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I always wanted to be the type of writer that an actor plays in a movie. Not a real writer who sits in a lonely room and dreams and rants and hates himself for no good reason. I wanted to be a "I'm not a writer but I play one on TV" type of writer.
I wanted to be the kind of writer with almost supernatural powers of perception - the guy who could look at any person and figure out his entire story. I would notice a man in his late 30's buying a bunch of frozen dinners and I would then, logically, notice the tan line around his ring finger and determine that the man was recently divorced. I would spot two women across a sidewalk cafe and somehow know that one was telling the other that she was pregnant. There's a story in every person, and Writerman would spot it in a second. No one could ever lie to Writerman, because he could unravel the discrepancies in any story. Writerman is the master of the spinning of yarns.
Just for the record, I'm still waiting for my mutant powers to kick in. According to the X-Men comics, they're supposed to trigger during a stressful time as puberty sets in. I think I've been through puberty, but I could be wrong. I'm willing to go through it again, however, if it means gaining the ability to fire power bolts through my finger tips. That would have come SO in handy during high school.
While I do feel that I'm more observant than the average person, I often wonder if it's because I'm a writer and I tend to take in more of the picture, or if everyone is so self-absorbed that I'm more observent by default. I heard a girl on Loveline describe herself as "average weight" and then say she was 5'2" and 140 pounds. Average can very often be relative.
Sadly, Writerman is a myth, and I'm not just saying that to protect my secret identity. If you immerse yourself in something for an extended period of time, you naturally become more proficient at it. Theoretically, living in a foreign country would find you inclined to learn some of the language, just as working for an alarm company would have you instantly evaluating security risks in every house you ever visit. Hearing a little something and turning it into 110 pages of an actual something is... well... something. It's not a superpower, it's just part of your personality. You don't view things the way you do because you're a writer - you're a writer because you view things the way you do. |
