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Author, Writer, aspiring author or aspiring writer, which are you?
Author, Writer, aspiring author or aspiring writer, which are you?
There are a lot of posts lately revolving around defining the difference between an author and a writer. As the advent of epublishing and the subsequent success of self-publishing has enabled a vast number of people to either publish their writings or consider writing and publish, this question is indeed increasingly relevant.
Surprisingly enough, or so it seems at first glance, these posts about defining authors and writers never go back to check what a dictionary say about it, so let’s have a look.
According to Webster:
Definition of AUTHOR
1 a : one that originates or creates : source <software authors> <film authors> <the author of this crime>
b capitalized : god
2 : the writer of a literary work (as a book)
Definition of WRITER
one that writes: as
a : author
b : one who writes stock options
According to Cambridge Dictionnary
author
Definition: a writer of a book, article, etc., or a person whose main job is writing books
writer
Definition: a person who writes articles, books, etc., to be published
According to Wikipedia
An author is broadly defined as “the person who originates or gives existence to anything” and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.
A writer is a person who produces literature or nonfiction, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, essays, articles, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images.
A writer’s output sometimes contributes to the cultural content of a society, and a society may value his or her work as art.
Broadly, a writer is anyone who writes, especially one who writes professionally. The term writer is customarily used as a synonym of author, although the latter term has a somewhat broader meaning.
It seems that dictionaries are as confused as the rest of us as to the meaning of these two words and what makes a person who writes a writer or an author.
For Webster’s followers, they had better beware with capital letters as the wrong use of a capital might translates into an internment into a mental facility since they would equate themselves to God J.
Cambridge aficionados who have already one or more book published might want to think twice before calling themselves an author if their main job is not writing, though it is not quite clear. Actually, Cambridge authorize any blog owner writing his own posts as an author or a writer, even if they have never even written the first word of a book. So according to Cambridge dictionary, writing this post would make me both a writer and an author, and every journalist on this planet is both as well.
As for Wikipedia, they seem convinced that “writer” is a term better suited for book writers than “author”.
If dictionaries and encyclopedias are unable to agree on the meaning of thee words, it is no wonder that so many bloggers are asking that question, nor is it so surprising that no-one refers to dictionaries to get a proper answer . In addition, the terms aspiring writer and aspiring author are gaining popularity. Yet, in order to be aspiring to something, one has to first define what it is they are aspiring to become.
Many self defined aspiring writers or aspiring writers have already written one or more books but have not yet published them, and are shy of removing the aspiring as they seem of the opinion they will fully qualify only once published.
So, what do you think?
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18 Responses to "Author, Writer, aspiring author or aspiring writer, which are you?"
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Dictionary definitions aside, people seem to generally accept that a writer writes books but an author has published books. This may well be wrong, but that does seem to be the common usage of the two terms, at least in the circles I inhabit, anyway! I call myself a writer. I write books. I’ve finished a few. Only one of those will ever stand a chance of seeing the light of day. I haven’t published via any method, but hope to one day. Maybe then I’ll be brave enough to call myself an author.
I don’t see the point of the term “aspiring”. If you’re aspiring to something you’re not actually doing it.
Completely agree with you, Rick G. Once I began I was no longer aspiring, I was committed, I was an author. I was getting published: Failure was not an option. I now have 11 books (9 non fiction, 2 fiction) published with more on the way.
I think if you write a book and publish it, you’re an author. If you write anything other than grocery lists and letters, you’re a writer.
I’ve always considered writers more to be people that write for magazines, newspapers or online blogs. I was a writer long before I was an author–in my mind–as I wrote for magazines and newspapers and did a lot of for-hire freelance work.
An author, in my humble opinion, writes books. Whether full-time or not. Consider, for example, the writer that has sold a book to Harlequin. As a single title in their lines, they won’t be able to quit their day job on one sale–but they are still an author; they have sold a book.
Just my two cents.
Hope Welsh
Author (LOL)
I’ll let people call me either. They’re just labels. Putting words on the page is my one of my artistic expressions (cooking and martial arts being others). As Richard Alan observed above, as long as people buy my books, it doesn’t matter.
I don’t care what I’m called, as long as people buy my books.
True!
Well now that you have thoroughly confused us
I go with writer. Personally I like the sound of it.
Because even after you are published,
you are still going to be a writer, right?
may I give Dean Wesley Smith’s definition of both as well?
— A Writer is a person who writes.
— An Author is a person who has written.
(full post here: http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/?p=6190)
Personally, I call myself an author because I do also graphic novels, where I’m the writer ADN the artist… but I’m most certainly mainly a very prolific writer!
And like Rick G. I hate the “aspiring” addition to whatever word you choose.
Mostly it is a stick to beat people with. My observation is an author is one entitles to look down upon mere writers. It is a status game. Not true of everyone, but the stronger the distinction people make between author and writer, the more likely they are playing a status game.
For me, the difference between author and writer is this:
authors write to get published.
writers write to write.
There’s no judgement with either definition. Writing to get published is fine, as is just writing to write. Both authors and writers are students of the craft of writing, and both work hard. There are just different “points” to their writing.
I’d say using ‘aspiring’ with ‘author’ is fine if you’re aiming to get published and you haven’t yet; using it otherwise is silly. “I’m an aspiring writer!” Then you’re not a writer; you’re whatever your day job is.
Same goes for “aspiring actor” when you’re not sending out headshots and getting auditions, but just working in a diner hoping a talent agent will see you. You’re not an actor, aspiring or otherwise — you’re a waiter.
I think anyone who is studying the craft and takes the time to practice it, published or not, is a writer. I think we are all aspiring to be better writers and in this we are all in a sort of fraternity of writers, bound together in search of the right word:)
I actually remove myself a bit from both of these terms. I most often refer to myself as a novelist, although I feel that story-teller is more accurate.
I’m in the same camp as Allan Douglas: A writer is one who writes. An author is one who has written.
Writer ends in -er, so as with many English words that end in -er or -or, writer = “one who writes.” Present tense.
You’re an author if the object exists. If the end product exists. The definitions seem to agree with this.
While you are writing, you’re a writer. Once your work is complete, you are an author.
I would say almost anyone can be a writer–we write in school, we write on Facebook. We’re all writers. However, I think it’s clear to most people that when you self-identify as a group, you are putting some qualifiers in place. I may play around with clay, but I wouldn’t self-identify as a sculptor, even though I’ve sculpted some primitive pieces.
And not everyone can be an author, because they’re stuck writing and can’t finish the work, be it an article, novel, short story, screenplay, essay, poem, etc. (And yet… though I’ve finished short stories, novels, etc. I still don’t self-identify as an author. Maybe because I haven’t put those works into a public domain where others can read them?)
An even smaller subset are published authors, because that depends on something outside of yourself–the publishing industry (even self-publishing).
That’s how I’ve viewed it, up until your post. Definitely made me stop to think about how I would put my pre-conceived notions into words, especially the author part. Thanks for sharing.
As fellow scribe once said to me: “I’m only a writer when I’m writing. The rest of the time I’m a bullshitting skiver.”
I’m starting to see what he means.
When I initially established my blog and called myself a “wannabe writer,” I got comments telling me that, if I write, I’m a writer. I’ve been uncomfortable calling myself that, because I don’t count my blog as publication, and publication is a requirement, in my mind.
When I use “author,” it’s usually in a book review, and I’m referring to the person who wrote it. “Writer” sounds too informal at that point, once I’m talking about the person’s published works. I use “writer” to refer to someone generally, in terms of profession, but “author” is for a specific work.
It’s like painter and artist. A person is an artist, generally, but a painter of a piece hanging on a wall.
I have no idea if that’s the correct way to do it, but it’s how I approach it.
Author is too stuffy for me, but maybe since I am as of yet unpublished, my dislike is simply a coping mechanism.
I am nearly finished with edits for a non-fiction book, complete with contract and an advance and all that, and in that regard I suppose author works because it sounds authoritative. Author to me connotates some official tome of knowledge.
But I prefer to think of myself as a writer because I write. “Writer” means you do your best to capture the worlds around you (or the ones in your head), whether it is through a novel, a poem, a song, etc.
I agree with Rick G on the “aspiring” part. That is just silly. What person who writes isn’t aspiring to something? Most aspire to a book deal, fame, fortune or maybe just to simply get thoughts down in a journal or blog. Quality is subjective, but you write or you don’t write.
I too have read many discussions on this. Quite recently I came across one that seemed to nail it succinctly. I *think* it was on The Passive Voice blog, but I’ve slept since then… He said, “A writer is one who writes. An author is one who has written.”
We can be writers as long as we are writing. When the piece is done, we become authors. If the piece is accepted somewhere we become published authors. I rather like that as a simple frame of reference and it would seem to comply with your definitions above.
About the only one I would throw out the window is Apspiring Author or Aspiring Writer. It’s kind of a rubbish term that basically says “I want to be, but I’m doing nothing to get there. ” Along those lines I am therefore an Aspiring paleontologist, Cryptozoologist , magician, actor, director, CEO, and maybe adult film star.