Am I really a writer?

C0ldf1re · Post by **C0ldf1re** » 18 Aug 2012, 10:21

Gree66bo wrote:... Alexander Pope had no natural talent, but great patience, a lot of time on his hands and the absolute belief that poetry should rhyme...

There is an old story that Pope avoided imprisonment for contempt of court by leaving out part of a rhyme. After a harsh trial received public disapprobation, Pope had a poem printed in a scandal sheet which included the lines:

Slander or Poison dread from Delia's rage
Hard words or hanging, if your Judge be ____.

The trial Judge, Mr Justice Page, sent his clerk around to Pope's home to complain. Pope answered that he had never mentioned Page. The clerk said that His Honour insisted that only "Page" fitted the words. Pope smugly replied that His Honour had thereby confessed, despite Pope never having accused him.

After Pope's death, the poem was reprinted including the name "Page".

tbughi1 · Post by **tbughi1** » 18 Aug 2012, 21:51

C0ldf1re wrote:The clerk said that His Honour insisted that only "Page" fitted the words. Pope smugly replied that His Honour had thereby confessed, despite Pope never having accused him.

I believe there's a modern term for that. "Epic Win," if I'm not mistaken.

MrEmDash · Post by **MrEmDash** » 30 Aug 2012, 12:32

Whenever I'm bored, I just scribble random ideas down on a notepad. Maybe those ideas could become a novel, who knows?

larryfinch · Post by **larryfinch** » 23 Sep 2012, 06:29

Just enjoy writing, why care about the title

clintessential · Post by **clintessential** » 23 Sep 2012, 12:52

I sympathize with westgirl. I write well. I just don't have any ideas. I like my style, but most of my writing is
analytical in nature, rather than creative. About 35 years ago, I was given an idea for a story which I haven't developed.
My wife's grandfather had died and we attended the funeral. He had lived and died in rural Florida, which one of
the other mourners described as "where the hoot owls are still screwing the chickens." His description conjured up
the face of "Banjo Boy" in the movie "Deliverance." After a brief consideration of his face in my mind's eye, I began
to look at the faces of everyone we had met that week we were in Florida a little more judiciously. I wasn't really
looking at their faces as much as I was studying them. For telltale signs of incest and/or madness. I would have been
content to pursue the entertainment value of my newly discovered metric, but the discovery I made while browsing
an old photo album belonging her grandparents put it out of mind.
What I've written is brand new. It was just "created". And that's about as much as I write about anything. Am I really
a writer? No, but I met one once.

rajukk00 · Post by **rajukk00** » 27 Sep 2012, 04:56

As you mentioned on the page, it seems that you are good writer. writing is really good habits which makes you perfect.

Carrie R · Post by **Carrie R** » 28 Sep 2012, 20:41

I wrote a novel, got it published, and am now working on a new one, and I still have a hard time calling myself a writer. Not sure when that will ever change.

C0ldf1re · Post by **C0ldf1re** » 02 Oct 2012, 21:25

Carrie R wrote:... Not sure when that will ever change.

Hopefully when you're rich and famous. Good luck, Carrie!

Carrie R · Post by **Carrie R** » 03 Oct 2012, 09:48

C0ldf1re wrote: Good luck, Carrie!

Thank you!

FeManJay · Post by **FeManJay** » 03 Oct 2012, 16:32

katesolomon wrote:Well calling one self a writer is a something really huge. A writer is a person who can capture the mind of his reader through his writings. A person who can make you laugh, cry and sing with him. This is not possible overnight in fact you have to analyse everything very minutely and thereby describe it very well.
I wish all the budding writers All the best.

I would mostly agree with you on this, except that you are then saying Stephanie Meyer and Snookie and others are in fact writers. I cannot agree with that. A story teller, a writer, and an author are all different things.
If the OP is trying to be a storyteller, then you need to follow the above advice and just try some freewriting everyday. People watch and try and create stories for what their lives are like. Take a favorite song lyric and use it as a piece of dialogue to start an intense conversation between lovers, friends, enemies, mother and child, etc.
However, if that is not your thing--if perhaps you do not like to create new worlds with intricate stories and ideas and characters, then why should you? Write what you feel compelled to write. Take headlines from newsfeeds and research them, write about them. Take an instruction manual or a text book and find new ways to present the information. I did an exercise once where I had to put a comical or satirical spin on every paragraph I read of my European History text book. It was challenging and fun, even for a wannabe-fiction writer. You can always be a writer, even if you do not become an author.
An author is someone who has published a written work. And I don't even like to be as simple as that because then Snookie does count (as a New York Times best-seller at that!), however it is true to an extent, and if you want to be published, pursue a career as an author. But if you just want to write, then write. No one can ever stop you. It is ok that you have a hard time coming to an idea. That's what the world around us is for. Look at your bookshelf. Whatever is the first title you see, make that your opening line. Find creative or new ways to express old things. That is a good way to get creative juices flowing if you can't think of original ideas.
Just my opinion, and I hope it helps. Don't let anyone tell you that you are not a writer if it is in you to write.

cathyee · Post by **cathyee** » 07 Oct 2012, 18:21

I think you should continue writing and may be you are a excellent writer in future. So try yourself. All the best.

dubaicos · Post by **dubaicos** » 09 Oct 2012, 01:28

Yess...you are a good writer indeed.

Dream Catcher · Post by **Dream Catcher** » 24 Jan 2014, 05:33

If you take your situation and pretend you're not sure you're a swimmer, think of it this way: you enjoy swimming. You're a good swimmer. You've tried out a few things but it's not like you go everyday. You can swim, you have a passion for it, but you're still unsure. ...you're still a swimmer.

rines · Post by **rines** » 24 Jan 2014, 16:05

You write, you express yourself through your writing, you seem to think about the interest and understanding of you in words through your audience's eyes (trees, dirt, birds, people, clouds-whatever you're working to communicate with.) I'd say you sound like a writer, but it doesn't matter if other people think you are...if you don't think or know you are.

Brittanypomales · Post by **Brittanypomales** » 26 Jan 2014, 10:09

A writer to me is someone who thinks better with words just as an artist thinks better in pictures. It is subconscious and part of your nature. I tend to write in journals because I have always thought clearer on paper. When the ideas bounce around my head they just keep bouncing and eventually get all tangeled together. When written I am the best version of myself. I will proudly say I am a writer although I am not published. I used to use the word aspiring until I realized that aspiring writer was incorrect. Aspiring author, yes that would be correct but writer no. That is not something you aspire to be. It's something you just are.