Authors Tweet Their Frustration with Humorous, Heartbreaking #TenThingsNotToSayToAWriter

“I liked the movie version so much more.”

Authors vented their frustration on Twitter yesterday with #TenThingsNotToSayToAWriter, a hashtag devoted to the ridiculous things people say to authors on a regular basis. The tweets ranged from the mildly annoying (“I read your book. I think I saw a typo.”) to the openly sexist, as evidenced in comic book writer Gail Simone’s tweet:

You write great, I mean, I couldn't even tell that you were female. #TenThingsNotToSayToAWriter

— GAIL SIMONE (@GailSimone) July 28, 2015

It’s clear that authors, like anyone with name-recognition status, put up with a lot of crap. And while the reality is that many readers “mean well,” maybe they should think twice before asking favors or demanding the next book in a series (here’s looking at you, George R.R. Martin fans).

1 of 20 Author of My Life with the Saints, Jesus: A Pilgrimage

2 of 20 Author of The Outsiders, That Was Then, This Is Now

3 of 20 Author of The Outsiders, That Was Then, This Is Now

4 of 20 Writer on Mystery Science Theater 3000

5 of 20 Author of Eve: The Awakening

6 of 20 Author of How to Be Black

7 of 20 Author of The Storyteller, My Sister's Keeper

8 of 20 Author of The Storyteller, My Sister's Keeper

9 of 20 Author of The Name of the Wind, The Wise Man's Fear

10 of 20 Author of Redshirts, The Old Man's War Series