/lit/ - Literature

>What is your word count?
0.

>What time of day do you find yourself writing?
Usually during the day.

I've just been heavily unmotivated lately to get started on it, primarily because it's a genre I've never explored before and I'm scared it'll be shit.

>>12105467
Well, chances are it will be shit, but that's what editing is for. Don't let your fears hamper your ability to write. It's better to write a few shitty first drafts but enjoy writing them than to not write at all because you're afraid they'll be shitty.

>>12105392
Overall, 30K
Today, fucking nothing.

Mostly it's an after work thing, but it's annoying when you're going in with lowered energy and you know that the quality isn't high. My objective for today is to add an extra thousand by rewriting an incredibly thin and flimsy section from a few days ago completely.

>What is your word count?

13k

I'm afraid I'll not reach the 50k.

>What time of day do you find yourself writing?

Morning

>reach 15000 words
>leave to go the gym
>tablet not turning on when I come back
>it didn't saved shit neither on google drive and onedrive though I'm sure I often quicksaved it on both
I lost everything and I have nothing to write on except my fucking phone, thankfully it was only 15k words

Not cock measuring, just out of curiosity.
What's your unique word count, anon?

>>12106643
what program do you use to find out?

>>12106653
wordcounter.net

>>12106643
Not a NaNoWriMo-fag but using it as motivator to step up my speed. Also not writing in English. Picked the first two acts for a somewhat similar word count.

>>12106716
Almost complete version.

>>12106716
>11-12th Grade
Fuck, I'm ashamed

>2,500 word novel first chapter
>2,500 word short story
Not gonna make it. Still, at least I finished something

>>12106643
Left is my current nanowrimo (lagging behind sadly).
Right is my last publishedtraditionally book. Included to show that you can make it even if you use a limited amount of words like I do. Don't fret about writing with simple prose like I used to.

>>12106905
Not to make it worse ... but I am literally writing YA. (Though it probably messes up their detection due different language)

>>12105941
you can do it bro

Inspired by all the anime I watch to write a little sister harem type book. Sitting at ~4500 words. Not much but it's longer than anything I've written before and I'm excited to start getting to some interesting plot stuff for once rather than throwing it in the "to be finished" folder after explaining out the setting and characters.

Mostly write in the late evenings after having a few drinks to ease my laziness and fears of criticism.

Also: how to calculate reading level? I'm not uploading this shit anywhere till I have a few chapters that I'm proud of

>>12108971
try writing fapfics for threads on /h/ or /d/ or /trash/ it'll help you practice, help you find a niche, and help motivate you to want to write something longer

>>12109034
I used to throw chapters around on chyoo.com and the new site after reading shit there all the time. I'm not bad at that kind of stuff, just lazy af

>>12106950
>publishedtraditionally
Neat, how'd you manage that?

>accidentally spent my writing time training replika
Fug

>>12109376
better than how I spent most of mine today

>tried fishing again this time not in the goddamn freezing cold rain then got stoned because on the way back I had to deal with ((bicyclists))

I'm way behind at 20kish. I don't even work or study at the moment, so it's really embarassing.

>>12109395
have you tried disconnecting from the internet while you write? I've found that when i'm really struggling to concentrate on writing whipping out the thinkpad armed with basic bitch linux OS and music to drown out the nonsense around me I can get out 3k - 4k words in a day.

>>12109413
Same. I even tried uninstalling solitaire on my work laptop

>What is your word count?
Just over 11k
>What time of day do you find yourself writing?
Usually the morning. I take the bus across town on Monday morning and Friday nights which is where I get most of the writing done so far. It needs to go beyond that, though.

I hit the target this morning, seven years running.

A brief excerpt, if anybody wants some.


https://pastebin.com/TZpKLWca

>>12106950
Woah, how do you keep track of all those characters?

>>12105392
Shameful reading age reporting in. Only copied my first third because its the only bit I proofread. Actually more concerned that my sentences are longer than the other anons'

>>12109696
40K is not really my bag, but the opening sections of this are how I'd imagine the published fanfiction to be. If you want a crit, I think section 11 features too much negation - several successive sentences using some sort of 'not this but that' structure. This section immediately after that is a little hard to make out because you haven't posted any descriptions of the locale.

>>12106950
Can you give us its title?

>>12108971
An important thing to think about is the purpose of story length. If the story you want to tell is about a guy forming a harem, it may not need the 80k words of an average novel to develop and get the desired feeling/point across to the reader. Keep it short and succinct and to the point and the readers will be far more engaged and satisfied, especially with a genre like that, even if it's only 20k words after you finish. Chances are, you only had a 20k word story in your head anyway, which is why you struggle and falter when writing, because you don't have anything concrete planned.

>>12109372
By writing and editing about 7 books before deciding to try and write one which I'd send to publishers. By almost never listening to feedback unless it was from someone who reads a ton. By never letting myself do stuff I don't enjoy because writing should be easy and you should like what you're writing enough to WANT to rewrite it several times, not force yourself.

>>12110123
lel

>>12110726
Always surprised at this question on 4chan. If you got published, would you give your identity away on here? I'd hope not.

>>12110822
Not the guy but assuming it got large enough, so I wouldn't feel like a shill, I totally would. An AMA thread from someone successful wouldn't hurt this place.

>>12110786
A large chunk of what I'm looking at now is filler, but it contains a good amount of foreshadowing and characterisation so I wouldn't want to scrap anything.
I'm not worried about hitting the target word count. It's as long as it needs to be. Ideally longer than 20k words tho

>>12110822
>>12110868
Yeah, knowing that someone on here was successful, and having concrete evidence of that, could work as an inspiration thread

>>12105392
I usually find myself writing the most in the morning and the afternoon before 2pm. After that I really start to fizzle out and a few paragraphs can feel like pushing a boulder up a hill.

>>12105559
This. Once it's on paper - and you keep away from it for a good 4-6 weeks - reading it and editing it becomes partly easier too. Just try to avoid editing while writing or you'll never get the dreaded first draft finished.

In some cases a first draft is all you need to entice agents, publishers, etc if your idea is strong enough (and you encourage them that you're working on a second draft, of course).

>>12110868
>>12110966
>>12110822
famesag

>>12110365
Yes, this excerpt is fourteen Chapters in, so most of the setting and characters are already introduced.

Thanks, though, I appreciate the input.

>>12109696
Cut the suddenly in the third sentence, makes the first paragraph a bit awkward.

So how do you end this mess? I never encountered an ending I liked in any media but have the irrational desire to find something that would blow my mind, and without having any reference I am obviously chasing ghosts. What the fuck do I do. What the fuck did you do?

>>12111762
you should plot our your novel before you start.
I plotted my novel out before I started, I actually started AT THE END and worked backwards, figuring out where the characters would have to go and what they'd have to do to get where they would eventually end up

>>12110868
>>12110966
Well, maybe someone else will come along who is willing to trample their reputation by publicly admitting they browse this site. Half the agents I sent my work out to had their pronouns specified in their email signatures, saying I go on 4chan would be instant denial. I'm willing to entertain any questions you may have, but I have no way to prove I'm who I say I am.

>>12111762
I almost always start writing with the end as the one solid thing I have planned. Then I take plenty of steps back and pick a starting point, then write myself towards that one scene.

>>12112357
>>12112414
My outlines leave quite a lot open for interpretation, like a very, very rough screenplays. I do know where the end scene is playing and who are involved and even bits of dialogue, and what happens afterwards; but there is still enough room to decide where to cut the scene and how, the last sentences and so on.

Since it's one of the things one mustn't fuck up ... I am paralysed. Ah well, at least there still some time.

>>12112690
>My outlines leave quite a lot open for interpretation
and that's what nanowrimo is about
stop thinking and write until you reach those plot points and keep writing until you've reached the last plot point

>>12111762
Do what the animes do and just think of the maddest U-turn you can pull. Extra points for killing main characters and not making much sense

>massively behind on my word count
>have huge amounts of homework still undone

>>12113353
it's okay to do your homework, save your novel month for next july

I mean really, what kind of asshole put nanowrimo for november? it's when people are the busiest before the holidays and when final projects are due for university or at least when school is ramping up before finals

>>12113435
No excuses, anon.

>>12109383
I like the sound of your life, desu
All I do is work one shit job, then come home and work a good but time consuming job, squeezing in hobbies in the spare two hours I have a week

>>12111762
You have to end your story with a romantic kiss scene

>>12113740
Smoke Manmuscle looked sotically out from the tallest tower in the keep upon the blazing skyline that demarkated the empire he had won by right of might. Below him the townspeople still burned and the ramparts were still bloody from the from fighting that was done onthe way in. Hours passed and as the sun dipped slowly beyond the horizon the leather clad hero's watch was interrupted by heavy footsteps behind him. He turned and was greet by the bloodied dirty face of Buff Hardback.
"Smoke, my lord, the day is yours! The foul sorcer is dead and what remains of his forces have been driven out into the wilds!"
"This news pleases me," Manmuscle approached and stood close enough to press his groin and bare abdomen and bulging leather codpiece against Hardback's own, "But not as much as your embrace would."
Manmuscle touched the shorter olive skinned man on the chin with a thick but gentle hand. Buff could only stare deeply into his new emperor's deep green eyes as he bent in and laid a kiss on his lips. At first it was merely a peck, they pulled apart for a moment, breathing heavy. How long had it been since they had been fighting? How long had it been since they had felt the tender embrace of another? Too long. As the sky dimmed from violet to deep purple the grasped each other, stroking the other man's wide back and locked like that, tongues deep in the other's mouth until every last star had come out. When they broke their embrace they spoke no words, the new emperor led his companion to the bed that had served the previous emperor. Tonight they would consumate their new empire, the empire of vigor and strength, in the former emporer's bed of weakness and frailty.

>>12114083
Now THIS is how you end a novel

>>12114083
>>12114094
>Holy....I want more

>>12105392
How do you guys write for like 4 hours at a time?
I'm perfectly fine with hitting 2000 a day and ending there after 5 intermittent hours

>>12114184
try writing for 8 like a wagie

>>12112414
Fair enough not to reveal yourself then. Can you tell us about how you worked to get it published? Did you write something like young adult, where the market is fucking flooded and you had to stand out immensely? How did you negotiate with the publisher and edit the work to get it on the shelves?

>>12110279
>>12106950
>>12106905
>>12106744
>>12106716
>>12106643
Complete retard here. How do I check this stuff?

>>12114309

>tfw my main female character is meant to be a combination of 2 of my exes
>tfw just wrote a single paragraph describing how she looks with only about 4 sentences in it
>tfw it made me fall in love with my character

>>12113435
Not to mention a fuck huge holiday in the largest area that takes part it in.

>>12114579
If you're not falling in love with your characters then you're not writing them correctly

>narrator starts playing video game
>start narrating from game character's point of view
Why do I do this to myself

>>12114788
That's a hard yikes from me
Has it ever been done well before?

>>12114174
>>12114094
next year is gonna b UGE
we're gonna make big homoerotic sword and sorcery great again

>>12114812
I doubt it. Maybe it can be done to as a means of characterization but I'm just trying to fluff up an already boring chapter

>>12106905
Don't be. Just based a formula where the bigger part of the equation is having absurdly long sentences. Also counts how many "hard words" you use based off of a kind of arbitrary list.

I've literally never written for the sake of achievement or fun before. The only writings I've ever created were mandated essays or book-reports none of which could be describe as even quarter-assed.

Is it worth trying to churn out 50,000 words in the next 10 days? I've been meaning to try my hand at something new, since the Seroquel is finally making me feel human again, but a novel seems pretty daunting.

Is there any advice you could even give to a first time writer? The only time I've ever improved at something in my life is through a steady-flowing shit-spigot of garbage, and learning to hate all my flaws until I can find at least a sprinkle of beauty in my output.

I'm kind of rambling at this point. Based on this ugly post, should I bother trying?

It's ya boy, Zizek, the unironic commie. Just jumping in real fast to let barracking catgut & co know that I'm caught back up now. Hit 33.5k before just before midnight

I just hit 20k.

>>12114579
Have her fuck a black guy.

I need motivation, /lit/

When school was going, I was kicking ass and taking names
But now that I'm home for Thanksgiving, I have zero motivation or desire to work on Nano at all
I know I'll regret it next week, but right now I don't care at all about this stupid thing.

Help me kill apathy

>>12115173

2

>>12115196
>>12109413

>>12115209
I haven't, because I don't really wanna
Writing sounds boring and hard right now
I just wanna be comfy and shitpost

>>12115180
But she is the black one in the relationship

At a solid 34k after falling behind 1.5 days. In the middle of an action scene so that should be smooth sailing for a while.

>>12115261
>starting to bog down after the second act midpoint

>>12115268
Just grind it out. Make a side charger come in and Deus ex machina that shit. I've done it twice when I was completely stuck and both times whatever random shit I put in inspiried more and afterwards it went easier

>>12115162
Fine work Slavoj. So long as you don't fall too far back during the week it's doable.

>>12114309
wordcounter.net

>>12114083
I... approve. Someone needs to take this ending and work backwards.

>>12115000
>on medication
> is 5,000 words a day a reasonable lifestyle?

Do it. Pick a really simple plot, plan it out super hard before you start anything.

>>12113740
B-but my protagonists picked ambition over romance in the previous chapter.

>>12115000
>Is it worth trying to churn out 50,000 words in the next 10 days?
If you aren't VERY experienced and don't have the complete 10 days to work ... it going to be rather tricky. But at the same time nothing anywhere near impossible.

>Is there any advice you could even give to a first time writer?
Writers write. So less thinking and more writing would be a great start.

>Based on this ugly post, should I bother trying?
It can't hurt. And whatever you write at start is going to suck either way, at best there will be some salvageable parts.

For me it's a bit hard to relate to people who even have to ask. When I started writing it was because I HAD TO. I didn't worry about not being able to make it in time or whether I am going to be good, whether I even should do it and so on. So yeah ... just write and see how it goes.

I feel like I'm going to fall so far behind this weekend
Send help

>>12115949
Man this thing takes forever

>>12116327
To be fair it's doing a lot of analysis on a lot of data

>>12114579
>>12114616
You've just described the protagonist of my first book that I wrote earlier this year. It still hurts, bros.

>>12115951
gay werewolf romance guy reporting in
but only if I'm getting paid tubie-aych

>>12115196
>>12115215

I have shades of this too right now and I understand where you guys are coming from.
If I were still in school ,Id just want things to fuck off for a while too.

But since Im out of school now all things are more transitory to me, and I realize the holiday ends. And when it passes, I'll want shit done, and I wont be able to pick up the thread of my thoughts from where I left off.

I want the deadline and the finished work more than I want the fleeting rest. To me, the finished draft IS the real rest.

>>12115268

This happened to me, so I decided to go back and describe a weird event that happened in my setting's past, that informed the current state of events.
It took on a life of its own and gave me a boatload of words.

>>12114083

Simply exquisite.
Would purchase in hardback.

>>12115949
>plagiarism was detected
>literally free balled the whole thing
cool

Is 9th-10th Grade level anything to be ashamed at? Business school graduate here

>>12114252
The process was very direct. After completely finishing the fourth and final draft of my book, I found as many agents as I could here: https://www.agentquery.com/ and then spent like a month writing and rewriting a query letter (they're like half a page long but it's the most important part of the process because it's the hardest barrier to cross (if your book itself is good))

Then I sent out the query letter to three agents. Got three denials. Agent response times are soo long, so I decided just to send it out en masse to as many relevant agents as I could find. Of twenty, two responded that they wanted the full manuscript. One of them denied. One of them said she was interested and asked when the best time to talk on the phone was. We talked, she explained the terms she was thinking, I said I'd look into them. I googled shit for the rest of the day and saw it was a standard first-book rate for an agent. We talked the next day and I agreed and then she did the rest.

It was YA fantasy actually. I was discouraged because I thought no one would accept my manuscript simply because half the agents only are looking for gay, bi or trans main characters, and my stories don't even have direct romance in them, let alone progressive and in your face stuff like that. And the main character is a man, which also seemed like a disadvantage, but things managed to turn out. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

>>12118361
No, not at all, you should always aim for ease of readability. It's better to have things be succinct most of the time, though in the end it just depends on the tone you're trying for.

>>12118888
I think it depends more on what your goals are. If you're aiming for more art then high level prose is the key. If you're aiming for readability then yes, go for lower grade level.

>>12105392
1138 words
Never

>>12118855
Thank you for the response dude, its much appreciated. I guess the only other question i have is just how political are these agents? They seem ridiculously specific in the politics that they want.

If a story has lot of main black character though, (mine) do you think that could fly under the radar?

>>12105392
I started ten days late and have been averaging 1000 words a day.

I'm not proud of what I'm writing, or my participation in NaNoWriMo, but guys I'm actually writing something, and see no point in the future where I'll stop doing so.

Feels pretty good honestly.

>>12119386
>>12118855
>shilling your own post for clicks to agentfinder
pathetic

>>12115949
How long does this thing take??

>>12120033
3 or 4 hours give or take a half

30,800 words broken today. Got 6300 in one night.
Thank fuck.
Gonna have to sprint 2400 each day to make it on time.
I never thought four days off could do this. Damn.

>>12115949

Oh man, I keep dumping all my chapters in here to see the reading level of each one.
It varies so much from sample to sample.

My last Nano chapter was 7-8th grade. And some 700-word fragment I made before the contest was 11-12th grade.

Who "college level" here? What does this algorithm look for?

>>12114953
>>12120582

Nevermind, I found it.
Shit, my brains fried right now.

>>12119587

Youre doing it anon!

>I'm actually writing something, and see no point in the future where I'll stop doing so

Best part of this for me, too
Good feels

>>12119226
CRUSH THOSE WORDS, ANON.
You can do it!

>>12112414
>Well, maybe someone else will come along who is willing to trample their reputation by publicly admitting they browse this site.
Would it really though? Couple of artists did admit to post on /mu/, and while the general tone on the site is "problematic" and "triggering" outside of certain boards, most people are pretty normal. Maybe I am just being too naive about it, but as someone whose values are more progressive than the average "we want other voices" agent, I have I hard time picturing how it'd be an issue, if it's something they learn in context of who you are next to the more positive bits.

>>12118855
From what I read a male main character is actually something different for YA, since most have a female protagonist.

Did you have any previous experience or just did you just skip the "about me" part of the query? What were some of the terms she mentioned? Why are you looking for a different agent now? How big of a con was lack of direct romance?

>>12116327
>>12120033
Like one minute on my crappy internet. Maybe your formatting is confusing the fuck out of it? Try pasting it bit by bit.

>>12119386
Not him nor published yet but read quite a few requirements from: http://www.manuscriptwishlist.com/find-agentseditors/agent-list/ too
for example ... and the way I got it, everything that stands out a bit is a small pro. Hell, even if you look at successful books that are implicitly political like The Hate U Give or even Hunger Games, the actual politics are very subdued and basically something you'd have a random person on the street easy agree to.

>>12119386
They seem political to me, as most stated specifically they're interested in "#ownvoice" or "minority" or gay/trans characters, and had preferred pronouns in their email sigs, but I sent my manuscript to them anyway because I don't care what they believe as long as I don't need to alter my manuscript to suit it.

If you're black, I think that having black characters can be a selling point actually. That's a niche market that has been exploding lately, especially if you're writing YA/fantasy/scifi.

>>12120631
>Did you have any previous experience or just did you just skip the "about me" part of the query?
Yes, basically. I just said "I have a dedicated group of fans on my facebook page." because I read you shouldn't mention your self-published works unless they sold great (which mine didn't because I never did any marketing) but I do have 5k+ followers on fb because of some lucky coincidences, so I think that got me through the "platform" requirement.

>What were some of the terms she mentioned?
Stuff like subsidiary rights and termination stipulations and other things I had never even heard of. Most importantly, I saw I'd be getting 15% of the gross revenue and my heart sank, but when I looked it up, that's apparently normal.

>Why are you looking for a different agent now?
I'm not. I've actually been saving up funds so that after the second book in my contract is written, (unless I'm offered another, more lucrative one) I can try to go full-on shilling self-published author because there seems to be way more money on that side of the fence.

>How big of a con was lack of direct romance?
Pretty big, I'd say, as it IS young adult, but I was asked many questions about the manuscript when my agent had first read it, and one was if I planned on "unveiling the characters romantic feelings in the second volume" and I said yes, so it was probably a given from the start that it was just delayed, because the characters are tsundere to one another.

1600 words. Its about a bear who invades a kid's nightmare and murders his friend. But when the kid wakes up...his friend is dead.

Not sure how to make a whole novel out of it. I might dump it on ThinFiction as a short story

>>12120557
>6300 in one night
Jesus Christ, some of you guys are monsters. I just keep right on the regular schedule.

>>12121216
>I do have 5k+ followers on fb
Well shit, can't see myself passing that hurdle anytime soon.

>>12121216
How original was your YA? This is a big question for me

>>12121230
that meme site.

>>12121279
Having a platform before being published is dumb and I hate it at its core. The purpose of publishing should be to create a platform for an author, not function upon an existing one. Sadly, you'll need to get a couple short stories accepted (even if they're shitty online-only zines) or have an active following if you want any chance of getting published. Which is retarded, but it's the way it works. Self-publishing is much easier and also more profitable.

>>12121284
That's hard to say without giving too many details. I want to say it's pretty unique, but that may just be because I like it. I watch tons of anime and steal unique ideas from them, so for YA stuff it's pretty unique, but when looking at media as a whole, I'd say it's not ground-breaking.

>>12121230
Obviously have the kid attempt to uncover the shit only the reveal that he murdered his friend.

>>12121711
How was the support from the agent/publisher when it came to cover/editing and marketing? Outside of advance, these seem like the key bits for traditional publishing, despite a much smaller cut.

Also how many rights did you have to wave/can negotiate? Say a veto for the cover or do they completely bypass the writer?

>>12121946
Pretty sure these are all specific per agent and per publisher. I had absolutely no idea what I wanted the cover to be, and so I gave them carte blanche. The artist who was given the task thankfully made something that didn't include a 3D human on it, which was something I was dreading. He sent me an email when it was in a very early initial sketch and asked what I thought, and I said it was great and I didn't hear anything else until I was looking at a proof. Lots of that stuff is unfortunately out of most author's hands, especially for a young upstart author with zero pull in the business. I'm not certain how many things I could have fought for in the contract, and I guess I won't know if I made any mistakes until a few more years pass.

Editing is a whole other beast. Thankfully my manuscript was already in top shape, because I'm not sure how much of that my pride could have taken. Everything in the editing process was a suggestion, not a demand, but you are expected to trust the editor, and I did. Most of the things she said made complete sense. Characters being removed from scenes because they are unnecessary to the plot in the scene and make it busy. Doubling the length of a chapter because it needed to be fleshed out more because of its significance. Rearranging a few chapters near the beginning to make the flow smoother. I'm hard-pressed to name anything within the plot itself that changed, aside from the type of things mentioned above. Maybe I got lucky, or maybe I was smart to rewrite it so many times, because I don't know how well I would've reacted to large-scale changes being decided by someone else.

>>12122026
>Editing

This was super interesting. Thanks.

Here in progress land, it's very clear to me that I'll wind up editing well into next year. There are bits that are pretty readable, I think, but a lot of dumb shit too.

>>12121711
>That's hard to say without giving too many details. I want to say it's pretty unique, but that may just be because I like it.
Thanks, I guess?

The reason why I ask is that I was working on my novel until someone pointed out that its similar to another more famous novel, which pretty much killed my drive to finish my novel.

>>12122026
Probably a super weird and general question but what about guillemets? Would it trigger agents completely if one used them instead of the typical quotation marks? How's your experience with formatting the query/the manuscript they requested? Did you just roll with norm pages or was there a closer/loser specification?

>>12121913
nice

Given that I'm working on my first full novel, would it be worth it to dump it somewhere like fictionpress as I finish up chapters to get some critique? Otherwise, what do you do with your stories after you finish writing them? I don't really give a rat's ass about trying to get anything professionally published at the moment.

>>12124724
Im using this and some others I have planned as practice for the real-real.
I'm going to edit them and slap them up on the net for fun and commentary

>>12118855
How long do they take to respond

>>12105392
why is being a failed writer such a meme on this board? You don't see /v/ all complaining about not being game developers.

>>12125496

>You don't see /v/ all complaining about not being game developers.
Confirmed for newfag.
Hows your first winter here, redditor?

>>12123438
Oh, that's nothing to worry about. Read the original work and just make sure it's literally not copying anything directly. People love derivative works, sometimes more than the "original" work, and if you didn't already know about the original that's even better because it'll probably feel like a fresh take on the same subject. Mine is very similar in structure to a whole genre of anime, but in western works it's still not really touched upon, so I'd say it did have uniqueness as a pro.

>>12123715
I use Scrivener (pirated). Originally, I would write and then transfer to Scrivener to export into perfect manuscript format, but now I've grown to like it and just write within Scrivener. As for guillemets, for mainstream fiction, I'd say hard no. If they like your query and then see such a stark contrast to normal formatting, they'll probably just toss it or, if it's gripping enough, they'll probably force you to change them. If you're aiming more for literary audiences, I'd say it may be more accepted, but I may be wrong. When you send them your manuscript, I'd send it with normal formatting, then if accepted, mention to them how you envisioned it and ask if that'd be okay.

>>12125487
Fucking ages. Anywhere from 3-12 months.

>>12126470
>>12123715
An example of workflow from a dropped project from a few years back. Scrivener makes it easy to set things up however you like. Also, showing the nice export tool in the bottom right, which makes manuscript formatting piss easy. I use the standard unless the agency has any specifications, and if they do, I just tweak the settings in the export tool to match them. Before Scrivener, I had to keep manually editing the manuscript in word and hoping that I wasn't creating errors throughout, like messing up the headings or the page numbering or things like that. Highly recommend Scrivener, if for nothing else than the compile/export tool.


SHOW YOUR WORKFLOWS.

>>12126470
Thanks for all the answers, mate.

Expected something like 3-5 months but if it took any longer, I'd think the agent isn't interested. They sure have to be totally over-flooded to take 12 fucking months.

I tried Scrivener few years ago and just couldn't deal with the interface and thinking in scenes, the time it'd take to get used to the new workflow, didn't seem worth it, specially because I was quite deep into my project. Besides, I like to work with two pages side by side.

Currently I am using Libre Office, but first making a folder for each act, then creating a new file for each chapter inside the folder, and then once I am done with the rough work, a new document for an act (5-10 chapters per act). When revisiting, I work with acts. Then when done, one more document in which I paste the contents of 4-5 acts.
The pages themselves are slightly adjusted "norm pages" with 35 lines, 1.5 lined with more room to the sides. (Totally stole the Harry Potter formatting because it's comfy as fuck)

I do the pre-planning on paper, so I know how many chapters/acts I need at start.

Too busy this year to into nanowrimo. Some random thoughts I scrawled down.
>>12114953
I feel like a pseud now

>>12126470
>Oh, that's nothing to worry about. Read the original work and just make sure it's literally not copying anything directly. People love derivative works, sometimes more than the "original" work, and if you didn't already know about the original that's even better because it'll probably feel like a fresh take on the same subject
Not going to lie, the first few chapters were eerily similar, that I have no choice but to change them, other than that? not o much.

HE'S DONE IT, THE MADMAN
And I'm in the middle of the second arc, man this shit is going to be long as fuck

>>12128204
la pagina...

>>12128272
Madre de Dios!

>realize my software counts words with apostrophes as 3 words
>6% of my word count disappears
How's your day going lads

>>12128924
Debating whether I should go on ahead and write my post-apocalypse, cyberpunk novel.

>>12128929
What have you got to lose anon?

>>12128936
Nothing, but I am wondering if any publisher or agent will accept it..

>>12128987
or you could, you know, self publish

>dream for years about being a writer
>going to fancy parties and making jokes about orange futures while wearing tweed jackets with elbow patches
>getting awards for literary genius
>never have the will power to write down any of my ideas
>decide to do nanowrimo this year
>I'm 30k into a sprawling porn story

>>12129018
>hes only at 30k in his sprawling porn story

>>12128987
If you aren't writing just because you enjoy it, you in the wrong neighborhood motherfucker

>>12129055
I do enjoy it.

>>12128204

NOICE.

>>12129039
Teach me your ways. I'll go on spurts where I'm just nailing it, but then I get stuck.

Okay or what?

>>12129152
>have an actual story outside porn
>write at 500 word bursts
>break them up with 20 - 40 minute breaks

>>12128204
Shit. Hold up anon, I'll catch up to your level. Hot blooded rivalry time.

>>12128204
Well done, Pedro.

>>12128987
The setting alone probably matters the least.

>>12129176
Your prose needs some work. It's much too indirect and meandering. When you get on to your next draft you need to pare it down and be much more concise.

>>12128272
>>12128359
>Ogros de las Americas hirviendo de rabia
good luck, my dudes