We could write books!

[gaius]

Today I realised something interesting. As somebody who is not a writer, I used to think that writing a full-length book must be a feat of tremendous stamina, and that it's only really possible to write a book if you have a lot of devotion. And then I did a little calculation: if you add my post counts from GD and L19, I have almost 180 posts. Supposing that, on average, it takes about 3 posts to fill a page in the average novel format, that means that in just a little bit of spare time I have already written about one third of a novel, and it didn't even feel like an effort at all! In fact, those here who "live in sente" have probably already written the equivalent of at least one full-length book! How does that feel?

Of course, this story completely neglects the process of getting ideas, structuring them, proofreading, publishing, and the like. Also, if, as they say, book-writing is like running a marathon, the hardest part will probably only hit you in the last few "kilometers". Maybe those who have actually written full-length books can tell us: did it feel hard? If so, was it really much harder than spicing up that L19 post count? I'm really curious now!

[Chew Terr]

This reminds me of National Novel Writing Month. Both enforce the idea that, with either sufficient time or sufficient endurance, it is surprisingly doable to write a book's worth of unedited, unplanned content.

[Kirby]

I have probably written enough for a book, but none of it is interesting enough for people to actually buy

Part of writing a book is, of course, volume of content... But quality of content is another important factor...

[Chew Terr]

But quality of content is another important factor...

Yes, but verbosity is a reasonable first step. It seems easier to work on quality if you can write a lot, than trying to write the Next Great Book after a few sentences a year.

[daniel_the_smith]

This reminds me of National Novel Writing Month. Both enforce the idea that, with either sufficient time or sufficient endurance, it is surprisingly doable to write a book's worth of unedited, unplanned content.

I've done NaNoWriMo twice

There are such things as open-source books written by groups of people. It would be interesting for us all to put one about go together, but it would be a lot of work, esp. for the one or two people who end up being editors. And we would have to figure out what exactly we want to write about, etc.

[RazorBrain]

Part of writing a book is, of course, volume of content... But quality of content is another important factor...

I tend to be a verbose writer. I've never been able to just jot down finished stuff. I think this is true for the vast majority of writers.

So, I like the idea of lots of tailings. Look at the amount of stuff that gets thrown away in gold mining. I believe that if you write consistently, and in enough quantity, you'll have a better chance of discovering the nugget that will become something worth reading.

[palapiku]

If I sit at a piano for an hour and bang on the keys, I will have played enough notes for a concerto!

[Monadology]

If I sit at a piano for an hour and bang on the keys, I will have played enough notes for a concerto!

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[hyperpape]

I think more people find starting difficult than the last few pages. Of course, it's a misnomer to talk about the last few pages, since there's usually substantial revision--the last words you write are replacements for earlier words.

A story, which might be apochryphal. A friend of James Joyce stopped by his place and found him slumped over his desk, looking exhausted. Knowing Joyce's habits (17 years to write Finnegan's wake), the friend asks "how many words today, James?" and Joyce replies "seven".

"That's great." "But I don't know what order they go in!"

[kirkmc]

I have probably written enough for a book, but none of it is interesting enough for people to actually buy

Part of writing a book is, of course, volume of content... But quality of content is another important factor...

Yep. Trust me, it's not just how much you write. It's the quality, but also writing something that fits a need.

[Fedya]

kirkmc wrote:

It's the quality, but also writing something that fits a need.

Porn.

Then again, it's possible to go wrong writing about sex too. (Warning: passages may not be safe for work.)

[Stefany93]

I have written 8 books so far and now I am writting the 9th one. Writting a book requires a lot of dedication and patience. Because it has often occured to write an entire chapter and at the next moment to tear it apart, because I don't like it. It is a very difficult task because you need to write at the exact moment when you have inspiration, otherwise all you would write is a piece of crap. Sometimes it happens to have inspiration weeks ahead, or like this year, I haven't had an inspitration for writting for 6 months! It is an awful feeling, believe me

[Chew Terr]

This reminds me of National Novel Writing Month. Both enforce the idea that, with either sufficient time or sufficient endurance, it is surprisingly doable to write a book's worth of unedited, unplanned content.

I've done NaNoWriMo twice

There are such things as open-source books written by groups of people. It would be interesting for us all to put one about go together, but it would be a lot of work, esp. for the one or two people who end up being editors. And we would have to figure out what exactly we want to write about, etc.

Yeah, I've... attempted... NaNo twice. Perhaps this year. Regardless, it's been said before, but I'll say it again: A published collection of polished Malkovich games would be worth reading. Sure, most of it would also be available online, but it'd be something of publishable quality, especially after significant editing.

[daniel_the_smith]

I'll say it again: A published collection of polished Malkovich games would be worth reading. Sure, most of it would also be available online, but it'd be something of publishable quality, especially after significant editing.

Yeah that might make interesting reading. We'd have to get someone super-strong to review them first. "What Go Players Think (and why they're wrong)"

[Jedo]

This reminds me of National Novel Writing Month.

Hmmmm... This looks interesting