Writing Blog

20230926 Rant

September 26, 2023, 10:15am

Okay, time to rant/vent.

I am getting sick of gate-keepers in the writing world.

I used to be one, I admit, when it comes to self-publishing. I still have views on it that are considered unpopular, but I am not going to hammer someone who self-publishes. Their choice, that's all. And when it comes to grammar/punctuation/etc. I will be vocal. So, maybe I am one of them. I admit that's where my biases lie (along with personal preferences, like my disdain for present tense stories, but that's what I like/dislike, not me telling people not to do it).

However, when it comes to writing, the actual process of creation...

This year alone, I have been hit with:

* I'm not a real writer because I don't write to a theme.
* I'm not a real writer because I don't have morals or lessons in my stories.
* I'm not a real poet because I prefer poems that rhyme and have a consistent rhythm.
* I'm not a real song-writer because I only use 4 chords.
* I'm not a real fantasy writer because I write stand-alone stories and don't continue to world build.
* I'm not a real YA writer because I won't try to place the real world onto my characters, and all that entails.
* I'm not a real essay writer because I don't write about depressing things that hurt people.
* I can't be a writer in this day and age because I am a white, middle-class, middle-aged, straight, atheist male, and "our kind" don't deserve to have a say.

This is why I am no longer on Twitter or Facebook, and why I won't do social media, and why I am down to one Discord channel.

And, I will say, some of these have come from WdC members.

Why can't we just write and be writers?

Oh, and I did counter someone who hit me with a couple of these things that I've sold more work traditionally than her entire writers group, and she came back with: "Traditional publishing means nothing. Only self-published writers are real writers." I sent her a series of laughing gifs; she blocked me.

Why do I bother writing? The gate-keepers are trying to make writing something for their niche group, the rest of the world be damned.

Or maybe I'm just out of touch and all those publishers who buy my work are out of touch as well, and writing is now only to push barrows and not for entertainment.