--------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 159 WRITING Ref: F2K00036 Date: 02/12/98 From: CARL THAMES Time: 08:58am \/To: CRAIG LOEWEN (Read 2 times) Subj: conundrum CL>CT> I just put on a tweed jacket and some blue jeans, and if anyone asks I CL>CT> give them an exceptionally tired look, and they let me go. CL> You must be younger than me. I have to go with full suit and tie r CL>get stared at. I'm 42, but I don't look a day over fifty-five.... CL> Anyway, I just dicovered my cover got blown. I once played Good CL>Samaritan and just found out that the guy I helped works the desk at the CL>college library and sees me walk in every once in a while. He hasn't urned CL>in for using the college library for research so I guess there are some good CL>deeds that go unpunished. Heheheh. The time just isn't right yet. Wait until you have that ONE project that absolutely DEMANDS research, then the axe will drop.... CL>CT> Same here. I get Internet access for free via the local public CL>CT> library. It's text though, so I finally broke down and signed up with a CL>CT> commercial I-net provider so I could use a browser. I'm still annoyed CL>CT> with the pictures. CL> I'm jealous. I've got a lousy computer with a lousy cash flow. I'm CL>grateful for occasional forays into the local college for 'net access and Fi CL>echoes or I'd have no exposure to cyberspace at all. Hey, I've got a lousy computer, (386/40) getting lousier every day, and an equally lousy cash flow. (Cash flow? Right, it comes in and flows right on out again....) The local library is one of the best I've seen ever, which includes some pretty big library systems. They've got a lot of programs for the public, and a pretty good selection. They're thin in certain areas, but that's more a reflection of the location than the desire on the library's part, I think. * SLMR 2.1a * I use scientific method -- I have no conclusions. --- PCBoard (R) v15.21/M 2 * Origin: Wheels BBS - Beast and a half! (1:289/86) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 159 WRITING Ref: F2K00037 Date: 02/12/98 From: CARL THAMES Time: 08:58am \/To: CRAIG LOEWEN (Read 2 times) Subj: Tired Themes CL> In writing there are many different themes that can be retold dozens CL>of ways, dozens of times, but I'm curious what opinions are on what genres a CL>declining in sales, what genres are increasing in sales, and, as writers are CL>also readers, what themes have been done to death in the past, oh, five year CL>or so, so that if you saw one more book with this theme on sale in your CL>bookstore you would come close to screaming (or worse). It seems that all genre's go through cycles. They go up, are real popular for a while, then the public gets jaded with them. Horror has just gone through that. Stephen King, Anne Rice, et. al. were very popular in the late 80's, early 90's, but are rarely seen now. Oddly enough, there are still Horror films being made, but most of them are the "rediscovered alien monstor" types. Generally, when a genre is starting to fade, the first thing you'll start seeing is parodys, or send ups of the genre. "BUFFY, THE VAMPIRE SLAYER" was such a send up. When the genre starts making fun of itself, it's time to start looking around. As Horror declined, Dark Mystery came up. Those are books such as Highlander and The Dark Knight kind of things. They're essentially mystery stories, with some horror elements. I don't know where it's going to go next. Space Opera did well for a while, then faded, and seems to be coming back a bit, although tenuously. As for SF, people are getting tired of not being able to get new ST:V episodes, and the ST:DS9 is just getting silly. They had a great thing going with the war, but they've abandoned it. As for Fantasy, I think there are some die-hards out there, but they aren't getting too many new fans. I don't know where that genre is going either. Love stories will always be with us, as long as there are humans around to dream. Even they can get silly, though. Action/adventure usually does well, and seems to be one of the more resilient genre's. Within that, the various sub-genre's come and go. Espionage thrillers do okay, but they're a specialty, and it takes someone with a lot of patience and foresight to pull one off, I think. I think about Clancy and the Jack Ryan series and wonder just how much of that grew out of what had come before and how much was born whole cloth when he wrote the first one. The same applies to Clive Cussler and the Dirk Pitt novels, although less so. The Clancy novels have held up, mainly through the storytelling ability of Clancy, whereas the Cussler novels have reached the silly stage. CL> I have my own opinions, but wanted some input to see how close I was CL>to Conventional Wisdom. Well, there's my opinion. It should be worth at least what you paid for it. * SLMR 2.1a * Birth: The first and direst of all disasters. --- PCBoard (R) v15.21/M 2 * Origin: Wheels BBS - Beast and a half! (1:289/86) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 159 WRITING Ref: F2K00038 Date: 02/12/98 From: CARL THAMES Time: 08:58am \/To: JACK RUTTAN (Read 2 times) Subj: Re: conundrum JR> >kept them covered. Even then, a lot of places will keep it in plastic. JR> >I guess it's to keep the young delinquents from getting more ideas than JR> >they already have.... JR>It's a little odd. I thought it was to keep the magazine from spoiling. Both. The store owners don't want people pawing through them until the money is in the register, and they particularly don't want to have Mrs. Bluehair and her buddies picketting the store because they saw that disgusting little Johnny Badboy flipping through one when they stopped in to buy a snow cone. JR>CT>I don't have any either, believe it or not. I've been writing for a JR> >tattoo mag for several years, and have none. I just haven't found JR> >anything that I wanted to have on my body for the rest of my life. JR>The image you get from those pseudonyms is quite different from the JR>reality. I would wonder when those evil-sounding characters found time JR>to write (maybe while in the Pen...). Heheheheh. I've met a couple of other people who write for those mags, and they really cover the range. Some look like they'd rather rip out your lungs than talk to you, and others look like they couldn't whip cream. Ya just never know. I wonder if there's a general trend wherein the more tame looking writers take the more aggressive sounding pen names and vice versa? Interesting.... * SLMR 2.1a * He died of lead poisoning -- high velocity lead poisoning --- PCBoard (R) v15.21/M 2 * Origin: Wheels BBS - Beast and a half! (1:289/86) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 159 WRITING Ref: F2K00039 Date: 02/13/98 From: BARBARA SHAFFERMAN Time: 12:54pm \/To: JACK RUTTAN (Read 2 times) Subj: GREETINGS JR> It's a risky business. I've been hauled up against a wall at a party JR> by Sounds dangerous. Ironic that an area of communication which should lighten the spirit with humor, satire, etc. should instead outrage so many people. JR> (I do enjoy lighting fires under silly people. Why else publish?) Oh, I can think of a hundred other reasons, but I suppose that's as good as any. Barbara --- * RM 1.3 03095 * barshaff@juno.com * Origin: PC BBS : Massapequa, NY : (516)795-5874 (1:2619/110) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 159 WRITING Ref: F2K00040 Date: 02/14/98 From: PETER TOKAR Time: 12:21am \/To: LAURIE CAMPBELL (Read 2 times) Subj: hi Laurie On (04 Feb 98) Laurie Campbell wrote to Peter Tokar... LC> *** Quoting Peter Tokar from a message to Vern Faulkner *** > good understanding of the id, the ego, > and the known states of consciousness? > How about someone giving a little informed > historical treatise on who were the psychology > or sociology doctorates who made these ideas > sing among the harmonies of modern psycho-social > hyperbole... I am interested in such stories > as any that might be circulating about the workings of the > mind -- with special emphasis on names, places, and dates. > History of Mind and Science of SuperMind. >> A good starting place would be to go to your public library >> and take out books on Sigmund Freud, not only his biography, >> but also books about his work. That will give you the >> starting point and also the names of the people who >> agreed with him and who opposed him. Each lead you >> follow from there will lead to other names, dates, and >> places. >> * ORIGIN:<------deleted---->Vancouver, B.C. Canada (1:153/757) Hello Laurie, Sorry for the delay in my response to your message. I got your message on Feb. 4th. I suppose that the history<->herstory of Mind and scientific progresses over the past 4000 years, and the science of SuperMind are what I am seriously going to research... Thank you. Regarding Douglas College, I think that you wrote in the other message that the College was within walking distance for you. Is it on Vancouver Island, in Victoria, B.C....? Do you live or work in Victoria, B.C....? Do you get much rain now? I am seriously going to study anything that I can persue through self-study. This part of my problem is key, since I have found tuition costs, since my college graduation in 1984, have "shot through the roof!" I thought costs in 1984 were somewhat high. However, I still have many of my technical textbooks from 1979 through 1984. I have been tossing around the possibility of teaching technical math or technical report writing. . I also have musical interests. Peter Tokar -==- Zephyr Online Fidonet (1:247/110) ...Just rattle my cage when you pass by. --- PPoint 1.88 * Origin: Zephyr Online - Fidonet (1:247/110) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 159 WRITING Ref: F2K00041 Date: 02/14/98 From: RICH VERAA Time: 09:24pm \/To: MICHAEL NELLIS (Read 2 times) Subj: Bastables? In a message to All, Michael Nellis wrote: MN> Who were the Bastables and why were they looking for a treasure in MN> Lewisham Road? Only Bastable I know of is the one Dr. Kevorkian done in. Cheers, Rich http://www.netside.net/~rveraa/ * Origin: Birdsoft - North Miami (1:135/907) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 159 WRITING Ref: F2K00042 Date: 02/14/98 From: JACK RUTTAN Time: 04:59pm \/To: CURTIS JOHNSON (Read 2 times) Subj: A.C. Clarke CJ> Oops--forgot a fourth: Samuel Delaney. Alfred Bester was pretty out of the closet late in his career, and wrote a book (not one of his best) with a gay character, _Extro_. CJ> You're definitely about the bookishness, judging from > the numbers of specialty small presses serving them listed in > _Writer's Market_. Most of them seem to want sf--so sf novels > with homosexual characters would probably be best be marketed > there, where there would be more of an active demand. But that sort of ghettoizing leads to its own dead end, and the niche market books (not that I've had much experience with them -- not my bag, but we do sell them at the store!) have their own habits and rules that turn off uninitiated readers just as firmly as a Boris Vallejo cover repulses non-fantasy-fans. I'd be happier to see books where a hero is gay, or from minority of some sort, and it is not the central point of the story. Still, what that leads to are active, but isolated, > JR> subcultures. CJ> JR> (any grammatical advice on that last sentence???) CJ> I'm having a hard time diagramming "what that leads to" > . . . Boy, you handed me a tough one. I went through _Dictionary > of Contemporary Usage_ and _Fowler's_, and couldn't find it > covered. My ear says _is_, but I'm not 100% sure. ". . .what it > . . ." can be substituted for ". . .what that. . ." and would > require _is_, but I'm not sure but what that's a red herring. It's a sentence fragment, without a proper subject for the "that" to refer to. I think it's okay in a casual way, or as part of a style, but an editor would probably ask for a rewrite. CJ> Yeah. At least for me as a writer, it's easier for me > knowing that at least for now I probably would be able to do > such a character only in an external way, and if the character > were minor. For some reason, I'm always taking on these challenges, usually failing miserably. My native Canadians were stereotypically stoic, or criminal, or angelic. I wrote a story with some black characters, who sounded right to my ear, but didn't expand the cliche either. Now in my latest work, I have a duel amongst university feminists, a bisexual "wannabe" writer, and a quiet drudge most similar of the bunch to myself. The character who didn't fit in was a poet dying of AIDS (he needs a story, maybe a novel, to himself). I've had second-hand experience with all of these types (perhaps I mean first-hand: I've known them all, and they've all told me stories), and can't stop working on them. Just like drawing trees until you can get away from the tree-symbol and into the different types, this seems important to work on for a writer. Jack R. --- Maximus/2 3.01 * Origin: Juxtaposition BBS. Lasalle, Quebec, Canada (1:167/133) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 159 WRITING Ref: F2K00043 Date: 02/15/98 From: CURTIS JOHNSON Time: 11:24am \/To: CHRIS KLING (Read 2 times) Subj: Rights or wrongs? CJ> You'd be surprised at how much interesting history is CJ> left out of high school textbooks. This is an example. CK> CK> Well, probably would. But then again, why don't they print the whole CK> story? Especially if it makes the character (or historical figure) CK> more believeable; more real? This is *high school* history. Not only does a textbook publisher have to bland it down so that no one can object, but they're still trying to give heroes for role models and instill patriotism. (There is also the issue of space.) CJ> It's interesting that your memory/knowledge about CJ> Presidential extramarital affairs covered only Democrats. On the CK> CK> Certainly NOT intentional. I suppose we should have thrown Reagan's CK> divorce in there, too. I've always found it amusing that the religious right would have as a hero the first divorced president. I also forgot to toss in Thomas Jefferson (and his romance with his slave, Sally Hemming) and randy ol' Ben Franklin--the only president of the United States who was never President of the United States. --- Blue Wave/DOS v2.30 [NR] * Origin: Nerve Center - Where the spine is misaligned! (1:261/1000) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 159 WRITING Ref: F2K00044 Date: 02/15/98 From: CURTIS JOHNSON Time: 11:47am \/To: RICH VERAA (Read 2 times) Subj: Rights or wrongs? -=> Quoting Rich Veraa to Chris Kling <=- CK> Baptists believe "Thou shalt not commit adultery" among other CK> things. RV> That's an unfounded generalization. Nobody knows what all Baptists RV> believe -- we know only the published dogma of their sect. And how any RV> individual defines "adultry" and the extent to which they choose to RV> indulge in it is a personal matter for that individual to come to an RV> understanding about with a potential spouse. It's nobody else's RV> business. There's _dozens_ of Baptist sects. Some hold that re-marriage after a divorce is adultry. OTOH, when the Anabaptists took over Munster, Germany, they set up a theocracy in which women were held in common. --- Blue Wave/DOS v2.30 [NR] * Origin: Nerve Center - Where the spine is misaligned! (1:261/1000) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 159 WRITING Ref: F2K00045 Date: 02/15/98 From: CURTIS JOHNSON Time: 11:50am \/To: JACK RUTTAN (Read 2 times) Subj: Books -=> Quoting Jack Ruttan to Curtis Johnson <=- > At that time, though, I understand that he was living in a > one-room apartment in New York City. Moving to the desert > would be quite a change. JR> Something like that. It was years ago, one of those kind of nights, JR> and I wasn't much the wiser, and wasn't taking notes. Probably my JR> memory was adding a few colourful touches. It's *not* implausible, though--rent is very cheap in the desert, compared to NYC. FWIW, he died in 1993. --- Blue Wave/DOS v2.30 [NR] * Origin: Nerve Center - Where the spine is misaligned! (1:261/1000)