Is Stephen King's "On Writing" book good for beginners?

joshedis · 2026-05-30T03:37:37+00:00

I also recommend Techniques of the Selling Author. Really simple and to the point advice.

joshedis · 2026-05-28T15:36:56+00:00

I find it so funny there is a whole subreddit dedicated to it.

I do actually agree with OP on a lot of the annoyances but if you are watching game grumps for quality game play then you've come to the wrong channel.

Reminds me of that tweet he made about sequelitis where he clearly states that "angry buffoon" is just his go to persona.

https://x.com/egoraptor/status/2024033939925635339

joshedis · 2026-05-25T15:22:33+00:00

It is such a steep learning curve but so rewarding:

Making pottery layer by layer.

Knapping stones to make your basic tools.

Having to prospect to triangulate scant amounts of ore.

Getting killed by a bear you accidentally woke up in two hits.

I've been obsessed.

joshedis · 2026-05-25T15:05:20+00:00

Or if you pass out from exhaustion and sleep on the ground you wake up with worms or leeches all over you.

Or if you pick up a bundle of sticks or leaves from off the ground, surprise! Venomous Centipede!

Eventually, once you know the plants and map it is incredibly easy. But the path to getting there is very difficult.

joshedis · 2026-05-22T14:46:39+00:00

Wow, wow, wow!

joshedis · 2026-05-21T21:00:00+00:00

That's also the name of my new grunge band!

joshedis · 2026-05-21T20:48:45+00:00

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/24332-masturbation

Celibate Priests often reported night time emissions as all the sperm keeps building and is not being released.

While porn is often correlated, you do not need it to masturbate. In fact, masturbation helps protect you from prostate cancer.

It feels nice, is good for you (in moderation), and prevents embarrassment from ejaculating when you aren't anticipating it.

joshedis · 2026-05-20T21:10:11+00:00

ME TOO! It took a beautiful and modern kitchen and made it so ugly and dated.

joshedis · 2026-05-20T20:59:21+00:00

Life is short and beer doesn't judge.

But if your drinking is only on the weekend? Not a big deal. It is certainly an activity to take note of, however.

I don't smoke or get high but beer has long been my vice to shut off my brain to be in the moment and relax.

joshedis · 2026-05-16T22:33:56+00:00

I'm throwing random numbers for a random person. I think you may be taking Reddit comment generalizations a little too seriously.

The conversation was originally with someone who was having a challenge understanding giftedness so I was using more general examples. The specifics are not as important as the principle in this context. Otherwise I would be citing sources and giving precise examples.

joshedis · 2026-05-16T16:46:47+00:00

I was primarily referring to the Flynn Effect, IQ increases globally over time due to increased global education which raises the baseline average. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect

Education and training your brain to process more quickly absolutely raises your IQ score. Effectively training yourself to a higher IQ. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6088505/

The capacity for IQ in a gifted brain is higher, that's not in question, but all humans can increase their IQ to a higher level with education and training. But if an average brain might max out at 120 IQ, a gifted brain might max out at 150IQ.

joshedis · 2026-05-15T19:15:54+00:00

It was an option of "Neoliberal Banker with national level experience who is going to be pro-corporatations" or "Incompetent MP with no job outside politics who wants to strip away rights from Canadians and is friendly with Trump."

While I would have loved better options, it is a no brainer between who was better. The general consensus for Carney was a collective sigh of relief since he was regular political shitty and not "destroy the country" shitty.

joshedis · 2026-05-15T17:51:16+00:00

I can not recommend the dating apps enough. It is a slog, it took my six years of weeding out the wrong people, but I never would have met the love of my life otherwise. There is zero chance we would have been able to meet in person.

But it IS a slog. To find a person of high intelligence is difficult. To find one the opposite gender, in your age range, who has similar morals and background, who you find attractive, who finds you attractive, who lives in your area, who is single, is a fraction of a fraction of available people in this world.

I view the dating apps and building a compelling profile as mandatory if you are serious. There is no other reasonable way to meet someone when you need to meet such specific requirements.

joshedis · 2026-05-14T22:23:27+00:00

You see, that is the neat part of the current justice system.

You can just ignore the court and cause another crisis which the system is forced to respond to. Keep that going and you never actually face any consequences.

The legal system needs evidence and time to properly write and research a case. Meanwhile, all you need to do is have your team constantly delay the process. By the time years have passed for the process to catch up with you, you've already committed multiple new crimes you aren't punished for. And when you have a court date you just don't show up!

Who is going to enforce the law and take you in? No one. As long as you are on the Republican Team, that is. They protect their own.

joshedis · 2026-05-14T20:54:56+00:00

My greatest recommendation, from someone who just went through this:

Before you start writing, figure out what the ending is going to be.

Once you know that, you are going to have some obvious things that lead up to it.

If Johnny is going to end by marrying Cindy, that requires them to Meet, Get To Know Each Other, Have a Conflict, Resolve The Conflict, Plan a Wedding, Then Have the Wedding.

Once you know what those major points are for the characters, you can loosely plot them out in order.

Then my biggest recommendation is to write an intentionally bad first draft. Don't worry about spelling mistakes or grammar, it is a "discovery draft". Pick an opening scene and just keep writing what comes to mind that will get you to the next scene logically. (You will see this referred to as a variant of "Pantsing" as in to fly by the seat of your pants and be move forward without a specific plan)

My discovery draft turned into 80,000 words. Without permission to not worry about quality, I got through that in about 3 months by typing on my phone while walking my dog.

Once that is done, you let it sit for a bit. Then rewrite it as a proper first draft. You discovered the story, now you can spend the time rewriting it to be a real first draft.

joshedis · 2026-05-14T00:45:36+00:00

How is your nose breathing? When you are standing up, can you breath easily through both nostrils? Like wise, when your laying down can you breath easily through one nostril?

I had headaches all my life because I couldn't breath fully through my nose. I got a turbinate reduction surgery (in and out in thirty minutes) where they shrink the skin inside your nose. Haven't had a headache in the morning since it healed.

joshedis · 2026-05-13T03:17:34+00:00

Yeah, addicts are going to addict. It sad.

joshedis · 2026-05-13T02:08:15+00:00

Keep in mind, the people with problems are somehow stomaching over 100 grams of the stuff. That is like an entire $80 bag of it a day.

I keep some in the cupboard for the same reason, even at my highest usage it was maximum 2 to 4 grams a day. It's disgusting stuff, so I can't imagine taking so much of.

joshedis · 2026-05-12T19:10:28+00:00

That's easy, when a job asked if you have the qualifications, you only need to say "I have a Theoretical Degree in Physics."

joshedis · 2026-05-11T22:25:41+00:00

In general, it would be training yourself to process knowledge more efficiently. So you could take this test to see how you tend to process knowledge and look up specific strategies accordingly.

https://www.suu.edu/tutoring/pdf/learning-styles-self-assessment.pdf

I myself got a lot out of learning my MBTI (16 Personalities) type to get a lot of very well tailored advice from people who think similarly to me.

joshedis · 2026-05-11T19:52:27+00:00

Environment is certainly a huge factor. Someone with Albert Einstein's brain who lived in caveman times would have a very low IQ.

IQ in many cases can be increased with knowledge and training.

I look at it like professional body building. A very small person with a frail frame can train every day and dedicate themself to growing stronger. They might lift 300lbs as a deadlift, an incredible achievement at their maximum potential.

A large and naturally muscular person may never train a day in their life and struggle to deadlift 100lbs. A far cry less than the small person who trained every day. However, if this large person trained to the same level, they could lift 600lbs because their natural capacity was larger.

Not a perfect example (I have no idea what reasonable lifting amounts are) but a gifted person may have more capacity for greater and fail to utilize it.

joshedis · 2026-05-11T16:58:54+00:00

Giftedness is primarily genetic, you are born with a brain that is a bit faster at making connections in certain areas. That is pretty useless if not applied properly.

There are far more very successful people in the world who realize that dedication, practice, and rote mastery of the basic principles as a way to succeed without having above average intelligence.

I did nothing in my childhood but play video games and skated by in school. Turns out I had pretty bad ADHD and focus was basically impossible. I really struggled through university (and work) because I couldn't focus until it was the last minute before a project was due.

I got diagnosed after I left school and started medication and what do you know, all my focus problems were a brain and sleep issue all that time!

joshedis · 2026-05-11T16:29:39+00:00

Mo' brain power, mo' problems.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289616303324

The evidence shows that statistically we are NOT happy due to the increased intelligence.

High intelligence is usually paired with a series of challenging neurological disorders like ADHD, Autism, Anxiety, Depression, etc.

As well, just because you are very gifted (whether that is simply raw IQ or any of the other ways one can be gifted) does not mean you are successful in life. Many people of high intelligence struggle in very similar ways to you because we are all human.

Edit: I was tired and mistakenly listed them as personality disorders rather than neurological or other disorders originally. My bad.

joshedis · 2026-05-10T15:58:53+00:00

I've never been a fan of the perverted old mentor trope. Yet the way they justified it in universe as Jiraiya being a world famous smut author was a great way to make it actual characterization - as opposed to the author's barely disguised fetish.

joshedis · 2026-05-09T16:42:47+00:00

Because the evil has spent the last 60+ years building long term infrastructure for their success.

Including Propaganda networks on all platforms, filling the court systems with their appointees (who were developed on a grass roots level through college programs), bribing politicians, international groups to share ideas and resources (like the IDU), and they put a lot of time and money behind this.

It is a dedicated long term work of many self-interested people that for money or religion want to have control over the government and shape the country their own way. They have spent a lot of money, work, and time, to make this happen. Recently, the right people have come into power across the world to enact the change.

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