Top Ten Reasons Writers Should be Geeky

Geekiness had a bad rap in the eighties. Look to movies like “The Breakfast Club” or “Weird Science” and you’ll know what I mean. Being geeky/nerdy meant having a pocket protector and being shoved into lockers. Well, that trend is changing. Now, being geeky means following in the footsteps of Mark Zuckerberg in “The Social Network”, the insanely high IQ/ sex appeal of Sherlock in Benedict Cumerbatch’s popular rendition of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle classic. The changing message of the movies seem to be “geeks rule”. But how does that help writers?

1. Being geeky means you enter the world of pop culture. You read a lot of the novels that are popular on the market, and you watch what’s popular in cinemas. Reading what’s hot on the market is insanely helpful for writers who have yet to find their perfect audience
2. Who said Dungeons and Dragons never helped anybody? Getting together with friends and letting your imagination run wild can spark so many new novel ideas! Fantasy writers, take note.
3. Learning how to become good with computers never hurt a writer whose life is basically lived on that same computer.
4. Geeks have huge communities of support. Writing can get lonely. It’s always nice to reach out.
5. Conventions are amazing gatherings of like-minded creative people. And you get to see all the cool costumes of current DC/Marvel movie heroes nowadays.
6. Renaissance Fairs. Just. Renaissance Fairs. (Again, ye olde fantasy writers must taketh note)
7. Movie soundtracks are beautiful to listen to when writing. Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, a Beautiful Mind, Social Network, Suicide Squad… The list goes on.
8. You can take note on current tropes in the industry and learn how to avoid them. (Lurk on Google after searching tropes for your book genre and you know what I mean.) Geek communities often complain about movie/book clichés. Good to take notice
9. It helps you reach out to your fans. Bibliophiles are some awesome, Tumblr-using geeks. It takes a good writer to get into that antihero-loving mindset!
10. All writers were geeks since the beginning. We all sat in cozy little corners and read books till the sun went down. If that’s not bliss, then I don’t know what is.