Cogitationis poenam nemo patitur.
Nobody should be punished for his thoughts.
Writers and Writing (August 4th, 2002)
Somehow, I managed to find myself amongst writers great and small, and only recently have come to know the difference. Fortunately (or unfortunately), I seem to be somewhere in between.
Writers
What makes a writer a writer? Is it the fact that they can singlehandedly type something that has big words? Is it that they are regarded by their friends and family as writers? Is it that they named themselves writers?
No. The audience makes the writer. All too often I read things that other people have written that may very well been perceived by the author as writing, but hardly qualified. It's easy to tell when this happens - typically the author uses large words to show how smart he or she is, and therefore makes the reader who is unfamilar with these words feel dumb.
Making people feel dumb is the government's job, I expect, and if these people wish to find employment, I ask them to seek office. In doing this, I am not harming the government more than it already is - I am simply trying to maintain the status quo.
In all seriousness (no, I wasn't serious, but it was an interesting thought!), writers should not shovel words at people in the hope that somehow, somewhere, someone decides that because he or she cannot understand the writer, the writer must be good.
Also, taking courses on writing also does not make a writer. There are two things that make a writer - reading, and writing. Often I hear people say "I took a Creative Writing course", but the sad truth is that it's quite possible that the college's football team did as well - and though they are shrewd lads, it's rare to find someone with a Super Bowl ring being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Now, I have issued the challenge, and hope that I am proven wrong someday.
Reporting, on the other hand... well, reporting is a separate subject in my thoughts... but it will probably end up on this page.
In the end, know this: The audience determines how good a writer you are.
