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Why to Not Write a Book

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131–140 of 215 posts

Re: Why to Not Write a Book

#131

Post by feetsoup »

BiteCode_dev wrote: post #130
mewse wrote: post #55

I can't stop thinking about this throwaway parenthetical at the start of the blog post: > [...] for many writers, writing a book is about the last thing they should do (unless they feel a book bursting out of them, much like a facehugger). Now, as we all know, the aliens that burst out of people in the Aliens franchise are called 'chestbursters'. "Facehuggers", by comparison, are hatched from alien eggs. So in this m…

No he just made a mistake. As usual, readers reading too much into something.

I bet you're fun at parties.

Re: Why to Not Write a Book

#132

Post by andai »

glimshe wrote: post #76

Would most of the arguments apply for videogames? "Why to Not Write a Game"?

I think the analog here would be "only do game jams, never spend 5 years making one game", which is actually something I hear quite often on indie game forums.

Re: Why to Not Write a Book

#133

Post by andai »

Einenlum wrote: post #47

Oh boy. I can relate so much to this article and everything said here. I published a book last year and it has been a long journey. It took me one year and a half to write it. But then when you think it's done, it's just a second challenge coming up. I wanted to write a book that was as straight-to-the-point as possible. The publisher I signed with didn't really understand my approach and wanted me to turn it into a…

Without additional context, my guess is that you could have sold more if you had gotten more exposure. If the quality is good and there is a market for it, then it's only potential readers not knowing about it that prevents them from buying it.

Re: Why to Not Write a Book

#134

Post by michaelanckaert »

water-data-dude wrote: post #129
mewse wrote: post #55

I can't stop thinking about this throwaway parenthetical at the start of the blog post: > [...] for many writers, writing a book is about the last thing they should do (unless they feel a book bursting out of them, much like a facehugger). Now, as we all know, the aliens that burst out of people in the Aliens franchise are called 'chestbursters'. "Facehuggers", by comparison, are hatched from alien eggs. So in this m…

Are you saying everyone would be better off not reading my Starship Troopers fan fiction where they get it on with the Arachnids?

I'm sure there's a market for your creation ;-)

Re: Why to Not Write a Book

#135

Post by dr_dshiv »

beacon294 wrote: post #70
dr_dshiv wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

He used the detective/crime dialogue format to deliver sci-fi.

Re: Why to Not Write a Book

#137

Post by norman784 »

asddubs wrote: post #92
dayjaby wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminds me of about every single Japanese web novel... "I've been killing slimes for 300 years and maxed out my level" "I'm a behemoth, an S-ranked monster, but mistaken for a cat, I live as an elf girl's pet" The list goes on with even longer titles.

It's just clickbait titles, because it works. Wouldn't surprise me if we see more of that on books as well in the future rather than short and vague titles

In manga aren't click bait titles, but because there are so many published, you pick basically a title that explains the premise, otherwise it's harder to get users to read your manga. I suppose that also could work with novels, I'm not a book person, but I suppose you read a review or watched some video that recommended you a book, and if the title is self descriptive, then would easier to go to the book store and buy something that might is your liking.

Re: Why to Not Write a Book

#138

Post by Ekaros »

dayjaby wrote: post #86
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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). Reminds me of Chuck Tingle, who is an author but also a troll, writing books like "Pounded In The Butt By My Handsome Sentient Library Card Who Seems Otherworldly But In Reality Is Just A Natural Part Of The Priceless Resources Our Library System Provides".

Reminds me of about every single Japanese web novel... "I've been killing slimes for 300 years and maxed out my level" "I'm a behemoth, an S-ranked monster, but mistaken for a cat, I live as an elf girl's pet" The list goes on with even longer titles.

Actually Japanese titles are explained by the reality that market is so crowded that no one reads the synopsis(backside) or even blurbs anymore. So putting it all in the title is best way to get enough information out to catch some attention.

Re: Why to Not Write a Book

#139

Post by guitarlimeo »

sph wrote: post #122
DanielBMarkham wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Most drama today sucks" --- "This is called write-to-market" Yes. I doubt you disagree, but I needed to point that out. These two, along with writing-by-formula, are intricately related. There's nothing wrong with writing being a racket. If you want to feel depressed and lack a sense of optimism in humanity, spend some time learning about the publishing industry. Woof. It's nothing but formulaic conservative market-…

> "She's a gay little person goth time-traveling alien, he's an autistic left-handed incel Quaker. They live in Portland, and together they solve crimes." I'm pretty sure a Netflix executive would have signed on this concept based on this sentence alone half a decade ago. Now it seems the entire world is waking up to these formulaic data-driven products that have been pushed by media conglomerates for a decade. This…

> "And now, in the current era of the remake, which still has to reach the film industry"

You haven't heard of the Disney live-action remakes of the old classics? It's already starting to happen.

Re: Why to Not Write a Book

#140

Post by ghaff »

andai wrote: post #127
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…

If I'm reading this right, the proofreading process massively improves the quality of the work? Could you expand on this?

I'm much less familiar with writing fiction but there are continuity errors, abrupt jumps that just lose a reader, errors of logic, organizational problems of various kinds.

But even if you can mostly avoid that kind of thing whether in fiction or non-fiction, you absolutely need a copyeditor who will carefully look for typos, grammatical errors, spelling and capitalization of company names, etc.

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