Friday, March 26, 2010

Friday Flashbacks

Today’s flashback is not over a particular year but over events that span our history. The history of writing is an awesome example of the perseverance of writers.

Markings found on tortoise shells dated around 6000 BC are said to be some of the first writings. They were Jiahu symbols.












I wonder how they got those tortoises to hold still.





That one looks mean.

The first story ever written was the Epic of Gilgamesh. It is technically a poem based on Sumerian legends.
A translated portion tells us these words are spoken to Gilgamesh in the midst of his quest.

"Gilgamesh, what you seek you will never find. For when the Gods created Man they let death be his lot, eternal life they withheld".



Beautiful.
It was written in Cuneiform, on twelve tablets.
And you thought editing was a bitch for you.

The first real book printed from movable type in the Western world is generally considered to be the Gutenberg Bible.








The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain was the first novel to be written on a typewriter.









We have come from this:







To this:








Then graduated to this:







To end here:







Never doubt that we are the lucky ones.

Now go write something!!!

7 comments:

  1. Okay, my doubts have vanished. We are definitely the lucky ones. LOL. Great post! :)

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  2. We are DEFINITELY the lucky ones. I don't know how people wrote on typewriter. Can you imagine having to remove one paragraph on page 80 after you'd typed 350 pages? You'd have to retype the whole thing, I guess? Or maybe editors were more forgiving back then.

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  3. Like this one. But it's a double-edged sword. The competition increases vastly with the new technology. Easier, means more people are going to give a try. But that includes me:)

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  4. Yeah...computers are a lot easier than even typewriters!

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  5. Maes me all warm and mushy inside :)

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  6. Left you the "Creative Writer Award". For this one, you post 6 lies and 1 truth and your readers guess which is the truth :)

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It helps to know I'm not just talking to myself.