Myths About Writers

Whenever you mention the fact that you're a writer, a million stereotypes are bound to come into people's heads. Some of these are true, and some are myths. Here are some common myths about writers, disproved.

• Writers are addicted to coffee. No, not necessarily. Writers are addicted to whatever will keep them going long enough to finish that next chapter. Sometimes it's coffee, sometimes it's something else. Hopefully not drugs.
• Writers are antisocial. It's not that we don't enjoy your company. We simply come off this way sometimes. The average human would be bored to tears sitting in front of a keyboard, typing all day. They don't see this as a "normal" pastime. Writers, on the other hand, love every day where they can do nothing but put words on the screen. Social activities can get forgotten in the process.
• Writers listen to my conversations at Starbucks. No, not just your conversations. We listen to the everyone else's conversations, too. Not you exclusively. Sorry.
• Writers talk to themselves. We talk to our characters. We talk directly to our story. We talk to the computer screen, to the blank notebook. Why talk to ourselves when we have so many other available options to talk to?
• If you say something bad about a writer's work, they will hate you. No, they'll just write a character remarkably like you into their books. Said character will die.
• Writers have no friends. Writers actually have more friends than the average person. We have our normal, real-life friends, and then we have our characters. That's more than the average human can say.
• Writers admire J. K. Rowling like she's something more than human. Well, some of us might. But some of us don't. Personally, I very much enjoy her books, but there are many better things out there to read.
• Writers suffer from insanity. Actually, we enjoy every second of it.

And there you have it. It's like Mythbusters, but less awesome. And with less explosives.

Originally posted in a fiery chasm deep in the heart of Mordor, also known as The Epic, The Awesome, and The Random.