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comment by goobster
goobster  ·  3313 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: September 28, 2016

So... we meet again, Pubski! You thought you'd seen the last of me - but no! - here I am, to edify you with my ramblings.

Eh.

So, I am writing again. The two-season arc historical drama based on the founding of Seattle is charging right along... and I can't seem to carve out the necessary time I need to just sit and write. There is conflict, and drama, and love, and deviousness, and family, and strong women, and real native americans presented in a realistic way, and it's all based on actual historical events!

I've been able to hew very close to the actual historical events and timeline, and still find a strong story to tell, that moves multiple plot lines forward across episodes, while making each episode a whole and complete thing unto itself! Yay!

But to tell the story in a TV-friendly way, I think I need to time-shift two prominent historical events. I'm torn about this historical inaccuracy, but I am also not absolutely sure I need to move these events... from here it looks like I might need to move them... but as I get closer to writing them, I may find other ways to keep to a historically accurate timeline. We shall see.

I'll stop thinking out loud and boring y'all to death...

Bartender? How about a Laphroaig Quarter Cask with a single ice cube. Thanks.





Devac  ·  3313 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    There is conflict, and drama, and love, and deviousness, and family, and strong women, and real native americans presented in a realistic way, and it's all based on actual historical events!

I'm pretty new to learning history and treating it as something above "obligatory shit that I need to pass and be done with", but the more I read the more I'm leaning toward the words I heard once: "If you think that the world you live in has nothing interesting to write a story about, you likely know precisely shit about history". kleinbl00's recommendation of Destiny Disrupted made me reconsider my views on that topic more and more with each page. You seem to have a TV drama that I would watch with glee.

Please, keep to the work and do your best. :D

goobster  ·  3313 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I hated history throughout school... and almost the day I graduated, I fell deeply in love with it.

There's a good place to start: Lies My Teacher Told Me

It is an unfortunate title (not chosen by the author!!) that seems to lay the blame in the wrong place, but regardless of the poorly selected title, the content is a fantastic look at why history - REAL history - is important, and how our culture teaches terrible history due to systemic failures.

Which will eventually lead you to looking into how history schoolbooks are chosen by a few utter nutballs in Texas with big religious axes to grind, and little knowledge of history.... and piss you off so bad, you will have no end to your rage.

And then you'll realize that history is many things, and not one thing, and that you will find a specific time or place or people who will interest you, and you will read/learn about them from many different angles, and wind up with a rich understanding of them, yourself, culture, and humanity.

It's a glorious journey. Enjoy it!

Devac  ·  3313 days ago  ·  link  ·  
This comment has been deleted.
goobster  ·  3312 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    Actually, the odds are slim that you would just happen to know much about that but I'll ask anyway: do you happen to know of some non-Polish books about history of Poland?

I don't have any title recommendations for you. My suggestion would be to approach it from another angle: Poland as a country is very interesting to Poles, but not so much to other cultures outside of Poland. However, Slavic languages and their history, permutations, and changes over time, is a rich area of research (linguistics) that is interesting to a very broad group of people.

So I would suggest that you research the history and development of the Slavic languages, if you want to learn more about Poland and the Polish people.

    Surprisingly, and despite popular stereotype, religion does not seem to have much sway on most things related to schools...

I am quite opposed to most forms of organized religion. But the study of history is the study of religion. You cannot separate the two topics. A good place to start is Who Wrote The Bible? which is an investigative look into the Bible and biblical history. The scientific approach they take to dissecting the different authors, timeframes when certain parts were written, the politics of the times and motivations of the writers, etc, is one of the best detective stories ever!

Near the end the author makes some pretty big leaps to try and come up with a whopper ending for the book (by trying to actually name a specific author of one part of the Bible), but overall this is a fantastic book that takes an in-depth look at how religions get constructed.

It's a well-written book that is fun to read, but also provides some amazing insights into several of the world's main religions. And it provides you with the tools you need to critically examine other sources and information you come across when looking at Polish history.

Good luck with it!

kleinbl00  ·  3313 days ago  ·  link  ·  

1) move them

2) write the rest

3) Find the solution that doesn't involve moving your historical events that is now obvious but was obscure

I find that writers need to be sharks - the minute you stop moving is the minute you start to suffocate. It is far better to write 10 pages of blather than zero pages of considered prose. With visual products, the finished work is the one the editor finally hands off to distribution so it's excessively stupid to make sure this draft of the script is right until you're showing it to people with money.

goobster  ·  3313 days ago  ·  link  ·  

and BAM!

Clarity and truth delivered right between the eyes.

As always, thank you my friend!