So you(r friend) thinks they can write

Throughout your travels in time and space you're likely to encounter a friend who has or is writing a book/screenplay/play/whatever else can be composed of the written word.  Although this may seem unimportant or a passing fancy to you and indeed it might be, how you react to this news is a very delicate thing.  First of all, and I can say this from personal experience realizing that you have a story to tell and that it might even be worth telling can be a massive, nay earth-shatterng thing.  Realizing that you want to make a career out of it is even more earth-shattering.  The problem is that like writing itself it is almost an entirely internal process and difficult for even the most caring friend to "get."  I once heard writing described as a world of narcicstic insecurity.  What this means is that in order to make the leap of writing something intended to be viewed by others and perhaps even paid for requires a certain amount of, shall we say self-confidence.  Where the whole situation gets a bit sticky is we writers tend to be horrendously insecure and need constant validation of our talent or at the very least our attempts and of course we begin within our comfort zone i.e. friends and family.  If you suddenly find yourself in the friend of writer category, here are few things we writers hate.  The first is when you tell a friend that you've decided  to write and the friend just replies with "Cool" or the like without any follow-up, as if they had just told you they bought a new t-shirt or had decided on the chicken.  Ask questions, give support and for God sakes don't talk about how unlikely success as a writer is.  Believe me, we know.  We're the ones who get the rejection letters.  Asking about the plot of the story is a good step towards interest but after hearing it don't say "oh, so it's just like (insert name of published work here).  There are no truly new stories and all writers "steal" from others in one way or another.  Even many of Shakespeare's plays were based in historical fact or local events.  It's the way the writer tells the story that is the most important and no writer wants weeks or months of their work diminished to a half-assed copy cat job. Although it is great for a writer's friends to be interested and involved in the writer's process don't ask to read their work if you don't plan on actually reading it and giving more of a critique than "It's good" or "I like it."  This goes double if the friend asked for your input.  Some people are uncomfortable doing this which is fine, just tell the writer don't take the work and put it aside.  In your mind you may just be too busy to read their work or avoiding an uncomfortable situation but in the writer friend's mind you read the work, hated it and are too afraid to tell them.  Like I said, we are an insecure bunch.  To sum up, if your friend is a writer than be a good writer's friend.