03-06-2017 | #61 | |||||||||||
Grimscribe
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 941
Quotes: 0
|
Re: (Why) Have we stopped reading fiction ?
I made peace with the fact that I would never be able to make a living as a writer. It would be something I did on the side, assuming I did it at all. | |||||||||||
"In a less scientific age, he would have been a devil-worshipper, a partaker in the abominations of the Black Mass; or would have given himself to the study and practice of sorcery. His was a religious soul that had failed to find good in the scheme of things; and lacking it, was impelled to make of evil itself an object of secret reverence."
~ Clark Ashton Smith, "The Devotee of Evil" |
||||||||||||
4 Thanks From: |
03-06-2017 | #62 | |||||||||||
Mystic
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 196
Quotes: 0
|
Re: (Why) Have we stopped reading fiction ?
Encouraging news for this writer - who didn't start writing seriously until he was 50! Like Mr. Veech, I'm hardly expecting it to support me. Still, there are many talented younger writers and many older writers who have written some terrific works of art and who deserve to be making a living from it.
| |||||||||||
Heaven and Earth are not humane.
They regard all things as straw dogs. The sage is not humane. He regards all people as straw dogs. |
||||||||||||
6 Thanks From: | Kevin (03-06-2017), miguel1984 (03-07-2017), Mithras (03-06-2017), Mr. Veech (03-06-2017), qcrisp (03-07-2017), ToALonelyPeace (03-06-2017) |
03-06-2017 | #63 | |||||||||||
Grimscribe
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 941
Quotes: 0
|
Re: (Why) Have we stopped reading fiction ?
However, I think the main reason that the quality of writing found in these parts is so high compared to what one usually finds is that money is not (I assume) the primary motivation for writing in the first place. I would make more money working retail than I would writing novels. Successful writers are as rare as successful marriages. If you're smart, you won't expect it to happen. | |||||||||||
"In a less scientific age, he would have been a devil-worshipper, a partaker in the abominations of the Black Mass; or would have given himself to the study and practice of sorcery. His was a religious soul that had failed to find good in the scheme of things; and lacking it, was impelled to make of evil itself an object of secret reverence."
~ Clark Ashton Smith, "The Devotee of Evil" |
||||||||||||
7 Thanks From: | Arthur Staaz (03-07-2017), DarkView (03-08-2017), Kevin (03-06-2017), miguel1984 (03-07-2017), Mithras (03-06-2017), qcrisp (03-07-2017), ToALonelyPeace (03-06-2017) |
03-06-2017 | #64 | |||||||||||
Grimscribe
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 941
Quotes: 0
|
Re: (Why) Have we stopped reading fiction ?
@qcrisp
When I read your Morbid Tales, I thought the following: These stories are absolutely brilliant! It saddens me that I can't recommend this book to people I know personally; they simply won't "get" it. I guess I'll have to accept this great find as a solitary experience. | |||||||||||
"In a less scientific age, he would have been a devil-worshipper, a partaker in the abominations of the Black Mass; or would have given himself to the study and practice of sorcery. His was a religious soul that had failed to find good in the scheme of things; and lacking it, was impelled to make of evil itself an object of secret reverence."
~ Clark Ashton Smith, "The Devotee of Evil" |
||||||||||||
6 Thanks From: | Arthur Staaz (03-07-2017), Kevin (03-06-2017), miguel1984 (03-07-2017), qcrisp (03-07-2017), Spiral (03-07-2017), ToALonelyPeace (03-07-2017) |
03-07-2017 | #65 | |||||||||||
Grimscribe
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 2,295
Quotes: 0
|
Re: (Why) Have we stopped reading fiction ?
I might have opened something resembling a can of worms (a can of slow worms? I don't know) with the post about writers (not) earning a living. Let's put it this way, it's been a central question in my life for decades, and I haven't been able to put it to bed with a simple, 'Oh well, I give up.' The main reason for this is that I need time to write in the first place.
Anyway, that's just to say that I don't expect to be able to say much edifying on the subject in a short space of time, on this message thread, and even if I had the time to devote to saying something edifying about it, that would derail the thread and be a drain on people's patience. However, just two points: In terms of not writing for money, certainly, if that's what I did, I would have given up a very long time ago. Not only does it not earn me a living, it actively prevents me from earning money in other ways. I realise that the tone of my first post on the subject probably doesn't come across on the internet. I don't think I have a terrible life. I used the word vocation, however; there are lots of jobs that people don't enter for the money, but can make a living at from the start. Writing, of course, is not a job in the normal sense, partly because of the question of demand, which is much more nebulous a question with regard to writing than the demand, for instance, for medicine. The second point: successful marriages might be rare, meaning that unsuccessful marriages form the majority, but would it be right to expect people getting married not to try and make a success of it? | |||||||||||
“Absolutely candid, carefree, but straightforward speech becomes possible for the first time when one speaks of the highest." - Friedrich Schlegel
|
||||||||||||
5 Thanks From: | Arthur Staaz (03-07-2017), Kevin (03-07-2017), miguel1984 (03-07-2017), Mr. Veech (03-07-2017), ToALonelyPeace (03-07-2017) |
03-07-2017 | #66 | |||||||||||
Grimscribe
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 665
Quotes: 0
|
Re: (Why) Have we stopped reading fiction ?
not to de-rail, I just remembered where I saw your id pic - Sophie Ryder exhibition when I was in Bath (lost my scarf in a restaurant , good bookshops though- got a Marsden photo book - also semi-decent absinthe)
she riffs on this subsequently https://www.sophie-ryder.com/bronze took notes on the first image as soon as I saw it | |||||||||||
"My imagination functions better if don't have to deal with people" - Patricia Highsmith
|
||||||||||||
3 Thanks From: |
03-07-2017 | #67 | |||||||||||
Grimscribe
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 941
Quotes: 0
|
Re: (Why) Have we stopped reading fiction ?
The marriage analogy was bad. I was using the term "successful" as referring to financial success. I think a person should write simply because they she write - they simply must, and nothing whatsoever can keep them from doing so. Some people write as if they were possessed by some unknown force. This is good as well as noble, not to mention sufficient motivation for writing. But the person who sees a Harry Potter book and decides "I'm going to write and make lots of money!" - they need to be pulled aside and spoken to as if they were a naive child. America has this really idiotic idea that if a person works hard enough, they'll be a millionaire one day. More than half of Americans don't even have a stable retirement plan. Of course, I don't think anyone here possesses the latter mentality. I assume we're all acquainted with reality here. I can't help but think of that corny Aunt everyone has who says things like "Oh, you're going to be a _____ when you grow up!" I stopped trusting my very own corny Aunt when I was a young teenager. | |||||||||||
"In a less scientific age, he would have been a devil-worshipper, a partaker in the abominations of the Black Mass; or would have given himself to the study and practice of sorcery. His was a religious soul that had failed to find good in the scheme of things; and lacking it, was impelled to make of evil itself an object of secret reverence."
~ Clark Ashton Smith, "The Devotee of Evil" Last edited by Mr. Veech; 03-07-2017 at 07:20 AM.. |
||||||||||||
4 Thanks From: |
03-07-2017 | #68 | |||||||||||
Mystic
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 196
Quotes: 0
|
Re: (Why) Have we stopped reading fiction ?
BTW, I am not a socialist. | |||||||||||
Heaven and Earth are not humane.
They regard all things as straw dogs. The sage is not humane. He regards all people as straw dogs. |
||||||||||||
4 Thanks From: | ChildofOldLeech (03-07-2017), miguel1984 (03-08-2017), Mr. Veech (03-07-2017), Robert Adam Gilmour (03-07-2017) |
03-07-2017 | #69 | |||||||||||
Grimscribe
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 2,536
Quotes: 0
|
Re: (Why) Have we stopped reading fiction ?
I can't remember exactly how but there was some people making a really good living writing erotic ebooks for a couple of years until there was a rule change at Amazon or something. But I don't think writers have it any worse than visual artists, musicians, dancers, comedians, theatre and film people. | |||||||||||
My gallery...
http://robertadamgilmour.blogspot.com |
||||||||||||
03-07-2017 | #70 | |||||||||||
Chymist
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 408
Quotes: 0
|
Re: (Why) Have we stopped reading fiction ?
I worry about how declining readership will influence fiction itself. One thing I notice is that due to the shrinking market more and more authors, editors, and publications are rooted in academia, and I can't help wonder if this situation will end up resulting in stodgy and conformist writing. It took a century for universities to come around to Science Fiction and Gothic literature, and even more intellectual movements like the Beats and Surrealists weren't embraced for at least a decade after reaching critical mass...
| |||||||||||
8 Thanks From: | ChildofOldLeech (03-07-2017), DarkView (03-08-2017), Justin Isis (03-07-2017), miguel1984 (03-08-2017), Mithras (03-07-2017), Mr. Veech (03-07-2017), Robert Adam Gilmour (03-07-2017), ToALonelyPeace (03-09-2017) |
Bookmarks |
Tags |
fiction, reading, stopped |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
I Just Finished Reading... | bendk | Personal | 195 | 6 Days Ago 12:31 PM |
Reading Lists | qcrisp | General Discussion | 16 | 07-21-2022 03:48 PM |
Fantastic Fiction Series Reading at the KGB Bar in NYC | dr. locrian | Jon Padgett | 5 | 04-19-2018 12:46 AM |
Reading and Memory | Freyasfire | Off Topic | 14 | 03-13-2017 07:16 PM |
Naked Girls Reading Science Fiction | Ligeia | Off Topic | 1 | 02-16-2010 12:07 PM |