Understanding the Writer's Mind

Odd.
Insane.
Eccentric.
Chances are, if you know a writer, they've been accused of these kind of things. I know I have. And a lot of the time your writer has probably taken these things as compliments. Again, I certainly find it more of a compliment than an insult when people tell me I'm crazy. But for the everyday person, this makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. And that's why we're here.
Today, I'm going to try to help your average Joe understand what makes the writer tick and how to deal with their sometimes bizarre behavior. Okay, so let's get started!
1. Writers are hardly ever completely in reality.
Whether we're talking about poets or novelists or anything in between, writers are constantly dealing with their stories. Being a novelist, I'm always at least one foot in the story world. When your writer stops paying attention to your conversation, it's probably because they've stepped further into the story. For the writer, reality is just plain old boring. They'd much rather deal with the imaginary worlds than every day life.
If a writer happens to get this far away look or stops paying any attention to the world around them, leave them alone. Their mind is elsewhere.
2. They do in fact talk back to the voices in their heads.
So, yeah, a lot of people claim to have little voices in their heads. But most of us don't actually talk back to them. Writers do. I don't know what normal people's voices are but a writer's inner voices are probably their characters or something. Mine are and, yes, I do talk back to them. Sometimes, arguing with those little voices are all the writer needs to be inspired. So, if a writer mentions an argument they had with the voices, it's OK. Don't be concerned.
3. Ideas may be dangerous.
I don't know how other writers react to getting ideas but, for me, they really are dangerous. I usually scream "epiphany" at the top of my lungs before grabbing something to write on and write with. I imagine other writers scramble for pen and paper just like I do. It may seem like a wild frenzied thing to do but there's some logic behind it. If an idea doesn't get written down immediately, it could be forgotten.
So, if a writer starts scrambling for paper and pen, do not be alarmed. Once the idea is down, they'll be fine.
4. Writers write.
Chances are, if you know a writer, you've worried about their eating, sleep, and social habits. They forget to eat, forget to sleep, and completely forget about friends and family. That's the thing about writing. Writers get into their stories and its hard to pull them out. If it's dinnertime and they're writing, it might not be a bad idea to leave a snack for them and leave them to their work. I know as for me, I just forget that I do in fact have to eat. As far as sleep goes, you may have to remind them that they do need to sleep. And socially? Writers typically aren't all that social. They get caught up in the story world, where their characters take them on adventures. Sometimes, we need to be reminded to have real life adventures.
5. Talking about writing.
One thing that you should never worry about is what a writer means, particularly if they mention how sad they are to kill someone. No worries, they aren't feeling murderous, at least not to anyone outside the pages of a book. And another thing: if you happen to see their browsing history, do not freak out on them. It's all research. They aren't planning to assassinate you or anything. No worries.
So that's basically it. The thing is writers are crazy, absolutely. But that goes with the job. They have to have voices to inspire them, and reality will sometimes be less real than the story world. But, chances are, they have a heck of an adventure every day.