You Know You’re a Writer When . . .

I like to recycle this fun writing quiz every year or so for new readers. It was first created back in 2013 by Calamity Renee (Emily McConnell) to separate us writers from the rest of the world’s population. It’s creative and right on. Decide how many of these clues relate to you. Then look at the score chart to determine which kind of a writer you are. Read Emily’s bio at the end of the quiz and link to her story-rich blog and to one of her entries from the first Circle C story writing contest back in 2013.

Newsflash: Mrs. M is an “Iffy Jotter.”

You know you’re a writer when…

1. You see someone on TV who you think looks just like one of your characters.
2. You read a book and are certain that writer ripped you off somehow.
3. You think of your characters as your friends.
4. You reenact a scene from your story and do the dialogue for all the characters.
5. You watch a movie with your friends and you can’t stop saying, “I’m totally using that line in my book.”
6. Your mood depends on what’s going on in your book.
7. You’d rather write than watch TV.
8. You cry while you write a sad scene in your story.
9. You get mad when someone says they think you should make your favorite character die.
10. You have so many stories in your head that it takes 15 minutes just to decide which story to work on today.
11. You dream about your story/stories.
12. You dream about your bad guy character trying to kill you.
13. The kids of your mom’s friend go home and ask their mom to rent the movie you were telling them about, when in reality you were just telling them a story.
14. You do hands-on research to figure out how it would feel to be your character in whatever situation you’re researching.
15. You model your child character after the kid you babysit.
16. You get mad when your character makes the wrong decision.
17. You can’t stand the naughty kids in the books you read, but you love writing those kids to torment your characters.
18. You act out your stories.
19. You wish you could live in the imaginary world sometimes.
20. When people ask you what your favorite book character is you tell them the one from your own book.
21. You have actually emailed the FBI (or another agency) to ask questions for your story.
22. You get really excited about research.
23. You borrow tons of books from the library to get inspiration or ideas for scenes in your stories.
24. You rewrite movies/books/TV shows to the way you like them.
25.  You own an outfit just like the one your character wears.
26. You write your own commercials for your stories.
27. You find that you can’t remember what was from your stories and what was real when you’re recalling life events.
28. You can’t stand to let your favorite bad guy die and you bring him back again…and again and again and again for many sequels.
29. Your friends think you’re talking about real people when you’re actually talking about your characters.
30. You begin to believe that your characters are taking over the story and controlling it . . . instead of you!

Grade Yourself

Grade yourself and then share in the comments which kind of writer you are

1-5: Random Dreamer: You like to make up stories a lot but find that it’s hard to actually finish something and often you find yourself having to push yourself to sit down and write.

5-10: Hibernating Scribbler: You enjoy writing and do it in your spare time, though during school you don’t usually find the inspiration to write and would rather be doing something else.

10-15: Iffy Jotter You love to write and try to do it as much as you can, though many times you take several week breaks. When Writer’s Block hits you’re really stuck.

15-20: Jumpy Visionary: You love to write and often start many, many stories that you can’t possibly finish, thus frustrating yourself and never actually getting things done except those stories you really put a lot of effort into.

20-25: Furious Fingers:You really love writing and just can’t get enough of it- you write something every single day and eighty percent of the time finish what you write, though you do have a lot of abandoned stories or just ideas that someday you may or may not write. You rarely get Writer’s Block and have over ten stories finished.

25-29: Flying Typist You LOVE writing so much and are constantly typing up a new idea or story or something and can’t stop creating new things. You finish most of what you write and then start something new, often tackling three part series in a matter of weeks. Your biggest problem is jumping from story to story to story, though you do finish most of what you write you often reread what you wrote a month before and then rewrite the whole story.

All 30: Writing Maniac: You’re hooked. You think, breathe and live your stories. Often you have to take a break from writing so you don’t mix reality with the imaginary, but your mind is always returning to that one scene or story you were going to write. You are constantly seeing people in stores that look like your characters and suspiciously considering that perhaps they escaped your book.

Emily (Calamity Renee) McConnell married Lucas Sinclair in 2019. The couple live in Idaho. Her blog highlights a number of her short stories at “The Real Life Adventures of Emily Sinclair >> She won first place in the 2013 Circle C writing contest (ages 14-17) with her story “Like Brother Like Sister.” Her second entry also placed, but it was disqualified because she’d already won with the other entry. You can read the entry here: Big Cat Mishap >>