/lit/ - Literature

>>16683972
>>16683988
>doesn't deny BLM posting on his website
>scared of 'extremism'

I'd like to see a thread abound about true literature. Fantasy, Scifi, Speculative Fiction, Historical Fiction, even bloody Non-fiction of you have an argument as to why literature should extend to that category. No books can be recommended unless the author was an actual genius, so don't give me your trash Kafka or Gaiman. I'm talking about Faulkner, Charles Dickens, Mervyn Peake, the like.

I used to write short stories many years ago (over a decade), but stopped due to time constraints. Going back to it now, obviously I'm unpracticed and unsure of myself, but I noticed something very strange - my ideas start from a very strong visual image I have in my head (as opposed to the abstract ideas I used to have), that I recognize is very interesting and striking regardless, but I find it hard to put it into words, to get the characters to get there convincingly. I feel like I watched too many movies and read too few books, and now I see things more as a director would, rather than an author.

I still want to write about these things but since they stem from something visual and visceral it's hard to find a natural way to attack it in writing. Anyone ever experienced that?

>>7040648
most aren't directly related but they all fit the theme of 'smug confusion' which is all over hs very well

>>5960139

That's the goal, then I'll let you guys know. I sent them to an editor, I'm awaiting the edits. Then I'm submitting to Ploughshares, Poetry Foundation and The New Yorker... do you guys think that is the best course of action when I get them back?

I think they're quite excellent, but some are very dark and morbid so I'm not sure if it will get published or not.

Oh hell, here's one of them:

Flames reigned in his wake
A foul ghoul raised from the pits
Of a twisting nether
A shifting and tumultuous face was his,
The moment a hapless travel
Thought it within his grasp of comprehension
The ghoul would violently shriek,
Convulsions rocking his wicked body,
His face twining in agony til it became unrecognizable
And thus he was known by many names
For he was only distinguishable by his
Lanky black limbs and withering, concave torso,
Crimson ribs protruding grotesquely
At medium intervals

More hideous still were his Godless children,
Molded from the dank mud and bone
Of unconsenting Mother Earth,
Their souls ripped from Hell itself,
Lost spirits of the damned

And on lonesome days at the advent of Winter
When the sun hangs low upon the horizon
And the moon is obscured by funeral clouds
They dance to an unholy dirge
The ghouls deathly miasma chocking
His miserable creations as he mounts
And devours them,
Rangy blades emerging from the
Very pits of his wretched gut

How would one go about creating a believable science fiction story from the point of view of an alien species? I've seen stories that include this somewhat, but it's always based on human thought processes.

Is this even possible? Would a human writer not be able to conceive of an alien point of view without injecting human-like qualities into it?

I'm not going to pretend I know anything about art, but here OP. Have some art