Why did he write that?

[Crucible of Shards he/him]

Any ideas why John wrote that he was a cop in the back of the handbook when he actually wasn’t?

[Treamayne]

10 hours ago, Crucible of Shards said:

Any ideas why John wrote that he was a cop in the back of the handbook when he actually wasn’t?

Could you please elaborate on what you are referencing and where in the book you found it? I checked the back cover, last chapter and last "handbook" entry and I could nnot find an obvious reference.

[Crucible of Shards he/him]

It was in part 1 of the book. When John is looking over the pages he collected and he finds the list of questions the book owner is supposed to fill out in order to jog their memory of who they are.

“At the very top of the page was a simple, clean question: What is your name?
Below it, handwritten in blue ink, was the name John West.
Oh, hell. That was my name.
And beneath that: What was your profession before you became an Interdimensional Wizard™?
That part of the page was burned, but I could make out a completely unexpected word.
Cop.
That awakened a vague set of memories. The academy. Wearing a uniform. Hot damn. I wasn’t a thief.
I was a specialist detective in the Seattle Police Department: Anti-Cartel and Illegal Augments Division.”

Excerpt From
The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England
Brandon Sanderson
https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewBook?id=0
This material may be protected by copyright.

[RaeTheRaven]

But he was one, wasn't he? Or at least trained to be and then ended up messing things up. It's been a while since i read it, but that's what i remember. Maybe he actually wrote something like "failed cop", but the rest of the page was burned and he only saw the word "cop". 

[Treamayne]

4 hours ago, Crucible of Shards said:

And beneath that: What was your profession before you became an Interdimensional Wizard™?
That part of the page was burned, but I could make out a completely unexpected word.
Cop.
That awakened a vague set of memories. The academy. Wearing a uniform. Hot damn. I wasn’t a thief.
I was a specialist detective in the Seattle Police Department: Anti-Cartel and Illegal Augments Division.”

3 hours ago, RaeTheRaven said:

But he was one, wasn't he? Or at least trained to be and then ended up messing things up. It's been a while since i read it, but that's what i remember. Maybe he actually wrote something like "failed cop", but the rest of the page was burned and he only saw the word "cop". 

Okay, I understand now. Sorry for my confusion. 

The implication here is that when he filled out the paperwork he likely either:

• Listed everything (Art School, Cop Artist, Bouncer, Prize Fighter, etc.) - or - 
• Listed only the things he was proud of so he would remember those (Cop Artist, maybe Art School?)

Either way, the burned page meant he only had the one word to work with, so he imagined his own backstory and started trying to reinterpret his returning memories in relation to that imagined past.