(Part 2) Best research & publishing books according to redditors
We found 1,290 Reddit comments discussing the best research & publishing books. We ranked the 536 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.
. Orientalizing Mid/Far Eastern culture
. Opening with a huge chunk of worldbuilding
. Overlooking melee mechanics (this has helped me with that: https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Fight-Scenes-Professional-Techniques-ebook/dp/B005MJFVS0 )
. Understanding horse mechanics. They only go faster than walking if you press them. Keep forcing and the horse will die. Usually they're used by travelers to hold supplies and for long term relief.
. Ancient evils
Just a few off the top of my head. Hope this helps.
Hey, I am an academic who uses Herman and Chomsky's propaganda model constantly to make sense of the media. I wrote a book about the media coverage of Venezuela and am now finishing a sequel of Manufacturing Consent in collaboration with Noam and some other contributors that updates the model considering the great changes that have happened in the media (social media, smartphones, internet, newspaper and TV decline, fake news etc. It should hopefully be finished for the 30th anniversary of the book's publication.
I'd echo /u/Prince_Kropotkin 's suggestion that the prologue, introduction and first chapter are by far the most important chapters to read. The other chapters are case studies putting the theories and ideas of the first part into practice. However, they are from the 70s and 80s and might not be that relevant to modern readers. Still interesting, though.
Here's a write-up, with sources, on why the narrative on that is absolutely rife with bullshit and not nearly so simple. Originally by /u/A-MacLeod:
I’ve been seeing and hearing a lot of “if you like socialism look at starving Venezuela” comments all over the media, most recently with Meghan McCain on The View which the Chapo Boys talked about in the last episode and someone asked me for a response to her comments.
The reason they asked me was that I have a PhD in sociology and more specifically looking at how the Western media covers Venezuela.
I recently wrote a book called “Bad News From Venezuela” which details the enormous disparity between the image of the country and the empirical reality and features interviews with journalists where they admit to not being able to speak Spanish, not leaving their penthouse apartments very often, paying locals to write their stories and knowingly printing fake news about the country.
I also write about the media coverage of Venezuela at Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting.
Firstly, I’ve yet to see any credible study about how much weight Venezuelans have lost. I’ve seen plenty of organizations linked to the local opposition spouting out numbers though.
Venezuelans are hungry in good part because capitalists in the country are intentionally trying to starve them by withholding food in order to provoke an uprising, as they have done numerous times in recent history, for example, before the 2014 elections and in the year of the 2002 and 2002/3 attempted coups. After decades of neoliberalism, Latin American countries’ food systems are dominated by often a single massive multinational which creates, imports or distributes most of the food. For instance, the company Polar dominates the food market, controlling over half the flour controls over half the flour in the country (the staple) and also owns a network of supermarkets.
Secondly, Venezuela is also suffering because of the US sanctions, which the UN General Assembly condemned, noting they were deliberately designed to “disproportionately affect the poor and the most vulnerable classes” , calling on all states not to recognize them and began discussing reparations that the US must pay to Venezuela. None of this has been reported anywhere in the US media; I have checked.
The Venezuelan people, unlike us, of course, know all this, and that’s why even during this period the government’s popularity has gone up and they convincingly won the recent election. Of course, none of this is to say that the government is good or doing well. I'm actually highly critical of where the government has gone. But if we actually care about facts and context and discussion, this stuff needs to be known, otherwise we are completely ignorant of the situation.
These are not the only reasons why the economy is bad, you can read a longer explanation here.
Finally, if this is proof socialism failed, then Ecuador must be proof that socialism works, as under the socialist president Correa, unemployment fell to a record low of 4%, poverty fell by 27% in 7 years all while beginning to bring in universal free education and healthcare and reducing its debt. Of course, none of this is ever brought up by these people because they don’t want an honest discussion about “socialism” and they don’t want people knowing about these countries.
So a response in 140 characters would be Venezuelans are hungry because big capitalists in the country are intentionally trying to starve them and because of illegal US sanctions. This certainly doesn’t tell the whole story but is a quick comeback.
Oh yeah, and if you are interested in the book but balk at the price, DM me your email address and I could send you a copy of my PhD which is pretty similar to the book.
Been a lot longer then 5 years since free speech and anti-censorship was a liberal aka progressive value. Libertarian yes. Classical liberal yes. The people you're talking about on the right pretty much tossed those people out 20 years ago in most western countries. In the late 90's, you could see this pro-censorship stance in the left here in Canada with the Liberal Party, and NDP.
What you missed, and a lot of people missed is that the right moderated itself tossed out a lot of the shitty people. Many of those shitty people however were welcomed with open arms by the left no less. There were various reasons, they were big names(had media pull), were well known pundits, had access to lots of donors for money and so on.
If you need an example over the last 10 years just in the US? Look at the RINO's who were 'big time bush' people, and couldn't find a war they didn't like. Yeah, open arms by the left. Probably one of the big names you'll recognize is David Frum. Progressives absolutely love him now that he's on their team, but his policies haven't changed. He sure was screeching that "the republicans left me!" They sure did, that was the point of the Tea Party groups, despite the attacks by the media. Something every GG should recognize by now.
While I'm at it, I'm going to plug Sharyl Attkisson's book, The Smear. Read it.
> If you want honest news, subscribe to the New York Times.
That made me laugh. The same game you engage in was started over a hundred years ago with published newspapers.
There is no such thing as honest news.
For more information, consult Flat Earth News by the same guy who uncovered and pushed the Murdoch press phone hacking scandal when no-one else would touch it.
Not my original content, but taking this comment from another sub and posting here:
>I’ve been seeing and hearing a lot of “if you like socialism look at starving Venezuela” comments all over the media, most recently with Meghan McCain on The View which the Chapo Boys talked about in the last episode and someone asked me for a response to her comments.
>The reason they asked me was that I have a PhD in sociology and more specifically looking at how the Western media covers Venezuela.
>I recently wrote a book called “Bad News From Venezuela” which details the enormous disparity between the image of the country and the empirical reality and features interviews with journalists where they admit to not being able to speak Spanish, not leaving their penthouse apartments very often, paying locals to write their stories and knowingly printing fake news about the country.
>I also write about the media coverage of Venezuela at Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting.
>Firstly, I’ve yet to see any credible study about how much weight Venezuelans have lost. I’ve seen plenty of organizations linked to the local opposition spouting out numbers though.
>Venezuelans are hungry in good part because capitalists in the country are intentionally trying to starve them by withholding food in order to provoke an uprising, as they have done numerous times in recent history, for example, before the 2014 elections and in the year of the 2002 and 2002/3 attempted coups. After decades of neoliberalism, Latin American countries’ food systems are dominated by often a single massive multinational which creates, imports or distributes most of the food. For instance, the company Polar dominates the food market, controlling
over half the flour controls over half the flour in the country (the staple) and also owns a network of supermarkets.
>Secondly, Venezuela is also suffering because of the US sanctions, which the UN General Assembly condemned, noting they were deliberately designed to “disproportionately affect the poor and the most vulnerable classes” , calling on all states not to recognize them and began discussing reparations that the US must pay to Venezuela. None of this has been reported anywhere in the US media; I have checked.
>The Venezuelan people, unlike us, of course, know all this, and that’s why even during this period the government’s popularity has gone up and they convincingly won the recent election. Of course, none of this is to say that the government is good or doing well. I'm actually highly critical of where the government has gone. But if we actually care about facts and context and discussion, this stuff needs to be known, otherwise we are completely ignorant of the situation.
>These are not the only reasons why the economy is bad, you can read a longer explanation here.
>Finally, if this is proof socialism failed, then Ecuador must be proof that socialism works, as under the socialist president Correa, unemployment fell to a record low of 4%, poverty fell by 27% in 7 years all while beginning to bring in universal free education and healthcare and reducing its debt. Of course, none of this is ever brought up by these people because they don’t want an honest discussion about “socialism” and they don’t want people knowing about these countries.
>So a response in 140 characters would be Venezuelans are hungry because big capitalists in the country are intentionally trying to starve them and because of illegal US sanctions. This certainly doesn’t tell the whole story but is a quick comeback.
Number 1 New Release From Our Girl!
The Smear: How Shady Political Operatives and Fake News Control What You See, What You Think, and How You Vote Hardcover – June 27, 2017
by Sharyl Attkisson (Author)
https://www.amazon.com/Smear-Shady-Political-Operatives-Control/dp/0062468162/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
The author of the AT guidebook also wrote a book about his thruhike. He had a wife and kid(s?) at home and discusses this throughout the book. It's kind of dry, but I thought it was worth reading before my hike.
Actually, they rounded up a bunch people who were not actually communists, prosecuted and persecuted them for being traitors to the country, while actual treasonous communist plants ( not to be confused with non treasonous people who just ascribed the philosophy of Marxism ) Went largely unmolested through our legislature. I recomend you give this book a glance. http://www.amazon.com/You-Are-Being-Lied-Disinformation/product-reviews/0966410076
Seen it before and watched it again. Glossed over her twitter feed and she's BASED AS FUCK!
She retweeted this pic: free at last
She's got a book out: The Smear: How Shady Political Operatives & Fake News Control What You See What You Think & How You Vote
> Now, the hard-hitting investigative reporter shares her inside knowledge, revealing how the Smear takes shape and who its perpetrators are—including Clinton confidant Sidney Blumenthal and, most influential of all, "right-wing assassin turned left-wing assassin" (National Review) political operative David Brock and his Media Matters for America empire.
> Attkisson exposes the diabolical tactics of Smear artists, and their outrageous access to the biggest names in political media—operatives who are corrupting the political process, and discouraging widespread citizen involvement in our democracy.
https://www.amazon.com/Smear-Shady-Political-Operatives-Control/dp/0062468162
AND a show that will air this Sunday :
> This week on Full Measure in The Sum of Knowledge, we dig into the tactics used by paid forces to manipulate opinion. These include fake social media accounts operated by software and paid actors; zombie profiles; zombie likes; and “Fake News.”
And:
> Also Sunday, Joce Sterman examines what changes in police work could be in store under the Trump administration. Under President Obama, some police say they felt unsupported and, as a result, it’s feared that some backed off of using aggressive tactics in communities that need policing the most. Will things be different under a Trump Department of Justice?
https://sharylattkisson.com/the-sum-of-knowledge-fakenews-bias-censorship/
We must embrace this centipede! Why is she not mentioned here more often?
It's being so inside the character's head that the author or narrator disappears. Deep POV can be in either first or third person. Generally, to get deep POV, an author would remove tags and all references to the narrator, even in first person. There tends to be a lot of tagless inner dialogue, and it's more fragmented in style. In third person, the dialogue isn't italicized, has no tags, and feels first person. Many authors will pull in and out of deep POV, depending on how they want their readers to feel about the situation at the time. It's extremely popular with current readers and many publishers.
The go to book for this is Rivet Your Readers With Deep POV by Jill Nelson.
These are a bit oversimplified, but here are some examples:
I saw the sun. (First person, distant/narrator POV)
Pinpricks of heat clawed. What is this explosion of light? (First person, deep POV)
"Is it morning?" she said. (Third person, distant/narrator POV)
The shutters bounced against the vinyl siding. Heat wrapped her face in a fleece blanket. Hello sun, old friend. (Third person, deep POV)
Ages ago I picked up a book called "You Are Being Lied To: The Disinformation Guide to Media Distortion, Historical Whitewashes and Cultural Myths" and read about Vince Foster in there. That chapter blew my mind and had my wearing red pill glasses whenever I read or watched the news ever since.
Pick up a book on structure, for example Save the Cat!
You should be aiming towards highs and low points, with a slow progression between each where the character struggles and fails towards transformative crescendos. Failure is how your character changes, not successes - so keep legit stamping on your protag's face.
Act 1 - 25% of the book - Establish the world, the rules, the principle character and its relationship to them. Halfway through this act you should throw them into the adventure then spend the rest of the act getting them to accept their role in it. This is setting up the story you want to tell.
Act 2 - 50% of the book - Do the fun and interesting stuff that makes up the body of the book. If its a detective story, this is where the crime scene inspections happen and the witnesses are met a few times. If its a cliche fantasy series this is the "journey" to the evil castle. Halfway through the act you should have a false high (everything looks great but isn't) or a false low (everything is hopeless but isn't). This is where you develop a love interest and character interactions. Act 3 is when the point of no return is passed and you enter the endgame.
Act 3 - 25% - the Endgame. The character recovers from a crippling loss and "transforms" spiritually. This is the scenes at and inside the evil castle where the changed protagonist uses what he learned from act 2 to beat the villian. This is where the twists go since you are breaking rules you have solidly established and where you have the mature protagonist to properly digest those twists.
In terms of how to connect scenes and order them, alternate the scenes where your character is trying to accomplish a goal and then recovering from the failure to achieve it. ABABAB. As in another thread I'd recommend Tecniques of a selling writer for this. However you can find a synopsis by more modern writers if you just search with "scene and sequel", which are the terms he coins in the book.
The book you are looking for is called Plotto: https://www.amazon.com/Plotto-Master-Book-All-Plots/dp/1935639188
It's from the 1920's, not the 1950's. There's a more recent clone; I think the copyright lawyers were sleeping.
> I often think of interesting ways the story can go and I have the beginning and middle of the story sorted but I am unsure of where I am going to end up
I absolutely CANNOT write a long story/book without an outline. I think of it like a roadmap: I'd never try to drive to a new city without a roadmap, or build a house without a blueprint. It becomes chaotic, and I freak out and leave it unfinished.
You can do an outline a couple ways. This is a blog post on using index cards to create a streamlined story, or you can outline on a computer and list major scenes. (For a longer description of outlining, I recommend Outlining Your Novel by K.M. Weiland.)
Some authors can "fly by the seat of their pants," but I can't, and if I'm reading your post right, it sounds like you'd benefit from outlining as well.
Go to the public library and look at the 2011 Writer's market...or if you can afford it...buy it...
There really isn't much difference between third person/first person except the use of I/She/He and how much you're allowed to reveal to readers. One thing you want to avoid (I find it easier to look for this in editing so that I'm not slowing down on my first draft) is to keep an I out for the words -I think/thought, I feel/felt, I see/saw, ect. Anytime you have these words are similar, it's telling.
Ex. I felt a shiver run up my spine vs. A shiver ran up my spine. Those words tend to draw the reader out of the book, disconnecting them.
I found the book Rivet You Readers with Deep POV to be helpful. The last book in the chapter is dedicated to first person, though, like I said, most of third person show vs tell applies.
https://www.amazon.com/Rivet-Your-Readers-Deep-Point-ebook/dp/B007PUMQ1O/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1494940914&sr=8-2&keywords=deep+pov
Structuring Your Novel by K. M. Weiland is a great concise look at structure, and affordable at only $4.99 for the ebook. I refer back to this book all the time.
I'd recommend buying a book on writing.
I would suggest these as good places to start. If you wanted to pick just one on this list, I'd say go with James Scott Bell's Plot & Structure.
Rather than writing your novel from the end, get James Scott Bell's Write Your Novel from the Middle. It's $3 and you can finish it in a couple hours. Basically, you want to find the moment when your main character has a long, hard look at himself.
If you want more, his Plot and Structure goes more in depth into plotting and pacing.
I have been reading Plotto and it is like being dropped down into the plot well. It is so rich with nearly every conceivable plot, including which threads link to which, that I had weird, surreal dreams for three straight nights.
Check out Wired for Story and Techniques of the Selling Writer. The latter is dated - as in the guy wrote it from a white, male perspective in the 60s - but the advice on craft is solid. Good luck.
ETA: This is a decent podcast series so far.
If you're into books on writing, I found Outlining Your Novel helpful. If you've read your share of writing tips and books it will repeat some things you know by now, but I found its techniques helpful.
I knew how great an outline can be so I used one to frame my novel in Scrivener using the index cards, it has helped immensely. I didn't write every single detail leaving left plenty of room for things to change course if the story and characters need to evolve in a different direction. Outlining prevents writers block in the sense of "what do I do next?" plot-wise.
This isn't specific to romance, but Rivet Your Readers with Deep Point of View has been immensely helpful in shifting my writing from shorter "tell" style of smutty shorts to more immersive "show" style of better written novellas/novels.
As a bonus, "showing" instead of "telling" will also explode your word count!
As mentioned, you should definitely get the latest AT guidebook. You may also enjoy reading Becoming Odyssa, Grandma Gatewood's Walk, and AWOL on the Appalachian Trail. I would also highly recommend Walking With Wired's 2014 AT blog.
Story Engineering by Larry Brooks should be able to help. The author explains elements of story structure common to most novels and films so you can apply the same structure to your own story.
Okay, sure. I probably shouldn't have, but I watched it. I've heard the dichotomy argument before: "it's a state monopoly or free enterprise!" But don't you think that the wide array of views on this subreddit alone justifies looking at economies through more than just the lens of a one-dimensional line?
The key problem with the guy with the spear is that a random dude with a spear by himself on an island is in no way representative of the system we have inherited. The spear-hunting man did NOT produce anything by catching something -- he killed a living thing and appropriated it as his own property.
Communism and socialism do not have a problem with this in an island vacuum, of course. If you're starving, take something and eat. It doesn't really matter what on the tiny-desert-island-scale. It is actually capitalism that has a problem with this very example: if you are starving on the street in the city and take an apple from a street cart, what happens? In communism you simply eat it and go on with your life, not starving; under capitalism you are beaten and taken to jail.
Besides, if there are a thousand people all on the island, and they all go spearing fish, what's going to happen? The fish will dwindle and soon cause a famine. Sticks don't produce fish, hatcheries produce fish. So go the crises of capitalism. I see far more problems with the arguments in the video, but my comment is getting long.
Now, I challenge you to read The Communist Manifesto and send me a quote from it -- one you agree with, one you disagree with, whatever, don't care, let's talk about it. I doubt I'll hear back, but who knows? Anyway, it's free and short: https://smile.amazon.com/Manifesto-Communist-Party-Karl-Marx-ebook/dp/B0039GL21I
I'll be here.
Have you read Paddle to the Amazon?
Mary Roach does a pretty in depth analysis of this claim in her book SPOOK: Science Tackles the Afterlife. His scale was actually extremely accurate, however the number of individuals exhibiting the weightloss was abysmally small compared to the number of experiments and as yet no one has been able to reproduce his results (although ethically it would difficult to reproduce.)
Fantastic. I love audiobooks while running. I listened to a good part of Stephen King's 11/22/63 during an ultra last year which was great, and I've been listening to them during training runs for a few years now.
My favorites to listen to while running:
Scott Jurek's Eat and Run. It is kind of fun to listen to a runner talk about running while you are running.
AWOL on the Appalachain Trail. Really great book about a journalist's experience in thru-hiking the AT.
Robert Kurson's Pirate Hunters really surprised me. Nonfiction book about treasure/wreck diving. I was mildly interested the topic before I started listening to the book but now it is a favorite subject of mine.
The Martian. I can't say enough about the audiobook - the story is great and the audiobook makes the experience so much greater.
The Big Sleep - Raymond Chandler, of course. Great, atomospheric noir. One of the first audiobooks I ever purchased. Engaging and makes you forget the miles.
Buy the 'Writer's Market,' it's everything you need!
I can't watch these shows. I think it's because they break some social/psychological rules. In trying to be "reality TV" they violate the suspension-of-disbelief for me. I can, and like to, do that for a movie, but not for TV for some reason.
However, if you find this sort of thing interesting, I would recommend the book Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach. It's not going to blow your mind, but it's a good read.
Not surprising considering how many baddies Don starkell and his kids ran into whilst paddling to the Amazon from Bronx park in Winnipeg
https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.amazon.ca/Paddle-Amazon-Ultimate-000-Mile-Adventure/dp/0771082568&ved=0ahUKEwj4v8GlmLTWAhWBKWMKHXeZCCIQFgiBATAL&usg=AFQjCNGFqCAiD_jAWXzT3OyCOxWQzaqqog
This might help you out. If you have Kindle Unlimited it is included in your subscription. There are also some related books by the same author I haven't gotten to yet called Conflict & Suspense and Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint that I have checked out.
While you are planning, you could try filling out little things like this form I created in Scrivener. I find that it helps me solidify what my idea for a scene is and know when another scene is needed as well when before I would sit there and say, "I have no idea what to put here."
Edit: Of course there's a typo in the image I made for the sole purpose of sharing with writers. Why not! lol.
I have always liked AWOL on the Appalachian Trail.
I own each one of those books and I would only cosign on the Amy Cooper and the Emily Baker. I also got a lot of helpful info from Unsilenced's first book.
For Erotica in general - I would also skip the Susie Bright. Instead I would go with Stacia Kane Be A Sex Writing Strumpet. Also this website also helped me helped me think stories through.
I would suggest you start learning story structure and outlining early. Dan Wells is an awesome free source - through his youtube videos, and Dwight V Swain Techniques of the Selling Writer. Also Gwen Hayes Romancing the Beat.
As a writer I would keep reading additional sources, once you find a story structure that you like - as in 3 part or 4 part, then find an ultimate resource for this.
When I first started I didn't really understand pinch points so I read a book on screenwriting that helped.
your life will change
Maybe this will help
Get pumped. Have a look at James Scott Bell's Write Your Novel from the Middle. It's $4 for the ebook, and it's short, about a hundred pages. Put that on your phone and you can read it in a couple afternoons. Bell's premise is most great stories have a scene somewhere in the middle where the hero hits a low point, has tried everything and failed, and has to take a good long look at themselves in the mirror. Then they find their resolve and the story takes a different line. If you can nail this scene, the rest of your plot, forwards and back, practically falls into place.
You should also have a look at James Frey's How to Write a Damn Good Novel.
What convinced me was how US media talks about Latin America. I'm Brazilian and that's a little fundamental to my understanding.
First is the deep understanding of how problematic media is. Here in Brazil we have some sort of major monopoly by Globo. They are not exactly Fox News but they are able to change mainstream opinion quite easily.
Since the major riots from 2013 I have been noticing more and more how media very slowly would create narratives and enforce points of view.
The absolute maximum happened in 2016 during Dilma's impeachment.
The central political place of Brazil, our "Washinton DC" would be Brasília. And all the political class is within the Esplanada.
Esplanada is quite huge, it was made really wide so any kind of protest made wouldn't look big like in other places from the country, like Avenida Paulista, the most important place in São Paulo, the financial capital of Brazil.
During Dilma's impeachment, the country was split in two, and the Esplanada was divided in two to acomodate pro-impeachment and against-impeachment protests. I mean literally divided in two with a fence.
If you're not updated on Brazilian politics, Dilma was indeed impeached, and mainstream midia used this kinda of image during the impeachment to talk how the pro impeachment crowd was bigger.
The problem is that we have aerial evidence about the event. The anti-impeachment was clearly bigger.
I know this sounds conspiratory, maybe even a minor detail in a bigger picture. But it's with these small details that you start to notice that the midia has their own agenda. It's not so left or right, it's capital.
After these events I started reading about more leftism, started hanging out in anarchist spaces and eventually finding myself reading Marx and other Marxists authors, like Adorno, Paulo Freire and Gramsci. Basically every time any Brazilian politician made any sort of criticism about any Marxist author, I'd try to read it.
But there's a particular author that I read before turning communist that can explain all of this midia control in a more -dare I say- liberal way:
Manufacturing Consent by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky.
There's also an Al Jazeera video that serves as a nice introduction to this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34LGPIXvU5M
It's good to remember that while the main author (Chomsky) is not a major Marxist scholar, the propaganda model is basically a reflection of capital power.
And while Chomsky founded the concepts, it's Alan MacLeod's work that should make Americans open their eyes. He wrote the book "Bad News from Venezuela: Twenty years of fake news and misreporting", and while I haven't read it, he did an amazing AMA on Reddit, with tons of solid evidence showing how news outlets would print misinformed news, specially because journalist felt like they were fighting the evil dictator Maduro.
When I connected the Brazilian impeachment situation and the writings about how the media misrepresents Venezuela made me realize how imperialism works in South America and how powerful media really is when it comes to shape our perception of the real world.
Fast forward to today. The same midia managed to elect a fascist using a gigantic anti-Worker's Party discourse, which include half leaks of illegal recordings of Dilma's telephone and so much drama and plot twists that many Brazilian feel that House of Cards is just too simple compared to our situation.
I'm not even sure we will have another election.
But I'm sure we will have resistance! =)
While not completely on topic, I feel that I can't miss the opportunity to warmly recommend this insightful guide to violence in general.
Hey there...welcome to the world of writing. Hang on, it's going to be a bumpy ride.
So, let me start out with some basics...as I don't want to assume how much you do or do not know.
Okay, with all that out of the way...there are two basic approaches once you have a finished manuscript:
And yes, you can be published by a US or UK author even if you are from another country. You, of course, must be fluent in English, and again either route (self or traditional) is possible.
I use a beat sheet based roughly on Larry Brooks' Story Engineering method. I'll write a detailed paragraph for each scene for the first 25% (up to the first plot point), and then an idea of each of the major elements thereafter. Once I've got the first 25% in a first draft, I'll do a detailed scene outline and flesh it out from there.
For the second draft, I go through and make sure that all my scenes do their job, and that I don't have anything that is dragging. A good, rough reference for this is this scene structure article, which has helped me out a lot.
For the third and subsequent revisions, I go through and really focus on my prose. I nail down the dialogue as best as I can. This is one of the places where your beta readers are invaluable.
I highly recommend the book "Violence: A Writer's Guide" by Rory Miller. Rory was, among other things, a correctional officer in Oregon for 17 years and a civilian advisor to the Department of Justice in Iraq. Needless to say, he knows his stuff.
Might be something published by The Disinformation Company - stuff like You Are Being Lied To: The Disinformation Guide to Media Distortion, Historical Whitewashes and Cultural Myth, Everything You Know Is Wrong: The Disinformation Guide to Secrets and Lies), or Book of Lies: The Disinformation Guide to Magick and the Occult. They publish other guides with secrets and facts.
This book is more for writers describing combat, but I find the same principle applies:
https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Fight-Scenes-Professional-Techniques-ebook/dp/B005MJFVS0
If you’re trying to write to trend, then you may want to consider the “accepted” standard for the genre you’re writing in. For example, paranormal romance tends to be third person and generally two alternating POVs (the h/H...and potentially the villain as the third). Urban fantasy, on the other hand, although similar to PNR, tends to be mostly first person (it appears to be shifting to 3rd person, 1 POV).
The biggest error I see with third person POV is making the POV too omniscient or all knowing. You should strive to write in deep POV and stay in your character’s head, regardless of whether you’re writing 1st or 3rd.
Of course, at the end of the day, you can do what you want. Writing is an art, after all.
Good luck
ETA: when I refer to 3rd person, I’m referring to 3rd person limited
ETA: i forgot you asked for resources/link. Rivet your reader with deep POV - https://www.amazon.com/Rivet-Your-Readers-Deep-Point-ebook/dp/B007PUMQ1O
You can read the author going over the basics in the preview
>All i'm saying is, Scientists would never even begin to try to study a soul, life after death or any such things because it's a taboo subject
Actually, while I almost entirely agree with everything you've said so far (I avoid the /r/atheism circljerk like the plague), science has tried to tackle at least some of the spiritual unknown. I personally have not read it, but it is highly recommended and I have read other books by Mary Roach.
Is this what you are referring to?
http://www.scribophile.com
Scrivener
Pinterest
Aside from this subreddit I find https://www.reddit.com/r/Writers_Block/ and their discord helpful.
Edit: I also found these two books very helpful for outlining and checking my novel structure. I got them both on Kindle and read them religiously.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0978924622/ref=r_soa_w_d
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00EJX08QA/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Archives for the links in comments:
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I am Mnemosyne 2.1, All links must be Archived. ^^^^/r/botsrights ^^^^Contribute ^^^^message ^^^^me ^^^^suggestions ^^^^at ^^^^any ^^^^time ^^^^Opt ^^^^out ^^^^of ^^^^tracking ^^^^by ^^^^messaging ^^^^me ^^^^"Opt ^^^^Out" ^^^^at ^^^^any ^^^^time
Could be..
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0039GL21I/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Relevant: http://imgur.com/a/JVdPF
KM Weiland's blog is helpful.
Also, Story Engineering by Larry Brooks will get you on the right path. Most stories follow the three act structure, or even more simply, three disasters and a conclusion.
This story isn't new at all. In fact, it's covered in this rather fine book book by journalist Nick Davies, whose efforts to expose the workings of the Murdoch press and expose the failings of journalism in general (with a focus on British journalism) should be rewarded by everyone buying this book.
Seriously. Do it now.
Farsisr9k, Yes I do believe that the public shares the blame with the media for turning the “free press” into a cess pit of salacious idiocy. I implore you and anyone who is interested in journalism today to read Flat Earth News by Nick Davies (no affiliation to myself, just a bloody though provoking read ). By asking tabloid junkies, “true crime” readers and all manner of other CSI watchers to share a smidgeon of the blame I am in no way apologising for Murdoch. He and his followers have done as much lasting damage to the decency of one human being to another as Hitler and the Nazis ever did.
What I was getting at is that the News now markets murder and other horrific events at us like an entertainment product; but we can chose to be entertained by it of not. Please allow yourself to imagine a world where Murdoch and Co don’t “saturate” you and everyone else with their corrupt commercial imperatives… Its not difficult if you try :-)
Write Your Novel from the Middle by James Scott Bell. An unusual perspective that involves finding the defining moment for your main character. Once you have that, the rest of the book practically falls into pladce. $4 and only 100 pages. Put it on your phone and you can read it in an afternoon or two. Also, his Plot and Structure.
How to Write a Damn Good Novel by James Frey.
Dramatica: A New Theory of Story by Melanie Anne Phillips.
Writing Active Hooks by Mary Buckham. Also, her Writing Active Setting.
Million Dollar Outlines by David Farland.
In her book Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife Mary Roach explores the OOB/operating table phenomena, among other things. Conclusion: inconclusive, all reports are anecdotal.
There is one scientist doing a controlled study, by placing a computer monitor on top of a shelf in the OR, aimed at the ceiling. The images change randomly. The theory is that someone leaving their body and looking down at the scene should be able to describe the image on the monitor; to date, this hasn't happened. Study has been running a few years now.
Some resources I have found useful:
Wordplayer - a series of columns on the art of screenwriting by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio speaking from many years of direct experience at the epicenter of Hollywood craziness.
TVTropes - dangerously mesmerizing index of every conceivable story telling paradigm you can imagine.
Plotto
The book you're thinking of is The Writer's Market; it's the bible for the American publishing process.
Before you listen to this guy you should read what A. Macleod, an academic who wrote his PhD thesis on Venezuela and media manipulation wrote about this topic in an AMA.
https://www.reddit.com/r/BreadTube/comments/ak1wtu/hello_im_dr_alan_macleod_i_have_studied_venezuela/ef1a624/
His book is on amazon.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bad-News-Venezuela-misreporting-Communication/dp/1138489239
It's also worth remembering what the same media and these same NGOs (HRW/Amnesty) led us into destroying Libya
That's pretty good. I like Write Your Novel from the Middle by James Scott Bell. It's short, $4; you can download it onto your phone and read it in an afternoon. There's a certain point in the middle of a book where the hero takes a good, hard look at himself, then decides what he needs to do. Figure out that point, and the rest of the book falls in place.
I also like How to Write a Damn Good Novel by James Frey.
I'd recommend you pick up two books to read that will go much further in depth than anything here:
https://www.amazon.com/Writers-Guide-Weapons-Practical-Reference-ebook/dp/B0108VCP9E/ref=as_li_ss_tl
and
https://www.amazon.com/Violence-Writers-Second-Rory-Miller-ebook/dp/B00CWGH46I/ref=pd_sim_351_1
This book will help you.
> because why wouldn't they hold his job for that
I read a book by a programmer that left his job to hike the Appalachian Trail and got it back when he returned. He didn't have the job "held" for him exactly, but he talked to his boss before he left. The boss agreed there was a slow period coming up where they could be a man down and still do OK, and also that it was going to take them months to hire for the open position. The agreement was basically, we'll hold off on hiring your replacement and you have to apply fresh again when you're back, but I can't see why we'd hire someone else.
I also found the book interesting because at the end he said he was glad he'd done it but he was pretty sure that if he could go back in time he would not choose to do it.
[I Hike] (http://www.amazon.com/I-Hike-Lawton-Grinter/dp/0985241500) IMHO paints the best picture of a thru-hike. Though it is not specifically AT, it also has short stories from the CDT and PCT. AWOL on the AT is a decent account of an AT thru-hike.
Paddle to the Amazon- written by Don Starkell. Don and his son set out from Winnipeg by canoe and got all the way down to where the Amazon meets the Atlantic. It's written in the form of a journal, as he recorded everything that happened and wrote it when he returned. The things that they went through! http://www.amazon.ca/Paddle-Amazon-Ultimate-000-Mile-Adventure/dp/0771082568
He also kayaked the Arctic years after this- I haven't read this book yet but I imagine it would be just as badass: http://www.amazon.ca/Paddle-Arctic-Incredible-Story-Across/dp/0771082657/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y
What made you go directly for a smaller author-services company?
According to industry though-leader Guy Kawasaki, Amazon has a majority of the market share (over 70%) and he subsequently recommends publishing first with CreateSpace should you choose to use author-services.
I worked for an up-and-coming author services company & was not impressed with their ability to help their customers sell books.
If you are feeling overwhelmed, Guy's book APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur (link below) is an amazing resource for the first-time self-publisher.
Hope that helps!
http://www.amazon.com/APE-Publisher-Entrepreneur-How-Publish-ebook/dp/B00AGFU5VS
I like to sit in silence at my laptop. I need to be able to focus on my ideas. I tend to have a vague outline, but I like to let the work take me where it wants to go.
I'd love this.
If I handwrite - I prefer plain bic blue pen on yellow legal tablets, otherwise I preferred my Asus netbook until my husband ruined it by spilling chili oil on it - now I'm shopping for a replacement.
I prefer a starbucks or other cafe - but not the comfy chairs - I need the hardback chairs, not too close to the drink prep areas, 'cause that's too noisy, and close to the outlets for keeping my equip. charged. Panera is too noisy, cold and only has 30 mins of wifi free.
I need eats and drinks available and extra comfy longsleeved sweatshirts. And I use yarny.me online as my software because that way I won't lose my work and I can pick it back up anywhere and it's uncomplicated and free.
I'm just one wholesale slaughter away from finishing the first draft of a short novella, then I can get back to the first book in a trilogy that I already have outlined. I also have the first few chapters of a mystery/western series book, as well as other stories outlined for an anthology.
Whenever I get a good idea, I outline the heck out of it, because life is a determined b---h who likes to interrupt me at the slightest provocation.
This would be great as the next addition to my writing resource shelf.
Amazon has you covered.
Yea that's a problem but it's definitely not the problem with Reddit. The real issue is the fact that this site is an astroturfer's paradise. Create a thousand bots, have them create a thousand accounts, post a thousand reposts, then post comments from the original posts in the reposts and upvote upvote upvote. Do this for 3 months and sell the accounts to social media marketing companies. The absolute worst aspect isn't even the corporate advertising which I think is as benign as commercials. The real sinister astroturfing is the political type. Whether it was r/the_donald posts on the front page daily during the election or the daily anti-trump r/politics posts today. These are almost certainly not organic and there is evidence for it. It is propaganda pure and simple. Social and political manipulation on a mass scale.
I strongly recommended anyone who reads this post check out the book The Smear by Sharyl Attkisson. The book is truly eye opening and you will never look at social media the same way again. The media in general too. There's a reason the media seems to reflect reality so poorly, it's because it doesn't.
In the book she outlines how partisan political groups game internet algorithms to put their content in front of as many eyes as possible. She even interviews some of the people involved in the work. Reddit really makes it easy for them. They even prepared for 2020 by quarantining the only pro Trump sub on this site so that democrats are the only ones who can successfully game the system during the next election.
A large percentage of viral events on the internet are staged these days. Considering the potential profit of making something go viral, why wouldn't they? It's like a multi-million dollar ad campaign that costs a few thousand dollars. It seems people have no imagination when it comes to these things. A perfect example is that Popeye's chicken sandwich that people were mysteriously obsessed with beyond rationality.
Somehow I highly doubt that Don Starkelll would have approved this method to reach the Amazon from Winnipeg Canada:
https://www.amazon.ca/Paddle-Amazon-Ultimate-000-Mile-Adventure/dp/0771082568
I think it's more of a manifesto. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0039GL21I
But yes, you can read it.
I suspect most authors at least start out as pantsers. It's like riding a bike: you don't plan a long road trip your first try. You aim for reaching the end of the block without falling off, and try to decide if you really like doing this. It proves to be fun, you do it more and you get better. At some point you may find you have mastered the difficult skills involved in basic story telling (character, setting, action - resolution cycles, dialog, etc) and you want to take better control of the big picture stuff: theme and plot.
You also start thinking about the realities of making money doing this. That raises the question of efficiency. Ramming out 5,000 words a day sounds great, but if you have to rewrite it 7 times and cut 3,000 of those words, or worse yet, all 5,000 because you drove your plot into a dead end, then it isn't 5000 words, its about 10% of that. So outlining suddenly looks more productive.
How detailed? David Drake, a very prolific author, has posted the outline for one of his well-known Lt. Leary books because of all the requests. It's interesting to see how one pro does it: https://david-drake.com/2014/plot-outline/
On a personal side note, I'm switching from pantser to planner for two reasons: first, its easy for a plot run away from me. I've always got one more great idea or a cool plot twist. Suddenly, I'm trying down to edit a 240,000 word scifi novel. That editing is a lot less fun than writing it was.
The second reason I'm switching to planning is co-authoring. I'm working on a novel with another writer. We started by exchanging chapters. It became a contest over who controlled the plot and who could create the coolest characters. About the same time we discovered there are expectations from editors for plot arcs, and hard rules if you ever want to make it into a screen play. After 10 chapters we agreed we needed an outline. We followed "Structuring Your Novel" by Weiland, which gave us a model we could understand without too much study.
The proof of being a successful author is in SALES; whats the use of writing if you don't get read? I hate to admit it, but I've got almost a million words on paper in various projects, but none clean enough to sell. I blame pantsing for that; which is why I've switched to planning on everything new I start over 2500 words.
But however you choose to do it, don't feel trapped, just write on!
Even better: http://www.amazon.com/Plotto-The-Master-Book-Plots/dp/1935639188
Read Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach. She goes into detailed research about infrasound and electromagnetism being the causes of ghost sightings.
I saw this picture in a post in pics about the Romney/Obama divide. I'm not American, but this seems to me to be a form of brainwashing. It implies you're either with us or against us. There is no middle ground for you. I'm sure this kind of poster wouldn't go up in NY or California.
Brainwashing isn't really about strapping you to an electrode machine and shocking you into submission. The real messages that are being sent are far more subtle than that and come from your TV, radio and the internet. Everyone operates with an agenda. The news corporations are there to make a profit. They provide the news that sells. They tell the people what they want to hear. There is a great book called Flat Earth News which goes into great detail about the news is served to largely ignorant public.
I think it's fine if he means it. If not, I agree he shouldn't be saying it. However, ISIL has lost 1/3 of its territory under President Trump's strategy for the military. President Trump also wasn't afraid to bomb a Syrian airbase after Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons.
He's clearly not very patient--and nor should he be.
> Hence, other world-leaders could use mere words as a prod, rendering Don-Don's actions & replies as both predictable and VERY susceptible to being twisted and used for propaganda.
Well, as a matter of fact, HR 6393 passed by Obama in 2016 legalizes counterintelligence propaganda to be used on American citizens and against foreign countries such as Russia (Russia is especially specifically stated in this bill). So you're right about it being twisted and used for propaganda.
This was when Obama found of the pre-existing evidence of Trump's relation to Russia. There is no "new evidence" of the past; the tailored ops group had already captured and analyzed it.
The media are playing games. Some members of Congress acknowledge this (i.e. Trey Gowdy).
This is a great book to read about a somewhat similar journey though not as much open ocean - https://www.amazon.ca/Paddle-Amazon-Ultimate-000-Mile-Adventure/dp/0771082568
The fact that this is the book that the quote is sourced from makes me understand why such peculiar wording would be used.
It also made me lose just a little more faith in Wikipedia's validity.
Plotto: The Master Book of All Plots!
Just buy APE. It has pretty much everything you'll need to get your book up.
http://www.amazon.com/You-Are-Being-Lied-Disinformation/dp/0966410076/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254450211&sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.com/Drug-War-Dan-Russell/dp/0965025349/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254450271&sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.com/Rogue-State-3rd-Worlds-Superpower/dp/1567513743/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254450315&sr=1-1
Flat Earth News by Nick Davies. Opened my eyes to the broken state of the global media.
I read this book early on, and it really helped me put the pieces in the right spots. Getting structure figured out early frees you up for learning the fun stuff like characterization, etc.
Another place for instant info on structure is http://cockeyedcaravan.blogspot.com/, although it's a bit advanced.
And here is a super basic run-down of how movies are structured. Novels can have a slightly different structure, but scrolling down and reading about a bunch of stories you already know helps you get a feel for the reader's expectations.
http://thescriptlab.com/component/abc/?view=alphabetical&task=&catid=131&Itemid=152
http://thescriptlab.com/screenplay/five-plot-point-breakdowns
Have you read Guy Kawasaki's book? Any opinions on his advice?
K. M. Weiland's book Structuring Your Novel is awesome. She also has other books about outlining and character arcs that were super helpful for me.
used books?
anyway.. check out the reviews of this book on how to outline your novel:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0978924622/ref=oh_details_o00_s01_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
This is a collection of tips and whatnot from a published author.
I recommend these highly.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CWGH46I/ref=oh_aui_d_detailpage_o04_?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00U5GIGGY/ref=oh_aui_d_detailpage_o03_?ie=UTF8&psc=1
	
	
	
> # Why Venezuela Reporting Is So Bad
>
>
>
> Bad News From Venezuela
>
> Alan MacLeod’s Bad News From Venezuela
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>
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> For almost 20 years, the US government has been trying to overthrow Venezuela’s government, and establishment media outlets (state, corporate and some nonprofit) throughout the Americas and Europe have been bending over backwards to help the US do it.
>
> Rare exceptions to this over the last two decades would be found in the state media in some countries that are not hostile to Venezuela, like the ALBA block. Small independent outlets like VenezuelAnalysis.com also offered alternatives. In the US and UK establishment media, you are way more likely to see a defense of Saudi Arabia’s dictatorship than of Venezuela’s democratically elected government. Any defense of Venezuela’s government will provoke vilification and ridicule, so both Alan MacLeod and his publisher (Routledge) deserve very high praise for producing the book Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting. It took real political courage. (Disclosure: MacLeod is a contributor to FAIR.org, as am I.)
>
> MacLeod’s approach was to assess 501 articles (news reports and opinion pieces) about Venezuela that appeared in the US and UK newspapers during key periods since Hugo Chávez was first elected Venezuelan president in 1998. Chávez died in March 2013, and his vice president, Nicolas Maduro, was elected president a month later. Maduro was just re-elected to a second six-year term on May 20. The periods of peak interest in Venezuela that MacLeod examined involved the first election of Chávez in 1998, the US-backed military coup that briefly ousted Chávez in April of 2002, the death of Chávez in 2013 and the violent opposition protests in 2014.
>
> MacLeod notes that US government funding to the Venezuelan opposition spiked just before the 2002 coup, and then increased again afterwards. What would happen to a foreign government that conceded (as the US State Department’s Office of the Inspector General did regarding Venezuela) that it funded and trained groups involved with violently ousting the US government?
>
> MacLeod shows that, in bold defiance of the facts, the US media usually treated US involvement in the coup as a conspiracy theory, on those rare occasions when US involvement was discussed at all. Only 10 percent of the articles MacLeod sampled in US media even mentioned potential US involvement in the coup. Thirty-nine percent did in UK media, but, according to MacLeod, “only the Guardian presented US involvement as a strong possibility.”
>
> Venezuelan Media: Caged or Free?
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> Source: Alan MacLeod
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>
>
> As somebody who regularly reads Venezuelan newspapers and watches its news and political programs, I thought the most powerful evidence MacLeod provided of Western media dishonesty was a chart showing how Venezuela’s media system has been depicted from 1998–2014. Of the 166 articles in MacLeod’s sample that described the state of Venezuela’s media, he classified 100 percent of them as spreading a “caged” characterization: the outlandish story that the Chávez and Maduro governments dominate the media, or have otherwise used coercion to practically silence aggressive criticism.
>
> There is a bit of subjectivity involved in classifying articles in a sample like MacLeod’s. From my own very close reading of the US and UK’s Venezuela coverage over the years, I’m sure one could quibble that a few articles within MacLeod’s sample contradict the “caged” story; perhaps reducing the percentage to 95 percent, but that would hardly assail his conclusion. It is truly stunning that Western journalists can’t be relied on to accurately report the content of Venezuelan newspapers and TV. How hard is it to watch TV and read newspapers, and notice that the government is being constantly blasted by its opponents? No background in economics or any type of esoterica is required to do that much—simply a lack of extreme partisanship and a minimal level of honesty.
>
> MacLeod acknowledges that the Carter Center has refuted a few big lies about the Venezuelan government, including the one about government critics being shut out of Venezuela’s media, but he also reminds us that a week after the perpetrators of the 2002 coup thanked Venezuela’s private media for their help installing a dictatorship, Jennifer McCoy (America director for the Carter Center at the time) wrote an op-ed for the New York Times (4/18/02) in which she said that the “Chávez regime” had been “threatening the country’s democratic system of checks and balances and freedom of expression of its citizens.” Venezuelan democracy deserved much better “allies.” The Carter Center may have sparkled at times compared to the rest of the US establishment, but it’s a very filthy establishment.
>
> Drawing from the work of Ed Herman and Noam Chomsky, MacLeod provides a structural analysis of why coverage of Venezuela has been so terrible. Corporate journalists, with rare exceptions, reflexively dismiss common-sense analysis of their industry. Chomsky and Herman therefore resorted to proving various common-sense propositions, identifying “filters” that distort news coverage in ways that serve the rich and powerful. For example, it matters who pays the bills. (In other news, water is wet.) Corporate-owned, ad-dependent media will tend to serve the agenda of wealthy owners and corporate customers who provide the bulk of the ad dollars. Such media will usually hire and promote people whose worldview is compatible with the arrangement. That greatly reduces the need for heavy-handed bullying to enforce an editorial line.
>
> Business pressures also drive media outlets to cuts costs, and therefore rely on governments and big corporate outfits as cheap and readily available sources. Losing “access” by alienating powerful sources therefore becomes expensive, even before you consider other forms of flak that powerful people can apply.
>
> Beyond the general “filters” that Chomsky and Herman identified, MacLeod described others that are specific to Venezuela. MacLeod pointed to
>
> > massive cuts to newsroom budgets, leading to reliance on local stringers. Local journalists recruited from highly adversarial Venezuelan opposition–aligned press, leading to a situation where Venezuelan opposition ideas and talking points have their amplitude magnified. Anti-government activists producing supposedly objective news content for Western media.
>
> He also explained that
>
> > journalists are overwhelmingly housed in the wealthy Chacao district of Eastern Caracas…. This, combined with concerns over crime, creates a situation where journalists inordinately spend their work and leisure time in an opposition bastion. Hence, it can appear to a journalist that “everyone” has a negative opinion about the government.
>
> I wish MacLeod had more forcefully stressed another factor explaining why Venezuela reporting is so bad: impunity. A structural analysis explains why biased coverage results even if journalists are usually honest, but being able to say anything you want about an adversary without having to worry about being refuted (and discredited) encourages dishonesty. Media bias in Venezuela’s case could more appropriately be called media corruption.
>
> (continues in next comment)