Thursday, February 9, 2017

Who Would Impersonate A Writer?



Ever since there were police officers there have been people who pose as cops.  Some are just criminals hoping to use a fake badge or uniform to intimidate others.  Others are criminals who rob other criminals, posing as the law.  But then there are well-meaning vigilantes who want to take the law into their own hands, to do what the real police can’t or fail to do.  Whatever the reason, our nation is populated with individuals pretending to be law enforcement.  A new book takes a look at how the police have fought back, based on an NYPD unit formed in 1994, The Police Impersonation Group (PIG), the only one of its kind in this country.  Blue on Blue:  An Insider’s Story of Good Cops Catching Bad Cops by Charles Campisi sounds fascinating.  Will it end up sparking interest in others to take up a false shield?  It made me wonder if people pose as writers.

You may ask, why would someone pose as a writer, considering there are no legal certifications or requirements to become one.  You can simply be a writer by declaring yourself one.  You don’t even have to be good at writing or have anything published. But writing is a trained art that comes from inner inspiration, environmental conditions, past experiences, and a passionate desire.  Even those that want to pose as writers can’t fake creative talent or the drive that leads one to take to penning ideas, dreams, and theories.

So who would fake being a writer?
·         Guys who think women they are hitting on would find it cool.
·         Law enforcement seeking to get answers without revealing their identity.
·         Lawyers seeking to build a case who don’t want their intentions known.
·         Criminals on the run seeking an identity without an employer’s help
·         Crazy people who become whomever they think they are.

There may be a lot of reasons people become writers but there are fewer why one would pose as one.  The truth is, writers often pose as others in order to get information from people with their guard down.

Writers, when writing, become someone else, lost in the truths of their own fiction.  They assault reality by evading it, re-imagining it as something other than what it is, beyond what it’s capable of even becoming.

If fake cops are amongst us, fake writers are right there.  I bet some writers pose as cops, and some cops pose as writers.  Reality and fantasy run into each other not only on the pages of a book but off of them.

Writers have often exposed corruption and abuses in law enforcement, but they’re also teamed up to help catch some real bad people.  Reporters and authors dig hard to reveal the facts and collaborate with the police to achieve justice.

I don’t know that kids play cops and robbers any more.  It’s not so easy to find toy guns  for sale. Cowboys and Indians is something I never see kids playing.  Is that no longer PC?  But we role play more than ever. 

Just look at how people lie, assume false identities, and act anonymously online.  Writers want to be cops and some people want to be writers.  No one is exactly whom they seem to be.

But if one wants to pose as a writer, he or she should be prepared to assume all that a writer does.  

This means spending hours at a time, secluded, writing as fast as your hand permits.  This means asking a lot of questions – of others as well as of oneself.  It means imagining alternate scenarios and what-if propositions.  It means not trusting anyone and knowing when to observe in silence, no matter how hard it is to refrain from comment.  It means having a sense of fairness, an urgency for changing and bettering the world, and possessing a strong moral compass.  It means being a loner, even feeling alone in a crowd of people.  It means being ready to live a life where doing something is secondary to writing about it, where thinking is valued higher than committing to an action.

We live in an era of fake news where President Trump as well as the government distorts, negates, hides, and makes up facts.  

I guess impersonating a writer or a cop fits into a confusing world.

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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog 2017©. Born and raised in Brooklyn, now resides in Westchester. Named one of the best book marketing blogs by Book Baby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs 


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