When did you see yourself as an Author?

[Light_Yagami]

I signed in earlier today and when selecting the AH forum, a thought finally struck me: "Since when am I an author?"

I'm a complete beginner, here. I don't consider myself an author.

Many of the regulars who post here have four- and five-digit post counts. (Whoo-hoo! I just broke into two digits! This will be Lucky Post #13!)

Many of those same regulars have high-two-digit or three-digit story counts.

How long did you experienced writers spend writing, posting, and publishing before you really thought of yourself as an 'author'?

I'm curious.

For me, writing is simply a way to share my stories. I don't consider myself a writer, nor do I know how a professional writer does their work. I just love to write my stories and occasionally share them with others to see their reactions.

 

[Cagivagurl]

What makes somebody a writer??? An Author???
Is somebody who sits tinkling the ivories a pianist???

I somebody who strums away on the guitar a guitarist???

Is somebody who kicks a football, a football player?

No, obviously not.

So what makes somebody an author? Certainly not connecting a few words together and posting them on a free website....
No, in my opinion it is much deeper than that.

To move from part time amateur, to being an established writer. That occurs when you have established a widely regarded body of work.
You must live from the earnings of your writing....

That is an author.

Me, I'm an environmental scientist. That is how I make my living, from that employment.
I'm also an amateur musician, yeah, we get paid to play, but that doesn't make me a professional musician.

I enjoy writing. I am not saying i'm any good, but I do enjoy it. Am I an author.... God no.... Merely somebody who likes to tinker with words....

Cagivagurl

 

[holliday1960]

From my experiences here, the one thing I've learned is that it's subjective. Not everyone who reads can write; not everyone who writes is an author. For some, the difference is in the ability to put to use proper words, grammar, and punctuation. Let's face it...some people have the most brilliant imaginations and can put together a vivid account of something they imagined without a hitch. Others can't seem to understand how handy a period is, or the difference between an ordinary comma and a semi-colon. Then, there are people who can write, but just don't bother to speak properly (that's most Americans, I think). As others here have pointed out, it depends on who you ask and whose opinion you value. For instance, E.L. James is not someone I read regularly, or follow, or even admire. I don't consider the fact that the book series made many millions, if not billions of dollars to be a measure of talent or ability. Mainly because I read the book, found it unrealistic and childlike, as well as poorly written from a grammatical viewpoint. But... a whole bunch of people would strongly disagree with me on that. Some of the best writing I've ever read were unpublished stories. The arts are subjective, yet everyone (yes, even me) considers themselves to be a qualified critic.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

I can relate, so hard!

I've met one of my favorite authors several times. He knows me from a hole in the wall, too. Been out to dinner with him and his wife a few times.

But I'm always leery of being too interactive on writing with him because I can't write!

As a writer, for the last thirty years he's been at the It's his Day Job level of competence.

Not addressing your author friend specifically, but I don't know that I would consider "It's his day job" as a level of competence.
Due to the vagaries of the system some absolute rubbish gets published and people get paid for it.
Meanwhile, some brilliant writers will never get past the gatekeepers.

It's like any other art, the process of getting "discovered" is so incredibly random. There is some musician playing at a dive bar who is objectively better than the guys on the radio and he will be back at his day job on Monday.

 

[ChasBozwell30]

I write because i don't know how not to write, it's all I've ever wanted to do lol.

I've sold a few stories over the years, which convinced me i must be decent, or legitimate (whatever that means!). I think at some point you simply end up writing so much that it seems absurd not to take yourself seriously!

 

[designatedvictim]

Not addressing your author friend specifically, but I don't know that I would consider "It's his day job" as a level of competence.

Due to the vagaries of the system some absolute rubbish gets published and people get paid for it.

Meanwhile, some brilliant writers will never get past the gatekeepers.

I did say competence, not quality.

You're right. Being able to pump out NYT Best-Selling novels (this friend does so regularly - he has fan-boys, myself included) is not a guarantor of quality. He's had better and lesser books along the way.

Like with any other writer, YMMV. Take h1960's comment about E.L. James. I tried reading the first of those and I just couldn't get past the first few pages. But both my friend and James have built-in markets that they write for.

I almost said, write to. While there's probably quite a bit of that, I'm not sure how much applies to either.

They each also have hoards of people who won't touch their stuff for one reason or another.

But one thing you have to keep in mid about those Gatekeepers: they are in it to make money and their job is to pick horses that can win races. So no one likes them because they don't tend to take many chances on unknowns when a reliable author can make them all money.

I agree, that as a system, it sucks.

 

[Rob_Royale]

Honestly, when I started getting positive reviews/comments from my fellow authors. That was a big day for me.