Gifts For Writers

I'm getting one gift for Christmas. Unfortunately, I can't think of anything that isn't A) ridiculously expensive, or B) extremely wasteful. So I figured "hey, I'm a writer — let's get something for my writing!"

...and I still can't think of anything.

So, I ask you — if you could get one thing writing related this Christmas, what would it be?

Published.

...I'm guessing this does not count.

People had been raving about the writing craft book Save the Cat.

Published.

I'd say either synthesizer software/tools so I could make the soundtracks to my books, a tablet with a basic "How to Draw" type book so I can illustrate, or simply a new tower PC with a copy of Word.

But those might be a tad expensive...

Ask her what she wants. Writers don't always want writing things for Christmas.

What Leradny said. Every christmas and birthday I get sketchbooks and pencils, from EVERYONE. It's not fun. Yes, I draw, I DO NOT NEED THIS MUCH SUPPLIES.

Books.

I would amend that to gift card for books. No one who has ever given me a book for any occasion has ever given me one I've actually liked or wanted. And I'm like, "Wow, thanks..." while giving a fake smile, which probably sucks because I suck at fake-smiling, all as I'm thinking, Just because I like to read, doesn't mean you can just give me any damn book that's supposedly 'popular' and I'll be happy. Also you have no taste!

Basically one Christmas my aunt got me The Sword Of Shannara without really knowing much about it other than it was fantasy. I couldn't force myself to get past the first hundred pages and it was a really, really boring rip off of Tolkien. Someone almost got me Twilight a year or so ago before I put my foot down hard. I appreciate the thought, but don't waste you money, family. I don't want that crap.

edited 19th Dec '11 7:07:54 PM by NoirGrimoir

Yes and no. There is a value to reading outside of your comfort zone. Even reading terrible fiction is useful to understand how and why it doesn't work. That said, it's not very fun.

edited 19th Dec '11 7:12:44 PM by AManInBlack

Specify books, then. It's what I always do.

edited 19th Dec '11 7:13:04 PM by nrjxll

I think a gift someone is actually going to spend money on ought to be liked. Save reading bad stuff for research purposes for your library card.

I don't always have a specific book I want. I go to Barnes&Nobles and browse until I find something. That's why I like gift cards.

edited 19th Dec '11 7:32:41 PM by NoirGrimoir

I've always subscribed to the idea that there are gifts which are socks and gifts which are flowers. The former are useful goods, the latter are heartfelt tokens, and a gift can be either or both. Books can fall into either category.

^^^ That has its problems too, unless you're careful and are really specific about the title and author. I once asked for any book in the Redwall series, only to get three books I already had. Kinda depressing, especially when I realized the one I thought was a new one just turned out to have a different cover.

Well, OK! :D

*walks into time machine, goes back two hours, and walks back into room*

Me: Hey, Dec, what do you want?

Dec: Huh?

Me: For Christmas. What do you want for Christmas?

Dec: Wait, we're actually getting presents this year?

Me: Yep.

Dec: …And you want to know what I want, like, a week before?

Me: Yep!

Dec: …I dunno, ask me later.

And then I made this thread, all temporal-paradox like.

You can get big, coffee-table inspiration books, as well. Like fantasy art books with cool pictures. Those kind you don't have to worry about them liking to read. My grandma once got me a big one on wizards with lots of pictures and stuff. It's pretty cool.

edited 19th Dec '11 8:15:03 PM by NoirGrimoir

A typewriter.

Seriously, it sounds nuts, I know, but there's something about sitting in front of a typewriter that's just awesome.

I've used typewriters before (in the 90s before computers became fully ubiquitous around the world), the novelty of the clacking quickly wears off.

If you don't want to just give a gift certificate, and want to give an actual book, but don't know what specific one to get, you can always get them a "classic" work that you don't think they've read yet, or even one of a genre you know they have interest in. ie: I am Legend, Dracula, Frankenstein for horror; A Handmaid's Tale or one of Jules Verne's novels for science fiction; Don Quixote regardless of genre because it's awesome, etc.

They may seem a little, uh, "generic", for lack of a better word, as far as gift choices go, but I know a lot of people interested in writing that haven't gotten around to reading books that are the inspirations or staples of their favored genres.

My sister got me an unabridged dictionary and an unabridged thesaurus one year. I use them both a good deal. Probably pretty expensive but totally worth it.

I got my brother a _________

Hint: It is big and heavy.

Though I do agree with you about gift cards. I like wandering around in a bookstore, getting hopelessly lost.

And a typewriter does sound amazing.

Typewriters aren't that great...you spend more time fiddling with it than writing, correcting mistakes is a bitch and like someone else said the clickety-clack loses its novelty after a page or so. There's a very good reason that people eagerly switched to word processors when they became affordable.