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Writing Fiction about Writing: Please, Stop!

“I’m making a movie about a young filmmaker.”

“My new play is about a struggling playwright in New York City.”

“I’ve written a great book about a romance writer.”

And then we have…

“My new screenplay is about a playwright….”

STOP IT. Please. Stop writing about being a writer and assuming other people care. Only other writers will tell you that a story about a writer is interesting. Generally speaking, writers aren’t that interesting. They sit and write. They send out query letters. They beg friends and family for money to make their films, produce their plays, and self-publish their unsold manuscripts.

Write about interesting characters. Not that some writers aren’t characters, but leave that for biographers. Plenty of artists (including writers) are fascinating train wrecks. If you’re writing about one of those famous drunks, addicts, or otherwise interesting writers with a great story, then ignore my pleas. Otherwise, get away from this self-exploration.

Write what you know? No. No. And again, no!

I don’t want actual psychopaths writing murder mysteries. We don’t need police stories written only by cops. It’s called research and creativity. Do fantasy writers know real unicorns and go shopping on the back of Pegasus? No. You write good stories about interesting characters facing unusual challenges.

Okay, I get that Murder She Wrote was about a writer, but it wasn’t the navel-gazing nonsense of a play about plays or a movie about making movies. Please stop writing about writers. It just feels lazy to write about a writer. It feels like you’re trapped by being a writer, in a writer’s world. Escape.

Someone told me, “But I’m supposed to write what I’d want to read.”

When you were discovering your passion for reading, I doubt it was through stories about other writers. Please, I hope not. I hope you were reading great works of fiction. I hope you were watching epic films and beautiful comedies. If those works you loved were about writers, expand your horizons.

Avoid writing films, plays, or books about writers, unless you have something beyond spectacular to share.