/lit/ - Literature

post your writing
give honest feedback
together we shall grow strong

/lit/, I have a problem.

Every time I sit down to try and write something, I look back to it a few days later and it seems so pretentious and obnoxious. Whatever I end up writing reads like I'm trying to sound like a knock-off David Foster Wallace, only I'm not nearly as smart or talented so it sounds affected and try-hard as fuck. I feel like I'm trying to write to impress someone with how clever I am instead of just tell an interesting, concise story.

Does anyone else struggle with this?

When it comes to writing, how do you remember all the words you learned and checked while reading? Sometimes I feel like I retain nothing.

Writing thread, I suppose.

>>8189133

The main reason they listed was "I want to travel." But don't they realize that the EU lets gypsies and mohammedans travel to Britain? How hard is it to get a tourist visa anyway? I've never heard of anyone from Canada having any trouble visiting Europe for a few months at a time. I'm not even British but this is infuriating to watch. The people in the article all look like "posh" hipsters and had bullshit jobs like "Fashion Designer" or "DJ." I love the "No Man is an Island" tee shirts, they're right, what affects Europe affects me. It saddens and angers me to watch my ancestral homeland get invaded by muslims who are the antithesis of everything Europe represents. I hate how Europeans are afraid even to display their own flags, how they think that their own culture doesn't matter anymore, how women aren't safe on the streets. My grandfather didn't go to war for this.

And you know what, as much as I dislike muslims and abhor their violent barbaric culture, it makes a lot more sense to me than the neutered liberalism of the West, the nihilistic mindless consumerism. When the car alarms finally stop ringing, and the white dust settles, and the ambulances carry away the survivors, I can say to myself, "Ah. Here was a man with blood in his veins."

>Q: What do you say to those who want to leave the EU? A: Read more.

I read fifty books a year, "m8"

>yourself

>your ideal book

>your ideal protagonist

>the room you're sitting in

>your post

>>7483262
perhaps one might consider not smoking?
>just a fuckin thought
>for fucks fuckin sake

"I'm sick of stupid people...but I like animals even though they are really stupid...but people aren't cute like animals, or else it'd be ok because you can cuddle with them even though they're stupid"

---Omni

>>7473696
no, you didnt even get the hidden chapter where Pnin's character is explained, as well as the crystal bowl's origin. you fucking poor pleb. what's it like to miss out on so much? no, don't soil me with your plebbiness.

19th century literature vs. 20th/21st century literature

>>7441944
no, but i can give you a painting.

I got an assignment to write a short story, but it can only be one page long (maybe two). I have written short stories before but never anything this short. I'm having a hard time thinking of a scene or a short story that I could write about well with such a limited space.

So are there any good short stories this length? If so, please share.

I keep like 3 journals at the time for some reason.
One for book quotes and general ideas, another one for longer 3-5 page essays, and another one for shitty graphs and unintelligible notes when I'm high as fuck.
Plus i have a folder for entries that i make on my typewriter.

I must say that keeping a journal is a must if you hope to ever be a good writer.

>>7331036
>>7331061
I don't know why you came here either dude. Where do you lurk usually?

Really thou this board is for literature and philosophy and you don't seem to like either. I understand you wanna explore some new ground, but for writing statements like >>7331061 in this neighborhood you'll get your shit kicked in pretty fast.
You gotta fucking read man. The fact that you don't seem to fathom filling, even just a page, of your journal with fruits of your mind is a testimony to that.

You shouldn't even need a fucking book to give you ideas for a journal. I cringed a little.

Here's a tip: It's YOUR journal. It's your own, private playground for ideas in this universe of mostly shit. You can fill it with anything you like. Once your pen touches the paper, that nebulous cloud of random threads, concept and abstractions in your head will transcend time and manifest itself in the physical world.
You can write about whatever you feel like. Complain about your family, admit that you are in love with someone, take a steaming shit on current government system or whatever.
just fucking write, forget about grammar and let it flow.

and fucking READ dude...

>pic related, mfw reading your posts

How are you doing with your writing so far? It has been an hour and I have a blank page

/lit/, I'm feeling down. I've been writing for the last six years, and so far I've finished (or close to finished):
A historical novel set in Rome.
A four-part fantasy.
An erotic YA novel.
An erotic political novel.
An erotic theological treatise.
three satires.
two cheap thrillers.
And a Sci-fi novel about sheep.
How the hell do I market myself to publishers? I can't focus on one genre or subject for longer than couple stories, so how can I build an audience?
Are there any examples of authors succeeding in multiple fields?

What should one major in to become a writer?

What are good examples of characters representing the mind/consciousness?

When you discover a new word, do you write it down? Is it better to write notes down, or just commit it to memory? Does the former weaken and the latter increase your ability to memorize?

Something I wrote in another 4chan thread where the inspiration was this image.
Posted it once already but i patched it up somewhat.

A penny a page, am I overly cynical or am I actually doomed?
A writing writer, What a cliché.
letters, words, sentences, stack up, coalesce
Yes, post modernism is now in vogue but nonetheless
romanticism has long been passé.

Gah, yes, the OP is a faggot, I was turned into kitsch, so
quit looking at me, im not meant for your gaze,
honest, thats what I secretly wish.
Dont be fooled by technique or superior style
I'm just a humble impression(a morning mind's haze)
My nature is something something, in short, very mundane
(but, actually, I am very refined).

Stuck in this pose, Leonid... I swear he was a cunt
(oh, wait is that a taboo?)
shit, well, henceforth blaspheme promise I shan't.
Although I'm obviously tortured already, so might as well curse.
down my knees in this bile, is this what happens to frauds?
This is comedy and, its truly divine, now where do i go? I'd say to the eight, though
Malbolge is a hard word to rhyme.

Anyway, yes, I'm a photo, a painting, some colors and strokes.
I gotta be honest, all those contraptions and rational minds, they
just make you look for a nuance, your soul(given the smallest excuse)
desperately begging to "fly".
Do you think me as thoughtful, melancholic, maybe, in total despair?
portraying the strains of creation that poetic endeavors entail?
No, it's been buzzing around me all morning, thats what it is,
an annoying black dot and it gives me no peace.

>>6485730
>>6485745
Gosto quando o pessoal que está de fato no meio das publicações mostra como é a realidade de ser escritor. Inspirador, senhor, inspirador.

Eu só fui ter interesse pela literatura bem tardiamente, aos 17 anos, mas antes disso eu já escrevia, embora não fosse nada de cunho literário. Fazia resenhas/análises de séries de desenhos e quadrinhos japoneses, e num certo dia, ao final do ano de 2013, houve um concurso literário na minha escola e decidi participar não só porquê fui incentivado pela minha professora de protuguês que disse "Pra quem gosta de escrever..." (e eu não sabia se gostava ou não, mas gostava da relação carnal entre a mão, a caneta e o papel) mas também porquê queria ter minha escrita avaliada por pessoas mais entendidas e que pudesse melhorar os meus textos no site que fazia as análises e resenhas.

Fiz o concurso. Era para fazer um conto ou um poema. Eu, perfeccionista e megalomaníaco que sou, fiz um conto com poemas no meio; mesmo com limite de palavras, tudo coube milagrosamente. Fui um dos vencedores do concurso.

Esse fato me encorajou a persistir nesse caminho literário, e eu sempre fui um cara que tinha muia ideia na cabeça, só não sabia o que fazer com elas. A literatura de certa forma me salvou da assombração dessas ideias, me deu até um propósito para fazer coisas que antes não gostava de fazer. Hoje em dia tudo que faço é voltado para a literatura, mas mesmo assim tenho aquela sensação de ser um impostor no meio, de não ser digno à arte das letras como caras como você, que lê desde sempre, é.

Its about a painting by Leonid Pasternak, called "The Throws of Creation".


A penny a page, am I overly cynical or am I actually doomed?
A writing writer, What a cliché
letters, words, sentences, stack up, coalesce
Yes, post modernism is now in vogue but nonetheless
romanticism has long been passé.

gah, yes, the OP is a faggot, I was turned into kitsch
quit looking at me, im not meant for your gaze
honest, thats what I secretly wish
I'm just a humble impression(a morning mind's haze)
dont be fooled by technique or superior style
My nature is something something, in short, very mundane
(but, actually, i am very refined).

stuck in this pose, Leonid... I swear he was a cunt
(oh, wait is that a taboo?)
shit, well, henceforth blaspheme promise I shan't
Although, Im obviously tortured already, so might as well curse.
down my knees in this bile, is this what happens to frauds?
This is comedy and its truly divine, now where do i go? Id say to the eight, though
malbolge is a hard word to rhyme.

anyway, yes, I'm a photo, a painting, some colors and strokes
I gotta be honest all those contraptions and rational minds
they just make you look for a nuance, your soul(given the smallest excuse)
desperately begging to "fly"
Do you think me as thoughtful, melancholic, maybe, in total despair?
portraying the strains of creation that poetic endeavors entail?
no, it's been buzzing around me all morning, thats what it is
an annoying black dot and it gives me no peace.

I'm searching a book which will help me along mith my own destitute writing attempts. Anything written by authors themselves, essays etc. would be great.

>>6188847
I know that feel.

let's examine /lit/'s prose, write a short paragraph describing the following scene. Preferably in first person.
Here's the scenario
>You wake up in a strange room you've never seen before
Have fun

Attention whoring: the thread.