World, Writing, Wealth discussion
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Do miners write books?
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That's a hard one I had to get two Masters degree, one in English literature and the other in applied linguistics before I could put down my first word on paper. LOL
I grew up on a farm and graduated from shoveling cow manure to cleaning toilets in a hospital. I've worked long shifts in printing plants stacking product onto pallets.
I've worked in warehouses stacking, unstacking, stacking, unstacking... etc (you get the idea...)
I've swept and mopped floors.
I've done event security and I have an amazing ability to talk people out of fighting.
I worked in multiple factories, and I had one memorable job where I spent 8 hours a day folding cardboard templates to make trays for cans of fruit.
I've been a greaser whose job was to grease nipples (now re-think that - it was a factory, and the nipples belonged to the equipment).
I've done years working night shift in hospitals as an orderly (basically a gofer for the medical and nursing staff)
I've worked as a personal carer in aged care, and with the physically and mentally disabled for years.
I've cut code for telecommunications applications, specifically the ones that you punch numbers into where there is a recorded voice...(I built the back end logic that connected those button pushes to something useful).
I've written a lot of hard core C++ code on Unix, including some tricky things like getting a third party application to recognise a virtual IP address when the application was not designed to do that - but you know what, there are ways to make any application run the code that you want it to run...
I herded multiple teams of software engineers, fixed IT environments and Engineering processes, and I've run multi-million dollar IT projects.
It took me 4 years of my life to complete the last two years of high school. Yes I repeated year 11 twice and failed year 11 maths twice (which is kinda easy to do actually), and year 12 twice. 4 years of my life and 10 years on the calendar.
I taught myself year 10 and year 11 mathematics from text books before my final push at year 12 and completing high school in a way that made a difference.
I'm not a happy student - but I am determined.
That's my background.
I'm not a blue collar writer, and I'm not a white collar writer.
I'm a no collar writer.
Graeme wrote: "I grew up on a farm and graduated from shoveling cow manure to cleaning toilets in a hospital. I've worked long shifts in printing plants stacking product onto pallets.
I've worked in warehouses..."
YOu almost sound like DH Lawrence.
Graeme, you look younger than 120 on the photo, allowing for so many 'careers' you've had? -:)Seriously though - impressive career path, admire your determination!
BTW, is it possible to write a novel in C++?
Along the lines ofmain{
Weapon = 1;
Opponents::AGiantSatOnTheWelcomeMat();
Emotions::Fear++;
if Circumstances::IsWeaponAvailable(Weapon) than Action::Fight() else Action::Run();
}
Yeah kinda....
A good writer, one who could write books that would appeal to readers, doesn't really need to be great in grammar and litterature, but he needs one thing above all else: to have something to write about. For fiction writers, that means to have lots of imagination, along with a minimum of knowledge or experience about what you are writing about, so that you don't sound like an ignoramus or a complete neophite about the subject (imagine a virgin nun trying to write an erotica book!). For non-fiction writers, then life experience and specialized knowledge would be especially important (like a soldier or politician writing about war or politics). Plenty of people are highly qualified in linguistics, grammar and the likes, but not everybody has something interesting to say.
What is needed is writers who have real *stories* to tell.
Well, some of my books are definitely not for minors.
Nik wrote: "Graeme, you look younger than 120 on the photo, allowing for so many 'careers' you've had? -:)Seriously though - impressive career path, admire your determination!
BTW, is it possible to write a ..."
If you did, it would have to compile. And thorough testing would help weed out any core walkers.
Don't understand anything in programming, but wonder whether a computer language can substitute the need for translation into 100+ human languages and whether machine readable can transform into human readable and back -:)
Let's first get the big obvious idea out of the way. People like Donald Trump, Kim Kardashian, Paris Hilton, Justin Bieber and any other celebrity degenerate who has a published book out..didn't write it. They had a ghost writer and publicist and sat down and told people what to write, if they even did that. Now people like miners as the title suggests, along with nuns, soccer moms, scientists and whatever white collar job you want to throw in there, the people of these jobs and careers and simple lives can write a book if they so choose. In fact I give them way more credit than I do with a celeb whose a #1 best-seller, like no the only reason your book is #1 is because of who you are not because it's any good or that you claim to have wrote it.
Hi Nik,I am not a "miner", but I think what your asking is do lower class workers write books.
I would fall into this category. I have been a construction worker for 30 years
.
Forced to leave school and go to work at the age of 16, I did not finish high school, nor attend any school since leaving at the age of 16, I am now 46. So I would be the kind of person you are referring to.
I did sit down and write a 72k word novel. Why? Because the story rolled around in my head for 3 years and would not leave me alone.
The real question is "should people like me write books?"
Any person can have a great story, but not any person can write a great story. So take a person like me, great story, no writing skill, no money for ghost writer, but the story needs to be told... what do you do?
You write the story the best you can, try to get the best editing you can afford, and you hope people love the story.
On a personal note: I know my story could be written better, and I learned a great deal while writing it, and learned even more after editing. The whole experience made me a better person, in my opinion.
Anyone who has a story to tell, should tell it.
People will like it, or not like it, but the person will grow through the telling.
It was one of the most satisfying experiences of my life. And I have more stories to tell.
R.A. wrote: "Hi Nik,I am not a "miner", but I think what your asking is do lower class workers write books.
I would fall into this category. I have been a construction worker for 30 years
.
Forced to leave ..."
that's great! writing a story is more a matter of persistence and a willingness to learn rather than talent. many times background and circumstances prevent or stunt growth in the writing area, but if the opportunity presents itself, then, for most people, writing a quality story is more than possible. (however, i'd be irresponsible not to caution that it is a competitive market and marketing is required for any kind of substantial monetary return.)
R.A. wrote: "Hi Nik,I am not a "miner", but I think what your asking is do lower class workers write books.
I would fall into this category. I have been a construction worker for 30 years
.
Forced to leave ..."
Like your story, R.A.! .. and feel it's somewhat similar to my own. I also felt I had a story, but not sure I'm the best dude to tell it -:)
FWIW, I'd read a miner book. The history and experience they've seen alone would make for some good quality literature. Sorry for taking this topic title literally lol.
Justin wrote: "FWIW, I'd read a miner book. The history and experience they've seen alone would make for some good quality literature. Sorry for taking this topic title literally lol."Put it here: ___, Justin - a good book deserves a reco -:)
I believe anyone who wanted to write a book has the ability to do so in this day and age. However, and somewhat ironically, I also believe modern society dismisses things like grammar and literary devices too flippantly. I'm not suggesting everyone who writes a book should first become a grammar expert, but any writer should have, at the very least, a respectful relationship with grammar and a willingness to Google whether or not that comma at the beginning of chapter three is necessary.
Anyone can have an interesting story to tell. Some people have more of a gift of the telling of it.I have only recent experience reading bits of self-published work. It's difficult (for me) to concentrate on what's being told when stumbling over the use of "lay" instead of "lie" (and similar mixups), inconsistencies in singular versus plural, inconsistent tense, incorrect vocabulary, and so on. I'm on board with Daniel J. in that it takes only a couple of minutes to google the correct grammar or word usage; some authors evidently either don't want to take the time to polish their writing, or aren't aware their writing needs it. My impression is that many people aren't aware of these issues in their writing.
None of us is technically perfect, and some of us intentionally end a sentence in a preposition in order to maintain a conversational tone.
Is there something set up for authors to have their work read, with constructive criticism sent privately to them? I mean without paying several thousand dollars. That's what I'd like to see - something like I've seen done in local writers groups, only without someone feeling that everyone's work needs to follow their own style. (It was like a dog having to mark its territory, but I digress.) I thought that would be beneficial. Basically, if you don't like it, tell me what needs to be improved; if you do like it, please leave a positive review (on whatever site).
Sometimes indie authors work with indie editors and the result is still indie ... err.. or a little unprofessional -:)
If I were to write a novel, I think I'd have to outline it to death. And that would probably be the death of the novel. Some writers can juggle so many characters, plots, and subplots and keep things cohesive. There's setting, foreshadowing, character development, backstories, theme, motivation, and more to keep in mind. It's too much for me. I'd have to tell a story chronologically from beginning to end, and that's not so interesting for the reader.
Well, if your story goes like 'from being the last day of a complete disaster to being the first day of a new life', then it could work.
You're saying the time span would be 48 hours? I might be able to handle that.
Actually, Scout, a lot of books go in chronological order. "The Old Man and the Sea" is rather famous and has one old man in a boat for a few hours, so simple is not a disaster. My view is you should approach writing within your comfort level. The more you force what you write, the less convincing it is. And don't worry about it not being "perfect". Neither is anyone else's.
That's encouraging. Maybe I'll give it a try. I think I'd have to have a message or a point I wanted to make. Is that something that's important to the writers here, or is the writing mainly for entertainment?
Scout, I try to put in messages at a subtle level, but I am far from convinced that many readers see them. Whatever you do, I believe it is important not to get preachy.
I'd agree with that. I was thinking more of a motivation for writing. What motivates you?
Good question. Right now I am not all that motivated, and seem to be taking a bit of a spell, thanks to less than scintillating sales. In the past it was because I had this idea and felt that I should write it. Now I seem to feel that most people don't want to read it, so why bother? I may come out of this, or I may not. Who knows?
Do writers always write with an audience in mind?
I think they should, but of course the desired audience may not be interested.
When you write, do you have a particular demographic in mind?
Yes. I don't think you can please everyone, and you shouldn't try. My problem is that it is hard to get my work in front of that audience because they don't dredge through a lot of what they are not interested in just in case.
On the face of it - sure, if you know how to write, you can write a book. No need to be a language major and literature minor. Being a good storyteller might suffice.
But in practice, we don't see that many 'blue color' writers, do we?
To foster an ambition and to attempt to write something 'big', one needs to feel comfy with words, writing, phrasing, whatever. Being a big reader is probably also a plus.
So is writing 'open' to everyone or you still need some basics?