29 Words That Mean Something Totally Different When You're A Writer (2024)

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    29 Words That Mean Something Totally Different When You're A Writer (2)

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    1. "Writing."

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    What it means: Committing words to paper or text to an electronic document.

    What it means when you're a writer: Doing literally anything else.

    2. "Protagonist."

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    What it means: The main character in a story.

    What it means when you're a writer: You.

    3. "Friends."

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    What it means: A non-romantic relationship between two or more people.

    What it means when you're a writer: Characters for your novel.

    4. "Netflix."

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    What it means: A video streaming service for watching films and television series.

    What it means when you're a writer: Research!

    5. "Research."

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    What it means: Exhaustive, in-depth process of uncovering facts about a subject.

    What it means when you're a writer: Netflix!

    7. "Character development."

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    What it means: How a character changes and grows during the course of a story.

    What it means when you're a writer: Something literary writers worry about.

    8. "Secrets."

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    What it means: Sensitive information only shared with trusted individuals, i.e., close friends.

    What it means when you're a writer: Plot ideas!

    9. "Starbucks."

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    What it means: Pedestrian chain of cafés. Better at taxes than coffee.

    What it means when you're a writer: Day care!

    10. "Feedback."

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    What it means: A process of critiquing a narrative work in order to improve it.

    What it means when you're a writer: Compliments or GTFO.

    11. "Sex."

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    What it means: Penetrative intercourse.

    What it means when you're a writer: You're either doing it, or writing about doing it. You're writing about doing it.

    12. "Twitter."

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    What it means: A social media platform allowing for short updates up to 140 characters in length.

    What it means when you're a writer: A social media platform that allows you to stalk agents and publishers.

    13. "#amwriting."

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    What it means: A Twitter hashtag used to denote when a writer is sitting down to work on a story.

    What it means when you're a writer: #amtweeting.

    14. "Weekend."

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    What it means: A break at the end of the working week used primarily for leisure, typically Saturday and Sunday.

    What it means when you're a writer: Something other people have.

    15. "Alcoholic beverage."

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    What it means: Beers, wines, and spirits.

    What it means when you're a writer: Story juice!

    16. "Exercise."

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    What it means: An activity that enhances or maintains physical fitness.

    What it means when you're a writer: An activity where you try to write from the point of view of a chair/plant/member of the opposite sex.

    17. "Sprint."

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    What it means: Running at full speed.

    What it means when you're a writer: Writing as many words as possible in a short time with no regard for quality. Also known as trying to hit your word count.

    18. "Novel."

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    What it means: A book length narrative.

    What it means when you're a writer: So far you have the title.

    19. "Literary agents."

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    What it means: A person who represents writers and their work to publishers.

    What it means when you're a writer: Mythical creatures that everyone talks about, but no one you know has actually encountered.

    20. "Best-seller."

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    What it means: An extremely popular book.

    What it means when you're a writer: A book with an obvious lack of literary merit.

    21. "Critical darling."

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    What it means: A book that is well-reviewed and nominated for all the big literary prizes.

    What it means when you're a writer: No one read it.

    22. "Draft."

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    What it means: An in-progress version of a literary work.

    What it means when you're a writer: How you refer to your finished novel when someone criticises it.

    23. "Editing."

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    What it means: The process of correcting and modifying a manuscript with the intention of improving it.

    What it means when you're a writer: Crying into your keyboard because everything is sh*t.

    24. "Under submission."

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    What it means: The process of sending your manuscript out to agents and publishers.

    What it means when you're a writer: I haven't worked up the courage to send my manuscript to anyone yet.

    25. "Marketing."

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    What it means: Communicating the value of a product or service, for the purpose of selling that product or service.

    What it means when you're a writer: Desperately spamming your Twitter and Facebook friends with links to your book page.

    26. “I write for the purity of the art.”

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    What it means: What writers say when asked about their literary motivation.

    What it means when you're a writer: I want to be famous.

    27. "Reader."

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    What it means: Someone digesting a text, in this case a work of literature.

    What it means when you're a writer: An unseen enemy, impossible to understand and therefore to be feared.

    28. "Online reviewer."

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    What it means: A person leaving a "critique" of your work on Goodreads/Amazon/Twitter/a blog.

    What it means when you're a writer: Kill it. Kill it with fire.

    29. "Highly productive day."

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    What it means: Got a lot done.

    What it means when you're a writer: masturbat*d a lot.

    29 Words That Mean Something Totally Different When You're A Writer (2024)

    FAQs

    What are nicknames for writers? ›

    Synonyms of 'writer' in American English
    • author.
    • hack (derogatory)
    • novelist.
    • penpusher (derogatory)
    • scribbler.
    • scribe.
    • wordsmith.

    What is a writer also known as? ›

    Author usually refers to a professional writer. In fact, author can be used interchangeably with the word writer. But author packs a little more punch — an author is involved in the creation of the work and generating the ideas behind it; strictly speaking, a writer could just execute the written product.

    What is a word for amazing writer? ›

    Articulate: This word can be used to describe someone who writes well. Masterful: This word can be used to describe writing that is expertly crafted and executed. Captivating: This word can be used to describe writing that is engaging and holds the reader's attention.

    What is the old word for writer? ›

    From Middle English writer, writere, from Old English wrītere (“draughtsman; painter; writer; scribe; copyist”) and ġewritere (“writer; composer”), equivalent to write +‎ -er and writ +‎ -er.

    What is a lover of writing called? ›

    A creative writer, blogger, poet. A logophile is a lover of words. Also called a word lover or philologos.

    What is a female writer called? ›

    An authoress is a female author.

    What is a fiction writer called? ›

    A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to support themselves in this way or write as an avocation.

    What are the fancy words for writing? ›

    write
    • Strongest matches. address, compose, create, draft, note, pen, print, record, rewrite, scrawl, scribble, sign, tell.
    • Strong matches. author, autograph, chalk, commit, communicate, copy, correspond, engross, formulate, ghost, indite, ink, inscribe, letter, pencil, reproduce, scribe, transcribe, typewrite.
    • Weak matches.

    What is the synonym for author? ›

    biographer columnist composer creator journalist poet producer reporter writer.

    How do you compliment a writer in one word? ›

    There are many ways to appreciate someone's:
    1. Well-articulated!
    2. Love everything you write.
    3. I just loved it!
    4. Very well written.
    5. You've explained it better.
    6. What perfect writing!
    7. Such a great piece!
    8. No words, just applause.
    Dec 29, 2018

    How do you describe a professional writer? ›

    A professional writer uses research, rhetoric and persuasion when creating a document that is intended to suggest a solution to a problem or encourage action. A professional writer uses persuasive language when trying to influence the reader to do something as a result of reading a document.

    How do you say you're a good writer on a resume? ›

    It's best to be specific about the types of writing you excel in to match the job description and showcase your expertise. Instead of just stating "excellent writing skills," mention particular styles such as technical writing, creative writing, copywriting, or academic writing.

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