(Originally posted March 5, 2015.)
Edgar Allan Poe Ale Poem
As I lay here resting and nursing whatever this malady is, I have been answering comments and thinking. (Add-on: I really do get sick a lot.) One thing my mind wandered off to was the various stereotypes about authors. We drink, we’re eccentric, we’re sensitive, we’re aloof, etc. Then my mind wandered to humor and that April 1st is a month away. I’m not a prankster though, so I have to make people laugh differently.
This is going to be simple. List an author stereotype in the comments and I’ll use it to make a fun, cheeky post on April 1st. Honestly, the two have very little to do with each other, but that’s the first open day I have on my schedule.
So, what strange things have you heard people say about authors?
Add-On: The first time I made this post, people listed the following:
- Authors make a lot of money.
- Authors make no money.
- Live on coffee.
- Everyone an author meets is turned into a book character.
- Authors are wasting their time.
- Authors are alcoholics.
- Author brains are wired differently. (We’re nuts.)
- Authors are lonely introverts.
- Authors publish and sit back to do nothing for promotions.
- Master procrastinators.
- Can only write when isolated.
- Messy, gross, and sleep-deprived.
- Anti-social, rude, zones out, and asks personal questions.
So, I wonder if anything has changed.
Legends of Windemere 
Wow, not much has changed. I would add:
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That last one always hurts. It’s an insane level of gate keeping.
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Great, Charles. Maybe change number one to a FEW authors make a lot of money. Sitting here, out of the heat for the umpteenth day, awaiting fall. I think it will be early this year because of that darned heat.
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The first one is from people who heard ‘an author is only someone who makes a lot of money with their books’. So it was a generalization that eliminated most of us.
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Most writers are talentless hacks and not authors. They need to stop producing slop.
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Yeah. I’ve heard that BS a lot too.
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don’t quit your day job. Chatgpt is coming for you and all your ilk…
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I’ve seen ChatGPT. I’m not impressed. Devoid of what allows stories to last longer than a single reading.
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Given what I”ve read of indie authors, your statement applies to the majority of them as well.
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Same with many publishers authors. They all hit the same notes and it simply comes down to who gets marketed the best. Creativity has been stagnant for decades.
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I think these are pretty much the same except the idea that if an author can’t make a living then he is a hobbyist.
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Yeah. That one always hurts.
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Writers are “idea landlords” who fiendishly steal (copyright) what should be free for everyone.
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That’s a new one.
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It’s been popping up roughly since Chat GPT was released. Methinks the real idea thieves are trying to deflect the blame onto their victims.
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I can see that. Try to say everyone is stealing. Someone who commented on this post yesterday was coming close to that.
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