Is creative use of language a dying venue?

originally posted by DarthJazy

Clansman

You described perfectly why most of us play world of warcraft (god I miss it). while i still got things done in my rl life i knew a few people who were so into Final Fantasy 11 or other MMO's that they lost there kids jobs yadda yadda yadda. they all say i prefer that reality to this one.

Now I go through phases where I will read a lot 5 - 10 books a week in some cases (my record is 10) Then I may barly read at all and get into my computer internet stuff spending 16 hours a day minus time with son and rl duties. I am currently playing a lot of online poker as well as rl poker at our local bars so that way i may meet a woman. The rest of the time i go through TV phases where i will watch multiple shows. besides heros im not really addicted to anything right now but once starwars hits next year watch out. and always am practicing my martial arts

Now Most people have hard enough time with 1 or 2 hobbies let alone 3 or more. plus reading has become an expensive hobby if you buy the books esp since most libraries dont carry that large of a collection in fantasy books. I cleard my shcools library of all book i found intresting in under 6 months. I wont go into publisheers cause im still annoyed with the US dam i knew i shoulda moved to aussie when i had the chance.

While there are those of us who will use the correct writing form most of us will not hell it wont be long before the dictionarys use chat lingo and give them definitions.

originally posted by Trys

Clansman,

quote:

HMmmmm. Did you want to start one?

::looks around:: I believe, to some extent or other, I have. This site is dedicated to the support of an author who creates literature. :smiley:

I was asking the question because it seems to me that when a book I love gets ripped to shreds on somewhere like Amazon.com there is rarely a countering post or, perhaps worse, when I book I love has very few, albeit excellent, reviews posted when I know there are many more people who do love the book.

So the question wasn't "do I want to start one" but rather how many of you are involved in any that might be out out there. :smiley:

Trys

originally posted by Reading_fox

"So the question wasn't "do I want to start one" but rather how many of you are involved in any that might be out out there.
"

LibraryThing. Not completely of course, many users can only cope with lite books. But I've not come across anywhere else where there is such a concentration of dedicated readers who enjoy a well crafted sentance.

Shejidan. C J Cherryh's fansite, not dissimilar to here, though Cherryh doesn't post herself, though some close friends do. Not perhaps quite the same degree of wordsmithing, but close, more SF based than fantasy.

originally posted by Clansman

Point taken, Trystane. This is just such a forum.

I have posted on amazon.ca, but not .com. Because I am Canadian, I purchase from the Canadian site, and .com won't let me post because I've never purchased from it. Same company, but doesn't link their sites this way. This is probably on purpose.

Though everyone is entitled to their own opinion, some of the lunkheads who have posted on amazon missed the point of the books entirely. They seem only to be interested in the stripped down story, instead of a bigger picture, and a work that is not mere escapism, but that changes your heart, and makes you realize things about yourself.

I am not involved in any other sites dealing with language. I already post too much here.:smiley:

I never could get into Cherryh's stuff, as I read a bit of it from Thieves' World, but I never liked her stories in that series, so I never picked up one of her novels. I have always preferred fantasy over scifi, probably due to the romantic notions of fantasy (not sexual/love romance, but more of the original meaning of romance (i.e. Lord Byron and John Keats (best poets ever)).

originally posted by Trys

Clansman,

Of all of Cherryh's work… the Thieves' World stuff is my least favorite. Try her Fortress series. It's fantasy and starts with Fortress in the Eye of Time.

Trys

originally posted by joshua bruce law

Regarding Cherryh my favorite of her works were the two novels about the nighthorses.

As to the Debasement of the english language it is a huge pet peeve of mine as well. I always send full words in texting, emails, msn and all manner of written communication. I've always had a large vocabulary and have never hesitated to use it. Some of the acronyms i have come across seem completly useless and take more effort to type than the full word would.

The most irritating thing is that when i use words that other people don't know they say
"don't use such big words"
despite the fact that so many of them are actually small words!. It's a semantic argument but considering they are objecting citing semantics it seems valid to respond in kind. They seem to feel i am being obtuse just for the sake of it. It just makes me want to tear whole sections of my hair out and hit them over the head with a real book.

I love the richness of jannys work. the layers and resonance of both her characters and the world in which she paints the images and visions of them have no real equal. Of all the authors i have read, and there are a great many, fantasy and science fiction seem to be my own personal form of cocaine, only a handful can construct a story so textured and rich. only three current living writers i have come across can create as vibrant a story as janny.

R.E.Fiest of course his best work was collaborated with janny.

Stephen R donaldson whose writing is highly unique and his worlds are very different to standard fantasy, the strength in his work is the layered characters above all. his main characters are highly complex and layered with flaws and weaknessess as well as strengths. Thomas Covenant whom is the protagonist of the chronicles, the second chronicles and is a secondary player in the last chronicles of thomas covanant is a leper whom refuses to believe that the world he finds himself in exists, he ends up being healed and then rapes a young girl who helped him.

And then there Eric Von lustbader. His pearl saga is one of the most unique additions to literature i have ever come across. somehow it manages to combine fantasy and science fiction successfully in a way that not only contrasts the different approaches of each genre but also shows where they fold over each other.

In addition to the fear of the loss of creative language as a true medium is the fear of loosing the format of the printed book.

I for one would hate to live in a world where the printed book was a rarity and everyone had e-books they carried around and read via a little screen. To reduce a library to meerly a hardrive would be a travesty.