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Misunderstanding Books: The Era of the Unsophisticated Reader

August 8, 2018

art, book, fiction, ignorance, literature, mediocrity, misunderstanding, society

Some time ago, I read a bizarre “review” (more about it in a moment) of a book I had read myself. The reviewer had written something in the direction of “I kept reading thinking that it’d get better, but it never did. The story was left unresolved.” That was basically it, that was the review. I’ve talked before about reviewing books fairly, but today we’ll tackle another issue: that of misunderstanding books.

It goes without saying that this was not a review. You can’t spend two lines (or even two hundred) saying simply “I didn’t like it” and claim this is a review. Perhaps we could call it a “rating rationale” though semantics isn’t the crucial factor here. Rather, I’d like to focus on something far more serious. Something that has far-reaching consequences for the current state as well as the future of our societies.

“What do you mean ‘misunderstanding books?'”

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Being a Published Author Is not what You Think

July 25, 2018

Writing

art, author, book, creativity, literature, publishing, writing

Traditionally, most aspiring authors have thought of getting published as the end goal. Being a published author has been a proof of merit. To be a writer who’s published means “you’ve made it”, right? Heck, if you visit my author pages on Goodreads or Amazon, you’ll see me referring myself to having been published.

Well, we could talk for hours debating whether having “made it” has ever been the case (the word “traditionally”, which opened this article is the operative word here), but let’s instead focus on the present moment. The grand question is this:

Does being a published author mean your writing woes are over?

Not only is the answer “not by a mile”, but in many cases I’d argue against “being a published author”. In other words, I’d argue that getting a publishing contract with a publishing house won’t necessarily be what you’d like.

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A JavaScript Iambic Pentameter Generator

June 13, 2018

Literature, Programming

computer, iambic, literature, poetry, programming, technology

First of all, before I explain why I made an iambic pentameter generator, we need to know what an iambic pentameter is.

Chances are, if you found this article you already know, so I’ll be brief. An iambic pentameter is a line of poetry consisting of five “feet”, or groups of syllables. “Penta” in Greek means “five”, so pentameter means that the line consists of five groups of syllables. The iamb refers to a pair of syllables where the first is unstressed and the second is stressed. For instance, the word desPAIR (capitals indicate the emphasis). Hence, an iambic pentameter line consists of ten syllables, of which the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, and 10th are stressedTechnically, this is not necessary. What should occur is that the rest of the syllables (1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th) are not stressed..

Here’s four lines of iambic pentameter:

And you, my sinews, grow not instant old
But bear me swiftly up. Remember thee?
Ay, thou poor ghost, whiles memory holds a seat
In this distracted globe. Remember thee?
(Hamlet, I.v.94–97)

And now, without further delay, let’s get to the why’s and how’s of the iambic pentameter generator.

iambic pentameter generator in JavaScript — The Bard would approve!

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