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If you were an author, what sort of stories would you like to write? Or perhaps you'd like to write non-fiction?

If I had the time and the ability, I would like to write thriller-like stories probing deeply into the human mind but at the same time with a wider background (political, philosophical, social, historical etc) and giving the reader an educational aspect as well. I would also like the story to have many different dimensions, many layers that can appeal to a wide variety of readers. Something like Eco's "The name of the rose". Or a thriller version of Borges "The library of Babel".

May I make a "BTW" post?

Originally posted by C Elegans

If I had the time and the ability, I would like to write thriller-like stories probing deeply into the human mind but at the same time with a wider background ... [...] , I would also like the story to have many different dimensions, many layers that can appeal to a wide variety of readers.

Interesting preferences; the most important brazilian author, Machado de Assis, is known by these characteristics. A very interesting psicological introspection in the character mind with a sutile mixture of humor and sadness. Insered in the "Realisme" of the end of the XIX sec. . Very dinamic writed and readable. One of my favorites.

If you have the oportunity to got a good translation-adaption, You will certanly like this one:

" Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas"- Machado de Assis- 1881.

(In English: "Post Mortem Memories of Brás Cubas" [ or something near to this])

Fantasy genre, all the way. Most of which would deal with the pysche of the main character, usually in some way that is not the norm.

I would like to (and am going to) write a book about what's right, and what's wrong. Nothing else is important.

Romance.

I think that field needs more excitement and adventure, maybe a few wizards thrown in. It would never be the same again

I'd most likely be a poet in the style of Seamus Heaney. Except that all the poetry I've ever written has been pretentious and not particularly brilliant .

I can not imagine writing a novel. I am toying with the Idea of writing a source book for Warhammer Fantasy Role Playing.

Some of the themes I would explore are:-
The paradox of unfairness in the civic institutions that hold society together (I.E. law in medieval society).
How people use tradition as social glue, even where those traditions have a basis that is antisocial or downright evil.

There will be little in the way of black and white, just choices between shades of black.

One of the nice things about Warhammer is the background detail, so I will be writing a lot of stuff about guild structures, the difference between enforcement of law in cities and in more rural settings, stuff about which power structures have (theoretical) juristiction over which areas of law. There is lots of conflict between church, state and commerce. Said conflict is not always resticted to words.

If this ever gets to be more than just an idea in my head, I will let you know (If I can without violating SYM rules)

comics books.

A cookbook for Stupid Snack Ideas....directly compiled from SYM !

(See S.S.I. for more information...)

No worries, you'll all get a honorable mention

Beldin

I'd choose non fiction

My work would be more of a compilation. Here's the scoop:

My father's father served in the 101st airborne in WW2. He died about ten years ago. My grandmother died just two years ago. After the funeral and such, my father and his five siblings began going through everything and stumbled upon a shoe box of old letters from my grandfather to my grandmother when he was in europe during the war. Dozens of letters and some pretty amazing stuff. I'm certain that I'm not alone here in a collection of letters being preserved, but I find it fascinating my grandfather was here and there during such a tumultuous time and while so many died, he was able to return to the states, have a family, raise six children, pursue a career in sports journalism, and watch his children all go on to have families.

Anyway, back to the letters. Some were quite personal, bringing a smirk to my face realizing these seductive lines were written by my grandfather. Other contained accounts of front line stuff, combat, fear, the loss of friends. I think the best letter is when he was in Paris and things were winding down. Germany was on the brink of surrender and his words capture the emotions of a nation, the excitement of people and the energy in the air. It's one of the most moving things I've ever read, perhaps biased because it is an account from own grandfather.

If I were to put a book together, I can't think of anything else I'd rather do.

My background is in history; I have a Bachelor's Degree and a Master's Degree in the discipline and I would one day like to be published, although I do not hold professional aspirations in history. I like the research aspect of history, as well as the argumentative side, so I would like to write biographies that either defend people who have typically been villified (ie-William T. Sherman) or humanise people who have traditionally been the beneficiaries of hagiography (ie-Robert E. Lee, Douglas MacArthur), because (almost) no one is as good or as bad as history has judged them.

Failing that, I'd write erotica.

Re: I'd choose non fiction

Originally posted by Ned Flanders
If I were to put a book together, I can't think of anything else I'd rather do.

Popular and oral history is one field in the discipline which is enjoying a tremendous explosion in popularity and critical acceptance right now. Witness the success of The Greatest Generation Speaks: Letters and Reflections by Tom Brokaw and other similar books.

If you're interested in compiling the correspondence between your grandparents, you might contact some former members of his unit (squad, platoon, company, etc.) or their descendants and see if they would like to contribute anything to your work. I'd also bet the the 101st Airborne (now 101st Air Assualt) Division has a veterans group or society that might have some up to date records on your grandfather's squadmates and may even have an oral history or correspondence history project under way.

I'd probably write poetry, or take up songwriting, and focus on serious stuff like death and immortality.

something quite dark about how people do - or don't - communicate with each other and how that affects how they see themselves and those around them, living vicariously through the simplified media representations, judge themselves agains each other, and compete inherently for their own satisfaction and feeling of superiority.

cheerful, isn't it?

i've got a title already...

i was going to reply to your PM, but this turned out to be too long

@Ned:
You might check with the local VFW or American Legion, or with the 101st Airborne Division to see if there is a project currently underway. If someone else has already started working on something like this you can provide some primary source material for their work and save yourself a lot of headache and trouble. You can also check with Military.com to get in touch with some vets from your grandfather's era.

Are there enough letters to publish in a book? If not, you could track down some of his squadmates (if he mentions any specifically in his letters, go after them first), and ask them if they would be willing to participate in an oral history project and interview them about your grandfather, themselves and what they did during the war. This can be done through a taped interview or through mail or email correspondence. If they would be willing to provide any of their own correspondence with their families or spouses, you could ask them for copies of that material as well. You want to gather as much primary source material as possible. Harp on the fact that you want to collect their stories before they die (immortality in print is a great way to get people to cooperate).

Then you could construct a narrative from their time in boot camp (if they knew each other then) through the Normandy campaign to V-E Day. You could also intersperse portions of the letters in with the narrative, and also include a section on the home front to show the spouse's and families view of the war. The exact tack should be left until you have all of your source material gathered, but popular/social histories are big right now, not just in among history academics but commercially as well.

If you submit a work to a printer, and they hack up your manuscript too much, you can either let them do what they want to it, or you can print yourself through a vanity press and distribute it on your own. Either way, if this is a subject that you find particularly compelling, you should pursue it.

If you find that you do not have the time to do it personally, this may be a project you could introduce to a local university professor (or doctoral student) who may be interested in publishing their own book. That way, you might be able to fineagle co-authorship credits while getting someone else to do the bulk of your work.

I'd like to write a novel, but plotlines continue to elude me, so instead I write short stories, in a Poe-ish style.

I would submit a collection to a publisher, except what I write is entirely crap

@ Frogus: Hasn't that already been done, and wouldn't it take several lifetimes? And become obsolete very quickly?

I think if i ever wrote anything (something i do intend to do) it would be somewhat like the writing's of Ellroy, maybe base it on a real event and show what could have happened, i would love to do the reasearch and then create a story from that.

If not that it would probably be something like Iain Banks, something of the genre bending, mixing different styles to create an interesting menangerie of differing plotlines

@Ned and HLD,

Just some thoughts on pursuing oral history......
I have done several taped interviews for my master's thesis....and it is a fascinating area.....

You need to be very careful about issues like ownership....for example....who does the story belong to?

Additionally...sometimes remembering can be painful and intrusive for respondents, especially if they are old and are yearning for their lost youth. (even if that is not the intention of the interviewer)...so this needs to be taken into account.

When I did my interviews I had to go through a fairly lengthy process in order to obtain permission.

All that being said...it is very rewarding to embark upon a project like this.... Oral history acts to record the experiences of those whose history might never be known, and is IMHO a wonderful compliment to the field of social history.

Good Luck with it!

Originally posted by dragon wench
You need to be very careful about issues like ownership....for example....who does the story belong to?

Our history department has a standard release form which interviewees must sign before the interview starts. I don't have one in front of me right now, but it says basically that 1) the subject is not being compensated in any way other than to have their story recorded for posterity, and 2) that the History Department will keep the original recording on file (sometimes with a transcript) so that the primary source material may be reviewed by anyone. There is also another document that people can request that seals their interview for a certain period of time (five years, ten years, until their death, etc.) and makes it unavailable to anyone without the explicit permission of the steward of the tapes and does not release it for public distribution.

I've seen some other releases that some universities use that has a clause in there which states that the subject will not knowingly give any false information, but the department head said that the interviews are for oral history projects and are not depositions, so they never wrote it into ours. He also said that if people give out several interviews and there are widely conflicting details in each interview, it only undermines their credibility and reliability as a primary source, so it is often in the best interests of the subject to be truthful (to the best of their ability or knowledge).

These releases are standard procedure for not only academics but journalists and other folks, so finding a model shouldn't be hard.

Re: Re: If you were an author...

Originally posted by Delacroix
Interesting preferences; the most important brazilian author, Machado de Assis, is known by these characteristics. A very interesting psicological introspection in the character mind with a sutile mixture of humor and sadness. Insered in the "Realisme" of the end of the XIX sec. . Very dinamic writed and readable. One of my favorites.

If you have the oportunity to got a good translation-adaption, You will certanly like this one:

" Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas"- Machado de Assis- 1881.

(In English: "Post Mortem Memories of Brás Cubas" [ or something near to this])

Delacroix, thanks for the advice! I did a search on Amazon.co.uk, and Assis is indeed translated to English

"The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas" is the English title of the book you recommend. Other titles they had were
"Epithaph of a small winner", "Esau and Jacob", "The wager" and several others. One of my friends is currently in London, I'll give him a ring and ask him to buy "Posthumous memories..." for me immediately It's edited by Oxford university press, so it should be a good translation.