Question for Jim and others, “Yes or No, does the bear ever go away?”

[Rashad 117]

watched some special on The discovery channel recently about various species of bears and how they evolved. Said something along the lines that Polar bears evolved from the same Bear ancestor as grizzly bears. But both species are related to the weasel family distantly. Thousands of years ago grizzly bears evolved into Polar bears to better adjust to the arctic climate but polar bears are indeed bears. Their snouts became longer and their claws have more of a razor edge for killing walrus and seals. that's what was said on the show anyway.

[BjustaB]

I just love this board! No where else does a group of people get off track in such creative or educational ways.  You guys are the best!

Barbara

[Hasufin]

Polar bears are one of the eight species of bears - the other seven being brown bears (grizzlies), black bears, sun bears, moon bears, spectacles bears, sloth bears, and panda bears.

This confusion might arise from the red panda, which is actually not a bear but more closely related to the raccoon - but nonetheless bears both morphological and behavioral similarities to the giant panda.



In response to the original question - I think having the bear go away would be the worst thing for an author. Insecurity is one of the side-effects of concern. The only way I know of the make the bear go away is to not care about the quality of the work.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

Polar bears are one of the eight species of bears - the other seven being brown bears (grizzlies), black bears, sun bears, moon bears, spectacles bears, sloth bears, and panda bears.

So I was also wrong in thinking Kodiak bears are a separate species ?  They're just really big grizzlies ?

Yes, I am a working computational biologist, but in a context that does not normally involve multicellular organisms.

[RMatthewWare]

TO ANSWER THE QUESTION

No, whatever it is you call the destractions and the things that make you think can't write never go away.  It can be like "A Beautiful Mind", though.  If you pay it no attention it will just lurk on the edge of your senses.  It can only consume you if you let it.

[BlueStocking]

Mine's not a bear so much as the internet.  And clothing websites.

And forums.

No, they never go away.  You have to yell at them really loud and shun them so you can get a few sentences out every hour or so.

[Ursiel]

I have a bear bear. He likes to use my desk as a scratching post and he marks his territory on my bed ;-;

[ToddM326]

My bear is animatronic, with a cassette tape deck in his back.  He keeps me company, and reads me stories.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teddy_Ruxpin

[meg_evonne]

I couldn't resist posting a photo of my friend's polar bears.  He took a trip to the Artic just to photograph polar bears. He shared some with me and said I could send your way!  Enjoy...

[Orissa]

Wow!  Awesome picture!! 

[Cathy Clamp]

I guess if you're considering the bear to be the part that tells you what you're writing is dreck and you'll never get better--I think that for a lot of us the best we can do is keep it caged. But we can't eliminate and, in fact, MUSTN'T eliminate it, because it's what keeps us growing as writers. Every book must become better, richer, stronger. Every sentence is more tightly worded and requires less editing by the publisher. My bear keeps me relevant and thoughtful about my work. It keeps me on my toes in a tough writing market. 

[Torvaldr]

I don't have something that actively tries to discourage me. But there are plenty of times my muse seems to take a very prolonged vacation. Which is sometimes something of a relief. My muse is not gentle. When she says write she uses a 2X4 on me. That can be very distracting while driving. 

[Jack_of_Names]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_bear - Universal Knowledge Repository.

"According to both fossil and DNA evidence, the polar bear diverged from the brown bear roughly 200 thousand years ago" - Polar evolved from brown, so pretty closely related.

[RMatthewWare]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_bear - Universal Knowledge Repository.

"According to both fossil and DNA evidence, the polar bear diverged from the brown bear roughly 200 thousand years ago" - Polar evolved from brown, so pretty closely related.

Well why are we worried about global warming and the polar bear going extinct?  We'll just bread a new one from the brown bear.  I'm sure wikipedia has the correct dna sequencing and instructions on repeating the process.

[Shecky]

Well why are we worried about global warming and the polar bear going extinct?  We'll just bread a new one from the brown bear.  I'm sure wikipedia has the correct dna sequencing and instructions on repeating the process.

And why worry about war and genocide? We can just breed more human beings from apes.