When writing, the question of being a “Roger” or a “Janet” is an incredibly complicated one to answer. But what does it mean to be a Roger or a Janet? Roger and Janet are prototypes of writers. Roger, who is much farther in his writing career, writes with authority, he challenges the writing he reads and inserts his own subjective opinion into his response. Janet on the other hand writes with no authority, she writes objectively and writes as if she assumes everything she is reading is true. While Roger will read an article and respond knowing that what he read is subjective, Janet writes with the idea that what she read is true and is not to be questioned.
Many writers, especially young ones, struggle when writing with authority. I believe it comes from earlier education, we were brought up being told and therefore assuming that when reading something professional we are not to question its validity because we know less about the subject matter than the author does. This is why so many writers are Janets as opposed to Rogers. To write with authority means the writer needs to have some sort of confidence in the subject they are writing about. This is challenging to many, when you read something with the idea that whoever wrote it is an expert in what they are writing and you are a novice. It seems impossible to challenge someone who knows more than you because the fear of being wrong and possibly embarrassed by incorrectly challenging something. This is why you often see more authority in writing as writers start to gain age and knowledge on a subject. As a consequence of gaining knowledge, they gain confidence and their writing gains authority.
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