Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: The Reader (04/15/10)
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TITLE: Why I'm not bored | Previous Challenge Entry
By Tom Rinkes
04/17/10 -
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The reader is a fickle anomaly, with to each their own; I think I read that somewhere. What would interest you might bore me to death unless we had common interests. I recently visited my son and his wife in Nashville, and every Thursday Amina (my daughter-in-law) and her girlfriends get together and review the book they chose to read that week. Last week's author was someone named Ivanovich. I asked:
“Have you ladies ever read any of Nelson DeMille's books?” The room became hushed.
“...Nelson who?” I guess it's a gender thing, I thought, as I picked up Wildfire. After one chapter, I was extremely entertained.
Today a lot of people are fascinated by the Vampire tales. I must admit I am too, not the myth of it all, but that so many readers are caught up in the concept of one being raised from the dead without benefit of The Holy Spirit. There's only three people that I know of that escaped the depths of Hell, and they were from Israel and not Romania. Imagine the truths these searcing-for-answers people will have forced on them on the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord; He says I must pray for them, and I do.
As an aspiring writer I made the conscious decision, when I started, to stop reading other's work for fear I might copy their style and phrasings. That lasted about two years until I saw the fallacy in it, and resumed reading my favorite authors. I even read stories from authors I didn't like with genres that usually I found as exciting as the average lullaby. So why put myself through all that retinal torture? It's simple; they were successful, and I am not. Will I lose my “identity” this way? Probably a little, but my identity has netted me zero dollars, so it ain't like I'm getting rich doing it my way.
Some people read just to relax. My son-in-law works steady midnight shift, gets home around eight o'clock each morning, and by nine he retires to the bedroom with the book of his choice. By ten his room sounds like he's operating a chain saw on a California redwood. He says he chills out that way, plus it expands his vocabulary. I've heard his whole grammarian skills when he's working on his old work car, and I must pray for him too. Like I've got room to talk.
Non-fiction has never appealed to me, but with many its all they'll read. They wish to stay informed on local and world events, and with our world getting smaller it's almost one and the same. Take auto-biographies. People love to hear about the trials and tribulations of others, celebrity status or not. It's nice to know that someone else has had the same problems you have, and have persevered. If one is ever persecuted for their belief in Christ, then they need look no further than the writings of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Paul to receive comfort. They are the original authors of “Been there, done that.”
I love fiction because I find it unique when someone with a vivid—and sometimes extremely vivid—imagination finds a way to make a living with it. They, I think, are the best writers. Anyone can sit back and wait for some dastardly despot in Whocaresastan who wants to start WWIII makes their move and then write a column on it. A good fiction writer starts a war from scratch and then ends it in 80,000 words or so.
At $X.00 per word, that's not exactly chump change.
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Mum's the word. I especially liked the line with "whocaresastan." lol.
Good job
Keep on reading other people's entries to pick up ideas and hints. And make sure you have a look at Jan's class on the Forum.