Books Meme

[tomoe_daeva]

I think that it's time for a good ol' meme :3
I grabbed this from queenseptienna over LJ, it was a meme about books, and since I'm kinda sensitive to the subject at the moment I thought of giving it a try.
Sorry in advance if I'll give you boring answers ;_;

Comments

[m3n747]

Oh, that's pretty interesting. Let's see...

Which was the first book you ever read?
No idea, I just can't remember after all those years. But I can safely say that among the first ones were Grimm's Fairy Tales, Scenes from the life of the dragons and probably Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales (not sure if that's the cover of the edition I had; I did, however, find a picture of the inside of the book). My parents would read those books to me when I was little, so it follows that they were also the ones I started reading myself when I learned the fine art of deciphering those funny little black thingies on the paper. :D

Have you ever dreamt about a book you read? If yes, tell about it.
I might have, but if so, then I don't remember it.

Which is the first thing that gain grabs your attention in a book? The cover, the story or the title?
I'd say that depends on the circumstances - do I see the book on the shelf in a book shop or at my friend's home, or does somebody describe the story to me? Is the cover interesting or dull? Is the title written in big or small letters? Is it in a different language?

Have you ever cried over a character's death?
No, but I may have been a little sad.

Which is your favourite genre?
I don't like this kind of questions because I can never answer them quickly or easily. And they always seems to imply a self-imposed limitation as to what I like. Judging by my top 3 absolutely most favourite book series ever, I would be inclined to say fantasy and science-fiction. But then again, there's a particular fantasy book series which I cannot honestly call bad, but which I don't want to ever read again - so I would much rather just name some of the books I like rather than their respective genres.

Have you ever met a writer?
I have. As a matter of fact, I met her twice - and I got two autographs in the process. :D (I also have a third one, but this one came with the newly-bought book, just like that.) Anyway, both meetings were very fun and informative - she shared lots of interesting tidbits about her career, her books, the translations of her books into other languages (complete with some horrible covers of the Czech editions), and even showed us some of her custom made book covers. Good times.

Post a picture that represents what reading is for you.
Just what you would expect. XD Although in recent months it's more like this for me.

[tomoe_daeva]

Yes, it's a very interesting meme :D

Awww, how cute <3 You know, my parents never read me stories, they just recite them from memory-- So I didn't own any book like that before I went to school and started to read-- I mean, I had "Little Women" and other of that kind, but I never cared about reading those XD

You're being a smartass on #3 XD
Let's say that you enter a bookshop to waste some time, and you're looking lazily at the shelves-- What books catches your interest first?

Yeah, I found the "genre" question a bit difficult to answer to too :/

Your experience with the author's meeting sounds fun :3
I assume that it's a matter of how the interview is conducted, maybe--
I usually love to hear about the creative process of writing or drawing but in the end it all feels kinda dull to me :/
--Maybe it's because I can anticipate the answers in advance? Mah!

Awwwww at kittens XD !

[m3n747]

My parents told me some stories as well - my father knew a few he would tell me over and over (but I liked them, so I didn't mind the lack of fresh material XD) and my mother had a knack for coming up with stuff of her own pretty much on the spot. She even had two running series of stories. :D

Well, in that case I'd say the cover - after all it's the most visible part of the book. XD

I guess it depends on a person. Ewa Białołęcka was always very nice, joyful and had a kind of your-favourite-aunt air to her. XD Both meetings with her I attended were very relaxed and had a friendly atmosphere (probably in part due to the locations, the first one was in a bookshop/café and the other in a public library), with the author talking - and the fans asking - about lots of different things, not necessarily directly connected with her books. All in all, a really pleasant couple of hours.

On the other hand, a friend of mine once attended a meeting with Andrzej Sapkowski and he says (and a number of people on the Internet seem to agree) that the guy's an arrogant dick. XD

[tomoe_daeva]

I guess all parents do :D
Anyway, I wasn't the kind of kid who needed much maintenance, anyway XD

The most visible part of the book on a shelf should be the title, LOL >D

Mah, I don't think that such things would make a difference for me.
Also when I was interviewed (?!) during YaYCon about my webcomics makking I felt as if-- All that I say was quite stupid, too XD
Talking with people is entertaining but when you have to explain things-- I don't know, it sounds so obvious and simple to me XD <-*sounds like some kind of schizoid genius, LOL*

[m3n747]

That depends on the size of the font and whether it's the cover or the spine facing a potential buyer. XD

It's not just about explaining your creative processes etc., I also enjoyed all those little bits of trivia that you don't usually know about. For instance, aside from writing books Białołęcka also writes fanfiction. She wrote a series of Harry Potter fanfics, which she published on a forum; later she decided that those stories have a potential on their own, so she removed any and all elements of the HP world, replaced them with her own and published as a collection of original stories. All was fine, until people from said forum noticed similarities between the stories and the fanfics and started wondering who plagiarised whom - without ever realising that it was all written by the same person.

Another such titbit - when another book of hers was first published, the publisher - despite the author's reminders - neglected to give the manuscript to somebody who knew the German language, resulting in a German character speaking really bad German. And another one - most of the novel takes place in a fictional village, located nearby a real-life one; at one point an address is given, complete with a postal code. However, as one reader noticed, that real village was placed in one voivodeship, whereas the postal code pointed to a different one. So you see, it's small things like those that you don't usually know about that make such meetings worth while. Provided, of course, that the author is a nice person. :D

[tomoe_daeva]

Well, that's not the kind of things I care about XD
They're fun to hear, but they're not actual informations on how to do things.

[m3n747]

You can learn about that from teh internets! XD

[tomoe_daeva]

There's a lot of crap that one can get from the internet alone XD

I'd like to hear authors talking about such things-- But in the end I guess that authors should just write instead of talking XDD
But on another degree, I agree that it can be interesting to interact with them, expecially if you have business with people like this Białołęcka seems to be :3

[m3n747]

True, but amidst all that crap there are some gems to be found. For example, there's this one article about some important basics of writing I really like - it's Polish only, but the pictures should give you some idea. XD

Well, I guess it all boils down to what kind of person an author is and whether or not they have something interesting to say in an equally interesting manner.

[tomoe_daeva]

No, trust me, the pictures don't give any idea XDD

Yeah, I guess so.
But still, are authors supposed to be entertainer? I still believe that their works are the most interesting thing about them :3 Maybe I'm just a psycho-charlatan, but I like trying to guess people from their books. The "3D rendition" of people, as usual, I find it boring.

[m3n747]

Not even this one? :D I once read a book that had this particular problem (among others) - reading the part where the main character was arming himself felt like reading an inventory listing from a video game.

I guess it depends on what you consider "entertainment". What if somebody writes mostly dark and disturbing stuff? That part about guessing people's personalities from their works is certainly interesting, but I'm not sure how accurate it might be. I mean, I wrote an Evangelion fanfiction about the NERV personnel playing football against the Angels, what does that tell you about me? XD

[tomoe_daeva]

Not really-- Looking at it klike this, without any explanation, it looks as if the writer is looking for informations over an armoir for a detailed rendition of the character XD

When I say "Entertainment" I mean the skills of this persons to enteratain people in real life, during conferences or interviews.
Oh my God, do you really think that I'm so superficial to judge a person JUST for the subjects that they write ;D ?It's all in the WAY they write. How the sentences run, the use of certain words, even the punctuaction. --And when they are asked to read in public a bit of their books? I know that I could never do that, it'd show to much of myself (also, I have a ugly voice) XD
I mean, writing is a very honest way of expression. When I read a book I'm very pleased by guessing the author behind the words-- So it's kinda bothering when you see "shadows of their books" in action, once in real life.

...That would say about you that you're a relatively fun person that shouldn't be taken too seriously-- And that probably you're bit of a Dadaist, thinking that mixing things up without Honour or Humanity is a pure performance of human's superior mind >P

[m3n747]

Actually, it was a reader falling asleep due to the amount of needless details. :D And to think that this book is considered an important entry to the Polish literature - and required reading in high schools - despite the copious amounts of landscape and nature descriptions... *shudders*

Oh, I misunderstood then. Well, I do have a certain way with words, if I say so myself, particularly in my comedic stuff. I was thinking of perhaps trying to translate some of my fanfics into English, but part of the humour would be inevitably lost in translation - not to mention that I like to reference popular culture by including quotations from books, songs, games etc., some of which come from Polish sources, not known to foreigners. Still, I might give it a shot some day.

I don't know about dadaism, but I most certainly am a rather fun person and you definitely shouldn't take me too seriously. I also like that bit about a superior mind. XD

[tomoe_daeva]

Well, details must not be seen as a flaw by default.
I think of some literature that use the obsessive listing of details as a mean to suggest some "dreamlike" imagery-- Se chapter 9 of "The Portrait of Dorian Gray" were Dorian starts ranting about all the stuff that he collects, and it creates some really cool mental images-- Then you have Hemingway, with his paragraphs about how to lace your shoes and have the impression that you're wasting your life XD

Yes, translating stuff is always a trouble!
It's not just because of the mere translation in another language, as you say it's all about the "arrangement" of the words, the way they sound in another language.
I can say that I'm not so skilled in English to pretend to write stuff that sounds the same as my Italian things do ._.
As for the specific cultural refs, it wouldn't be such a trouble :3 You could use notes to explain certain things, if you need to do so, enriching the culture of the reader :3
There was a story of mine back in the days, where every chapter ended in a huge note; that was quite cool an idea, I must say, and the readers loved that XD It was fun playing with notes and using them as part of the story!

Ahah, I'm glad that you're happy with my description XD

[m3n747]

It all depends on how it's done - you can work numerous details into your story and make them interesting, or you can just list everything in a scene and have readers falling asleep. In that book I mentioned earlier there's a scene when the main character collects weapons and ammunition; it would suffice to write that the guy took a couple of high-calibre handguns, a submachine gun, a shotgun, a sniper rifle and all the ammo he could carry - but instead a reader's treated to a complete list of the specific models he chose and how many clips and shells per each gun he took. That's needless detail that doesn't add anything to the story and only makes the readers scratch their heads. Contrast this with The Guns of Avalon from the Amber cycle - the guns are in the title, but all you ever learn about them is that they're automatic rifles that use custom-made ammunition, and that's all you need to know. Details are good when they add to the story or the atmosphere, but they can easily grow too numerous and grind the story to a halt. That other book I mentioned had pages upon pages of descriptions of nature, and I don't think I know anyone who wasn't bored by them - my Polish literature teacher included. XD On the other hand, the descriptions of nature in Pan Tadeusz were quite engaging - but then again that was an epic poem written by the greatest poet we ever had, so it's hardly surprising. XD

That's true as well, I have used certain combinations of words whose meaning can be easily translated, but which have a very specific sound that cannot be replicated.

Well, that might be an option - still, I think it would only work with some of them. And it's one thing when a character uses a quote from a song in their dialogue, for example. I've written a fanfiction (again, Evangelion) that was based upon a verse from this song - some of the lyrics are in the text, but some are only implied and unless you know the song, you won't get the reference.

I most certainly am! XD

[tomoe_daeva]

Yes, exactly XD

Yeah-- Much of another language's "poetry", as in sound and rhythm gets lost in translation, the most of time...

In the end it's all a matter of making your writing rich, inspiring, stylish yet comprehensible ^_^; !