Destroying 30 myths about being a writer
What are the odd ones? Can any of them be believed? How can they help with your novel?
Over time there have been some silly myths about writers that sadly new writers believe. Some of the myths are downright weird. But it doesn’t stop people from believing them. New writers look at their lives and compare them to famous writers wondering if the myths could or should apply to them.
In this blog, we will look at destroying 30 myths about being a writer…
DESTROYING 30 MYTHS OF BEING A WRITER
Table of Contents
THEY HAVE A PROBLEM WITH DRINKING
1/ Great writers have to drink. This idea came from Ernest Hemingway. New writers see his great work and believe they have to be like him. He drank so they have to drink as well. Believing this is where great work comes from. In reality, Ernest Hemingway never wrote anything while drinking. No one can, too many spelling mistakes.
In truth, his best work came while he was sober. All new writers have to realize you cannot drink and think your work will be amazing. All you’ll end up doing is making mistakes that will have to be corrected later. Stay sober and write well.
THEY ARE MOODY, MOOD SWINGS
2/ Another belief is all great writers are moody. Have bizarre mood swings and people accept them because “they’re a writer”. In reality, the majority of successful writers are nice and friendly. They are pleasant to hang out with. As a new writer, you do not have to be rude to anyone to write well.
HAVE TO START YOUNG
3/ You had to start writing from your childhood. If you start when older you cannot be “great”. This idea has existed for so long. It’s hard to disprove because most people when older who wish to write don’t because they believe they’re too old to. So we don’t get too many old writers starting their first novel. But in reality, you can start at any age.
There are countless writers whose first novel is written in their 50 or 60s. Raymond Chandler wrote his first book at 44. Helen Dewitt’s first novel was at 44. Anna Sewell was 57.
HAVE TO BORN A GREAT WRITER
4/ You have to be born “a great writer”. It’s something you’re born into. That you cannot be “taught”, you cannot learn. You’re either a great writer at the time you’re born or don’t even bother. This idea is silly, in reality, you can learn anything. There are countless people who set out to write, knew nothing at the start, and learned as time went by. And went on to be a successful writer. As anyone can.
IT’S A MAN’S WORLD
5/ Men can write only. In reality, when you look back at great selling books many have been written by women. From Mary Shelly, Anne Frank, Margaret Mitchell. Agatha Christie, Emily Dickinson, Jane Austin. The list goes on. We seem to think men make great writers and women can read, but cannot write. Many young girls avoid writing because of this belief, “it’s a man’s world”. History has shown women can write just as well.
YOU HAVE TO WRITE EVERY DAY
6/ That you need to write every day or don’t bother. Some great writers do write every day, but there are some who do not and still produce great work. They can miss a day or two and come back to it being a great writer.
OBSESSED WITH YOUR STORY
7/ All writers need to be thinking of their story 24 hours a day. When they stop writing and step away from their computer the story is still running through their mind. No matter where they are or time of day. In reality, you can stop thinking of your story, and come back to it just fine afterward. You can have a life outside your novel. No obsession is needed to be a great writer.
WRITERS CHANGE WHILE WRITING
8/ Writers change personalities while writing. They become their characters. To a point where you don’t recognize the writer. They go places in their mind while writing, you need to avoid them. In reality, the majority of writers do not “change personalities.” They focus on their work and get it done. You can talk to them while they write and they’re friendly throughout the day. They do not become their characters.
We get this idea from Stephen King‘s “The Shining”. When we see Jack Torrance verbally mean and moody when he’s writing. People watch the movie believing all writers are the same way.
YOU HAVE TO BE INTROVERTED
9/ You have to be introverted and anti-social to be a great writer. You have to stay home all day. Not wanting to talk to anyone. But in reality, great writers have friends and go out places, hang out. Talk on the phone, and have no problems with people visiting while they write. Both extroverts and introverts can make for great writers.
THEY WORK STRANGE HOURS
10/ Great writers write in strange hours. Believing you have to write with the sunrise or after 12 am writing all night in the dark. But the truth is most writers keep normal hours. Writing from 9 am to around 2 or 3 pm much like your average worker. There’s an idea in order to write a great novel you need to be alone in the dark writing from 12 am to sunrise.
YOU HAVE TO TRAVEL THE WORLD
11/ You have to travel the world and get into adventures to learn about people in order to write great novels. In reality, you don’t have to be a world traveler. You can learn everything you need to write a novel from a library. And now with the internet, you can learn about everything from your computer without leaving your house. You don’t have to live it to learn it.
WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW
12/ Write what you know. This limits the writer. If you do, you end up writing the same novel over and over. What you should do is follow Dan Brown’s advice “write what you want to learn.” This way you go out and research something you want to learn about. This motivates you in both ways. Learning about something you’re passionate about and putting it into your novel. Doing two things at once.
YOU HAVE TO SUFFER TO BE GOOD
13/ You had to live a life of pain to be able to write a great novel. Yes, it’s true, people who have lived a painful life have written a novel about it and it’s been successful. But you don’t have to have lived a painful life. You can live a normal life and still use your imagination to write a great novel. Great writers have great imaginations like an actor in movies. You can see it in your mind and bring it to life.
FAMILY PROBLEMS
14/ You have to have family problems. Great writers can’t raise their kids well. They ignore their kids while they’re writing. They put their novel ahead of everything. Go through many divorces. But in reality, the majority of all writers have a normal family with healthy kids. Who go about their day raising their kids while writing successful novels.
You don’t need to ignore your kids or have a failed marriage to write a great novel it is possible to have a family life and write a great novel. You don’t have to isolate yourself to write.
STAYING WITH THE SAME GENRE
15/ You can’t switch genres. What you start off with you have to keep writing. A horror writer could never write fantasy. They only excel at one style of writing. They’re limited in their abilities. In reality, writers love switching genres. they enjoy creating new worlds. It keeps them on their toes. They feel limited when writing one style.
HAVE TO WRITE POETRY
16/ You have to be great at poetry to be a great writer. If you can’t write it you shouldn’t bother writing a novel. In reality, countless writers have written successful novels without writing a word of poetry. It does help, many great writers love writing poetry, but it’s not needed.
WRITERS ARE LAZY
17/ Writers are lazy and do not want to get a real job. They have taken a hobby and tried making a career over it. Family members do not see writing as “a job” and ask, “when are you going to get a real job?” Any writer will tell you that writing is a real job. It should be respected. It takes time to complete a novel. And it’s respectable to be a writer.
A DAYTIME JOB GETS IN THE WAY
18/ You can’t have a day job and be a writer at the same time. There are not enough hours in a day. You come home tired. You have too many things to do after you get home. It simply cannot be done. In reality, the majority of all writers have a full-time job and come home to write. It may not be easy, but it has been done countless times.
YOU HAVE NO LIFE
19/ You have no life. You come home from working and sit down and write all night. Giving up any chance at living a good life. You don’t go out. Never talk to anyone, no movies or TV. It’s all about rewrites, sending out emails. You end up doing one of three things, sleep, work, write.
Whereas in fact, you set your own hours. If there are times when you need to be someplace you can head out. You don’t have to give up living a life with your family to write a novel. You can see your friends and still write.
A MASTER OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
20/ You have to be a master of the English language and grammar. In reality, It does help to fully understand grammar. However, there have been many novels written where the grammar isn’t the best it can be. But the book still sells in the millions. Many have criticized Dan Brown‘s novels for not being great with grammar or the “Twilight” series. But fans still love them.
But grammar isn’t something you should ignore. The more you learn the better your writing. The book “The Elements of Style” does a great job at teaching grammar.
THEY HAVE READ EVERY BOOK OUT THERE
21/ There’s an idea that successful authors have read all other successful books. They read fast. Have an opinion on all of them. Know all the other authors. Have lunch with them every day of the week. But in reality, most writers hang out with friends and family. They don’t “do lunch” with other well-known writers. Not having read every successful book. They like to read, but not that much.
SELF-PUBLISHED BOOKS DON’T COUNT
22/ People will look down at you if you’re a self-published author. Believing you cannot get your books published the standard way through a well-known publishing house. Or you can’t get an agent because they all turned you down. In reality, there are countless reasons why someone would go the self-publishing route. They may want full control over their novels. Want all the money coming their way. They want it published quickly. They only want their book published online to stop trees from being countdown.
Countless writers choose to be self-published for their own reasons. It might not have anything to do with being rejected by publishing houses. Their novel might very well be good enough to be published but they choose to be independent.
WRITERS ARE BORING PEOPLE
23/ Writers are boring people who live boring lives. Who sit around with other writers chatting about the latest issue of the New Yorker. Who are boring dull people to talk to. In reality, all writers are different. Can’t label all of them. Some might be boring and some are extroverted, funny, loud. Others are quite introverted. But no one word describes all writers. Just like in life, everyone is different.
THEY DON’T LIKE CHANGE
24/ They like old typewriters. Reject all new computers and new technology. They strick with what they have. They like the sound of old typewriters. When a new computer comes out they want nothing to do with it. It’s a cute one, but in reality, the majority of writers have new computers and do give new technology a chance.
THEY ALL MAKE A TON OF MONEY
25/ That all writers make a ton of money from every novel. There’s an idea all writers are millionaires from their first novel. Make a ton of money and live off of the money they make and have a lot of free time. Where they can vacation a lot.
in reality, the majority of writers have full-time jobs and write in their free time because they like it. The majority of writers do not make millions and vacation all over the world.
YOUR BOOK WILL BE MADE INTO A MOVIE
26/ Movies are made from every novel published. People believe if you release a book a movie will be made about it right away. You’ll be paid millions for the movie rights. In reality, the vast majority of novels will never be made into a movie. Only about 1 percent or less of books are made into movies. (in which the storyline is changed to something else more often than not.)
WRITING IS FAST AND EASY
27/ writing is fast and easy. It’s not too difficult to write a novel. Anyone can get it done quickly in a few days. You don’t have to put too much effort into it. One draft is all you need. The truth is even the best writers know writing is difficult. It’s like running a marathon. Anyone who has tried writing knows just how difficult it really is. There’s nothing easy about it.
THEY DAYDREAM A LOT
28/ Great writers had a problem with daydreaming as a child. Having a wild imagination growing up. They have to write because it’s all they know. Would rather live in a daydream world than reality.
THEY LIVE THROUGH THEIR PROTAGONIST
29/ They put themselves into their novel and are the protagonist because they live boring lives. In reality, you can live any life you want and don’t have to place yourself into your novel. Most writers are happy with their simple life and write to entertain people.
THEY CAN TELL OTHERS THEIR PLOT EASILY
30/ They’re great at telling others their plot. If anyone asks them what the story is they can tell them right away with no problems. In reality, authors are horrible at telling their plot. They make a mess of it. No one knows what they’re saying. Even they can’t find the right words. They ramble on.
But the whole story is in their head. It makes perfect sense. They can see all the characters. Understand the theme. Can see the three-act structure. But to anyone listening they sound crazy.
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