Most Writers Are Writers: Difference between revisions

Seriously, though. In fiction, it is relatively common for the main character to be a writer or a reporter. This is in large part because many narrative works of art are initially driven by writers themselves (novelists, playwright, screenwriters, etc.)

 

* It helps get past the whole [[Realistic Diction Is Unrealistic]] problem, since a writer would be expected to know how to use big fancy words.

* Journalists and other kinds of nonfiction writers generally are expected to have investigative skills and an attention to detail that are [[Chekhov's Skill|useful to many kinds of plots]], such as [[They Fight Crime]].

* Even if they don't use those skills in the plot, journalists are generally close to a wide variety of local important people like politicians and big events like disasters, but not actually one of those people or part of those events. This is the in-universe reason why [[Superman]] and [[Spider-Man]] went into journalism in the first place, so they could keep their ears to the ground and find out when and where superheroes are needed.

* Freelance writers and journalists have a semi-plausible excuse for their [[One-Hour Work Week]].

* However, writers who don't write also don't get paid, which means this can become [[One-Hour Work Week]] if the writer never actually gets around to doing any writing, or if they spend too much time doing something other than writing.

 

 

== Anime and Manga ==

** And then there's ''[[Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga]]''...

* Manga that contain characters that are writers are also plentiful: ''[[School Rumble]]'', ''[[Naruto]]'', ''[[Junjo Romantica]]'', ''[[Kodocha]]'', ''[[Otaku no Musume San]]'' and ''[[Fairy Tail]]''.

* In ''[[Ichigo Mashimaro]]'', Miu tries her hand at being a writer of manga, but her works are a bit surreal for Chika.

* ''[[Galaxy Express 999]]'' does this several times. At one point, a poor person Tetsuro meets is a would be anime creator (who we are told, did manage to get her anime created), and episode 58 features a ghost who was a would-be manga writer in life. Episodes 60-61 have another would be manga artist, and another one shows up in episode 101. And 111 too.

* Sai Nanohana, father to [[Jubei-chan]], popular writer of samurai period pulp, and [[Author Avatar]].

* ''[[Fairy Tail]]'' has [[Supporting Protagonist]] Lucy who has spent much of the series on writing a book. The trope is even played with when she tries to trick a villain by saying she needs to go the bathroom. The villain has prepared for such a cheap trick and shows Lucy a bucket that she may use instead of a toilet. Lucy pretends that she is actually going to use the bucket. The villain is embarrassed and looks the other way, and Lucy uses the opportunity to [[Groin Attack|kick him in the crotch]]. She then notes that despite the bathroom trick being [[The Oldest Tricks in The Book|one of the oldest ones in the book]], it actually worked, and that she might use it in her own novel.

 

 

* Clark Kent and Lois Lane from the ''[[Superman]]'' mythos are both reporters.

* [[Supreme]] is a comic book artist.

* [[Transmetropolitan|Spider Jerusalem.]]

* [[Captain America|Steve Rogers]] has worked as a comic book artist - even illustrating a Captain America comic!

 

 

== Film ==

* ''[[Throw Mama From The Train]]''.

* In ''[[Moulin Rouge]]'', Christian is a struggling writer.

* ''[[Shakespeare in Love]],'' naturally.

* Marty's father becomes a bestselling science fiction author in ''[[Back to The Future]]''.

* Brother Gilbert in ''[[Dragonheart]]'' wants to compose epic ballads, and spends part of the film trying to write one about protagonist Bowen.

* ''[[Confessions of a Shopaholic]]'' toys around with it a bit.

* It would be shorter to list the [[Woody Allen]] movies where one of the main characters ''isn't'' a writer.

* ''[[A Knight's Tale]]'' had Geoffrey Chaucer as a character.

* ''[[Romancing the Stone]]'' is about a female author who gets pulled into a treasure hunt alongside a rugged male adventurer played by [[Michael Douglas]]. It was written by a female writer who got pulled into the world of Hollywood by Michael Douglas.

== Literature ==

* Morag Gunn, the protagonist of Margaret Laurence's novel The Diviners, is a writer.

** And Arthur Dent worked for the BBC. Take a guess at who Douglas worked for. This gets [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] in the Quandary Phase of the radio series, where Arthur's producer is played by the original producer of ''Hitchhiker's'', Geoffrey Perkins.

* [[Richard Matheson]]'s short story ''Mad House'' focuses on a writer with a nasty case of writer's block, among other problems.

* [[Robert A. Heinlein]] loves this trope. Among his protagonists who are writers who bear more than a passing resemblance to the author or friends of his:

** Jubal Harshaw of ''[[Stranger in A Strange Land]]'', who writes in a variety of genres and media, under a bunch of pseudonyms.

** The nameless protagonist of ''[[All You Zombies]]-- '', who spends some time writing stories for a "True Confessions" magazine, and gets the nickname "The Unmarried Mother" partly from this fact.

** The final chapter of ''[[The Number of the Beast]]'' is a huge cross-dimensional convention attended by sci-fi authors and characters from multiple fictional universes.

** ''Lucifer's Hammer'' by the same authors (and partly based on a scene from the first draft of ''Footfall'' that their editor demanded they expand into a novel in its own right) features writers and journalists among the [[Loads and Loads of Characters]] living through the collapse of civilization after a major comet impact.

* Quite a few of [[Stephen King]]'s protagonists are also writers.

*** ''[[The Langoliers]]'', a novella published in the collection ''Four Past Midnight'': Bob Jenkins

*** ''[[Secret Window]], Secret Garden'', also in ''Four Past Midnight'': Mort Rainey

*** ''Bag Of Bones'': Mike Nonan is a novelist suffering from writer's block.

*** ''Lisey's Story'': Scott Landon (Lisey's deceased husband)

*** ''Umney's Last Case'', a short story in ''Nightmares and Dreamscapes''

*** ''The Road Virus Heads North'', a short story in ''Everything's Eventual'': Richard Kinell, a horror writer.

*** ''[[The Green Mile]]'': Paul Edgecombe is the narrator, a main character, and also writes a huge portion of the book.

* The first book in the [[Posleen War Series|Legacy of Aldenanta]] series by John Ringo starts off with a clear [[Author Avatar]] sci-fi writer being called in as an expert by the government to help deal with the consequences of [[First Contact]] with aliens. A clear equivalent of [[David Weber]] also shows up in the same group.

* [[John Irving]] loves this trope.

** ''[[The World According To Garp]]''. Garp's first two novels have plots that are similar to Irving's first two novels. In fact, a rejection letter Garp receives for one of his stories was one that Irving received in [[Real Life]] for the same story.

* In Greg Bear's science fiction novel ''Queen of Angels,'' the story revolves around a novelist, playwright and poet, who has just killed eight people. Another main character is also a writer.

* [[Dean Koontz]] seems to be quite fond of this trope; to name just a few examples, the protagonist of his book ''Cold Fire'' is a reporter, and in ''Lightning'', the main character is a novelist.

* Lily from ''The Secret Life Of Bees'' discovers and professes her talent for writing, mostly fiction.

* Emily, of the ''[[Emily of New Moon]]'' books, knows she not only wants to be a writer, she ''is'' a writer with all of her self. The people around her can use this need to manipulate her if they want - promising her that she can go to college, no strings attached, but only ''if'' she gives up writing fiction for the entire time. And in the third book, {{spoiler|Dean Priest tells her that ''A Seller of Dreams'' is, basically, "cute," because he's jealous of her writing and wants her to give it up, even though he realizes it is an unfinished masterpiece.}}

* [[William Goldman]]'s ''The Color Of Light'' is about this trope. It goes a bit over the top in lampshading it, though.

* [[Sherlock Holmes|Dr. Watson]] is, of course, a medical professional, but it's on account of his writings about Holmes that Holmes is so well known. Of course, the stories he writes that make Holmes famous are the same ones that ''we read'', so this could be the world's first meta example of the trope.

** Being one of the few doubled tropes on this page, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was also a doctor. Naturally a doctor-writer would write about a doctor-writer.

** Bram Stoker's ''[[Dracula]]'' goes even further. It's presented as a series of journal entries and articles compiled by Mina Harker, and the construction of the book itself assists the heroes in uncovering Dracula's secrets. So the writing of the book is actually a plot point within the book.

* Judy Abbott, the heroine of ''[[Daddy Long Legs]]'', goes to college specifically because of her writing. Her anonymous benefactor likes a funny essay she wrote about the orphanage where she grew up, and agrees to sponsor her education so she can become a writer.

* The narrator of the framing story in ''[[Life of Pi]]'' is an author who wrote a historical fiction novel that should technically have been amazing, but to him was so unlikely to raise any eyebrows in book publishing that he tossed the entire manuscript. Then at a café he met someone who told him about a young Indian man named Piscine...

* In Vladimir Nabokov's ''[[Lolita]]'', the narrator Humbert Humbert is a literature professor, and although (to this troper's memory) he never refers to novels that he has actually published, he does tell Charlotte Haze that he was working on a novel when she finds some very suspect entries in his journal.

** According to legend, the implications that this trope presents almost led Nabokov to destroy his materials for Lolita, on the fear that people would think [[Author Avatar|he was actually Humbert]].

** One of Nabokov's books actually begin with a scene the protagonist is watching out his window that he decides [[Lampshade Hanging|he wants to use to start his novel someday]].

{{quote| "But I like Arthur," said Phyllis, and she smiled--the first time Garnet had seen her do so.<br />

<br />

Garnet also smiled to himself. Arthur was the hero. He was a young writer. Ergo, Arthur was himself. }}

* The narrator-protagonist of ''[[The War of the Worlds]]'' is an academic author. H.G. Wells wrote a lot of non-fiction alongside his novels and short stories, though he is less-known for the former today.

* The protagonist in [[Terry Pratchett]]'s non-[[Discworld]] short story "Final Reward" is the author of a long-selling series of barbarian fantasy novels.

* The protagonist of The ''[[Chronicles of Thomas Covenant]]'' is a successful writer whose life quickly turns to shit. When things start getting better, he refuses to believe it is real...

* Both Ellie and Chris from [[The Tomorrow Series]] are writers.

* Betsy in the ''Betsy~Tacy'' series is all about telling stories in the early books, then naturally progresses to a writer as she grows older. She shares her passion for writing with her future husband. This makes sense, as Betsy was basically an [[Expy]] of the writer Maud Hart Lovelace, who was also married to another passionate writer.

* The narrator-protagonist of Carol Shields's ''Unless'' is a writer and translator.

* [[Lord Peter Wimsey]]'s love interest Harriet Vane is a mystery writer. And that's not the only similarity between her and Dorothy Sayers.

* ''Wonder Boys'' -- both novel and film -- is about an English professor who is stuck in the middle of writing an endless, soul-sucking [[Doorstopper]] of a novel.

* Charlie Bucktin, the main (but not titular) character of Craig Silvey's ''Jasper Jones'', is an aspiring author. And so is his dad.

* Tosca Lee's ''Demon: A Memoir'' is premised around not one, but two main characters as writers: one, an editor who has tried and failed for years to write novels, and second, a demon with a marvelous storytelling gift but no ability to physically write and publish his story. Hence, a partnership (of sorts?) is born.…

* A very literal example of this trope, Stephen Glass, former journalist for ''The New Republic'' and who is most well-known for partially or wholly fabricating many of his stories, went on to write a semi-fictional novel about a journalist who is caught fabricating his stories.

 

== Live Action TV ==

* ''[[The Dick Van Dyke Show]]'': Rob Petrie is a television comedy writer.

* While not the main character, McGee of ''[[NCIS]]'' is a popular novelist on the side, writing thinly veiled accounts of his adventures with the [[Write Who You Know|Gibbs Team]].

* Temperance Brennan of ''[[Bones]]'' is a forensic anthropologist who also uses her professional expertise to write books based on a "fictional" forensic anthropologist named Kathy Reichs - who is the real life author of the [[Adaptation Displacement|books upon which the show is based.]]

* in ''[[Just Shoot Me]]'' everyone works for a magazine. The only one in the main cast who is a writer by profession is Maya, although Dennis has shown some writing prowess, penning (among other things) at least two screenplays, a few songs, an advice column, and most of his boss's "autobiography".

* Rory of ''[[Gilmore Girls]]'' is a journalist.

* In both ''Kolchak: The Night Stalker'' and its short-lived retool ''Night Stalker'', Kolchak was a reporter.

* Dennis Potter was a writer who suffered from severe psoriatic arthritis. His best known work was the TV Series (later made into a movie) ''[[The Singing Detective]]'', about a writer who suffers from psoriatic arthritis. A difference is that the writer in the TV series wrote pulp detective fiction, while Potter mostly wrote rather surreal TV series.

* The [[Five-Man Band]] in ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'' aren't writers by trade, but they do enjoy spending ''hours'' brainstorming sit-com joke lines. On top of that, Barney is a popular blogger, Marshall writes songs as a hobby, and Ted and Barney compose dueling poems in ''The Sexless Innkeeper.''

* The father on ''[[8 Simple Rules]]'' was a sports columnist.

* Raymond, of ''[[Everybody Loves Raymond]]'', is also a newspaper columnist.

* Jerry on ''[[Seinfeld]]'' is, like his [[Real Life]] counterpart, a comedian; many episodes show Jerry struggling to write new material for his act.

** When, in the episode "The Pitch", he and George pitch a "show about nothing" to NBC execs, this is a direct parody of the creation of the show by the real Jerry and Larry David.

* The protagonist from the ''Darkseed'' games is a writer.

* ''[[Toonstruck]]'' stars the aptly named [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Drew Blanc]], a struggling cartoonist.

* ''[[Comix Zone]]'' is about a comic book writer whose [[Big Bad]] managed to trap him inside his own comic book.

* [[Alan Wake]] is a [[Stephen King]]-esque writer who gets caught up in a scenario similar to his books. ''[[Penny Arcade]]'' [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/6/2/ explains].

* Lynda Levac of ''[[Penny and Aggie]]'' is a columnist for a parenting website.

* David in [http://www.livingwithinsanity.com/index/ Living With Insanity].

 

 

== Web Original ==

* Not writers, but the cast of [[Marble Hornets]] is mostly made of film students.

 

 

== Western Animation ==

* Andy French of ''[[Mission Hill]]'' works at a mattress store, but he's an aspiring cartoonist. At least one episode deals with his discouragement over all the rejections he's gotten sending his comics to various magazines.

* Mikey on ''[[Recess]]'' is a writer of epic poetry.

* [[Doug]] is a writer and cartoonist, in fact many episodes open and close with him writing in his journal.

* [[Daria]] is a talented writer, while her best friend Jane is an artist.

 

{{reflist}}