We all know that an author is someone who writes and a reader is the one who reads but an author is a reader too and sometimes a reader is an author too. So what is the difference between an author and a reader? What are the key aspects that differentiate an author from a reader and vice versa?
Difference Between an Author and a Reader:
What Do They Care About?
A reader only cares about the final product and what they are reading or about to read. But the author has to take care of a lot of facets, whether the writing looks authentic or not, this piece will provide an impact to the reader’s mind or it will be something that they would never suggest to someone else, whether it is something that the contemporary readers would like to have in their book-shelf or not and whether this book will bring a good market and more.
One Knows the Authentic Background but the Other Can Only Suspect
It often happens after reading a book; the reader cannot get the plot and the flexibility of the narration out of their head. We frequently marvel after reading a certain novel, what made him/her/them write something like this? But it will remain an enigma. There are semi-autobiographical writers like Sylvia Plath but we would never be familiar with what she truly went through that created something laudable and tragic like ‘The Bell Jar’. Only a writer knows what compelled them to write what they wrote and the reader can only assume.
One Finds Inspiration and the Other Gets Inspired
A reader will always get inspired by their favorite authors or whatever book they find interesting especially if they want to be a professional writer. ‘Read a thousand books and your words will flow like a river’ – Virginia Woolf. A writer is a reader as well. They read their genres and seek inspiration from other writers on how to be cunning with their choice of words, how much they should reveal about their life and how much they should conceal remaining mysterious.
Difference Between Daily Life and Thoughts
A specific category of reader likes to read good books and classics and another type of reader likes to explore every book and every genre. For a reader, reading is a hobby; they read 50-100 pages a day if they have free time. Some readers read two books together. But an author is someone who always has to think about what they are going to publish, if the title is grabbing attention or not, what is the editor’s opinion and especially how they can improve their writing so that it sounds different than other writers and their previous work and if the writing will grasp the mind of readers.
Individuality of Authors
A reader has the freedom to explore every genre be it psychological thriller, horror, fantasy, romance, popular literature, biography or tragedy. Some writers explore a variety of genres but most of the writers have individuality as an author of a precise genre. Like Sophocles, Sylvia Plath and Margret Atwood are famed as tragic writers. Similarly, authors like Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe and Stephen King are renowned as horror fiction writers.
An author always has to pay attention to the genre, style of writing, choice of words, if it is better than the other writers and especially if it is similar to any other book that has been previously published or not in order to remain bona fide. A reader and an author will always have one thing in common that is they are readers but one of them is creating the jotted down lines and the other is consuming it.
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