My grandson announced he wants to become a writer. Well, knock me over with a feather. In my view being a writer is one of the most solitary and least rewarding of all professions. Most practitioners begin with some sort of journalism, and then accidentally fall into "writing" as a vocation. I wonder if that is how it will happen with him? Regardless, it's important to draw distinctions between writers. There are a few good writers, and there are a lot of bad writers. Only a talented few are really good, and they are the authors that write something that stirs, aggravates, motivates, or entertains. They are also the few that are paid well.
Devon (my grandson) has chosen a very difficult area of subject matter to write about; fantasy adventures and future events. These might be loosely classified together as "Science Fiction". This area of thought is definitely not my cuppa tea, yet I've enjoyed many books in this genre. A few remain in my mind;
- Fahrenheit 451 (Bradbury)
- Brave New World (Huxley)
- 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (Jules Verne),
- You Shall Know Them (Vercors),
- Contact (Sagan),
- The Road (McCarthy),
- 1984 (Orwell),
Any one of these authors is worth reading, and each has produced several excellent books, but there is no question in my mind that they are all relatively tame compared to most Science Fiction being written today. The problem (if any) is that Devon seems to prefer the more modern trend toward gross and excessive violence and mayhem. Personally, I have found that oversexed writing, blood and guts, mass destruction, and violent explosions are all covered quite well by television and movies. I prefer a more thoughtful and intellectually stimulating kind of writing.
I'm waiting (not so) patiently to read Devon's first manuscript.
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