Kevin Rant makes the following declaration:

Real novelists make a living from their work. If you've not actually been paid for a novel, then please don't insult actual novelists by calling yourself one.

My first thought upon reading this was "Oh crap! Have I called myself a novelist?"

A quick scan of my blog answers the question "sort of"... I refer to myself as an "amateur novelist" at one point and at another referred to Oliver Willis as a "fellow novelist," implying that I am one. In the case of the latter, even if the title is wrong (as Kevin believes) the association is valid (neither Willis nor I had been paid for our novels).

So, with that aside, is his criticism valid? Part of me very much believes so. Even though I have written three (unpublished) novels, I don't refer to myself as a novelist except with the "amateur" disclaimer or when basically pitching someone else's writing. The truth is that I would consider myself somewhat of a poseur for calling myself a novelist because I have yet to sell and get paid for one. Further, the term "novelist" implies a professionalism that I do not presently have outside of my current lack of publishing success. My novels are of a very personal nature and were not written with publication in mind. Maybe some day publication will be my aim, but I'm not there yet.

On the other hand, a novelist is somewhat that writes or has written novels. By that definition, I clearly fit. I set out the huge task of writing a novel, plotted and planned it, and executed it. The brainpower and time involved in this is not insignificant. It's not writing a book of free verse poetry of ellipses seperating a bunch of depressing words in all lower case letters. It's not even a collection of short stories, which are more difficult but don't have the all-or-nothing stakes that a novel does. My computer is littered with the first 20 pages of novels started but never finished - that many pages in short stories encompasses several and an easy "accomplishment fix". It's 150 pages single spaced pages devoted to thoroughly telling a story with not-just-cursory characters, themes, and so on.

But back to the first-hand, replace the word "novelist" with the word "writer" and I have a grievance very similar to Kevins. I can't tell you how many people I know who have called themselves "writers" without actually going to the trouble of... well... writing anything (or writing aforementioned poetry). My ex-girlfriend Lisa and I actually got into an argument about this. Many so-called "writers" only documented creativity is coming up with reasons why they haven't written anything. Lisa's was that while she was certain whatever she wrote would come out to the satisfaction of everyone around her - including big-house publishers - she was so much a perfectionist that she would truly hate it and herself for writing something so imperfect. Hers is an extreme example, but a lot of would-be writers seem to prefer the sound of the wheels turning in the back of their mind to the sound of rubber hitting the road.

So in that vein, I can very much understand where Kevin is coming from. While technically if they've written so much an email the folks in the last paragraph are writers, I am technically a novelist . It may be true, but it's inaccurate.

I get the (perhaps inaccurate, certainly convenient) impression that Kevin's grievance is with those that are more loud and self-congratulatory about their hobby rather than those that are more humbly proud of their work (such as myself). But as annoying as the "novelist" thing may be to him and the "writer" thing to me, it's possible that the bigger loser in the exchange is the person that's convinced himself he's bona fide novelist/writer without fully living up to their potential. My annoyance with Lisa and others is only partly that they claim to be what they are not, but rather that some of them really could be great writers, but settle for simply developing the ideas in their head and never actually doing anything with them.

That makes me take a step back and look at myself. While three novels may in fact be quite the achievement for someone my age, I haven't made serious headway on a novel in two years. Furthermore, I have to wonder if a part of me is hiding behind the personal nature of my writing so that I won't have to face what is certain to be countless rejections from publishing houses in even a best case scenario (where I actually get published). Maybe in the same way that Lisa hid behind her perfectionism, I'm hiding behind the fact that I'm not a professional so that I can write what I want rather than what might be read beyond a circle of twenty or so.

Food for thought, anyway.