The first sentence is always the hardest. A well constructed phrase could cause love to blossom, and be the start of a long passionate relationship. The wrong words could bring you disfavour among the recipients. First impressions are hugely important – a well known cliché, but clichés are generally true, that’s why they are said so often. Much thought is put into those first few words in a book, which, more often then not, the reader doesn’t consciously notice. However, much of the power of the written word lies in the subconscious. A good novel will infer things that you won’t notice until the writer wants you to. Innuendo and nuance are vital tools for any author, however they must be used with the lightest of touch, otherwise the effect is completely lost.
Generally, the likelihood of someone reading a book all the way to the end relies on the first few pages. Very few people will press on through an uninspiring first and second chapter, unless a friend has recommended it to them with the advice that the start is slow and it heats up later. Many novelists will commence with a chase scene if the book is an action thriller or a well constructed descriptive piece about a love interest if the book is a romantic novel, and so on. The author is always trying to reel the reader in and create that sensation where you literally cannot put the book down.
Another cliché is the cliff-hanger. The most effective are those at the end of the chapter where the beginning of the next chapter does not follow on from it. This means the reader must continue into the unknown, completely unaware of when they might find the answers to the burning questions inside them. However if done wrong, the reader can quickly lose interest and stop reading. An author must give away clues throughout a book in order to give the reader sufficient satisfaction.
Some books have very little in the way of a story line. In these, emphasis is placed on the rich descriptive text; it can almost be seen as a love affair with words. These books have to be exceptionally well written in order to be accepted. There is nothing to cover up any weak spots; every word has to be perfectly placed.
For me the best books are those with a huge twist at the end. The effect is largely lost is someone even tells you that there is a twist. The best ones are when something absolutely unexpected happens. Not the general cliché twists that you can always see coming, it has to be original.
Novels are not the only type of literature that exists. There are a huge number of factual books around, from educational books to travel books. One thing in all of these has changed. The writing of all styles of books has become increasingly sensational. Gone are the days of Adam Smith’s “The wealth of nations” being best selling books amongst the young economists. Books such as “Freakonomics” and “The undercover economist” are much more popular. Essentially the principles inside the books are the same – the writing style however is completely different. I can also guarantee that the amount if economic theory is vastly superior in books written in the same period as Adam Smith. Freakonomics and other such books bring the basic principles of economics into a format that anyone can pick up and read. This accessibility is highly desirable to the masses, many of whom would like to be experts on nearly everything.
This desire for more knowledge and simplification of otherwise hard to understand principles can be seen in the vast range of books “‘for dummies”. There is a book for almost anything, and the range has become hugely successful. Factual books are now being written under the same principles as fictional books. The same techniques are used to keep the reader interested.
However, in modern society there seems to be less and less time to sit down and read a book. Books have taken a back seat to the likes of the internet and other quickly accessible media. Therefore books that are being published need to be very attractive to read in order to have any chance of selling at all, let alone selling well. Buying any type of media seems to be a dying breed thanks to the huge resource that is the internet.
All this change is not always a bad thing. Although, obviously there are people losing out on money, the fact that all this information is so easy to come across, means surely we are becoming a more clued up nation. We can now hear about news events from the other side of the world just seconds after they have happened.
Consumers are functioning in a different way. Products are being given away for free, or for virtually nothing, over the internet. This has been most prevalent recently in the music industry with the free release of several high profile albums. Also more conventional industries such as TV have taken on this principle. Starting with BBC, now all of the terrestrial TV channels have internet sites where you can stream and download episodes from that week for free. This has been in response to the success of youtube and other such sites and the problems that they have caused the Television industry. However, instead of cowering away and fighting these problems they have embraced the change and made a success of it.
The incentive for giving products away for free mostly revolves around advertising (excluding the BBC). Advertisers pay more for adverts which are seen by a large number of people. Adverts that commence in between a popular television show such as friends at prime time will cost considerably more then an advert placed at 2 in the morning. When a company gives a popular product away for free, it immediately increases the demand for it. High demand, means higher advertising revenue, which can pay for the products which are being given away for free.
This however only works if people pay attention to the advertising. Much advertising is subconscious; however, if the economy is doing badly and there is a negative wealth effect on the consumer, then if the product is a luxury item they are unlikely to buy it despite the prevalent advertising. This however may not be true if it is a product which they needed to buy anyway, but due to the advertising they decided to change which brand they bought, which would have made the advertising successful. If people do not respond to the advertising on free products, advertisers will withdraw their campaigns, there won’t be any funding for the free products, and therefore it will be the end of the age of free products.
If the items being advertised through free products are luxury, it could be argued that you save no money, or even lose money through the process. For example; an ipod is being advertised through a product that is being given away for free, such as an album of music. The album would have cost you say £7 in the shop. Having seen some advertising you decide you would like an ipod which costs you £150. You are now worse off by £143. You would have to download a further 21 albums to have made all of your money back. This is easily do-able, but did you really want those extra 21 albums? And during the course of downloading those further 21 albums you may see advertising for other products and make another 2 purchases. Maybe some new trainers for £49 and a new kettle for £28. For those two purchases you would have to download a further 11 albums to make your money back. So instead of buying an album for £7, you now have 32 albums, an ipod, new trainers and a new kettle and have spent £236. Some consumers would think this was great, saying they have managed to get 32 free albums for buying things they enjoy having. Others would look back and be annoyed at themselves for spending so much money. Whichever way you look at it, it shows that free products may not actually save you any money, but could possibly cost you a great deal.
The huge increase in communication over the last few decades has had many positive effects. As I mentioned before, people are more aware of the happenings around the world, and also within their own country. As a nation we have become more politically active – more people are voting, and there is a genuine interest in what the government is doing. This however cannot be wholly attributed to the availability of press. The recent downturn in the economy has meant people are concerned about the future, and are taking a proactive stance. When things are going well, very little is attributed to the current government, yet when things start to go wrong, it’s their entire fault. The same can be said about many peoples view of God. When things are good in their lives, they forget him, yet when things go bad they blame him.
Due to the nature of the digital world, almost everyone is easy to get hold of. People in office jobs have 3 instant ways of communication. They have their work email, a mobile phone and an office phone. If at his or her desk, each method will get you through to them immediately. The most important of these is the mobile phone. The vast majority of people carry their mobile phone around with them all day every day. This means it is incredibly difficult to get away from work, or a difficult situation, or just to have some time alone.
Time alone is now a lost commodity. Although you may be alone, you are actually effectively with every single person who has your mobile number -any one of them could ring you up at any time. This could be the reason for the break-up of many relationships. There is no escape and no respite for couples. Everyone needs time alone, no matter how in love with someone they are, but these days this is very difficult to achieve. Even when you are at work your partner has the capability of ringing you. In fact a lot of people spend most of their working day on the phone to their partner. Also if there has been an argument, often all that needs to happen is for each person to take some time alone to calm down and logically think about the situation, realise who was really at fault and that it doesn’t matter anyway. This process can be completely ruined by eager partners anxious about how the other one is feeling.
The same principle applies the other way. Some couples do not spend enough time together. Many people have dinner in front of the television every day, which means they miss out on vital communication time. Also often when couples finally do manage to get some time alone, they can easily be interrupted by a call from a friend or a child sick mother.
As a nation we need to learn to switch off everything. People are not relaxing properly anymore which can be seen in the huge rise in the stress recently. Switch off your mobile, unplug the landline, turn off the computer and relax your mind properly.
It’s when you start messing with the format of your work that you know you have run out of literary steam. Adjusting the typeface and font-size to make it just right, and making everything perfectly aligned. No longer are the words positively fighting to get out, the passionate flame that first inspired you to write has been temporarily extinguished. You know its bad when you start to check the word count every 5 seconds to see the size of your achievement. My personal pitfall is scrolling up and down the document basking in the mass of words on each page. So for that reason this is where I will end.
Generally, the likelihood of someone reading a book all the way to the end relies on the first few pages. Very few people will press on through an uninspiring first and second chapter, unless a friend has recommended it to them with the advice that the start is slow and it heats up later. Many novelists will commence with a chase scene if the book is an action thriller or a well constructed descriptive piece about a love interest if the book is a romantic novel, and so on. The author is always trying to reel the reader in and create that sensation where you literally cannot put the book down.
Another cliché is the cliff-hanger. The most effective are those at the end of the chapter where the beginning of the next chapter does not follow on from it. This means the reader must continue into the unknown, completely unaware of when they might find the answers to the burning questions inside them. However if done wrong, the reader can quickly lose interest and stop reading. An author must give away clues throughout a book in order to give the reader sufficient satisfaction.
Some books have very little in the way of a story line. In these, emphasis is placed on the rich descriptive text; it can almost be seen as a love affair with words. These books have to be exceptionally well written in order to be accepted. There is nothing to cover up any weak spots; every word has to be perfectly placed.
For me the best books are those with a huge twist at the end. The effect is largely lost is someone even tells you that there is a twist. The best ones are when something absolutely unexpected happens. Not the general cliché twists that you can always see coming, it has to be original.
Novels are not the only type of literature that exists. There are a huge number of factual books around, from educational books to travel books. One thing in all of these has changed. The writing of all styles of books has become increasingly sensational. Gone are the days of Adam Smith’s “The wealth of nations” being best selling books amongst the young economists. Books such as “Freakonomics” and “The undercover economist” are much more popular. Essentially the principles inside the books are the same – the writing style however is completely different. I can also guarantee that the amount if economic theory is vastly superior in books written in the same period as Adam Smith. Freakonomics and other such books bring the basic principles of economics into a format that anyone can pick up and read. This accessibility is highly desirable to the masses, many of whom would like to be experts on nearly everything.
This desire for more knowledge and simplification of otherwise hard to understand principles can be seen in the vast range of books “‘for dummies”. There is a book for almost anything, and the range has become hugely successful. Factual books are now being written under the same principles as fictional books. The same techniques are used to keep the reader interested.
However, in modern society there seems to be less and less time to sit down and read a book. Books have taken a back seat to the likes of the internet and other quickly accessible media. Therefore books that are being published need to be very attractive to read in order to have any chance of selling at all, let alone selling well. Buying any type of media seems to be a dying breed thanks to the huge resource that is the internet.
All this change is not always a bad thing. Although, obviously there are people losing out on money, the fact that all this information is so easy to come across, means surely we are becoming a more clued up nation. We can now hear about news events from the other side of the world just seconds after they have happened.
Consumers are functioning in a different way. Products are being given away for free, or for virtually nothing, over the internet. This has been most prevalent recently in the music industry with the free release of several high profile albums. Also more conventional industries such as TV have taken on this principle. Starting with BBC, now all of the terrestrial TV channels have internet sites where you can stream and download episodes from that week for free. This has been in response to the success of youtube and other such sites and the problems that they have caused the Television industry. However, instead of cowering away and fighting these problems they have embraced the change and made a success of it.
The incentive for giving products away for free mostly revolves around advertising (excluding the BBC). Advertisers pay more for adverts which are seen by a large number of people. Adverts that commence in between a popular television show such as friends at prime time will cost considerably more then an advert placed at 2 in the morning. When a company gives a popular product away for free, it immediately increases the demand for it. High demand, means higher advertising revenue, which can pay for the products which are being given away for free.
This however only works if people pay attention to the advertising. Much advertising is subconscious; however, if the economy is doing badly and there is a negative wealth effect on the consumer, then if the product is a luxury item they are unlikely to buy it despite the prevalent advertising. This however may not be true if it is a product which they needed to buy anyway, but due to the advertising they decided to change which brand they bought, which would have made the advertising successful. If people do not respond to the advertising on free products, advertisers will withdraw their campaigns, there won’t be any funding for the free products, and therefore it will be the end of the age of free products.
If the items being advertised through free products are luxury, it could be argued that you save no money, or even lose money through the process. For example; an ipod is being advertised through a product that is being given away for free, such as an album of music. The album would have cost you say £7 in the shop. Having seen some advertising you decide you would like an ipod which costs you £150. You are now worse off by £143. You would have to download a further 21 albums to have made all of your money back. This is easily do-able, but did you really want those extra 21 albums? And during the course of downloading those further 21 albums you may see advertising for other products and make another 2 purchases. Maybe some new trainers for £49 and a new kettle for £28. For those two purchases you would have to download a further 11 albums to make your money back. So instead of buying an album for £7, you now have 32 albums, an ipod, new trainers and a new kettle and have spent £236. Some consumers would think this was great, saying they have managed to get 32 free albums for buying things they enjoy having. Others would look back and be annoyed at themselves for spending so much money. Whichever way you look at it, it shows that free products may not actually save you any money, but could possibly cost you a great deal.
The huge increase in communication over the last few decades has had many positive effects. As I mentioned before, people are more aware of the happenings around the world, and also within their own country. As a nation we have become more politically active – more people are voting, and there is a genuine interest in what the government is doing. This however cannot be wholly attributed to the availability of press. The recent downturn in the economy has meant people are concerned about the future, and are taking a proactive stance. When things are going well, very little is attributed to the current government, yet when things start to go wrong, it’s their entire fault. The same can be said about many peoples view of God. When things are good in their lives, they forget him, yet when things go bad they blame him.
Due to the nature of the digital world, almost everyone is easy to get hold of. People in office jobs have 3 instant ways of communication. They have their work email, a mobile phone and an office phone. If at his or her desk, each method will get you through to them immediately. The most important of these is the mobile phone. The vast majority of people carry their mobile phone around with them all day every day. This means it is incredibly difficult to get away from work, or a difficult situation, or just to have some time alone.
Time alone is now a lost commodity. Although you may be alone, you are actually effectively with every single person who has your mobile number -any one of them could ring you up at any time. This could be the reason for the break-up of many relationships. There is no escape and no respite for couples. Everyone needs time alone, no matter how in love with someone they are, but these days this is very difficult to achieve. Even when you are at work your partner has the capability of ringing you. In fact a lot of people spend most of their working day on the phone to their partner. Also if there has been an argument, often all that needs to happen is for each person to take some time alone to calm down and logically think about the situation, realise who was really at fault and that it doesn’t matter anyway. This process can be completely ruined by eager partners anxious about how the other one is feeling.
The same principle applies the other way. Some couples do not spend enough time together. Many people have dinner in front of the television every day, which means they miss out on vital communication time. Also often when couples finally do manage to get some time alone, they can easily be interrupted by a call from a friend or a child sick mother.
As a nation we need to learn to switch off everything. People are not relaxing properly anymore which can be seen in the huge rise in the stress recently. Switch off your mobile, unplug the landline, turn off the computer and relax your mind properly.
It’s when you start messing with the format of your work that you know you have run out of literary steam. Adjusting the typeface and font-size to make it just right, and making everything perfectly aligned. No longer are the words positively fighting to get out, the passionate flame that first inspired you to write has been temporarily extinguished. You know its bad when you start to check the word count every 5 seconds to see the size of your achievement. My personal pitfall is scrolling up and down the document basking in the mass of words on each page. So for that reason this is where I will end.
1 comment:
Very perceptive, especially about the time alone stuff
I think I am an extreme introvert, I only recharge when I am alone. That is the main reason I considered mobile phones very carefully and came to the conclusion that to have one would be very detrimental to my way of life, and possibly (possibly!) health.
Post a Comment