2nd February 2006, 1:15 PM
1.) He didn't make it up.
2.) A side from some details, all of the events are true.
3.) None of you have any idea what you're talking about.
I cant explain this any clearer: a wholly factual 100% accurate book is called a textbook and is usually found in schools. It is almost always non-partisan and extremely dry, never going in to opinion (unless quoted) and consistently working in a third-person view. These types of books are usually a guided commercialy viable conception from a group of researchers who compile information about a particular subject and copy/paste anything that can or has been proven as accurate for the publisher. Anything that is not accurate is noted and seperated for the reader to show that it is a part of the subject though not logistically black and white or proven.
We are not talking about an educational book, it is an entertainment book, to entertain. This is not a group of people who made up their experiences in the Vietnam war, this is not plagerism, it was not created to put false ideals in to people's heads and no writer under any circumstance ever believes he or she will make "millions of dollars" from one book. The publisher might, but the writer will not, at most he will make a % from the sales that, perhaps in a few decades if the book remained on shelves and in the top 5, might reach "millions" in sales for the writer though that RARELY HAPPENS and of course his base pay which at most, is somewhere around the thousands to tens of thousands mark depending on the property, the publisher, how many publishers wanted the book, etc. He probably got a check for 5000 bucks and a 0.000000001% royalty for every book sold, as he is a new writer with no experience and an unknown property.
He is not a corporation nor is he a commercial endevour, he is one guy who typed up a story on his PC and then went around to publishers looking for a way to get the inspirational book on the market.
Let me explain again: Writing a story of true events has only two versions - the textbook and the entertainment book. One is informative, the other is entertaining. While the informative one is dry, lacks character and can be boring, the entertainment one can be amazing, dramatized and fun to read though often replacing or otherwise altering some of the details or time-line of events to apply the real life events in to something that is not boring.
Can anyone here write a 500 page story about their lives that will make Oprah's book of the month? I didn't think so. Now for anyone here who's ever writen anything, let me put you in his shoes:
Event title- Girlfriend commited suicide
Pre-event - ?
Event - Was out of town, called girlfriend and she said she was feeling bad, depressed. Returned to town to find out she had killed herself. Feeling guilty, I withdrew and was unable to speak to anyone.
Post event - ?
Now the conversation on the phone can fill up a page, maybe two, but I invite anyone here to make an entire chapter out of that and make it amazing, heart wrenching, fast paced, make people cry when they read it so they can feel exactly how you felt - make then feel the pain of losing someome to suicide.
I apologize for sounding like an egocentric ass but if anyone here had any formal education on writing you would realize how unfounded your opinions are. Mostly you're angry because had the book stayed out of Smoking Gun people would have continued to praise him, love him, call him amazing, hundreds of thousands perhaps millions of people would have a place in their heart for him and you guys are simply jealous - angry at how a person can be instantly loved and adored because he had a shitty life when we ALL have had a shitty life and ALL deserve to be loved and adored.
But the fact is, his GIRLFRIEND commited SUICIDE, do any of you have any idea what that can do to a person? Has anyone here even HAD a girlfriend or serious relationship for more than 5 years? or even more than a year? Has anyone here (i'm hoping Nickdaddy shows up for this one) spent a lifetime using drugs, losing your family's love over it, losing grasp on reality? living in a half-way house and the only thing on your mind is getting the next high? None of you can even begin to imagine such a thing, and in your ignorance you keep proclaiming the book to be a lie when in fact it is MOSTLY true and that the only untruths are things used to put the TRUE EVENTS in to perspective for people who cannot imagine such a life or such events and make them feel as if its happening to them, people who have always strived to do the right thing, stay away from drugs and love the family etc and occasionaly get that itch to just say fuck it and stop trying - well here's a book about what happens when you stop trying.
I know, you're all going to say i'm wrong, that you can imagine such things happening and they're not important and that he lied to trick you, take your money, etc. But atleast I'm able to attempt to help you guys see a bigger picture.
2.) A side from some details, all of the events are true.
3.) None of you have any idea what you're talking about.
I cant explain this any clearer: a wholly factual 100% accurate book is called a textbook and is usually found in schools. It is almost always non-partisan and extremely dry, never going in to opinion (unless quoted) and consistently working in a third-person view. These types of books are usually a guided commercialy viable conception from a group of researchers who compile information about a particular subject and copy/paste anything that can or has been proven as accurate for the publisher. Anything that is not accurate is noted and seperated for the reader to show that it is a part of the subject though not logistically black and white or proven.
We are not talking about an educational book, it is an entertainment book, to entertain. This is not a group of people who made up their experiences in the Vietnam war, this is not plagerism, it was not created to put false ideals in to people's heads and no writer under any circumstance ever believes he or she will make "millions of dollars" from one book. The publisher might, but the writer will not, at most he will make a % from the sales that, perhaps in a few decades if the book remained on shelves and in the top 5, might reach "millions" in sales for the writer though that RARELY HAPPENS and of course his base pay which at most, is somewhere around the thousands to tens of thousands mark depending on the property, the publisher, how many publishers wanted the book, etc. He probably got a check for 5000 bucks and a 0.000000001% royalty for every book sold, as he is a new writer with no experience and an unknown property.
He is not a corporation nor is he a commercial endevour, he is one guy who typed up a story on his PC and then went around to publishers looking for a way to get the inspirational book on the market.
Let me explain again: Writing a story of true events has only two versions - the textbook and the entertainment book. One is informative, the other is entertaining. While the informative one is dry, lacks character and can be boring, the entertainment one can be amazing, dramatized and fun to read though often replacing or otherwise altering some of the details or time-line of events to apply the real life events in to something that is not boring.
Can anyone here write a 500 page story about their lives that will make Oprah's book of the month? I didn't think so. Now for anyone here who's ever writen anything, let me put you in his shoes:
Event title- Girlfriend commited suicide
Pre-event - ?
Event - Was out of town, called girlfriend and she said she was feeling bad, depressed. Returned to town to find out she had killed herself. Feeling guilty, I withdrew and was unable to speak to anyone.
Post event - ?
Now the conversation on the phone can fill up a page, maybe two, but I invite anyone here to make an entire chapter out of that and make it amazing, heart wrenching, fast paced, make people cry when they read it so they can feel exactly how you felt - make then feel the pain of losing someome to suicide.
I apologize for sounding like an egocentric ass but if anyone here had any formal education on writing you would realize how unfounded your opinions are. Mostly you're angry because had the book stayed out of Smoking Gun people would have continued to praise him, love him, call him amazing, hundreds of thousands perhaps millions of people would have a place in their heart for him and you guys are simply jealous - angry at how a person can be instantly loved and adored because he had a shitty life when we ALL have had a shitty life and ALL deserve to be loved and adored.
But the fact is, his GIRLFRIEND commited SUICIDE, do any of you have any idea what that can do to a person? Has anyone here even HAD a girlfriend or serious relationship for more than 5 years? or even more than a year? Has anyone here (i'm hoping Nickdaddy shows up for this one) spent a lifetime using drugs, losing your family's love over it, losing grasp on reality? living in a half-way house and the only thing on your mind is getting the next high? None of you can even begin to imagine such a thing, and in your ignorance you keep proclaiming the book to be a lie when in fact it is MOSTLY true and that the only untruths are things used to put the TRUE EVENTS in to perspective for people who cannot imagine such a life or such events and make them feel as if its happening to them, people who have always strived to do the right thing, stay away from drugs and love the family etc and occasionaly get that itch to just say fuck it and stop trying - well here's a book about what happens when you stop trying.
I know, you're all going to say i'm wrong, that you can imagine such things happening and they're not important and that he lied to trick you, take your money, etc. But atleast I'm able to attempt to help you guys see a bigger picture.