I'm not sure if there's a formal difference, but 'author' always suggests to me the creator of longer works, typically books or plays whilst 'writer' seems to encompass these but also covers someone responsible for short stories, pithy 500 word newspaper columns, intelligent blogs and so on.
One definition I heard at a writers panel a few years ago is that a writer writes for the money first and artistic integrity after, whereas an author has it the other way round.
Difference between a tradesman and a craftsman really.
An author writes something fictional - well a writer can be factual....
Except people are the author of a factual book.
Well if somebody writes a blog post about technical matters definetly a writer not an author. If they write a fantasy novel there an author. And between those two extremes it gets a bit gray.
According to my Dictionary of 1891,+ an Author is one who creates an original piece of work (not necessarily written work) whereas a writer is a scribe or amanuensis, thus his/her work may not be original in content.
To me, "author" is the word you use in a context where you're discussing books and literature and written content. "Writer" is the occupation, something people do for a living, or as a profession or a calling. If I were talking about jobs or about writing in general (plots, characters, non-specific things) I'd talk about writers, but if I were talking about a specific book or story or fic, published or not, I would say "author".
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branchandroot
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Date: 2009-09-14 12:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-14 12:08 pm (UTC)Difference between a tradesman and a craftsman really.
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Date: 2009-09-14 12:31 pm (UTC):) My 2 cents.
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Date: 2009-09-14 12:41 pm (UTC)Except people are the author of a factual book.
Well if somebody writes a blog post about technical matters definetly a writer not an author. If they write a fantasy novel there an author. And between those two extremes it gets a bit gray.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-14 12:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-14 01:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-14 10:39 pm (UTC)