Movies too! It seems like whenever a real writer wants to make a character who seemingly has the free time to engage in adventures/romances/etc., they give their fictional creation the ambiguous job of "writer". Now granted, whoever has created the script is in fact a writer; perhaps they wanted to delve into a profession they know. In theory, it's a romantic profession. In reality, most writers will create copy about anything to get by. It may be hard to grasp the next Hemmingway scripting the dialogue bewteen a dog and a living, animated bag of Puppy chow, but that's how it goes.

I also like how TV portrays writers as wise-beyond-their years deep thinkers, pounding out their words on old ink-and-ribbon typewriters by the window of some cedar scented cabin in the woods. Maybe. I remember a great TV special from 2004 where they showed Stephen King at work. He was hunched over, squinting at what looked like a 14' inch Mac monitor, using the two-index-finger styling of typing. Not terribly aesthetic, but real.

As for me, I have a cat on my lap, soda cans and empty Gatorade bottles all over the place, and the tunes from Chrono Cross playing. Who knows, maybe once this book sells I'll defect from my highly editable and functional PC to an old Smith and Corona word processor, and eventually get so successful I'll buy one of those 60 lb. typewriters from the 40's. All computers and no ink makes Jimmy a dull boy, eh?

Posted by James Dziezynski @ 1:47 PM