: respond with the sound career advice of "don't quit your day job;" and my personal favorite: d: "I hope you're not serious."

3. When you tell them you're sending it out, they remind you of the obstacles, the unfavorable statistics, as if you weren't more aware of them than they were.

4. When you tell them you just finished your book, they give you the name of a printer who will give you a great deal on the first 100 copies.

5. You tell them you're writing a book and they ask (as if no one has ever asked you this question) "what's it about."

6. They tell you they are an avid reader and a great candidate to read your book. So, you give them a copy, which they use as a coaster and never bothering reading a single page.

7. They tell you they've got a great idea about a book, and it's something so cliche (e.g. Alien conspiracy/attack).

8. They don't understand the commitment, for to them it seems like your writing is a simple, silly hobby.

9. They don't get that writing is a full-time job, or at least a second part- time job. You must treat it as if you need this job to pay your rent, and no, you can't not report to work tomorrow.

10. You've announced you've finished your book, and they tell you about a great career conseling program, because now that you've got that writing bug out of your system, it's time to focus on more important, practical, realistic things.

11. They tell you "it's not like you have a test coming up" in response to your rejecting of their proposal to blow off your writing and go play with them. You respond that eventhough you may not have a strict deadline, you must treat it as if you did have a test on Monday, and study or not, that test is on Monday, and you need to ace it. (I guess this was an expansion on #1)

12. They ask you to do them a favor (ride to the airport, moving furniture), because you have nothing better to do with your day off. You explain that you're writing that day, but they hear "I'm watching TV all day, I would help you but I simply don't want to, because I'm a selfish inconsiderate person."
 
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Del

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The thing about non-writers is without them it would be really hard to write.

Hand a story to a writer and hand that same story to a non-writer and see which gives you the most grief. :)

Writers are very hard readers to please.
 

BlueTexas

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Funny, the thing I run into most is people who believe anything can be easily published...not the people you're describing. Weird. Course, I also have an IUniverse author in the family, so I don't say much about it at all.

(Not that IUniverse is bad, not bashing here, just saying that's not the route I want to go.)
 

PeeDee

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I run into most of these people off and on over the years. It doesn't bother me anymore. My friends and family are, I think, aware at this point that I will take a certain amount of crap before I just walk away and do what I need to do.

Friends who don't understand, or aren't willing to at least tolerate it, tend not to remain my friends very long. It's cold, but I have no qualms over it.

Of course, the worst of all is the "Don't quitcher day job, ha ha ha!"
 

Mandy-Jane

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I hate it when they use the word "little". For example:

"How's your little play going?"

"How's that little book you're writing coming along?"

Little? What on earth is little about it? Grrrrrr.

Anyway I can't complain, because I have some non-writing friends who ask me at every opportunity how it's all going (and they never use the word little). They also constantly offer to take my kids away to play with their kids for a few hours so I can get some writing done.

Now that's nice!
 

Shwebb

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My mom gave me info once regarding an essay-writing contest. The prize was a trip for one to a writers' retreat in Europe and $10,000, I think.

My mom thought that if I would enter, then surely I would win. And since she told me about the contest (which I already knew about, anyway) then I should have to split my winnings with her AND take her with me to the retreat.
 

PeeDee

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Shwebb said:
My mom gave me info once regarding an essay-writing contest. The prize was a trip for one to a writers' retreat in Europe and $10,000, I think.

My mom thought that if I would enter, then surely I would win. And since she told me about the contest (which I already knew about, anyway) then I should have to split my winnings with her AND take her with me to the retreat.

When she does half the writing, she gets half the profit.

I had some silly teenager offer to edit my novel, years ago, if only I'd split my earnings with her. People are Very Silly.
 

BlueTexas

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Simon Woodhouse said:
I get the impression that some people think if it takes a week to read a book, it only takes the same amount of time to write one.

Yup. That really bugs me. Another one I forgot - people will tell me a story, an anecdote really, and then ask if they should publish it. Sure, I say. Where, they ask. I direct them to the library copy of Writer's Market and giggle to myself...
 

seun

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I get the 'why don't you write for the local paper seeing as you write books?'

The intimation isn't just that a writer of fiction can write anything, it's that the management of the local paper would be thrilled to give me a job without question.

A particular favourite is being told to chase an agent who rejects me to find out what's 'wrong with your book.'
 

PeeDee

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THe other inescapable is, someone finds out you're a writer and brags about What A Wonderful Writer their husband/wife/child/parent is, on account a' them winning this contest and having their poetry published in this beautiful book what they all bought a copy of!

Wow!

Neat!

If I haven't had my tea yet, I'll tell them that poetry.com's a scam, and direct 'em to the site that shows all the gibberish they've accpeted in the past.

Self-publishing authors are also really annoying. They'll come into my bookstore with a biiiiiig stack of their Adventures on the Trucker's Trail and they'll have a sales pitch lined up for me, and they'll have bookmarks and product information sheets and all this.

Drive me nuts. I hang up on the telemarketers we get at work. COming in and hawking your book isn't any different.
 

Rolling Thunder

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These are some of the reasons why only a handful of people know I write. Most of them take one look at me and question the fact that I know how to read.
 

PeeDee

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I wouldn't mind all the Non-Writers around, but they tend to band together if you start trying to thin their numbers. It's such a downer.
 

MidnightMuse

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These are the reasons why almost no one I know knows I write. My mother and stepfather are under the impression that the instant you write a book - all you have to do is send it to "one of those people" who then publish it and pay you millions. They're convinced the only requirement to getting published and put in a bookstore is finishing a book and mailing it "somewhere" and they're equally convinced every author on this planet makes millions.

So I don't talk about it. Not one of my friends knows what I do, and I never mention it - even casually - to strangers.
 

MightyScribbler

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MidnightMuse said:
These are the reasons why almost no one I know knows I write. So I don't talk about it. Not one of my friends knows what I do, and I never mention it - even casually - to strangers.

I use to not tell people. But, then I figured that I may unknowingly run into an agent or, and more likely, someone who knows someone who knows someone who is a reputable agent.

I also get told about all the scams when people know I write. Poetry.com, Sobel, etc. I guess I can't expect them to know any better, I know I didn't at first until I began the researching markets process. I suppose they're just trying to help.
 

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There is going to come a time...all these non-writers, they flit around laughing and dancing, with no introspection, no analysis of the nature of the conflicts all around them, and no abstract notions worth writing. Oh sure, they READ and enjoy--but they cannot create. But there will come a time, and it will be a cold winter. And the only ones who survive will be not the readers who gather what acorns have fallen to them, but the writers who know how to CREATE the acorns to begin with. The acorn of writing. We'll show those bad non-writers! We'll show them ALL!
 

PeeDee

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gclare said:
There is going to come a time...all these non-writers, they flit around laughing and dancing, with no introspection, no analysis of the nature of the conflicts all around them, and no abstract notions worth writing. Oh sure, they READ and enjoy--but they cannot create. But there will come a time, and it will be a cold winter. And the only ones who survive will be not the readers who gather what acorns have fallen to them, but the writers who know how to CREATE the acorns to begin with. The acorn of writing. We'll show those bad non-writers! We'll show them ALL!

Yeah! ANd we won't let 'em touch our nuts neither!

:D
 

Carrie in PA

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gclare said:
There is going to come a time...all these non-writers, they flit around laughing and dancing, with no introspection, no analysis of the nature of the conflicts all around them, and no abstract notions worth writing. Oh sure, they READ and enjoy--but they cannot create. But there will come a time, and it will be a cold winter. And the only ones who survive will be not the readers who gather what acorns have fallen to them, but the writers who know how to CREATE the acorns to begin with. The acorn of writing. We'll show those bad non-writers! We'll show them ALL!

ROFL!!! :roll:
 

PeeDee

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What will probably happen is, we will have not the faintest idea how to make fire, hunt, kill (half of us will be vegetarians, the other half in caffeine withdrawal) and we'll be lazy and want to write instead of this "foraging" business and we'll die.

Whereas some big rednecked guy in his red plaid will just go wrangle a deer and not particularly change his life much, except he don't watch Nascar so much no more.
 

MightyScribbler

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There are some non-writers who are great, and very supportive, so I should acknowledge some of them as well I guess. It's just that the ones who try to drag me down seem to have a greater impact than those who try to boost me up.

My fiancee is great, she proudly tells everyone though, and when I'm in a frustrating writing stage I kinda don't want to talk about it with strangers.

My dad is great, very supportive, but my mom interrupts him every time he tries to proudly tell people. I overheard her once say to him "you can tell them if he publishes the book, until then it doesn't count so keep quiet."

I guess you have to have thick skin for more reasons than just rejection by agents/editors. And I guess you can either pick between being insulted or motivitated by what you encounter. And motivated = productive.
 

Toothpaste

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I have actually a very supportive support system. My parents, number one fans (ditto grandparents, they are so cute about the whole thing). And my really close friends really believe in me (many of them are artists though so . . . )

What I find the funniest (and this goes with my acting too) is when I have certain friends, not super close friends, but people you see with some frequency at social gatherings and stuff, and these friends know all about what you do and are genuinely interested and stuff. And then they see you act, or see a play you wrote, and you come up to them after the play and they are genuinely shocked how good it was. I had this one guy say to me, "Wow you really CAN act!" And another just could not stop talking how surprised he was that I wrote that play. I mean it is very flattering, but it does tell me that they never really believed I was actually good at what I did. This gets to me. I mean when I meet a doctor I assume he's going to be a good doctor. Ditto architect etc.

I know I know, there is a certain level of required training with both, and in this day and age of people just wanting to be famous, doesn't matter how, I guess everyone is skeptical. Still. Grr.
 
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