Monday, 29 June 2009
Just Wondering
A writer friend of mine said today, ‘All writers have a problem with authority’. She was saying this to explain her earlier comment that writers are, on the whole, difficult people. I wondered whether it was true. It’s certainly true for me. I have always had a problem with authority. But is it true for all writers? Or even for most of them? Are writers more stroppy than everyone else? Or is it just me and her?
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2 comments:
I don't know about other writers (since the only other writers I know are those I meet online and that's an ineffective way of getting to know other people's personalities), but I definitely have a strong anti-authoritarian streak in my personality.
In fact, that's one of the main reasons why I self-publish -- because I don't want to give up the control I have over my own stories. I need to be in charge of everything, from the initial idea to the manufacture of the finished book. I don't want anyone to tell me what I should or should not do.
I think most people want scripts for their lives so they don't have to think about the complexities. That's why things like religion and advertising work so well. Most people want to be given the script and as a result, acknowledge rules and authority.
Writers are people who can see beyond the script, who write their own script and create their own rules (if only in their fictional worlds). I think you have to be different from most even to allow yourself to think outside the box. As a consequence, the idea of authority is not something we writers give much credence to. It makes sense.
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