Why So Serious?

Maybe I shouldn’t be in the creative arts, because the only people more serious and wrapped up in their own bullshit than artists, seems to be writers.

I don’t understand this behavior in people that claim to want to write for a living.

I write because I love to write. I don’t have a choice in the matter, I have to write. I have to, it is a part of who I am. I have always written and whether or not it is shorts, novels, screenplays, TV shows or the occasional rambling on a blog; I write because I have to write.

I love the process, I love the ideas in my head, I love to write badly, I love to write well, I just love to write, so I do.

I find it interesting that so many people that claim to be writers either never write anything, or don’t show what they write to anyone. Then why do it? If you are never going to show anyone anything, then why write? Okay, you could write for yourself, and that is fine if that is what you want to do I suppose, but the great storytellers are the ones that actually tell stories. I guess that is more of what I mean.

I meet people all the time that say they want to be professional writers, but they never show anyone their work.

Or I meet people that claim to be writers but never write. Hrm? This is weird to me.

Another person in the writing field of television that I don’t understand is the guy/gal who says, “I don’t own a TV, I hate television, all shows are stupid.”, and yet these people want to work in television?

This is like a person writing a novel and saying, “all fiction is stupid.” Really?

Now, my next point: Writer’s groups!

I love them. I belong to a few; two for TV writing, one for film, another one is general and everyone brings something different to the group, and another for novels, (actually I belong to couple organizations for my novels). The point of the group is to support one another and give HELPFUL feedback. Yet, there are those Negative Nellies that like bitch and whine and slam everything you do. I don’t understand it.

Writers that take themselves this serious really get on my last nerve and I want to know what they are so serious about? & Why are they so angry?

I had one writer tell me that my story was well written but completely stupid. That was his opinion, so fair enough, but why even say anything then? I worked on a hospital drama a couple years ago and was told, “I hate hospital shows”, again, who is forcing you to watch them? Another guy got all upset about the colors in my blog, really? Really, this is your big complaint of the day? No one is forcing you to go to my blog. I was in one of my groups and one of the TV writers slammed every single show on TV today and finished by saying that all TV is stupid, yet this guy wants to write for TV. I don’t get it. I just don’t get it.

I am not a serious, mean or nasty person. I take what I do seriously in that I work my butt off and write every day. I learn from teachers and mentors, and even peers of mine when they give helpful feedback. I suppose this goes back to my earlier blogs in A) the writing will never be “perfect” and B) Not everyone is going to like what I write.

I just wish that writers in general would lighten up and be a little nicer to everyone, because nothing is worse than hanging out with a self loathing all too serious writer who is complaining all the time! And unless you are in fact someone who is as good as, if not better than, James Joyce, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Woody Allen or J. J. Abrams please keep your negative shit to yourself.