I was browsing Amazons Kindle section and noticed quite a novels where the author had a technical background(mostly web), and it got me wondering if programmers make good creative writers?

Kindle publishing isn't like publishing the usual way, when the author feels his/her work is ready for the public, they can release it. No need to seek an agent and have the agent pitch the book to a publisher. Some of the books do become successful, The Martian(the author being a programmer), was turned into a movie with Matt Damon.

I'll admit, I've had a few ideas, but never really found the motivation to sit and write it out fully. Most of my ideas come after reading a book or watching a movie, and wondering if had gone another way.

I think if you look at it from a gaming perspective it might be more interesting, especially in the early days of gaming, where small teams could produce successful games, so a programmer would also be the writer or contribute to the game in a non technical way.

Just wanted to hear your thoughts.

Personally I like when a fiction author writes about a technical issue and actually knows the subject. This applies to movie scripts as well, I can't stand movies that show computer screens with invalid IP addresses or chess boards with positions that don't make any sense.

I personally can't think of a single good example.

The ones I can think of who have worked professionally at both (Marc Laidlaw and Jane Jensen) were game designers, not programmers.

Somewhat.

A safer way of putting it is that average programmers make average writers. There is also the axiom: "Those who can't write write manuals." Once you insist on 'good,' getting good at one kills your ability to be good at the other.

I work with a bunch of programmers, and from reading their instructions on how to do something, I would have to say "no". They make horrible writers.

Most programmers don't even comment their code adequately. They'd possibly make better twitter 'artists' than novelists.

Perhaps not a "programmer" but I like this guy's work:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neal_Stephenson

You just brought back a flood of memories of Gabriel Knight series...Would love to see that come back.

and no I do not think it will affect either unless the person is proficient in both to a large degree. Holmes was the scientist/detective/philosopher and Watson was the writer.

At first they used to show movies with invalid IP addresses to prevent real IPs from being given away, now I think the studio buys legitimate IP addresses to display on screen. I get your overall point though, it was laughable a few years ago when you'd watch a movie and one of the characters would tap a few keys and claimed to hack into a power grid

Haven't read his books, but I've heard of him, and the reviews seem pretty good.

I think this is one of those cases where the programmer became a game designer, which isn't too bad. I think though as a game designer your probably doing several different tasks to build a game, not just programming/writing.

I recommend Gray Matter, which I played in WINE. It's an Xbox 360-generation Jane Jensen game.

David Buttenhof did a good job, and Sean Walton's writing will certainly be too “literary” for some, though I like it when technical facts are explained in “plain language” and repetition is not a dirty word, either. Do I have to mention Jeffrey Friedl?

These books have been a great read to me, even in the English language, which can only mean that the authors do not only know their technology. Or maybe I had been lucky to pick them from the pack when I had no idea what I could expect.

Name three miserable authors of technical documentation in the German language. If you cannot, then the answer to the OP's question is “Often enough”.

And for completeness (edit): I do not like Stevens. If he is God, he's dead.

A word of warning though, svetlanarosemond, Neal Stephenson's books are long and very, very descriptive. In one more extreme example he devotes a chapter to how somebody prefers to eat Cap'n Crunch cereal. It is possible to skip things like that though, if one wishes, and still follow the story but I now tend to read everything as I enjoy his descriptions.

IMHO, Neal Stephenson had two good books: Snow Crash and The Diamond Age. Everything before and after? Garbage.

I enjoyed Reamde and though stark I thought Seveneves was pretty good. He's no William Gibson though.