/lit/ - Literature

>>13164182
Do you have any connections to literary agents and could give me a referral? If not, then what's the point of sharing my writing? Did you know that Shakespeare plagiarized Sir Henry Neville?

I don't write, I don't read, I don't even know why I'm on /lit/

>>13164182
I write in a notepad and carry it wherever I go. Its a writers best tool.
When im writing for my novel, as corny as it may be, I write on a typewriter. I prefer to have a physical copy of my work. I plan on saving money for a printer and my roomate recently bought a computer so I'll be able to edit on there and hopefully have a printer by the time my novel is finished being edited.
I've been writing a specific book for a little over year but only by a month now.

>>13164245
I've still got some ways to go before the manuscript is finished. Recently though, I have found a heavy dedication inside of me and the story has really moved along. I am excited to work and I am very excited to reach the point of finish. I told myself that'd I write something more practical for my next project, maybe a short story or another novel. This first one I've been working on is being mainly produced for me and it a good practice to find my style and make good of the skill.

>>13164187
Nobody wants to steal your shitty fanfic and/or post modernist navel gazey garbage. People like to share, nobody is telling you, specifically, to do it. Also at most people share excerpts and ask for general opinions on them. I swear to christ this needs to go in the next OP, you're like the fifth person to "cleverly" quip about plagiarism.
>>13164188
Why not start with some short stories?
>>13164245
I, being an easily distracted spastic, have to write my stuff longhand. I've thought about getting a typewriter before, but I dont care for all the noise they make or the "ritual" of using one. I just like to pick up my pen and take off. Transcribing is much easier than writing creatively on the computer, for me anyway.

>>13164182
>What are you writing, /lit/?
My sprawling gay fetish fapfic.

>Where do you do your writing?
On my computer at home in my studio apartment, or at the reception desk at work when I have nothing to do.

>>13164491
>Nobody wants to steal your shitty fanfic and/or post modernist navel gazey garbage
I don't write that kind of shit. Also, I am already published, idiot.

>>13164504
Lmao yeah, sure thing faggot. You can fuck off now your LARPing retard.

>>13164504
Proof or get out.

>"i refuse to post proof"
Then get out.

Or don't. Just sit here and continue being a cunt. That sounds like a much better use of your time.

>>13164182
I write on my phone. B)

>>13164536
>>13164533
I honestly do not want to tarnish my name. Also, it was one short story that appeared in a reputable literary journal for weird fiction.

>>13164546
Fair enough.

>>13164182
>What are you writing, /lit/?

Mostly my diary desu. Not really a diary but plenty of short essays or remarks I made to myself, opinions or intuitions I've had that seems worth developing, sometimes memories or dreams, books I've read or scenes I witnessed. Occasionally ideas for a novel or treaty.
I also use it to vent my self-hating obsessions and unsatisfaction with my life, it helps understanding where they come from and how to deal with them.

All that is in my native language (French), written on paper, either a moleskine notebook or cash and card receipts which I've accumulated over the years. I'd write on any piece of paper really but the notebook is comfy and has the right size.

I'm also writing a series of porn vignettes on my computer and in English (I feel more relaxed for writing silly stuff in English for some reason). This is mostly to replace fapping and let out sexual frustration, but it might turn into weird self-psychoanalysis or a short story collection, who knows. I'm already learning things I didn't expect about my fetishes.

Basically I'm still at the draft-and-diary phase, I'm not aiming for publication yet. I'll probably try my hand at a short novel in the vein of Bioy Casares starting in June.


>Where do you do your writing?

Anywhere, but most times at home, in bars or restaurants (including kebab joints). Once or twice I wrote in the office while I was supposed to be working.

>>13164504
Out of curiosity, what do you write ? The OP might have rubbed you the wrong way but this thread is really just for sharing. What are your writing habits, how did you get published, that sort of things.

>>13164188
What >>13164491 said but before that start reading. Science-fiction and mystery short stories are comfy, easy to read and can give you ideas. Anything for Arthur C. Clarke to Poe, or from Machen to Borges and Stevenson and Conrad.

>>13164546
lol talks shit "im published" big ego attitude then you get called out for even thinking such a thing and lower your claim to a somewhat considerable level shut the fuck larper

>>13164623
Why are you so belligerent for no fucking good reason, you stupid piece of shit? I would have already kicked your ass if you spoke like this to me in person.
>big ego attitude
You have a way bigger ego, faggot. Go neck yourself, ingrate.

>>13164632
>I would have already kicked your ass if you spoke like this to me in person.

>>13164648
Yeah, I'm pretty sure your brain that's rotted from memes can ever produce any great writing. I'm telling you this for your own good, kill yourself, you stupid edgelord piece of shit.

>>13164632
>I would have already kicked your ass if you spoke like this to me in person.

>>13164678
This one isn't as funny. I'm not the same guy.

>>13164687
Yeah, keep posting memes that destroy your mind of all nuance, you memelord faggot. I'm pretty sure after your brain has rotted from all these memes, you can still produce great writing.

Just save yourself the trouble and slit your throat, ingrate.

Well this thread went downhill fast.

>>13164696
>this autist thinks one person is calling him retarded
I'm dying. I'm the OP and haven't said anything since >>13164533

>>13164710
You all have the same shitty hive mind. You think you're so great and original, but ultimately, you're just insipid edgelord pricks. Jaron Lanier's criticism of Web 2.0 leading to a loss of originality due to hive minds is very much on target with you utter imbeciles.

There was no point in becoming so confrontational towards me. It's analogous to a cat who becomes annoyed and punches his or her sibling out of misplaced aggression. Because your lives are so vapid and uninspired, you choose to take it out on me for absolutely no reason.

Just kill yourselves and spare this world your bullshit.

HELP.

How do I make my character hate the aristocracy so much that he's willing to kill (if regretfully) tons of peasants just to bring them down?

What can they do to him to make him hate them so much?

They're already going to outcast him because he turns into a monster, but I really want to layer up the shaftings. The main character is fundamentally good and caring, but he also needs to lead a military campaign against the humans to kill the aristocrats, so something has to happen to him to make him willing to do that.

Potential plothooks:
>he has monster friends who aren't all bad
>humans hate and kill monsters (but monsters do the same back to the humans)
>the monsters are really monstrous and evil
>the aristocracy is awful and corrupt and just terrible
>if he doesn't fight this war the humans are certainly going to kill him sooner or later so it's a matter of his own survival

Basically I need him to justify the collateral damage to himself.

>>13164727
Not any of the anon involved in this shitshow so far, but you've been haughty and confrontational from the start. OP and others perhaps didn't show much self-control but your posture of righteousness is unjustified here.

I suggest we end the shouting match here and now and get back on topic.

>>13164739
It can start on something very simple. Irc Chekov has a short story where a doctor has to attend someone shortly after one of his relative died so he's rather uncouth in his handling of the case, and his patient dies (but not because of any real profesional lapse on the doctor's part).

The patient's father end up hating the doctor and everyone in his social class just for that.

>>13164746
>you've been haughty and confrontational from the start
No. Let's begin with what I had said in the beginning:
"Do you have any connections to literary agents and could give me a referral? If not, then what's the point of sharing my writing? Did you know that Shakespeare plagiarized Sir Henry Neville?"

Nothing here is confrontational, but someone responded in a very insulting way by saying, "Nobody wants to steal your shitty fanfic and/or post modernist navel gazey garbage." The assumption is my writing is trash because I do not want to share it, but this is a very dumb assumption based on nothing substantive.

Furthermore, I responded by saying I don't write that kind of shit. How did other anons reply? By claiming I am LARPing and mocking me.

You are a dumb piece of shit. You picked a fight with me, and I genuinely hope you die in excruciating pain.

>>13164606
Nice post :)

>>13164727
>a cat who becomes annoyed and punches his or her sibling
lol

>>13164746
I think most of these posts haven't been serious, more insults for fun and exercise

>>13164770
>lol
Quoting a phrase out of context doesn't make you smart, edgelord. I was arguing your insults towards me constitute misplaced aggression. Maybe it's because your life and mind are complete shit that you take it out on anonymous strangers online, huh? I didn't say anything to warrant your condescension, faggot.

>>13164746
Stop replying to him, he's just here to stir shit up.
>>13164739
That's a tough one honestly. I would have him struggle with the decision for a long while, then have him despair over it afterwards. Sacrifices have to be made, sure, but that doesn't mean that he can't or shouldn't feel like shit about it.

I'm having a particular problem with the novel I'm beginning, and it's sort of a strange one.

Essentially, none of the characters in my book should have gender. The species they're part of isn't one that reproduces and lacks all sex characteristics. This is pretty integral to the overall thematic and narrative direction of the story to the point where I would have to change the basic idea of the book if I wanted to get rid of it.

Of course, I want my characters to be relatable to some extent; at the very least they shouldn't be unthinking objects, which is what the pronoun "it" heavily connotates. "They", meanwhile, creates ambiguity problems with plurality.

So I'm currently stuck at this impass where I don't know how to get around the problem of pronouns in this story. It's the only thing that I can't seem to extricate from gender, as I'm writing in English. I worry that if I invent some new pronoun and explain it before the story begins that I'll come off as silly, but I feel as though using "he" and "she" when there's no reason for gender to exist in my world is a failure in its own right.

Any suggestions?

>>13164788
>he's just here to stir shit up
No, I am not trying to stir shit. I am defending my integrity. I was unjustly attacked and demeaned for no fucking good reason.

>>13164182

In my diary desu. In my bed before I go to sleep. Just a log of what happened, what I ate, and what I think.

Write at desk, write in car (just park somewhere, put chair back and write), write in bed on computer.
Writing a variety of things, nothing of which I can sustain enough interest in to get past the first two-thousand words.

>>13164739
Aristocracy is hard to justify to a modern person because it's predicated on inequality due to birth. To an aristocrat, there are two ways that I see this problem can be approached: trying to be as virtuous as possible to become deserving of your position or wringing as much as you can out of the system before it collapses.

Maybe your character likes the idea of aristocracy but hates that the one his country has is the exploitative kind.

>>13164825
>I was unjustly attacked and demeaned for no fucking good reason.
lmao

>>13164843
I write at my desk at home myself.

>>13164765
Implicitly comparing yourself to Shakespeare is being haughty, implying the OP is trying to rob you off when sharing writing was not even a requirement of the thread was being confrontational.

And yes OP was somewhat insulting, I didn"t deny it. But let's not get dragged to that level of discourse. The assumption that everyone writes here is trash is pretty par for the course, you should know it. It's really nothing personal or even serious.

But most importantly you're still fighting that battle instead of letting it die and contributing to the thread (or just lurking). What's the point ?


>You are a dumb piece of shit. You picked a fight with me, and I genuinely hope you die in excruciating pain.

On the off-chance you're not trolling, remember I'm precisely the one who didn't pick a fight with you.

>>13164770
Thanks for reading my lengthy post :)

And yes those posts are just bantz, but it doesn't make the thread much better save a couple genunely funny answers.

>was looking forward to continue writing that family-story novel today
>stopped into a bookstore and looked around, that's definitely the kind of shit that's selling right now
>already distant and numb about it, feels like having watched a trainwreck unfold on television, it's horrifying but it's like someone else's story
>and yes it's a really unique story, it's not just "and then they were histrionic cunts for no reason", you can trace the corruption like a river of evil, cause and effect, falls into a story format perfectly, can present a pretty unbiased story
>anyway
>get home, fall into such a depression for unrelated reasons that i won't be able to do shit with it tonight
i wish i could sleep forever and never wake up. honest to god. you know, if i write this and get it published and my family finds out there would be such a raging shitstorm of grief, that just might make it worth it. like watching fireworks. i can think of the other authors who aired out people's dirty laundry too. what a show it must have been. i'm not going to tell them a word about it, if they find it then they find it. but my god that would be hilarious to watch, they'd all be screaming and crying and carrying on like the sky is falling because i aired their filthy secrets to the world. i really do want to write this. not sure if that's bitterness or vengeance or anything, i just want vindication. if people run around being dicks they shouldn't cry when someone airs evidence of their dickery. they're just repulsive. pitiable repulsive little monsters in human skin. tomorrow when i stop being in such a miserable state i'll work on it. probably doesn't help that i walked 4 hours today on one sandwich and a glass of milk.

>>13164934
I was not comparing myself to Shakespeare. I didn't make that clear, so I apologize in that regard. I was claiming that Shakespeare plagiarized Sir Henry Neville. If it happened to Neville, then it can happen to any of us. Moreover, I was once almost plagiarized too, no joke.

I am not claiming I am on the level of Sir Henry Neville.

>>13164955
Do it, anon. Write it. I'll buy it someday just to stick it to your family.

>>13164974
Shit man. I'm gonna write this fucker like no one has ever written anything.

>>13164793
Since you're describing a obviously non-human species they could have words of their own that serve as pronoms. A way to avoid being silly is making them sound like titles or class labels. Pronouns are after all just a kind of label word, inventing pronouns for some reason sounds cringe even in fantasy and sci-fi, while inventing jobs or social classes is generally accepted.

Another solution (compatible with the first) is to have their relationship to personhood be unique and characteristic of their culture. For instance they could have a special pronouns for "other people that are part of my family", different from "them" and "you (plural)".

Some languages have a dual (plural for when there are only two persons), others have two different "us", one for "us including you (the person I'm talking to)", another for "us without you". You can work from that. That way the introduction of pronouns will seem less gratuitous.

Yet another solution is to have pronouns as inflected forms of proper nouns. So for instance you say Anon-me when talking about you, but someone else talking about you would say Anon-he. Silly example but you get the point. This would underscore the unique conception of personhood I talked above.

>>13164825
I understand your anger bro but you're just feeding them. Cut your losses and leave the thread with what's left of your integrity. Also learn to get over yourself, with less sens of self-importance you would be less easily compromised.

>>13165003
>with less sens of self-importance

"Every happiness that a man enjoys, and almost every friendship that he cherishes, rest upon illusion; for, as a rule, with increase of knowledge they are bound to vanish. Nevertheless, here as elsewhere, a man should courageously pursue truth, and never weary of striving to settle accounts with himself and the world. No matter what happens to the right or to the left of him,—be it a chimaera or fancy that makes him happy, let him take heart and go on, with no fear of the desert which widens to his view. Of one thing only must he be quite certain: that under no circumstances will he discover any lack of worth in himself when the veil is raised; the sight of it would be the Gorgon that would kill him. Therefore, if he wants to remain undeceived, let him in his inmost being feel his own worth. For to feel the lack of it is not merely the greatest, but also the only true affliction; all other sufferings of the mind may not only be healed, but may be immediately relieved, by the secure consciousness of worth. The man who is assured of it can sit down quietly under sufferings that would otherwise bring him to despair; and though he has no pleasures, no joys and no friends, he can rest in and on himself; so powerful is the comfort to be derived from a vivid consciousness of this advantage; a comfort to be preferred to every other earthly blessing. Contrarily, nothing in the world can relieve a man who knows his own worthlessness; all that he can do is to conceal it by deceiving people or deafening them with his noise; but neither expedient will serve him very long."
-- Schopenhauer

>>13164972
> I was once almost plagiarized too, no joke

I see, that must suck. Honestly ignore the abrasive posts, answering them only worsens things. Not getting easily angered but a silly response is probably the only useful thing I've learned here.

>>13164955
>>13164974
I'll buy it too. That sounds like something I'd read.

Honestly I'm surprised how many people with fucked-up family stories you can meet. And it almost always goes back to generation of fermenting shit. Seems like most of us are descended from long ininterrupted lines of cunts.

I’ve been having a story brewing in my head for the past week. I’m still ironing out the details but I’ve got some pretty clear images from my dreams that I’d like to put down on paper. Basically the world becomes covered in a massive jungle sometime in the future with only a few mega-cities remaining. Out in the depths of the jungle there are stories of a god who can rebirth people. It’ll be about the struggles of different factions trying to reach/control the god. I also have a really strong image in my head of a wizard unhinging his jaw, like a snake, and swallowing a baby

>>13165009
Exactly, oversensitive ego is just a cope for a sense or suspicion of worthelessness, he who feels himself worthy doesn't go around feeling insulted at every turn.

Wanting to right wrongs is one thing, but you always have to ask: are you actually pursuing truth and following a rage-propelled impulse ?

>>13165044
That sounds nice, baby swallowing ftw.

Write it anon, the worst that can happen is you become so kind of cult author in a niche community of perverts.

Does anyone happen to listen to any music while you write? I want what I write to match the flourishes of what I'm listening to, but I can hardly find just the right music to evoke such a feeling. Obviously, this is more a fault on my limited lexicon of musical artists and genres, but if anyone has general suggestions, it would be most welcome.

>>13165094
Is there a certain theme or emotion you’re aiming for?

>>13165094
What feelings are you looking to capture, anon? I find that listening to ambient music is nice while righting, and there's a surprising breadth of different kinds, from sinister to comforting and everything in between. If you provide a couple feelings you're aiming for I can recommend some artists or albums.

>>13165044
This sounds cool. Would read.

>>13165101
>>13165108
I think the general feelings I'm looking for are:

Jubilation of love (either for the Immaterial, or for a person)

Tense anxiety that freezes a person

This one is a bit harder to describe, but the general feeling of being obsessed with 'turning points' or decisions, where reductions and remixing of choices are visualized and hypothesized.

This one mainly spills over from the second, but I think it is distinct enough to differentiate the decision from its aftershocks to the psyche.

>>13164182
I am doing a really short story to practice my prose and being not shit.

I do my drafts on my notebook, then I type everything at work since my computer broke. And sadly, I do my editing and corrections in my phone. It's fucking hell

>>13165175
Jubilation of love: Color Wheel by Arch Echo

Tense, freezing anxiety/being obsessed with turning points: The Scattering by Desiderii Marginis

>>13165175
>jubilation of love
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQA59IkCF5I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itk-ndTnNWc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaP8NGML_QE
>anxiety
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWaWsgBbFsA
>turning points/decisions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jg4ekLG9Zo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_2UqssvaSc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt2iVEhcsi8
>aftershocks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tUXFIyKAHI

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OG5eU-qKQABmY7BeUu2t_vBCPvQReH-_guNfsmaEGiA/edit?usp=drivesdk

I just started writing and i feel free when I do it. Even if it's not good you don't get this feeling, I think, anywhere else unless you create something.

>>13165175
Love: Here Comes the Indian - Animal Collective
Anxiety: Heresy - Lustmord
Triptych of Poisoners - Milk From Cheltenham
Turning Points: Field Recordings From the Edge of Hell - The Dirty Knobs
Deceit - This Heat

>>13164182
I'm writing a science fiction novella right now. It's intended to capture the wonder of space as seen through the eyes of a cargo hauler. I don't have too many characters or themes set out yet, I'm just trying to get enough words on paper to get myself invested enough to finish the story for once. The writing is still rough and occasionally jarring.

"Galloway looked forward through the canopy, and brimmed with excitement as he saw a small, blue circle in the distance begin to increase rapidly in size. The object expanded as the ship made it's approach, until it was large enough to cover most of Galloway's field of view. He admired the sphere of blue oceans, green and brown land masses, and white clouds. Earth always looked incredible from space, Galloway thought. It was no wonder to him that, upon exiting her atmosphere, the astronauts and cosmonauts of the early days of space travel looked upon their home world with such awe. It was a magnificent sight, even for those who made interstellar travel their occupation like himself. He had seen earth from space what was likely hundreds of times, and yet, he never felt the majesty of her appearance would grow dull to his eyes."

>>13164182
just finished my first translation (i did another one a couple months ago, but source material was shit and i'm not counting it). how's your day?

>>13164182
I've been writing a sci-fi novel about one person's search for death in a society that doesn't let people die. I've got 312 chapters over 10 separate books but I don't ever plan on publishing it. I just write when I can, as often as I can

>>13166097
can you post an excerpt? i'm morbidly curious.

>>13164779
To clarify, I thought that whole line was supposed to be intentionally funny. I thought you were making fun of yourself with a nonsense analogy.
>It's analogous to a cat who becomes annoyed and punches his or her sibling out of misplaced aggression
Cats don't 'punch' and doing so out of misplaced aggression is really only something we'd ascribe to humans too, same with 'siblings'. I tripped over that line as I was reading it, and upon going over it again I realised what seemed odd about it.

>>13164182
Sorry for the dumb question. I'm writing a fantasy story and don't really know where to post it where people can see it. I got a suggestion to use wattpad.

>>13166530
Here (and subreddits too) faggot

>>13166530
I answered your question before you deleted your post in /sffg/.
Like the other anon said, avoid wattpad. It's for 12 year old girls who want to write stories about their favourite bands falling in love with self-inserts. Try Royal Road instead, it's a bit Reddit-y but it's an active community and they focus on fantasy and science fiction quite a lot.

>>13164583
>Le (word starting with a vowel)
yikes

>>13166530
Just read your post to my younger sister and she said "Yeah, if he wants 12 year old girls to read it."

>>13166530
Hey I'm the co-founder of Wattpad, you should definitely give it a shot on my website.

Can't sleep, just finished a 3k word write-up on Fragments of a Hologram Rose and every time I accomplish anything I feel certain I have what it takes to write something good
Next step is to try mimicking stories I like and writing in various styles

>>13166555
Of course! June 18th is my due date.

>>13166555
>>13166561
Sorry for the double post. I'll be sure to take your words for it and look into Royal Road.

>>13166587
Really?

Point is, thank you all a lot for responding and helping me out!

>>13166688
>Really?

O-o-of course anon, just send me ALL the chapters (I mean everything I w-would like to read it all i-in one g-go).

Here is my e-mail address : ceoofwattpad@ceoguy.ceo

>have enormous burst of inspiration after randomly meditating over a single piece of inspo
>sculpt basically half of a novel in your mind
>fill in every detail
>can't for the life of you figure out where to take the other half

FUCK

>>13164793
(h)e
(sh)e
the answer is obviously E!

>>13167166
How did you do the first part? Do that again. I wish I could conjure half a novel like that

>>13167250
>How did you do the first part?
I don't know, it's never happened before

>>13167327
ok but what where you doing? meditating as in breathing tecniques or thinking or something more satanic...just tell me anon I need it

>>13164765
>The assumption is my writing is trash because I do not want to share it
The assumption that it's shitty is based on misunderstanding how publishing works, which isn't too complicated, and hence doesn't suggest too much positive about your mental capacities, which are beneficial to produce non shit writing.

Besides that, "Shakespeare plagiarized Sir Henry Neville" is just a theory, bro.

>>13164739
How do you not hate them? People who get power just based on their last name is nasty enough, add abuses of the power and it gets hard to justify, not at the very least relieving them of it.

Justification for sacrificing others is a bit trickier, but go along the lines of greater good for the future and "they would suffer under the aristocracy anyway".

>What can they do to him to make him hate them so much?
Read a history book. Any era or time period offers plenty examples of an elite that begs to be purged.

>>13164793
>"They", meanwhile, creates ambiguity problems with plurality.
Sounds avoidable in most scenarios, in others context would clear up the confusion.

>>13167503
I was looking at a drawing of an astronaut. I naturally fixated on part of the suit and an idea jumped out at me of what it could be used for. From this I extracted a profession, setting, villain, and with those three things I automatically created characters in my head. From there it basically built itself.

I'd really like to write a Harry Potter fanfiction about reconciling the existence of magic with Christianity in the life of my character

please stop me

>>13168765
Imagine your your father/mother/brother/someone really close to you, telling you this

Hey Anon, I need your opinion on something. I've been watching the harry potter movies and I've also read the books and I really love the universe. I'm thinking of writing a fanfiction where some guy who's christian tries to accept the existence of magic while staying loyal to his faith. How does that sound?

>>13168799
I'd say it sounds like a compelling read on par with Augustine's Confessions and that I'd be interested to read it. And then later I'd cringe. But I'd probably still read it.

>>13168765
The existence of witchcraft was a common belief among christians in christian folklore for hundreds of years, though.

>>13168870
Right but dealing with stuff like Exodus 22:18 is more what I'm interested.

>>13166092
You're really not gonna tell us what you translated? What languages? The challenges you faced?

>>13168972
Ad Nauseam by LaSart C.W., to russian. it's a short story collection, today i've translated the first story. not that difficult, i've spent most of the time making it sound natural

Is there any good software for writing with a less linear worflow than Word?
Does anyone know how "incremental writing" works or what it is?

Context:
For the past week I've been reading the Supermemo wiki (if you tend to fall for Wikipedia/TVTropes loops, think twice about clicking):
https://supermemo.guru/wiki/Genius_checklist

Much of what he says is a bit too... much for most people, but I agree with a lot of his points he makes and am trying to understand the philosophy behind the software he made (Supermemo) to apply the principles to myself and my goals.

He basically studies with a method called "incremental reading" which is reading books/articles bit by bit and adding notes/making flashcards, that much I understand.

But he also briefly mentions "incremental writing", a method I sadly can't find much more information about.

>>13164182
I'm working on a novel about a small band of pan American socialists with revolutionary pretensions travelling across the shattered continent in search of a place to realize their vision.
I'm trying to focus more on the people than on the politics.
I'm about 30k words in which is probably around 10 percent completed.

Ive also been working on a smaller project about a cheating ring in a high school chemistry class told in 5 sections of varying format that form a coherent story in any order, but the order would define how one experiences large sections of it. It sounds pretty dumb, and I'll concede that it probably is but If Im writing it to get into the habit of writing a lot more without butchering my other thing as well as to just enjoy the experiment. That has 10k words as of this . I kind of had to pause that project as well due to IRL shit, but I can probably get back to it next week.

>>13164955
Alright, did about 1k words and a few hours of research for it.

>>13168765
>write it
>finish it
>realize the harry potter aspect was just scaffolding and could easily be removed
>???
>profit

>>13168765
the first novel i wrote started out as harry potter rewrite to make the world less fucking retarded and have a better villain and conflict

it was shit but my villain was 10/10 and i am really, really good at writing fight choreography

My MC is experiencing auditory hallucinations from a, currently, friendly voice. Eventually, the voice will become sinister and a different visual hallucination will appear to try and intimidate the MC into doing what she wants. The auditory hallucination knows the visual hallucination by name.

How soon is too soon for the auditory hallucination to drop the name of the visual hallucination? Im considering dropping the name pretty early on into the MC and auditory hallucinations relationship but Im worried itll be too obvious.

>>13171028
Have the auditory drop the name at some point after the MC meets the visual, as if it was no big deal, and if the MC had their brain together, they would pick up on the fact that the "nice" one knows the "mean" one. Strange, but the voice is kind to me, so I'll keep going with it.

>>13164182
>Have ideas of characters and "moments/threads" for them, that I really love and think about constantly & want to write about
>No idea how to start to write a story that would connect those threads

>>13171217
Tell me the characters and I'll try and come up with an idea.

Oh, this is a fun thread. I regret not visiting /lit/ earlier.

I'm working on a set of short stories that revolve around humanity's last stand during heat death of the universe - a station, orbiting a black hole.
First five stories are going to set the enviroment, focusing on showcasing different societal and racial groups that inhabit the sprawl, next I'm hoping to expand this idea into an actual novel, with a protagonist and an overarching narrative of overcoming personal fears to achieve your goals.
I'd love to share a sample, but it's all written in my native, and wouldn't translate into English very well because of all the metalinks in the script.
As for the working place, does it even matter? I have a shitty laptop that's almost half my age, and for working with documents it serves just fine.

>>13171217
same. i always have these ideas of my book becoming kino shit, but my writing always has to overcome both procrastination and these huge roadblocks that come from me thinking about basically 10 to 15 moments in said book a lot, but not how they come together.
The constant worrying of becoming another Jolkien Rolkien Rolkien Tolkien is also a bother.

>>13171217
You can take on the persona of an "explorer" writer. Just put the characters in the world, throw some wrenches in their lives and let them do their things. Something interesting might come out, and an option for heavy edits always exists, if you begin to feel like the beginning of your story lacks substance.

>>13171399
>>13171355
>>13171217
Lets do an exercise. Everyone take one of your characters and have them do something. Minimum 3 paragraphs of them doing something. Just to force us to start something.

/write/, I'm taking a break from writing at the moment but I'm extremely worried about my story,

It took me 3-4 years to actually get novel with a fully fleshed out plot and now all the charcters and their interactions are coming out wrong. I think it's because the characters I have in mind are completely wrong for the setting and plot I have in mind, and I'm not sure I'm willing to give up either of them

>>13171626
Try writing the characters just interacting as if they were unpredictable people.

>>13171626
Taking a break is the right choice. You should always look at your work anew every now and then.

Also, try quizing your friends, or just randoms on the internet, see what they do and don't find compelling about your story and/or characters.
Even if their opinion is shit, it still helps to understand what kind of reader you want to attract.

Just finished an accel video poem https://youtu.be/4-EwIbfx6FY

Was gonna write a memoir about my SJW sister next.

Anyone else play around with format and font to get in the writing mood? I realized that the 8.5/11 blank in front of me always reminds me of essays and school work. I downloaded a template for a paperback and changed the font to a typewriter feel and it was so much easier to write. The dialogue looked correct for once.


The story is going to be a man with an obsessive work ethic gets trapped inside a 24/7 Mexican restaurant that never ends. One room leads to a similar dining room. He has to get a job there to afford food and sleep in the closet. The employees and customers come and go, but he can't escape. Maybe some occult stuff happens after he befriends everyone. Chapters interspersed with histories of cuisine or conversations of drunks at 4am. Eventually he escapes but becomes obsessed with the cult, trapped forever in his own mind now.

>>13171355
So, basically, it's a Bloodborne-set fic about a group of people/hunters in a troupe called the Court, dedicated to rebelling against the Healing Church that controls most of Yharnam. They're called the Court because their leader may or may not be the last surviving member of house Cainhurst, a family of vamps that were massacred in their castle by Church hunters for practicing blood magic and being generally impure.

>Grant, acts as the prince's aide-de-camp in the Court and their spy. Poses as a doctor in the Church, but slowly starts to uncover & become interested in the eldritch, arcane fuckery that the Church gets up to behind closed doors.

>Vencent is the Court's justicier, a beast hunter who is obsessed with fire. Where the Court often acts with secrecy and restraint, he does not. Court will eventually discover that the Church used the borough of Old Yharnam & its citizens as testing ground for the beast plague and their miracle cures, he burns it all to the ground.

>Leah is a young Yharnamite orphan befriends the prince (I imagine their relationship like a child and their imaginary friend, but the imaginary friend is a shadow-dwelling vampire), becoming his eyes and ears among the streets of the city.

I know that I want to work in the plot of Old Yharnam in somehow, which was basically the old borough of the city that the Church infected with the beast plauge so they could experiment with their miracle cures & look like saviours to the populace. Maybe have Leah discover their connection, leading the prince to order Vencent to burn it down. I don't know.

a poem I wrote. How is it?

Was she a Girl worth falling in love with?
Questions like this should never be shared
Pure honesty was what he offered
She wanted somebody with a lot of hair
Magnanimous and exquisite she transcended life
He felt insufficient
But soon he realized she existed
To get to know her was more than he could ask
The grace and wit she offered
The day came and she set him free
The curse of romanticizing the past
Two individuals together
And the moment lasted forever
Flawed and fearful they gave each other love to last

>>13164727
Please be a troll

>>13165094
I listen to Disney songs, classic rock, hip hop, whatever I feel like in the moment.

>>13171691
Am I supposed to read it aloud? In my head there were parts where it seemed to not have enough length and kinda cut off. Who is your audience? Am I supposed to be jealous? Live vicariously? The woman becomes an object on a pedestal. Would I want to be compared to something sought after by such a self deprecating person?

>>13171686
It sounds to me like you've already got the general idea of an actual plot there. What you need to do is tie it together to your characters. Try thinking of your characters like this:

>goal
>flaw
>lesson

The goal is the concrete real life thing that they want - it's not abstract (like "stop feeling guilty about the death of your mother"). It has to be concrete. The abstract goal can form a motivation for the concrete goal but there has to be a concrete goal. The flaw is the thing that is wrong with the character that stops them from achieving their goal. The lesson is the thing that the character learns from the events of the plot that allows him to overcome his flaw to achieve his goal (or not).

If I were you I'd spend some time thinking about the characters' goals, flaws, and lessons. Once you have a clear idea of that it's easier to write a plot that fits those things. So to give a very basic example:

>Grant
Goal: steal the Arch-Vile's book of secrets so that the Court can find out what exactly the Arch-Vile is doing
Flaw: is a bit greedy and ease-loving and isn't wholly committed to the cause of the Court, so is tempted by the luscious lifestyle of the Church and the promise of greater monetary reward.
Lesson: once he discovers the actual horrors that the Church is engaged in, he recoils and understands why they have to be overthrown

Just as I was writing this out I had an idea: maybe Grant actually does turn to the Church and betray his friends before he discovers the horrors of the Church in full. So, once he turns back to the Court from the Church, he now has to rescue the friends he betrayed and convince them to trust him again. So just the act of typing those handfuls of sentences has added a whole plotline.

Grant's plot would be something like
>Act 1: get close to the Arch-Vile
>Act 2: it's working but someone might be onto him so he's nervous. Something happens in the Court that pisses him off and makes him temporarily dislike them and in this moment of weakness he starts to sympathise with the Church and be swayed by their luxury. In the end he gets caught by the Church but buys his life by betraying his friends
>Act 3: discovers the horrors of the church, turns back to the good side, rescues his friends, saves the day

Even writing that, the whole idea of something happening in the Court that pisses him off just came to me as an excuse to get him to side with the Church, but that could be a whole plot line of its own involving your other characters. This kind of thing is an opportunity for you to weave the stories of your characters together so that they affect each other.

Obviously I don't know if this fits your vision for the character of Grant, but this is how I start writing plots when all I have is a handful of characters and some ideas.

>>13167588
>>13166120
You sound way more arrogant than he is. I actually believe he was published in a good literary journal. Jealous much?

>>13171994
This actually helps more than you know. Thank you kind anon, i'll have to think on this some more before I actually get to writing.

One of my PoV characters is a turbo-zealous holy man/monk in what is essentially the Balkans in the 1400s. To give you a quick snapshot of the world he lives in, things are pretty poltically unstable due to a couple of decades of infighting, revolving rulers, and civil war, followed by a expansionist foreign neighbour deciding they wanted to take chunks out the squabbling children before they go their shit together. This has been going on for maybe six or seven years as of the book starting, because after the invaders made it clear they didn't want a local viceroy, those rival throne-claimants decided to try and fight them off before resuming their spat.
My problem: I'm not religious at all, so I have no fucking clue how to write a hardline religious nut that's very no true scotsman when it comes to faith.

>>13172014
>jumping into a day old argument
Sad

>>13172232
What's sadder is your snobbish attitude. Stop being a loser.

>>13172182
Your man sounds like thomas aquinas. Go read up on em'.

>completely void of ideas
Why is writing so hard?

>>13172242
>everyone on the internet is one person
Lol okay retard

>>13171427
The fire was bright that night, fuelled by the burning husk of a merchant’s wagon in addition to the deadwood, and it formed a roaring column reaching skyward almost to the height of a man. Kahgik was grateful for it. The nights had made a decisive turn towards winter, and it would be a long few months before he would again enjoy sprawling out on the thick grass of summer beneath a warm new moon. Still, he thought, as he reclined against a flat rock and picked fat ticks out of the shaggy, coarse mantle of fur around his neck and chest, this wasn’t so bad. He popped another of the bugs in his mouth and bit down. It burst between his fangs, and his own blood washed around the wicked points of his teeth. Fitting, in a way.
He wasn’t hungry - not even for ticks - but grooming was a worthwhile thing to do when there was nothing else to do and having plucked the bugs his claws moved automatically from fur to mouth. It was nothing more than lazy, habitual snacking. They had eaten well that night: a merchant had been moving his goods and family between the cities, either careless or a victim of circumstance to be on the road after nightfall. They had fallen on the hapless man without mercy. Now the wagon was in the fire and the oxen was sprawled on the road in a pool of blood with its belly torn open and organs devoured. Of the merchant no trace remained, except for the femur that Mogok was slowly cracking through in pursuit of the sweet marrow within. The wife was still around though. Kahgik could hear Nazzug off in the distance somewhere tormenting her. Hmm. Someone should do something about that, Kahgik thought. Mogok had explicitly told Nazzug not to hurt her - not before Mogok got his turn with her, anyway, because Mogok liked them intact and still breathing. If Nazzug started thinking he could get away with disobeying direct commands he would quickly outlive his usefulness. That would be annoying. Kahgik had grown quite accustomed to not having to do his own hunting or his own sewing. But, on the other hand, Kahgik thought, as he crunched through another plump tick, swallowed, and then stifled a belch, it was really more of a Mogok problem anyway. He surrendered to fullness and collapsed back onto his comfy rock in utter relaxation. He had eaten far too much tonight.

>this was originally going to lead into what i wrote in pic related, where Dirkog and Mogok fight, but I ran out of enthusiasm so I'm just posting them both as disconnected parts. I couldn't even figure out a smooth way to transition from the one to the other.

>>13172289
Point is, you're full of yourself. You are a demeaning and insulting jackass.

>>13172258
Thanks. Think I'll glance at the Summa Theologiae to start with.

>>13172300
>he said
>he replied
>he said
you can cut some of those

Iv written one book and self published it, it was awful and not a single copy was sold.

But I know now what my problems were, so im working to improve with my second book.
Its a young/new adult book about people with superpowers which /lit/ likely doesn't approve of but whatever, im enjoying working on it

Writing a screenplay about an aspiring writer who undertakes increasingly retarded tasks in order to gain life experience or "lit"ness that he believes to be lacking

wrote 7 pages

>>13171648
I don't think its worth showing anyone yet because at the moment, the characters just aren't coming through. The more I think about it, the more I realize its because the environment Ive placed them in doesn't give them the opportunity to be themselves.

Here's what im working with
>setting is, for all intents and purposes, a nun and a band of minors under her protection in the ruins of a post-apoc city
>MC 1 is the newbie, a cynical amputee with anger and inferiority issues. he's the protagonist, and the only one who really fits in the setting
>MC 2 is the kind of guy who will invite a friend to lunch and then pay with their wallet that he picked from their pocket, or arrange to meet you after work and then you found him waiting in the back seat of your car, which he broke into, with his feet up and a slurpee in hand. the problem is there's not really anything he can do like that aside from stealing food or piling stuff on top of people while they sleep
>MC 3 is a sperg girl who gets really excited about anything sciency and a bunch of gross habits that she tends to lose control of when she's excited or obsesses (talking with her mouth open, forgetting to bathe, etc). Problem is, there's not a lot of science for her to get obsessed with. maybe I can make her get excited by finding strange new life, but she's supposed to be more focused on space-related topics (physics, astronomy, geometry, geography)
>MC 4 is, on the surface a timid, awkward girl who draws superhero comics. in reality, her obsession with superheroes is much bigger than anyone realizes. She wants to be one and carries a costume she made around in her bag, but is too easily embarrassed and conflict averse to handle it. She's easier to handle than the others, since her surface doesn't need much to come out, but I don't know how to show off her power level without an interlude or flashback following her

How do you write the second act? I've run out of steam trying to plan what happens.

>>13174494
>tfw have actually done that irl

>>13174578
Maybe sperg girl finds a science book in the ruins of a small library and goes apeshit about it, and starts trying to recreate experiments or other stuff in it, and then starts going out of her way into danger to find more books

>>13171372
>does working place matter
Not really, so long as you're able to concentrate and write comfortably.

I write at home on my desktop computer, at work using a bluetooth keyboard to my phone, and sometimes just using my phones keyboard. So long as I'm able to focus and got something to put down it doesn't matter what/where I am.

>>13174381
Did you go with grounded powers or super stuff that dicks physics?

>>13174578
>>MC 1 is the newbie, a cynical amputee with anger and inferiority issues. he's the protagonist, and the only one who really fits in the setting
Fair enough

>>MC 2 is the kind of guy who will invite a friend to lunch and then pay with their wallet that he picked from their pocket, or arrange to meet you after work and then you found him waiting in the back seat of your car, which he broke into, with his feet up and a slurpee in hand. the problem is there's not really anything he can do like that aside from stealing food or piling stuff on top of people while they sleep
Just cause it's post-apoc, doesn't mean that people won't still trade (assuming there are people other than the I guess). He could grab money from people as they walk past each other on the road, could pinch stuff from traders while someone also buys something rom him, pick the lock on store rooms holding food, etc.

>>MC 3 is a sperg girl who gets really excited about anything sciency and a bunch of gross habits that she tends to lose control of when she's excited or obsesses (talking with her mouth open, forgetting to bathe, etc). Problem is, there's not a lot of science for her to get obsessed with. maybe I can make her get excited by finding strange new life, but she's supposed to be more focused on space-related topics (physics, astronomy, geometry, geography)
Geography would be the easiest one to focus on of those four. Her love of geography could lead to her being really good at reading physical maps and remembering what path they took. Maybe she's always read about the mountains and wants to go to one, maybe she tries to lead them away from wherever they're going so that they can walk towards the mountains. Could follow that up with her being really interested in botany, meaning she can idenify good and bad plants for them to eat and even make medicines from some of them.

>>MC 4 is, on the surface a timid, awkward girl who draws superhero comics. in reality, her obsession with superheroes is much bigger than anyone realizes. She wants to be one and carries a costume she made around in her bag, but is too easily embarrassed and conflict averse to handle it. She's easier to handle than the others, since her surface doesn't need much to come out, but I don't know how to show off her power level without an interlude or flashback following her
Have mr. pickpocket notice how she always seems to guard her bag, not letting anyone else see inside it. He becomes curious what's she hiding, thinking it must be valuable he decides to filch it. For extra intrigue, have him tell the hot-tempered MC, getting him riled up by thinking that she's hiding something valuable that they could all use leading to him forcing the bag out of her hands and revealing her supersuit to everyone.

>>13174675
there actually is a library across the street from the real-world version of their compound. maybe I can use that.

however, ill have to think of a gimmick. one difference about my setting is that its not actually obvious its PA. the characters think they're in an isekkai

>>13174764
The second kind. none of the abilities are super powerful though, only one guy had the capability to level a building.
The powers were pretty weird and physics bending, so the protagonist had to use cunning and clever use of his relatively shit power to beat them

>>13174667
>tfw want to do that irl

Whatcha write with, /write/?

Is there such a thing as too meta

>>13175240
Yes

let me know if this idea is too insane or stupid /lit/. basically:

>there's an old prestigious line/clan/family/whatever of exorcists under the roman catholic church. name undecided.
>used to be a group of sorcerers from ancient greece that often shacked up with the gods.
>but, when the greek pantheon started to decline due to christianities rise they assimilated into the new faith for reasons i haven't decided.
>were sort of seen as boons since demi gods are stronger than regular people / somewhat able to handle all the weird heretic experiments this church sometimes did ? i could expand on this if anyone is curious
>anyway
>fast forward to current times, mc's period of life
>during a mission in greece he stumbles upon . . . some artifact or whatever that activates the latent ~greek magicks~ sleeping within him from the aforementioned times of sleeping around with gods.
>realizes what's going on since certain sects of the family didn't defect to christianity -- he's heard of the Old Ways though they're sort of taboo
>blah, blah blah, insert plot here

my main issue with it is that i don't know if it makes any sense for the abrahamic god to continue allowing some demi god from another pantheon to serve him though, or if it would /ever/ make sense in the first place? isn't he supposed to be very jealous?

>>13175242
Where is the line

>tfw bombarded by ideas all the time at inappropriate moments
>sit down to write and I can't come up with a single thing

>>13174927
I like to use 0.3 or 0.5mm pigment liners. Normally I get Faber Castell Pitt artist pens, but sometimes I'll get those Sakura microns or the cheap Staedtler ones. They're more expensive than ballpoints because they run out of ink way faster, but they produce nice smooth lines, so I don't mind. I do way more typing than writing by hand anyway.

>>13174927
I've tried writing as opposed to typing, but I'm so slow and it's frustrating

also I can feel one of the veins in the back of my hand moving about as I write and it's disgusting

I haven't written anything since I was a kid blatantly ripping off LOTR really badly. What sort of things did you guys do to get started and practice writing? cause I have no clue. I read lots, constantly have flashes of inspiration that I'd love to write about, but I have no experience of putting it down on the page and developing full stories out of them.

>>13175405
>What sort of things did you guys do to get started and practice writing?
Writing terrible anime fan fiction, and then growing up and doing original short stories

>>13175405
>What sort of things did you guys do to get started and practice writing?
Literally the same as you. Then I got to a part when my totally not Aragonr clone self insert MC was about to go on a badass orc hunt by the end of the first third ... and lost interest; while also lacking the ideas what to do with the side characters. Started a few other stories that didn't get past page fifty. But, during that time I had bits of another, totally different story in a modern setting floating in my brain. Shit was more a series of character interactions. Spent maybe one year just planning the stuff out mentally without writing a word and drawing lots of sketches for the settings and characters, until it got so sick to dream the same dreams, that I just had to start.

>>13175405
That's how you start my man. Practice practice practice. Write crappy fan fiction, bad sonnets, short stories that dont go anywhere, whatever. Then study them and see where you went wrong, and actively work to improve next time. Dont just read passively, pay attention to what the authors you like to read are doing and learn from them. Dont be afraid to experiment, or to step out of your comfort zone. And my biggest piece of advice
NEVER
BE
AFRAID
OR
UNWILLING
TO
REWRITE
SOMETHING

>>13164182
I tried writing a very short story; I actually thought it would be cool to attempt creating a book-sized story in this style but I don't really know where I want to go with this.

https://pastebin.com/SGnDVgfs

Any constructive criticism would be very much appreciated. As you can see I did not know what to do at the end, so I decided to be so deep you can't even see me.

Do non native english speak anons here read Anglo writers in english, or in their mother's tongue? Recently i've been noticing how much reading and writing english is hurting my ability to write in my native language: i'll write some really weird, english like "fake" syntax, and when editing, i'm constantly thinking about how such and such phrase would be improved if i was writing it in english. Do you guys struggle with this as well? I'm thinking about cutting out english use, and just reading stuff in my native language (portuguese). I'm also thinking about reading translation of Anglo works i like, like for example, Paradise Lost, Moby Dick, Shakespeare etc, but i'm afraid i'll be too much influenced by the translator's prose, and not the prose of the original writers...

>>13175245
>>there's an old prestigious line/clan/family/whatever of exorcists under the roman catholic church. name undecided.
Ok, fair enough. Has happened before.

>>used to be a group of sorcerers from ancient greece that often shacked up with the gods.
Ok, first problem. Why would greek gods, who arent exactly known for having an even temperment, be totally cool with people theyve fucked, and presumably had kids with, deserting them? Much less deserting them for another god?

>>but, when the greek pantheon started to decline due to christianities rise they assimilated into the new faith for reasons i haven't decided.
See above

>>were sort of seen as boons since demi gods are stronger than regular people / somewhat able to handle all the weird heretic experiments this church sometimes did ? i could expand on this if anyone is curious
Able to handle heretic experiments? As in, experiments being performed on them?

>>fast forward to current times, mc's period of life. during a mission in greece he stumbles upon . . . some artifact or whatever that activates the latent ~greek magicks~ sleeping within him from the aforementioned times of sleeping around with gods.
>>realizes what's going on since certain sects of the family didn't defect to christianity -- he's heard of the Old Ways though they're sort of taboo
Parts of the family following different gods seems like a good way to start a family war.

>my main issue with it is that i don't know if it makes any sense for the abrahamic god to continue allowing some demi god from another pantheon to serve him though, or if it would /ever/ make sense in the first place? isn't he supposed to be very jealous?
Depends, the Greek gods are real, but is the abrahamic god in your story real? Maybe the whole family is pretending to worship the new god while still actually believing in and getting their powera from the Greek ones. Seems more plausible than literal descendants of the Greek gods being allowed to totally desert them unscathed.

>>13175321
Use memos on your pho e, get the bullet points for reference later.

>>13175588
If the original language of a book is one that I can read (Dutch (my native language), English, German) I'll get it in that language. Otherwise I either get English or Dutch. I can read them both basically at the same speed.

>>13175405
By being a DM for multiple TTRPGs. Designing worlds, characters, and plots for players to romp through is good practice. Difference is, when you're designing a campaign you leave spaces between main events and plot points so that the players can find their own path. Writing a story requires you lead people down the path youve lain for them.

Still though, DMing helps because when you throw down your ideas in front of a live audience you can get immediate criticism based on their reactions. You can put together what they liked and didnt pretty quickly, allowing you to tune yourself closer to a perfect pitch.

Trying to write a short story but I seem to be way better at rambling random thoughts regarding the character's emotional state than actually telling a story.

>>13175588
I read them in english mostly to learn the language. Otherwise I don't really mind either way. But yeah that's a bit of a problem. Sometimes I know a word for something in english but not in polish.

>>13175588
I even read native writers in English when reading for pleasure, unless they are Russians because the names just fuck with my head when morphed into the Latin alphabet. Then again, as someone who immigrated when I was 9, I don't quite have A native language.

>Do you guys struggle with this as well?
I did, switched to reading only in native language for the periods when I was writing in it (German). My long term plan always was writing in English though, I just found translating into it easier than going balls in and writing prose in English.

I feel like I have some ideas that could be full-size books but I always get to 2k - 10k words before I have no idea how to continue. Should I keep trying, or should I just try writing short stories instead, until I just kinda fall into the opposite situation, where I feel like I have content to go on for much longer? I often end up having this idea of having all these things I want to put into the story as far as deeper meanings and metaphors go, but no real content to it. I always want to put more into it than I can find words for.

>>13175582
Too explanatory and using 'I' too much. The way you wrote the story allows me to picture the area, but its boring. You gotta breathe some life into the words or else anyone reading will stop after a dozen sentences like I did. For example, heres your first few sentences:
>I'm walking through a dense forest. I have to watch my step as the trees around me have sprawling roots around them, sometimes sticking out of the ground as a perfect trap to trip those who aren’t careful. Most of the time I am looking at the ground. Luckily it's full moon, so I have some ambient light that is just enough to allow me to see where I am placing my foot, but only barely as the sea of green that swirls over me blocks most of the light. The trees are enormous; most of them are probably multiple times my age.

Heres the same scene, rewritten:
>The full moon, strangled as it is by the overgrown and overpopulous trees surrounding me, provides a dim light to guide my path. Each step forward threatened by sprawling roots hidden beneath a verdant undergrowth.

Less words and more interesting to read.

>>13175694
Write an outline of your story first. Separate it out by chapters with bullet points of what you want to cover in each. Assuming you finish and follow the outline and don't decide to completely change the major plotpoints you won't get lost.

>>13175613
>Why would greek gods...be totally cool with...
my line of thought was that at the point of desertion, they lacked enough power to really do anything...but wouldn't this mean the demigods would lose their divinity?

>As in, experiments being performed on them?
yeah. shit like trying to fuse angels with human beings

>Parts of the family following different gods seems like a good way to start a family war.
i was thinking this could be an arc or something

thanks for the feedback...i think the idea is too much of a clusterfuck lol

Alright boys,

how do we write interesting and engaging characters?

Which do you guys value more in fiction? Good writing or original ideas? Id consider myself a decent writer when it comes to actually telling my stories. But everything Im writing has been done before. Just curious how much that matters to most readers. Dont have many book nerds in my life to ask.

>>13174847
mr. pickpocket is limited by the fact that there aren't other bands walking around the city. there's an in-story reason but this one orphanage is the only human population nearby. There is the potential to add two exiles to the mix that could give him something to work with, but it wont give him the opportunity to be himself, it would give him the opportunity to change himself

as for his interactions with cape girl, theres going to be no conflict there, despite their wildly different personalities he's very protective of her and she looks up to him. angry boy is his mark for the most part, because he's fresh meat and fun to fuck with

What are cool occupations? Like, 'mafia head', 'pirate king', 'vigilante', 'arms dealer', etc.

>>13175877
>goals
>contradictions
>bantz

>>13175893
Natural disaster namer

>>13175950
>goals
got it
>contradictions
how so? Believing in one thing, but doing something completely different?
>bantz
got it

>>13175877
>goal
>flaw
>lesson
Never goes wrong.

>>13175879
Good writing. This banal focus on novelty and originality is how we ended up with people like Gaiman and Sanderson.

>>13175877
Meet really interesting and engaging people in real life. Write them using your own twist. Any other answer is a meme, besides the one in which you base your character off historical people. Go read some biographies.

>>13176091
>besides the one in which you base your character off historical people. Go read some biographies.
already on it, chief. I love history and writing so most of the time i find myslef blending the two.

>>13175879
Good writing is better
There are millions of zombie apocalypse stories but people will still be read another one if its written well
Obviously its good to try to bring your own thing to the zombie formula, but actual writing skill is more key than just good ideas

>>13176032
>Believing in one thing, but doing something completely different?
Something in that direction. Can also be less extreme by working with the readers prejudices, say some huge, brutish character who barely speaks a word but is great at chess or some nice, cute girl who gets off seeing stuff dying. Some asshole doing a nice thing here and there is probably the most common example; so better to find something surprising.

Beyond that, obviously being active and making choices, even if they suck in the long run.

>>13175879
Original ideas is kind of a meme; but if we call them "newish" and "uncommon" I definitely prefer reading something I haven't read before, as long the writing isn't abject. The thing is, great writing itself can present an overused idea in a new light; and fresh ideas are usually followed by decent writing … it's kinda silly to treat a story like a dissected frog.

>>13175892
Maybe switch him from a pickpocket to a sleight of hand sort of guy? Theres plenty of overlap between the two and his obsession with it could easily be explained by a couple magic books that are still partially legible. He could then become the 'mischevious bard' of the group, entertaining with one hand and fucking with people with the other.

You could even work this into his relationship with the cape girl. Maybe the reason shes so obsessed with super heroes is because, when she was still very young, she believed that what he was doing WAS magic. Because of his protectiveness and the magic, she idolized him and what he was to her, a hero. Depending on her age at the time of writing, maybe she still believes this or maybe she knows the truth, either way shes trying to find her own strength so she can be worthy of tattered old supersuit in her bag.

I know screenplay writing isn't really considered an art, but I'm pretty happy with what I've written.

I finished a 68 page feature length episode for what I plan to be a TV series one day, but I'm also already done adapting it into a radioplay with narrator, actors, music, etc. Pretty chuffed with it.

Finished the second episode which came in at 56 pages. This is great since I've actually finished something for the second time. Means I know how to get to the end twice now.

Going to start outlining the third episode soon. I'm broke but I plan to adapt it into a graphic novel when I have the means.

Just wanted to share how chuffed I am really.

>>13164907
peak comfy

>>13175877
My characters are the anti-thesis of George RR Martins. Where he has his characters go on this monologues about their lives, I have my characters say exactly what needs to be said to further the plot and no more. To be fair to George RR Martin his writing fits his world. But my point is that I have no idea if my characters are interesting to other people (besides those who have read my stuff) but I do know that I like my characters. I'm writing a serial adventure series at the moment. The hardest lesson I've had to learn is pacing out the dramatic events. I've devoted an entire series of events as a pivot to understand the basic dynamic between two characters who meet for the first time. It took me 56 pages to do that adequately. During this time with the characters they just talk and discuss things and go through difficult situations, choices, and hardships... but I don't know if the reader will want to take this journey with my characters since they're subtle and not performing every line.

>>13176731
Of course it's an art. People who think it's not are reactionary retards.

>>13175877
if people say your characters are dull as sandpaper (e.g. Tom Fischbach), write a short description of their personality. Then, when writing with them, keep that document open and think "what would they do in this situation?" Then try and fulfill that as much as possible.
They don't have to necessarily be good people if they're interesting, funny or enticing to read about. Humbert Humbert, for example, is absolutely HATEABLE but is interesting to read because of his flaws.
tl;dr what >>13176046 said.

>>13164907
Lol nice subtle flex. Have you actually filled out all of that notebook or did you just stage that picture to look like it?

i need to buy another computer or a typwriter. i can't write on a computer which i use primarily for anime, porn, hentai, 4chan etc. the mind simply doesn't associate 'greatness' with these activities and as such, i can't write good prose.

>>13177100
Get a cheap laptop and rip out the NIC then buy a small external hard drive to back up your documenta to.

>>13176766
Damn right it is. I also enjoy writing outside at night, despite the fucking mosquitoes who only leave me alone when I smoke and seem to think my blood is literal ambrosia reeee.
>>13177090
Those are all pages with writing on them, though "filled out" is a strong phrase. I added more paper and removed everything that isn't notes a few days ago, so here's a picture. The three on top from left to write are
A) Assorted musings/aborted pieces
B) Rough draft for my 1st chapter (obsolete)
C) Actual rough draft for my 1st chapter (ready for revision)
What I'm holding in my hand is character notes, setting details, and a slush pile related to the story I'm working on. I'd say I'm at about a 50/50 ratio with notes and actual writing.
>>13177100
Why not write by hand? Set yourself up a separate workspace to remove yourself from distraction and give yourself a goal. Set up a "work then reward" system. This is going to sound a little pathetic, but when I first started out I worked with this system
>hey I want to jerk off
>alright, no problem
>BUT
>you're going to write 1000 words beforehand
Cut to 6 months later and I write almost every single day, and the reward of having a good writing habit is enough. The thousand words became two thousand, the two thousand words became 3 pages, the 3 pages became 10, etc. I got to a point where I didn't even think about masturbating, it was just the cue I used get myself to start writing. It's actually a pretty good way to wean yourself off of porn too, if that's something you desire. I've lost the thread here a little, but my point is pick up a pack of paper and some pens, separate yourself from your phone and computer, and give yourself a goal and a reward for when you reach it. This >>13177142 is a solid idea as well, especially for when you decide to type up your first drafts and if you still struggle with distraction.

You can do it anon, I believe in you. Even though my writing is mediocre at best, the sense of accomplishment and the glee I get from telling the story I want to tell is immeasurable. Dont put it off, start right now, today. Be the writer you always wanted to be.

>>13164182
I just write when I need to for school assignments. Never considered myself a good but my friends and profs have given me some praise for my style, whatever that means.

Last thing I wrote was fragments of a short story about a guy with OCD. It was supposed to be a creative assignment, but ironically I failed the course due to my now-diagnosed ADHD.

I'm tempted to maybe post it on here on a pastebin link or something of that sort, but I'm afraid I'll be bashed for it. In absolute honesty, I'm pretty much a pseud who buys classics online or at thrift shops due to name recognition or literary praise a book has received.

I don't consider myself nor do I desire to be a writer, but I respect the craft. Godspeed to you gentlemen and gentleautists who have your hearts set on inking the pages.

>>13176127
Magic was a gimmick I toyed with on and off during the years I've been planning this. He actually branched off a character whose deal WAS magic, and that character was one of the exiles I mentioned. However, I think the idea of him being literally compulsive mischief maker passing his mental illness off as a joke is a lot funnier and has a lot more emotional potential.

I've been thinking about his schtick and I have a few ideas for things I could use to show off his personality. Food was one idea, but I was also thinking about a joke involving him stealing the MC's belt. Another idea is that he'd just do stuff to the MC while he sleeps. I already had him stack a bunch of chairs on top of the MC the first night at the compound, maybe he can do other stuff like tie shoelaces together, draw on his face, fill his shoes with mud. Stuff like that

As for the connection with cape girl. My intent is that she looks up to him in spite of his criminal behavior because he's strong, confident, and she has a crush on him. He's protective of her because she's the youngest of the group, and probably the only one with a shred of innocence

>>13177341
>I'm tempted to maybe post it on here on a pastebin link or something of that sort, but I'm afraid I'll be bashed for it.
Nah, this isn't /crit/, theres a very relaxed attitude towards people's work. Post it, it seems like you'd actually like to hear people's thoughts on it. Dont let fear hold you back, we're just anons after all

>>13169328
Cool shit

>>13171217
Simply start with writing those moments/scenes, this may then lead to other scenes and you kinda just slowly work your way through jumping back and forth developing these little villages and towns then building roads between them?

>>13174494
Potential to be quite good (funny). Would watch.

ronald reagan Faye reagan Faye valentine Valentine’s Day the get upkids valentine get up time for school ugh mom I’m tired jerk off in math class splooge to fractions the three stooges the three musketeers the Spanish Inquisition don quixote donkey ass jackass jackass films shopping cart rob a Walmart with Paul valet wet fart slow start peach tart fall apart Purple Heart purple penis Barney dicking down a child Barney from how I met your mother Seinfeld cheers happy days friends we were on a break big iron old town road red dead redemption redemption league of legends Tiamat league of legends Tiamat the god real God Jesus the Dead Sea scrolls I will scroll for eternity

>>13175245
A beauty of writing, there is no such thing as too insane or too stupid. Costs nothing to write.

>>13175405
You just start writing faggot, it's that easy.

>>13176895
humbert is a very likeable and relatable character dunno what book you read

>>13177100
You're just looking for another reason why you can't write. As soon as you get another laptop you'll find a new reason, another barrier to get over, or something else to buy.

>>13164182

Currently, I am writing what I am reading/listening to and that's not a good thing. I always have a notebook and a pen on my person everywhere I go, so I can just jot down anything that comes to my mind, but I have difficulties connecting those sudden ideas. When I am writing in my native language, I try to be the least navel-gazely hipster shit that's popular today, but I got very conflicting feedback on my poems. When I get absolutely shitfaced or bored in class, I exclusively write in English, often trying to mimic/parody an author, but it always feels flat. The texts I am most proud of are hommages to Eliot and Heaney, and I am currently trying to write one to Blake (one of my professors at uni advised it). Am I too autistic to be an author, /lit/?

>>13175273
Here:
_________________________________

Why does it seem like authors can't "get away with" stuff that made the classics great? Dostoevsky's manic writing style and insensible, hysteric characters, for example. It feels like what is able to get published now has become extremely restricted in scope, and 80%+ is chick-lit. What is this shit?

>>13179446
I can only speak from my own perspective, but it's a problem of "inbreeding" in a sense. One of my actor/poet friends I sometimes go out and get shitfaced with said "the same people writing the same shit when they were 24, fucking the same women when they were 24, getting drunk with the same group of friends when they were 24". Chicks are usually more into this hipster "let's read poems aloud in coffeshops about guys who refused to do anal or found menstruation disgusting" and are more willing to fangirl all over a specific contemporary author, if he's good looking or trendy enough. And let's not get started on the whole slam poetry thing...

>>13176731
Congrats anon, hope you'll succeed in at least getting a graphic novel out of it.

>>13179486
Explain further? Is there anywhere I can read about the absolute state of modern publishing? We have 100 different versions of essentially the same book out every year and I can't think of a single novel that has been good.

>>13179638
I am sorry, I don't know any objectively written sources. I can share my own experiences though, if you are curious how things go down in a small, shitty Yuropoor country.

becoming a bum on the train today and fell asleep, muslim man with grave expression held my shoulder for a good minute trying to wake me up. felt his ramadan sympathy and also had a nap in the library. was kicked out (of the room).

After I went to maccas and there were suburban teenage kids, with burgeoning self awareness, each interaction intense yet crude in a struggle for social identity/ came a bum, talking in candid parrot chatter, who rummaged through the food the kids had left. turns out there was an untouched big mac. pretty unperturbed he ate his lunch and his conversations became increasingly angry. oh theres fries too, he quipped to himself. it was clear this was a routine for this man. so he goes, the modern bum, feasting like a king, burger king. we are proud of our decently fed bums with shoes on their feet and enough dough to fund their cigarette and alcohol habit.

somethings i jotted down

>>13179638
Read Rupi's interview

im super happy with how things are coming along in my novel. im at 7.5k words typed out and probably 10-12k written. a nice sort of theme is developing about the failiure of the eschaton and escaping the bounds of the current era. this shit gives me meaning /write/ bros, goddamn. love this

>No Roots, Roots, Roots
>Grow Deep, Deep, Deep,
>As Mine
>Holy Pretending
>Never Ending
>I'm the true Devine

Writing prompt for those who wish to write but don't know what :

A man exits his appartment building through an entrance he had never taken before and after a few steps suddenly finds himself completely submerged in water. He of course wasn't prepared for this so he panics and tries to swim back to the exit he took. He realizes that the door he had previously opened is now a watertight door like those you'd find in a submarine. As he loses consciousness he sees the valve turn and the door open. He later wakes up still wet but alive in a dimly lit old library. He is greeted by people in old diving suits.

Post your work so I can insult you for disappointing me like the typical stern father.

>>13175588
>Recently i've been noticing how much reading and writing english is hurting my ability to write in my native language: i'll write some really weird, english like "fake" syntax, and when editing, i'm constantly thinking about how such and such phrase would be improved if i was writing it in english.
I am italian and have the same exact problem.
However the more I write and read in italian, the better I become. The main problem is not that you read in another language (which is good if it means reading untranslated works) the problem is that you write in english. I do that too. Right now, here on 4chan, anywhere on the internet. We use it so much and in such a colloquial way that it is normal to start thinking in english. What you need is only reading more in your language (native books but even translation of languages you don't know) and mostly WRITING in it.
Also, try writing something both in english and in portuguese and see how things appear different. When you have a good phrase in mind in english, just write it down, then edit it later.
I know that it sounds difficult sometimes, it's mostly the fact that ours are romance languages while english is germanic. I bet a german speaker would have less of a problem with this.

>>13175588
>learning niprunes to read Dazai's untranslated stuff
>try writing in English
>want to do something that is possible in Japanese
>can't
>sit there pissed off that I can't
Suffering.

>>13171427
Wrote this already but fuck it.

After a minute or so of deep breathing and overall trying to make the pain stop, Latvia then looked up to see where she was: a hallway. The hallway wasn't psychedelic like the tunnel she fell through, but rather was like the hallway in an apartment, or hotel. The carpet was clean, the paint on the walls was fresh, and the many doors generally looked like hotel doors; they even had key cards!
One hell of a cleaning lady, she thought to herself.
Latvia decided to explore around the place. Even though the sensible person might have a fear of something creeping behind every door, every corner, Latvia was fine with it. She was somewhat of an adrenaline junkie, and she had the personality of the world's angriest chihuahua. She has bitten people a few times.
She then saw a door, with a number on the front and the key card slot: "206." She had a quick thought that the door was special, and so she opened it. Inside was a nice little room, with a table and two chairs on each side. There was also two items on the table: a candle, saying "drink me," and what looked to be rectified spirit, labeled "eat me." Latvia chuckled at it profusely.
She then saw a door labeled "open me," with a keyhole in it. Latvia then realized how similar this was to something she heard of. Oh, I get it! I remember reading a book where this girl falls into a hotel room, and she found a clue to get a key to open the door!
Latvia then looked around the room to see where the key could be. Oh! "Eat" sounds like "key!" I bet the key's in that vodka bottle, and if I smash it, it'll magically appear. Nuriel wondered how physically idiotic this girl could get.
And so Latvia grabbed the bottle (after jumping on the chair and climbing onto the table), and she threw it on the floor. Fuck off, there's no key in the vodka! Wait... what if I just busted the door down?
Then, even though Latvia was the size and weight of a household cat, she kicked down the door; the door was unlocked in the first place, so it swung open. Latvia then realized that "open me" doesn't necessarily mean "unlock me." Oops.
Strangely, though, when the door fell of its hinges, it disappeared out of view, rather than falling on the floor. She quickly realized that there was no floor, either, but just a bunch of trees viewed from the ground up. With a concerned expression on her face, she slowly peeked out of the door frame and realized that she was perpendicular to the actual ground.

>>13177479
You're right anon.
https://pastebin.com/k7xhPd6c

>>13181275
A bit of Alice in Wonderland and The Shining blended together

Fellas, I need help. I gotta prefix this by apologising for any cases of bad grammar and misspelling, English isn't my first language and there might be errors.

Anyways, so I'm working on a set of 5-6 short stories to set up the world and tone of the novel that's coming up next.
Each of these stories will have some kind of fear or phobia the main character has, but chooses to succumb to, to contrast the main hero of the novel, that, be it through friendly advice or personal force of will, eventually overcomes his fears on his journey.
The difficulty I'm having is coming up with properly impactful fears, that don't thread on another stories soil, but also don't get too shallow.
So far I've got a technician that clings to an AI companion he built, simulating his long lost friend - a fear of letting the past go.
A scientist that goes mad on religion an eventually KMSs to prove his point to his peers - a fear of not being accepted/fear of being forgotten.
And a policeman that drops his job to try and evacuate his family from a collapsing society - a fear of dying(sounds weird, but it's not, I'm working on portraying him as a coward that flees, not a family man that geniunly wants to save his wife)

So... What else should I tackle? I'm kind of running low on things people generally are afraid of. There's maybe fear of changes, but beyond that I got nuffin. Any advice?

>>13181465
the book in general is going to be really fucking weird.

I mean, at one point, this girl dreams about having sex with a character who doesn't even have a concept of sexuality, and she gets pregnant and when she tells the "person" she had a dream of sleeping with it doesn't even know what she means by "pregnant," etc.

>>13181488
Theres lists online detailing lots of different phobias, some are really specific and uncommon, you might get inspiration from browsing a list
And I myself have a fear of sleep because of chronic nightmares

>>13181488
>And a policeman that drops his job to try and evacuate his family from a collapsing society - a fear of dying
Why not make it blatantly obvious and have it be a story of a cop at the beginning of the zombie apocalypse who is afraid of death but in his cowardice has to choose between saving himself or his family? Maybe end the story with him being devoured by this undead family.

You could borrow one or two ideas like greed, envy, you know, from seven deadly sins. Keep in mind phobias, in the literal sense, are irrational so make fear of isolation or fear of betrayal that leads to poor choices and subsequent downfall.

>>13181493
Doesn't sound that weird.

Plenty of guys nowadays act like they don't know what "pregnant" means when they're told their responsible for that.

>>13181607
There comes the problem of phobias: you don't actually combat them, and they are very personal. I mean, there could be a character with a fear of enclosed spaces, but then how would he realistically be contrasted by a main hero? I don't see any way. What could work is something relatable, like a fear of crowds and society in general.
Will check the lists you mentioned, though, see if that helps.
>>13181620
I don't like obvious stuff, this shtick with fears comes as an overarching theme, not as a main selling point. Like in "The crime and punishment" by Dostoevsky you've got ideological crisis as a backdrop theme, but it's never mentioned directly.
So this cop is just doing his job, but seeing how every societal group is going to shit, and the station everything is based on is toppling on the edge of total anarchy, he has to make a choice - continue subdueing criminals, trying to bring order and control back, or run the hell away from all problems. And he chooses the latter, because having family and some monetary values grew on him and he fears death.
Am I overcomplicating? Dunno. But just having simplistic "coward still loses" morality lesson sounds a bit childish to me.

>You could borrow one or two ideas like greed, envy, you know, from seven deadly sins
I'm already borrowing some narrative structure from greek mythology, orpheums specifically. Having more religious images as references would confuse the reader, I believe. Thank you for the suggestion anyways.

I started churning out shitty fantasy short stories for a pet setting. What's the best website to post my shitty fiction on so that it can be criticized and refined.

>>13181736
Holy shit I was about to ask you what a pet setting entailed but now I realize you meant "favorite" and I'm a little disappointed. The idea of writing Redwall-esque stories appeals to me much more than I would have thought.

>>13182122
It's an entertaining thought, but not what I was talking about, no. Good luck, though.

>>13182139
Well tell me about your pet setting, I'd like to hear it.

>>13181418
The writing is competent enough, if a little bland. The only place a distinct style shines through is where he's thinking about the freeway and the smoke stacks, there's a particular flash of brilliance there that makes it stand out and truly gives us the first glimpse that something may be wrong with the Protagonist. The second part is a good climax, but I cant shake the feeling that we're missing the body of the work, the middle that's supposed to lead up to him having a fit over his tuxedo.

Honestly I liked it a lot more than I thought I was going to. Its needs some tightening up, some better pacing, and a middle, but as it stands it's an enjoyable read. I would honestly reccomend revisiting it and seeing if you can turn it into a complete short story, you have a fairly good handle on the written word. Most of us are hobbyists (or so I've gathered, I am absolutely one) and it's a great way to explore things and expand your mind, might be something you'd enjoy.

>>13182202
Frankie was a Labrador. I was told she was from a good and healthy litter, but she seemed a little slow for the breed. The house owners also had a tabby named Christine. She was a cunt and would swat your face with her claws if you didn't feed her at the right time. She was also extremely overweight for a cat because the owners had previously given her free reign on food. This was why they needed a pet sitter, because of that cunt of a cat.

Testing

>>13182260
t-thanks anon

I wrote it quickly to present it as fragment in class. The lack of a middle was deliberate to parallel how people with OCD are perceived as being absent in others' lives because they tend to hide their obsessions (thoughts) and compulsions (actions to resolve these), i.e. not verbalize or show them in public. Everything else is honest criticism.

But I honestly don't see myself revising this as I'm not genuinely inspired or driven to flesh out anything creatively. In writing it, I just drew from people/things I knew, and the "bloody sputum" imagery was the first thing that came to my head when I thought of Chekov and Walker Percy, physician-writers whom I admire but also died of TB.

I'll continue to lurk here to break the monotony of /sci/ and /b/.

>>13181624
Well, the thing is that it literally has no concept of sexuality or childbearing. Its species (it's one already in existence but I feel too embarrassed to mention it on /lit/) is "born" by eggs that form from the conglomeration of silt in the ocean, they have no sexual organs or sex hormones, and when they "die" they just revert back to an egg and are reborn in a larval stage. There's no reason at all for them to produce gametes or be pregnant, so of course it has no idea what she would mean by "pregnancy."

Bump

>>13179714
Aussie? Or NZ?

>stare at a screen for 2 hours and write nothing
>lose all sense of self-worth
>can't even think of the most basic shit

>>13184298
I know that feeling.

Find an idea you're passionate about and do an outline first. Staring at a blank page is a symptom of insufficient planning.

English is not my mother tongue. I wrote something for this girl I think I love, a foreign student, when I got home drunk yesterday. I don't usually do this and I think it's pathetic. But here goes. Maybe someday I would show her she made me write shitty love prose for another.

1/2

I called for you in my mind when I yelled at the drunkards on the parking platform hanging between the two hills, and I thought of your hair. I fell in love that night because I fell in love with myself; rarely can I find myself looking into my unstirred soul as I look into those dark depths of yours and find myself thinking I can not be looking into those eyes and not see myself.

Not one minute was I not thinking of you. When I felt the reciprocity of school-mates, those old young friends of mine, shining with lifeful brightness swaying those cans of beer into the air. The stark music halls echoing throughout the town made me feel queer. I made a million faces and pulled a thousand stunts, made merry gestures towards peoples hearts. I started with throwing coins at the raven-haired one that cut in line. She did not even notice me, both when she stepped in front of me and when I threw stones. All I know is, I thank her for not kicking me to death upon the floor, as I would. I am better now, and better yet I felt my growing for truthful love throughout the night, and I felt I lived a thousand lives. A swindler I was, as always. I yelled at the imprinted balloon of a girl celebrating her birthday, and her angry stare at me made it slip from her hands, and her friend and I were joking about grandmothers as we stared into the floating mess on the ceiling, but I retrieved it. And thinking of all this beauty around me I thought only of you. I would climb searching for ways to make you happy, grasping your screams of joy, I would climb far into the heavy air. I would pull the moon down for you, tie it to your thumb with a silken string. The sunlight would still barely graze your own radiance.

>>13184968

But yet your shade followed me throughout the night. It followed and beckoned me to lay. I fell asleep, walking through the blue cascades of life, and I dove into it. I was cool, floating in the breeze, wet from all the apathy I washed myself with, but yet you set me aflame, my body screeching through the echoing dome making pirouettes, my mouth shaking through words of solemn deceit.

Yet if I can be your actor that makes you smile at every opaque grimace I make, I could live, dancing through the whole act of life, dancing enchanted, those silent rhythmic breaths so beautiful to hear. I find myself wandering: if something falls into your hands as easily like we did to each other, would it be a sin not to believe in purposeful fate? Ants squashed by palms of smiling children.

I do believe faithful was the moment you sat at the bench in the hallway, near me. You were wearing green and I was scruffy all over, which made me laugh. I was anxious and full of fear as I did not know what to expect, of the whole constitution: me sitting there, gazing with sad eyes into the room with the light barely pressing through the shades and the blackboard searching for me to cut through it with chalk writing poetry before class. You with your roots already deeply sunk into the ground, smiling all over making happiness with talks of dying earth and similar faces. Strands of your hair tickling my feet making me giggle as we lie in the prickly grass watching stars.

Truth is what I do believe in and I do believe in you. If I lift my head one more time up from sleepless nights and see you saying ‘hi’ with gleaming eyes, the sound waves piercing through my drunken odour, I might admit I want you to wake me up forever.

Remember how you tried to record the snow, and you came up to me after I asked you if you enjoyed your firsts? You asked me questions I didn’t think I was ever going to be asked about the world. How to make balls of snow. I felt my cold hands could squeeze the world and dry it up for you to drink. Later you made such sweet remarks about me I started to understand why people kept birds in cages, chirping through their lonely rooms singing captive symphonies only they should hear.

I imagine us going through a long hike through the mountains, and your legs start shaking from anger and tiredness, and I carry you to a meadow basking in sunshine. We both decide to fall over and sink into our thoughts, telling stories to each other. It’s hot and we melt together into the earth, while you sing songs of remembrance, and we are glad that time is passing.

>>13184211
aus

>>13182286

>>13181736
This one

>>13184298
Smoke weed (not too much)

Is this sentence too long and/or gay?

>Regardless of whether one is looking from a humanist standpoint and conceiving of an individualized subject generated by the pairing of the seed of human nature with the ova of its own genetic code and actualized by its own experience and meditations thereon, or instead looking from an anti-humanist perspective and seeing a constructed subject generated by and bound to the structures of its society and surroundings, it stands to reason that one can plausibly understand another person of similar disposition, background and experience well enough to write them.

Pic related is from a short college romance story

>>13171674
Yeah, I like finding different fonts.

>trapped inside a 24/7 Mexican restaurant that never ends
Nice.

>>13174927
Good ole Bic Crystal.

>>13180968
Understand. Recently wrote a dumb joke for a story and realized that it makes no sense in English so I had to take it out.

>>13179446
Different literary trends, mijo. I assume you're speaking about the American publishing market, so Dosty isn't the best example of "why aren't Americans doing XYZ?" If you do want an idea why things sound similar, it's because MFA cancer is real and it shapes people's expectations of what modern lit should be. See: modern writing style guides.

If you want an idea of what the American editing scene is like from editors themselves, there's a book called What Editors Do: The Art, Craft, and Business of Book Editing. You can probably acquire a digital copy through the usual means.

What >>13179486 is saying (in the most obtuse way possible) is that people aren't branching out and reading and writing different things and having different experiences, so their growth as a creator is stunted.

>>13185711
Why do you write like a 4chan post? I glanced at it for five seconds and found like 3 different errors.

>>13185880
>so their growth as a creator is stunted.
Interesting. So you think the problem is more on the creator side rather than gatekeepers refusing anything that isn't like a previous high-sales book?

Reading your suggestion now. I don't know anything about MFA, though. I just know what kind of new work I see appearing in bookstores, most would appeal to only women, and there's the obligatory genrelit. Just not seeing a lot of variety. Dunno how many times you can read essentially the same book and still enjoy it.

>tfw going back to writing with a fountain pen after years of only using a computer for everything

>>13169425
Update. So this is day 5 of actual writing because im not counting days where im off in a different city or doing a bunch of shit and my smaller projcect now has 15k words.

>>13186737
I was clarifying >>13179486's post rather than saying it was the cause of the current book market. Writers are going to write whatever and how they develop is up to them, but publishers need to move books, so they follow trends and take options that minimize their personal risk. That's the nature of business, it's nothing new.

Trends are dictated by current culture and culture feeds culture, so you're going to see a lot of one thing for a long time before things shift. This can be observed in the current trend for superhero media which was preceded by zombie media; there was a similar boom for Western movies in the early-mid 20th century. People like familiarity, so yes, they will eat the same shit over and over until they're sick of it and want a new flavour. This is not just stupid people, this is everyone, though some are more willing to work out of their comfort zones than others.

So how does that tie into what shows up in your bookshops? As of right now, you have to deal with the fact that the majority of the American bookbuying market are women. I saw a thread earlier where another anon mentioned that and apparently that's considered shitposting, but it is, in fact, true, and not just for literature (see: the explosion of men's personal hygiene products from the early 00s onward, but I'll not delve into that here). There has been a long war against men and boys reading in American culture and if they're not reading books, they're not buying books and if they're not buying books, then publishers couldn't give less of a fuck about publishing books that might appeal to them—especially literary novels.

So finally, we get to the MFA style—specifically the Iowa school and its disciples, which produced a number of the more influential American writers of the 20th century (Flannery O'Connor, Andre Dubus, Raymond Carver, etc.). Everybody in the literary scene goes, "Wow this is great!" and they start building workshops around those writers advice and styles, which results in a literary cascade over the decades, vomiting the same ideas and ideals about what lit should be into each other's mouths. When I started looking into American writing guides from the past 20 years, they invariably mention Iowa school writers and stylistic ideas derived from them. Blogs, books, it's all the same. It all goes back to Iowa.

TL;DR
>Why do so many books seem to appeal to the female market?
>Because they're the ones buying them, promote reading to men and boys.
>Why are so many modern literary novels written in similar styles?
>Decades of regurgitating the Iowa Writer's Workshop principles
>When will this change?
>When enough people gibs mone to authors they think are worthwhile and are doing interesting things for publishers to take notice.
>What can I do in the meantime?
>Broaden your horizons by reading non-American authors or investigating specific literary niches.

>>13185695
Well, it's obviously gay and long, now not saying that's bad, that's what you're going for it seems, you've written it very specifically this way, any suggestions wouldn't be helpful I think. I certainly couldn't write something so honestly gay.
>inb4 this post is a good start

>>13186537
Because I spend more time writing 4chan posts than anything else?
Thanks for the help, but do you mind being a little more helpful and sharing what these errors actually are?

>>13187349
I was crammed for space and I think it's also worth mentioning that since Iowa/MFA-style writing has been the norm for so long, that's the standard a literary editor is going to be judging by, so it will continue to be perpetuated in publishing for the foreseeable future. If they think a writer can't or shouldn't do something because Mommy O'Connor or Daddy Carver (read: Gordon Lish) didn't do it that way, they're going to tell the authors who submit works that and authors are inclined to defer to their knowledge/experience and conform to their standards so they can sell the damn book.

>>13187429
I might sound super naive but surely just making it good would do the trick? Editors get flooded by mediocrity and trashy stuff; if the crap is at least familiar in a way they learned to associate with good writing (MFA-style) it's likely to stand out from the pile of mediocrity; but a work that is good despite not giving a fuck about it should be able to break through too.

Now obviously what's "good" is a way too complex to answer and even these works will get their share of rejections; but after reading my fair share of interviews with agents and successful/unsuccessful queries, it doesn't appear like there is as much a problem with the market nor on the side of the publishers and agents. And hell, majority of writers just not being good enough to justify taking risks for them is given too, in every era.

I want to write a story about a journey that has the scope of an epic but none of its substance. The premise is this; in a setting that resembles a post-collapse Europe, a young woman, kind of dim, not too savvy and very trusting comes across a courier carrying a message. This man is on his last legs and pleads with her to deliver the letter he was carrying, as it is of the utmost importance. She, being the naive girl she is, accepts, even if the address for the letter is literally thousands of miles away and she knows nothing of the message, the courier or the destination; she's a nomad and just feels like helping. Soon into her journey she comes across an older, armed and experienced man, a war veteran on his way to an ancient sacred city (think of Jerusalem) to transport there the ashes of his wife. Since she is headed in that direction and he feels sorry for her (as she will likely get herself killed if she travels alone that far into the unknown) he decides to join her.
And that's basically it; I like characters with a very clear motivation, a simple ambition and a lot of resolve to see it through. I'm worried that my story might be too ambitious for someone who is barely starting writing after a long time of inactivity. Should I save this idea for a latter time when I'm more experienced, or may I just go for it and make the best of it?

>>13165434
Um... As an attempt at capturing beauty you could do better. You need to try a different angle in order to transmit that sense of wonder; I feel you are being too literal and thus it ends up sounding mundane. Be bolder and try to really encapsulate how beautiful something like that might look. Your prose sounds insecure, and that's the last thing you want considering the goal you've set for yourself. Keep trying; I believe you can do it.

Does anyone know a good place to publish online stories in Spanish?

>>13187593
I think that the good argument is a bit too subjective to get into, so I pulled some thoughts from What Editors Do that might expand on publishing decisions.

>Like many eager new recruits, I imagined I would move up the career ladder as I demonstrated my ability with my editorial pencil. In fact, when it comes to advancement (and salary), nothing counts as much for the editor as an acquisitions track record. Just as law firms reward the "rainmaker" partners who bring in the biggest clients, publishers are quick to hand promotions and raises to the editors who bring in successful authors.

>Even in houses that are not primarily commercial, editors are measured by their acquisitions. University presses and other not-for-profit firms need new titles just as much as big trade houses. In many houses, editors will have explicit "signing goals"—sometimes a specific number of titles per year, more often a minimum dollar value of projected sales for the titles signed. In others the target is left vague, but you can be sure someone in the management is keeping track. When I worked at Crown Publishers, a division of Random House, I was never given a signing goal, but I remember the head of another division remarking, "A senior editor at this place has to bring in a million dollars per year to pay the rent." That was in the 1990s; the number may be higher now.

>In the aggregate, acquisition is important because it determines the success of a publisher's list. No matter what magic its editors can work with manuscripts, they must first find books to publish that will fulfill the house's mission—and please the audience. Alas, no amount of brilliant editing can turn an unsalable book into a winner.

>I often think acquisitions can be assessed along three axes; author, subject, and execution. Obviously, the ideal acquisition combines a bestselling author, an exciting subject, and superb writing. But a project that ranks highly on two out of three of these can be a viable one to publish.
-Peter Ginna, editor and publisher for 30+ years. (Bloomsbury Press, Oxford University Press, Crown Publishers, St Martin's Press, Persea Books)

Everything is based on what they can sell. Even if they consider it good despite challenging their ideas of what literary fiction should be, if they don't think they can find a market for it because the author is a literal who and the audience consists of people who want/expect Iowa-style lit, then the probability of it getting published will plummet.

>>13164606
your porn project sounds fascinating, i'm also writing with psychoanalytic overtones and am usually pretty horny. would love to read!

Thoughts on foot notes in fiction? Was writing third person surreal thriller but then started thinking it might be fun to put in first person footnotes about what the character was thinking at the time. In law school I had to get used to footnotes for law journal and I think it would be kinda interesting to use them.
>inb4 lmao dfw meme

>>13189354
There are better ways to get into a persons head. First person writing is mostly reserved for psychological thrillers, where subtile hints don't work that well.
For everything else it's better to write in third person to allow the reader to think for themselves and have their own conclusions based on how the characters interact and behave(i.e. someone chewing on a cucumber in the middle of the conversation meaning they don't really care, or a hero repeatedly checking if he did his dishes being a sign that his mind is occupied with something more important)
You can even directly have your characters thought, if you really want that, by having him write a journal or send a note to someone.

>>13189375
The main character is a lawyer, and I thought it would be funny to cite to cases, texts, articles, etc with proper bluebook citation, as if it was a journal article or appellate brief, but not just about the legal aspects of what's going on, but also like the food or people the main character interacts with. There's one well known Note called the Common Law Origins of the Infield Fly Rule that makes a complete mockery of the legal citation system and law journals in general. It footnotes the first word "the" and cites the dictionary. it Supra's any future mention of "the". When it talks of creation it says See Darwin, see even more generally genesis. Its hilarious. I was hoping for a more clever use of footnotes beyond just getting in the head of the character.

>>13164182
>What are you writing, /lit/?
Some autobiographical creative nonfiction. Sounds mundane but my writing professor has taken a large liking to my writing and is currently helping me get it out there! Exciting shit man

>Where do you do your writing?
Right now on my parent's screened in porch since I'm home from college for the summer. Usually listen to jazz but I've been rocking silence recently

>>13185695
what is this excerpt even for? it's extremely long and sounds like you're just flexing a semi-above average vocab and no one's ever going to get to the end of this sentence much less the end of whatever you're writing.

But with that said if you like it that way then keep it that way. write for yourself and no one else

>>13189404
>The main character is a lawyer
Should've mentioned that, faggot. As long you're doing it to enhance the sense of the character and the likes, it's justifiable and can work. Doing it because someone else did it and it was fun is a crappy reasoning on the other hand.

>>13189429
t-thanks anon.

>How lucky he was. He minimized the word processor(2) and looked through the client file. Of course, there were hard copies of everything. This was a law office after all. Nothing but the best century old technology for him.

> (2) While most computer users depend upon Microsoft Word as their word processor, some in the legal profession prefer using WordPerfect by the Corel Corporation. WordPerfect was released before Microsoft Word, but soon Word was bundled with every copy of the Windows Operating System, forcing WordPerfect to specialize to niche markets, one of which being the legal profession, offering formatting and macro features.

>>13189498
As we all know, using "after all" and, obviously, other phrases that imply reader already knows everything, naturally makes said reader close the book and, as it usually happens, never fucking ever come back to it again.
Please, refrain from using these phrases in the future.

>>13189569
>as it usually happens
how meta, anon.

Someone r8 this
>In this moment of panic I threw the laptops power pack inside my piss-stained shorts and connected it to an outlet; hoping its heat would dry my embarrassment. Turns out, putting a battery on your dick not only dries wet spots. But it also causes permanent bruising.

>>13189586
>as we all know
>obviously
>as it happens
>naturally
Check behind you, the point just went over your head.

>>13189569
Look at this fag getting sad that an author expects more out of him

>>13189597
Ha. I know, I had to reread the post, but by the time I had picked out all the different store fronts I didn't want to edit my post, knowing full well that I'd get a response out of how stupid I am. Oh well. As we know, I'm pretty fucking retarded.

>>13189596
I rate it piss out of poop

>>13189607
You should expect more out of your readers, but you shouldn't act like something specific is common knowledge.
It doesn't challenge the reader or add anything to the story, just makes you look like a smug asshole.
Look:
>How lucky he was. He minimized the word processor(2) and looked through the client file. There were hard copies of everything, just in case. This was a law office, and measurements had to be taken. Nothing but the best century old technology for him.
Instantly made better.

Or not, who am I to judge, you're the author, do as you please.

>>13189657
That anon, wasn't the author, but I am. That is way better. Thanks for pointing it out and taking the time to work it a bit. I see the error of my way. Thats why I like these threads. How am I supposed to get better and fix things if I can't see what's wrong with my writing in the first place.

>>13189673
Great attitude, but also take everything said with a grain of salt. Haven't seen anyone here post their diploma on modern literature, so most feedback provided is amateurish, mine obviously included.

If you take your work seriously, I'd recommend taking the time to read some books on narrative structure and typical mistakes. You'll be amazed how much better any work looks and reads when it's properly worded and structured, it literally ascends on a whole another level.

>>13164182
I'm writing a short story that's part of a larger work. Unfortunately, it's taking me a long time to finish despite my working on it regularly. It's 46 pages now and I've been working on it for 13 months. I'm at the point where I just want to hurry up and finish it, but I'm worried that by doing that the quality will suffer.

I typically write on my couch or sometimes in my bed.

I don't really feel like posting any samples. I've had non-fiction published but no fiction (which this story I'm working on now is).

>tfw bought a nice journal for writing
>don't want to waste it on my shitty beginner prose

Is there any merit in writing if one does not also read?

>>13191239
write tge shit out of it mang, you could always transfer polished ideas to another notebook

>>13191285
Yes. Most of the musicians I know have stopped listening to music after a while because it so quickly effects what they write. I think if someone is taken with a book or an author they would have the tendency to write more like them if there isn't enough time between reading and writing.

Y'all mind if I post the book covers I made?

>>13191486

>>13191494

>>13191500

>>13191582

>>13191486
7/10
>>13191494
8/10
>>13191500
9/10
>>13191582
4/10
>>13191585
4/10

All in all, minimalist kino

Here's an excerpt from "Eschaton disguised as the world's worst fanfiction." Some special agent is designated with solving an unexplained event where a massive explosion happened near the Kansas-Colorado border.
>>13191594
thx

>>13191486
I spent months researching and drafting my own; it's such a fun process and enhances writing too. People who don't do that are missing out.

Anyway, r8 time!

>>13191486
I love the idea but it looks a bit too naked and stale. Could use more fine detail. 7/10
>>13191494
Hate when there are actual pictures but it does have a cool vibe. 6/10
>>13191500
As much as I love minimalism, it looks too cheap and generic. 5/10
>>13191582
Feels more like an idea of one than an actual cover. 4/10
>>13191585
Kinda based. It has something. 6/10

debil, i forgot the last one

>>13191847
Post your own cover so I can make fun of you

>>13165355
Proud of you senpai, you put too many metaphors everywhere imo, start by being more humble

>>13187349
>>13187429
Thanks for post, anon, it's appreciated. I'll be looking into it more.
>>13187593
>Editors get flooded by mediocrity and trashy stuff
I mean, even if 99/100 are trash, an agent gets maybe 2000 queries a year, so you're still competing with 200 other non-trash manuscripts for all of maybe 5 slots.
>>13187815
tl;dr "Can this make us money? Will people buy this shit?"

How/what do I read to become a better writer?

>>13191866
Hell, naw. My feels won't be able to handle that without alcohol.

>>13191982
Start by checking out Palanicks advice. He has this great bit on how to write emotions without writing emotions, it helps a lot to understand why doing it is important and how to do it properly.
Also my personal favourite is "Wired for story". Definitely recommend reading it, preferrably with a pen, highlight important bits, come back to them every now and then.

For handwriting: pencil vs. pen?

>>13192441
I like pen because the contrast is starker and you don't have to worry about sharpening nothing.

>>13164493
>What are you writing, /lit/?
My magnum opus that I've been working on for years now. It's called "Chronic Writer's Block" by Anon.

>>13164182
>what are you writing?
Story of a schizophrenic, based on personal experiences
>where do you do your writing?
living room, there's a window to my left, not much of a view. The table is a circular dinner table made of glass, my parents typically sit around me.

sample:
"I wake up, and reality is staring at me from the closet door. It's either three pills, or ceaseless bouts of paranoia. I choose the pills. One gulp and five minutes later, a familiar warmth encompasses me. My mind grinds to a halt, as the voices begin to fade. The medication buys me a few hours of silence, which I use to write. Then the paranoia sets in again.
I keep forgetting how bad it is to hear the voices. The gift of silence the pills gives me shouldn't be taken for granted, but it is, repeatedly. The voices get the better of me sometimes, they can only whisper occasionally when I take the medication. But without the medication, the voices terrify me.
I hear myself speaking, it's always varying pitches of the same voice. My own voice. I hate it. They tell me my past is catching up with me, my sins are at the door step, that everyone is out to get me and the police are going to bust down the door any minute. They taunt me, they try to convince me that what they say is the truth. Sometimes I believe them, I believe my parents hate me, I believe they're plotting against me.
It's cold, dark, and terrifying. The kind of cold that makes your joints ache. I hate being alone."
Jimmy stopped. He looked frail, brooding over himself, obviously afraid of continuing.
"That's enough for today, Jimmy. We're making progress. Remember, I'm here for you." Dr. Lockhart sat legs crossed, half at attention, more concerned if Jimmy posed a threat to himself than if Jimmy was feeling safe. These things always came first in the field of mental health. If the patient posed a threat in any way, an involuntary seventy two hour hold would be placed on them. That means Jimmy's worst fear would become reality, being alone, in the dark of a run down mental hospital. Hopefully, the doctor thought, they could avoid that.

I'm thinking about self publishing a book but have never done so before. How do you actually design the cover and the layout of the thing? I usually only write in Word and have no experience putting a whole book together.

Pretty sure these revisions are going to drive me mad. Still trying to keep a July 1 deadline for a clean, finished manuscript polished to the best of my ability.

>>13193633
How many drafts overall? How much time do you spend per revision cycle?

>>13192861
Contact a local printing office and ask for advice, small buisnesses are usually chill and friendly enough.

>>13193678
I'm not that structured with it. I'm vaguely moving from top to bottom making it all as good as I can get it and carrying improvements through. I just know what I need to do in general and what areas are the shittiest.

I conceptualize it as a piece of canvas I'm applying layers of watercolor wash over. Not sure if my insanity is understandable to others. Paint over the draft once for, say, conceptual improvements, once for fact accuracy and depth of setting, once for prose and voice/narrative, once for impactfulness... Not that organized, necessarily, but that's the general idea.

Wrote up a synopsis for a world my stories will be taking place in. /comfy/?

The year is 2070. Earth is enslaved by an AI-propagated neo-feudal post-
scarcity economy where the lower classes are forced to produce meaningless
trash trinkets to be thrown into big holes, just to meet the work quota set by
insane economists in the thirties whose arguments were taken as ultimate truth
and the key to lasting human happiness. This system is unknowingly watched
over by a neo-upper class of excelciites, genetically engineered uberhumans
who are tended to by slaveAI, spending up to ninety percent of their time in
2B2T2, an artificial neo-reality video game inspired by the block games of the
two thousand tens. Opposite them on the social scale are the lumpenprole
bottom class, surviving in the lower tiers of megacities, driven insane by
gaseous centennial clouds of Zippywater-X, a hallucinogen invented to replace
the mundane effects of LSD and DMT with a superior high, comparable to
Indian Jenkum or Russian Krokhodil but without the face-melting side effects,
at least physically.

Bonus points for recognizing all the retarded references.

>>13194190
What's the point? All of this could work, and did work in different enviroments, but why these specific things, what are you trying to tell the reader?

Aside from the usual poetry writing, I'm working on a postmodern surrealist play based on the infamous r9k louis audio. I'm not very good at dialogue so it's a challenge for me, but I'm fortunate to have some intelligent and experienced playwrights in my social circle, so I'm trying to work through it with their consultation. Will probably fail, but it's my first foray into drama, so what the hell. We'll see.

>>13194190
Based and hydepilled

A collection of vignettes from my time in the army. The stories have a basis in reality but I might dramatise certain events to lend them more weight. They are either funny or sad, or both at the same time.

I didn't want to write it chronologically because I think that would be boring.

>>13195662
Dont talk about Basic for christ's sake. Unless someone died or got caught jerking butt naked in the DS office of course.

I'm writting shitty fanfic to destress. Then I write actual stuff when I ain't lethargic or distracted. Both of which I write at my desk in my cluttered room. Sometimes I write at a friend's but never in public.

>>13195807
I'm only writing the stuff that's worth writing.

>>13164182
What's your experience with "autopublishing"?
Did you guys post a short-story in sites like wattpad or Goodreads?

>>13194536
>All of this could work
nice

>>>13195154
Yes, although I added my own interesting twist to it

I am writing my master's thesis. I either write in bed, on my massage chair (I am kinda crippled) or a local bar famous for having the best apple pie in the country. I can't see how anyone would care about any of these things.

>>13196571
I'm currently writing something on Wattpad, even though I don't really like it, since almost all of the popular stories are gay BTS shit and werewolf erotica. There are some gems on there, though, a lot of which aren't paid. Doubt my writing will go far tho
>>13196804
What are you writing your thesis on, anon?

>>13197069
Coetzee, Humanism and Anti-Humanism

I only ever get invested in writing pretty edgy shit.

I dunno if I'll ever show this shit to people I actually know.

currently writing a short story about a pagan eco-nationalist who kidnaps invasive ethnic minorities every November to perform ritual sacrifice for Blōtmōnaþ, fertilising his small farm with their blood and body.

Is it cringey to use poetic language in a yearbook?

new bread pls