Writing a book using info gleaned from ybw

[jonic]

Buy a copy of something like Jimmy Cornell’s "World Cruising Routes" (or borrow it) and wherever you go, best is to go when it suggests to avoid nasty dangerous hurricanes. It doesn’t much matter what boat you have, but best not too small and cramped nor too £££big. It’s a good idea to have spare stuff, and lots of food, and some water in bottles, and perhaps some safety gear. Things will break of course, and to help fix it – and to keep watch at night- you might think of taking some extra crew. However, the crew will eat more food, and probably break more things than they fix, but it depends. To save money, you can stay put and its likely that fewer things will break. Or you can head off somewhere cheaper, and stay there.

The End

Its a bit long.

I'll read it over a few evenings.

 

[vyv_cox]

I think for lots of people going cruising is a massive change of lifestyle into the largely unknown with a large investment into "having the trip of a lifetime" , there´s a strong urge to put some order on this by searching for "how it works" and "what it´s really like". But neither exist.

A short way down these pages there is a link to a Kindle book that was free at the time, now costs a small amount. It's by Barbara Hart. It comes the closest to describing the reality that I have come across. Well worth reading for anyone thinking of trying the cruising life.

 

[Kukri]

Long ago, the late Bill Beavis remarked in his YM column that he had met an elderly gentleman leaving the shower block of a marina and asked him where he was off to.. "Oh, the usual. The West Indies."

Bill asked him how many times he had crossed the Atlantic? "Oh, twenty seven times. And you what is really remarkable - I haven't written a book about it!"

 

[george unthank]

A common idea appearing here is that someone writing a book must be factually accurate in their writing.

You say;

''It goes without saying that to publish prejudice as fact is generally not good behaviour. Unfortunately it appears that some people who use this forum consider they can both publish inaccurate comments, but also make accusations and have them treated as facts, to whit.....''

Who do you think writes the history books. The victors narratives tend to prevail over those of the vanquished ..A scholar of history told me once he always starts his first class describing a news media reporter saying '' And the background to this story is..''- to stop right there and ask yourself ''now who wrote the background ?'' Only then do get an insight into how history is v . often mis-recorded..Of course media moguls like Murdoch create their personal histories which can often only have a tenuous relationship to the truth .. and there are the advertisers '' the Hidden Persuaders ''who twist even the tenuous to their own ends - vide- Vance Packard 1964 /5 ?

 

[7htas]

Long threads, meh.

IMHO only three things stand in the way of you using ybw as resource for your sailing book.

1 Copyright
This only becomes an issue if the posts are lifted verbatim. The information itself (albeit good/bad) can be paraphrased in all manner of ways. Not a big problem here at all.

2 Common courtesy
The OP (and others of course) in another thread should be treated with respect and in that regard it would be reasonable if anyone planning a book is open with their intentions. It is absolutely fine (as many have done) to say “I am writing a book and would appreciate your thoughts on the following...” In other words - don’t interview people without making that fact clear.

3 Your ability to write a book in the first place, and get it published.

Ay, there’s the rub. Main issue here is that there are so many godawful boaty books. I think that many contributors would prefer NOT to help add to that number unwittingly.

One of many examples is "Your First Atlantic Crossing" where the owner of a 30ft canoe-stern ferro boat recommends the same after discussing all the other materials ... and then later describes his "crew problems" enroute - a young male and female who seem to resent him on board because they fancy each other and he doesn’t realise it. Hilarious.

Even with good information, many books will still be awful. Because they are written badly and witlessly. So for instance, if you didn’t know that the sentence in the previous paragraph but one was from Hamlet (and a few sentences before/after) WITHOUT using Google, well then, you ought to think twice about inflicting your own efforts on others.

Likewise, if you didn’t know the meaning of the word “glean” in the subject line and that perhaps the most famous cultural use of this word is a painting called “The Gleaners”, Millet, Barbizon school etc - again, one might sensibly need to be a touch more knowledgeable in this general department, arts etc.

Yes, of course one might *easily* be able to write a book without this sort of wider ancillary or even superfluous knowledge but, gawd - it’s gonna be so depressing for the rest of us. And I’m sure that any writer would want the reading experience that they create to be wonderful, happy, intelligent, amusing - as well as informative?

So, I think it would be lovely for people to write a book - the more the merrier IF they write good books. And hopefully this will help.

I agree with your point; about people extracting information for their own potential gains, and not disclosing it; very dishonest in my opinion. But, I feel that your metaphorical residence in that ivory tower of yours is quite awkward really, and I can't agree.

Just because people aren't able to recognise Shakespeare; does not mean that they can not write a book. Literature has come a long way since our William, supposedly penned all those plays; and yes; his own warped versions of the short, but sexual innuendo packed plays of the ancient Athenians, (Aristophanes, etc) brought the romantic comedy to light. Yes, most of the great writers since Shakespeare have been influenced by him; directly, or indirectly. Is knowing Hamlet some sort of Zenith for being able to write a good book? I suppose being aware of classic literature has it's advantages; one can regurgitate quality work; and people with the same interest will nod; and appreciate your tributes; and the morons who aren't aware of it will think you are a literary genius.

 

[oldvarnish]

The time to decide if a person is a writer, or not, is after they've written their book and not before it.

Publishing an e book is the easiest thing in the world to do. Publish and be damned! And then we the readers will decide.