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YOU MAY ALSO SEE THESE AT MY BLOGS IN BLOGGER, WORDPRESS, SODAHEAD, MYSPACE, ETC, stay in touch there will much more in the future...
The most serious genre. I guess this topic has so many answers that they wouldn't "fit" in a blog post... Many people would say stories about everyday's life (marriage, having kids and teaching them of good manners, or about the horrible divorces that destroy many kids and parents' life) are amongst the things everyone must put under the pillows or over the beds. Of course, some other people would claim to put books or other products about "How to..." themes amongst the five things they would take on a desert island. According to their opinion, these books are the best helpers in everyday's life, showing us which are the best ways to deal with an ex-boy/girl-friend, how to make useful objects out of scrap, or train our mind to remember all we need (or don't need) to know in life, etc.
Have you ever been saved by a book? I’m serious, so it’s not a joke... ;) Well, I don’t mean that books can cut the rope of your gallows, be your lawyer at the court, or give you or create antidote for the poison you just drank... Yet, it doesn’t mean that many books couldn’t change anyone’s way of thimking, or choices people make, or even make many of us do a lot of incredible deeds (more of them good, less evil or bad I hope...). For example, a small book of about 150 pages (Flesh by Ph. Farmer) was one of the main reasons for our actions to prevent the destruction of the ozon layer... And I’m sure anyone could name some other examples too of the great power many books have! I’m sure also there are other readers and writers who could share similar stories, like mine: About ten years ago, there was a period in my life when everything seemed hopeless and meaningless, it seemed my studying of English would be endless (I’m not a native Englishman or American, I’m Bulgarian and realized very soon English was a very difficult language, with so many meanings of a single word, there were so many expressions I had to learn, etc.). After that, it seemed almost impossible to find a publisher for my translated in English book, or even a literary agent who would find a publisher... Then I was so depressed because all these happened so slow, that I wanted to suicide myself... Fortunately, the reading of some of Terry Pratchett’s excellent books changed my mind and way of thinking once and for all. They made me realize to cope well with any situation in life one has to find the funny side even of the worst events and mishaps. But what was even more incredible was something else. Terry Pratchett’s books’ most amazing quality was that they could make anyone think about serious and important things like wars, good and evil, the real difference between perfection and imperfection, human stupidity and its many forms, the good and bad sides of humans’ faith, etc... I’m really glad Terry Pratchett’s books appeared in my life at the right moment! Now, when my first book Tale Of The Rock Pieces is finally published I feel I have to thank Mr. Pratchett for his amazing works. I don’t know whether he will read this, but I have to admit he actually helped me to make my dreams come true! http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/TaleOfTheRockPieces.html, http://allanbard.hit.bg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yw3a5n00FI, http://allanbard.blogspot.com, http://www.myspace.com/ivan_allanbard, http://www.facebook.comivanstoikov.allanbard
About books and movies based on them – Do you like any movie more/better than the book it’s based on? I guess one could hardly find such a motion picture? Probably the reason is that usually movies are much „shorter” than books, so oftentimes books’ most important ideas and thoughts could not be a part of the movies based on them. However, I remember a few motion pictures (only two actually) that are at least a few levels up their stories written on paper. Yet, both The Little Mermaid and The Little Prince are longer than (or equal to) their text versions... Probably most teenagers, or even a lot of adults too, prefer to watch the movies than to read the books they are based on. I don’t know whether they could change their opinion... But I’m certain that any writer could improve his/her writing, so that any potential reader could enjouy his/her works much more. Being a writer, I could name a few ways I’ve heard for improvement of the written stories, like avoiding the dull, boring explanations, or the long, unnecessary sentences, etc. Though I’d love to know some other opinions of readers, writers, or movie fans, concerning what should be done so that movies could be more like the stories they are based on, or books could become more interesting for any reader. Actually, readers and movie fans’ opinions are what any writer should bear in mind, right?
E-books or paperback and hardcover books? I’ve heard a couple of years ago that usually only 10 % of the purchased books are of the kind one could read on a PC or other e-device. I’m not sure whether the situation today has changed, yet many of my friends, realtives and acquaintances prefer to hold a book made of paper. None of them thinks about the awful consequences the creating of paper could cause to the nature... Every tree is connected to at least twenty species of animals or other plants (it depends on the longitude and latitude, please excuse me if my numbers are not quite correct)... When a tree is cut off, it means death for some of these species, and much stress for the others, that could even lead to extinction... There are many other awful consecuences caused by the disappearance of the trees. Like draught, erosion, climate change... Usually, the new generation of trees grow up for about ten years, so it takes a lot of time until things are normal again... Finally, that leads to awful consequences for us humans (hunger, diseases, even death...). I’ve heard that about 98 % of all the animal and plant species that existed on Earth are extinct, since the Earth has been formed or created. I don’t know what is the percentage of the species killed by people’s way of life or strivings for a better future. But I remember when a journalist asked the famous naturalist Gerald Durrel how many animals and plants were threatened or extincted because of people’s activities, Mr Durrel showed him two enormous volumes of The Red Book and replied: „ I don’t know, I’m not brave enough to count them...”
I remember also an excellent thought of the Indians from North America: The Earth is not ours, we just borrowed it from our children... I guess all of us should bear in mind this excellent saying, which Antoan De St. Exupery used too, and do our best to preserve the planet... Reading e-books instead of those made of paper could be one of the ways to do that...
The easy/hard writing and the many skills and things any author should have and know. Most of people think the most important skills for any author should be the good knowledge of the language, the good writing skills, or the good imagination. But I guess any writer would say these are just some of the basic skills. The writing of any book requires much other information, many other skills that are connected to that information. For example, if a writer writes a book describing a fierce battle with swords, he or she has to be familiar with many (or all) of sword battle techniques... or even has to "take part" in such a battle, may be even more than once... That way the description of such events in the book will be really amazing (and true at the same time). Books could be also a way to educate anyone. Any author use much information in his/her books, and in most cases that requires months or even years of research and collecting of useful information for creating new facts, thoughts and plots. Sometimes, this could be very hard, even harder than any physical work or activity, like digging of channels with a spade... Few people realize what a great and hard work the writing of a book requires. Bernard Werber read and collected information about his “Ants” novel about a year, then used just about 18 % of the read facts. John Grisham uses his years of studying law and practice to write his bestsellers in the best possible way. I’m sure any author could name a lot of similar examples? As for me, my hair stand on end when I remember how many books (the Bible, Quran, many books and a lot of information about octopuses, enormous quantities of facts about antiquity, etc.) I must read just about one of my future books – “The Lord Of The Christ”… I feel almost the same, when I remember that I have to learn how to dance exactly like Michael Jackson for another book of mine – I’ll be glad to hear some other opinions from other writers, editors, or readers about the hard/easy writing and the hard/easy ways to create these incredible things we call books… http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/TaleOfTheRockPieces.html, http://allanbard.hit.bg, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yw3a5n00FI, http://www.allanbard.blogspot.com, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ijJl-6Be88, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnnTz7aNkX8, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vkixN9Nr2Q, http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=99088&id=708910608&page=2#!/video/video.php?v=1297301684245, http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=103411355, http://www.shelfari.com/allanbard, http://www.myspace.com/ivan_allanbard, http://www.facebook.comivanstoikov.allanbard the best job ever...
or the glorious wisdom of wise thoughts, the thoughts that made nations or many people set deep in thought. It seems it's hard for most people too to realize writing of books is connected to every job, activity, hobby one could think of or imagine. It depends on the book a writer writes of course, but actually even a "stupid" love story could include interesting facts, useful tips, or breath-taking adventures, or amazing writing skills, which make the story incredible. All these could make any writer's life a real adventure, without anything like dull time, unhappy thoughts, and attempts to suicide oneself because of meaningless existence...
These are not just my thoughts and experience I remember a saying of an ancient wiseman (Chinese I guess, can't remember his name): Find a job you like and you'll never work again in your life. I don't know whether he was a writer in the meaningwe use today, but this is quite an acceptable explanation. I remember another thought, which some other writers used , including me in my next book The Opposite Of Magic, and which shows the incredible job, experience, or way of life writing of books could be: Oftentimes, the fictional stories are more true than the real...
There are many other "benefits" about writing. Writing a story, any writer could become a real expert in many fields. To describe something well enough, one has to "experience" it, to know perfectly well every detail about it. Many writers usually prepare for the writing of a book a few months or even years, collecting information, learning a lot of new things, creating amazing new worlds, or "making" new friends (actually, the best friends one could have are amongst the fictional characters in the books, as they could be whatever the writer wants ;)... I can still"talk" with some of my characters from my Tale Of The Rock Pieces or The Opposite Of Magic for example, and "ask" them about their opinions about things from my next books...;) So, a writer would never be bored writing a good story.
Of course, usually writing is considered "thankless" work. After spending some years collecting information and writing a good story, there's no guarantee that the book will be a bestseller... As far as I know only about ten percent of the published books are "well-rewarded". However, it doesn't mean that the other benefits disappear because of this statistic...
I guess I'm not the only one with the same frame of mind and thoughts? Your opinions, please?
http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/TaleOfTheRockPieces.html, http://allanbard.hit.bg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yw3a5n00FI, http://allanbard.blogspot.com, http://www.myspace.com/ivan_allanbard, http://www.facebook.comivanstoikov.allanbard  Aren't you fed up with stupidity in the streets? I guess everyone have seen "wise" headlines on T-shirts, fridge magnets, etc? Headlines like: My boyfriend kisses better than yours, or FBI - Female Body Inspector? Don't you think not everything we should think of should be about sex? I guess it would be much better if we see more good, inspirational thoughts, or nice pictures of mythical creatures, or other funny quotes, photos etc. that don't include only sex... If you want to know my opinion, everyone could help about that using sites like zazzle.com, cafepress.com, fiverr, etc. There any user could create T-shirts, stickers, cups, fridge magnets, etc. with his/her own design, then share his/her work with family/friends/world... Join me, I'm allanbard there, you'll see what I mean. I usually use some of my photos, quotes or illustrations from my books, or other wise thoughts, which most of population on Earth would find interesting, inspiring, or even useful. Thoughts like: Oftentimes it's harder to accept help than offering. Clone Wars.
The one who runs with aggression walks without dignity. Samurai Jack. It's our choices, far more than our abilities, that show us who we really are. J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets. One could fight money only with money. my Tale Of The Rock Pieces. To die will be an awfully big adventure. Peter Pan. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering... master Yoda, The Phantom Menace. Even in the hottest fire there's a bit of water. my The Opposite Of Magic. If there isn't Santa Claus, the sun won't rise. There will just be a giant ball of hot gasses. Terry Pratchett's Hogfather. All the problems in the world lead to one - narrow-minded people. my Incredible Future. The ones that are crazy enough to believe that they can change the world are the ones that do. Tim Durlong
Even if you fall on your face, you're still moving forward ~ Victor Kiam
It is the set of the sails, not the direction of the wind that determines which way we will go". Jim Rohn
http://ldyicedragon.com/veboard.html <!-- BEGIN Magical Fairy Sites CODE --> Why modern fairy-tales are better than the old, classical... Probably only some people will agree with me about this... Many of them like only the classical fairy-tales like Little Red Riding Hood, Snow-White And The Seven Dwarves, Puss In Boots, etc. just because they remind them of their childhood. They even forbid their kids to read books like Harry Potter, Peter Pan, The Hobbit, Alice In Wonderland, or The Wizard Of Oz. I guess it's a certain evidence of "narrow-mindedness", because they just can't realize these modern tales combine not only amazing events, incredible creatures, or breath-taking battles and deeds. They also show us many good ways to deal with everlasting problems, problems we have today, had in the past too, or will have in the future...
They show us how useless and stupid it is to be a racis (remember how useless it was to name H. Grainger a mud-blood in Harry Potter books, she was one of the best students Hogwarts had ever seen), to care only about our own well-being (in the battle between good and evil in Bring me The Head Of Prince Charming where the good won the contest just because being evil was stupid and the good creatures helped much more the evil contestants than any other evil doers did), or the true meaning of words like love (I hope I showed well enough what the real, unudultered love can do in my Tale Of The Rock Pieces), good, evil, truth, lies... Meanwhile, what most of the classical fairy-tales deal with is finding of enormous treasures, or good, profitable marriages. I’m not sure whether it’s a good comparison, but I guess old fairy-tales were the equivalent of soap operas in the past when there was no TV, Internet? So, I guess the difference between a TV soap opera of 1000 meaningless episodes and an Oscar nominee like Schilndler’s List, The Fisher King, Rain-man, or The Slumdog Billionaire...
 I’m certain that about 90 % of people will consider this post crazy and stupid ;)... Yet, I guess they all could read it to see my point J? As far as I know statistics show that only about 10 % (or a bit more) of people appreciate beards and moustaches. My personal expereince show that if all the people who told me I had to be clean-shaven join hands, then they would probably make a ring around the equator of Jupiter ;). I will not claim that all the men should be like many great and famous people who have/had beards and moustaches. I wouild just point out what many people before our time thought about beards – it was „a certain evidence” of greatness, power, nobility and ancient way of thinking/life? I don’t want to claim too that everything in antiquity was perfect but imagine what a wonderful world we would live in if we followed some ancient thoughts and rules... All the couples would live together forever, there wouldn’t be divorces and sad kids, people would pay more attention to wisdom than to idle talk... Of course, I don’t mean wearing beards and moustaches could prevent that, I just think we should respect bearded men as a sign of nobelty, inner strength or even creativity and great imagination too.
Probably all the readers who still think this is stupid should remember all those amazing things bearded men created in the past or are creating now. Jesus Christ’s sacrifice is praised all over the world, the works of Lev Tolstoy, Ernest Hemingway, Paolo Coehlo, Terry Pratchett, the movies of Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Fransis Copola, the songs of Willie Nelson, Luciano Pavarotti, etc will always be remembered. After that, I hope even those who cannot stand the sight of beards and moustaches, together with many of my friends, will agree that I’m right to create in some of my books my Mountaineers (the most noble human race that has ever existed on Earth) like some of the great bearded men we know. I guess all the people who read my blog, or had a look at my sites, stories would agree I was right to choose such an appearance for people who could dive in the cold waters of mountain lakes in the middle of a severe winter, or create anything from scratch, dust, mud, etc. using their magical skills, who could rejuvenate any old man or woman, or made the most noble sacrifice in the name of humanity, good causes, etc...
I hope also that anyone could understand why I say/write to anyone with a beard and moustaches I meet even via web that they must be very proud of their appearance and never shave... As beards and moustaches are the appearance of many great people and my ancient Mountaineers, the only human race that could train and become wizards in antiquity...
Usually, the presence of wizards with sharp hats, fire-breathing dragons, princesses, powerful kings, vampires, elves, dwarfs, little green men, etc is a certain evidence we read a fantasy/sci-fy story or watch a movie of the same genres. There are amazing books and pictures with all these characters, yet what makes them amazing is mostly the good plot and thoughts. Thoughts we could use in any period (past, present or future) of our history.
Yet, though these typical characters bring additional „colour” to the story, I guess they are too ordinary already? Almost as ordinary as the creatures and characters we see everyday: dogs, cats, horses, skillfull people in the army, cold-hearted politicians and other men in power, etc. Almost every book in fantasy/sci-fy genres describe these typical beings, that’s why I think we authors should strive to create new creatures and characters which nobody have ever seen or heard of. I guess any reader or writer would agree with that? New, unseen beings would seem much more interesting than the classical and would intrigue the readers much better? Beings like weightless korks (flying creatures with eliptical shape, some sort of intelligent worms, with no eyes but able to perfectly orientate by the revertebrated sound and to change their colour fast and so perfectly that people and other predators could hardly see them even flying on different backgrounds);fish-keepers (big, extremely evil and cunning fish that could fulfill perfectly well their tasks, namely to guard the sunken treasures and prescious objects); rock pieces (one of the most ancient rational beings that could wield the Magic, long time ago they had been of flesh and blood and lived in almost all the ancient seas and oceans, but after they were killed by the evil human races the long years in the ground made them creatures of stone); Brown faces (the most evil human race, in the remote past all of them had fair skin but their sinister intentions and deeds bit by bit made their bodies and faces as brown and cracked as the bark of a mulberry tree… yet, the most scary thing was not their sinister and ugly faces but their extremely evil thoughts and strivings to own and conquer everything and everybody, which probably was the reason that they took part in all the wars and battles in antiquity); glowing, living balls (tender, kind-hearted and noble creatures living in the waters of the ancient lakes, rivers and seas, as intelligent as humans, though their language was very peculiar, only mermaids could understand their squeaks, besides they could change shape fast and swim at lightning speed when they had to escape the predators or move to better water areas); night fruit (big, green balls that could grow and appear on every tree or other plant, only if an ancient wizard lived near... these fruit were formed by Magic, so they contained almost everything a human body needed, their only disadvantage was that they had to be picked only in the night, otherwise they melted and became rotten and bad for health); Mountaineers (in antiquity there were not only noble animals but noble human races too, the Mountaineers were the most noble among them, only they could become and train wizards as they knew what they had to do to wield the Magic because they could understand the real nature of thismost perfect state of matter, every single thought, deed, act of theirs formed a part of the incredible Magic, so they could do and make anything we could imagine, their magnificent civilization was so advanced that in some ways we wouldn’t reach their level of skills and knowledge even after thousands of years...).
I guess new creatures, characters like these could bring new excitement, thrills, or even plots and wisdom in the genre? http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/TaleOfTheRockPieces.html,http://allanbard.hit.bg,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yw3a5n00FI, http://allanbard.blogspot.com, http://www.myspace.com/ivan_allanbard, http://www.facebook.com/ivanstoikov.allanbard, http://www.allanbard.wordpress.com
A couple of weeks ago I read a post about how awful amateur illustrations and covers of books are. So, I couldn’t refrain from posting my thoughts and opinion too.
A friend of minewho is a graduate in book-publishing once told me that in the industry it is a well-known fact that the worst illustrations were made by professional artists. At first I was surprised to hear that, but then remembered my personal experience and realized she was right. When I was a kid, I was really frustrated by the illustrations in The Hobbit for example (the Bulgarian edition I mean). Bilbo Baggings looked so mean and greedy as if he wanted to kill all the dwarves and steal Smog’s all treasure. Orcs were so skinny and disproportionate that I was wondering how they could stand on their feet, let alone fight. The dragon Smog had so small wings that compared to them even T. Rex’s rudimental paws looked big… Almost all the illustrations had very little in common with the story! They looked that way as if the illustrator took the characters from another book and used them in J.R. Tolkien’s story… Though the illustrator was a professional artist…
I guess many of the other readers and writers could share such examples too? And many of them would agree with my opinion that for some of my books many authors must use their own illustrations? I guess if I hired a professional artist for some of my works then probably my Mountaineers would be clean-shaven, the mermaids’ hair would get wet all the time, the Brown faces would look like the Afro-Americans of today (and all the readers and critics would accuse me of being racist), etc. Of course, every rule has its exceptions, there are amateur illustrations and covers that look awful. But I’m certain all the readers and critics, writers have similar experience like mine with many professional artists’ works?
http://www.
strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/TaleOfTheRockPieces.html,
http://www.allanbard.blogspot.com  Combining genres.
A couple of months ago I saw an interview of an author who claimed his works couldn’t be categorized just in one genre. Though many of the critics and readers were saying he was writing fantasy, he still claimed his stories couldn’t just be “put” amongst the books with fairies, kings, princesses, wizards, and other magical creatures. Some of them combined both the magical and our modern world, describing everlasting problems and issues (like greed, striving for power, right or wrong policy, or meaning of life, etc). So, there were not just amazing magical sights, events, creatures, battles, etc. but also a lot of philosophy, drama, even romance and humor, or suspense.
Actually, I would say many books’ stories deserve to be amongst those that combine genres. For example in The Lord Of The Rings, along with the many battles, fierce creatures and glorious sights, there are a lot of philosophy, drama and problems that will probably be always actual in our history. There is much of philosophy too and a lot of the criminal genre along with the amazing sport of the wizards and all the breath-taking events in the books about Harry Potter. No one can deny there’s a lot of romance in Twilight series, along with all the nasty or kind-hearted vampires. Many of Terry Pratchett’s books are a perfect combination of humor, philosophy, fantasy and sci-fi. I guess there are a lot of other books that “follow” the same rule?
All these I mentioned are well-known bestsellers all over the world. I guess one of the main reasons for that is exactly the combining of genres. Which “provides” not only the excitement of the fantasy, sci-fy worlds, but also the wisdom , quotes and seriousness of the modern fiction, drama, or philosophical works.
I would also claim all these books follow Buddhists’ quotes that the middle way is the best. There is balance between genres in many of them, balance which even Buddha himself would appreciate. Well, many people would say almost all books (especially fantasy and sci-fi works) include more than one genre. When I had a “closer look” at my stories, I realized too that involuntarily I did a good job many times combining fantasy and sci-fi with romance, drama, philosophy, suspense, even humor or interesting facts about animals, plants, space (i. e. some science). I guess everyone know what a great influence books could have on our minds, behavior, way of life, etc. (just for example, one of the main reasons why the ozone layer is still whole was Flesh, a small book of about 180 pages). That’s why I guess every author must combine genres to create better stories?
http://www. strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/TaleOfTheRockPieces.html, Good, sad, or real ends of stories.
It’s a well-known fact that all the Hollywood movies have a happy end that makes them the most preferable all over the world. On the other hand, most of the movies Bollywood, India produces are so sad that usually at the end all the people in the movie hall are crying. Yet, these sad ends are not an obstacle at all for Bollywood to make more movies than the other countries in the world. And they are well-known and appreciated all over the world too. I guess many people would say such sad movies should be forbidden as they could provoke suicidal thoughts or at least make people so gloomy that they couldn’t do their obligations, tasks well enough, or ruin their education, better qualifications, or even destroy the ability to make the right choices in life…
Yet, I’m certain there would be many people who would be really frustrated if all the movies and books had happy ends. When something is repeated over and over again, finally it becomes so dull that it cannot do its real purpose… In the case with movies and books, entertain, show wisdom, make us become more responsible or change our attitude and frame of mind, etc. Many books and movies, even of the fantasy and sci-fi genres, should have to reveal such plots, events, adventures and ends that are as close to reality as possible. Then, I guess everyone would agree, they would be really useful for solving the problems in our every day life. Of course, it doesn’t mean all the books and movies have to follow only that pattern. There should be variety in plots, beginnings, events and ends of the stories. As to look more “real”, some of them have to have happy ends, as The Light Fantastic of Terry Pratchett, or his Carpe Jigulum, or J. R. Tolkien’s The Lord Of the Rings, Others, like A. Exupery’s Little Prince, M. Crithon’s Jurassic Park, some of Star Wars’ episodes, etc, probably wouldn’t be so good if they had a happy end. The list goes on I guess, that’s why I used all the variations in some of my books (Tale Of The Rock Pieces – happy end after a lot of horrible adventures, The Opposite Of Magic – happy end to some extent but actually a lot sadder, sad or actually real story and end in my The Lord Of Christ, and happiest end for my Kids’ Funny Business, etc). I guess every writer, reader, movie fan could continue the list with good, sad and real ends of books and movies?
http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/TaleOfTheRockPieces.html, http://allanbard.hit.bg, http://allanbard.hpage.com,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yw3a5n00FI, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qUA8Avl7ew, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ijJl-6Be88, www.allanbard.blogspot.com
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Repeating old quotes, wisdom in books, stories, movies, etc.
I guess in almost every book, no matter whether it is a romantic story, thriller, mystery, drama, sci-fi, fantasy or a combination of some genres, there are some wise, eternal thoughts. And there are so many published books already, plus the enormous quantity of the new books published every year, that probably today no one could think up something new. Yet, this truth should be more encouraging than disturbing. Repeating old, well-known quotes could be done using new facts and discoveries, so they could become more attractive, memorable and impressive. Or the same result could be achieved with a new way to express a quote?
What J. K. Rowling used in her first Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone (To a well-organized mind, death is just another big adventure.) is the old quote of Peter Pan: To die will be an awfully big adventure, from J. M. Barrie‘s book. Yet, her quote is deeper and more serious as it seems?
I guess many people have heard or read the old legend of the North American Indians: ‘There are a bad and a good wolf in any human’s soul that are in constant fight. The one you feed will be the winner…?” I used something similar in a book of mine but with new scientific “prove” and fact: “Even in the hottest fire there’s a bit of water.” The meaning is similar but the bit of science and facts could make a quote like this more useful? That way one could learn not only some wisdom but some physics too.
Books, stories and movies could be used to also repeat the wisdom of the old philosophical teachings and systems. Using a new, more simple and efficient way to reveal such wisdom could make them much more popular. Do you remember Pay It Forward? A movie/book about what a wonderful world we would live in if we really helped one another… Exactly what Christian, Muslim and many other religions in their origins were trying to show us too. There are many wise thoughts in many other movies, cartoons, etc. All of them are not just said in these movies, but are “backed up” with a lot of events, adventures, etc, so one could really understand their meaning. If you watched Samurai Jack for example, you’ll remember how much of the ancient Japanese wisdom one could see and hear there: The one who runs with aggression walks without dignity, You’ll never ne able to win unless you defeat yourself first, The one who wears a mask cannot see what hidden inside of him, etc. There’s a famous, ancient Bulgarian saying: Every evil leads to something good. I can’t remember the equivalent in English, but I do remember that the events in The Lord Of The Rings showed how much truth it contains. Remember that Gollum, one of the most treacherous and evil beings, was the one who destroyed the ring of power and actually saved the ancient Earth? I guess every author must strive to show this wisdom in his/her works, I strive to do that in every book of mine too, I hope I did it well in my Tale Of The Rock Pieces, “repeating” the wisdom of The Lord Of The Rings – One can fight money only with money. I hope too I’ll be able to show some of eternal Buddhism’s wisdom in my soon to come The Opposite Of Magic, namely the importance of balance in life…
I guess the list is as long and enormous as the Universe itself…;).
Some thoughts about religious fanatics like Anderch Breivick.
I know this post/note is a little late, but the issue is too important to just ignore it or forget the awful events that lead to the death of about ninety innocent youngsters. A. Braivick is not the first religious fanatic, who actually has nothing in common with religion and its virtues and who kills “in the name of a better future”, and unfortunately probably won’t be the last. I guess everyone could understand his anger caused by the irresponsible behavior of his parents and sister (and probably of many of his friends and compatriots too who had a lot of dangerous sexual contacts that led to diseases and health problems). Yet, only a fanatic idiot could understand why this anger had to be the cause for such a terrible act. Probably a lot of people, including me, wonder whether this or any other religious moron have read the Bible or Quran, or if they did whether they understood any of the messages written there? Before any act that includes murder of even one innocent man or woman, these “religious” idiots have to think what would Jesus Christ or Mohamed do in such occasions? Would they kill or would just use the many other more effective methods to show people what’s wrong? Like creating a web-site with a lot of info about the awful consequences of not following God’s orders? Or creating a group of really religious people at social sites like facebook, myspace, sodahead, etc. that could really help people realize the virtues God and his followers tried to show us in holly books like the Bible and Quran?
I’m sure there are many other similar and painless ways for that, which would lead to much better results, namely a change in people’s minds and behavior… Of course such results wouldn’t come right away, but would be much better as they wouldn’t involve any killings. They will be quite the opposite of the results after A. Braivick’s horrible massacre, because now many people will despise the Bible and religion since they could be the cause for so many horrible losses…
There are many wise thoughts which show such narrow-minded idiots like Braivick have been present in humans’ history a lot of times. Thoughts and quotes which all the religious fanatics have to put over their beds and think over them every day:
I like your Christ but I don’t like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ. Mahatma Ghandi.
I have nothing against God, it’s his fan club I can’t stand. not sure about the author.
With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. – Steven Weinberg
And I couldn’t refrain from posting a quote or two from my books too, as they are true I guess and could also help the religious fanatics realize how wrong they are:
All the problems in the world lead to one – narrow-minded people. my Incredible Future.
As strange as it may sound, the people who are following God’s orders are mostly non-believers. my The Origin Of Gods.
http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/TaleOfTheRockPieces.html, http://allanbard.hit.bg, http://allanbard.hpage.com,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yw3a5n00FI, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qUA8Avl7ew, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ijJl-6Be88, www.allanbard.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/ivanstoikov.allanbard
The best way for education.
http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/TaleOfTheRockPieces.html, http://allanbard.hit.bg, http://allanbard.hpage.com,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yw3a5n00FI, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qUA8Avl7ew, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ijJl-6Be88, www.allanbard.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/ivanstoikov.allanbard,myspace.com/ivan_allanbard
The best birthday wishes, parties, presents, guests, etc you’ve experienced, seen or heard…
No matter what we are told or have heard, our birthdays are among the best feasts. Even those who hate all the preparations or wonderings who to invite or not would admit the sweet fever, while waiting to see what presents they will have or the gratitude of the guests because of the nice party, could be amongst the best memories one could have.
In every country, I guess, there are different ways to celebrate the birthdays, but what they all have in common is the fun of the unusual events, presents, guests, wishes, meals, places where to celebrate, costumes to wear, etc. I remember many funny birthday presents, wishes, customs, etc I’ve heard, seen or read about over the years. Like the one in Alice In Wonderland, where all the creatures celebrated their non-birthdays too (all the rest of the days in the year, except the birthday). Or the one in another book, where the character claimed he didn’t have a birthday, as he had been born in the night. Or the peculiar but too dangerous custom from a future book of mine to find a dragon to light the candles of the birthday cake (that’s the most certain way to make your birthday wishes come true), etc.
The good presents I received over the years were a lot as far as I remember, but I will always remember two of them: a brand new, very expensive camera for an ex-communist country, and an expensive watch from the famous BVLGARI brand. Though the greatest presents are of the kind that cannot be bought with money, these were given wholeheartedly, so they were not so different from the other priceless presents…;). What about your experience? I guess anyone could add a thing or two…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yw3a5n00FI, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qUA8Avl7ew, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ijJl-6Be88, www.allanbard.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/ivanstoikov.allanbard,
Magical worlds or the magic in the modern world. If you are a fantasy/sci-fy fan, you probably regretted many times that you were not born somewhere else or at least in a different time? Most of my friends who like these genres shared the same opinion too. Yet, it seems I was the one who hated reality so much, that all the people around me thought I should visit a mental specialist. Everything in my everyday life seemed so boring and senseless that I used every moment to dream and search for magical events, creatures, adventures, etc in books and movies. As years went by, I even began to create my own stories as an asylum to “escape” from the dull, boring reality. My frame of mind was so crazy that I couldn’t bear the sight of modern cars (as they couldn’t fly in the air), I couldn’t listen to all the dull talk about finding a boring (but profitable) job, good marriages, raising children, or about divorces at the appropriate moment. Many of my acquaintances and friends were at one I had probably jumped over the fence of a mental hospital from the inside, as I couldn’t watch any football, baseball, basketball, etc games (the only sport which still can attract my attention for hours on end is surfing), or I felt talking about the qualities of different cars and bikes was equal to suicide… Most of the people couldn’t believe instead of that I preferred to watch shows like Star Trek, documentaries about dinosaurs, interesting facts about history and science, movies about fairy-tales or space, etc. Yet, later on I realized that such a frame of mind is a certain evidence of a narrow mind (the same as watching and being interested only in soap operas or cars, or sport). After reading some manuals about the mechanism of modern cars (and seeing what was written there was true), I was convinced all these vehicles were as interesting as the coolest space ships and other imaginary machines from the future. When I learned a thing or two about what was inside TV sets and computers (and all the amazing things one could do with these great devices), I realized the famous Terry Pratchett’s words were true: “There is much more Magic in a modern computer than in any gathering of witches.” As to the opinion that the people of today think only about money, power, or more money and power, and are incapable of strong feeling one could find only in fairy-tales like everlasting love, I remember a few events of today that prove the opposite: A young woman loved her HIV+ boyfriend so much that she infected herself too with AIDS virus, so that they could be together forever. Or the sad story of two youngsters from my native country Bulgaria who suicided themselves jumping under the wheels of a train (as their parents were against their relationship as the boy was a gipsy). Besides, the many wise quotes and thoughts of many writers, philosophers or even politicians of today show wisdom is present in reality too, no only in some imaginary worlds and societies from fantasy, sci-fi genres: Arthur C. Clarke
's "Third Law": Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be ~ Thomas à Kempis
The one who asks is stupid 5 minutes, the one who doesn't is stupid for life. Chinesse saying.
A mind at peace, a mind centered and not focused on harming others, is stronger than any physical force of the universe. Wayne Dyer
One's destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things ~Henry Miller
Always when judging Who people are, Remember to footnote The words "So far." ~ Robert Brault A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new. Albert Einstein Love blinds us to faults, hatred to virtues." - Moses Ibn Ezra
You don't need superpowers to be a hero."- via Jeremy Smith FB
The truth is that there is nothing noble in being superior to somebody else. The only real nobility is in being superior to your former self. - Whitney Young
."Your profession is not what brings home your paycheck. Your profession is what you were put on earth to do. With such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling."-- Vincent Van Gogh
Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward ~ Chinese Proverb
"To go against human nature is the most human thing a human can do." Larry Niven
"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing." -Albert Einstein
If you can't laugh at yourself, life's gonna seem a whole lot longer than you like. - natalie portman in garden state
it's okay when we fear the dark, but not when we are afraid of light. “The greatest wisdom is to realize one's lack of it” Konstantin Stanislavsky
The most wasted of all days is one without laughter ~ E E Cummings
DO NOT RISK GOING THROUGH LIFE WITHOUT TAKING A RISK. Jimmy KoMet FB
"A loan can be repaid, but for a gift one is always beholden."~ unknown source ."You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war." -Albert Einstein. "Every society honours its live conformists and its dead troublemakers" Zvonimir Tosic via Linda Goodwin SENSITIVITY is a strength and it's a mad world that turns it into a weakness. You know you're an asshole when the voices in your head refuse to talk to you. Author Luke Romyn Let us live so that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry. - Mark Twain
Human beings make life so interesting. Do you know, that in a universe so full of wonders, they have managed to invent boredom. -Death, To Suzie in 'The Hogfather',
There are many kinds of joy, but they all lead to one – the joy to be loved. Michael Ende, etc… The list could be so long that anyone would find it really difficult to read it all… I guess we are just too accustomed to our present world and forget to see the wonderful magical things that surround us? No one could oppose to that, right?
http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/TaleOfTheRockPieces.html, http://allanbard.hit.bg, http://allanbard.hpage.com, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Allan-Bard-Ivan-Stoikov-Fan-Page-Strategic-Book-Group/121092637984053, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yw3a5n00FI, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qUA8Avl7ew, www.allanbard.blogspot.com, www.allanbard.wordpress.com
What was/is/could/will be the best Christmas present?
First, let's wish everyone Merry Christmas and Happy New 2012 Year!!! Well, many people would say the best present they would get could be world peace, joy, happiness everywhere on Earth... And they all will be right, of course! But that would be for many other people, not only for them, though I support such a wish/present 100, no 1000 %! Well, I couldn’t say I haven’t had some other good presents over the years: an original Colmar jacket, chemical set for many experiments I received as a kid, some exotic fishes for my aquariums, a couple of parrots, etc… I guess anyone could point out some good ones too, even much better than mine? And much better than the gift from my greeting card on top of the post? Let it be my gift for all the readers! J
http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/TaleOfTheRockPieces.html, http://allanbard.hit.bg, http://allanbard.hpage.com, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Allan-Bard-Ivan-Stoikov-Fan-Page-Strategic-Book-Group/121092637984053, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yw3a5n00FI, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qUA8Avl7ew, www.allanbard.blogspot.com, www.allanbard.wordpress.com
The funniest/craziest/most amazing/incredible, etc Christmas/New Year’s Eve’s events. As far as I know, in most countries Christmas is more important feast than New Year’s Eve. Yet, I couldn’t refrain from pointing out New Year’s celebration too, as in the past Christmas was forbidden in all ex-communist countries, so many people, including me, have good memories only from the next feast after Jesus’ birthday. Well, it doesn’t mean we didn’t have wonderful Christmas trees and nice presents, only that they were decorated and given at New Year’s Eve. And of course, we had some good, crazy, funny moments despite the many taboos of the system (though I guess they were less by a feast, as we didn’t have presents for Christmas). Like the vague now memory how as a five-six year old kid I usually broke all the Christmas toys/decorations on our tree just for five minutes (back then, here they were made of a very fragile kind of glass ;). My parents had to keep an eye on me all the time until the feast was over. I didn’t mean to be a bad boy, actually, I was just curious to play with the toys/decorations and have a better look at them ;). Or that I was convinced that it would be much better if not Santa Claus but a dragon with three heads would be the best choice for the job presents giving. And I even tried to convince the other kids that I saw her a couple of times (I thought a girl dragon would be better in this job ;). I’ll never forget also what tremendous preparations we made with a friend of mine to use our first piece of fireworks (of the kind that beside the loud bang and colorful sparkles threw out many confetti). We tied it on a long wooden stick, to be away from the “dangerous” fire of the sparkles, and wound a couple of thick blouses around our heads, so that to be better protected from the loud bang… This Christmas a colleague of mine told us that her five year old daughter decided to drink a lot of water the day before Christmas, so she would wake up at least a few times at night to go to the toilet, but that way she would meet Santa Claus exactly when he “delivered” the presents… J I’m sure anyone could share similar experiences? Whenever and wherever kids are involved, there are always laughter, joy and funny events J! Events that could be more crazy and funny than any imaginary adventures in books or movies?
A short interview a site for creative people did with me:
what is your name?
how would you describe what you do? what are you currently working on? what has had the greatest influence on your work? what is the greatest misconception about you or your work? what do you see as the main strengths and weaknesses of the medium you work in? I guess greatest weakness in my works would be my English… I mean I’m not a native Englishman or American, so many times my writing needs a lot of editing, my sentences are too long, some of my expressions are with Bulgarian logic, fromk time to time I guess my descriptions are too long too… how has technology impacted upon the work you do? what’s the greatest piece of advice you would like to pass on? where can we find you online? http://www.allanbard.blogspot.com, yahoo.messenger: wingofsard, skype: ambigat.son what are you reading at the moment? what are you listening to at the moment? anything else we should know? I cried when I wrote the most horrifying moments in my Tale Of The Rock Pieces though I knew very well what the end will be, I’ll have to learn to dance like Michael Jackson to write really well my future Lake Mystery, for some of my books I prefer to make my own illustrations as I guess the worst covers and illustrations are made by professional artists… which usually have little in common with the story…;) http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/TaleOfTheRockPieces.html, http://allanbard.hit.bg, http://allanbard.hpage.com, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Allan-Bard-Ivan-Stoikov-Fan-Page-Strategic-Book-Group/121092637984053,
Writing of books – escaping from reality or just using it?
Computer games vs books…
I’m sure that if the people who prefer PC and other games stand on one side of a pair of scales, and on the other all those who prefer reading of books gather, the book lovers would go high in the air… There are so many modern games with amazing graphics, sound, and scary, awesome, funny, etc creatures, adventures, scenes, etc that the many gamers usually don’t like to spend any time reading the black lines of a book. It seems using their imagination to “see” all the glory, magnificence or wisdom in written stories is harder than pushing the buttons of a joystick, mouse or keyboard. Probably many fans of the virtual games will oppose, as there are some excellent, modern and old “additions” in the virtual world, which can improve our imagination, thinking process, not to mention our skills like fast reactions, quickness of mind, or even the ability to remain calm in hard situations (which involve a lot of blood, killing of bad and dreadful characters, like vampires, zombies, burglars, murderers, whose only goals and intentions are to rob and kill everyone who stand in their way). There’s no doubt such skills could be useful in our everyday life, when we face hard, deadly events. Yet, there are many details about books that make the rectangular objects, PDF and other text files better than the virtual battles, adventures and worlds from the PC and TV screens: - no game could inspire imagination as the written words would, a game shows us everything in an imaginary world, a book just describes the scenes and leaves the rest to our thoughts and inspiration. - a book could really develop our thinking, not just our logic, or fast reactions, remember al the good, inspiring, profound quotes, thoughts, events we could find in books that helped us change our attitude, way of thinking, way of life, etc… - we could get bored by a game much faster and to a much greater extent than by any book, we know very well how a game will end (we’ll either win – kill all the bad guys, pass all the levels, etc, or lose), yet, most of the times the adventures in a book and its end are unpredictable, many books have happy endings, indeed, but the ways to get to there are so various that could surprise anyone (much more than the action in any game). - the constant pushing of buttons while firing, shooting, passing through games’ levels could make us stupid, as then we don’t use our brains to think but mostly for our fast reactions… - there are none (as far as I know) groups that try to heal the mental state of book lovers, but there are many which try to help the PC games addicts to lead a normal life again… Of course, I cannot claim I’m the best expert on the subject; I didn’t play all the games that exist (I prefer to read/write a book than to spend endless hours killing virtual characters or flying and moving fast through the levels of a game). Yet, even the greatest fans of the games couldn’t deny there’s a lot of truth in my post?
http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/TaleOfTheRockPieces.html, http://allanbard.hit.bg, http://allanbard.hpage.com,
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yw3a5n00FI, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qUA8Avl7ew, http:// www.allanbard.blogspot.com, www.allanbard.wordpress.com
Godlike/heavenly moments, or when we feel touched by God… Well, I use “godlike” like a figure of speech here, “heavenly” would do the job too as a good definition. Though most of the times they have nothing to do with heaven or God, I guess. (I don’t believe in God/s, actually, yet it doesn’t mean he/she/they don’t exist, or he/they are not connected with such moments). When discussing such moments, there are two quotes that immediately spring up in my mind: "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take; but by the Such godlike moments are certain prove of the truth in such statements. I’m sure everyone will agree (no matter whether we believe in God/s or not), we all had such moments and they are the ones that add meaning to our life, help us improve our attitude towards anything and anyone, they could make us better persons, change our way of living, etc. Such godlike moments could be too various, of course: from capturing an amazing moment in a photo, to winning a lot of money by a lottery, even dreaming of performing an incredible deed, or finding the true love, etc. Actually, these moments don’t have to be connected with money to be godlike. According to my opinion, and experience ;), the best among them are of the kind that don’t involve any of the so valuable papers. Like some of those I had in the past, making some good photos: the love dance of two frogs, the shining eyes of a cat in the middle of the night, some amazing winter, snowy sceneries high in the mountains with a lot of snow, fog, some light and bushes, or some funny moments with some other animals (sleeping cats, playing kittens, eating dogs), etc.
BTW, the heavenly moments that include more imagination than reality sometimes could be better than the so called real. One of the most vivid memories from my childhood will always be a dream in which I defeated a Fiery man (an ancient monster made entirely of flames) just using a sword. Many would say it was nothing more than a childish nonsense. Yet, my dream turned out to be a good way to find the inner strength in me to deal with real problems… Like maintaining a good spirit and willing to reach to the end in my favor, defending my rights, trying to stop dishonest treatment, or a lie, unfair decision, etc… This dream really helped me, if not 100 % of the events at least enough…
I attached these photos, yet they are no match for some other events, like when I found a small fossil of a shell of an ancient clam… And felt so exited, that later this find helped me write my first book Tale Of The Rock Pieces and create my incredible ancient characters – the rock pieces. Or when, as a kid, I saw a wonderful girl with so amazing light-auburn hair that I decided she was probably an heiress of mermaids and her hair couldn’t get wet, no matter how long she stayed in water… This meeting was the reason to imagine some new features of mermaids and add them in some of my stories too… and fell in love with that girl, though it was just a short meeting from a distance and I never saw her again.
The meaning of life… This is probably one of the most controversial themes, as there are so many opinions, answers, etc as there are people on Earth. Of course, I don’t claim I’m the ultimate expert, yet there are so many different cocky and complacent statements about this important issue, that I couldn’t refrain from writing down this note/post. Many people would say the most important in life are health and money and the many ways to earn (or steal) them. These guys usually explain that with the enough quantity of them, one could achieve anything else. Many others proclaim that marriage and raising kids have to be the ultimate meaning in anyone’s life and without them life would be worthless. “Quite the contrary!” will be the answer of some men and women who would point out marriage and children are just a necessary form of slavery. Then, they would underline that fun and pleasure (of any kind but mostly the pleasure of drinking alcohol and having sex) would be the activities all the people should strive for if they want to have a real life… There are some other guys who would be horrified hearing such statements (I guess I could be put in this category, at least to some extent). Their opinion is that no one should feel alive if there isn’t at least some creativity in our life, like discovering a scientific fact, useful mechanism, new way to produce vital products, etc; creating a masterpiece, no matter whether it will be a painting, book, or a movie; finding a universal truth which could help a lot of people to live a better life, etc. There is some truth in any of these opinions, I couldn’t deny obvious facts J. I guess no one should force his or her way of thinking or way of life to others (except in some special occasions like religious fanatics’ intentions to kill innocent people, or suicidal attempts because of wrong thinking, a great loss, “meaningless” existence, etc). We have to respect our differences, because if we were all equal there wouldn’t be (and will not be in the future too) any evolution, so we wouldn’t exist? This is what all the fanatics (religious or of any other kind) have to remember when trying to change anyone’s actions or thoughts according to their beliefs or convictions. One of the good ways, I think, to deal with such narrow-minded people or with our conditions of depression, etc is (and will always be) remembering or discovering some good quotes. They could help anyone realize how stupid and slow-witted we are from time to time, how simple and wonderful our life could turn out to be, how helpful some wisdom at the right moment and place is, etc: Life isn’t about finding yourself, life is about creating yourself. G. Bernard Shaw. Life in itself has no meaning, life is an opportunity to create a meaning. (not sure about the author, but when I remember or find him/her, I’ll change the post).
These are just a few of the quotes which could be useful, I guess anyone could share a lot more?
Capitalism, socialism, communism, etc? Probably these words provoked some of the fiercest battles in our history, more than anything else. There are many thick books written on the subject, so I guess I couldn’t add something new about the philosophy, good and bad sides of any of these real or imaginary societies. Yet, as a man who lived at both systems, I could remind and point out some important facts, to which usually many people don’t pay attention (probably just because they are too blinded by their own believes). First, no one should think there wouldn’t be exploitation in the so called socialism. Working for all the society could be even more unfair and dreadful than working for one chief. As no matter how hard and well you work, finally you won’t get the salary or money you worked for, but those the system will give you. Of course, this has some advantages – many of the money you worked for will be used for health care, life-saving operations, education, etc. So, when you need to go to a hospital, to heal a sickness (that can cost thousands/millions of dollars), or want to study many years to become a good professional in prestigious professions like a doctor, lawyer, successful scientist, etc, you don’t have to pay anything. Yet, later, working at some of these prestigious posts, again you won’t get all of the payment you worked for… It turned out that nothing was free even in the “perfect” socialistic societies. There is something else very important we should never forget about the communism/socialism. When all the means of production, factories, schools, institutions, etc become common, that means the end of any development. Actually, then nothing belongs to anyone and no one take care of anything. That finally leads to degradation and the end of the system, which we saw in all of the so called socialistic societies. Here, in Bulgaria there was a period (short one, indeed, right after the collapse of the “socialistic” system) when we had to wake up at 3,30 – 4 a.m. just to stand in a long line to buy milk and bread… Otherwise, we had to starve as later we would find only the vacant/empty shelves in the shops. Sounds awful, right? That’s just one of the bad sides of the “real” socialism, probably in such a society it’s impossible to achieve a good balance between production and needs when the system’s rules have to be obeyed 100% (to buy a car, we had to wait for our turn about 10-15 years; there were so small number of kinds of goods in the shops that when we saw a picture of the full shelves in the capitalistic countries we felt as if we were seeing heaven (just for example, we could buy bananas once or twice a year, standing in long lines again…); to buy a colorful TV set, we had to wait in long lines for weeks, even at night as someone could take our place, and all families took turn to wait outside of the shops even in winter time… There are even worse examples in some other “socialistic” countries, in North Korea as far as I remember people were forbidden to own their own cars… Pointing out all these horrible things about the ex-socialistic societies, I don’t want to claim that everything in capitalism is perfect and have to be praised all day long. One of the most dreadful events in anyone’s life could be loosing a job, which couldn’t happen in socialistic systems as there’s no unemployment. For many people. loosing their job could be equal to suicide, and many put an end to their life if they couldn’t find a good way to earn their living. It happened even here in Bulgaria, during the first years of the capitalistic/ex-socialistic system. Yet, according to some good friends of mine the worst thing about capitalism is Imperialism. The way some developed countries want to rule the world, leading wars in some problematic places, provoked much anger and finally lead to many killings of innocent people. Then, some other friends of mine would point out when the matter at hand is killing of innocent citizens, the ex-communistic/socialistic societies are unsurpassable. The Russian ex-dictator Stalin for example killed more people in the “peaceful” times of “socialism” in the ex USSR than World War II managed to wipe off the face of the Earth. They would also say that there are stupid decisions in both systems (remember what happened in the atomic power station in Chernobyl, or the first testing of the dangerous chemical DDT in USA when people were sprayed with it…), but nothing could be compared with the funny-foolish slogans we could see in the times of the so called communism/socialism: Now, we laugh out loud when we remember them, but in the past they were everywhere and if someone didn’t obey them, or thought they were funny, he/she could end up in jail: In every home - a cow!, Every jar with conserved fruits equals to a punch in the face of the Imperialism, etc. Well, finally I’d like to point out that the causes of many problems in any of the people’s societies are governments and other institutions’ greediness and selfishness. Neither in capitalism, nor in socialism/communism is underlined that people should be killed or punished because of their believes or thoughts, it’s what the men in power decided to do to keep the people in fear and to become richer and more powerful… If we want better societies, first we must change our consciousness, values, kindness towards others, etc. “All the problems in the world lead to one – narrow-minded people,” and “When books become more valuable than gold, money and power for the greedy governments and men in power, then we’ll experience heaven on Earth,” that’s what some of my characters say and I guess all our history is certain prove of that…
http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/TaleOfTheRockPieces.html, http://allanbard.hit.bg, http://allanbard.hpage.com, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Allan-Bard-Ivan-Stoikov-Fan-Page-Strategic-Book-Group/121092637984053, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yw3a5n00FI, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qUA8Avl7ew, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ijJl-6Be88, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vkixN9Nr2Q - pigeons, www.allanbard.blogspot.com http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=263533&id=100000137216974#!/video/video.php?v=1297361605743, http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/ivanstoikov.allanbard, http:// www.allanbard.blogspot.com, www.allanbard.wordpress.com
How far should one go, while writing a book?
As far as I know, the common opinion about writing of books is that it is the easiest way to earn a lot of money, sitting comfortably in front of a PC, laptop, white sheet of paper, etc. Writing, you don’t have to lift heavy objects, get dirty with machine oil, get killed by a bullet, or by another awful weapon, or get a mental disease like in professions where the life of many people depends on you, etc… Usually, this is what those who never tried to write a story would say. Sometimes, writing could be as hard as any physical work (like digging of channels, for example), creating of a story could have a great influence on a writer’s mental health, the wrong interpretation of a book could lead to many murders… To write well, one has to experience many unpleasant activities, depending on your story, like stealing of valuable objects, cheating on your wife/husband, learning to wield well any weapon, or feeling the enormous fear of a doomed victim, or the many dreadful events accompanying the creation of religion, etc…
Of course, some writers would say if a writer has a good imagination, he or she wouldn’t need any experience to write excellent stories. Many others would claim without experiencing every feeling, activity, job, mishap, etc of your characters, you wouldn’t create true, real adventures, good dialogues, or even a gripping plot. There are some of them who would even swear that a writer should reach the end, writing a good manuscript. They would claim that sometimes it means even to kill someone, or destroy some buildings, or steal an enormous sum of money… These guys would point out that doing evil, one could do a lot of good in some cases, so killing a murderer for example could prevent many other killings. Besides, such a “cruel” deed could be the base of an incredible description and plot, which could reveal some excellent wisdom too…
However, my humble (for the present ;) writing experience shows no writer should become the bad character in reality. We have a saying in Bulgaria (can’t remember the English interpretation): Every evil leads to something good, but there is also something else no one should forget… As some of my characters say: Using evil, even for our own good purposes, will finally make us a part of evil itself. I would point out too that J. R. Tolkien brilliantly showed this in his The Lord Of The Rings, where the evil in the one ring finally changed irreversibly everyone of its bearers…
Furthermore, no one would pay attention to the wisdom in a book if its writer did the same horrible things, described and anathemized in his/her works? According to my humble opinion, there should be a good balance between how horrible our experience should be and our “realistic” works. All the writers must use their life-time experience (like education, courses attended, many events and knowledge acquired in the every day routine, etc.), but it doesn’t mean they have to create such one for the sake of a “real” plot that they could become the evil characters in their stories?
http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/TaleOfTheRockPieces.html, http://allanbard.hit.bg, http://allanbard.hpage.com, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Allan-Bard-Ivan-Stoikov-Fan-Page-Strategic-Book-Group/121092637984053,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yw3a5n00FI, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qUA8Avl7ew, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ijJl-6Be88, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vkixN9Nr2Q - pigeons, www.allanbard.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/ivanstoikov.allanbard, http:// www.allanbard.blogspot.com, www.allanbard.wordpress.com
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