demanufacture?

Tell us more about the 'entries'.

That has less chance of ever getting published than I do of becoming the next Pope by devouring the heart of the current Pope.

Lets crush all aspiring authors while at it shall we?! You never know if we try hard enough we can increase the standard of graffiti and knife crime globally!

Idiots.

You know what also sounds stupid: "A boy who is a wizard who travels from and to school on a flying car"

Go ahead Demanufacture, write you book, these dicks do exactly what you do on a little known site called Livejournal.

Difference is, I didn't think I would get my livejournal published. I wrote for the fun of it and didn't bother anyone else about it. Plus when I read what I wrote 6 years ago, I laugh at how bad it is. Kids don't get their books published for good reason.

I realise you don't think its fair to quash kids, but there are so many threads started all the time about kids and their stories, when I were young, you wrote them in an exercise book, drew a picture and put it on the fridge if it was good.

She did not say she wanted this book published once!

Easily the Easiest argument I've won

Your argument is solid in logic and evidence...but you just know she wants to have it published. Its all the same thing anyway.

"Help me, I have the most vague concept for a book and I need help developing my characters, back stories, introduction, body and conclusion. Its about a vampire/half-ghost/fox-boy called Oshi who cries/is angry over the murder of his girlfriend whose heart is kept in a tower to stop the spider-spirits from returning to earth and cutting themselves to see how much it bleeds. Also there should be a sex scene and a fight scene with the blue sword of Yasikuru and the dragon scale shield, given to him by his half-elf mother."

I'm guilty of the "writing a book" phase. It came and went a few years back.

I side with GemLil and RB6K - it is seriously not worth it.
First of all, the motivation behind writing a book comes and goes. I once spent most of my leisure time writing a book a few years back. I kept coming back to it every few months. I wanted to get it published. It was a long shot, but I strived to reach it. Then I realised it was a pile of juvenile rubbish. It was poorly written and most of my ideas were either physically incorrect or embarrassingly terrible.
It's good my motivation just slipped away. If I eventually finished pumping 100 hours into it (I wanted 100 A4 pages) I would have realised I could have spent that time doing something much more constructive.

Wait a few years. Develop your writing skills. Write a few short stories. Then strive for a major project.

The primary argument in all of this is that the Book will be shit when really that makes absolutely no difference.

Writing a book has nothing other than a beneficial effect on a youngster. It teaches concentration & English skills, but above all it shows dedication. If "demanufacture" is really failing her English class like the summary of the story implies, then this book will look fantastic on a CV for her. It's Tenacity encapsulated.

Besides, if the kid wants to write an utterly abysmal book then it has no impact on you whatsoever. It won't get published and you will never have to read it....best case scenario is that it does get published and the author is a success. You still don't have to read it.

Your combined arguments do not make sense; "Don't write a book because it will be shit" or "HAHAHAHA that'll never be published"

Fair enough I guess your second point is you don't want her to waste her time, but it isn't. Wasting your time is playing FM2008 for 24 hours straight or completing MGS on the hardest level (A crime I am guilty of).

To surmise MY point all I will say is that as far as I can see writing a book has NO drawbacks at all, even if it is a poor attempt or even a failed attempt. Encouraging anyone to not write creatively or laughing in their face when they make an attempt (Especially someone who is struggling in English) is just idiotic. We might as well hand out pre-made ASBO's.

I think demanufacture is a good title for your book and if it is ever really published I'd love to read it someday.~Ina

Heracles,
A novel is too much just for develop writing skills. 10 page short stories are the best place to start.
I developed my writing skills through writing reviews and I'm still doing them.
If one wants to have a crack at writing a novel, fine by me. But to avoid disappointment, have a go at something minor beforehand.

I never said that the only reason to write a book was to develop writing skills, I see what you are saying and if that was my only point then you'd be 100% correct. My main point was that if you write a book then it shows you can dedicate your time to something; especially impressive if it's something you struggle with.

If you never tried anything because you thought there may be disappointment at the end then you would never do anything and effectively live in fear of failure.