Saturday, November 24, 2012

11/23/2012 In The Amazon The Evil Of The Red Herring



     Just a quick thought that I expressed on Facebook earlier this week to start things off and see if I have anything more in length to say about the subject.
I find it interesting that so many of the writers and editors, some who I respect a great deal, think Amazon is the core of evil in publishing but don't peep a word when it comes to big publishers combining or becoming part of a large conglomeration. Seems a little weak to me.
     The whole Amazon is going to destroy publishing thing has been pissing me since it started. First as I’ve said many times if the big publishers or big chain bookstores could think outside their own footsteps they would have created an Amazon before Amazon. Any situation they may be in is a product of their own shortsightedness.
     And it’s kind of bullshit for people to go after Amazon in defense of the weak, small, helpless little big publishers. Are you really saying I should feel sorry for them, really? That’s like saying I should feel sorry for the government when the fires that been burning for years with them not caring a bit finally reach their toes.
     Anyways, as I’ve also said before if Amazon is on a course to break the system, then I say let it break because it’s a system with a very narrow line of sight. Break, crumble, all fall down, then hopefully be rebuilt better by the people. And if the people once again allow it to be rebuilt as the same sort of stagnant pile of horseshit then it will be our own fault there.

     Another thought I had on Facebook that I’d like to maybe explore a little further here.
     I like red herrings in stories, and I'm not just talking about mystery story red herrings. I like stories that go in dead end directions at times to keep the reader on their toes thinking or at least play with the reader to keep them sharp.
     Maybe it’s just the writer in me but I lose interest a lot when I can predict the course of things in a story and it leaves a bad taste in my mind after reading something when I knew for a long time what was coming.
     I can enjoy mindless simple stories sometimes but for the most part I believe a writer should duel with the reader, maybe take them to places in thinking they would not have normally gone.

     To update on my NaNoWriMo book.
     Thursday I wrote 6,045 words while watching X-Files all day as a Thanksgiving Day writing sprint. My NaNoWriMo is currently at 66,047 words and marching on. Hope I can at least reach 80,000 before the month is over.
     I took a break on Friday to watch Doctor Who related stuff on the 49th Anniversary and doing more of that today but writing also.

     And I’ll end this short entry with this.
     A friend of mine who is an editor, we were talking about writing and publishing and something got us talking about writers and their little “Ticks” as she called them.
     She said she pictures writers like Alex from Clockwork Orange in a ludovico apparatus.
     I think she was joking?
     I think.
     "You all are droogs."
     I was happy she included me in the "you all" part because she works with some well known writers, that was until she said, "But remember even within droogs there are levels of quality."

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