Thread by Joshua Lisec | The Ghostwriter
- Tweet
- Aug 3, 2022
- #Writing
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Stephen King sold over 350 million books.
How could someone who writes so well tweet so cringe?
@scottadamssays you asked me my take, and here is my answer.
1/x
How could someone who writes so well tweet so cringe?
@scottadamssays you asked me my take, and here is my answer.
1/x
@ScottAdamsSays Stephen King doesn't just write, he makes movies.
He acts, he directs, he produces.
What prolific talent!
He acts, he directs, he produces.
What prolific talent!
@ScottAdamsSays So why the Twitter cringe?
How does someone so successful sound so stupid?
I have three theories:
1. Substance abuse
2. Head trauma
3. Overactive imagination
I'll tell you which I think holds the most water. 🤔
How does someone so successful sound so stupid?
I have three theories:
1. Substance abuse
2. Head trauma
3. Overactive imagination
I'll tell you which I think holds the most water. 🤔
@ScottAdamsSays Let's start with substance abuse.
Stephen King is the stereotype of "write drunk, edit sober."
From the early 70s to the late 80s King used alcohol but also cocaine all the way to mouthwash.
Why did this work well for his career?
Stephen King is the stereotype of "write drunk, edit sober."
From the early 70s to the late 80s King used alcohol but also cocaine all the way to mouthwash.
Why did this work well for his career?
@ScottAdamsSays Most people who write sober are boring.
But when you have liquid courage like Stephen King, you don't censor yourself.
Your creativity becomes unlimited.
You feel limitless.
And so that's how your writing comes across.
But when you have liquid courage like Stephen King, you don't censor yourself.
Your creativity becomes unlimited.
You feel limitless.
And so that's how your writing comes across.
@ScottAdamsSays Of course there are ways to access "writing drunk" without getting sloshed.
I teach you my method for entering flow state in 27 seconds here:
I teach you my method for entering flow state in 27 seconds here:
@ScottAdamsSays Now what if head trauma altered King's brain?
In 1999 he got hit by a 🚗 while out for a walk.
He was flung 14 feet. 🤯
Collapsed lung, broken hip, and more- it took 5 operations to put him back together.
Would you be the same person after all that? 😰
In 1999 he got hit by a 🚗 while out for a walk.
He was flung 14 feet. 🤯
Collapsed lung, broken hip, and more- it took 5 operations to put him back together.
Would you be the same person after all that? 😰
@ScottAdamsSays Am I saying he's crazy?
Not at all.
King's been outspoken for a long time.
He's also donated to progressive charities.
He's been helpful in his local community as best he saw fit.
Here's what I think is really happening:
Not at all.
King's been outspoken for a long time.
He's also donated to progressive charities.
He's been helpful in his local community as best he saw fit.
Here's what I think is really happening:
@ScottAdamsSays To be a great novelist you must suspend disbelief with internally consistent characters, motivations, agendas, and dialogue.
You must persuade people to belief things that are not true, and to believe them so hard they get chills and goosebumps and their heart races.
You must persuade people to belief things that are not true, and to believe them so hard they get chills and goosebumps and their heart races.
@ScottAdamsSays You've heard the old shotgun on the mantle?
If you include a shotgun on the mantle in your book, it must go off by the end of the novel.
Every shotgun needs to be fired.
But to a novelist commenting on current events, *everything is a shotgun*.
If you include a shotgun on the mantle in your book, it must go off by the end of the novel.
Every shotgun needs to be fired.
But to a novelist commenting on current events, *everything is a shotgun*.
@ScottAdamsSays Every news story headline.
Every off color remark.
Everything!
This is how they think.
This is how they interpret reality.
Every off color remark.
Everything!
This is how they think.
This is how they interpret reality.
@ScottAdamsSays Novelists see reality as a novel.
There are good guys and there are bad guys and there are moral arcs.
You don't need substance abuse or head trauma to explain why King is so cringe.
He perceives reality as a novel.
There are good guys and there are bad guys and there are moral arcs.
You don't need substance abuse or head trauma to explain why King is so cringe.
He perceives reality as a novel.
@ScottAdamsSays You take a great novelist.
You let him comment on world events, political events, local issues, tribalistic whatever.
You're going to get the exact takes that Stephen King has.
And those takes are rooted in imagination, not reality.
Why do we expect more of him?
You let him comment on world events, political events, local issues, tribalistic whatever.
You're going to get the exact takes that Stephen King has.
And those takes are rooted in imagination, not reality.
Why do we expect more of him?
@ScottAdamsSays We shouldn't care what a bestselling author thinks about politics, but we do.
Our misjudgement comes from the Halo Effect.
We attribute elite opinions in all areas to people who are elite in a single area.
Our misjudgement comes from the Halo Effect.
We attribute elite opinions in all areas to people who are elite in a single area.
@ScottAdamsSays Politicians know this.
They take pictures next to sports stars and musicians so we will vote for them...
...and then we vote for them.
🤦♂️
They take pictures next to sports stars and musicians so we will vote for them...
...and then we vote for them.
🤦♂️
@ScottAdamsSays "But Joshua, you've written over 72 books and make a million dollars a year ghostwriting, doesn't that mean you use the halo effect too?"
Yes and no.
Let me explain:
Yes and no.
Let me explain:
@ScottAdamsSays Every client gives me a little piece of their halo.
But my clients hold contradictory beliefs.
I can go from writing for an atheist meat eater and then talk to a Christian vegan an hour later.
This makes my opinions special.
This makes my halo special.
But my clients hold contradictory beliefs.
I can go from writing for an atheist meat eater and then talk to a Christian vegan an hour later.
This makes my opinions special.
This makes my halo special.
@ScottAdamsSays My opinions are based on ghostwriting multiple *contradictory* books on the same topic.
Whichever book you read, I persuaded you that that author was right.
All the while I gained insight into the fabric of reality reserved for the chosen few.
Whichever book you read, I persuaded you that that author was right.
All the while I gained insight into the fabric of reality reserved for the chosen few.
@ScottAdamsSays You know who else wears a special halo?
@scottadamssays
He channels thousands of contradictory perspectives and melds them in to a narrative that makes you laugh while also feeling both seen and heard.
Scott's not helping you escape reality, he's helping you ~solve~ reality.
@scottadamssays
He channels thousands of contradictory perspectives and melds them in to a narrative that makes you laugh while also feeling both seen and heard.
Scott's not helping you escape reality, he's helping you ~solve~ reality.
@ScottAdamsSays Why do you read nonfiction?
You read nonfiction to learn how to do something.
You read nonfiction to solve reality.
You read nonfiction to learn how to do something.
You read nonfiction to solve reality.
@ScottAdamsSays Nonfiction is about functional value.
"What's in it for me?"
How has your life become better because you read this book?
How has your life improved, changed, transformed?
"What's in it for me?"
How has your life become better because you read this book?
How has your life improved, changed, transformed?
@ScottAdamsSays People buy books to get a job done in their life.
The job for a novel is escape reality.
The job for nonfiction is to solve reality.
The job for a novel is escape reality.
The job for nonfiction is to solve reality.
@ScottAdamsSays Stephen King is a great novelist.
He is better than anyone else in the world at imagining what's not there.
That's how he writes such compelling fiction.
That's also why he tweets so cringe.
He imagined he sees what's not there.
He is better than anyone else in the world at imagining what's not there.
That's how he writes such compelling fiction.
That's also why he tweets so cringe.
He imagined he sees what's not there.
@ScottAdamsSays Maybe it's the substance abuse, maybe it's the head trauma.
I'm betting it's novelist's talent for detaching from reality that's to blame for making Stephen King sound so stupid today.
What say you @scottadamssays - do our takes rhyme or do you have a different perspective?
I'm betting it's novelist's talent for detaching from reality that's to blame for making Stephen King sound so stupid today.
What say you @scottadamssays - do our takes rhyme or do you have a different perspective?
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Scott Adams @ScottAdamsSays
·
Aug 3, 2022
Great thread. Recommended.