951 Reply by vern

(19 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

rhiannon wrote:
SolN wrote:

Hi all,

After a pause in contests, we're excited to announce the 2016 Strongest Start Competition. We've assembled a unique set of prizes that provide the winner with the opportunity to improve their work, get in front of a publishers, and promote their book once it is published. As in the past, one of our goals with the competition is to provide members of the site with an incentive to improve their first three chapters.

To learn more, click the link below:

https://www.thenextbigwriter.com/contes … on+2016-14

Sol

Hi Sol.  Loving the new format for TNBW.  One question about the contest.  You say submit the first 3 chapters.  How many words would be the limit?  Thanks in advance for answering me.

I don't believe there is a limit now other than the cost and reader aversion to the length. I just did a test with nearly 11,000 words and it was accepted. Only cost 33 plus points, so I declined, lol. Take care. Vern

Edited for PS: Just to clarify, that was 11,000 words for one chapter.

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952 Reply by vern

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flubber

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953 Reply by vern

(3 replies, posted in Additional Writing Feedback)

I would say go ahead and make those millions if possible, then you can buy a truck load of soapboxes to stand on; until then the footing is more like standing on soap bubbles. Take care. Vern

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954 Reply by vern

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Blue ox

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955 Reply by vern

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word eater

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956 Reply by vern

(19 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Four days and counting; first one in wins, lol. Take care. Vern

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957 Reply by vern

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literary agent

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958 Reply by vern

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The way all good Easter-egg hunts should end. Congrats. Take care. Vern

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959 Reply by vern

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Dill Carver wrote:

Ground Hog?

https://www.nicolosifoods.com/wp-conten … corino.jpg

That's funny; exactly what I was thinking.

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960 Reply by vern

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Simon Morris wrote:

I got a connection request from Larraneise and went to the page. No writing, no posts, no comments. I simply deleted the request. Sometimes, a little detective work saves a lot of aggravation. Behind the best fiction is research of FACTS.

I also checked her profile page and saw nothing and decided to wait to see if anything would be posted before replying. BTW, many legitimate new members have no portfolio or comments at first. So all the research didn't matter as she was deleted before the real "FACTS" could be ascertained; therefore, the connection request still exists on my home page despite the research until Sol resolves it as promised. Take care. Vern

PS: Faux connection request gone; thanks Sol.

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961 Reply by vern

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talking out of your ass

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962 Reply by vern

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njc wrote:

Only to your reputation smile

LOL

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963 Reply by vern

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Thanks, all, for the in-put and thank you Sol for the quick response. Take care. Vern

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964 Topic by vern

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Hello Sol, my home page shows I have a connection request, but when I click to see who and respond, it says I have no pending connection requests. Curious mind wants to know which page is correct -- the truth will set me free. Take care. Vern

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965 Reply by vern

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answerism

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966 Reply by vern

(172 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

njc wrote:
vern wrote:

However, I can understand that "not thinking" is definitely the "new cool" among our presidential candidates. They must really be enjoying themselves, lol. Take care. Vern

Oh, Vern, you are guileless and innocent!

The essence of popular politics is feeding voters on their dreams, which you subvert to serve your schemes.  That takes plenty of conniving, and conniving is thinking bent to a specific kind of end--to making people work, and choose, and vote for what you want, not for what they want.  But it would be fatal to your schemes if you ever let the voters really see you thinking ... because it might teach them how to think

Well, there's thinking and then there's thinking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTqra4YSsaM

Take care. Vern

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967 Reply by vern

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Dill Carver wrote:
vern wrote:
Dill Carver wrote:

"The book to read is not the one which thinks for you, but the one which makes you think."

Who wrote that?

Since we're on the subject, my guess would be Harper Lee. But sometimes I don't really want to think, just enjoy. Take care. Vern

Not thinking is the new cool. They way of the world. Glad you are ahead of the game when it come to enjoyment over thought. Take care also. Dill

I wouldn't classify thinking and enjoyment as being a competition to win or lose. Some things are to be thought about such as whether to walk out in front of a speeding car and others are to merely be enjoyed such as a damn good slice of cherry pie. Of course thinking and enjoyment don't have to be mutually exclusive as thinking can also be enjoyable. Nothing new or cool about it from my perspective; been that way since forever and a day as far as I can tell. However, I can understand that "not thinking" is definitely the "new cool" among our presidential candidates. They must really be enjoying themselves, lol. Take care. Vern

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968 Reply by vern

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Dill Carver wrote:
Janet Taylor-Perry wrote:

Like or dislike, those of us on here endeavoring to create a lasting piece of literature can only hope that one day our writing can inspire such a heated debate.

"The book to read is not the one which thinks for you, but the one which makes you think."

Who wrote that?

Since we're on the subject, my guess would be Harper Lee. But sometimes I don't really want to think, just enjoy. Take care. Vern

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969 Reply by vern

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frick and frack

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970 Reply by vern

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Sorry I will miss this lively and interesting discussion in order to play golf for a few days in Charleston SC. The sacrifices we must make, but maybe I'll be lucky and sober enough to peek in on occasion. Carry on. Take care. Vern

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971 Reply by vern

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Dill Carver wrote:

You are right. The Atticus's messages are grand. And he is no racist to the skim reader, (that is until his author is forced to spell it out to them). Oh, and he's not fundamentally sexist either.

Like Jessica Rabbit, he is just drawn that way. wink

"In Mockingbird. Atticus lets his young daughter run around in overalls; he doesn’t force her into dresses, because he is a good dad. He understands that she’s a serious person, but when Scout voices her indignation that women aren’t allowed to serve on juries, Atticus says, “I doubt if we’d ever get a complete case tried—the ladies’d be interrupting to ask questions.” He’s a good dad, a good patriarch—but he’s raising Scout into another version of permanent childhood. He doesn’t think a woman has the moral capacity of a man." Quote from link above.

If you choose to overanalyze a book, I suppose you're going to find what you're looking for one way or another. So now Atticus along with being racist - I'm talking TKAM, not Go Set a Watchman which I mentioned previously is basically another book fifty years later with a character who happens to have the same name imo - is sexist because he happens to think based upon a good deal of the evidence (anecdotal and now scientific) that women talk more than men. Yes, you can find studies to prove the opposite as with most anything, but here is one which provides a possible basis for the difference in the proclivity for talking and gives a numerical difference since the use of such seems t have some powerful effect:
  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ … ecise.html
Are all men (or women) who say women talk more to be deemed "sexist"? I believe that is a bit of a stretch. I've made such comments about women I know to them and to my wife and never gotten any argument to the contrary and never been called a "sexist" because of it. They all agree. It has been postulated there could be an evolutionary reason for women to develop better language skills than men as they cared for and had to communicate with the young as well as others in the child raising collective whereas men didn't talk that much out hunting animals so as not to scare off the prey.

And if women do have better language skills as suggested, then it would be completely natural for them to use them more often. My wife talks more than I do, my daughter talks more than I do, my nieces we raised talk more than I do, pretty much every female I know talks more than I do; so, I don't see Atticus' comment about women talking more to be "sexist." But then, I'm not really looking to make him such in TKAM. Take care. Vern

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972 Reply by vern

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Dill Carver wrote:

Thanks Vern

I think that I 'm getting it.

So, the intended non-discriminatory edict ...

vern wrote:

not "cheatin' anyone regardless of their circumstance in life.

...is best communicated and reinforced into young childrens' susceptible minds by discriminating between race and determining a ratio of difference in terms of importance between those races.

You are are right, it is certainly not a lesson in arithmetic, it is clearly a lesson in something else.

Sort of like a 'fighting for peace' or 'fucking for virginity' oxymoron way forward.

The communication is  reinforced by the exaggeration mentioned much as your exaggeration in "fighting for peace" which is not exactly the oxymoron it is presented to be since sometimes you do "fight for peace" when faced with a bully who will beat you to a pulp if you don't stand up and fight. Been there, done that. Still it does get the message across. I suppose my take on Atticus' language is skewed because I don't see him as a racist in TKAM; that only appears to be the case some fifty years after the fact in another book which doesn't equal the first imo and just as well be a totally different character with the same name. But then I didn't read it to analyze motives, etc; I read it for fun. Each reader will see it in through their own eyes as with all books. "Fucking for virginity" now that could be a fun lesson, lol. Take care. Vern

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973 Reply by vern

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Dill Carver wrote:
vern wrote:

“ “Atticus says cheatin‘ a colored man is ten times worse than cheatin’ a white man,” I muttered. “Says it’s the worst thing you can do.”

……To me, it is a man parenting a child the best way he knows at the moment. It is little different than all the "little white lies" we all tell every single day: "Yes, that dress looks beautiful on you." "You look the same as you did in high school." "You can be anything you want to be." "Liars never prosper." and thousands of others or variations of such……

You are totally right, it is great parenting, like we all do every single day.

Although, I can’t help but wonder (should I need to tell the kids) what would be the 'value of the man’ fraction for an indigenous native North American or a crippled rail road worker of Chinese extraction under the Atticus rule of parenting?

“Atticus says cheatin‘ a colored man is 10 times worse than cheatin’ a white man, whilst cheatin‘  a red man is 8.7 times worse and cheatin‘ a yellow man 5.9 times worse”

How about a Mick? The Irish are white but like the Polish they surely don’t make the mark of a proper Alabama white man?

Now it’s been explained it is obvious that the ‘ten times less of white mans-worth’ rule that Atticus is drumming into his children is correct. I see now that his advice is not racist or elitist because Atticus is simply educating the kids upon way that HIS WORLD is; giving them a worldly-wise fact from the voice of experience in order to convert their childishly innocent equality instincts into harsh reality; he’s merely promoting the white-man, black-man value equation as an edict of life, like a good parent would to his 6 or 7 year old child, so they’ll know where they stand.

Atticus the lawyer advocates that it is ten times better to cheat a white man than it is a black man. As a lawyer I suppose he would expect this equation to be upheld by a court of justice relating to the adjudged seriousness of the crime and in relation to compensation and sentencing?

Whilst he is equating the value of a crime in accordance with a man’s skin and since the crime the novel is centred around is an alleged rape; using Atticus equations do you think it would it be ten times worse for a white man to rape a black woman than it would a black man to rape a white woman? I ask only because from the book I gather that the people of that time and place seem to inherently hold the inverse opinion.

Imho, all the numbers are totally irrelevant and only used to perhaps reinforce the message of not "cheatin' anyone regardless of their circumstance in life. It is no different than someone saying something to the effect of "I'll kill you if you do that again" when the recipient of the message knows full well that is not going to happen. It is an exaggeration and we use such things in speech all the time and I expect that the child Scout, being presented as a rather intelligent child, fully understands it is not meant to be a lesson in arithmetic. I do not judge such exaggerations in literature any more than I judge someone for saying their girlfriend or such is the most beautiful girl in the world; it is subjective and totally biased, but doesn't diminish the one saying it in the least. Just the way I see it. Take care. Vern

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974 Reply by vern

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“Atticus says cheatin‘ a colored man is ten times worse than cheatin’ a white man,” I muttered. “Says it’s the worst thing you can do.”

I don't recall the quote from reading way back when, but I do the sentiment within. As far as the above quote from TKAM is concerned, I don't see it as condescending, patronizing, belittling, or any other similar description. To me, it is a man parenting a child the best way he knows at the moment. It is little different than all the "little white lies" we all tell every single day: "Yes, that dress looks beautiful on you." "You look the same as you did in high school." "You can be anything you want to be." "Liars never prosper." and thousands of others or variations of such.

We say things which we know are "lies" because it seems the thing to do at the time and the absolute gospel truth may do more damage than it does good. We are all hypocrites in that respect. A lie is a lie; we don't get to fraction it up to make it more or less of a lie than any other lie. When you get down to it, lies actually keep society functioning a bit more smoothly than if went around stating the truth, whole truth, and nothing but the truth all the time; we'd all kill each other, lol. So, Atticus isn't completely honest with Scout in his statement, but it doesn't diminish his concern for her or his attempt to shield her from ugliness she may not be prepared to shoulder at her tender age. The quote is rather ingenious from that perspective imho and it makes for good dialogue in helping focus character.

We each have our views of what is good or bad literature and it would be a dull site/world indeed if we all agreed on everything. I enjoyed TKAM, but I certainly understand that everyone would not share my view of it or any other book in the vast known universe of books. There is no right or wrong, only different opinions. Take care. Vern

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975 Reply by vern

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Dill Carver wrote:

The rent, it needed to be paid she knew that; but oh, how she cursed her impoverishment and wished to God there was another way.

Second sentence: That little slut.

Okay, I'm sure if CB is still around, he'll inform me that ain't a sentence, but it's mine damn it. Take care. Vern

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