When I was, briefly, a CW t.a., I had the opportunity to watch the prof invent a lecture 10 minutes before class. It showed in her delivery; o boy did it show.

And academics wonder why they get a bad rap.

Z, it's not that I think that the book I didn't like was intentionally ill-built, it's that by not finishing it I'm not sure. I'm unable to say whether it was sloppy, or ill-concieved or poorly executed or what. I worry that I was unfair to it because I gave up so much sooner that I would have it was a book I was biased towards liking. Perhaps the things I didn't like would have turned out to have a point. When I give up 20 pages in (and it wasn't much more than that) I don't know whether I don't like it because it was poorly written or if I just don't like it.

Ok, but there are good ways to ill-build a book and bad ways. Peter Carey's technique in "The True History of the Kelly Gang" for instance, works brilliantly because it convinced me as a reader that this is how a semi-literate but highly intelligent rogue would write. It's full of solecisms, but it's still powerful. Ditto Faulkner in "The Sound and the Fury" Part I. All I'm saying is, no matter how intentional a misbuilding is, it still has to keep the reader's interest. If it doesn't, it's not working and doesn't deserve to be read.

Peter, what school did you go to? I have to say that I had some very good and pedagogically dedicated profs at Dalhousie; they were the rule, the odd dud the exception.

NTORJ, come on, spill it -- what book?

The best profs I had in University were never "esteemed" academics... they were dedicated teachers, and no one's ever heard of them. Shame.

Zed,

That particular comment came from a UBC prof during my brief stint there (withdrew after a year). But it was the same deal at York and Western, where I also did grad school. In that prof's defence, it was well-meant advice. He was trying to tell me to look after my academic career first because the alternative was no academic career. He was right.

I get the feeling they actually hire teachers out east, as opposed to academics, but I can't really say for sure as I've never spent any time in the departments there.

ninja, this is the problem with not reading the whole book. I don't want to mention it by name because my opinion is not a considered one. Just visceral. It's one thing to spout unthinking criticism with friends over a beer, but as much as this space has that vibe sometimes, the truth is it's too public a forum for me to run off at the mouth in an irresponsible manner. I don't mean to be coy. If I'd finished the book, I'd be more comfortable saying that it sucked and sucked hard, but I didn't finish it, so I can't bad mouth something that I may have disliked simply because I just wasn't in the mood for it and unwilling to give it a chance.

Edited by author 12-05-2003 11:13 PM
Just Add Water and You Have a Novel!

Oh, yes, also required are: talent, connections, a well-placed sexual favour, a year of waiting anxiously, self doubt, denial, alcoholism, a dash of time in a mental institution, estranged loved ones, a mysterious fire in the basement, and two personalities!



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NaNoWriMo

"Why do this to yourself? Because you'd never do it otherwise. The aspiring amateur novelist promises himself he'll get around to it "someday," but that day never comes. The 30-day deadline is intended to provide focus so you actually get the thing done, for better or for worse. (Odds heavily favor "for worse.")"



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Ah, December... Only you can save us from NaNoWriMo

Isn't that a city in Northern BC?

Two people have managed to publish NaNo novels, both of whom substantially edited their drafts after the November frenzy was over. Jon Merz was already a professional writer of supernatural thrillers. His 2001 NaNo novel, The Destructor, pits his hero, a sort of vampire cop, against a female villain who is part vampire and part werewolf.

NaNoWriMo is ''sort of the puke-it-out phase,'' Merz says. ``Perfection -- if it's attainable -- comes later.

You don't say... See, I would have thought the vampire vs. were-vampire just about as perfect as any one thing could get. (Take that, Coetzee! Hey, Atwood, I vant to suck your blood! Bite the silver bullet, Naipaul!) (Use bugmenot to get a password)



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How did NaNoWriMo go?

Do you really care? In case you do. I would rename it it NaMoWriMo, but that's my own issue.


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Alert for all travellers to North America: Abuse of Human Rights and Privacy Violations:

Racially intolerant white canadian cops and security and their henchmen claim to be despots; following parasitically in the footsteps of their american counterparts, and wilfully engage in their racial profiling of non-whites, in racial harassment of non-whites, and in racially dehumanizing attempts to racially harass non-whites through intimidating physically, mentally, and spiritually; portraying their racial hatred of non-whites through causing wilfull and dehumanizing disturbance to non-whites through using illegal wall-see-through technologies and audio-bugs on non-whites' homes; through listening and watching through the walls of non-whites' rented and owned homes, and through their internet and private telephones. The perpetuators of these evil deeds do this from their cars using illegal equipment slyly given to them by the unworthy cops, and then accelerating their cars loudly and intimidatingly near non-whites' homes and driving intimidatingly in presence of non-whites on streets, making threatening u-turns, driving intimidatingly right up and over sidewalks when a non-white is on the sidewalk, and throwing their ugly bullying weight around, in their shameless acts of cowardice. It is all done slyly, supposedly smartly, however, they cannot fool all the people all the time. The cops also participate themselves to wail their sirens abusively everytime non-whites move and talk inside their rented and owned homes in daily routine living, in addition to having their henchmen, and often, using their non-white gutless henchmen in cars, transport, shopping centers, neighborhoods, etc, to commit these ugly harassing racially profiling deeds at all times day and night. Using non-whites to engage in racial harassment of other non-whites is an obnoxiously evil sinister humanely disgraceful intelligent move of the whites well-known for their ugly divide and rule tactics through their non-white henchmen. It's a shameful disgrace when the so called protectors of law turn into abusers of law themselves and throw the weight of their uniforms and law around. So, they and their henchmen, appear to be very law respecting on the outside; however, they network cowardly to commit sly acts of provocation to non-whites all the time, which is supposed to be legally acceptable. Is watching through walls of non-whites homes, bugging their homes, working in networking syndicates against them, committing human rights and privacy violations against them, supposedly lawful for the whites? Who makes those laws that favor only the whites? The law itself has racism in its clauses. The ugly inner dirt of the perpetuators of these evil deeds of racism do not deserve to step into religious institutions for their ugly deeds - such as, if you ain't white, you ain't right? Oh! Really? Nicely dressed, beautiful people, magnificient concrete jungles, clean roads and lawns, sweet polite talkers on the outside, full of ugly stench in their souls, that is the cause of these racist policies that are outrightly biased against non-whites. What a shame! Most of these ugly acts of dehumanizing racial profiling depict the cowardice of the doers of these deeds in the real sense, and are done at the behind the scenes insistence of the racially intolerant white cops through their frontline stooges. However, without physical evidence, the white cops, security, socieities, and their henchmen are laughing sinisterly at their heinous deeds and the legal system seems to support this evil through its inability to take action without physical evidence. Their racial profiling penetrates public transport systems, shops and stores to do all they can to make the non-whites feel unwelcome in their dehumanizing acts of racial profiling against non-whites and those who don't conform to their nonsense. The white cops, security, and white communities use their henchmen who do just as they are told and from behind the safety cushion of their oil-guzzling, pollution creating, often dark-glassed vehicles to intimidate and harass non-whites in obnoxious racial profiling that reflects the immoral, despotic, and cowardly behaviour of racially intolerant white cops, security, communities and their dumb henchmen who do just as they are told, fuelled as they are in their racial frenzy, thanks to the racially manipulative corporate controlled media.

For more information, visit:

http://www.yourluckytoday.blogspot.com

Volunteers are welcome to circulate this information to all they know to put an end to this abuse and violations of human rights committed by immorally misbehaved white cops, security, white communities, public transports, shops, stores, etc, and their dumb henchmen who do just as they are told in their racial frenzy.

Save this information on your computers before any cowards remove it from the websites.

Racism is immoral and dehumanizing behaviour that reflects the "incapable to perform humanely" quality of those who are racist and are being watched from God's court above in ways they cannot be expected to be capable to perceive yet.

It's a shame when obnoxious stench of racism comes from people in so called rich countries. It's even more of a shame when words are twisted by media to influence young minds with lies. It's even more of a shame when so called authorities perpetuate racism and behave racistly and enforce racist policies and behaviour through intimidating means amidst outer sweet and polite talks. Racism seems to be prominent among so called white people in rich countries who cannot bear non-whites from other countries of origin. Planet Earth belongs to people of Earth. Highly educated people of high intellectual calibres, rich bosses and CEOs, etc, of rich countries are a blotch on humanity and their material levels when they haven't yet evolved to basic human concepts of all humans have red blood irrespective of race.

Racism stems from social attitudes that are perpetuated by racist societies, the media, the authoritarians, and the peers. It's time to say, shame on all those who perpetuate racism and racist attitudes.

Thank you.