BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

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dass
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BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

Postby dass » Wed Nov 23, 2022 10:59 am

From my Kindle library of 23,000 volumes of fiction, historical, self-help, cookbooks, DIY stuff, gardening, Christian religious, historical, etc.

I've just started (25% done) and what I've read has been very helpful in my aspirations to write better here and elsewhere. WRITING WELL (for the rest of us) by Alex Eckelberry. It's a short volume on the rules of grammar for the current English language. It's written in a simple, easily explainable text to reviews the grammatical rules and ways to avoid errors. I highly recommend it to those who want to write English well from beginners to those who know English well but want a review of the rules. It advises on how to avoid the simple mistakes and to be able writing more smoothly and comprehensibly to get the message across to the reader(s). I like this as a manual to write successfully well as I'd like to start writing for publication again. Mostly fiction under my non de plume ROBERT ADAMS DASS and eventually military history using my other name. What I'd like to stress is that AMAZON has changed the way a wider can get published. Hopefully for the better but what hasn't changed is the low pay. Historically it's been bad. Unless you're a Stephen King or Daniell Steele the thoughts of millions of dollars and a wide readership are ephemeral. When I first decades ago the pay rate was 1-3 cents a word for a short story (3000 words). Recently it's gone up to 6 cents a word so that a short story when bought for publication is only $180 for a 3000 short story (which can take a week or more to write). Even if you're prolific the markets are small. You can find a niche but be prepared for semi-poverty. Take H.P. Lovecraft: a giant now, but he labored under of poverty )(the pay then in early 1900s was 1/4 - 1 cent per word). Stories were normally submitted and rejected and sometimes bought by stingy editors. Lovecraft died nearly forgotten and penniless dying of stomach cancer. His name and literary property made a lot of money after he died. Robert e. Howard (creator of Conan) actually did make money with his great output of swords, sorcery and sex with stories geared to male fantasies and giving the reader a short escape from the Depression.

But then, and even moreso, one had to show a mastery of English to be able to considered by editors for publication. Looking at AMAZON there are many many writers out there. Don't be discouraged but be prepared for the means times.

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Som-Pong
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Postby Som-Pong » Wed Nov 23, 2022 1:05 pm

Bakker is good

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Masato
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Postby Masato » Wed Nov 23, 2022 4:46 pm

Ironic lack of paragraphs :D

What sort of fiction do you like to write?

I have written 5 feature screenplays, but have not yet aggressively tried to find any sort of management or representation.
I like screenplays because I love story, characters, and the craft of plot structure, but have little patience for exquisite grammar or overly-descriptive wording. I find screenwriting gets to the point/cuts the fat. Overly descriptive fanciful writing tends to bore me personally, lol although I do respect literary mastery of course.

Don't read much, when I do it's mostly non-fiction.
Of all the fiction I've read I think Hermann Hesse impressed me the most

dass
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Postby dass » Wed Nov 23, 2022 6:07 pm

There's a section in the book WRITING WELL that does talk and explain on how to use paragraphs in plain English.

For the short stories and eventually longer pieces like novellas and novels I would like to write science fiction and fantasy...and I would eventually like to dabble in screenplays (where there's money if successful).

I have a lot of ideas. Here's one idea that's new I believe. I have a universe where kung fu was developed in the new world (I.e. the United States).

Something caused kung fu not to develop in the old world (I.e. Asia). Maybe the Chinese really developed gunpowder so they didn't need wishy. Maybe the Shaolin Temple was forced to go to America.

So you'd still have 70s kung fu movies in that alternate universe but instead have george Washington using the martial Arts against the British. Think of it: American culture wouldn't be based on guns, it would be a culture of unarmed martial Arts?

Bearded fighting men wouldn't be a Chinese thing, it would be Abraham Lincoln doing the breaking boards thing? It would be an interesting universe worth a novel or screenplay or two?

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Som-Pong
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Postby Som-Pong » Wed Nov 23, 2022 11:39 pm

Masato wrote:Ironic lack of paragraphs :D

What sort of fiction do you like to write?

I have written 5 feature screenplays, but have not yet aggressively tried to find any sort of management or representation.
I like screenplays because I love story, characters, and the craft of plot structure, but have little patience for exquisite grammar or overly-descriptive wording. I find screenwriting gets to the point/cuts the fat. Overly descriptive fanciful writing tends to bore me personally, lol although I do respect literary mastery of course.

Don't read much, when I do it's mostly non-fiction.
Of all the fiction I've read I think Hermann Hesse impressed me the most


Der Steppenwulf is good

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Masato
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Postby Masato » Thu Nov 24, 2022 2:22 pm

Steppenwolf is great.

Demian still haunts me, was a big part of my own coming of age

Siddhartha I remember being skeptical as being too ambitious a subject to attempt a fiction from, but I also remember being quite impressed.
Forget most of it though maybe I should read it again

dass
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Postby dass » Thu Nov 24, 2022 10:21 pm

This is my current reading list for Kindle: (titles only no authors names)

GROW your Fruits and Vegetables Pots

Doing what it Takes:The online Entrepeneurs Book

Following Through: a Revolutionary New Model for Finishing Whatever you Start

French Foreign Legion Commando

Napoleon's Expedition into Russia

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Masato
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Postby Masato » Thu Nov 24, 2022 10:27 pm

Someone put this guy on a far-right extremist watchlist

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Masato
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Postby Masato » Thu Nov 24, 2022 10:34 pm

Kidding. Good list.

A fan of the 'Following through' concept. If you remember 'Sonnen's War', that's basically why I made it. I had so many ideas and unfinished projects at the time, I decided to set a goal to finish that thing just for the sake of finishing something. It was silly so it took the pressure off, but it was still a good exercise to not quit and get er done.
I've been better for it since, I don't waste time much anymore on crap not worth finishing. Better at picking my battles and seeing them through. It was a great exercise

Both my wife and I are entrepreneurs but I don't know fuck all about growing vegetab;les, french foreign legion, nor Napoleons' expedition into Russia.
Are you French?

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Som-Pong
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Postby Som-Pong » Thu Nov 24, 2022 11:26 pm

The legion is foreign


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