/lit/ - Literature

>>3316427
professors do, man. especially the ones who can quote poetry from memory.

We've always known deep down,
you and I,
that the ocean is bottomless.
One day I will prove it, too.
I will put on my cap and swim down
straight through to China
and people will ask "how did you do it?
"how did you know?
how did you prepare for your journey?"
and on that day, with the eyes of the world
staring at me through screens like hooked fish
the great camera of the human race
dangling on a string like a lit match,
I hope I'll find the words to say
what my heart hasn't told me yet.

>>3310870
I read 10 pages and the kid's "voice" just became grating. Does it get better or should I give up?

>>3311704
ha. yeah, that doesn't make sense. sorry.

>>3311395
Well that's rather random, OP. Did she steal your lunch money?

>>3311761
I would never be so bold as to spoiler an ending in fewer words than it deserves. I'm betting that you can find the last 10 pages online if you know where to look. It is worth it.

>>3311637
>I disliked Fight Club because the movie was so superior
Did you actually READ the book? It was fucking amazing and the ending was SO much better.

>>3311584
I've read almost all of his stuff and Survivor was the best. The thing he does that annoys me is that he never changes his voice. It's always that same tiring, edgy, omgnoyoudidnt drone he has... and it's totally charming and first, but after half a book of it, you just want to hit him in the head.

>>3311012
This is going to sound like I'm being mean, OP, but I'm 100% serious. Take out every adjective, adverb and image modifier, then look at what you have. You're so busy describing things for your readers that you're crushing their ability to put themselves into your story. You're micromanaging their whole experience until it isn't fun anymore.

For example: don't say that the city is empty, beautiful and clean and that the streets are walked by hundreds of people every day... it's a city! Of course the streets are walked by tons of people every day. Get rid of at least two of your stacked descriptors... is it empty, beautiful or clean? More than one is too many and they lose there meaning. Beautiful is a word that means almost nothing, so take that out. Clean is a maybe. Empty? Why is it empty? You just said that there are hundreds of people, and it's a city, that doesn't really make any sense, especially for it being Friday. No editor anywhere is going to accept a manuscript full of stacked adjectives. It just doesn't happen, so get in the habit of fixing it right now.

Ask yourself questions about everything you've said. What do the bags of chips have to do with the story you're telling? Who cares about what color the guys in the stores are wearing? You need to take this whole thing and just beat the living hell out of it. Remove repetition. It's annoying and your readers aren't idiots.

my prescription, if tl;dr - kill adjectives. they are the mark of a bad writer.

I really recommend reading The First Five Pages by Noah Lukeman. It'll give you a whole new perspective on what you've written here.

>>3311186
I'd be too embarrassed. My favorite books of all time have highlighter, pen, scribbles in the margins, dogears, ripped out dogears because they couldn't take the bending anymore... the covers are all taped so they'll stay together. I am a book monster... I don't just read them, I devour them.

And I don't even regret it.

>>3310172
A Couple Shades of Grey

>>3310122
This is the string between the petal and the door, we follow it like blind men on a track, table to wall, where we cannot see the picture.

>>3303201
maybe "the idiot taking refuge in the curtains" for the last line?

>>3303070
Don't start with old stuff. Find something current that speaks in our current language and with current idioms, etc, and work your way backward (if you ever decide to go backwards, that is, reading poetry from a hundred years ago doesn't make you any more cultured than reading what is being written now).

I suggest the book Poetry 180 which was edited by Billy Collins. It's easy enough to understand on a first read and has some really great work in it. It's also a lot of fun!

>>3297744
I think it helps me to remember that we really are just creatures of instinct walking on our hind legs. Learning to turn those rages and obsessive urges into something positive instead of just repressing them until they explode is a good idea. A stupid example, but it's all I can think of at the moment: I know a guy who, instead of ruining his lungs with smoking and doing drugs, goes to the gym and exercises until his muscles are about to give up on him. He's meeting that destructive tendency with something that 1. distracts him from it and 2. is productive and positive.

So in direct answer to your question, yes, these thoughts are a huge part of who we are as a species, but it doesn't mean they have to control you. I might call it an aware form of hedonism. Hedonism lite ;)

This is just my take on it, of course. I'm no expert.

>>3297641
>My interpretation of hedonism is violent and filled with drugs and rape.
dictionary: hedonism is the doctrine that pleasure or happiness is the sole or chief good in life.

That can also mean that you want that for other people too, anon. My version of atheism is a very "don't do it to someone else unless you'd like it done to you" version. I care about my family too much to hurt them by doing drugs. I wouldn't want to be abused, so I don't abuse others. I don't feel as if my "humanity" has ever been in danger at all.

I don't know if this helps at all. I do consider myself a type of hedonist, I suppose. I don't know that others would.

>>3297610
I've tried but it's too hard. My gym has music really loud, tons of people coming and going and TVs. Plus, I don't want to look like an ass and fall off the treadmill or whatever I'm on.

It would be nice to be able to do though, and I envy those who can.

>>3297043
Thank you! I will!

>>3296798
>Hopefully it's someone other than your mom or an old English teacher.
:(

>>3296945
damn, talk about expired!

>>3296821
I just started Dorian Gray and just finished chapter two. I *love* the way Wilde writes, I just get completely sucked into everything that happens. People have to shout at me in the same room to get my attention. That usually doesn't happen to me.

>>3296078
I just gave this to my kid to read... it is the only book she ever gave 10/10.

A Stitch in Time
Fablehaven (series)
Everlost
Neverwhere
CS Lewis's Narnia stuff
His Dark Materials
Neil Gaiman's Stuff

look these up on Amazon, and when you put them on your wishlist, you'll get recommendations all over the place.

>>3294659
duotrope.com
you're welcome.

>>3292835
I agree with this. Posting in an anonymous forum will knock you right off of any high horse you have, as long as you keep an open mind and remember to take people's random rages with a grain of salt.