Book closers?

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TheWordsmith

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Well, there's not really much to say after all of that, is there? Pretty much covered all of the extreme offenses that would turn me off on a book. Well, there is one thing... lack of research, getting the facts wrong. Like, the other night I watched the pilot of the tv series Scorpion. My stomach roiled when I heard the supposed incredibly brilliant 197 IQ MC say, "Normally people use only ten percent of their brain."
Okay. That's enough. Can't take any more.

You don't have to be as smart as the characters you are creating but you shouldn't be incredibly dumb, either. I've been beating this drum for years and, finally, the brains of research have caught up. WOW! Look! People really DO use more than ten percent of their brain!

Now all we need are writers to catch up so as not to make their 'geniuses' look downright ignorant.

And the riddle at the beginning of that show was pretty ignorant, too. I could almost hear people yelling at the television over that. Oh. No. Wait a minute. That was me.

Don't insult the reader's (viewer's) intelligence. A sure fire way to alienate your audience.
 

Laer Carroll

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The fact that the guy on Scorpion said he had an IQ of N to prove he's very intelligent proves that he is NOT very intelligent.

My IQ has been measured at 180+ (as high as most IQ tests go). And for many years I worked at a job requiring much intelligence. Believe me, I am plenty stupid in plenty of ways!

Intelligence benefits us in many ways. One of them is to recognize that there are many kinds and they come in many packages.
 

TheWordsmith

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The fact that the guy on Scorpion said he had an IQ of N to prove he's very intelligent proves that he is NOT very intelligent.

My IQ has been measured at 180+ (as high as most IQ tests go). And for many years I worked at a job requiring much intelligence. Believe me, I am plenty stupid in plenty of ways!

Intelligence benefits us in many ways. One of them is to recognize that there are many kinds and they come in many packages. [Thus proving your own.]

But, you do realize, Laer, that, the smarter you are, the more you see the frailties. It's easier to see what you don't know and it tends to make you feel... dumber(?).

Actually, the character was comparing himself, and his IQ, to Einstein's. Which, once again, just goes to prove the lack of intelligence of the writers! Just makes me want to sigh and go back to bed.

And of course I don't need to tell you, the whole IQ concept is nearly worthless by the time you are old enough to go into a bar and drink alcohol. It's about the POTENTIAL, not the ACTUAL. And genius has little to do with IQ points.

I'm probably among the dumbest of all my siblings. But, most of them are incredibly, incredibly brilliant. We used to drive the nuns nuts in grade school. Our father - (No. Really, our parent, not the prayer) - was a genius but also, sadly, an alcoholic. The paradox of a brilliant mind, I guess.
 

Blinkk

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And of course I don't need to tell you, the whole IQ concept is nearly worthless by the time you are old enough to go into a bar and drink alcohol. It's about the POTENTIAL, not the ACTUAL. And genius has little to do with IQ points.

This is so true. I was just talking with someone the other day about a very similar thing. If a genius has no drive and no motivation, what's the point of harboring all that smarts in their head?

In a sort of similar conversation, we ended up talking about people with incredible musical talent. Many of them don't have the drive to make it in the industry, so they just sit at home and play blazing solos to their TVs. Not quite the same, but a fairly similar concept. It's what you do with your talents that makes you stand out.
 

Aerial

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Well, there's not really much to say after all of that, is there? Pretty much covered all of the extreme offenses that would turn me off on a book. Well, there is one thing... lack of research, getting the facts wrong. Like, the other night I watched the pilot of the tv series Scorpion. My stomach roiled when I heard the supposed incredibly brilliant 197 IQ MC say, "Normally people use only ten percent of their brain."
Okay. That's enough. Can't take any more.

You don't have to be as smart as the characters you are creating but you shouldn't be incredibly dumb, either. I've been beating this drum for years and, finally, the brains of research have caught up. WOW! Look! People really DO use more than ten percent of their brain!

Now all we need are writers to catch up so as not to make their 'geniuses' look downright ignorant.

And the riddle at the beginning of that show was pretty ignorant, too. I could almost hear people yelling at the television over that. Oh. No. Wait a minute. That was me.

Don't insult the reader's (viewer's) intelligence. A sure fire way to alienate your audience.

Oh, please don't get me started on that show! I made it about 5 minutes into it before turning it off. I work in the aviation industry and they made so many stupid errors that one conversation with an airline pilot or controller could have avoided that I couldn't take it. Seriously, there are 56 commercial aircraft that can't be diverted to another airport (in California!) even though they have enough fuel to circle the airport for 2 hours, and even if they were too low on fuel, they couldn't land under VFR conditions on a perfectly calm and sunny day?

So, yeah. Don't insult your audience. Do enough research that it feels authentic to the non-industry experts, and so that the experts are willing to give you a pass on the stuff you don't get right because you obviously made the effort to learn as much as you could.
 

Zannan

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Grammar and once I know the book isn't about what I expected it to be.
Do not trick me or I will throw all your books in the fire at a book burning. (not really.)
But, I will never by your books and vent my disgust with the author with my friends.
 

TheWordsmith

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Seriously, there are 56 commercial aircraft that can't be diverted to another airport (in California!) even though they have enough fuel to circle the airport for 2 hours, and even if they were too low on fuel, they couldn't land under VFR conditions on a perfectly calm and sunny day?

Ooh! I hadn't thought about that. Too obsessed over other stupid errors that I completely missed the elephant in the ATC tower.

Thanks.
 

Gunzen

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I dunno if this was posted yet, but a hero/heroin that can do no wrong, and can hit every shot with a gun. I hate an invincible MC, I need vulnerability.
 
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Katharine Tree

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Without having read through the whole thread... incompetent storytelling turns me off, in all its flavors.

Then there is the dark/desperate atmosphere, in which everyone is hard-bitten, life is brutal, comfort can't be found, and there's no humor.

I need some humor, or some romance, or some domestic bliss or something to convince me that characters are really people. Finding nothing at all to feel happy about is clinical depression, and clinically depressed people don't function.

So sure, raze your character's home, slaughter his family, pox him, bankrupt him, lock him in a closet with a zombie horde outside... but find a moment for him to be human, too.
 

Orianna2000

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Finding nothing at all to feel happy about is clinical depression, and clinically depressed people don't function.

Huh? Plenty of clinically depressed people can function normally. Also, being clinically depressed doesn't mean you can't find anything to be happy about.
 

Katharine Tree

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Sorry: people in the middle of a major depressive episode.

Anyway, it's human nature to look for someone comforting to latch onto. Not letting your characters do that isn't realistic.
 

jjdebenedictis

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Huh? Plenty of clinically depressed people can function normally. Also, being clinically depressed doesn't mean you can't find anything to be happy about.
Yeah, I was a little freaked out the week I had two separate students come to me and admit they were struggling with some serious mental health issues.

I wouldn't have guessed. Not even for a moment. Even knowing, I could not find even one 'tell' in the way they behaved.

I had no idea how closely 'functional' could mimic 'totally fine'.
 
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