What Not to Say to a Writer

Whether you have been in the industry for decades or you've only just begun your writing career, as with any profession, you will meet people.

Public appearances, live readings, consultations, book signings, editing sessions, workshops, focus groups, the list never ends.

Some of those people will have questions and comments about you and your work. There will be people that are quick to deliver criticisms and suggestions with no frame of reference at all. You'll get requests for assistance ad nauseam. These favor-seeking friends, that you've likely not heard from in years, will start crawling out of the woodwork to ask: can you write some copy for a website? Will you do a guest blog? Can you help finish a poem for a bedridden grandmother before death knocks down her door?

Others might hound you about that novel you started five years ago but never finished because a different project stole your attention. "Oh, that..."

You'll kindly explain and rationalize your character choices.

You might repeat the textbook distinction between fiction and nonfiction so much that it is no longer as clear-cut in your own mind as it once was.

The questions and snide remarks may get so overwhelming that, instead of taking time to articulate a clever response, you are forced to learn how to shoot daggers from your pupils in order to subdue these people. But even if looks could kill, you will still be a writer, and there will still be those that just don't get it.

What are some of the craziest things people have said to you when you've told them that you're a writer?

We have scoured the web in search of the Top 10 Things Never to Say to a Writer and have curated them for your reference.

Stay tuned for the list, and more, later today on The Official Prose. Blog at: blog.theprose.com/blog.