Not necessarily.
If we simply called anyone who forms words out of letters a "writer", then everyone from the person who writes health and safety warnings to the chav texting on the bus would be called a writer.
We only call people such as scriptwriters, novelists and poets writers, even if they aren't the only ones who put word to paper. Ergo there has to be a specific quality that the act of putting words to paper has to possess in order to be called "writing", which must be encompassed by the subject performing the action for them to be called a "writer".
As far as I can tell from my experience of the above examples, a piece of writing must be used as an either an examination or expression of the internal. Simply stating what is is not enough, writing must look into the spiritual aspect of all things. The drive behind an action, the subjective beauty of a season, all must be examined. A news reporter might simply be trying to inform by writing an article, but a well-written article is still widely considered as writing. That's because there is an expressive, internal aspect of the writing, manifested in the choice of description for particular objects of examination, as well as particular linguistic, semantic techniques. The reporter expresses, and through that, they influence and provoke.
So a writer is not simply one who puts words down for people to read, a writer is someone who uses the written word to bring the intangible to the surface, and manipulates it or examines it with the images and scenarios they create.
A passionate piece of proselytism. I don't agree with everything you say (I spent two years writing radio ads so spent many 'happy' hours discussing whether or not I was actually a writer. Most notably with random strangers at buffet tables who wanted to make small talk over food served on sticks. I always thought I was...) but I like the way you describe what you believe writing to be.
ReplyDeleteYou are incredibly passionate about what a writer is and can be, and in some senses I do think you're right and that we do need to make such a distinction. In other cases, it depends upon how other people feel about the term. Some people can simply believe anything written down belongs to a writer, no matter the form, even if it's on the back of a bleach bottle. While we do need to make a distinction between those who write without meaning and those who convey meaning, we still need to understand the complexities surrounding the term "writer". Our language isn't such an easy one to get meaning from single words is it?
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