AUTHOR'S CORNER;

TEN WAYS TO KILL A WRITER!

Unbeknown to many people and not much discussed in public circles; is the fragile and indeed risky state of a writer.  You see we all think of writers as strong, intellectual types with a vast insight in life that nothing can possibly bother them.  Yet we find those strange people are often plagued by a sense of great despair and a tendency to sink deep into depression.  Why, you may ask, as those delightful beings literally have the whole world at their fingertips; creating and dictating stories and worlds which dazzle and capture the masses.  The answer is quite simple; they being the creators of stories and worlds and characters and morals and myths, leaves them rather vulnerable and open to so many of the elements of human torture, mockery and criticism   The fact they are able to create, feel the need to invent, have a burning desire to play peeping Tom in fictional lives, is indication enough of the vast insecurities they themselves feel about themselves!!  They are not sure of their own self worth and justification they endeavour to seek it through 'fictional avatars'; for every writer will 
have a character in their story which has an element of their real self; you as the reader, have just got to find it.  And if you are lucky enough to actually know the writer personally, you will start to see a certain character emerging in all the writer's novels, under the guise of many, many names! 

And in spite of what the ordinary reader may think; these writers are so easily destroyed, so vulnerable are they in their insecurities that one can simply pick and pull away at one of their threads and completely unravel them!  For as writers, all they have is their carefully constructed image, their persona, their oh so fragile alter ego!  

THERE ARE SURE WAYS TO KILL A WRITER, AND NONE OF THEM INVOLVE GUNS!

1.  Putting them under mental pressure to produce a piece of fiction!  A writer is essentially an artistic being, and asking them to write on demand is a sure way to kill their creative side!!

2.  Belittling their writer's block and labelling them 'just lazy' is a sure way to keeping them blocked for even longer! There is nothing that clogs the mind quite like someone standing over you asking if you are unblocked yet!

3.  The key word is in 'writer', they are not, will never be and have never been domestic people!  Chores such as cleaning and cooking is a drain on their creative juices and frankly quite boring!

4.  Whilst their spouses may think it is fun to stay up all night and watch telly and can't understand why, since all the writer does is sit at a desk 'enjoying' themselves, they can't stay up till the early hours of the morning watching films!  A writer needs rest and lots of brain power, since, really, it does take more than a few brain cells to come up with an entire 

plot!


5.  I know it is tempting to bring that smug writer down a peg or two, but believe me, they are so weak, so fragile, that any personal criticism will tip them over the edge.

6.  One sure way to kill the artistic essence of a writer, is poverty!  Yes, yes, the art thing is lovely and very romantic...but even a writer would like to eat from time to time!

7.  Asking a writer if they are in the 'right profession' is a sure way to destroy their confidence!

8.  If there is nobody to read their books to, a writer will surely perish!









9. Not getting recognition from bookshops, critics, or even locals, is a sure way to make a writer feel invisible!

10.  Trying and succeeding to understand your writer will only result in self destruction on the writer's part!!