Everyone does not, in fact, have a book in them

Re:Everyone does not, in fact, have a book in them by paulpauper on Tuesday July 31, 2018 @05:52PM (#17657561)

But I could do it, because I've absolutely written a book's worth of words over the past few years.

It depends on the genre and if it's fiction or non-fiction. Non fiction, yes. But fiction is harder because of stylistic attributes and the fact it all has to connect. It's not like writing 300 300-word blog posts.

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Re:Everyone does not, in fact, have a book in them by alister on Tuesday July 31, 2018 @08:46PM (#17658685)

> But fiction is harder

Too general a statement. Sure, an engaging consistent story is much harder than, say, the average cookbook or travel guide.

But many textbooks in science and math seem like absolutely Herculean effort. Gravitation[1] by Misner, Thorne, & Wheeler (a work of non-fiction) in my opinion would be the equivalent in intellectual effort to several thousand average works of fiction.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Gravitation-Charles-W-Misner/dp/06911...

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Re:Everyone does not, in fact, have a book in them by coldtea on Tuesday July 31, 2018 @06:13PM (#17657731)

>Non fiction, yes. But fiction is harder because of stylistic attributes and the fact it all has to connect.

Ever read Dan Brown?

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Re:Everyone does not, in fact, have a book in them by zbentley on Wednesday August 01, 2018 @08:21AM (#17661786)

That isn't a counterargument. Regardless of whether or not you think someone's writing is good, to your taste, or nuanced, there's still considerable (and, I think, reasonably rare) skill involved in making something that the general public wants to pluck off of the paperback shelves (or e-reader equivalent). It might be tawdry, silly, and factually inaccurate, but those qualities are orthogonal to whether or not you can write a story that people want to buy.

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Re:Everyone does not, in fact, have a book in them by coldtea on Wednesday August 01, 2018 @12:57PM (#17664364)

>there's still considerable (and, I think, reasonably rare) skill involved in making something that the general public wants to pluck off of the paperback shelves

Is there? The general public can be sold any kind of crap that takes minimal effort -- and in the same way, don't buy masterpieces that take tremendous effort and skill to create.

>It might be tawdry, silly, and factually inaccurate, but those qualities are orthogonal to whether or not you can write a story that people want to buy.

This isn't an argument on actual writing skill though.

It's like you measure a new category like "skill of writing best-selling stuff" that's not necessarily connected to the skill of writing itself -- just to the degree of sales.

But one can sell bad stuff or skilless stuff too. Sales don't show anything more than a skill in sales themselves.

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Re:Everyone does not, in fact, have a book in them by Skunkleton on Tuesday July 31, 2018 @09:04PM (#17658797)

Renowned author Dan Brown

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Re:Everyone does not, in fact, have a book in them by gervase on Tuesday July 31, 2018 @06:13PM (#17657732)

It could be a book of short stories, perhaps. Plus, with self-publishing these days, the bar to publish is probably the lowest it's ever been.

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Re:Everyone does not, in fact, have a book in them by Retra on Tuesday July 31, 2018 @07:02PM (#17658080)

Nonfiction is only harder if you are trying to make it interesting. Outside of that, it is very much easier.

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