Comments on: Old School Water Torture… Just… Make… It… Stop http://www.slushpile.net/index.php/2005/08/31/old-school-water-torture-just-make-it-stop/ Writing about writing Sat, 11 Feb 2012 06:58:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: gaukroger http://www.slushpile.net/index.php/2005/08/31/old-school-water-torture-just-make-it-stop/comment-page-1/#comment-18400 gaukroger Mon, 19 Jun 2006 23:20:42 +0000 http://www.slushpile.net/?p=194#comment-18400 Nice site. Thank to work... Nice site. Thank to work…

]]> By: Logan http://www.slushpile.net/index.php/2005/08/31/old-school-water-torture-just-make-it-stop/comment-page-1/#comment-105 Logan Wed, 31 Aug 2005 21:44:20 +0000 http://www.slushpile.net/?p=194#comment-105 (Unless, of course, you're an editor like Pat Walsh.) (Unless, of course, you’re an editor like Pat Walsh.)

]]> By: Logan http://www.slushpile.net/index.php/2005/08/31/old-school-water-torture-just-make-it-stop/comment-page-1/#comment-104 Logan Wed, 31 Aug 2005 21:42:07 +0000 http://www.slushpile.net/?p=194#comment-104 Actually, I don't think he's being hard on Koch at all. Having flipped through this disaster, I can tell you that if there were some random person wanting to get started in writing better, this would not be the book I would recommend. I would in fact recommend against it. There is information to be certain, but many of the italicized comments don't even factor in to the point he's trying to make, and the point he actually is trying to make doesn't help at all. Go back to the quote: "You can make up a story only by finding it, and you can find a story only by making it up." Strip away the formatting fun, and what you're left with is a cryptic and altogether useless comment, which is rife throughout this book. You're far better off grabbing something else. Stephen King's "On Writing" gives a boatload of information without torturing you. Blogs of authors are so much more helpful than any book on writing could ever be. Unless you're Stephen King, or Chuck Palahniuk (who will have his book on fiction writing minimalism out pretty soon), if you're writing a book about writing a story, chances are you are not as great as you think you are, because if you were, you would be *selling a fiction story.* Actually, I don’t think he’s being hard on Koch at all. Having flipped through this disaster, I can tell you that if there were some random person wanting to get started in writing better, this would not be the book I would recommend. I would in fact recommend against it. There is information to be certain, but many of the italicized comments don’t even factor in to the point he’s trying to make, and the point he actually is trying to make doesn’t help at all.

Go back to the quote: “You can make up a story only by finding it, and you can find a story only by making it up.” Strip away the formatting fun, and what you’re left with is a cryptic and altogether useless comment, which is rife throughout this book.

You’re far better off grabbing something else. Stephen King’s “On Writing” gives a boatload of information without torturing you. Blogs of authors are so much more helpful than any book on writing could ever be. Unless you’re Stephen King, or Chuck Palahniuk (who will have his book on fiction writing minimalism out pretty soon), if you’re writing a book about writing a story, chances are you are not as great as you think you are, because if you were, you would be *selling a fiction story.*

]]> By: Frances http://www.slushpile.net/index.php/2005/08/31/old-school-water-torture-just-make-it-stop/comment-page-1/#comment-103 Frances Wed, 31 Aug 2005 15:43:32 +0000 http://www.slushpile.net/?p=194#comment-103 You are being way too hard on Stepehn Koch. It's actually bizarre how strongly you reacted to his book. Is it his pedigree that bothers you? I have read this book and worked directly with Stephen at a writer's conference and appreciate his basic point: get off your butt, stop complaining andstart writing. I didn't find it hard to find good information in what you describe as "buried under an avalanche of formatting and printer virtuosity" I'll give you credit, however, for writing (as usual) an entertaining post. You are being way too hard on Stepehn Koch. It’s actually bizarre how strongly you reacted to his book. Is it his pedigree that bothers you? I have read this book and worked directly with Stephen at a writer’s conference and appreciate his basic point: get off your butt, stop complaining andstart writing. I didn’t find it hard to find good information in what you describe as “buried under an avalanche of formatting and printer virtuosity” I’ll give you credit, however, for writing (as usual) an entertaining post.

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