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San Francisco, 7:02 PM
Fri Nov 20
27 posts in the last 24 hours

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  • posts about #publishing more →

    How Do You Bridge The Gap Between Two Cool Moments In Your Novel?

    Independent Publishers Who Are Reinventing The Future

    How Long Do You Read A Book Before Giving Up On It?

    One Of Your Crucial Characters Isn't Working. What Do You Do?

    Ray Bradbury's Advice To Struggling Writers: Struggle Harder!

    One New York Times Bestseller Per Year Will Barely Keep You Above The Poverty Line

    If You Like These Recent Movies, Here Are Books You'll Love

    What Do You Do When Your Novel Goes Off Course?

    "Kicking And Screaming For Science Fiction" Did No Good, On Publishers Weekly's Best-Of List

    U.S. Braces For Angry Robot Invasion
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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of Rasselas Rasselas
    05:20 PM

    In reply to How Do You Bridge The Gap Between Two Cool Moments In Your Novel?
    Cannell's is good advice: "What's the bad guy up to?"
     Reply
    Rasselas was starred Rasselas was unstarred
    Image of Alessar Alessar
    03:40 PM

    In reply to How Long Do You Read A Book Before Giving Up On It?
    I can't really vote because I'd have to apply a sliding scale. The worse a book is the faster I'll stop reading it.
     Reply
    Alessar was starred Alessar was unstarred
    Image of Chip Overclock Chip Overclock
    02:24 PM

    In reply to How Long Do You Read A Book Before Giving Up On It?
    When Mrs. Overclock (etc.) completed Stephenson's ANATHEM she remarked "It picks up around page 250." That was almost enough for me to decline to read it (which I still haven't). Then she added "I'm voting for it for the Best Novel Hugo this year."

    Interesting woman, my wife.
     Reply
    Chip Overclock was starred Chip Overclock was unstarred
    Image of braak: You are, as usual, completely correct. braak: You are, as usual, completely correct.
    01:10 PM

    In reply to Independent Publishers Who Are Reinventing The Future
    Also Threat Quality Press. We have published ONE WHOLE BOOK!
     Reply
    braak: You are, as usual, completely correct. was starred braak: You are, as usual, completely correct. was unstarred
    Image of Ruthless, If you let me Ruthless, If you let me
    02:13 PM

    @braak: and a HALF! Holland's was sorta out, and then not out right?
     Reply
    Ruthless, If you let me was starred Ruthless, If you let me was unstarred
    Image of braak: You are, as usual, completely correct. braak: You are, as usual, completely correct.
    02:32 PM

    @Ruthless, If you let me: Yes, true, technically! Technically it's a book and a half!
     Reply
    braak: You are, as usual, completely correct. was starred braak: You are, as usual, completely correct. was unstarred
    Image of crashedpc - Haifisch crashedpc - Haifisch
    01:08 PM

    In reply to Independent Publishers Who Are Reinventing The Future
    Eraserhead gets an automatic win because of the Shatner Quake. Dear sweet jeebus.
     Reply
    crashedpc - Haifisch was starred crashedpc - Haifisch was unstarred
    Image of Tomb: R.O.A.C.H. Tomb: R.O.A.C.H.
    01:07 PM

    In reply to Independent Publishers Who Are Reinventing The Future
    I would call this a post that starts with a image that makes you wanna run away. But the hashtag was to long.
     Reply
    Edited by Tomb: R.O.A.C.H. at 11/20/09 1:09 PM Tomb: R.O.A.C.H. was starred Tomb: R.O.A.C.H. was unstarred
    Image of Dr Emilio Lizardo Dr Emilio Lizardo
    12:54 PM

    In reply to How Long Do You Read A Book Before Giving Up On It?
    I don't think I've ever quit a book. I've hoped it was going to imporve, I've thrown it across the room when I was done with it, but I've never quit. Maybe that's why I still watch "Heroes."
     Reply
    Dr Emilio Lizardo was starred Dr Emilio Lizardo was unstarred
    Image of ggodo, the man from R.O.A.C.H. ggodo, the man from R.O.A.C.H.
    11:40 AM

    In reply to How Long Do You Read A Book Before Giving Up On It?
    I have only given up on one book in my life, and that was The Day My Butt Went Psycho. I made it approximately 100 pages in over the course of a night, and threw it across the room when the pain became unbearable.
     Reply
    ggodo, the man from R.O.A.C.H. was starred ggodo, the man from R.O.A.C.H. was unstarred
    Image of queensowntalia queensowntalia
    11:46 AM

    @ggodo, the man from R.O.A.C.H.: I have never heard of it, but I am laughing my arse off at the title. :p
     Reply
    ggodo, the man from R.O.A.C.H. promoted this comment queensowntalia was starred queensowntalia was unstarred
    Image of ggodo, the man from R.O.A.C.H. ggodo, the man from R.O.A.C.H.
    12:05 PM

    @queensowntalia: I lasted until they were fighting The Great Unwashed Butt.
     Reply
    ggodo, the man from R.O.A.C.H. was starred ggodo, the man from R.O.A.C.H. was unstarred
    Image of Charlie Jane Anders Charlie Jane Anders
    12:20 PM

    @ggodo, the man from R.O.A.C.H.: Wow, I would think if your butt went psycho, you'd have bigger things to worry about than writing a book.
     Reply
    Charlie Jane Anders was starred Charlie Jane Anders was unstarred
    Image of Viremia Viremia
    01:44 PM

    @ggodo, the man from R.O.A.C.H.: Based on the title alone, I must now read this book. Just to be able to tell others I'm reading "The Day My Butt Went Psycho".
     Reply
    ggodo, the man from R.O.A.C.H. promoted this comment Viremia was starred Viremia was unstarred
    Image of VisibleHand VisibleHand
    11:26 AM

    In reply to How Long Do You Read A Book Before Giving Up On It?
    Some of my favorite books, I stalled out on the first time through. Gene Wolfe, in particular, seems to want a running start, but he's not alone.

    I suppose my test is: if I put a book down while I'm reading it, and feel no desire to revisit the story after whatever period of absence, then I simply don't. Not like I don't have a million or so other books on my to-read list.
     Reply
    VisibleHand was starred VisibleHand was unstarred
    Image of WindowlickinDaywalker WindowlickinDaywalker
    11:15 AM

    In reply to How Long Do You Read A Book Before Giving Up On It?
    Hey, is that greasy piece of beef in the pic sporting a M41A Pulse Rifle?
     Reply
    Edited by WindowlickinDaywalker at 11/20/09 11:16 AM WindowlickinDaywalker was starred WindowlickinDaywalker was unstarred
    Image of Mary Ratliff Mary Ratliff
    10:48 AM

    In reply to How Long Do You Read A Book Before Giving Up On It?
    I use to give books a lot longer to get going than I do now, but I finally had to stop. There are too many good books and movies in the world that will really move me and I'll enjoy immensely for me to spend time with ones I just don't like that much.

    Not to mention how much time professors think I should be spending reading the books THEY like and watching the movies THEY love that about 60% of the time I don't like at all but have to watch.

    That said, I rarely give up on things entirely. I start flipping, usually I check out the very last pages and if that gives me something I'm curious about I go back and skim/skip around to get the gist of the book and it's plot. I always want to know the plots and how things turn out, I just don't always want to spend my time with it. There's been more than a dozen cases where I realize while skipping around that I do actually like the book, and I go back to the first point where I stopped and read it through properly.
     Reply
    Mary Ratliff was starred Mary Ratliff was unstarred
    Image of Annalee Newitz Annalee Newitz
    10:54 AM

    @Mary Ratliff: What you said about professors made me laugh. As a former professor, I assigned a lot of books and movies to my students which I didn't particularly like, but considered important or interesting examples of a genre/historical period/social issue. You'd be surprised how many of your profs are like, "Ugh, I have to teach this shitty book again."
     Reply
    Annalee Newitz was starred Annalee Newitz was unstarred
    Image of LittleDragon LittleDragon
    11:54 AM

    @Annalee Newitz: I actually had a teacher who said "I hate this book. But it is required and has some information in. Some where." And then I had a teacher assign his own book and the book store would not buy it back. Students hated that book so much, there were yearly book burning parties for that book.
     Reply
    LittleDragon was starred LittleDragon was unstarred
    Image of Mary Ratliff Mary Ratliff
    04:03 PM

    @Annalee Newitz: *laugh* I'll have to keep that in mind. I do have one professor who was going to make us watch Birth of a Nation and relented at the last minute because it's just too long, too racist, and we can talk about why it's important in fifteen minutes instead of the three hour runtime.

    My sister teaches high school, and sometimes she'll call me to complain about the films she shows her kids because she can't find anything better to illustrate the thing she has to teach them.
     Reply
    Mary Ratliff was starred Mary Ratliff was unstarred
    Image of J_Frank_Parnell J_Frank_Parnell
    10:28 AM

    In reply to How Long Do You Read A Book Before Giving Up On It?
    It's usually not until I hit the 100 page-or-so mark that I toss a sucky book. But in truth, the few books I thought were sucky enough to toss were best sellers so I kept hoping at some point that I'd be pulled in.

    The book that pissed me off more than anything else? Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West I picked this up while waiting to take the Auto Train down to FL, after I'd heard how great it was. While sitting at the station reading it a woman came up and told me how much she loved it, too. I was so bored to tears after 120 pages that I just sighed, walked over to a garbage bin and tossed the book. Utter waste of a couple of hours.
     Reply
    J_Frank_Parnell was starred J_Frank_Parnell was unstarred
    Image of Mary Ratliff Mary Ratliff
    10:49 AM

    @J_Frank_Parnell: That's one of the books where I started skipping around, and I can't say I ever felt guilty about it. I don't see the draw in the slightest.
     Reply
    Mary Ratliff was starred Mary Ratliff was unstarred
    Image of LittleDragon LittleDragon
    09:44 AM

    In reply to How Long Do You Read A Book Before Giving Up On It?
    I am a bit of a bibliophile. I will finish a book no matter how painful it is. The trick to reading bad books is read two books at once. Read five pages from a good book, then five from the bad book.
     Reply
    LittleDragon was starred LittleDragon was unstarred
    Image of geesejuggler geesejuggler
    09:37 AM

    In reply to How Long Do You Read A Book Before Giving Up On It?
    I usually give the book the first 100 pages like everyone else here but if I don't like here the books is headed, I'll skip ahead to find out what happens to decide if I want to keep reading it. Yes, I realize that doing might ruin the surprise but hey, so does not reading the books period.
     Reply
    geesejuggler was starred geesejuggler was unstarred
    Image of Mary Ratliff Mary Ratliff
    01:04 PM

    @geesejuggler: My personal opinion is that if knowing the ending ruins the journey, then the journey wasn't written well enough.

    Otherwise, why would we ever reread or rewatch things?
     Reply
    Mary Ratliff was starred Mary Ratliff was unstarred
    Image of geesejuggler geesejuggler
    03:48 PM

    @Mary Ratliff: Well spoken. I'm gonna use that.
     Reply
    geesejuggler was starred geesejuggler was unstarred
    Image of Atomictao Atomictao
    09:36 AM

    In reply to How Long Do You Read A Book Before Giving Up On It?
    I read pretty quickly, so very often, it's no skin off my back to read a book to the end if I'm already 1/3 of the way through.

    Many times, spite will motivate me to see a book through to the end. Like, I will hate a book enough that I want to read the whole thing so that I can trash it properly later. I got through the first three Sword of Truth books in this fashion. Through the power of spite.
     Reply
    Edited by Atomictao at 11/20/09 9:37 AM Atomictao was starred Atomictao was unstarred
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