What Sort of Writer Are You? Find Out Here | by David Ferrers | Sep, 2022

This is about an interesting recent writer self-discovery.

I am writing this story about something I recently learned about myself as a writer in the hope that my journey might enlighten you about yourself and help you on your writing journey.

I was trolling through some stories on the internet the other day when I came to an interesting realization.

I was attracted by the headlines of two very different stories. Both stories were well written. Both authors are well-established and have hundreds of thousands of followers.

I read one story from start to finish. The other I gave up on halfway through even though it contained a lot of valuable information.

So, Why did one story keep me engaged and the other lose my attention?

The first story was a very well-crafted offering by Tim Denning.

The story told how Tim makes lots of money from Linkedin by linking articles there to a landing page that gets readers to subscribe for something or other.

I started to read the story because I am interested in making money. But as I read the story I discovered two fascinating points about myself.

1. I’m not really interested in activities whose sole purpose is to accumulate money. In other words. money on its own is not a motivator for me. Money has to come to me as a result of my doing something that I consider worthwhile.
2. The idea of having money attracts me, but it doesn’t motivate me sufficiently to make me want to make the effort to write a digital product or build a landing page or do any of the tedious (to my mind) things necessary to build an online money empire.

This may sound a bit like I feel superior to others, but ideas and a sense of my personal values are more important motivators for me than just making money.

So, thank you Tim for the awakening. I’m sorry that I won’t be following your advice. Thank you for enlightening me to the fact that I am definitely not the sort of writer who is interested in creating online marketing content for the sole purpose of making money.

The second story was written by Dan Pedersen in his publication Personal Growth.

The story is only 175 words long. But I absorbed every word. And I felt “at one with the subject” when reading the story. And when I’d finished reading I immediately read the story again to make sure I was clear about its message.

What did my very different reaction to this story tell me about myself?

Dan’s story created a great reawakening. I have always known that I am more readily excited by ideas and causes that arouse strong inner feelings.

It’s as if there’s a kind of inner guidance mechanism inside each of us that lights up and beeps when our interest is aroused. I believe this is a really important “pay attention” alert for writers. When you feel aroused by an idea or information you need to switch on all your information absorption and learning muscles and embrace what’s coming your way.

You can think about how to use new information and ideas later, at your leisure, but for now, you need to absorb and revel in the joy of what you are discovering. This is the gold dust that you can later use your writing skills to craft into stories.

How to tap your inner guidance

I am often surprised by the lack of self-awareness of people I meet.

There are vivid contradictions in behaviors that illustrate how people often do not think in holistic ways about their personal points of view. These contradictions can be highlighted when people gather in groups who share an interest.

For instance, football fans who support a particular team will demonstrate that they are not really fans of football but simply tribalists when they fail to acknowledge that their team has been beaten by a team who displayed superior footballing skills.

In a similar way, snobby diners might be reluctant to acknowledge the excellent quality of the food in a small, backwoods restaurant simply because the restaurant does not have a famous name chef and is not situated in a fashionable city location.

As a writer, you have to be aware of such inbuilt biases and be disciplined about acknowledging that your emotional responses are not always the same as those around you. You have to resist the desire to conform to groupthink and assert your own values and beliefs.

It is often the uniqueness of your perspective on an idea or information that is the essence of what you are. It is that uniqueness that makes you valuable and interesting as a conveyor of information.

Value your uniqueness

You are unique. But you are also a tribal animal who derives a lot of security from your sense of belonging to your family, social, work, and other groups with whom you share common interests.

As a writer, you should always be aware of your differences and not be swayed by group pressures that can be different from your intrinsic values, beliefs, and points of view.

You’re a writer, it’s your unique perspective that makes you valuable. That’s the sort of writer you are.