tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529575095156315075.post8838386370986705242..comments2024-02-09T12:12:37.636-08:00Comments on best minimum wage job a middle aged guy ever had: Duncan McGearyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02857388833850939721noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529575095156315075.post-31723170966731468422017-01-13T14:11:42.925-08:002017-01-13T14:11:42.925-08:00It's so much easier to write a novel, to submi...It's so much easier to write a novel, to submit a novel, to self-publish a novel, that it's gone from "luck" to "astounding luck." Really, the whole thing is out of control.<br /><br />Back when I used to have cut down my own trees to make paper and kill snails to make ink, those were the days.<br /><br />To write a novel in the 70's, you had to create a clean copy from a typewriter, copy it at a printer, put it in a box and send it postal to a publisher. I figure that washed out about 90% of the potential novelists--good or bad.Duncan McGearyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02857388833850939721noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529575095156315075.post-82530596579444069582017-01-13T11:47:14.232-08:002017-01-13T11:47:14.232-08:00A good story. Yeah, you're no doubt right in t...A good story. Yeah, you're no doubt right in that. Get that first, and then maybe be conscious of the other stuff during the process. I suppose I was thinking about novels that become links in our expanding culture. <br /><br />And that luck reference. Much better odds if you've got a dozen novels published eh? The whole "luck favors the well prepared" theme.Dave Clinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10723925328649290981noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529575095156315075.post-9338521147904390392017-01-12T10:00:58.024-08:002017-01-12T10:00:58.024-08:00Writing what you want to write is more likely to r...Writing what you want to write is more likely to result in a good book. It's not like any of us chose to write a bad book. We're all doing our best.<br /><br />Lots of pretentious novels and novelists out there. If you've got the skill and talent and intelligence and depth to pull it off, then great. If you don't, then you're just wasting everyone's time.<br /><br />Whereas, if your goal is just to tell a good story--hey, it might end up being the very thing you're hoping for. Duncan McGearyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02857388833850939721noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529575095156315075.post-22106482886540096152017-01-12T09:46:34.746-08:002017-01-12T09:46:34.746-08:00Right, but trying to be "visionary, plausible...Right, but trying to be "visionary, plausible, socially involved, and meaningful" is a recipe for writer's block. At least for me.<br /><br />I set out with good intentions, and then the novels end up being Duncan McGeary like, very much of the same level of competence as most of the rest of the Duncan McGeary novels.<br /><br />I'm always trying for the "good" novel, and then hoping for a "competent" novel. <br /><br />I figure "luck" is a good word, and more likely to happen the more I write. Sort of like a baseball player who has a "career year." As much about statistical averages and odds as anything else.<br /><br />To be reductive. Duncan McGearyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02857388833850939721noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529575095156315075.post-21641166691037641132017-01-12T09:26:14.199-08:002017-01-12T09:26:14.199-08:00A flagship novel. Interesting idea. What your name...A flagship novel. Interesting idea. What your name might stand for in 20-50 years; that sort of thing?<br /><br />I would guess that luck plays a big part in that.<br /><br />Would a flagship novel contain such things as social commentary, future predictions (that are probable and come true), an epic nature? Would they be real world vs fantasy or ultra sci-fi? That is, plausible rather than impossible (Hunger Games vs Harry Potter)?<br /><br />I've mentioned before that lately I prefer plausible stories vs the impossible. In my youth I think the opposite was true. I still want to escape, but do so into a world that *could* be rather than into one that could never be. Nor do I favor the alt-history fiction (H.Turtledove) novels (don't care about what never was), show me just might be -- in this universe.<br /><br />I guess for my flagship I would choose it to be visionary, plausible, socially involved, and I suppose meaningful in some way. <br />Dave Clinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10723925328649290981noreply@blogger.com