12-21-2012, 08:42 AM | #1 |
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A good quote from Iain M. Banks
Q: How difficult it was for you to get published in the first place?
A: "Quite difficult. It took me about a million words and five or six novels before finally doing it. There is a theory that says you have to write a million words of rubbish before you get published. Unless you're really clever - my pal Ken MacLeod, he's clever and he got his very first novel published, which is cheating I think." http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20774879 |
12-21-2012, 09:15 PM | #2 |
cacoethes scribendi
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As with so much else in life, we'd all like to think that we are one of the exceptions the rule ... and every now and then one of us turns out to be right - which gives everyone else continued hope. It's a bit like the lottery in that way.
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12-22-2012, 07:06 AM | #3 |
The Dank Side of the Moon
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Practice, practice, practice, it's how you get to Carnegie Hall.
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12-22-2012, 08:36 AM | #4 |
Wizard
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Or you could use a map: http://goo.gl/maps/XwJgE
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12-22-2012, 08:41 AM | #5 |
The Dank Side of the Moon
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As long as it's Google Maps not Apple.
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12-22-2012, 08:45 AM | #6 |
The Dank Side of the Moon
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The 10,000 hour rule (Gladwell):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outliers_%28book%29 and a different opinion: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/2012...hour-rule-myth |
12-22-2012, 08:46 AM | #7 |
Wizard
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12-22-2012, 06:21 PM | #8 |
Groupie
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I wrote five novels while in grad school, and another million words of genre fanfics that I published to a gaming Web site, before I self-published my first novel. All that in addition to my dissertation and a few years working as an editor, which I think really helped me iron out the mechanics of my writing. I go back every now and then to my early novels to see if anything there is salvageable, but each time I come to the same conclusion as Mr. Banks.
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12-23-2012, 03:03 AM | #9 |
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Unfortunately, in these days of self-publishing, all too often the million words of rubbish do get inflicted on the world.
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12-23-2012, 08:30 AM | #10 | |
Wizard
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Quote:
And I am glad they do. I have read several first time authors that could have used an editor/etc - but the story was great. Some of them now have full time careers based on their writing. Would not have happened otherwise. |
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12-23-2012, 11:59 AM | #11 |
Feral Underclass
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Which will be invaluable to future historians. Just think if we had the first million words of rubbish written by Charles Dickens or Katie Price. The stuff they wrote after that would still exist, so it's not as if anything would be lost.
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12-23-2012, 02:12 PM | #12 |
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Cheating is under-rated
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