So, where are the writers?

[Shadow_2014]

Wow, I'm surprised at how similar my taste in books is to most of you. But then I remember what forum I'm trolling...

I got introduced to Terry Pratchett's work in Germany, where I read 9 or so of his books. I started on his early stuff like Equal Rites and ended with his later novel, Nightwatch. I really liked his early stuff, because it's just so silly, but his later Vimes stuff is just as interesting to read, though it's much more mature.

Anyway, I also love Hunter S. and Stephen King. Just finished Moby Dick, which I think is a fantastic read. Douglas Adams, of course, but that goes without saying. Orwell, Vonnegut, Kafka, Huxley, Bradbury, Burgess, Neitzsche, HG Wells... Does anyone else know Daniel Quinn's work?

I can't remember the authors, but I also really liked Snow Crash (Neil someone wrote it, I think), Riddley Walker, and Grendel (the story of Beowulf told in the first person by Grendel).

I own the Amber book which contains all the stories, but I haven't cracked it open yet, because its size is a little intimidating.

And I write occasionally, but I always end up abandoning all the projects I start, due to my impairingly extreme perfectionism.

[PeanutGod]

Funny you should mention Perfectionism. I was actually diagnosed with it a few years ago after I pretty much hit rock bottom and was in a right dodgy place in my life. It's an extremely hard thing to live with, but like most things, it eventually just becomes routine. However, it is extremely annoying to have to do everything to the absolute best of your abilities each time. Quite soul destroying in fact. Ah well....the price of genius is high I suppose.

[Silfir]

I love the Discworld series, especially the ones about the Watch. Some Discworld novels are better than others, so much is true, but in the worst case they're still entertaining. I've read a lot of them in German (obviously), but recently I've made an effort to buy the original versions in bookstores that have an international section. It's trivial, luckily, because of his popularity. Because there are so many I usually still find some that I missed (it's sad that I've gotten all the Watch ones already).

As for writing, well, I do write fiction (indeed fantasy, though recently I've become engaged in science fiction), but unless you can read German, you're not going to enjoy my stuff much. Generally, I always hit one or more snags in my stories that sometimes take months to overcome, if I ever do manage to continue. It's probably due to a lack of structure and discipline, and also because sometimes I realize what I'd planned to write sucks balls and I have to think of something else. The most major pieces of writing I've done recently are the ADOM guides.

[Grey]

Hmm, that reminds me, I did a very brief foray into video game journalism once, for a site a friend set up where you have to review a game you know you'll hate for 30 days. I did dance games. Yeah... Was an interesting month, to say the least

[Shadow_2014]

Funny you should mention Perfectionism. I was actually diagnosed with it a few years ago ...

I wasn't aware that one could be diagnosed with it. Was that something you intentionally seeked diagnosis for?

Ah well....the price of genius is high I suppose.

Too true.

[PeanutGod]

Well basically, having a rather up and down life, I've suffered from depression a few times. And after one rather dodgy bout, went to get some of those happy pills I heard so much about. Didn't get any happy pills, but got diagnosed with Perfectionism instead. It's not great to live with, and it means I stop and start a lot of things because I don't think they'll be good enough, plus refuse to write at times because I feel what I put down should be perfect first time, even though to think this is stupid. Horrible condition! Go look it up!

[Gulfd'An]

[offtopic]Did you have problems like that before you got diagnosed? Just saying because if you were already mentally stressed and got misdiagnosed you could have ended up giving your self the condition or at least making it worse than it was. [/offtopic]

I have really enjoyed any of Isaac Asimov's books that I have been fortunate enough to read (foundation series and I robot). I read the hobbit and all but the last of LOTR at a very young age (eight or so) and a few years later I reread them all over again (including the last book this time) now I am thirteen and have read the hobbit a total of six times and LOTR series three times. And of course my favorite of all was Douglas Adams hitchhikers guide to the galaxy trilogy (I know there are five books it is a little joke he used). I read wheel of time (all eleven) twice but I never really liked them I just needed something to do.
I have read countless other books I liked but I can?t recall the names of them (for example this historical navy book with a Irish doctor and a guy named Jack something that I only read three of cause I couldn?t find the other twenty, and this other series I remember nothing of other than the fact it was good and the authors name was Elizabeth Moon also that it was Sci-fi). And another two of my all time favorite books were war of the rats (a stalingrad WW2 novel), and animal farm.
I have always wanted to write a book but I can never stay serious and it ends up like the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy only with out any apparent plot and slightly less comical.

[PeanutGod]

[offtopic]Did you have problems like that before you got diagnosed? Just saying because if you were already mentally stressed and got misdiagnosed you could have ended up giving your self the condition or at least making it worse than it was. [/offtopic]

.

I've had the condition for a long time from what I gather. My parents apparently noticed that I was always hard on myself growing up, restarting projects and constantly berating myself for getting things wrong. Part of it also stems from the fact that my brother is a certifiable genius, so has always excelled at most things he touches. It's probably a subconcious 'Hey, look at me for once' cry for attention. I'm not saying that its all bad, indeed sometimes it is good because some brilliant work comes from forcing myself. But to do things over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over can be pretty soul destroying!

[Gulfd'An]

From what you "gather". So you see that is just what others have told you. Now if you truly are a genius you would be able to tell on your own. Who knows maybe you aren't a perfectionist maybe you are just a hard worker. If you are hard on your self then you will just be forcing your self to do better which is a good thing in fact most people can't be hard on their selves most of the time so they never do there true best. So you say your brother is a genius? Well it probably runs in the family. You have the same parents so your genes come from the same place so if he was just born with a "larger brain" then average then in all likely hood in some way you would have too. If it was something about the way he was raised that made him think more complexly you still share the same parents so would probably have been raised in very similar ways. So unless he had some genetic malfunction that caused him to have a faster or better chemical computer in his head or was raised in just the way to be a genius you have all the same possibilities to be one too and you should have to put just the same amount of effort into things as he does. Of course for all I know he may have been brought up in just the right way that he will always know more then the average person or as I said earlier he could have a different chemical structure in his brain causing him to be ?smarter? than average. Either way it isn?t his fault he had no choice of his ?genius? but you on the other hand (as stated by your self) are genius in your own ways and the only person that can be held responsible for that is you (and possibly your brother for causing you to try your hardest). So who really is the genius? The random occurrence or the hard working sibling?

And then there is the fact that you made your self a perfectionist by trying your best at every thing so is it really a disorder or something that is there because you want it to be there? If I went out and started acting like a wacko for fun and got thrown in a mental ward couldn?t I just stop acting and be normal again? You became a perfectionist to get attention because you had an abnormal brother but if you wanted too couldn?t you just stop seeking that attention for a while? Maybe long enough to take a look and see if the attention is really worth it if it means giving your self a disorder that is slowly eating away at your soul.

I know that all of that was based of speculation seeing as I know nothing about you or your brother, but I hope that I was at least sort of right in some ways?..

[PeanutGod]

"From what I gather"

I'm going by a Doctors and a Psychiatrist's professional opinion here. Maybe it was the way I was brought up, maybe it was something I partially inflicted on myself. I'm not a shrink so I don't know.

Anyway, enough of discussing my issues, let's get back to the post at hand, eh? Writing.