What makes a writer?

How do I know when I am a writer?

Photo by Andraz Lazic on Unsplash

Since I started writing, there’s a nagging question in my head.

What makes a writer? Am I a writer? When am I a writer?

I have previously worked as a copywriter at a small ad agency. And as a freelance copywriter as well. That was a long time ago. I remember once when a colleague and mentor, pointing to the ad I wrote in the local newspaper, said:

It was an eureka moment for me.

I wrote an ad. It was published. And I got paid for it.

I can’t remember what led to that statement. I must have voiced my insecurity about being a copywriter. I am prone to self-doubt.

Eventually, I ended up where the real money was. Client-side. Sales and Marketing. I could still “write to sell”, but then, we had ad agencies and PR firms to do that. It was tedious and time-consuming. There were other, more important matters to deal with. And the urge to write gradually faded.

It wasn’t until just a few months ago, having closed my restaurant and spending all day watching YouTube, that I first noticed a small itch to write again.

But there were also videos on AI writing tools that could do that: write for you. All you need to do is ask.

AI tools like NovelCrafter and Sudowrite can knock out 90,000-word novels in a few hours. The pitch is always the same: Volume. If a book makes even a few dollars a month, you can build a good passive income in months. 

So what if your readers don’t like it? There are billions out there. What do you want? Poems? Articles? Blog posts? Just ask.

Burnout writers took to promoting it via affiliate marketing and gently assuring aspiring writers that “It’s OK. You will not lose your creativity,” or “Just use it for brainstorming. Everyone is using it, and you’ll fall behind if you don’t.” You get the picture.

I have to admit, I was curious. I should find out more. Maybe just sign up for the 30-day trial? Just see what happens?

So I used NovelCrafter to generate a short story of about 7000 words. But it was not a story. It was rubbish.

I felt disappointed, but also a sense of relief. The story had all the parts, but it was a Frankenstein of a tale, like so many broken pieces stitched together by a machine. Clean, logical, boring. It moves, except there is no life. No poetry. No soul.

Unlike books I have read, which made me cry and laugh, and jump up in exhilaration, “Eugene the Gentle Barbarian” could not make it out of my Google Drive, much less his quiet village, to save the world from vegan vampires.

I also think it misses the point of writing altogether. The idea behind using AI to write is to make money easily, without putting in the effort. Which is understandable, but it is not writing. It is trying to mass-produce one-of-a-kind masterpieces.

Then I found Medium

Having struggled with WordPress, I was delighted to find Medium. It was easy to use and navigate, and you get paid for your work. Not much, but that’s not the point.

When I made 21c after publishing 4 articles, I was thrilled.

This means I am a writer. Again.

Medium has reignited my passion to write. After over 30 years, I am now on this path back to where I once started.

But writing is still hard work. And I struggled to come up with ideas all the time.

When my wife and I started taking long walks, some of our conversations became ideas for articles. Talking about what to write seems to help me unblock the words and awaken my muse.

Even as I write, I am also talking out loud. Sometimes in dialogue, the conversation often involves more than just me.

I started writing about running the restaurant and about recipes my customers loved. About the food that I miss, the food my mother used to make. About eating together. Living together.

I started writing about being a father and the joys of watching my children grow up. About my father, who passed away just before I returned to Singapore after the lockdown. About wanting to find my roots and return to where I came from.

I also started writing about writing.

This will be one of my key focuses going forward. Here on Medium, I will continue to share my thoughts and experiences, especially on becoming a writer. I will write about the journey, the lessons, and the (monetary) rewards. About the need to learn to sell if you want traction beyond the current platform.

I will write about creating products, serving the audience, and delivering value.

So what makes a writer?

Writing.
That is the first qualification. Can you come through in your writing? It’s fine if you are writing an instructional manual for how to install a washing machine, but not if you are writing about your experience as a cancer survivor or as an anxious father waiting for his daughter’s arrival at 2 in the morning. So you have to write.

Wanting to write.
This is a strange feeling. A sort of love-hate relationship between you and the writer in you. When Hemingway said that writing is easy, “…you just need to sit in front of a typewriter and open a vein”, I suspect he was describing this struggle.

It can manifest as a fear (writer’s block) or lead you to addiction (alcoholism or drug addiction). It is always demanding. Passionate and fickle; it comes and goes as it pleases. It can make you famous and rich, but also destroy you completely.

It is this wanting, or needing, to write that will bring about a breakthrough to produce a worthy piece. Something only writers understand.

Earning from your writing.
This is arguable, but hear me out. Of course, you can write for recreation or fun, but until you earn that first dollar, you can’t really know if you are a writer.

I once read about a writer who, when he took a creative writing course at university, the professor told the class that the only way to get an A grade was to show him the cheque for something that they had written and sold.

The writer received a $25 cheque for an article he wrote for a local magazine. He showed it to the professor and got an A.

“This makes you a writer.”

But why write at all?

This is a personal question that every writer has to answer for themselves.

I cannot think of a more difficult profession to pursue. It’s a creative process, and creativity does not bend easily to the creator’s will. You cannot force it. It has to come forth on its own, and in its own time. And how difficult that is when you have a copy deadline at 10 a.m. the next day.

You don’t have to if you don’t want to. Why go through all that trouble to just make a few bucks? There are easier ways to do that. Sales and Marketing. Work on the client-side. Even sitting still will earn you more than 21 cents a week.

You write because you can’t help it.

And I suspect that, if you give in to your writer, over time she will reveal herself to you in the words you write.

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