/lit/ - Literature

I have written a treatise on the nature of love that dominated my whole life for three years, but I also broke up with the love of my life to chase another woman who shortly thereafter abandoned me, and now I eat my own cum and have an anime girl poster on my wall, so I doubt whether my treatise means anything anymore

>>11652798
My worries: I've recently published my first book, and it's obviously a hard time getting a word out. A part of me feels like it's really great and brings new things on the genre fiction table, and that the masses in general are just morons reading dumb stuff and not realizing where the real talent lies; but on the other hand I'm well aware that this is all a bunch of crock, and far more likely my writing's just shit. I wonder just how bad the popular stuff like Twilight and Harry Potter really are, in objective means, and how much better or worse mine is by comparison. It's difficult to put my thoughts on any manner of an objective line: I can't tell what is delusion, what is depression, and what is reality.

In addition, I feel like the current story I'm writing is not shaping up all that well. It's a murder mystery, but the prime suspects don't have a sufficient personality, don't show up in the text enough, and there's no real reason the main characters wouldn't suspect the real culprit (who is outside the group of obvious suspects entirely).

Advice to you: Your first works are indeed most likely shit. I wrote about three or four novels before I finally got something I was more or less happy with. I'd suggest leaving them be, stopping to go in circles with editing them, and writing a bunch of new novels.

You started writing for real far earlier than me, so you'll probably make it earlier as well.

>>11652806
Powerful and relateable. I want to hear more about this character. First three chapters by the end of month on my desk. Also, ditch the cartoon girls and the cum eating, that part was weird.

>>11652882
>eat my own cum
>powerful and relatable

>>11652823
Tell us about your published novel, anon. Do a little self-advertising, we won't mind. I also reflect often on the "objective" merit of popular fiction. It's a confusing rabbit hole.

Also this is OP, thanks for the advice. I've actually written and discarded a lot of stuff; these are the first things I WANT to publish. Of course, that only adds to my uncertainty. It's a weird Schrodinger's cat-like state of doubt and satisfaction. I can't sit on this stuff though; I'm in a huge hurry to "make it."

>>11652957
>Do a little self-advertising, we won't mind.
I'm way ahead of you, actually: I've been dropping the story up on /lit/ here and there these past few weeks, trying to get people to pick it up - occasionally I've even been successful, which always works nice.

If you haven't been around to see it yet, then it's a story about this small, weak, pathetically useless prey-creature who ends up being around to witness the death of a great hero, and half-forced to take up said hero's quest and try to fill his great big shoes. It's currently available on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FJPM8XY

>I'm in a huge hurry to "make it."
I know the feeling. This weird and somewhat irrational thought that I'm already late, that I should've published this thing like thirty years ago to have any shot at being noticed, and that any time tomorrow someone else is going to publish some great idea of mine and become really popular with it - or that the entire medium of literature ends up becoming obsolete by means of virtual reality or something.

In truth, however, I'm pretty sure you have nothing to worry about. Take all the time you need.

>>11652798
In early college I wrote one of the most popular fanfictions in one of the largest fandoms of all time. People would write essays at one another arguing over the symbolism, over my possible influences, whether or not to consider it literature. I never finished it. Hard to write when it feels like the world is breathing down your neck, when a hobby becomes something more, something to live up to to in the eyes of thousands. I disappeared.

I started writing 'real' stuff later on: fiction (short stories), nonfiction, and poetry. My poetry has been published in highly respected international magazines. Moderately successful with non-fiction publication in regional mags. I once won a large sum of money for a fiction piece. Not once did I read a book of literature on my own time in college, and only half the time did I actually read the assigned material (I was a closet philosophy fag reading Heidegger and Wittgenstein instead).

I was personally mentored in writing by a now-famous literary author who once said I had "unearned talent", seemed almost offended at enjoying my writing after learning I rarely read (especially after giving me the big spiel about who they thought I must have been influenced by), though I won't go too far into it as they lurk this site. My writing professors encouraged me to "go do" highly competitive writing fellowships, as if my acceptance were a foregone conclusion. Professors had given me free 'ins' with various publishers for "when" I write a book. Even my fucking therapist drank my kool-aid, saying I was a magnet of greatness, even advising me to spend my money buying lottery tickets.

I have not written anything in years. On the final day of my final finals week, I was hospitalized for an OD. I collapsed under pressure after graduating and curled into a ball in the dark. Between then and now, I've had multiple psychotic breaks, was arrested for streaking naked on LSD through an apartment complex during an ego-death experience, and have suffered chronic nightmares and sleep paralysis (though that's probably more to do with the literally annual sexual assaults and incest flashbacks). Writing scares me. Withering into nothing in public for a third time would see me finally dissolve.

Reading Delillo and Murakami right now, torturing myself with the idea of writing again. Some sense of embarrassed obligation to it. Certain I've atrophied over the years, so I'm not sure how I'm going to get past the rust stage without falling apart.

>>11653123
What fanfiction/fandom was it anon? I'm curious

>>11653139
My Little Pony

I'd really rather not go much further, I have insane paranoia over people finding out who I am. Got hit with a cyber-stalker during the whole affair.

>>11653153
That's fine, I understand. Fanfic readers are a different breed of crazy

>>11653020
Alright, I'll buy your damn book. Seen it posted here a few times now, and seeing if your confidence is well founded is worth the $3. I don't read too much fantasy anymore but all my friends only read fantasy, so if it's good I'll spread the word.

>>11652798
I am utterly convinced that I'm really on to something good with my poetry but I am completely unable to force myself to write it, I can only get it to work when I'm in a sort of fugue state and everything flows out all at once, which happens very rarely. Beyond that it seems very unappealing to zine editors. I've gotten two poems published in a fucking online zine lmao, that's it. It feels like I'm banging my head into a wall submitting to all these useless places, and I can't put together a chapbook or collection because I don't have enough material and what I do have comes together so slowly it isn't even worth mentioning.

Other than that I do like writing sonnets, but nobody likes publishing sonnets.

>>11653168
>>11652957
>>11653020
>>11652823
wow same fag
but i will take your auestion seriously in order to reamin the INTEGRITY of this BOARD............

My writing is retarded, and so am i. I am unironically autist, and i wish to make something of worth towards this world.. and blah blah blah i am always speaking of world, life and blah blah i feel i am losing myself,, i mean not losing myself, but losing people who care for me...
Who wants to talk to a guy who wants to try to speak larger and more intelligently than he is? Where will my writing take me ?
no where! I am stuck ladies and gentalmen , stuck in oblivion waiting and hoping i can get gold from a mine long washed up... I wish onyl to provide insight which i do not have to people who read things that I write. To expand human conciousness.... Howeverrrrrrrrrr what am I to do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

p.s i unironically love Alex Jones, and slander upon his name will end in death to america,,, please love him

>>11653020
>1 star review
>"Fetish porn"
N-Nani?

the last time i really wrote something substantial that wasn't an essay for a class is several years ago. i keep wondering where my spark went. i used to write fanfic (youth+autism caused this focus) for fun, but i also wanted it to be top-shelf literary fanfic as well. my best was probably ironic neopets incest fanfic i wrote in high school.

now i am so self-conscious i can't bring myself to write much of anything. i have a few poems but that's all i've done, and most, if not all of them are incomplete. i just wish i could write again without feeling like everything i touch is shit.

>>11653229
Get tipsy before writing

>>11653208
>My writing is retarded, and so am i.
But your self-assessment skills are very good.

>>11653218
You'll notice that he hasn't actually bought the book. I can more or less guarantee it has no fetishes, unless relentless bullying turns you on.

>>11653168
I hope you'll like it. Even review it, maybe.

>>11653177
We all feel like we had great ideas, but if we can't get them out they amount to nothing. I hope you can find what you need to inspire you and to get the words out of you.

>>11653208
It will get better, anon. I've been where you are but I am no longer, and I am certain you too will claw out of it in time. I believe in you!

>>11653229
And I believe in you too, anon.

I was pushed to solidify my philosophical views after months of intense confliction between ideas. I have settled on a method of non religion-dependent ascendance. I don't want to reveal too much about my ideas due to plaigarism. All else I can say is nearly every relevant past philosopher would agree with me (outside of Kant). Even the intensely religious all the way down to the most atheistic would agree with my philosophy if I told them.

>>11653123
>>11653153
I'll write your biography some day.

>>11653177
Post em dude.

>>11653268
Here are the two that I've gotten published. https://newpoplit.com/portfolio/two-poems-by-audrey-rhys/

>>11653262
O-Okay. Please leave the part where I lost my virginity at 12 to my Japanese cousin (who was also 12) out of the book.

>>11653271
I read your poetry as though it were performed by the Beastie Boys

>>11653271
'legs smug with clots' is a nice line.

>>11653283
Don't worry, this post is off the record ;) S----ae?

>>11653153
I'm more interested in the fanfic myself, can you give us a hint on it? Is it still uploaded on fimfiction or fanfiction.net?

>>11653283
I'm mainly inspired by the death grips but I can see it

>>11653287
thank you, I like that line as well.

I always continue learning, and telling myself that I want to know more before I start writing. That I need to perfect my craft before beginning, but instead I just continue learning about a variety of topics, never actually practicing. I've always had a bit of natural writing ability, my mom is a pentacostal bombastic minister and my dad is a physicist, so I grew up well read and fairly educated. I don't have a lot of faith in my voice or in myself, my dad used to scream a lot and tell me that I wasn't doing things right, "You didn't pick that up right" "No, I said this stack of papers goes in the trash" "I told you to use a coaster" "Just don't smile for the picture, it looks better that way".

After a while, you begin to believe those things, that somehow, even the things you do every day, you're not quite doing them right.

>>11653283
wait wait wait It's a D*******s B*****s, G***g O*t Y**r D**r?

>>11653299
Why are there so many horsefuckers in here.

>>11653352
Not into mlp myself, but I like reading about crazies on the internet and fanfiction and the readers are full of crazies

Boy, there's a lot of fanfiction in here. Anybody read any Undertale fanfiction? I'm slightly well-known in that area.

>>11653463
I like Undertale fanfic, but it seems to be dominated by the tumblr crowd.

>>11653494
Oh yeah, I don't read any of it myself. I just write a lot of Undyne porn, that's my thing. Fuck reading that shit.

>>11652798
I'm a 28 year old anon, been writing a novel for four years.

When I first started it was in the middle of an action scene, just to get me going. The story has literally built up around this one scene and expanded into a tale with far more depth than I had originally intended.

I wrote eleven chapters in the space of a month or two, and realised I'd started the book in the wrong place. It was a great scene that's survived into the current draft, but it had no context. And thus began my chronic inability to move past the beginning of my book, even though I've written at least a third of it at this stage.

How? I keep adding shit before the chapters that I've done, and re-writing others. Every few months I have a big burst of progress which throws five or so more chapters into the completed pile, until I go back and add more shit in the story before that.

This is so chronic that I'm actually worried it's a form of ADD. My writing had improved dramatically since I first started, particularly with dialogue and description. My characters are fully fleshed out and their actions drive the story. But I just can't move forwards.

It's gotten so bad that I've written the 'current' prologue so far ahead in time that there's literally nothing relevant I could put before it. Hopefully this forces me to write the fucking thing linearly.

Pic related, it's an image a friend made me after receiving the fortieth new 'prologue' I had concocted. I use it as a motivator now.

>>11653497
Post. My dick is quivering, begging for some rubrub.

>>11653533
https://pastebin.com/Xf3GR6TA
the first like 25-30 are pretty rough, but after that they get a lot better

>>11653550
mmmh. Thank you, Anon.

/lit/ struggles to comprehend that the primary goal of nonfiction writing (especially journalism) isn't to paint with prose, but to relay information clearly, concisely, and, in some cases, to as large an audience as possible.

Conveying complex ideas in a simple manner is a lot like simple design: it looks so intuitive as to be obvious which should only underscore how challenging it actually is. A lot of experts think that because the writing is easy to comprehend, it's easy to reproduce, only to discover it's harder than it looks.

It's always fiction on this fucking board.

>>11653572
No problem. I like to think they're pretty good but I might be biased. Let me know what you think.

I know I have the talent, but with my unhealthy lifestyle and my sperg, I'm too fucked up to able to write anything. Probably depression too. God, please, I don't know how to function anymore. Whatever that I had written before are really good, but why I can't just keep writing?

>>11653581
>what is creative non-fiction
With essays you're not wrong, but essayists aren't worth shit in this day and age unless you have something else to stand on first. If you're nothing but an essayist, you are nothing. Gotta at least have that YouTube fame going for you first as a video essayist.

Regardless, what is the point of your statement? You're throwing assertions of dominance into the wind meaninglessly.

I've written 100 pages and I think every single one of them is pure shit, with the exception of the first five. I constantly second guess myself and want to edit. I dislike how I introduce my characters, I think there's not enough conflict in the story. My descriptions and prose seem dull and plain. I don't know, man. I guess I'm not cut out for this shit.

>>11653629
It just takes a whole bunch of practice. The first few whole books you make are probably going to be unpublishable shit, but if you stick with it you'll in the end write something that will find an audience.

Don't second-guess yourself. Don't stop to edit anything. Just write the whole thing - ride the train through, see where it goes. Even in the worst case, you'll get a bunch of practice and will surely learn from the mistakes you make.

>>11653123
You seem like a great guy anon, not sure what else to say other than that.

>>11653123
>tfw read this and feel jealous
>know I really shouldn't but still do because I'm a selfish idiot
I'm sorry

>>11653218
Have read the book, can confirm it's all fetish shit.

Hope you like frog vore.

>>11652823
Stop bragging, Samantha

>>11653123
You too. Stop bragging. It's a misery thread.

>>11655514
>>11655523
Share your own misery and I will comfort you.

I am working on a unique online novel project. It's driving me into the ground and I have no clue how to build an audience. I have put five continuous months into it and have given up working on my novel which was I was going to start editing in august.
I don't know if I can make the weekly releases happen, I don't know anything. The online medium targets horny women more than it does anything. I am scared

The list of books I want to read grows significantly faster than the list of books I've read.

I still don't know what I want to write.

When I list things, it's always got to be at least three.

>>11653610
Too much complaining/10

>wrote novel last year (not my first)
>queried, got a round of rejections, figured I needed to work on it more and make it better before trying again
>went this year to give it a look
>first reaction was that it was good, got excited
>waited a few days, doubts set in
>lots of small hitches, or parts where the dialogue was jilted, or the prose cheesy
>reworking it all now
>have to feel humiliated because agents actually read it
>read primarily the classics, comparing my work to theirs
>feel small and dumb
I sincerely have a great story but I'm afraid my writing just can't do it justice. Some parts are good, really good. But my middle dragged and I overuse passive voice, among other weaknesses. Part of the reason for passive voice is that the story is pretty long and complex and I'm restricting it to 120k words. It might be better served as two novels, or even three. But I no longer have the energy to flesh it out even if I were granted that space.
For the weak passages, I feel like I can't "see" it. In the good parts I can see every detail vividly like I'm right there, you can hear the characters and smell and touch the surroundings. But for half of the book I can't do that, and those tend to be the weaker scenes.
I compare myself to Tolstoy or Fitzgerald and I want to claw my eyes out.

>>11655686
Sounds like you already know what you need to do. Build a scene around that half that you can't envision. Edit, edit, edit, and you'll get there. You already are aware of many mistakes. You are far further than many others around you. Listen to the advice of those who are ahead of you, and, more importantly, listen to yourself.

>>11656264
>Listen to the advice of those who are ahead of you
How do I gain that?
I'm aware of my flaws currently, but here's the problem. Last year I thought it was perfect. This year I find all these weaknesses and problems. What would I think next year? Is there a way to get to the end of that chain of humiliation any faster? All I can figure is to read as much as possible and gain other experiences.

>>11656286
I am also a hopeful anon, not exactly the person to be giving advice. But I will say that there are editors for a reason. They will work with you if things can be improved in their eyes.

Rework the sections that you know need improvement and query again. How is your query letter?

Also, if you need inspiration read Faulkner's banquet speech which has inspired many writers including myself.

>>11656311
Faulkner's speech:

I feel that this award was not made to me as a man, but to my work – a life’s work in the agony and sweat of the human spirit, not for glory and least of all for profit, but to create out of the materials of the human spirit something which did not exist before. So this award is only mine in trust. It will not be difficult to find a dedication for the money part of it commensurate with the purpose and significance of its origin. But I would like to do the same with the acclaim too, by using this moment as a pinnacle from which I might be listened to by the young men and women already dedicated to the same anguish and travail, among whom is already that one who will some day stand here where I am standing.

Our tragedy today is a general and universal physical fear so long sustained by now that we can even bear it. There are no longer problems of the spirit. There is only the question: When will I be blown up? Because of this, the young man or woman writing today has forgotten the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself which alone can make good writing because only that is worth writing about, worth the agony and the sweat.

He must learn them again. He must teach himself that the basest of all things is to be afraid; and, teaching himself that, forget it forever, leaving no room in his workshop for anything but the old verities and truths of the heart, the old universal truths lacking which any story is ephemeral and doomed – love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice. Until he does so, he labors under a curse. He writes not of love but of lust, of defeats in which nobody loses anything of value, of victories without hope and, worst of all, without pity or compassion. His griefs grieve on no universal bones, leaving no scars. He writes not of the heart but of the glands.

Until he relearns these things, he will write as though he stood among and watched the end of man. I decline to accept the end of man. It is easy enough to say that man is immortal simply because he will endure: that when the last dingdong of doom has clanged and faded from the last worthless rock hanging tideless in the last red and dying evening, that even then there will still be one more sound: that of his puny inexhaustible voice, still talking.

I refuse to accept this. I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet’s, the writer’s, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet’s voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.

>>11656311
>>11656379
Thanks for posting. That's unattainably eloquent. Man. I put some more work into the draft. I have to give it another complete once over after this go, then I'll see how it reads with the improvements.
I guess, the more you read the more delicate your sensitivity becomes to any problems with the work. That accounts for why I see all these problems now that I thought were just fine before. Just gotta keep going.

>>11653306
I'm relatively confident it can't be that one. I think that one had an ending, I think.

>>11652798
Im terrified to m overstepping cultural boundaries of proper speech

>>11652798
I beg to write, but my dopamine addiction and my ever limiting attention span has made me forget how to enjoy writing.

>>11657980
Just detox, duh.

I write way too seldomly and I never finish anything. Also I can hardly ever bother to edit anything, cause I don't really know what I'm going for... also whenever I take a break, which is often, I usually end up forgetting how much I love writing so it's almost impossible for me to get started again. Then when I do get started, I suddenly feel full of shame...

Like I just had a month gap where I hardly wrote anything. How the fuck is that acceptable? It reminds me of this sam hyde vid I saw where he said that if your so called vocation or passion is something that you do a couple of hours a week when you feel like it, it's not really your passion. That's how it feels like with me. I feel I don't have enough drive or creative energy to keep it up, even though I really do enjoy it when I'm doing it. It's just kind of a lame, half and half, lopsided issue all around.

Plus, again, all that shit about not finishing/not editing. How the fuck can you say you're a writer, or even an aspiring writer, if you can't even fucking edit or finish anything. That's so retarded. Editing is such a basic step and I'm almost eternally too childish to get around to it. I don't even know what I'm going for, as I've said, so I can never bring myself to do it.

Plus I have so many inexorably gay hangups about the precious specialness of art... long paeans to my muse, gloomy ruminations on what art really means, what IS literature, treating it all as something very significant and worthwhile. This retarded behavior (fed by the rare times I write something that feels good) invariably leads to stage fright and anxiety the next time I try... so I'll write a bunch of mediocre stuff, then a really good part (or a part that feels good, at least)—then I'll stop there, cause I'm too afraid that the next section will be shitty. Or I'll simply get bored of a story, as has happened countless times before.

Oh, and another thing: my stories are all way too short. Even the longest things I've ever written are like 12-15 pages, max. I don't get these short story competitions where they ask you to make sure it's at least 3000 words. Like bitch that's a lot of words! I just don't think there's ever that much to say about stuff, about even the longest story. Which leads me to believe that what I think I'm doing (writing) is actually not writing at all, but is really only a frivolous facsimile that merely feels and seems like writing, has merely the appearance of writing... but is nevertheless not true writing because it lacks all of the depth and substance (reflected in its extreme brevity).

Also I feel like I am doomed to be a dipshit American for life, and that there is something pathetic and sad about how I like to write when I don't even enjoy reading that much.

Anyway despite all the bitching, I still get a deeper satisfaction out of it than I get from anything else I've ever known. It's just fun, and it feels like it's enough to fill a life, even if no one likes the result..

>>11653123
Dam dude just chill and write. It's what you do. Fuck the system, fuck what the gay world says about it. You have a muse and she's fucking sleepy for you to knock on her door and retrieve your packages of special content.

It's important to note that, dramatic as it may seem, life is simply not the same as those stories that you and I write... the narrative of the writer doomed to failure by an early success is not an ontologically binding thing just because it happens to be compelling.

If you actually relax and put some words to paper (in the most fun, low-stress, low pressure environment you can create)—if you can do that, you'll see the drama and fiction-esque elements you're laying onto your life begin to seep into the work, where they belong. That's actually just speculation but I think it's true.

Anyway good luck man. Keep going. DONT FUCKIN STOP BITCH!!!

>>11653259
dusty ass

>>11653305
you just gotta start man. Start NOW, time's a wasting

I have planned out the plot of a story and written some of the start. Sort of a fantasy with magic.The story is of a mage soldier who joined the army because his father pressured him into medicine. He feels dehumanised by the army and becomes reclusive and anti-social. On a top secret mission he meets another mage who is the first person to treat him like a human. This other mage discovers the atrocities that they were unaware they were committing and our protag must kill them. This mission is in another country that is on high alert after braking away from another empire. This death kick-starts a war, all its deaths on portage's head. His story is about his past coming back to haunt him after he ran away from society to a backwater town in the forests. He takes up an apprentice, who is a near opposite of him. A ray of sunshine, completely innocent of the problems in this world.

I've thought a load of plot to go with it. It seems way too much of a monumental thing. I could share more plot or ideas i have if anyone wants, would love ideas or just what to avoid when writing something such as this.

I realized that after writing sixty-five chapters my grammar worsen. It got worse when I believe some idiot who thought grammarly was a good editor

>everyone says my stuff is great if it wasn't for the grammar since it breaks immersion
The worst thing they said to me was that I was worse than a machine translator.

>want to write all day and begin improving
>see someone else who started way earlier and seems naturally so much better
>give up and feel like trash

>>11658270
>monumental
>genre lit
bro relax with it, have fun but keep in mind you're writing an edgy version of harry potter. chill.
>>11658426
>>11658412
It's obvious neither of you understand how the english language works. Either get a tutor, study on your own, or stop. Are you ESL?
A writer who doesn't study grammar is like an engineer who refuses to study mathematics. How do you think that is going to work?

>>11658588
>A writer who doesn't study grammar is like an engineer who refuses to study mathematics. How do you think that is going to work?
well you made your point. Though there must be really something since I have been doing this for three years and unironically my grammar was far better when I started. I admit that I am going too much for my own writing style and that I ended up going purple prose. But I guess I am just really weak for punctuation and sentence structure

>>11653020
how many copies have you sold?

>>11658706
Couple hundred. I know it's not that much, but I still feel nice about it.

I've also got another hundred more readers once this Goodreads giveaway of mine runs out, as well as a hundred more whom I hope will buy the book anyway even though they won't win the contest itself. I know most won't, but maybe I'll get a few.

>>11658089
Fuck man, this is actually a pretty motivating post. Thank you. I'm going to try and start doing little writing exercises at the very least to get going.

I wish the best of luck to you as well.

Are there any cool, (not to be gay but) friendly /lit/ discord servers around? Feel as though like-minded folks giving each other motivational pushes and sharing things in an informal workshop setting might be pretty cozy.

>>11658768
>wanting to circlejerk in a hugbox environment
>reddit should be just right for you

>>11658750
that's self-published, right?
just out of curiousity, how much from that 3$ per ebook goes to you?

>>11658784
Breeding a venomous atmosphere helps no one, it's an excuse to be crabs in a pot. Constructive critique is not a hugbox.

Oh well.

>>11658096
I'm gonna need an image of what you're trying to say

>>11658796
About three quarters.

I love writing goofy teen-ish romance in scifi/fantasy/superhero settings. A lot of reputable people have told me they like my stuff and I've gotten lots of positive feedback online, but I have no connections and I'm terrified of rejection and despise being assertive. I'd like to try my hand at self publishing even if I only ever accrue a small hand full of readers, but I don't know what to do and I'm scared shitless of trying.

>>11658965
Self-publishing is a lot easier than you'd think. First you need to find a cover artist, then edit it properly, then stick it to Kindle.

Besides, your work sounds like it could become legitimately popular.

>>11653153
Fiddlebottoms?

>>11652798
I’m going to graduate college in a year. Last year I received an award for my fiction at my university which basically recognized me as the best poetry/fiction writer at my college. It’s a nice recognition but writing has such a high ceiling that it’s hard for me to really enjoy something nice like, being told I’m good at what I do. I know I’m not that great. One of my professors told me to think of it as the world saying to me, “Yes, keep going, you’re getting somewhere with this” and that has helped me.

I have published in our literary magazine at school but I don’t want to publish anywhere else because I don’t feel I’m ready, and my work, even my early work, is something I want to stand the test of time and represent me as an artist in the best way possible.

My literary idol is Flaubert. He wrote stories since he was a child, but didn’t publish his first novel until he was 32, and it was Madame Bovary, one of the greatest moves of all time. I think he was right to think that most of good writing is about avoiding cliche, and when you start writing fiction, it is way easier than one would expect, to fall into the cliche, the trite and expected. I think of Flannery O’Connor talking about the ending of a story, that it must be “unexpected and at the same time inevitable.”

Right now I’m writing my first piece that’s longer than a short story (mine are usually between 10-15 pages long, or 3-6k words) which will probably end up between 15-25k words, so a novella, and I’m the most excited about the idea that I have to work with, but I’m unsure that I can do it justice. It’s set in 17th century England, so doing the historical setting well is very daunting. It’s about two religious figures on the fringes of Society and enter into conflict with one another.

>>11658081
Well I liked your post, anon.
A lot of posts in this thread speak to me but yours most of all.
I just like riding the feeling of writing. Being creative is one of the things that really makes life worth living, I think, and I'm glad I can enjoy that process when I commit to it, even if only for a little while.
I wish you the best, anon.
I wish all the anons here the best.

I’m well into my first book. I have no idea if my writing is good beside girls I’ve dated telling me my love letters are good, and a friend in high school saying I should write. My book is semi-autobiographical. I’m concerned my sentence structure is unreadable and word use is amateurish. I’m just going to try my hardest and do wel enough for myself, and have faith that will be enough for someone else.

>>11653242
this is pure gold.

>>11659185
>Right now I’m writing my first piece that’s longer than a short story (mine are usually between 10-15 pages long, or 3-6k words) which will probably end up between 15-25k words, so a novella, and I’m the most excited about the idea that I have to work with, but I’m unsure that I can do it justice. It’s set in 17th century England, so doing the historical setting well is very daunting. It’s about two religious figures on the fringes of Society and enter into conflict with one another.

Sounds neat.

>>11658768
I have never found one, unfortunately... maybe you could make one. Also I am the real guy you replied to

>>11658822
ur just bein dusty asf

>>11658965
>he has positive feedback/fans

If that's not enough for you, wtf will be. So few writers ever even get to that level. Bless your lucky stars and stop being such a twink about it. Self publishing is so EASY because they want your money. If I were you I'd just put everything up on amazon ebooks or even a blog.

It's so easy:

https://michaelhyatt.com/kindle-publishing-success/

The only problem is how do I write a book, I've got some good ideas but I don't know how to start the book

>>11660145
hahahahahahahaha how the fuck do you not know how to start a book hahahaha nigga just open Word on your screen like nigga type some words haha

>>11660145
Literally start anywhere. Don't start from the beginning. Start from what you have. Write those scenes. Fill in the gaps.

If the beginning comes to you, it comes to you, but write what comes to you. Some people are not 'starting from the beginning' people.

>>11660436
Unironically this. Don't over think it. I've found that it is naive to pretend to know beforehand what you will write. The best you can hope for is having some sense of direction, some sense of the tone and voice you want to employ in your prose. I'm pretty convinced writing is not entirely conscious; sometimes you start writing and suddenly the thing takes a life of its own that is not necessarily what you had in mind. Writing for me feels like exploring a largely unknown world with a map that isn't always accurate - but you still feel kinda grateful you have it.

>>11658081
You don't need to write a lot to be a good writer. Thomas Mann literally had to force himself to write and didn't write a lot either. Honestly it's more about reading. You can write tons of pages everyday but if you read nothing, don't stimulate your mind, expand your horizon and view on the world it will all be dull.

>>11660927
>Thomas Mann literally had to force himself to write and didn't write a lot either.
Not the guy you're responding to, but where can I read more on this? It sounds pretty curious for someone as acclaimed as Mann, but what do I know.

I know it started with samefag marketing but this thread has been pretty motivating. Tonight I wrote the first paragraph of fiction I have written since school, then came on here for some guidance. Thanks for you're advice, anons.

>>11661046
You're welcome.

For the record, it wasn't samefag: I'm only one of the two anons involved.

>>11652798
My prose is not the greatest, and I accept that. The thing that really bothers me about my writing is that, I am someone that has had very narrow life experiences. Namely that I am a friendless loser that struggles to relate to people, and make friends and although I have an endless amount of ideas that deal with that, it's a great big old limitation on what I feel comfortable writing about and really if people will even care enough to read it.

I recently compiled all the poetry I have written into a book. At first it was a project I made for just myself, but lately I have been feeling more and more like showing it to other people. A lot of the stuff is somewhat personal and at times cringy, but I feel like I have written a few decent poems here and there. I would like people that know me to read it but I'm afraid of how they'll react or think of me after, but it has been killing me that no one has really seen any of it.

>>11661724
Paste some of the cringiest stuff

>>11661736
Well, for example, here's a poem I wrote over a year ago and was proud of it as it captured my state of mind pretty well at the time. However reading over it now makes me cringe and want to change everything about it:

Only has it hit me now
That meaningless interactions
Are quite similar
From near and afar

No depth
Face value
One can appreciate

Bubble of interactions
Touches off other bubbles daily
Yet there is no merging
No lingering effect
Just bouncing back - momentum preserved

Bubble remains in stasis
Having gained nothing
Losing heat to the cosmos

Surface tension increases
The bubble is ready to pop

Is another touch gonna make a difference?

>>11661849
It's still better than anything I could do.

I'm looking for the baptism by fire. I don't want to publish a book now, I just need people to read what I wrote and to receive their judgment.
Where should I go, Wattpad?

>>11661855
That's very appreciated, I guess I'll share it with my friends then

Any people come back to writing later in life?

I'm at a transitional part of my life and writing has become unbareably stressful on myself. Even writing a page sends me in a spiral of anxiety and depression that can last for several days. I'm seeing a therapist for it but I'd just like to hear some other advice.

>>11661875
just post the link in the critique thread

Not sure if this goes here or QTDDTOT. I have a character whose primary motivation is revenge. I don't quite understand it well enough. I've already read Count of Monte Cristo and just about everything by Dostoevsky (more resentment and spite than actual revenge). Gonna re-read Hamlet. Any other recs?

>>11652798
The main fear I have is that I will be forced to specialise and pigeonhole myself if I ever want to make it as a full time author.

I just want to remain free to write what I please... If I want to write literary fiction, I can do that. If I want to write poetry, I can do that. If I want to write a fantasy epic, I can do that. If I want to write YA, SciFi, etc.

>22
>zero life experience
>unable to write anything meaningful/interesting/relatable despite what i think is good prose

>>11662222
How about you just think about the times you felt vengeful?

>>11652798
>If you write, you have doubts. It's an inevitability in the hobby/profession.
Only for people who don't succeed.

have v. little in the way of a manageable n suitable conception of how to speak/write 2 others nemore. 24 NEET whose sole connection 2 the literary world just caught a britbong nonce-clink homeguard stay halfway 'round the world. no college degree, nothing else to fall back on, all in on autistic poetry to facilitate a living. going to die v. soon.

bar that n the inaudible Apolaustic Apophenia the work exhibits, nada bothers me bout my writin desu.

>>11662266

write things u no 2 harness the fundamentals of the craft n attempt to learn everythin u dont 4 future dividends. idk if thats solid advice per se but its what i've formulated a bedrock of theory on for the past ~5 odd years.

if the techniques thurr u only gotta chisel @ it every day woadie, keep ur head up n power threw the immutables of wat u knead 2 dew o7

>>11662719
Post some of your work, anon. I'd like to read it.

>>11653123
you've already had more success writing than most of us will ever know. i hope you don't lose your gift in the labyrinth and that things turn around for you. thanks for sharing.

>>11662740

tinyurl dot com slash gendonchamberlain

have a tumblr 2 (only cuz 0 hostin fees n easily configurable 2 aesthetic i want, dont gaf bout the opps durr):

mastbc dot tumblr dot com

>>11662060

just chill if u aint gotta worry bout it providin ur income. go out, do other shit, compose urself holistically in the bein-as-is 2daie (but not on some neoliberal Big Queer diddecoy-ahoy hogwash, like dead ass establish a bein-as-is consistent enough 2 warrant w/e ur lookin 4 in life) and situate an instance where the connection comes naturally

it might takes days, weeks, months but u will find somethin 2 galvanize u back in2 action. 110% anon, gnawt bullshittin u i truly believe u can only keep the concatenate aways for so long if ur environs keeps u eiron-allonsy'd.

dont let therapy fuqq u up n gl homie o7

What the hell is a sentence? How does one come up with a sequence of writing? How do you decide what each word should be? How do you sort out what words should follow what to induce any effect? What the hell is going on?

>>11662859
Dunno, man, I just write whatever sounds best.

>>11662859
Don't overthink it. Writing is a shadow. Get too focused on prose and you become artificial. Good prose is important, but feeling is more important. You'd rather be the B. B. King of writing than the Dream Theater of writing.

Personally, I think thinking of writing as an art like music is best. For some reason, "writing" takes on this oppressive tone. A musician has little to no problem messing around on his instrument, has no problem playing along to tunes he enjoys, has no problem improvising. The writer laments every word he puts on the page before he even takes out his pen.

Don't overthink, just do. Write. You cannot be a writer if you agonize over what a sentence is. If you dissect your art, it is dead.

>>11653123
Your fall gives me great pleasure.

I hope things get worse for you, fucko.

>>11653123
Put me in the screen cap

>>11653123
Fuck off. You got it good and you obviously have talent. You can't whine here.

>>11652806
tell me more about the cum eating anon

>>11653153
>mlp
i lost it.

>>11653123
You don't deserve to complain, asshole.

>>11662221
Good idea. Any other options too?
I want many people to read it.

Threads like these are what keeps me coming back. Just like the anonymous addict who needs just a drop of community to keep at sobriety, these positive affirmations help keep me at the grind. I feel like a procrastinating suffragette withstanding the healthy impulse to "just write." Erecting boundaries, and obstacles; that only curtail what I know to be good for me. This incendiary passion consumes me, and when I find myself rendered into a pile of ashen soot, something comes along to reinvigorate my transience along the path.

>>11653123

c/d thats the baseball manager bitty from h2?

>>11653610
>I know I have the talent, but

If you can't write, you're not fucking talented. Simple as.

Stop being a lazy sad sack of shit and write. Stay off your PC, get a shitty word processor, cut off the netflix, disconnect the phone and LO AND BEHOLD YOU MANAGED TO FIND MOTIVATION AGAIN!

Piece of dirt. Subhuman. Crybaby.

my mum says its a mistake

>>11653123
>complain about popularity
>12 (you)'s
Something tells me a vagina is involved

>>11662781
I've... hmmm, "read" I suppose you could call it, some of "gendo n chamberlain". Does this actually make any sense to you? Is there any plot or coherent structure I'm not able to see? I mean, it's kinda funny in a schizoid, I-wouldn't-want-to-be-the-one-who-wrote-this kind of way, but the shtick gets old by the third page.

>>11662365
Well, that's the problem, I haven't. I wouldn't be asking otherwise.

>>11657980
Flash fiction. Really stupid flash fiction especially. Or maybe poems

>>11666857
Nah, you have. Maybe you weren't watching yourself carefully enough, but vengeance/spite is in you.

>>11665351
You know anon, I had the same problem. It sucked. I not only expected blind encouragement, I accepted that it was a law of nature, and got a damn bucket of ice water thrown on me for my hubris. Stopped writing for a year

But you know what anon? I was stronger than that, and I have a feeling you're stronger than me. what you need to do is remove your on passions from the story, take a step back and, using your criticism as a guide, find what your story really needs.

If it's boring, start throwing in dry wit and situational humor. If it's edgy, remove the razor blades. If the MC sucks, make him/her act like a character you've enjoyed. Don't despair and don't worry about dismantling your story, focus only on making something worth being proud of, even if it's not what you had in mind.

>>11662266
let me give you a tip anon:

that whole idea about years of your life being the source of all knowledge and wisdom? Ignore it. It's a load of crap.

Life experience isn't born through travel or accumulated random chance. It's born through constant and open-minded exposure to new and contrasting ideas and raw introspection. Don't say you can't write something you haven't experienced. Learn about about it, exercise empathy and imagination and then go out there and do that. You're a writer of the 21st century dammit. The entire world is at your fingertips!

I am doubtful about entering school to peruse a creative writing degree. I have been living a disorganized life and since graduating high school have lost structure. I know I need to find direction and literature has always felt like a guide to me.
I know I could handle the classes and the work, and maybe I'd even make friends, but when I'm reminded about the idea of debt and failure I can't help but hesitate to be proactive and apply for school. I guess I'm mostly curious as to what the programs are really like?

>>11652806
cum is the fountain of youth

Don't think I have any specific doubts outside of the generic "maybe this is all shit" moments, which are more amusing than worrisome at this point, but I am sitting on a plot twist for three months now, and this is starting to get a bit annoying.

The book is pretty much finished and in the last revision, and the way it's written allows me to insert 10+ different twists just with a few little adjustments, that all would fit to the story I want to tell, but picking the one/ones that would fit best freezes my brain.

The obvious and easy mode solution was to look at the ones already written, and I couldn't find or remember a single one impressive enough; the stuff is usually either surprise for surprise sake and/or actually inconsequential on the second look. The only positive take-away from the search was the confirmation that I wasn't just being a perfectionistic fag when it comes to my writing. Of course the idea that I became an apathetic piece of shit with a broken sense of surprise creeped on me too, but nah. Tried taking a break and writing down all the ideas I had too, and well, here I am.

>BUT WHY DO YOU WANT A TWIST SO BADLY
The story begs for THAT one last moment that reframes everything that's been told again.

>so having no twist would actually be a bigger twist
Nah, that's one of the original endings and it lacks energy. Kinda like a song fading out while I need the main motive at least echoing a bit.

Ah well, back to more re-reading and sketching.
Good luck with your writing, anons.

>>11668102
Please, for the love of God, if you want to write something literary, don't write a plot twist; it's the last thing the world needs. Plot twists are like Dali's rose: the first man who wrote a plot twist was obviously clever; the first man who repeated it was possibly an idiot.

>>11668197
But the writing guide I read said that plot twists are important.

>>11668197
Go on, what makes you dislike them so much, outside of reading too many you didn't like?

>>11668247
They are low-brow cheap thrills, and more often than not, gratuitous and lacking logical connection with the previous plot. They also foster the plebeian notion that the ending of a book is what it's all about. I can't think of a legitimate reason to write a plot twist. At this point the shtick is so overdone by - mostly bad - movies that it even lost what it arguably is its raison d'être: the ability of causing surprise.

>>11652798
I'm 25 and have never actually finished anything, not even a short story. I have a pattern of writing roughly 5-20 pages and realizing I'm not good at conveying ideas effectively and even if I could why would anyone be interested in the story I'm telling?

>>11668272
> I can't think of a legitimate reason to write a plot twist.
While the ending obviously isn't what it's all about, it's the point where you have the biggest amount of the readers investment and attention, so if there is THAT one thing you absolutely want them to leave with, you put it in the end. And you get even more attention if it's done in an unexpected way. The purpose isn't as much "shocking surprise" but more of a "highlighted sense of wonder".

Though all the points you mentioned is why it's such a struggle. Basically all examples I found had the issues, hence even more reasons to look for a way that doesn't.

Just wrote the first scene of the protagonist's love interest entering into his life. I've never had a gf or experienced love or a relationship of any sort so I'm not sure if I'll be able to create a substantial female character or conjure up a convincing romantic relationship.

I'm also afraid of what the people close to me will think of my book of I actually finish it and publish it since it's pretty obvious the main character is based on myself and a lot of what I write is how I really feel about myself, some of the people close to me, and other controversial topics

passages i shat out in middle school are better than the stuff i put a lot of time and thought into nowadays
years of instant messaging all day every day quartered my iq
i fucking peaked in middle school and it's all downhill from here

>>11662266
Those fucking digits

>>11668361
Anon, have you considered that your self-image is tainting your perception of your own writing?

your middleshool writing is something far enough away that you don't feel invested in it, but clearly something you feel nostalgic for. Your more recent writing is too close to home and tied up with a lot of negative feelings and self-criticim so naturally it's going to look worse

For the record, it is possible that you've gotten worse, but if that's the case it's more than likely that your own self-doubt is hampering your ability to be your true self.

If I were in your situation (which oddly enough I am), I'd try to get your mind off yourself by focusing on helping others work through their issues.

>>11656379
>the young man or woman writing today has forgotten the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself which alone can make good writing because only that is worth writing about, worth the agony and the sweat

Good shit

I've written ten books of a traveler exploring a vast world filled with monsters. I literally spent ten pages explaining how the monster was able to breath a cold burst of toxins.

>>11668892
But that's what M-Martin said.

On page 80 of a screenplay I’m writing. Shitty first draft. Should be 90-100 pages when I’m done. Most I’ve written for a single screenplay before. I’m near the end now and can see the finish line, with that I’m excited to redraft and make every scene as good as I can make it.

Writing for an “Ideal Reader”, to Evoke instead of to Simulate-Experience, made a huge difference in my writing output.

>>11656379
>The poet’s voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.
gave me chills