61–70 of 97 posts
I really like some of King's writings. But it's a mixed bag-- some are really good, some are really bad. When he's gone, I'll miss his best fiction. But I won't miss his public rants, they've been an embarrassment to him.
My Google fu is weak today.
Contemporary publishing, with book tours and other publicity, can't really absorb more than a book a year or so from a single author.
And the book tours, etc, take up a lot of a writer's time.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was wondering the same thing, so I read his book "On Writing" a few weeks ago. I figured there might be some good take-aways for writing software since there seems to be some skill overlap. Here are my (crappy) notes: * The golden rule: read a lot, write a lot. * Have a place for only writing and concentrating. Do nothing else there. * Everyone has an innate talent ceiling. A good writer won't progress beyond being…
And the most important, unspoken one that King would disclose to us if he were a bit more honest with himself: * Learn to ignore your inner critic. The way you write Six Pages a Day No Matter What, as King does, is by not caring all that much whether they are six awesome pages or six mediocre pages. If you've got talent and you exercise it faithfully enough, then sometimes your Six Pages will, indeed, be awesome, and…
Hemingway worked ever single morning, even if he was half dead from a hangover.
King was my favorite writer growing up. I read "Firestarter" in 6th grade, and then continued working through about 20 or so more of his works until graduation from HS. I was "that kid", always had my nose buried in a paperback from the library, usually one of his. His works were like familiar friends to me. I could step into nearly any library or bookstore and find myself absorbed into some small town in Maine, or p…
I read them when I was around the same age, but a decade earlier than you. They pretty much had the same effect on me. Did you read anybody else at the same period? Koontz, maybe?
I'm reminded of Lovecraft, who would use a thesaurus to pad his paid-by-the-word word counts by inserting various adjectives that sounded scary but didn't actually mean anything in context.
That's quite interesting! Does that not detract from how well his work reads, though? I suppose not by much given how popular he is.
I'd liken it to trying to read a book written in calligraphy. Here's an example of what to expect:
>In youth he had felt the hidden beauty and ecstasy of things, and had been a poet; but poverty and sorrow and exile had turned his gaze in darker directions, and he had thrilled at the imputations of evil in the world around. Daily life had for him come to be a phantasmagoria of macabre shadow-studies; now glittering and leering with concealed rottenness as in Beardsley's best manner, now hinting terrors behind the commonest shapes and objects as in the subtler and less obvious work of Gustave Dore. He would often regard it as merciful that most persons of high Intelligence jeer at the inmost mysteries; for, he argued, if superior minds were ever placed in fullest contact with the secrets preserved by ancient and lowly cults, the resultant abnormalities would soon not only wreck the world, but threaten the very integrity of the universe. All this reflection was no doubt morbid, but keen logic and a deep sense of humour ably offset it. Malone was satisfied to let his notions remain as half-spied and forbidden visions to be lightly played with; and hysteria came only when duty flung him into a hell of revelation too sudden and insidious to escape.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
With few exceptions, genre fiction doesn't count as Serious Literature.
You mean because it’s not boring? It’s like serious literature has to eschew anything that would make it a good story, in case it got in the way of being good writing.
On the other hand, one could argue that if your works require elaborate setpieces and a fantastical setting then you're drawing attention away from an inability to write captivating stories. A plot summary of a Jonathan Franzen novel for example sounds incredibly boring but his writing is nearly impossible to tear yourself away from and will have your mind going for days or even weeks after you finish. It's perfectly fine to enjoy sci-fi/fantasy etc but there's no need to develop a victim complex about its position in the literary world.
"Tom Clancy" books are still coming out, even though he died years ago.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It's all a matter of personal opinion I'm all for "enjoy what you want" but to say that there is no objective difference in the writing of, say, Don DeLillo and Dan Brown, is ridiculous.
I didn't say there was no difference, just that whether you think one is better than another is not "objective" but a matter of personal preference. Clearly Dan Brown and Don DeLillo are different. They write different sorts of books that appeal to different sorts of readers. But I struggle to see how those differences make one "objectively" better than the other. If there are objective criteria by which one could ju…
It is all opinion, but there’s a difference between the opinion of Alan Kay and of someone who has two days of Python and a copy of Angry Birds.
There's William Butterworth, who has about 11 pseudonyms and over 100 published novels. I've read too many of them. You start seeing the same stock scenes coming around again. He writes good potboilers. "Tom Clancy" books are still coming out, even though he died years ago.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I didn't say there was no difference, just that whether you think one is better than another is not "objective" but a matter of personal preference. Clearly Dan Brown and Don DeLillo are different. They write different sorts of books that appeal to different sorts of readers. But I struggle to see how those differences make one "objectively" better than the other. If there are objective criteria by which one could ju…
There are fairly standard criteria for literary criticism that include psychological and social insight, use of vocabulary, use of advanced writing techniques, use of form, and many, many more. It is all opinion, but there’s a difference between the opinion of Alan Kay and of someone who has two days of Python and a copy of Angry Birds.