Kevin J. Anderson's Writing and a Fun New Game!


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Freakzilla
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Re: Kevin J. Anderson's Writing and a Fun New Game!

Post by Freakzilla »

D Pope wrote:Just as a palate clenser, i'd like to share a favorite of mine by Douglas Adams.

The ugly yellow bulk of the Vogon Constructor ship hung in the air much in the same way a brick doesn't.

Quoted from memory,I apologize if it's incorrect.
What a beautiful way to say it right? I've no doubt the KJH is proud of their similie, maybe if one warrents a gold star they'll get to display it on the fridge!?!
I love the way Adams writes.
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Superdog
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Re: Kevin J. Anderson's Writing and a Fun New Game!

Post by Superdog »

Try doing a search in the Legend of Dune series for the word patrician. I remember there being about a zillion references to Venport having "patrician" features.
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Re: Kevin J. Anderson's Writing and a Fun New Game!

Post by D Pope »

I do too! Have you ever tried to read his stuff out loud? I did, sounded like a child struggling with see spot run. :oops:
Leto II is gone for good, except for OM. The "pearl" was just that; a miniscule portion of what Leto was, and not a compressed version of the whole. The pearl that the worms have do not make them Leto, or in any way similar to him.
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Freakzilla
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Re: Kevin J. Anderson's Writing and a Fun New Game!

Post by Freakzilla »

Dune read aloud sounds like an epic poem.
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Paul of Dune was so bad it gave me a seizure that dislocated both of my shoulders and prolapsed my anus.
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aethereon
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Re: Kevin J. Anderson's Writing and a Fun New Game!

Post by aethereon »

All of these words are to be avoided as a rule because they tend to be devices to skirt interaction and development of characters, environment, and plot. For the writer such words also create a vacuum to fill in terms of fleshing out even simple notions, especially in dialogue and thought processes.

Though certain instances are legit, the hit counts alone can negate overall justifiability.


Searching "whole words only" in all KJA Dune books except Winds:

really - 198 hits

you - 10773 hits

feel / felt - 409 / 1269 hits

think / thought - 829 / 1056 hits

as - 11377 hits

a lot - 58 hits

sort of / kind of - 150 / 95 hits

like - 3665 hits

just - 1950 hits

used to - 99 hits

Some entries have comparitively low hits, but you do just sort of feel as like it really is a lot.

*** and now the math ***

That's a grand total of 31928 potentially wasted words/phrases in 9 novels. I'll round up to 32000 and divide by 2 to comfortably grant concessions well beyond the legitimate margin. That is still SIXTEEN THOUSAND.

If the average word count per page in a novel is 250 (10 words per line * 25 lines):

31928 / 250 = 128 pages (raw)
16000 / 250 = 64 pages (generous concessions granted)

Spread across 9 books (and ignoring total page count), thats 14 pages (raw) and 7 pages (concessions) per book, respectively.

Now, I'd like to add just ONE more word to the list ---- "very." We have seen that the word has been replaced with "extreme" or "ultimate" or "just die :wink: " at this point... and curiosity beckons me to make a final comparison.

very - 748 hits

extreme - 91 hits

ultimate - 68 hits

just die - 3 hits (HA, HH, BoC) :wink:

Add a couple more pages to the charmin roll.
aethereon
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Re: Kevin J. Anderson's Writing and a Fun New Game!

Post by aethereon »

"Patrician" in Legends - 8 total hits.

Venport and son in context to all 8.
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Re: Kevin J. Anderson's Writing and a Fun New Game!

Post by SandChigger »

(I actually got 9 hits. :? )
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merkin muffley
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Re: Kevin J. Anderson's Writing and a Fun New Game!

Post by merkin muffley »

aethereon wrote:"Patrician" in Legends - 8 total hits.
He watched a History channel documentary. Rome: Engineering an Empire, perhaps?

This game rules.
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