April 26, 2010

More than one person emailed the question: “How can I know I’m a real writer?” or “How can you know if you’re ‘called’ to be a writer?”

Since I have seven bookcases of writing books, it wasn’t hard to find a lot of opinions from published writers. Most of them gave lists of character qualities you needed to be named a “real writer.” Among the traits listed (desire, discipline, patience, willingness to learn, etc.) was something I hadn’t thought of. But this one trait could be a deciding factor.

What Is It?

It’s called having a “long-term view.” Don’t think: “Do I have a book inside me?” Think instead: “Do I have a writer inside me?” Sometimes it’s hard to tell! We certainly can’t rely on our feelings to tell us, since they fluctuate so much from day to day.

What would a “writer inside” look like? I don’t know for sure. Some agree with the writer George Bernau: “I decided that I would continue to write as long as I lived, even if I never sold one thing, because that was what I wanted out of my life.”

I can agree with that, I think. Even if I never sold another thing, I believe I would continue to write: newsletters, journals, some stories, some articles, things for my family. I might not keep trying to write “for the markets,” but I don’t think I could stop writing in some form or another, even if I tried.

Stick-To-It-Iveness

Others would agree with Harlan Ellison that the “long-term view” is more a mind-set, something you can choose instead of something that has chosen you. He said, after reading a book he didn’t like, that “If someone who writes that badly can become a writer, then even the dippiest of us can become a writer, baboons can become writers, sludge and amoeba can become writers. The trick is not in becoming a writer, it is in staying a writer. Day after week after month after year. Staying in there for the long haul.”

So the answer to the question of “Am I a REAL Writer?” seems to be that you are–if you don’t quit. You are if you stay in the writing game for the long haul.

What a Real Writer Isn’t

When I was searching for the answer to that question, I looked in several books. None of the well known authors said REAL writers sell books or REAL writers win awards or REAL writers make a lot of money or REAL writers have agents.

No. The consensus of opinion was this: Writers write–and keep on writing. You’ll know you’re a REAL writer if that’s what you do.