Stealing Stuff (like this post)

Sorry about the lack of posts lately. Hopefully this gem from Slate might make up for it.

  

	CAN I MAKE STUFF UP?
	Journalist If you make stuff up as a journalist, you will be considered such a liar that the state of California won’t let you become a lawyer.
	Memoirist If you make stuff up as a memoirist, Oprah will excoriate you on the air, and your publisher will refund duped readers the cost of your book, but you may have a lucrative second career employing young writers to pump out popular fiction.
	Columnist If you make stuff up as a columnist, you will get suspended. Then you can write your column again.
	Monologist If you make stuff up as a monologist, Ira Glass will be very disappointed in you, but lots of people will defend the “greater truth” of your story.
	Nonfiction Novelist If you make stuff up as a “nonfiction novelist,” people will call you out on it eventually, but you’ll still go down as a great writer (especially if you die prematurely).
	Humorous Journalist If you make stuff up as a humorous journalist, the editor-in-chief of The New Yorker will be heartbroken.
	Biopic Director If you make a movie “based on a true story” that includes made-up stuff, journalists will write articles pointing out where you were wrong, but you might win an Oscar anyway.
	Historical Novelist If you make stuff up as a historical novelist, people will point out on Wikipedia that you were wrong and evaluate your claims on TV, but you can still make the bestseller list.
	Period-Piece Showrunner If you make stuff up for your mostly historically accurate TV show, linguists will scrutinize your every misstep and magazine journalists will compare your show to their memories, but you’ll still be a critical darling.
	Humorist If you make stuff up as a humorist, The New Republic will fact-check the dickens out of you, but most people will say your lies are OK, especially if they’re just about your personal life.
	Stand-Up Comedian If you make stuff up as a stand-up comedian, no one will care (unless you lie about where your jokes came from.)
	Songwriter If you say you had a “good day,” bloggers will fact-check you twenty years after the fact. But they will still love the song, even if it wasn’t exactly true.
	Science Fiction Writer If you make stuff up as a science fiction writer, you will be honored as a visionary. (Unless you convince millions that your stories are true and found a church, in which case you will be derided as a nut.)
	Fantasy Writer If you make stuff up as a fantasy writer, you will earn a place in the hearts of children everywhere. But some fundamentalist Christians might burn your books.

 

Might get around to posting in more detail about a couple of these. I've been thinking about the Wallace one a bit, of course. Soon! Something soon, I promise.