/lit/ - Literature

>>17858952
Then prove them wrong, stop getting upset over anonymous replies, it's not masculine. Just gives me more reason to think your self worth is tied to the opinions of others. Literally nobody in these threads is successful or they wouldn't be here, yourself included. If you really want to get better do what literally all good writers did and read widely and deeply, including most of the classics

>>17412743
It's overwritten. The register seems outdated, like 19th century, but at the same time doesn't ring true, especially with the contemporary references to oblivion and the like, so it comes across (rightly or wrongly) as pretentious affectation. Even if all references to the modern world were cut off, and you were writing a POV novel set in the 19th century, the impression would be one of artificiality. The flow isn't quite right, either. First sentence is clumsy - "quite the artist and no one knew how" doesn't read well at all and is off-putting.

There are some better elements. The prose improves as it goes on, I think - "Robert fondled... began painting" is probably the best sentence. However, it isn't a very good extract on the whole. It isn't completely awful, but it's very amateurish, and reads like the work of a beginner. That's okay - everyone has to get this stuff out the way before they get better.

So how to get better? Well, on a larger scale, the story isn't very interesting. Why should I care about Robert and why he was a good artist? What relevance does it have to the overarching story? It's hard to judge this when looking at just an extract, as it's out of context, but if this was the beginning of a story I wouldn't read on. That's not because the subject matter is prosaic, either - portrait of the artist, Mrs dalloway, Madame bovary etc are all prosaic, and I adore realism, but they have hooks that get you invested from the outset.

On a smaller scale, you need to improve your technical abilities too. First sentence doesn't strike right, second is okay Flow-wise but "gave his peers indication of this" is awkward and just smacks of the unnecessarily complicated, clumsy, awkward phrasing which detracts from the bits where the prose actually does flow. Next line, the colon isn't really best used here - a comma would be better, with the second part of the sentence trimmed. "And the demeanour of one" or "the demeanour of one, too" or, better still, "He had the presence and demeanour of an empty breeze", OR, best yet, "he was like a breeze", which is more succinct and avoids using the word demeanour for the second sentence in a row.

I won't go on longer, but I'd recommend you keep writing until you find your voice, because it's really clear you haven't yet. I'm not saying that to be a dick, I want you to be encouraged and push yourself to keep writing, and especially at this stage to keep reading, too.

This true or just jest writefags?

>>17106698
Read more. Read good books. After a while you begin to develop good taste. No matter what people say, the quality of writing can be measured objectively. When you develop good taste you can amend your first drafts to be better. Everyone's first draft is terrible.

Are first-person novels inherently inferior to the third-person omniscient narrator?

I'm writing something that I think would work better as a first-person epistolary novel but I feel like it would fall flat if I did.

Are postgrad writing courses worth it?

Off the basis of an excerpt I submitted I've had offers from two of the best MA courses in Creative Writing in my country. Ex students include a Nobel Laureate, Booker prize winners and scores of published authors. However I've also got offers to study straight English Lit, and I'm thinking of pussying out to take the safe route.

>>15734840
If you need to learn it from a how-to book, don't bother.

I don't mean to sound harsh but truly. To be a better writer you have to read more and write more. You need the self discipline to write 2000 words a day no matter how shit they are or how hard they come. You need the self discipline to read 3, 4, 5 hours of the day. You need the self discipline to read not only novels, but short stories, poetry and essays. And even if you have the self-discipline to truly commit to your craft, you also need the innate talent to say something really meaningful (which IMO is only born of suffering).

Try writing a short story every week. You'll see them improve, gradually. Most will be shit. Out of 50ish stories by the end of the year, maybe 15 have something special. Edit and refine them, you have maybe 10 solid pieces. Pick the best 3 and get them published.

Write poetry. Get poems published. Poetry is innately a higher art form and thus harder. But still try. Play with different poetic forms. Read the Romantics, read Shakespeare's sonnets, read Pessoa, read anything and everything. Write critical pieces, too. Fewer people want to do them and they're easier to get published.

Once you have a few short stories, some poems and critical articles published- maybe a competition won along the way, if you're lucky- all of a sudden you have a résumé. You also have a hell of a lot more experience. All of a sudden, if you have talent, you could get into a decent MFA program if you wished. Aside from spending literally every single day reading and writing, the better ones also have you networking with authors and agents and publishers. Maybe you try working on a novel, and with your publishing history, you're far more likely to land a good agent and enter the mainstream.

Where did this come from? I found it here and want to know more about it.

>>15483422

>>15470465
It absolutely is. Think how many great authors were teachers first

Does anyone have any experience in landing academic positions abroad? I'm in the UK, and entry-level positions are far and few between. Was interested in universities in Japan or maybe South America.

What is the source on this list? Where did it come from?

>>15037666
Cursed trips