Monthly Archives: May 2017

General

Really…?

Found this article by Rhett Jones over on Gizmodo.com…

Popular YouTuber gets arrested for “Prank” removal of real Stop signs

You read the headline of the article right: It concerns an individual whose name I’d rather not mention who likes to record “Pranks” he performs and posts them on YouTube.

So our Brain Surgeon decides it would be very funny to dress up like a road crew and remove two neighborhood Stop signs, then film cars go through the area without stopping.

For his efforts at hilarity, our Brain Surgeon was arrested and, according to the article, he is now asking his various subscribers for donations for his legal fund.

I dunno.  I feel like one of those old foggies who wave their finger to the young ‘uns and say “What were you thinking?”

What this man did wasn’t a prank.  What he did was a dangerous act which could easily have resulted in vehicular damage or, far worse, injury or death to people.

Incredible.

 

Computers/Electronics

Got an iPhone?

Then check out this article, written by Heather Kelly and presented on CNN.com:

What to expect with the iPhone 8

The subheadline states:

Tim Cook probably wishes people were a little less excited about the next iPhone.

In other words, don’t expect a revolutionary new phone.  It would appear those days are over -for now anyway- and every new iteration of the iPhone looks to have incremental changes, including lighter weight, better processors, better cameras, etc.

Just don’t expect anything revolutionary.

Books/Literature

On Writing: Success, Part Deux

Yesterday I wrote about the ingredients needed to make a novel a blockbuster success.

Of course, the various ingredients are as follows:

1. Who the hell knows?

2. There is no #2

Having said that, there are things one can do to ensure they at least have the chance of succeeding in the writing business.  But be aware, the dreams of being independently wealthy off your writings must be met with the cold hard reality of the number of books you’re going to be competing against.

According to Bowker, there are a little over 1 million books released each year.  Want to get even more depressed?  Steven Piersanti, president of Berrett-Koehler Publishers, offers the following depressing…

10 Awful Truths About Book Publishing

I won’t go over everything Mr. Piersanti writes, but suffice it to say there are two very big truths regarding books today: 1) The market is oversaturated and 2) Because of this your novel will face very long odds getting any –any– recognition.

So what’s a poor book writer to do?

Keep working… at least as long as it is economically feasible.  Look, I’m like most writers out there.  My dream was/is to be successful at what I do and, hopefully, be able to live off my work.  In the years I’ve been doing this I’ve managed to sell books and have had positive reactions to them but, like everyone else, I’m competing with a tremendously large market.  I happen to have enough financial security -and whatever free time I can carve out of the day- to work on my novels.

However, if you’re facing financial difficulties, you absolutely need to take care of that first and foremost.  If it means putting aside your writing dreams, you have to do this.  Find the free time to follow those dreams after you work and after you get money to pay rent and groceries.

In other words, set your priorities straight.  If things change and you’re able to live off your writings, then you can focus on them full time.

Now here comes a bit of very hard news:  If and when you get your novel done and you manage to get it released, either through a “professional” imprint or independently, DO NOT expect the world to beat down your door and proclaim you the next Stephen King.  In fact, you should expect the exact opposite, that the world will by and large ignore your baby.

Don’t be angered by this reaction!

Again, you’ve just released one novel of over a million released in a year.  What you should do is figure out a strategy to advertise the book, do this, and then get to work on your next novel.  Then your next, then your next.

I suspect new readers feel far more comfortable investing in an author with many works -and hopefully some positive reviews of said book(s)- under their belt versus someone who releases a single book.

Again, don’t be discouraged but approach the writing business realistically and soberly.

You may be that one in a million writer who shatters that very high ceiling and your book becomes a sensation.  This is possible and it has happened to others.

But please, don’t count on it.

Writing is hard work and success, like in so many other fields, is not guaranteed.

Books/Literature

On Writing: Success!

One of my favorite quotes regarding the movie making business, and one which I have mentioned before, is by noted screenwriter William Goldman.  Mr. Goldman wrote the screenplay for such classic films as Harper, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All The President’s Men, and Princess Bride, among many others.

In his 1982 book Adventures In The Screen Trade and referring to making a “successful” film, Mr. Goldman famously wrote:

Nobody knows anything.

He elaborated:

Not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for certain what’s going to work.  Every time out it’s a guess and, if you’re lucky, an educated one.

This applies, to my mind, to almost all forms of art.  David Bowie had a spectacular music career.  He first hit it big with the release of the single “Space Oddity” in 1969, which happened to coincide with NASA getting the first man on the Moon.

However, his subsequent albums didn’t do all that much and there was the thought that he was a “one hit wonder”.  He would release a full album that year, Space Oddity, which included the single but other than that one song didn’t do all that much.  The next year and in 1970 he would release what I consider his first great album, The Man Who Sold the World, and that album went absolutely nowhere.  His next album, Hunky Dory, was released in 1971 and to many this is the first “real” David Bowie album.  The album featured the successful song “Changes” but it too wasn’t as huge of a success as what came next: 1972’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders of Mars.

It was that album which made David Bowie a superstar and, over the years, people realized both The Man Who Sold the World and Hunky Dory were indeed pretty damn good albums as well.

However… what if Mr. Bowie hadn’t released Ziggy Stardust?  What if the record company gave up on him following the so-so success of his first three full albums?

Moving into literature, what makes a successful novel?

Why, for example, have the Harry Potter novels become a literary mega-success while other young adult novels featuring magic -there are plenty to choose from!- haven’t?

Why did Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn’s incredibly successful third novel, hit a nerve in readers and sell like crazy and result in a successful movie adaptation while her previous book, Dark Places, didn’t do quite as well?  Sure, the success of Gone Girl resulted in an uptick sales for Dark Places and a movie was eventually made of it starring Charlize Theron and yet… when one thinks of Gillian Flynn, one doesn’t think of Dark Places, one thinks of Gone Girl.

Looking more broadly, why did Fifty Shades of Gray succeed so wildly while so many other works of erotica have not?  Why are the works of H. P. Lovecraft today looked upon as horror classics yet during his lifetime Mr. Lovecraft barely made enough money on them to survive?  Why did Stieg Larsson’s Girl With The Dragon Tattoo become such a huge worldwide hit?  Was the novel really that great or was the tragedy behind the novel’s creation -the fact that the author died before it was released- what made people curious to buy it and its two sequels?

The answer is… unknown.

Nobody knows anything.

You can write a truly great novel and find people really, really love it.  You can write something people hate.  You can get plenty of positive reviews and ratings or be slammed with negative ratings.  Worse than that, your book might engender indifferent reactions.

Your novel does well.  Or decently.  Or poorly.

You may wonder why, but its pointless to do so.  There is no explanation for a success.  Hopefully, it is because your book was well written but it could be because it featured an intriguing topic presented at the right time.

There are plenty of famous authors out there who have sold a ton of books and who many view as poor writers.  I could mention a few right here and right now but what’s the point?  They succeeded and, you know what?  Good for them.  Anything that gets people looking around for books has to be a good thing for every other author, does it not?

Yet you still wonder: Why did these works succeed?  Why did others that you feel deserved better did not?

Nobody knows anything.

Least of all me.

The bottom line is this: As a writer, write what you like.  Write about things you as a reader would like to read.  Hope for the best but, if the work doesn’t succeed, don’t feel all is lost.  Perhaps your second book… or your third… or your tenth… will finally get you the audiences you long for.

Even if it doesn’t, be proud of what you leave behind.  Do the best you can with the tools you have and don’t worry about the success.

Leave behind a legacy.  Leave behind something you’ll be proud of.

In the end, there is no magic formula for success.  If there were, the world would be an awfully boring place.