Thursday, March 18, 2010

The Tinfoil Hat Brigade

When I started writing my first novel, BAGASTANA* back in 2007, I immersed myself in the online writer's communities.

What I found was:
WRITERS ARE A BUNCH OF LOONS.

Yup: writers are even crazier than psychologists, and that's saying something. As far as I can figure it, people become psychologists to self-treat, while people become writers to give the voices in their heads something to do.

So, I'm slightly concerned that I fit in so well.

Fiction Groupie had a great post yesterday about
Writer's Insomnia," and EVERYONE COULD RELATE. Our imaginary friends keep us up at night.

Do non-writers have this problem? Is this the reason we become writers, or is it a result of choosing to write?

* this book has been preserved in manuscript form as an example of how NOT to follow the show-don't-tell credo. Someday I may rewrite it as a first-person narrative from Darwin's point of view, but Maddie and the Ganzfield world are my focus now. Every writer should have at least one unpublished novel in a drawer somewhere. It keeps us humble--sort of.

13 comments:

Disgruntled Bear said...

Darwin is a character in BAGASTANA. It really would be crazy to write it from CHARLES Darwin's point of view.

fairyhedgehog said...

I was a counsellor, and now I'm not able to work I'm trying to write. Does this mean that I'm becoming increasingly insane?

Disgruntled Bear said...

Hi fairyhedgehog!

Welcome to the brigade! I'm a psychology professor turned writer, myself.

Personally, I find the crazy writers are a lot more fun than the crazy psychologists. For example, if we had a Bear-and-Hedgehog conversation as psychologists, people would worry. Among writers, we're "whimsical."

fairyhedgehog said...

Ah. Psychologists must be more sedate than counsellors then. Or maybe it was working with children that made it acceptable to be whimsical...

StephTheBookworm said...

Nothin' wrong with a little crazy! ;)

Disgruntled Bear said...

Most people have a shocking lack of imagination. I think writers and artists see connections that other people miss.

So this conversation now includes a hedgehog, a bear, and a bookworm. :)

fairyhedgehog said...

That sounds like the start of a joke: a hedgehog, a bear and a bookworm went into a bar...

Disgruntled Bear said...

Love it, fairyhedgehog!

fairyhedgehog said...

I wish I knew what the punchline is.

Disgruntled Bear said...

The only ones I can think of are either inappropriate or obscure.

fairyhedgehog said...

There's nothing wrong with inappropriate!

Disgruntled Bear said...

Didn't you see the thing a few days ago about "my smutty mouth?" Apparently, I'm too raunchy for Amazon--and that was without even trying!

fairyhedgehog said...

You can't take any notice of what amazon says!