Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Author or Writer

This is topic Author or Writer in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by PE_Sharp (Member # 1654) on :

I fancy myself an author, though the fact that I am unpublished may disqualify me to some. Does this make me a writer?

I have seen this distinction made many times, and each time, it seems to mean something slightly different to whomever is making the distinction. My question, is what is the difference to you? And which one are you?

Posted by Christine (Member # 1646) on :

Got out the dictionary:

author (noun):
1. one that originates or creates
2. the writer of a literary work

writer(noun): is simply defined as one who writes, so I looked up write, and if you're really interested in the definition, look it up yourself, because it's LONG.

To paraphrase, however, write (and therefore writer) encompasses a lot of things. YOu can write music, reports, stock options, laws...writing itself is basically the act of putting characters together in some manner.

Therefore, I am an author, because I originate and create literary works, I do not simply forom characters onto paper.

Hope that helps.

Posted by PE_Sharp (Member # 1654) on :

Thanks Christine,

Your answer was perfect. Though at some point before I made the post, I had decided to I would consult a dictionary. Though I forgot, so I probably decided this right before I fell asleep, which is often when such ideas occur to me, and why I forgot to do so.

But I feel there is more to this topic than my inadequate question presented. I guess I (rather foolishly) thought this tread would naturally run in such a direction. What I should have said is this:

On other forums I have seen people say Anne McCaffrey is no longer an "author" but a now "writer," and that writers of media tie-ins as not authors but merely writers. I this justified? Is it ever?

Posted by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (Member # 59) on :

This sounds a little like the distinction between an "artist" and an "illustrator" that crops up among visual artists (with an "illustrator" being someone "artists" look down on).

You are right that the definition can change from one speaker to the next.

I tend to think that if you write, you're a writer, and I'm willing to go along with the idea that if you're published, you're an author. Where I have a problem is when people use the words "author" and "writer" to sneer at each other in one way or another, and I think those people deserve to be ignored.

Posted by Balthasar (Member # 5399) on :

I've always used the word "writer" to refer to anyone who makes money writing something, and "author" to refer to someone who makes money writing fiction. If a person doesn't make money as a writer, then I've always called them an aspiring writer or author. Given the dictionary definitions, it seems that I wasn't that far off.

Posted by Khyber (Member # 1651) on :

In my mind I've always seen writer as anyone who wrote anything, from newspaper columns to poems, and then authors as a specific group that have written books, whether they were published or not.

Posted by Rahl22 (Member # 1411) on :

I'm mostly:

A writer writes. Anything. And an author is one who has published novels, or other books.

Thus, an author is always a writer -- but a writer is not always an author.

[This message has been edited by Rahl22 (edited June 14, 2003).]