So Berin… What Do You Write?

Allow me to make a confession: about half the time, when I meet new people and they ask me what I do, I lie. I make up the most mundane, boring, unworthy-of-discussion job I can think of, so we can move on. I don’t like talking about being a writer with non-writers.

When I do answer truthfully that I’m a writer, or they already know or have heard that I’m a writer, the next inevitable question is “so, what do you write?”. I appreciate the question. They’re being polite and showing interest in what I do, and that’s cool. The problem is that it can be a tough question to answer. I write a lot of stuff about roleplaying games; one person recently thought that meant live-action roleplaying (LARP) and that Katie and I dressed up like elves and chased each other around the house. A friend’s mother somehow got the idea that roleplaying meant dressing up like elves and having orgies. I have no idea where people get these ideas, and while I’m sometimes I’m in a mood and more than happy to explain the realities of tabletop roleplaying (which does not mean dressing up like elves and “doing it” on the kitchen table), I’m more inclined to not mention it unless I know the person is a gamer, or at least some sort of geek who’ll know what I’m talking about.

My other short answer is that I write horror. I don’t think of myself as a horror writer, but I have a series of Lovecraftian short stories either about to be published or going through the submission process. I don’t think of Lovecraft as horror, but Lovecraft’s still not a household name, and “weird fiction” is hard for some people to get their heads around. Horror is the hook most people get. The danger is that some folks think I’m trying to be Stephen King, and wonder why I don’t make bank or have a dozen novels published. Others latch onto horror movies, and think I write all kinds of gore and blasphemous, Satanic diatribes; the latter usually ends badly for me.

Lately I’ve started talking about the latest paper I’ve written for a class, presented in a way which might mislead them to think I’ve sold the story to a magazine or otherwise written it for profit. Their eyes glaze over as I start in about proofing the statistical validity of standardized testing for special education students, or why studies by psychologists have shown the patent law actually stimulates rather than stifles innovation. They understand about as much of what I’m saying as if I were talking about D&D or the Cthulhu Mythos, but at least I’m talking about things that are theoretically “real”. The effect is the same. The conversation changes away from what I write.

Someone pointed out to me that I’m missing valuable networking opportunities, and even a potential audience. That’s true. I could bear witness to the awesomeness of tabletop roleplaying, or find new readers for Lovecraft (and thus help make him more of a household name among non-geeks). I could be getting people to buy my stuff and read it. Slowly, I’m building up my comfort level. For now, what I plan to do it to create a page on this site with links to some things I’ve written, articles and short stories, and have business cards with this website’s URL on it. When people ask what I write, I can hand them a card and say “I write all kinds of stuff, go to my website and you can read some examples of my work”.