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Why to Not Write a Book

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Re: Why to Not Write a Book

#61

Post by modernerd »

gizajob wrote: post #46
a_bonobo wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've heard this many times before (I think Charles Bukowski used to preach this?), and I have to say I disagree. Famously Douglas Adams had to be forced to write every sentence in the Hitchhiker's Guide. He certainly didn't have a book inside him that had to get out, he had external deadlines and rent to pay. Can you imagine a world without HGTTG?

What happens when you walk up to a publishing agent and tell them you don’t have anything to show them, and they’ll need to force you to write every sentence but assure them it’ll be brilliant? I think you’re also talking about one of Adams’ later books after HHGTG once his publisher was deep in hock for his advance.

> What happens when you walk up to a publishing agent and tell them you don’t have anything to show them…

They told him to hand over whatever he'd got:

"Douglas happily built his reputation for (at this stage, merely) sailing close to the wind when it came to publishing deadlines by telling interviewers that he had been ordered to literally stop writing and hand his manuscript over to a courier no matter where he had got to…"

— The Frood: The Authorised and Very Official History of Douglas Adams and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Jem Roberts"

He was famous for scraping or missing deadlines from the very start, and openly admitted to it:

"All of my life I've been attracted to the idea of being a writer, but like all writers I don't so much like writing as having written. … each time I meant to try to write something, I'd miss the deadline by two weeks."

Re: Why to Not Write a Book

#62

Post by interludead »

hiAndrewQuinn wrote: post #23

>I suspect that if many writers took seriously writing a book as a real project, rather than an aspirational cultural ideal of ‘being an author’ along the lines of ‘being a foreign language speaker’ or ‘being a PhD’, they would realize that it is a serious risk which can backfire. Ha, I feel called out. I'm in the latter camp, I was always terrible at languages as a kid and it was part of the reason I decided to move…

Your language-learning journey with Finnish is cool

Re: Why to Not Write a Book

#63

Post by interludead »

taivare wrote: post #2

I found a families, great grandfather’s memoirs while doing their estate. I realized with the family all gone and there were few in his class with the education to speak of early American life so I published it and illustrated the e-book. https://books2read.com/A-young-Mans-Adventures-In-19th-Centu...

Preserving your great-grandfather's memoirs like that (especially with the context of early American life) must have been a fascinating endeavor.

Re: Why to Not Write a Book

#64

Post by gizajob »

modernerd wrote: post #61
gizajob wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What happens when you walk up to a publishing agent and tell them you don’t have anything to show them, and they’ll need to force you to write every sentence but assure them it’ll be brilliant? I think you’re also talking about one of Adams’ later books after HHGTG once his publisher was deep in hock for his advance.

> What happens when you walk up to a publishing agent and tell them you don’t have anything to show them… They told him to hand over whatever he'd got: "Douglas happily built his reputation for (at this stage, merely) sailing close to the wind when it came to publishing deadlines by telling interviewers that he had been ordered to literally stop writing and hand his manuscript over to a courier no matter where he had…

My point was that you're not Douglas Adams and don't already have a degree of success. What happens when you try it?

Re: Why to Not Write a Book

#65

Post by interludead »

blindluck wrote: post #33

I would write a technical book for the challenge and learning rather than the "I published a book". It would also learn me a ... haskell or whatever. But not for the money and probably not the opportunities as anything there would be a bonus. I am more like that 1hr a day cranker. As you can see I am not natural at it... I would grind out and rewrite, get edits until it looks OK.

I think treating everything as a skill-building exercise rather than a pursuit for external rewards could keep any process enjoyable

Re: Why to Not Write a Book

#66

Post by interludead »

coolThingsFirst wrote: post #34

I always find it very interesting when smart people mistakenly exaggerate how difficult it is to achieve something. Pro bodybuilder is hard to become but it's very likely that with once to once every 10 days in the gym is going to transform the average person into a monster. Funny how we can make assumptions about life which are totally wrong. I did this as well by believing. 1) Making money is hard 2) Your startup n…

>I always find it very interesting when smart people mistakenly exaggerate how difficult it is to achieve something.

Overthinking works like this

Re: Why to Not Write a Book

#67

Post by modernerd »

gizajob wrote: post #64
modernerd wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What happens when you walk up to a publishing agent and tell them you don’t have anything to show them… They told him to hand over whatever he'd got: "Douglas happily built his reputation for (at this stage, merely) sailing close to the wind when it came to publishing deadlines by telling interviewers that he had been ordered to literally stop writing and hand his manuscript over to a courier no matter where he had…

My point was that you're not Douglas Adams and don't already have a degree of success. What happens when you try it?

He wasn't successful when his first book was pulled out of him by Simon Brett (described as HHGTTG's "co-midwife") and others.

Re: Why to Not Write a Book

#68

Post by _fizz_buzz_ »

a_bonobo wrote: post #43
gizajob wrote: post #20

If you’re not completely driven to write a book, and there isn’t a book inside you that you just have to get out, then do not bother writing a book. Agents and publishers have nothing to do with it - you don’t need to ask for permission to write your book, it’s a piece of art. Agents and publishing come afterwards - and nobody is going to be interested really anyway, at least in the early stages. So if that is enough…

I've heard this many times before (I think Charles Bukowski used to preach this?), and I have to say I disagree. Famously Douglas Adams had to be forced to write every sentence in the Hitchhiker's Guide. He certainly didn't have a book inside him that had to get out, he had external deadlines and rent to pay. Can you imagine a world without HGTTG?

You are most likely not Douglas Adams though. He was obviously incredibly gifted and good at what he did. 99.9% of people will not be that talented.

Re: Why to Not Write a Book

#69

Post by plewd »

_fizz_buzz_ wrote: post #68
a_bonobo wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've heard this many times before (I think Charles Bukowski used to preach this?), and I have to say I disagree. Famously Douglas Adams had to be forced to write every sentence in the Hitchhiker's Guide. He certainly didn't have a book inside him that had to get out, he had external deadlines and rent to pay. Can you imagine a world without HGTTG?

You are most likely not Douglas Adams though. He was obviously incredibly gifted and good at what he did. 99.9% of people will not be that talented.

So 0.1% of people who don't have a burning desire for it should still write a book, which seems like a large amount of people to me.

And there's not really a way to know if you're gifted and talented at writing, so just go for it anyways. Your appeal to exception falls flat because there's no reason why there can't be another one.

Re: Why to Not Write a Book

#70

Post by beacon294 »

dr_dshiv wrote: post #57
hengheng wrote: post #52

I've once talked to a semi-successful author. His day job was Mechanical Engineering at the local university. He eventually quit once he had his formula worked out. He writes crime novels. Doesn't even like them, but if you want to sell, you either write smut (big gamble) or crime novels (less crowded). Anything you actually want to write about, you have to shoehorn into the crime novel. You also have to keep your pr…

> Anything you actually want to write about, you have to shoehorn into the crime novel. Isaac Asimov figured that out!

What do you mean? All I read was foundation, some non fiction, and robot short story collections.
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