Brazzil

depicting them as innocent marchers is ridiculas

they charged a police line with machetes waving and throwing rocks, in one of the incidents mentioned here...

My apologies for not having read your customarily intelligent comment. After going through this article, I was awestruck when I read at the end the following sentence:

The author is currently working on finding agents and publishers for his book. He is an American married to a Brazilian woman, knows Brazil and understands Brazilian culture well, and speak Portuguese fluently. You can contact him at:

The "author" is an American. Fine. No problem. He is married to a Brazilian "Woman". Here I take umbrage. The right description is "He is married to a Brazilian lady.

My conclusion is that with his condescending attitude towards our ladies, nobody is going to buy his book, including the card holding members of MST.

Hopefully, the good author doesn't publish the Chapter 2,3,....N. If he insists, I leave it into your capable hands to comment and give us all a brief report how the "novela" ended.

Maybe I am missing the point, but I do not understand how referring to someone as a 'Woman' is condescending.

i didnt do it.....joao da silva did

i didnt do it.....joao da silva did

Sure I did. I assume what I said and ain't going to say "Não fui Eu". Having been brought up in the strictest British tradition, I use correct terminologies to describe the members of the opposite Gender regardless of their age, marital status,looks, etc; Of course, I don't expect Hayley Cox to distinguish between a "Lady" and a "Woman". After all she is just 21 years old, behaving like a "Cocota", which is the right term to describe her.

Brazzil.com's intention appears to be the presentation of Brasil and it's culture to what is most likely an American audience. The author also achieves this through a fictional story based upon his travels to Brasil. It is a fictional story, however the story is rich with detail of Brasilian culture.

Note from the Author:
This may help to clear things up for some of the readers (particularly asp and Jao de Silva) of chapter 1, 'Encontro das Aguas':
The protagonist, Serge, appears to be a bit naïve and green when it comes to knowledge about Brazil. He is to go through a process of personal growth and discovery as the story unfolds, and in the beginning he still has a lot to learn about himself and Brazil. He isn't necessarily sympathetic to the MST, but he is curious about their movement. Further on in the book, he doubts whether or not he has reason to support their cause, and even further he learns that, just like other factions of society, in many ways they can't be trusted. Some of the characters may be bigots or condescending, but those that are don’t reflect the opinions of the author. Their points of view act as character foils to those of the protagonist, and offer him choices to go down different roads, some good and some bad. Even Serge’s opinions are not all opinions of the author, he is a fictional character, not me! And there is nothing romantic about the MST, but it is part of the adventure aspect of the story. The romance is between Serge and Carissia, and he has the utmost respect for her and all women; he's tempted by many of them; he's no saint...but in the end, well, to find out, you'll have to read the book!

Oops! Sorry for mispelling your name, Joao, I didn't proofread that part of my comment. Beieve me, I don't mind negative criticism, but in these two cases, I do think that your and asp's comments were a little misguided, since you have only read chapter 1, and don't know yet how the rest of the book plays out.

brazil sure is a great place to write about....

To the Author:

Beieve me, I don't mind negative criticism, but in these two cases, I do think that your and asp's comments were a little misguided,

ASP and I were trying to be merely helpful to an aspiring writer like ya. But...But... if you think we are interfering in your work, I will stop, though I cant speak for ASP.

Scott...never apologize for your works. Write what you want to write, how you want to write it. Make heros and heroines about whomever you want. Most of the comments made were by people who don't know jack-s**t about writing. What Joao said about who would buy your books was bulls**t. In that case no one buy any of Jorge Amado's books. He made heros out of street boys who assaulted young girls on the beach. Fine! That was his right. His books are read by millions. Gabriel Marquez is making thousands from a book about his attempt to seduce a prostitute. Barzilians are buying Bruna Surfistina's book "The Sweet Sting of the Scorpion" by the hundreds of thousands. Ali Kamel's NAO SOMOS RACISTAS is given credence because of some bachelor's in sociology that he earned 30 years ago, hiding the fact that he is a journalist and his skills at sociological research are non-existant. Yet, the Brazilian society, ignorantly swallowed every mis-cue, half-opinion and poorly researched conclusion in the book.

Paulo Coelho is not an expert in Irish society, nor Scandanavian society nor Arabian society yet Brida, 11 Minutos and his other books are selling by the thousands. Bought by Brazilians.

I am a writer. Your job is to make a compelling story. If that means casting MST in the role of hero, then do it. It's YOUR book. Let others write their own novels.

In Brazil, you have actors, politicians, scholars who have shown, by their actions, nothing but contempt for Brazilian "ladies" and yet they are still accepted and excused as 'one of the boys'.

Now a suggestion. "A journey of discovery...."?

Been there...done that. What you need to sell to an agent (which you have to find before a publisher) is what is so compelling about your journey. Passion? Uh uhhh. Social upheaval?

Why not use Paulo Coelho's THE ALCHEMIST as a model. In that book, the young man was also on a journey...a search. But first, we are exposed to his own fragmented world view that impels him to iniciate his journey. We don't see that in this first chapter (and that's where it should be). Conflict (inner or outer) still moves a reader.

You should also consider the movie DANCES WITH WOLVES (starring Kevin Costner). Wasn't there the same thing...passionate discoveries, social disagreements among the Indians, exotic customs. But FIRST, we have a clear definition of Costner's character's military upbringing, perceptions of indian society and buried humanity.

Without this, your story will just be a grandiose traveloge...another "white man who discovers the wisdom of the savages". No offense.

Also, translations in parentheses usually don't work. You can work them into the flow of your story. Try having someone use a phrase in Portuguese and then in the response the translation is implied. For example: "Two beautiful girls approached us. One was honey-colored, the other a shade lighter, typical of the MULATTAS in Belem society." Or something like that.

Just an opinion.

Thanks, Adrianerik, now that's what I call some good constuctive criticism! The ideas you gave me are some things that I can really grab hold of and implement, not just ranting (I pasted a copy into a doc. for reference). I have read "O Alchemista" in Portuguese and in English, and it is one of my all-time favorite books; I will read the beginning again and see what I can glean from it. What you said about the protagonist needing some kind of conflict he's dealing with, whether it be inner or outer, is something that needs to be flushed out further early on, I agree, to grab the reader's attention in the beginning, and hold it, and keep the pages turning. I've always known this, I just need to make it happen. In ch. 2 the sense of conflict does develop as Serge gets sucked up into the cause of the MST, but something needs to happen earlier on in ch. 1 as well, and I believe this is to develop his inner conflict from the get-go. I have some ideas on this, and will work on it in my editing process. Ch. 2 is already published in Brazzil magazine, please check it out when you get a chance.
-Scott

What Joao said about who would buy your books was bulls**t.

Hey, Adrine(redneck).You calling me a bulls**tter? Why don't you scroll up and read what my good friend ASP (an American) wrote. You know what, you Redneck, you are a bigger bulls**tter than I am. You belong to the same category of your idols "Paulo Cohelho" and "Joe Sarney". Someday, they would be competing to get the Nobel award for literature.

Gabriel Marquez is making thousands from a book about his attempt to seduce a prostitute.

That man makes money, because he writes 2 pages with sentences, without punctuations, paragraphs, etc; Pure personal marketing and the "intellectuals" of Latin America go crazy to buy his books and store in their basements without reading them. My hats off to Scott, though. At least he writes short sentences in comprehensible prose, unlike you or your idols. Hope he continues doing so, in spite of your "brainwashing".

BTW, Scott´s story is much better than yours or that of your idols.

Helloooooooo Joao.

Did you know that you are contradicting yourself?

Sorry chap, but you played a bulls**t "reader elitism" card and got called on it.

Stay within your league.

By the way, I like few, of any, of Coelho's works. But he does follow a literary formula for generating conflict.

Main Character (with flaws) Goal Opposition = Conflict

Get it! Got it! Good! Pay me later.

Look son, Bruna's book was on the bestseller chart for weeks (I guess only the intellectuals bought that one, huh) and half the book was about sucking dick.

You naughty boy!

About 80% of the books brought by Brazilians are written by foreigners. It's a money game, not a bulls**t "elite culture" game. Not that I agree with it, there needs to be much more development of Brazilian authors but if they are judged by people like you who remain trapped in some archaic, obsolete forumula of writing, they will never emerge.

You would have condemned Shakespeare who definitely broke the mold of the writers of his era.

(hee, hee...you called me a redneck. What a kneejerk, petite nationalist reaction. Now, that's funny. Don't you know that I IS CULLID!)

hey just like some black authors portrayed whites as devils...and we all know that is bulls**t , dont we

this is a public forum and if i wish to express how i feel about mst and how i might think he is going to portray it in his book , its my right, and why is this author putting this in here if he doesnt want to get feed back...?

"dont know jack s**t about writing.." well i know you aint talking about me, my father was a writer , had some of his work published with articles by jorje armado in jean paul sartre's magizine in france as well as old hugh hefner playboy and several books of his published

i was lucky to be around my father and nelson algren as they hung out , they were very good freinds,he actualy hid in our house when he escaped from the nut house he was in for that moment

i have a brother who has had a book published and another brother who runs the best used book store in santa fe new mexico...so please spare me of your hack judgements...yeah,i write like s**t, but,i have been around authors and the struggles in the business

my comment was on my direct feeling of mst based on living in brazil and watching their bulls**t for 23 years and how it pains me to read something that doesnt show the fuller picture of how they are...which scott may reveal or not....im just giving my opinion

in the end scott can write anything he wants and i can roll my eyes and groan and write anything i want on a public forum about it

Listen, fella, there are some authors who portray VAMPIRES as heros. And they make millions.

Do you know the difference between fiction and non-fiction?

Have your father or your brother post here about the writing process. Okay?

About groups. Making any group a HERO or VILLAIN is hack writing. You only see that in pulp fiction like the James Bond movies or the THE MAN FROM UNCLE. (The villians in KAOS versus the 'good guys' in UNCLE).

Heros are individuals within groups. Are there heros within MST. Absolutely. Are there some a*****es? Absolutely.

To make a case to demonize all of MST you'd better explain the fact that nearly the majority of arable land in Brazil is owned by 1.3% of the population and that a good portion of that land is dedicated to cash crops....ie...forgetting the people and getting rich off of soybeans sold to foreigners.

In America, the PRINCIPLES of the African American Civil Rights movement made it one of the most honorable movements in American history. That still does not mean that within the movement there were not heroes and villains. Separate the goals and objectives of the movement from the actions of human beings in it.

Was that too much for you to grasp?

It is funny how both you and Joao were so f**king quick to play the "race" card...Joao, because he thought I was white and now you....

Interesting!

And you've said some very insightful things on other posts.

Let this rest, son.

i didnt play any race card.too bad you took it that way , it wasnt meant as some kind of gotcha race card

i just wanted to use a fast example that , speaking of a political group like mst, not dracula, making them heroes , is like elijah muhamid equating white people as devils...which actualy , heroes or villains was your terminology not mine or scotts.i never implied the african american civil rights movement said white people were devils...and i get your point that in any movement you can find heroes and villains

i used romanticising . i didnt really say to scott he has to villainise them ( i would , though), i cut them down because i dont like their marxist principles and thuggy threatening tactics. and your point about the arible land in the hands of a few people is valid and should be addressed, i just say mst are not the people to trust , and i have been very up front with my reasons why , which is based on 23 years of watching them in action .

all which, i agree , should have nothing to do with why an author might use them as a back drop to a fiction novel...

what i wouldnt like ( which isnt important to whether scott uses mst in a good light or not , its just important to me) is, most people who might read his book have never been to brazil and would read something about mst for the first time.

if there is no balanced look at who mst is and what they do, these naive people will make a snap judgement opinion based on their impresion of scotts book. they might hear about mst and say they equate land reform so they must be ok and just....but they are not...

and you know fiction can help people form impresions about things, very powerfully , like uncle toms cabin did ( hope you dont think im playing the race card again ....i know , i know ,she was a white author)

and like i said, if scott is going to bring his work into a public forum about brazil with mst referances ,i have the right to give my opinion about mst, which is all i really did...

thanks for the offer about my dad and brother, my dad passed in 75, i wish i could get my brother to just e mail me a little more...so i cant get him to discuss here, unfortunatly... his book was about an analysis of melvile's moby dick...

as i wished good luck to scott on his book, i also wish you good luck on your books, which i have remembered from your posts ,also , which i thought were in general good posts

and i wish i was the age you could refer me to as "son"...

i dont want to give any impresion that he was some super succesful famous writer, he struggled all his life with getting his writing out,and only had a few books published

but he did have a succesful used books business in chicago that he took down to new mexico in his later life

he was respected by his colleagues nelson algren, dave garroway, studs terkal and others who did indulge in poker games to win each others money and for other tidbits