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Advice on writing a book? Have any?

Anyone want to help me write a book?
Everyone on here seems so insightful and knowledgeable and I want to get some advice because I’m not very good at organizing my thoughts. I don’t really know the goal of the book, but I know what I want to express.

Here’s some of it :

GOD WHO?
(Human creation of “God” and understanding humanity to strive for a more peaceful world)

When the energy and movement of matter in the universe increased and increased, it arbitrarily, while following the natural laws, collided and formed different shapes and interacted with different types of atoms and particles, forming distinct, heavier, slightly more complex elements and molecules. The Cosmos has reached a point after billions of years of collisions and expansion, those molecules and cells become so complex that they began to interact with their environment manipulate resources and eventually begin to think critically, develop emotions, be skeptical, and become self aware. We've become conscious and able to question and judge life, character, and morality. We've developed cultures, religions, philosophy, and laws, which a lot of the time are influenced by the religions we've developed. Every culture is different in some way. Every religion is different too, but still, a part of the same general human condition from which they developed from. Every religion is a different perspective of a certain notion that originated from someone's conscious brain firing neurons and crossing synapses. The perspective is subjective and with time, the message becomes ambiguous and chosen at whim, while contradicting other messages. Everyone should have a right to believe something, but a belief is just that, a belief. It seems strange to stand up proudly and believe any particular religion is superior to another. There's billions of people trying to exist on the planet and endless collections of ideas regarding the right way to conduct ourselves. Humanity needs to reach some kind of new enlightenment to address our inability to live peacefully by concentrating on reversing our disdain for our supposed rivals, however impossible it may be.
Don't question those who've claimed to reach an epiphany within themselves about the nature of God, but do question those who dictate others on how to live based on such epiphanies. God most likely isn't tangible or even have a universally accepted meaning, it's merely a concept brought about by the insatiable human quest for answers regarding the nature of our emotions, the reason behind planetary catastrophes, or an explanation of existence in general. The fact that we can even question such things is remarkable. Our insistence of attaching a label on such a broad notion as god doesn't prove that god's a distinct entity that we can visit or all experience the same way, but the idea that we can even conjure up these ideas is godly in and of itself.
Contemplating the mechanism of the idea of God itself can either be an uplifting or traumatic experience. That's the ultimate question. What is god? It may sound like a foolish question, because the typical understanding seems obvious to most. But, frankly, the understanding is most often a rehash of historically accepted social norms. Differing interpretations are realized when a person is actually separately engaged and questioned. Individual insights can give us a better understanding of how we truly feel about these profound concepts, and even when, and under what circumstances they've originated. It's understandable how our historical religious insights developed into different schools of thought within societies and became ingrained into cultures. These dogmas even shaped laws and politics and continue to do so. There are thousands of different interpretations of religion. The distinctions can be slightly or vastly different from one another. All the nuances aside, there are a few basic core principles in which most religions share with each other. They are the beliefs in some type of deity, the afterlife, and of the creation of life and the universe itself. Religion became a medium for guiding us through life and how to conduct ourselves in society. We may scoff at what past cultures deemed right and wrong, and usually rightfully so, but organized religious thought was a major contribution to the advancement of civilization. Also, one can't deny all the pain and suffering it caused and does continue to generate.
To further expand on religion's role in determining right behavior, religions may have rules and laws that contradict with each other and even within themselves. This irritating fact can drive a person to unsubscribe from a particular belief system and many times from religion in general. Approaching yourself with a set of philosophical questions as a way of understanding the world can unveil many realizations. One is the possibility that morality is ultimately subjective. What one views as good, another might view as evil. Life is mysterious in that it is deeply ambiguous, and it's sometimes hard to get past that realization. One might proclaim there to be an obvious distinction between what is right and what is wrong, while some say there is a spectrum of entangling and compounding factors. It seems obvious from thousands of years of human history, that not knowing the answer is necessarily a part of the human experience. know the Which raises another question who created god then who created the thing that created that god then it become a philosophical debate which really isn't that important. .

Natural processes built our brain so complexly that humans are somewhat compassionate and altruistic, and able reach the higher levels of consciousness necessary to contemplate the "why" and the "how."The concept of a "god" isn't a tangible thing, it's a feeling used to describe things we can't grasp. It's an almost essential delusion used to satiate us. It's a kind of "cosmic placebo effect." It's the thing we attribute to some intelligence separate from space and time when we are in a really great mood and don't know why. Humans naturally developed a "theory of other minds," which is one of the levels of consciousness that gives us the ability to question another person's intentions or desires. All of this gives credence to "the ultimate other mind" we invented called "god" we use to conjure up the reasons for events or personal feelings. It's hard to attribute those reasons or feelings to fellow man or nature because we are competitive and selfish, and nature isn't conscious, so we much more easily and egotistically think of a personal "god" or "gods" who care about how we feel or have a stake in the outcome of our lives. The same way that a placebo effect in medicine or life routine can work for years to keep a person healthy and stable, the belief in something that is looking out for you seems to help certain people. The difference being that the efficacy of medicine is predicated under the assumption that it is based in scientific fact, and conversely, belief, is not. Once someone realizes that the medicine they have been taking was not based in facts or research but only their mind, it usually stops working. So when someone loses their belief in that "cosmic placebo effect," one can realize how it can be tough for some to get through life. Once one truly realizes this, they are left with themselves and the rest of nature. It seems people just need something to believe in, someone or something to trust or love without the need of a reason why they do it. Learn to love yourself and others and be your own "cosmic placebo effect." (The ultimate other mind) I guess I used this terminology to describe how we as humans have taken our advanced consciousness, with regards to our ability to have a theory of another fellow person's intentions and desires and kind of naturally attribute those abilities to a kind of superior metaphysical mind outside of space and time. So I called it the "the ultimate other mind" or this whole phenomenon as a sort of "cosmic placebo effect."

Jarucker 5 Nov 30
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13 comments

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I have tried to write several books, as people keep telling me I should. Hardest most annoying thing I have every tried, and I am a handy person. Too many words, and what order? Aaaarrrrgh!

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GRammar, yes. Paragraph structure runs and runs, yes. but its not that. These are huge, head bending concepts profoundly affecting people. Are they really able to be boiled down to two big stanzas like that? I won't tell you how to write, but please consider for a work like this, being able to really humanize these concepts, instead of just being an observer saying whats wrong. Even Hawking using the cliched "chicken or the egg" thing in "brief history of time" as an analogy was enough to popularize that book, and to get the basic concept of the enormity of what he as trying to convey to his readers. knowing who is reading, who you are trying to reach, is key here.

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There's an endless supply of writing advice out there. The thing to do is just write. As much as you can. And especially when you don't feel like it. Take your inner critic and lock that fucker up in a room somewhere until it's time for that shithead to speak.

I have never written anything in a sequential order. I tackle chapters and scenes I feel the strongest about and organize later.

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Dare I say, a creative writing course. As a musician who went to Berklee College of Music, I told young adults playing music that you learn the rules so you can violate those rules and yet harmonize. That while you maybe an amazingly talented person, the amazingly talented person who is schooled makes communication easier and the work that you put in more fruitful.

And lastly, go with your passion, that which wakes you in the middle of the night, demanding to be put down on paper. Be open to the creative flow as it leads you. I started off as a musician and then ended up at MIT and made my living designing and building. Yet rejected the office in favor of being in the field, sweating my ass off, swinging a hammer. Not what I or my dad saw coming. And now retired, am writing a book on the dangers of a society when religion dictates the sacred. Who would have thought that? WTF

3

Rule #1 keep writing, even if you think it sucks. A finished book that sucks is better than no book at all.

Rule #2 you can allow yourself to get critical after you finish the first draft

1

The best things you can do is do good research, be clear about what you want to explain, and make it an interesting read. It's good to know what you're talking about, but few will read a book they're not interested in. I'm not saying make it funny or anything, but make it easy to understand, and tell it from the standpoint of a curious human being out to seek truth, not from the visage of an expert trying to write a textbook.

AND PLEASE shorten your paragraphs if you can. Essays, and books are easier to digest as a whole when the information is in smaller bits. Large paragraphs make things more of a chore to read. I didn't even want to read it, because it seemed like too much work without a break. It's the same as if someone texted you a long-as-hell paragraph., when you really just want a couple of simple sentences. You don't really need to Dumb it down, but Break it down, and more people will be happy to read it all the way through.

Oh I agree, this is totally unedited and unorganized and there is actually no paragraphs- I just wrote one day for like a few hours and didn’t stop to correct anything. Thanks.

That aside, that is actually really good advice!

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I do freelance writing for mostly news and political outlets. You have some neat thoughts there. It seems to have a bit of a conversational tone. If you're going that route, I'd say run with it.

I think everyone else touched on the important stuff. I'd suggest you read a ton of similar authors. It can both help you find your own voice and let you ensure your thoughts are truly original.

Also, I dig the idea of the "cosmic placebo effect". It makes me think of Richard Dawkins' theory of memetics (originating in his book "The Selfish Gene" ), just perhaps a tad more specific. I also think it'd be cool if you delve into anthropology for examples of this phenomenon. Good luck!

Ariel Level 4 Dec 5, 2017

Wow, thank you! That means a lot. I’m by no means a “writer,” but it’s definitely something I do sometimes. I honestly don’t know how I came up with that cosmic placebo effect thing or even if it makes sense to most people, but there ya go.

0

I have often thought of writing myself. The problem is that it requires a lot of discipline to sit down and write at least five days a week for three hours a day, and then there is the rewriting. most of writing is rewriting. Usually after a thrid draft, i dotn' want to deal with the subject any more, but want to move on to a new subject.

A lot of authors have written books on writing. Many of them have different approaches, but htey all say you have to actually sit down and write consistently... which so far, I myself just have not been able to do.

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Some technical suggestions:

  • Do NOT rely on self-editing. Hire a pro.
  • Make good use of paragraphing to break thoughts up into digestible chunks
  • Categorize what it is you want to express into headings and sub-headings. A good exercise here is to whiteboard JUST the headings & subheadings, then stick to them when fluffing them out with your content. You need focus, otherwise no one will read it.
  • Without a goal, or mission statement (or at least a title & tagline), you won't get anywhere.
  • Create an elevator pitch. It's a short paragraph describing what you're writing about that can be blurted out in 20 seconds or less...
  • Create a beginning, middle, and end. (Premise, arguments & proof, conclusion. Just a suggestion...)
  • If you have a social media following, consider creating a series of blogs. That, or get to be a guest blogger on a platform that promotes similar messages to yours.
  • If you want to publish, I recommend CreateSpace. They'll get you on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
  • Get reviews done prior to publishing so you can quote them on the back cover.

Thank you so much. I’m saving this.

1

Write every day. I just finished my first novel. My advice is write every day. Some days will be good stuff, other not so much. A writer is always writing. When not writing: reading.

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I can give you one piece of advice from experience. I had a long running research project which also touched on origins questions; without going into detail, there was a lot of math and six or seven scientific disciplines, with footnotes and everything, comparing cosmogonies to observed realities. Turned down by agents, journals, publishers, everybody. Then my wife told me to novelize it. Got picked up right out of the gate. "SCAPEGOATS" (Golden Fleece Press March 2018).

1

Having written 3 books, and in the process of writing a 4th, the first thing you should do is an analysis of any competition to see if your ideas have already been covered, and whether any future book would actually sell. This is the primary concern of any potential publisher (unless you're self-publishing). Also - any publisher will want to see evidence of your writing - have you written papers, blog posts etc. and, if so, how well-received were they?

Wow. Congratulations on completing 3 books. I have anxiety and this is one way of satiating myself. Doesn’t always work, but does sometimes. I ran that portion of it through a plagiarism website (that’s all text they would allow) and it came back 0% percent. I have insomnia and most of the things I write come from when I haven’t slept for days. No, I usually don’t show anyone, because I’m not confident enough to show anyone and I have an inability to follow through with anything I do. I keep everything on the “notes” app on my iPad.

I suggest you start a blog and see how that goes. That will give you the confidence to know that you're heading in the right direction. And good luck!

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Very good. I'm not sure if you are aware of this but your story idea is very close to the meaning an purpose of life. Further than anyone else I've ever seen, that's quite astonishing actually.

As for comments, I'd suggest trying to make it flow a bit better. Like where you said:

We've become conscious and able to question and judge life, character, and morality
We've become self aware, enabling ourselves to question life, character, and morality

Every culture is different in some way. Every religion is different too, but still, a part of the same general human condition from which they developed from.
Every culture is different, in one way or another. Every religion is unique, but still, a part of the essence of humanity.

I'm not going to comment much more. I'm not an expert in English grammar or story telling. I've abandoned most of my stories because they're unpopular. I do encourage you to keep on going with your work. It very closely aligns with the meaning and purpose of life. I've gotten about 60% there but that took me about 7-8 years. You seem to be at about 30% yourself. Truly remarkable. I didn't think that anyone else would re-discover it within my lifetime.

I can say this, you are definitely on the right track. All that's left is to keep moving forward.

Yeah, I’d say 30% sounds about right. I’m literally just puking up what’s in my brain and not really editing anything.

Well, not literally. Thanks for your input.

You really gave me confidence, thanks so much.

@JeremyRucker You're welcome. You gave me some confidence in one of my hypothesis as well. I hypothesized that it has only just recently become possible for people to re-discover the meaning and purpose of life. Your thoughts are proof of this, it's really remarkable and I'm really happy about it. Keep it up, also if you do learn more about the meaning and purpose of life just be aware. There is a false answer that hides the true answer. As in, just when you think you have the answer and you feel despair, wait a bit longer, think a bit further. And you will reach true enlightenment. It will allow you to understand everything that has ever been done and will be done. Every event, every thought, every action and the reasons behind it become clear. It's like having the knowledge of a living god (But not quite).

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