Something I've found to be kind of hard about being a writer (and especially a young writer) is the fact that very few people ever to take me seriously. I rarely even bother mentioning it to people ninety percent of the time, even if they ask what I'm into, only because it seems so stupid and outrageous to most people. There's been multiple times when people (especially people my age) literally refused to believe I'd written nearly an entire book before. Aside from my family and some of my close friends that know me well (and my high-school English teacher), no one has ever takes me seriously. I've learned not to let it bother me anymore (though it's hard not to, since people in general are pretty stupid and, in my opinion, extremely unambitious. Even out of my friends that DO take me seriously, only the ones who play music and want to get into movies and other artistic pursuits really seem to "get it", if you know what I mean. I actually I get mad when my friends tell other people that I write, because I think it immediately causes them to have a preconceived notion of me that isn't true. I've been writing with purpose since I was in fifth grade (though I always loved making up stories and characters) and haven't stopped since, and I truly believe that I was born to write. There is nothing that means more to me than my stories, so it's hard for me not to get offended and take it personally when people act like it's nothing. Thus, I've gotten into the habit of pretty much just keeping it a secret, more or less. Does anyone else ever feel this way, or am I just weird?
"Believe nothing, no matter where you've read it or who has said it, not even if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense." -Buddha
Half of my friends are writers, but none of them are really serious about it, so if I wasn't permanently logged onto YWS at school, they'd all think I wasn't, too. Sometimes I can't take myself seriously, I compare myself to some of the writers here and there's no similarity. Then, I remember that I'm young, busy, and still learning.
When other people get you down, you have to remember that much worse writers have been published. *cough*Meyer*cough* There is no such thing, however, as a bad writer - not even the aforementioned lady. There's just writers who have varying degrees of stuff to learn. Anyone can do it, if they have the drive. And the most important thing is to stay comfortable with what you're doing. If not talking to people about it does it for you, that's absolutely fine. Great, in fact. They can't discourage you if they don't know there's anything to discourage.
"Ruth. She's alive because she is not dead, and junk." ~JoJo
I don't take my writing seriously, so I hope nobody else does. If nobody knew I was a writer, I would be happy. It's not that I don't write seriously... I do. But to consider myself a writer and God's gift to mankind? Guh. I write. If my writing is good, then it'll get noticed. If my writing is bad, hopefully it won't get noticed. In any case, I won't let writing define my life. There is too much to do besides writing.
Ubi caritas est vera, Deus ibi est.
"The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls the butterfly." ~ Richard Bach
I know exactly what you mean, dude. I often try to get people to read what I've written though, just so I know what people think of it. And four out of five times, I'll get a "sure I'll read it, no problem" kind of answer, and I give them a copy of my stuff (not an entire one, of course, just the first few chapters or whatnot), and nada. They don't finish it, if they even begin it at all. It's really frustrating, and I'm always disappointed when I realize they don't really care/have time for it, but I'm learning to deal with it.
However, I often will try to go out of my way to get people to read my work (sort of like the hopeless narrator in that Beatles song), hoping I'll find someone that I can really talk to about the whole Master Plan that I've cooked up in my head. I've got it planned that all of my stories are actually connected somehow; using recurring characters, settings, even similar plot devices, I've got worlds spun into a vast web that has a lot of snags in it that I wish I could talk to someone about. So I don't keep it a secret. I don't know what you mean about that whole preconceived notion thing; if your friends tell others that you're a writer, and you are a writer, then doesn't that make it true?
But finally, to answer your initial question, I think that there are some close friends and family that do take my work seriously, but not as many as I would like.
Winter sun catches, dog fox through thin hedges; throws his long shadow north, to the emptiness.
My family takes it semi-seriously: most of them know I write, enjoy the pieces I show them and make some constructive criticism, but don't really think about it. My father takes it seriously more because he considers it an effective way of working out some of my Issues without breaking down into a nervous, sobbing wreck, than because he has great faith in my skills.
At school, most of my friends do take it seriously: the advantages of a really small school means that they can see I take it seriously, which in turn makes them realize that it is an important thing. A lot of my teachers also take it quite seriously, and I've gotten lots of help from people who weren't even directly teaching me.
Lumi: they stand no chance against the JAG SAFETY BLANKET
I agree with Jagged - my family is half-serious, but they think there's far more interesting things to be doing than writing. All my English teachers know the real story - they get it, hook, line and sinker. And they can DEBATE with me - they point out issues, how to improve; they're passionate, they understand.
My friends, and family friends...let's just say that it's **blankly staring** if I even mention that I'm a writer. As if I come from Mars.
But YWS gets it, so that's great .
And, yeah, I see what Snoink is saying - I do too many other things than writing, and, while I value writing, I cannot really value it OVER any of the other things, as it is just another part of life. It actually matters very little to me what other people think or if they blankly stare - I write for myself, and for a more-appreciative audience than just friends etc, and if my audience likes it - or if I love it - to me, that's all that really counts.
So...I can see where you're coming from, and yes, I experience it, but no, I do not actually find it irritating in the least.
Well I'm a glad I'm not alone in this! I figured it wasn't very uncommon, a lot of people seem to have this idea that writing a book is this incredible, unreachable task. Kind of like becoming a movie star or a huge athlete, but lesser so. And I can see where you're coming from Snoink. It's not that I think I'm some incredible amazing writer and everyone has to read my work and take me super seriously as such, but I absolutely do feel defined by my writing. Outside of this forum, I almost never let anyone read my work. I have a wide interest in a lot of different arts forms, but I'd give them all up forever to keep writing. I guess what I meant by people not taking my writing seriously is that, they don't take seriously what writing actually means to ME. People act like it's a just a little hobby I have, on par with a collecting things or playing a sport or something. But for me, it's not really even a hobby. It's just what I do. The natural high I get from creating a good story, or thinking of a awesome plot twist, or anything like that, is incomparable to the sensation I get from anything else. That's what I feel like people don't take seriously, and even if I try to describe that it doesn't seem to matter.
"Believe nothing, no matter where you've read it or who has said it, not even if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense." -Buddha
I'm with Snoink on this one. I don't take my writing seriously. I mean, I think I might be semi-half-decently-a-tiny-bit-better-than-average but good? No. But I enjoy it, I get a kick out of it and hey, that's what's important.
As for other people. My family always joke about who's going to write a novel first, me or my dad? My dad says, "I have no plot and I'm useless at characterisation. Miriam, you do it. But buy me a house in France and a sports car with the proceeds." And some of my friends randomly say stuff about it. Actually, now that I think of it (I considered listing them then deleted them) quite a few people have mentioned it to me.
They all understand that I like to write and who knows? Maybe someday I will get that novel published. But for now... I'm seventeen, and I'm planning on going to medical school. And I'm already trying to get people to take that ambition seriously- they all look at me like, "Oh really? You? A doctor?" Imagine trying to persuade them I was going to do something like become a writer. Which I don't plan on doing in any case. It's probably more than a hobby, but I have other passions too, and other horizons to pursue.
"Stella. You were in my dream the other night. And everyone called you Princess." -Lauren2010
I like to think I take writing very seriously. On one occasion I had to actually go outside and do some long distance measuring to find out stuff for my writing.
