/lit/ - Literature

>>16450692
Writing is all talent.

>>16450701
The more I practice, the more talented I get

>>16450701
Halfway right. You definitely need natural talent if you wish to become a great writer, but you still have to learn things. Nobody knows all the rules about writing right from birth.

where do you go to write now that you can't dine-in at coffee shops anymore?

>>16451110
I sit in my backyard and take in some rays as I ponder over my story and smoke a cigarette.

>>16450701
Talent doesn't really get you anywhere if you lack the discipline and willpower to practice. You can be really talented when it comes to language, but learning the subtleties of crafting and structuring a proper novel takes a lot of time. Even James Joyce rewrote his first novel .
Though, I'll give it to you that talent plays a large part in it. I've seen writers who have written an absurd amount still struggle to write a single grammatically correct sentence, or even come up with an original description

>>16451110
My house, although lately that has been hell since I can't get a single quiet minute to save my life. I have ambient sound blasting almost all day just to try to drown out the noise. Right now I'm very envious of people who live alone

I know both RR and BP are cringe, but I actually got some comments denoting the fact that postmodernist writing is really uncomfortable for the kids these days. Neat.

>>16451316
kek, keep posting. It's an enjoyable read for me during lunch

>>16450990
A lot of Charles Dickens's novels are written this way too. Great Expectations, Tale of Two Cities, and I also think Oliver Twist. Every week, when a new chapter was released, illiterate people would get their one literate friend to read out the chapter of Dickens

I'm also 60% sure that Dostoevsky wrote Crime and Punishment originally in serial installments in a newspaper

>>16451481
Yeah plenty of older classics were serial publications Writing didn't make a lot of money back then, so weekly chapters provided consistent income

>>16451496
>Writing didn't make a lot of money back then
It arguably doesn't make a lot of money now either ...

>>16446680
8 different view points thus far.

>>16451356
Good to hear. It's been fun getting more and more absurd in the parts that have nothing to do with plot. Not sure this is ever going to actually GO anywhere, plot wise. Maybe a road trip, but I'd like it to just keep derailing.

>>16451725
I'd be a little disappointed if it the plot actually ever did go anywhere

>>16451551
No, but a few outliers provide the illusion of it being a very lucrative profession. It's a little funny listening to people having these dreams of striking it rich and "making" it as an author. I went with the safer route and went to law school so that at some point I won't have to worry about money and can just write

>>16451919
>dubs
Nice.
Again, if you need any outlines lmk. I'm just studying for the bar and writing bp when I can't focus anymore on essays.

>>16451967
Yeah I will, thanks for the offer. I'm glad that I still have a couple years before I take the bar. Not prepared for how exhausting the studying is going to be yet

What is your usual writing process? Speaking of "intent"; when you start working on a piece do you think of the story before a single word is put, or do you develop a story on the fly? It seems to me as if the first is better when the idea is having a "concise" story, with a logic development but not nearly as good as far as creativity goes whereas letting your imagination take the reins on each word seems more spontaneous..

>>16452272
I generally know what's meant to happen as far as things like what significant plot event happens at what time, but nothing in-between reaches the >outline and the rest just comes out on its own

>>16452272
I have important events in mind but the smaller 'journey' stuff is harder to write out sometimes. It's bit easier if I just characters go with the flow though with a little bit of planning so I don't get written into a corner.

>>16452272
I have a general idea of the story and how I want to structure it. I don't know any author who has every single detail ironed out before they start writing. That process would just be way too slow, and issues with the plot may not become apparent until you're a decent ways into writing it. You're also more than likely going to come up with better ideas along the way. That definitely happens to me pretty often

>>16452272
Any time I plot things out I get horrible anxiety. I just keep writing.

Do you have the formal structure of the story figured out when you start writing? Such as the amount of chapters and such? Not saying it cant be subject to change but is it something you keep in mind early on?

>come up with a cool title for a novel
>it's long so it probably hasn't been used yet
>the unbearable lightness of being
>check and find out that some fucker in Prague used it decades ago
>it's another title I only came up with due to hearing about and forgetting a novel
Damnit, every single time

Here's an excerpt from my current project.

"Looks like we're almost there. I'll turn on some music to calm you down," he said as the radio scrambled to a song with fast drums and roaring lyrics.

Starting to get a headache, Hito leaned his forehead against the cool glass and closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath and finally starting to relax.

>>16452893
You probably heard the title sometime in your past, forgot about it, but it floated around in your subconscious

>>16452972
Seems alright, but I would break up the last sentence. You have a guy getting a headache, taking a breather and then relaxing all in the same sentence

>>16452995
Ah, thank you. Now that you point that out, I think I have a tendency for run-on sentences.

>>16452995
Yes, when I get a headache, I feel tense and on edge, not relaxed

Fuck books, Ima turn my story into a videogame and you can't stop me.

>inb4 closed minded retards thinking videogames are incapable of telling good stories by nature because of muh player choices

>>16453022
It's going to be a sex video game, isn't it?

>>16453022
don't steal my idea buddy.

>>16452972
how the fuck are lyrics ’roaring’

also the second bit starts rather awkwardly

>>16453027
absolutely not

>>16452972
It's a little awkward, anon. How about:

>"Look's like we're almost there. How about I turn on some music for ya?" he said as the radio instantly began blaring a trite and predictable guitar solo with too much reverb.

>With his head throbbing, he slumped forward onto the dash with a thump, gripping his head and breathing as slow as he possibly could.

>>16453080
Well I don't think that would fit exactly, but sounds good in general though. Thank you.

>>16452740
No, not really. I think that would only be important if you were writing a novel where POV changes between chapters. For my current project I had chapters I had vaguely outlined that I ended up just throwing out entirely. It's good to know roughly how long you plan something to be, but chapter amount isn't very important until you've written some of it and are figuring out the pacing

The count took off the cover of the dishes with a flourish and revealed spicy chicken tenders, biscuits, red beans and rice, and a salad. After I devoured the food, we sat by the fireplace with a glass of brandy, although he excused himself and said that he did not drink. We spoke at length about my journey and all the people that I had met.

Now that I had no distractions, I could finally observe his appearance. Although Count Blackula had dark skin, his skin still seemed pale and death-like. His Afro grew abundantly on the top of his head, but not along the sides. His black eyebrows were bushy, almost a unibrow. His black mustache was wide and flared to tips by his cheeks. His both his ears and fingernails were pointed. But by far, his most prominent feature was his exceptionally sharp canine teeth, which protruded over his dark lips.

Blackula stood up and said, “You must be tired. I have business until afternoon, so feel free to sleep in as late as you want, brother.”

I looked toward the window and I noticed the first rays of dawn. The Count took my right hand in his right, then pulled me in an embrace with his left. His breath smelled rotten and I felt nauseous. Strangely, I felt a terrible sense of dread. I involuntarily shuddered. The Count noticed it and released me. He bowed and left. His grimly smile showed more of his canine teeth.

>>16453491
>cover of the dishes
It's called a cloche

>>16453491
Are you just rewriting Dracula but he’s black and called blacula?

>>16453517
More like blehcula

>>16453515
Thanks man

>>16453517
Yes, but it's blackula with a k

>>16453524
Don't be racist. It's Blackuler

>>16453531
No, the hard "-er" ending is racist. The soft "-a" ending is used amongst the Black male community

>>16453531
Blackuler is what Van Helsing and the rest of the hunters from the Klan call him

I also have the black characters call each other "brother" and "sister". Do black people do that? I know that they refer to each other in the third person like that
> It's so good to finally see another sister here. There are too many whites
> Eh yo, don't snitch on a brother when he just trying to get a side chick

>>16453548
kek

>>16453556
Watch the The Wire. It runs the gamut of blacks and their slang, from corner boys all the way to senators.

Why is screenwriting methodology so much more insightful and practical than literary theory?

>>16453580
Just tell me what black people call each other. I don't want to watch the Wire. Besides, I'm already watching Psych, which has a black main character

>>16453591
Gus? The dude is basically white, to the point where they actually play it for laughs. He should not be a model for how black people actually speak to each other.

>>16452272
I have the very general overview of the plot before I start writing but I fill in all the details as I go along

>>16452272
I use the Aristotelian model.

>>16453609
> He should not be a model for how black people actually speak to each other
noooooooooooooo

>>16453591
The Wire is based as fuck, tho. It's the most /lit/ show to air on television. It's long, intricate, doesn't hold your hand, and is focused on realism (except the dude in a bow tie). The wire is fantastic for examining dialogue from urban youths. I wish David Foster Wallace had a television before he killed himself so he could see how ebonics is really done.

>>16453657
Fine, I'll watch a bit of the Wire. It'll be more authentic if the characters actually speak like black people instead of me just saying that they're black

>>16453580
>be from Maryland
>The Wire is more or less required watching
>people from out of state tell me they had to have subtitles on to understand what people were saying

I'm a suburban white kid and I had no problem understanding what they were saying. Does Maryland have an accent or something?

>>16453675
Watch all the way through the first season before you give up on it. It has a long first act in order to set up all the pieces.

>>16453556
Wouldn't it also depend on where they are from? If you're going with stereotypical hood shit, you might as well listen to rap from that region.

>>16453556
Most of the black co-workers in my office call each other the first initial of their name.

>>16453623
I can fix that

I made fake RR ads for my own book and put them in one of its chapters. I’m just procrastinating writing, arent I?

I finished the initial work on my big current project two days ago, give or take. My plan, now, is to not look at it at all for a month at least. I think if I put it away and don't fiddle with it in the slightest, I'll be able to fiddle with it with fresher eyes.

>>16453873
Good idea anon.

If I posted my 401 line poem would any of you tell me how it sounds?

>>16453836
Yeah, but I haven't been able to write anything for the last few days so I'm no better

>>16453836
>>16453925
I've been playing video games, watching anime and some stupid T90 videos instead of writing

>>16454210
>>16453925
I figured out the trick is you have to host the images on another website to imbed them into a given post. It turned out pretty good. Looks just like one of their ads, but gets worse with every ad until the bottom one just says the same thing over and over. Neat effect if my writing was actually longer.

>>16453889
>sounds
vocaroo it

Any tips for studying poetry as a means to improve the impactfulness of my prose?

>>16454671
Read more poems.
Set yourself restrictions (Only follow ABA BCB, shit like that).
Alliteration is always alright, although...

Submitted a shitty short story I wrote a few months back to the Lit Quarterly lads

First time I've ever submitted any writing to anything, even if I don't get in it feels great to be submitting work somewhere

Incidentally, anyone here read literary journals? Thinking of getting into them more

>>16453657
I like the Wire a lot, and think it's better than other hyped-as-smart HBO type TV, but it's still pretty typical of what goes wrong in the process of ekeing out extra seasons while forcing the story to revolve around the marketable actors.

>>16453679
No, it isn't hard to understand at all. Just sounds like American accents to me. Strange thing for you to come on /lit/ and brag about though.

alright /wg/,
I've had a story in my head for years, and I've been able to outline a definitive sequence of events, but I've really been struggling with character. I don't really want to go into the specifics of it all, so I'll try and reduce it to a more abstract question: in a story, do you prefer a variety of characters, or strong focus on a smaller cast.
This is what has been getting me lately. Should I a) try and establish an ensemble of characters, all with some central importance to the story. Or do I b) create a small cast of "main characters" and have every other character clearly secondary in nature. What are your 2 cents on this matter /wg/?

>>16452991
That's what happens to me all the time, but with music. I invent other people's leitmotifs

>>16455280
Depends ;^)

>>16455314
love you :p

>>16455280
Unironically depends on the story, they're both good in different contexts

>>16455391
yeah, I get that, I'm not a tard. I was curious on what people personally preferred, though I still admit that it's a bit of a vague question

writers of /lit/: I am very interested in assembling a small crew of writers interested in experimental forms and who are interested in doing collaborative pieces together. It won't require more than a couple hours of work a week, as the idea is still experimental, but I'm really keen on seeing how it would play out. The form I'm thinking of requires several writers, as the nature of the project is decentralized. It will be a kind of cybertext project inspired by the fibonacci sequence; pic related. My idea is still inchoate and subject to change and I don't want to be any kind of leader either. I want new ideas from other members of this prospective crew. I like the idea of a 'multi-verse' kind of cyberstory check out this book here:
>http://library.lol/main/88EE939FEF7F9E79DB79E80A9D2185DD

It's the libgen download page for 'Cybertext poetics : the critical landscape of new media literary theory'. I'm just learning about this form right now. Anyway, I want to make a story that several simultaneous iterations and can be explored via hyper link when they appear on key props or characters in the story. Maybe a link will lead to exposition on a prop, etc. Idk. Let me know if experimenting with new electronic forms of literature as part of a group interests you. Thanks.

>>16455420
>hey do you prefer hammers or saws
>lol what does it matter what I'm trying to build, I'm not a tard, just which is better

>>16455420
Personally, I think you should get comfortable writing just one or two characters first before you cook up huge ensemble casts. Because it's the same challenge multiplied. Even a lot of professional authors fail there, trying to bite off more than they can chew.

>>16453057
>how the fuck are lyrics ’roaring’
death metal

>>16455427
I understood nothing about that

>>16455479
What is it that is difficult to understand? I admit that the syntax might be a little garbled but I rushed it a little and composed it in the reply box and have been up too long. Is it difficult to understand because you refuse to look up what cybertext forms of literature are? I’m not trying to be a dick. If I was unclear as to precisely my goal, that's because I'm not dead set on what I want to do other than experiment with new forms of decentralized, i.e., non-linear fiction with a couple other writers, and see where it goes. I used to make lots of electronic music with a crew and it was a lot of fun. I'm more motivated to work when part of a group.

We wouldn't even have to ever know each others real names, just communicate through IRC, discord, email, dropbox, pastebin, etc. Maybe the way I described it was confusing.

Imagine a story that begins as a single node and is 1000 words long. That story then branches off into 2 nodes of the same length. They could be 2 different universes, or just a different way of depicting a standard story. For example.

Node 1: Jon meets Jill at a music event.
Node 2a: Jon’s life is eventually ruined by Jill somehow
Node 2b: Jon marries Jill but is still changed by her in a significant way

This would be an example of a ‘divergent timeline’ iteration. The two directions are mutually exclusive. But they exist simultaneously within the structure of the story. Which version of events is experienced by the reader is decided through the links they choose.

In an ‘integral timeline’ iteration, Jon and Jill might go like this

Node 1: Jon meets Jill at a music event
Node 2a: Jon meets Jill’s sister the next week at the same club
Node 2b: Jon runs into Jill again at the Grocery store

These versions of events could also be rendered in a linear manner.

Imagine ‘nodes’ of text that are interconnected and tell a story in a slightly more simultaneous or non-linear manner. It could be achieved many different ways. The purpose of the group is to, as individuals, compose these various nodes in each of our own way.

>>16455679
>This would be an example of a ‘divergent timeline’ iteration
just make a video game with choices broski

>>16455759
but I don't want to make a game. I want to make a form of literature that exists in more than one state at a time.

> be me
> get writers itch
> start typing
> keep typing
> 3k words a day

is this normal?

>>16455949
No, I think you might be suffering from a sudden outburst of creativity. We will dispatch some stormtroopers to beat you back in line, don't worry.

>>16452272
I usually have a general idea of a story which can sometimes be no more than a vivid mental image. Then I build around that and improvise, and as I write, I think about it more, and there is this feedback going on. Usually new ideas come to me once I start writing it that were absent at first.

>>16455966
check'd and kek'd.
ages ago some anon posted here that for him writing was like throwing up. It really feels like that to me

>>16455995
Welcome to the creative process. I call what you are doing the 'freeflow' method. Another fun technique you might try is the construction of various lists. Then maybe you do a little research on some aspect of your list and get more ideas, then more associations and connections start appearing. As you list grows, so might the complexity of your world and it's characters or props. Then once I get a big enough list I start compressing it or consolidating it into something more dense and interesting to me. Just a thought. The process is really fun to me.

Would anyone read about a schizo writer in the same vein of Confederacy of Dunces with the style of Pynchon? I'm scared it won't be funny enough to live up to those two giants though.

>>16456248
You're not doing it right. Writing is like any other art. You shouldn't do it because you care what others think or that you want to 'live up' to someone. Competition is a little different, but the main reason you should make any kind of art is because you enjoy doing it. You should do it because it makes you feel healthy or more like yourself. Real artists get sick when they are not engaged in the creative process. They live to make the art, not make the art to live. Not that there is anything wrong with making a living doing art, that's all of our goals. It's just that when you say you are scared it indicates a bad attitude in my opinion. Do whatever the fuck you want, do what interests you. Fuck anyone that doesn't like it because you shouldn't be doing it for them. Do it for yourself and your own amusement. I have a background in fine art and recently started writing a lot and I love it. I feel like me again, inventing new worlds, It's so much more entertaining to me than just consuming the boring content in the world today. Hope this helps

>>16456248
Sound like pseud shit. Pass.

>>16452893
It could be worse
>wrote out a synopsis for a story a couple of years ago but sat on it because busy + needs historical research that I don't know how to find / don't have the assets for
>don't tell anybody about it because I don't want to risk them stealing it (happened to a relative of mine once years ago), but think of pitching it as '12 Monkeys meets The Seventh Seal meets Reservoir Dogs'
>go and see the new Chris Nolan flick recently and it has precisely the same thematics and a few similar plot beats except it's told from the opposite side's point of view
>now anybody I show my idea to will inevitably think I'm an NPC who regurgitates whatever's popular he watched last and thinks it's original, and because I avoided showing it to anyone I can't prove otherwise
FUCK'S SAKE

First page of a sci-fi short story I'm writing after stupidly falling out of the habit for some time. Premise involves most of the population being struck with hallucinations permanently. How's the prose?

https://pastebin.com/ChJ5nVCZ

fuck you mcluhan

>>16456292
Thanks. You kind of missed the point of what I asked, but I think you're mainly right. I've also written my best stuff when I stopped thinking about what people would think, and merely immersed myself in the prose and action.

>>16456549
And what, pray, do you read?

>>16456708
Clive Cussler and Robert Ludlum.

>>16456725
>genreshit
Why do I post here with you plebs?

>>16456671
>https://pastebin.com/ChJ5nVCZ

it's a little purple and archaic in verbiosity. The density of your adverbs and adjectives seem liek an anachronism, difficult to penetrate with the brain full of hardcore ADD. You seem like a good writer, just a little too wordy for my taste. my suggestion is to use harder, shorter words and brighter more clear images, but that is just my taste. Do as you want. I just probably wouldn't read more than a page in its current state. Again, it's not 'bad' it's not my taste is all. I hate people that just say 'i like it' or 'it sucks'. You asked what i thought and i always delivar.

>>16454997
If you're ok with writing diverse stuff, you know what I mean, Wattpad is always running writing competitions for stories with minority and female protagonists

What to do when your story ends up being too short? I'm talking ~50k words for a finished first draft. I'd like to say I want to expand things significantly but actually there's a lot I want to prune from it and I want to rewrite the rest.

>>16456671
I'll echo what the other anon said. You can clearly write, but you're not writing clearly. Almost every sentence reads like a circus act, a performance for its own sake, and by the time I reached the end I had no idea of what was even going on.

>>16456862
Slaughterhouse 5 was 50k words. I'd suggest focusing on improving the work, not the word count. Readers can tell if something was just bolted on, and adding things that would be integrated into the story means you'll have to rewrite most of it. I'd just continue on with your pruning and rewrites without paying attention to word count anon.

>>16456786
>>16456919
Fair enough. Struggling to figure out how to write prose for a story where 90% of what's being seen by the characters is a hallucination and they're trying to communicate between them around that.

This is the last short story I wrote before this one, different subject matter so the style of prose isn't as abstract. Any better or worse?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/airgam86i587aqq/What%20Is%20It%20That%20Is%20Coming%2C%20web%20copy.pdf?dl=0

>>16456741
>Why do I post here with you plebs?
>>16456955
>https://www.dropbox.com/s/airgam86i587aqq/What%20Is%20It%20That%20Is%20Coming%2C%20web%20copy.pdf?dl=0

This is much more clear, but I notice some run on sentences and it makes me think that the motto: don't tell us, show us. I wouldn't say it's bad, and I don't have time to read more than the first little bit, but those are my thoughts. Maybe my mind is corrupted by ADD and amphetamines so I'm impatient and like images more than i should because I"m also a fine artist. keep writing. you will only get better.

Any point doing a masters in creative writing? I found one that has an entry into a phd program. I'm sure one could work as a tutor after that, though it isn't the most ideal job.

>>16452272
I'll have a vague idea for a story, then I'll write for an hour based around that then the next time I'm at work I'll think about it when I can. This has been an enjoyable process and keeps me less stressed about putting words on a screen.

>>16452740
Not for me, I haven't finished an entire story probably since I was in middle school.

>>16453057
Roaring is a vocalized action

I've recently come to the realization that I'm a pantser who needs to learn more about how to actually structure a story and get really good at finishing projects. I've had several novels devolve and fall apart. So, now I'm focusing on getting really good at writing short stories and shorter pieces to learn structure, then later applying my on-the-fly autowriting to long form. I'm naturally a scatter brain, but having a general direction to work in has helped improve my craftsmanship. I've been using Lovecraft's method as a reference and learning to love the process again - feels good.

>>16457218
>Lovecraft's method
link?

>>16455894
I think you have a terribly convoluted way of looking at an idea that is ultimately rather simple. Maybe lay off drugs dude, if you want to take this somewhere

>>16457257
Maybe its convoluted, maybe I'm just not sure exactly of what I want to do. And I need the drugs. They give me focus and the fire. Meth is literally the best drug for writing. I will probably never quit unless I am forced to in jail, etc.

>>16457040
Most parents hire STEM tutors for their kids though

>>16457477
There's just the problem of everything you write looking like obvious meth head ramblings

>>16457522
topkek. it's that obvious? damn son. but I get the best ideas on that shit. I appear to be at an impasse. On one hand I have the meth and the power it gives me to write and most of all have fun. On the other hand I have the fact that everyone knows it's the meth. What would PK Dick do?

>>16457251
https://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/essays/nwwf.aspx

>>16457543
Have you ever thought that even though you believe that your writing is top tier -- if you were sober for a few months, you'd realize that your work suffered from being written by someone on a brain handicapped by drugs? My former roommate was (is?) a weed smoker, and on some weekends, he and his stoner friends would smoke weed and discuss philosophy. They thought what they said was very insightful and the drugs made them better people, but in reality, 90% of their conversation was
> what stains of marijuana was best
> what they felt smoking each strain
> where to buy it
> how they felt as they adjusted dosages

>>16457543
I like PKD's stories, but wouldn't take the man for a role model, seeing as he was so poor he had to eat cat food, hallucinated being possessed by the spirit of a biblical prophet, tried to kill himself, and did various other fun things before his very miserable end.

>>16457543
You definitely should not take drugs to write, anon. Stephen King nearly killed himself doing that. If you want to consoom a substance that a lot of great writers used, just drink absinthe

>read through The Tempest to come up with a title for my novel
>found a good one that hasn't been used yet
See you guys at the top

>>16457813
Pretty good joke frogposter. What did you land on... I'm just curious... I won't steal it or nothin'

>>16457813
1 year later
> What do you mean there's already a work called Hamlet???

>>16457832
It's from Prospero's speech to Ariel in act 5. That's all you're going to get out of me

>>16457851
>Wait, there's also already a work called Macbeth? But I spent 5 years on that one!

>>16457884
This must be it anon. Preceding the ritual.
>Midnight Mushrooms
Gotcha.

>>16458053
Nah, it's You, who are but air. It's a novel involving artificial intelligence and ghosts

>>16456786
>>16456919
>>16456984
Cheers

>>16457659
>Have you ever thought that even though you believe that your writing is top tier

I don't think my writing is top tier. I just think its rather creative. I can be just as creative without drugs, but they help a lot. Especially the psychosis meth induces at times. It's scary but I get my best ideas from methamphetamine psychosis, as sick as it sounds. Rimbaud was also a drug addict and we all know what happened to him, so I don't think that drugs are some kind of magical nectar of the Muse. They carry a heavy price on multiple dimensions. I am ashamed to admit that I have trouble focusing without speed. I know that my writing is rough still, but while uncut there are gems in there. It is the gem-like particles of my prose that keep me going, the unexpected flash in the ash of my mind. The problem is that these ideas that come from the drugs are so non-cliche, so new, that I am like a racoon trying to pull a quarter from a bored out log, knowing that I will never have it because of the nails that trap it there yet unwilling to let that moon-soaked speck of silver go. This is how you trap raccoons.

>>16455679
I'm down for this

>>16450692
>The Weekend Novelist
Where could I find this online?

>>16458502
splendid! Now where would you like to meet up? Do you know about IRC? There is a nice /lit/ channel already made on Rizon that has a couple other friendly chansters on it that wouldn't mind our using it as a convergence point of collaboration. Another cool thing about IRC is that you can pass files back and forth natively. Plus it's just raw text so it's free from the cancer of animated emojis, for example. Real oldfag shit. It's easy to get into as well. I'm more than willing to walk you through the process if you want me to. It takes like ten minutes to get the software and wander on down there to the undernet. If this sounds good just let me know.

What do you guys like listening to while you write? Lately I've been listening to ambient noise that matches the setting I'm writing

>>16459034
ASMR where you get your dick sucked and rubbed well.

>>16459034
I've been experimenting with not listening to music while I write, actually, since I'm subscribed to the idea that it's not a good idea to try and force inspiration from listening to music. I haven't tried ambient stuff though, but maybe I should. But if in the off chance that I can't help it, I might listen to some EGOIST, myth&roid, or some somber/sad anime songs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6NQMFfIAWs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqoQB90CLS8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTxYFRRGeAo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtSuTbB4h_M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjtTWm0zOTI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VL0RjjxRCwE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDRPYdqmCjI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOEk1tnzCL0

>Dear Anon,

>Thank you for letting us consider "X" for publication in the Missouri Review. We enjoyed reading it, and though it doesn't quite fit our needs at this time, we hope we will have the chance to read more of your writing in the future.

>Sincerely,

>The Editors

At least they said they enjoyed it, r-right? Haha

>>16459208
Yeah, don't beat yourself up too hard anon. Many publications have a very specific kind of writing that they like, so often being rejected has little to do with quality. You're also likely to be ignored if you haven't had anything published yet, which is just par for the course with the industry. I remember Stephen King mentioning how he resubmitted a short story that had been rejected to the same magazine after he became a published author, and they immediately snatched it up

>>16459244
Thanks anon. I haven't been published yet, and it's hard to get that first piece out there even though I strongly believe it's of publishable quality.

>>16459143
Not listening to anything at all is probably the best way to go, but I need something to drown out the noise since it's never quiet around here

>>16459208
I've submitted 5 or 6 pieces to various magazines, got demoralized and stopped

>>16454588

Sorry! Don’t have a mic and what I’ve tried to play around with make my voice come through terribly. Here’s a pastebin if the poem if any of you would give me some of your impressions and critique.


https://pastebin.com/VFcYMFzS

>>16459397
Apparently upwards of 30 rejections is standard fare for every acceptance

I'm thinking as I work on my writing skills, I become a /tv/ critic, shitting on the absurdity of scripted /tv/ shows and bitching about how I could've written it better.

>>16459426
Yeah, maybe I'll pick it up. In the meantime, I just submit my works to Amazon KDP and get them out there. It'd be different if the process were quick, but on average, I waited 3 months for a rejection. It feels like such a long time to tie up a piece in a queue.

>>16459208
That's a form rejection, dumbass.

>>16459502
>>16459208

It's a higher-tier form rejection, at least. Shows as least some sort of promise.

http://www.rejectionwiki.com/index.php?title=The_Missouri_Review#Higher-Tier_2

>>16458744
That sounds fine with me, I'm not familiar with IRC though

>>16458744
Speaking of meetups, it could be fun to have a /wg/ meetup at a cafe if we have anons in LA

>>16459034
yeah that stuff is gud. aphex twin. biosphere.

>>16459604
good you're still here. i'm really stoked to collaborate on some literature with anons in a more team-like fashion. What operating system do you use mostly?

No burgerpunk today. This engine is slowing down.

>>16459805
Windows 10, not very into computers

>>16460137
>>16460137
That's ok. you don't have to be good with computers to do what we're gonna do. all you have to do is search for KVirc. This is the best client in my opinion. let me know when you have it installed

>>16460137
>>16453057
I'm sorry. It's been a while since I tried to use KVirc for windows. I forgot that they don't make it obvious. Here is the link that will be download you probably want.

https://nightly.kvirc.net/win-x86_64/

>>16460137

actually, it might be easier for you to use mirc if you can't get KVirc going right away. it will just be harder for me to walk you through the first steps

https://www.mirc.com/get.html

>>16450692
Question: for the Amazon publishing thing does it only publish a Kindle edition or can you sell physical copies through it too?

>>16460201
Thanks man, I won't get off work for a while. Is there anyway I can reach you incase this thread dies?

>>16460204
There's a print on demand option for KDP I think.
Also
>tripfag
Fuck off

>>16460224
sure. i'm ashamed to be using this but

greenface112233@gmail.com


i hate google i just needed a google account recently

>>16460242
>he's not confident enough to take responsibility for his posts
Ok, retard. Thanks for the answer though.

How do you determine your writing style and what are good books for it which aren't concerned with parallelism and things of that sort?

>>16460108
Take your time. I'm looking forward to new chapters

>>16460256
The Elements of Style. It really comes down to what kind of writing you like, and what kind of lit you're writing. Prose that would be appreciated in literary fiction may not be in scifi/fantasy

>>16459723
great, we can all get covid together

>>16460290
I've read that but it's very concerned with syntax without reference to any particular set of traits

Which themes should be present if I want to write a narrative that tries to encapsulate the basics of human nature/the human condition from an naturalist, humanist, anthropological standpoint? Remember, its just for a piece of fiction, not a scientific paper, it's not that deep and I'm not really trying to be as pretentious as you might think.

Just list a few things that came to mind first when you read what I said, no need to be exhaustive.

>>16460274
Is anon publishing his stories here or what?

>>16460313
They have a show on TLC called "The Family Chantel" and the main chick in the show is this lady Chantel and her boobies are fucking massive.

>>16460315
He publishes on the shameful site RoyalRoad

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/36209/burgerpunk-pizza-time

>>16460313
If you're looking for superficial there are a lot of Google images.
I'd start with something fundamental like consciousness, like "man can only do that which they most want to do in the best way possible", work that up to a set of biological necessities, food or shelter, then work shelter or food into how it contradicts with basics of nature, say that prior quote applied to animal or plants. At that point you have a road map for man vs anything in that man "doing what he must do" concerning animals, for instance, implies greed, solidarity, the issues with either, as it applies to food, shelter etc.

>>16460313
anatomy, pleasure/pain, food, reproduction, shelter, growth/aging, learning, technology, society, language, math, earth, water, air, animals, plants, light, heat, sound, death.

>>16460315
He's posting it on RR https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/36209/burgerpunk-pizza-time

It has been pretty entertaining so far

>>16460300
Obviously after covid is gone. A lot of places around me are still closed anyways

>>16460341
>>16460366
Hey I just read the first chapter. It's a nice one indeed

>>16460313
Biology always front and center, touch on Physics/Chemistry through the more practical lens of Geography/Earth Sciences. As for Humanities I find that History does the best job at encapsulating the gist of everything else.
Then you pit all this against what stories are actually always really about, which is Psychology, Sociology, Philosophy.

Also, try to think of everything in terms of the managing of threats and resources.

>>16460398
>>16460366
>>16460341
>>16460274
Aww. Thanks anons.

Here's something I photoshoped together when I first started writing it back when burgerpunk threads were poppin'. Didn't use it because even though the images were CC, still felt a little weird, I'd prefer to use my own photography or hire someone to draw it or something.

>>16460509
I think that looks pretty decent. Most covers on RR suck anyways. I've considered hiring an artist to do some cover art for me since I have a decent amount of cash lying around, but I'm going to wait until I'm a decent ways done writing the novel I'm currently working on

>>16460509
I just noticed it looks like hes sunk into the ground because of the background floor

>>16460570
Kek. Now that you mention it, yeah it does

>>16460584
>>16460570
haha, it does. I never said I was good at photoshop! The pizza man on his back just makes me giggle.
>>16460558
Yeah, RR isn't something I'd spend the money on for marketing when I'm not in the genre that makes money on that site.

Burnout is really getting to me /wg/.

I've been working on my novel for two years now and the previous four were spent obsessively toying with it in my head. It's been a year or two since the story really excited me though I still got a lot of work done in hopes that my excitement would re-ignite.

lately my pace has slowed to a crawl, I'm maybe writing 1000 words a week, and just simply forcing myself to write isn't pushing out new content. I'm about 131k words in right now, and it will be at least another 30k before I'm finished with the first draft. I'm fully expecting to have to rewrite everything and the constant fight to make progress is mentally exhausting me

I wrote my first novel in 3 months /wg/. The fact that this is taking more than 2 years in painfully demoralizing

>>16460509
>>16460558

I'll do your covers for free. If you don't like what I come up with you can just ask me to do it again. Pay me if you want or not, I get neetbux so I don't really need money. I like making stuff, both visual and writing, and I enjoy having a community such as /lit/. Being originally from old /b/. Hit me up if you wanna see what I come up with for your covers. I'll take direction too. Pic related is one of my low effort covers. Yes, I am the fag behind the nano/lit/ threads. Anyone else reading this that wants free graphic stuff done can hmu at

greenface112233@gmail.com

but do it fast because this is a burner email that i will kill with fire before too long. You have nothing to lose and I'm always looking for more excuses to make art. the only thing i might as is that you credit my street name for the work somewhere

>>16460253
please accept my friend request
I really like your deep insights
x x

>>16460812
booo this bitch stupid

>>16460812
I sincerely hope you're joking.

>>16460812
Just take a break and read stuff, when you want to work back into it read nf related to it and jot ideas down

>>16460822
do you do anime just asking for a friend

>>16460863
for what reason would I joke?

>>16460892
Sure, i could do anything. My background is fine art. I can draw like a motherfucker. The only thing that interests me is generating original content. My style of anime would be pretty different, as a warning. I hate the banal and the cliche and love challenges. And if you or 'they' don't like it, just don't use it or ask me to do it again. Doesn't matter. I just add it to the pile of tens of thousands of works of art made by me during my lifetime. I try to stay prolific and stuff like this would just force to make more art. Which is what I do, in case you missed that part.

>>16460878
I've tried that a few times it hasn't worked. I've just felt guilty for not working

>>16460938
Have you tried amphetamines? I don't necessarily mean meth. Vyvanse or adderall are super safe and now according to the DSM-5 vyvanse is prescribed for binge eating disorder. So just find a psychiatrist and tell him about your binge eating disorder and how you need to stop doing that. If at first you don't succeed, try again. You could take vyvanse or adderall every day for the rest of your life without negative health effects. If not those stimulants, try some others. Order some ma huang from china. Start drinking hella coffee. Go on a trip and take risks. Sometimes we need tools like these to break out of the mindmold. There is no shame in it, humans have been doing it since we became human. Take a bunch of mushrooms or acid. Molly. Fast for days. Mescaline. Man i wish i could get some mescaline or muchrooms right now.

>>16460822
Nice dubs. I sent you an email.

>>16461004
I've tried adderall twice. the first time it worked the second time it didn't

To be honest, my body has some lopsided reactions to medications. Like, it takes a metric fuckton of SSRIs just to get me to normal, I've never gotten a high from smoking weed, but a single drink makes the room start spinning. I suspect my body just no-sells adderall.

what do u think of my flash fiction story. it is about shrek.

shrek was exhausted so he laid down in the swamp in summer and when he woke up it was winter and he was covered in snow. i’m cold, shrek said, and brushed off the snow and walked for a month until he reached the nearest airport, where he caught a flight to hawaii. in hawaii there were hundreds of thousands of butterflies and when he got off the plane they landed on him, covering his body completely, lifted him up into the sky and dropped him into the ocean. aw you darn butterflies, he said, but when he got out of the water he was swarmed by butterflies again. when he’d move his arm to reach for a coconut filled with margarita, for instance, the butterflies would detach from his arm, only to re-land.
at least they hide my hideous ugly face, shrek said, drunk off margarita and sitting on the beach at night listening to the relaxing, rhythmic sound of the waves. alone, as always.
this is great and all but i’m still alone, i’m always alone, shrek said. the sound of the waves isn’t even relaxing, i’m always stressed out and in pain from my life of rejection and isolation. when i shut my eyes and try to relax all i feel is pain and this weird sense of danger mixed with anxiety, and the anxiety tells me to move along, keep moving. at least i have alcohol, but it’s killing me and draining my bank account, i don’t even know if i’ll have enough money to get back home, and even though i feel happy when drunk i wake up the next day and feel like shit and have anxiety, sometimes i just lay there writhing in pain unable to breathe while thinking about death, that’s how bad my anxiety is, just thinking about eternal nothingness, the inevitability of that. it’s like i drink to lessen my anxiety, but then it just comes back the next day ten time as strong.
shrek sighed and finished his twelfth margarita of the day. all along the beach were couples making out, some couples were having sex, having sex right on the beach. shrek felt a weird combination of shame, horniness, anxiety and rejection that made him feel upset and violated. he felt violated just by being out in public, he experienced the presence of the other, these happy, healthy, non-suffering others, these others who were not alone and in pain, as violence.
i need another drink, shrek said, walking up the sand. up ahead there were constellations shaped like donkey and dragon. shrek looked up and saw the donkey constellation.
hi shrek! said the donkey constellation.
donkey?! wot are yew doing up thar? how’d yew get up thare? shrek said.
long story shrek ol’ buddy ol’ pal, said donkey up in the heavens. don’t be looking so down down there, shrek! anytime you need a friend to talk to, just look up! we’re always here for you.

>>16461105
unfortunately! shrek said. that’s the last thing aye need, yew up there in the sky watching over me. give me some privacy will ya? i’m on vacation, i’m trying to relax.
aw, well shrek, now i feel bad, donkey said. i guess i’ll leave you alone now…
shrek walked to the tiki bar in a big plastic hut at the centre of the beach. the hostess was an octopus. she led shrek inside to the bar where the bartender was a shark. fish sat at the bar, terrified, sipping their drinks. shrek, a big and imposing guy, sat down at the bar, and the bartender greeted him respectfully.
what can i get for ya bud? said the shark bartender. he was wearing a white dress shirt and black vest and he was a hammerhead shark.
i’ll get a margarita, shrek said. and a shot of slime.
coming right up, said the shark bartender, and served up shrek’s order.
there was a band playing on the stage. the band consisted of a starfish on keyboards, a robotic dog on guitar, the singer was an alien, the bassist was a humanoid parrot, and the drummer was an octopus. there were creatures on the floor in front of the stage.
this next song goes out to fifi, our drummer’s girlfriend. she’s the hostess here, said the singer. the audience cheered. all my life i’ve had a stick up my ass/ chewing my food like i was swallowing glass/ always seemed to fail and never seemed to pass/ until i met you. when i met you things finally looked up/ sometimes you’d even let me put my dick in your butt/ ordering beet pizza from the nearest pizza hut/ with you.
this band sucks, shrek said. he pounded back his shot of slime and margarita.
let me tell you what, said the fish beside shrek. life’s a piece of shit. get out while you still can, before you get responsibilities. wish i’d known that before i had kids. i’d have grilled myself. they really on me, you know. if i off myself now, they won’t make it, they won’t survive. who knows what’ll happen to them. they rely on me. i can’t make my exit now, can’t close the curtain. wish i’d known that sooner, because if they weren’t relying on me i’d be dead. i’d be fucking dead, you know me?
yeah, i hear ya, said shrek. bartender, two shots of slime.
sure thing bud, said the shark bartender.
aren’t you grateful to your family at all? said shrek. don’t you love them at all?
love them? i break my fins slaving away to put food in the tank. i never even wanted kid, my wife did. that’s what women are like, hell, they’ll reproduce with anyone. just want offspring, nature’s impetus. it’s terrible, perpetuating this cycle of suffering… hopefully global warming will eliminate life on earth.
and here i’m on vacation, trying to get away from my worries, shrek said, handing the depressed dad fish a shot of slime. here’s to extinction, buddy.

>>16461050
>SSRIs just to get me to normal

have you considered the possibility that the ssri's might be your problem? That shit is some heavy heavy drugs man. I'm not a psycho-pharmacologist, but I'd bet a gram of the good stuff that pharmaceuticals like that shit fuck with your neurotransmitters more than meth does. I refuse to take 'meds' even tho they literally are constantly chasing me around and literally trying to force me take long term anti psychotic injections all the time. I'm literally constantly on the run from these evil fucks. They want to take away my dopamine forever because I wipe out on meth periodically and start to have some interesting theories: paranoid, but interesting nonetheless but noo... its not the meth guys, this man is mentally Ill and we must 'medicate' him with our chemical lobotomies because he's fucking divergent in the mind. Probably said too much there but you get my point, pharmaceuticals are often more evil than crack or heroin or meth. Except amphetamines, which I seriously recommend you give a better try. Just 20 mg a day can change your life. But first you should wean yourself off the ssri's and that might take years. That shit seriously fucks with your head. I mean, did you start taking them after you wrote your first novel? if so there is your problem right there no doubt about it. Seretonin is what we need to feel good man. SSRi's inhibit that shit. how can that be 'good'? Since you sound like a lightweight I wouldn't recommend drinking but a sensible dose of vyvanse might just be the perk up you need.

>>16461129
Man, if I wanted bait I'd go to the sporting goods store

>>16456862
Does it have to be a novel? Novellas can get away with a much shorter word count

Anyway, focus on making it good rather than making the word count

>>16457040
What do you hope to get out of it?

>>16461129
Not that anon, but I definitely feel like my prose has gotten worse after taking SSRIs. It helps me get through the day, but that fact does make me a little sad

>>16459208
Send it to a friend whose opinion you respect and see if they have any suggestions for improvement

Then send it to 5 more magazines and see what happens

>>16460822
Hey let me jump on the bandwagon too. Wait just a bit while I write the description of what I want please

>>16461148
>if I wanted bait

You know what you need the most, /lit/? You need new memes endemic to this board.

I got a thousand words out today for BP. It's about drive thru spaghetti. I think I'll post it tomorrow.

>>16461337
your quickly flying over the lines that separate sharing, blogging and shilling

>>16461346
Ah, I'll stop. Sorry.

>>16461346
Eh, I don't really care. The general has been pretty slow and boring today anyways. At least BurgerPunk anon is providing something enjoyable

>>16461349
Don't stop anon. Don't ever listen to them when they tell you stop. You can post your work anywhere you want here. What are they going to do, laugh at you and call you a faggot? You should be hardened against such things. If you want feedback, well, that is one of the endemic functions of /lit/. They may tell you it is terrible out of spite. It's not like you are forcing them to read your work or respond. Don't ever feel like you don't have a right to share your work here, because you do. I say, terrorize their insipid threads. Blogpost more just to troll the shit out them. Shill your own work till they come to you on their fucking knees, begging you to stop. Then I want you to smile and whisper in their ear: no. This is fucking 4chan and if this hive of scum and villainy represents one fucking thing it is free speech. We are a bastion of freeze peach. I mean, look at /pol/. Do you think they gave a fuck when moot nuked their board for being a bunch of triggering nazi fucks? Fuck no. They are still there! After being the most offensive fucking place on the clearnet for a fucking decade! Be like /pol/, who crushes their enemies with the offensiveness of their spirit (they even beat the fag that made this site), see them driven before you, and bask in the lamentations of their women

I'm apparently very talented at writing but
I have nothing to write about, will never write anything and my life is pointless and will always be so

>>16461426
Just write Tolkien fan-fiction or something like most fantasy authors. Not having original ideas has never been a barrier to entry

>>16461461
but the books I read tell me art must be true and beautiful in equal measure
writing with only half of those would be mere vanity, and thus worthless by necessity

>>16461480
That sounds like a very gay book anon.

>>16461480
If we're going to be objective, anything that isn't worshiping and glorifying God is vanity. Just write whatever is fun. The only people who will criticize you are weird elitists on /lit

>>16461480
And you are honestly going to let a bunch of dead incels tell you what to think or do? This is some new form of faggotry, fathomless and frightening. I shall have to invent a new name for your new and virulent form.....I know. I shall dub thee a......phil. Yes, you are phil, sir. You may, at first, think that this term comes from the Greek word philos or philoi, for friend or brotherly love but that is not the case! You are the kind of phil that is filled with shit, good sir, and more importantly your filial [kek] descent is not from the high and noble greeks but rather from the Philistines. And what does a philistine mean today children? That's right. Today a philistine is some faggot that knows nothing of real art and lives like a brute, a Philistine of old. A filthy little 'phil' you are and nothing more, but wait, is there more, I hear you ask, children? Why yes, there is more! What is more is that you are guilty of being both a phil AND a faggot, a 'philaggot', if you will. Now meditate on the true meaning of truthful beauty in context to the deception of the beauty of Truth as you learn to live with your new title of 'phil'.

>>16461461
>Just write Tolkien fan-fiction or something like most fantasy authors
kek

>>16461565
I hope next thread is the methhead edition and I get to see you there, anon.

I'm writing a fantasy novel about a centaur gladiator, would anyone who speaks polish be interested in reading couple of chapters and giving me some feedback?

>>16462016
What if I told you that I was the meth head and that I'm in every thread?

>>16462249
Seriously you'll go crazy and your theories are all wrong and wouldn't last a day in a debate or any structure. It's just reinforced by a high and zero contradictions

I'm going to read about chapter of real Dracula and then write a summary + make the characters black

And what the hell am I watching? It's the opening scene and I don't know who Snot is, what he did, or what happened to him. I'll going to have to download subtitles from opensubtitles.org

https://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=zmIvu1yg3bU

>>16462249
Disregard this man >>16462257. Deliver us your meth wisdom. Just don't use it as a crutch to write.

Post yours.

>>16461414
>dubs
Gambatte, anon! Good post. Thanks.
>>16461426
Then buy a book of writing prompts or go to the sub.
>>16462016
I find it rather funny that this is a McLuhan edition and there's, like, one post about that.
>>16462193
>centaur gladiator
Sounds dope, but I don't know how to read or speak polish.
>>16462249
I miss addy, I got so much written on addy.
>>16462436
Snot is the murder victim the detective is investigating. That scene always gets a laugh out of me.
>why do you still let him play?
>You gots to, this is america, man.
>>16463678
What's it about?

>>16450692
What do you guys use for inspiration? Other books? Movies? Music?

I did it, anons. I wrote a novel. ~70k words. It took four months. Now I'm going to rewrite the entire fucking thing and pray I don't have to do it a third time.

>>16464281
what's it about?

>>16464236
Inspiration in what sense? The initial idea? The subsequent structure? The prose thematics?

>>16464423
The initial idea and general plot, yes

>>16464236
anime

>>16464437
I don't use anything in particular. Sometimes the ideas just come to you while you're doing something random. I have gotten some decent ideas while reading history books, though

>>16457492
I meant a tutor at a university as a staff member, genius.

>>16461163
I want to take my writing seriously and become an author. Lots of people who end up getting awards or PhDs in creative writing with published books often become professors, e.g. DFW, Franzen, all the authors at my university.

>>16465245
>Lots of people who end up getting awards or PhDs in creative writing with published books often become professors, e.g. DFW, Franzen, all the authors at my university.
And then I could stop lawyering. God that sounds awesome.

>>16465427
The thought of having to work at a law firm for the next thirty years does fill me with dread, I have to admit

>>16465427
Someone like Cormac McCarthy was asked to teach even though he wasn't that famous at the time, but he refused it. Make a name for yourself, especially in academic circles, and the offers will come.

Anybody interested in reading my quick as fuck ulysses essay and some article I wrote months ago?

>>16465583
Why ask? Just post it somewhere. Make a thread or do it here. Fuck anyone that tries to say you can't post your work. /lit/ should not just be about already published work. It should be itself a current in publishing. I will fight anyone who thinks differently.

>>16465583
I'll read it. I love Ulysses

>>16450692
How do I expand my vocabulary?

>>16466043
Have you tried reading?

>>16466074
Big difference between understanding a word and using it in a way that doesn't seem contrived

>>16466090
Have you tried reading?

>>16463712
Its nothing but unassociated shower thoughts and my centrist political philosophy.

>>16466090
Don't listen to the fag that thinks he's funny. Study etymology.

I found this book that looks interesting on libgen, but have not read it yet. Etymology is the concern of all writers, whether you know it or not. I have been looking into proto-indo-european myself lately, and it is quite fascinating. A literal font of new words that derive a high degree of meaning automatically as they are the ultimate root of dozens of living languages today. The largest living linguistic family extant today, I do believe. Anyway, here's the link to the book I found. Libgen is the greatest thing I have learned from /lit/ so far, and like a true fren, I reciprocate in kind:

http://library.lol/main/7D85F6E5B49393BB9473AC26CDA67462

Today's the day. I'm finally going to get the next chapter done. I've written and scrapped it twice over the past week due to not being happy with how it turned out

>>16464281
Good job anon

Whats the plot? Do you plan yo get it published?

>tfw cried for once while writing a emotional scene
Has anon ever cried to something emotional they wrote?

>>16466702
No, but I got horny when I wrote smut.

>>16465427
>>16465447
Parents are lawyers, it looked like it really sucked so I went to work for tech companies instead

Turns out that sucks too but at least as a lawyer you get paid a lot

>>16466702
Plenty. If you, the author, don't get emotional over scenes you understand most then you have failed. Jokes is a different story however

>>16465583
Sure

>>16466778
Most of the men in my family have gone into Law, so I decided to stick with tradition. Unfortunately, I live across the country from my uncle, so I don't get to benefit from nepotism and work at a comfy environmental law firm

>>16466809
I would have benefitted heavily from nepotism, but I would also probably have remained in my home city my whole life if I did law. This way I got to see the world at least, so there's good and bad to it

>>16466821
Yeah, I feel that. One of the drawbacks of going into law is that you're pretty much forced to live in a city. I really want to move up to Yosemite or something to go rock climbing every weekend, but there are zero jobs in the field up there

the sun doesnt sleep, no more
honeyed chumps, choked or
drowned; bathed in basin
bare, a travelling salesman -
little Lucy: danced, squared, and
Downed.


Flesh echo, so dear, forgotten
in blue, Turn Back Time and
MEMORISE; touch, taste
the night dancer - no haste -
in barren, cold, dark, Lucy
Dies.


The clouds dont exist, no more
blue stars, stock in store, or
return - chumps cheer, He wept -
congregation: dear child, the best
for poor moon, left lonely, and Lucy to
burn.


Pls let Me know where I can improve/if anything is good

Oh look, this thread survived while the /crit/ thread died. How about that.

>>16467124
/crit/ threads have been garbage for years, so that's not surprising.

>>16467073
I don't really read or write poetry, so I have no idea if this is any good or not

My problem with writing is when I have an idea I never know enough to do anything with it, my pattern of thought and language works best with specialized knowledge. I absolutely do need to learn to just tell a story, but for example, I had a vague idea today
>It's an ambulance driver's first day on the job and he is being trained
>They are on the highway, and a bunch of cars are speeding past the ambulance
This is vague but there's a lot of room to take this potentially. But the problem; what the fuck is it like to be trained as an ambulance driver and how the fuck would I ever learn this? How do I learn about any innocuous thing in fleshed out detail without taking a week to write two pages? This is not even the beginning of my battles with understanding how to write but this might be the most glaring question I have.

>>16467073
You have some nice moments, especially the opening stanza. The run off from
>no more
>honey
Is well done because of the former also connecting to the line it sits. I have to admit, I don’t know what it is about besides maybe regret? Feel free to tell me otherwise. The content feels extremely convoluted though, a lot happens. It’s like you are flicking through different scenes of a life. The middle stanza feels like the weakest in my opinion; I mean the first part. It feels alien. It returns nicely midway through to the feel of the first stanza but I can’t help feel disconnected by then. Maybe that’s the point? This is where I get the regret part from by the way.

If you can tell me what it’s about, I’d be interested in hearing.

>>16467224
That doesn't really look like a story yet, anon. Where's the conflict? Someone learning how to do a job isn't a compelling story. You don't really need to know the ins and outs of that particular job, because the story shouldn't be solely focused on it. Maybe the driver gets roped into some criminal activity on his first day, or comes across something he wasn't supposed to see. Maybe a deadly virus breaks out and he has to zoom around the city trying to save people. Perhaps through saving people and becoming more empathetic, he learns how to save his failing marriage. You need something that takes it away from the mundane. Your focal character needs to struggle to achieve something

>>16467124
80% of the posts on /crit/ are
> reeeeee you posted without critiquing
> reeeeee this story didn't get enough critiques
> reeeeee people are not critiquing

>>16467224
Write what you know. I know that's dumb and trite, but it's so obvious when someone writes about something they don't know anything about. If you do want to write about it that's why writers give the excuse of "research" it's a real thing. I couldn't write about liability of construction workers until I read through pages of case law and a thousand pages of discovery. You have to learn about things before you can write about it.

>>16466786
Oh shit. I laugh a lot when I write.

How does one work on prose? Any books to read about prose, or books with good prose? I have been keeping track of how much I write for the past three months, but I haven't really worked on the quality of my writing.

Thanks.

>>16467855
I can't remember the book, but its around here somewhere, if I find it I'll give you the name. But prose style is so subjective. I suppose give yourself a sentence or paragraph and try your best to rewrite it in as many different was as you can.

>The fox leapt over the dog.
>The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
>Hairy beasts of various sizes fought for dominance, resulting in the smaller of the two using all the thrust it could muster from its hind legs to soar above and beyond the larger, slumbering hound.
>"So, at some point, this dog, little fluffy thing, was just standing there, and this fucking fox of all things comes out, and it just jumps over the other dude. Can you believe that?"
>I once witnessed an unspeakable and indescribable horror.

>>16467855
>books with good prose
Ulysses, and The Waves. Joyce and Woolf both have consistently stunning prose

>>16467300
I like these ideas, thanks anon. I think more in terms of observations and guesses of directions things might go, I’ll attempt to consider specifically “plot points” rather than just “things happening”.
>>16467538
Where in the world does one begin with research into any one very specific and narrow thing?

>>16466702
I cried for an eventual scene where the emperor had to sign the order to kill some children.

>>16467918
Talking to people in the field. Google searches. Wikipedia articles. Training manuals and videos. Interviews. Follow alongs.

>>16467902
Didn't really think of it this way. Thanks so much.

>>16467903
Thanks senpai.

>>16467902
>The fox leapt over the dog, father used to say. He jumps not so that he can get to the other side, but so that he can forget his natural purpose every now and then for a moment and not spend his every breath trying to follow his base impulses. Because life is more than following our instinct, he said. Sometimes you have to do silly things to distract yourself, to not realize and remember the folly and despair of your existence. A nigger walked past me and sat at the opposite side of the bus. Are they the fox or the dog? Leaping or being leaped over? I waved and tossed a coin to him, winking with a hint of sadness and curiosity. Well thank ya mastah, hopes you ain't playin ah trick on me.There'll be more where that comes from. But no dog is every truly jumped over, father said.

I finished my story about a man trying to sell his soul at a crossroads and sent it to /lit/ quarterly. Hemingway editor tells me my story had a readability grade of 5.
Pray for me, bros.

>>16453057
Death grips

>>16468670
Proud of you for finishing it, anon. How’d it go? What part did you like the best? What do you think needed improvement?

>>16468716
>How'd it go?
About halfway through I got a sudden flash of inspiration that made me finish in a frenzy.
>What part did you like the best?
The part where I have the main character install hidden cameras in his bedroom to film porn of his pregnant wife cheating on him which he at the end of the story emails to everyone he knows
>What do you think needed improvement
I should probably have given more time to other characters to make them feel more real, but on the other hand the narrator is a selfish bastard who just uses people so maybe it's fitting he doesn't give much thought to them.

Am I gonna make it anons?

>>16464281
way to go, anon!

>>16468772
Were all going to make it because we chose an arbitrary outlet for our creative potential and we are all going to die.
>>16468730
Well, it sounds fleshed out overall. Glad you did it anon.

>>16465969
>>16466039
>>16466792
Sorry working off GMT so was off to bed, didn't want to seem like some shill, do be wanred it's not my best effort and not even the topic I wanted to do but anyway it got me a first class honours. medium.com/@StCleary. I'll be posting more today if you want to follow and probably start writing some stories maybe.

it took me 2 days to """""write""""" 940 words. go me i guess

>>16469197
It takes some people 365 days to write 0 words.

>>16463712
Poor Snot. I thought he was a drug mule that got caught and had to go to jail

Hey lads is this poem any good ?

The twofold Sun

“Phanes and Phoebus declare
“I am the first, I was there,
This world is born of my care
My skin shines and is so fair
Bow and give to me my share
Into my eyes none may stare
Seek my honor if you dare
I glorify they who dare
they Who endeavor to stare
On glory and take their share
Of my holy face so fair
They earn my love and my care
Even in hell I am there “
Phanes and Phoebus declare”

>>16469899
it is probably the most boring, trite, unoriginal excuse for a poem I have ever read. But I also hate namefags so why don't you go back to plebbit or whatever namefag shithole you came from because we don't like your tripkind around here. Furthermore, your little 'poem' makes me think of some faggot that thinks he's erudite but nevertheless fails to figure out what is what.

>>16469944

I’ve actually never used Reddit or the like, Lacking in originality is fine at least this tells me the structure was fine enough not to mock. Thanks for the critique.

>>16469955
>Thanks for the critique.

no problem. I would like my work critiqued more around here but most people on /lit/ only seem to know how to tell whether they like it or not and usually can't say anything about what it makes them think. So even if I hate something, such as your faggot name which makes me automatically hate your poem, I will still try to convey some of the thoughts it induces in me. I also hate rhyme so my dislike of the poem is inevitable. I just noticed that the last word of every stanza rhymes. I find that to be incredibly annoying. This poem my be the most annoying example of pseudery I have ever seen. It fascinates me how much I despise the ridiculous faggot -air sound on the end of every fucking line. Like a retarded child wrote it, thinking that rhyme is what poems are supposed to do. But please post more I wonder if you can make something even worse.

I went to bed at dawn and woke up in the late afternoon. I washed my face and combed my Afro. I then began to shave, using my small travel mirror to help avoid cutting myself.

“Good morning,” said Count Blackula’s voice.
I was so startled that I accidently cut my chin with my razor, although I didn’t notice it at the time. I hadn’t heard his footsteps.

“Good morning, Count B,” I replied, waving my travel mirror apologetically. “I’m sorry, I didn’t you see in my mirr—"

I glanced at the mirror, but the only thing it reflected back was my Black reflection and the rest of the room. I looked at the count and then back at the mirror. His reflection was missing. I nervously looked back at him. His dark face was contorted in an intense anger.

“Blood …” he rasped out.

I felt blood trickling down my chin.

“Right,” I said. “Let me get a towel and stop the bleeding.”

I laid down my razor and started to look around for a clean cloth, but Count Blackula suddenly moved very close to me. I stumbled backwards and he pressed me against the wall. He grabbed my collar, but immediately withdrew when he accidently touched the beads of my Black Jesus crucifix. The speed in change of demeanor astounded me. He hunched over and cradled his hands, as if they were in pain. The anger was completely gone, replaced by anxiety and cautiousness.

“Be careful that you don’t cut yourself,” said the count breathlessly.

He grabbed my travel mirror and threw it out the window. I heard it shatter onto the stones of the courtyard, several stories below. He turned around curtly and left.

>>16453785
I also have Jamarcus call Blackula by the first letter of his name, "Count B." I hope that's what authentic black people do

>>16469996

Sure. I genuinely appreciate the critique and I ask for it because I care about refinement of technical skill. Thanks again.

Here’s 3, one short, one medium sized and one 401 lines long. I know people don’t much like rhyme but I enjoy it and it has correspondences in my ontology throughout.

Moth the Sunderer of Life from Flesh

“Moth Make the sign of moth, Free this life from the flesh
Kill my eyes and slay me, so I may see God fresh
Suffering a shadow, come release my spirit
Light mixing with The Light, only the fools fear It
Forty Trillion years, I slept in your presence
Forty trillion years, I shall be your essence
Never did I know you, never seeing your face
I was moved by your voice, I condensed in space
In the heartless serpent, banished from unknowledge
Slithering never still, I suffered but gained knowledge
The flower groweth up, the Flower also Fadeth
I know you in this dream, when I and thou waketh
Give me the sign of Moth, take my life but not Thou
only knowledge of you, serpent bound until now
I am in the valley, I am in the shadow
The shadow sign of moth, cleaving of the rainbow
The very sight of light, freedom of the great height
the slithering is gone, time unveil the delight
Forty trillion years, you I shall never shun
Forty trillion years, i and thou become One”

>>16470026

A journey to my Christ who was ever Allah.

“Desert Sun and Desert Sky
For honey I cross this place
My will even if I die


Dry Heat and sand harm my face
I walk across endless sand
All will I endure for Grace

In Du’a I took your brand
Du'a al-'ibadah
Yet I seek a place more grand

I seek for thy darshana
Past Ancient and thirsty bones
to the City of faana

many idols of carved stones
Their glory shall not tempt me
I shall enter the mauve Zones

The search of a honeybee
The desert did turn crimson
And I did hear the banshee

The foul woman with her Son
Screaming and covered in blood
She wailed for what she had done

And from her tears a flood
And from the flood, a river
And from it, a flower bud

And the flower did shiver
“A secret I give to thee,
If thou me, didst deliver”

So I sought what it could be
“True Faana is death of death”
Thus did the flower go free

And then followed him my breath
To the secret mauve Desert
Sidraṫ al-Munṫahā met

I knew I would be unhurt
As I entered endless time
And I entered the unbirth

Then did the bornless bell chime
And the white candle‘s First light
Unveiled the book Sublime

Annihilated was blight
Annihilated was thirst
Annihilated was height

Thus did I become the first
And by my Will I knew He
And the fetters of time burst

Thus do I have freedom and am no longer bound, glory to he who is the mirror of my soul who’s presence is liberation, who’s name is “I” who’s soul is this my own heart. In my annihilation my annihilation perished
And in my annihilation I found you
In the effacement of my name and the outline of my form, I asked about me so I said: You. My inmost secret pointed to you Until I was annihilated to myself, and you remained, you are my life and my heart’s secret, Wherever I may be, you are. You encompass everything with knowledge, All that I see is you, there is nothing I wish for other than you Lord of my heart.”

And here’s the long one.

https://pastebin.com/UGrVzjnL

>>16470015
>“Ey, yo, count B, this shit ain’t cool, Eaton’ people n’ shit. You should probably cut it out”

>>16467073
Bump I guess

>>16470250
>ayo hol up count b
>so you be sayin
>smacks lips
>we be some finna
>robs a blood bank
>so you sayin we wuz vampires n sheeit

>>16451089
You can't learn what you can't bring out of yourself.

>>16469886
Yeah, that first scene does a good job setting up the first season. Took me a few months to get thru it, just because I wasn’t used to the pacing. After that the rest of the show went by in a few weeks. It’s so fucking good.
>>16469899
Are you trying to do a forwards and backwards with your rhymes?
>>16470011
I can’t help but imagine black dynamite

>>16467855
The usual advice (I haven't tried it, so test it out and come back to us):
>Pick an author you like, any author you like
>select a passage you like. A technically difficult one, that gets your heart racing or really activates your emotional almonds
>copy it word by word. Feel the flow of the narrative as you copy it, experience the tricks and the technique as a writer
>study what you just copied
>repeat with larger sections
Apparently this gives you much greater insight into prose than simply 'reading good shit'

>>16469197
I wrote 180k words in four months. It didn't feel very healthy anymore.

>>16467918
>Where in the world does one begin with research into any one very specific and narrow thing?
What the fuck do they teach in schools these days?

>>16470412
>midwit aphorism that says nothing

>>16470466

Phanes is the first born higher spiritual sun in Orphic myth whereas Phoebus is Apollo as the physical sun, they’re mirroring/reflecting each other which is demonstrated by the rhyme. Each line has 7 syllables to represent the 7 classical planets which the sun is considered the fullness of, as the other anon pointed out they all imply “air” which is the hermetic elemental attribution of the Sun.

>>16470608
I haven't been to school in 7 years but as I recall they make you copy things and memorize them to pass tests

>Thinking about starting a Poetry twitter/instagram
>Never written a Poem
>Know nothing about Poetry

Worth it?

If I want to be the great author and poet of the 21st Century, should I divide my time for the next ten years between writing and reading, or invest 100% of it into reading and later write when I have much more life experience and intuitive knowledge?

>>16470641
You're never going to be this no matter how hard you try

>>16470645
why not

>>16470641
More of 85% writing 15% reading.

>>16470610
What it says is that everything is talent in the end. You must work hard, but what you achieve (which includes what you learn) is only what's in your capacity to achieve / learn.

Basically, people should stop undercutting themselves. Yes, you have to work hard, but your accomplishments are yours. There are people who are incapable of learning, even if they make an attempt at it. Be proud of everything you've accomplished.

>>16470641
No. You should climb a mountain and sail across the Atlantic ocean. Build a cabin in the woods and live off the grid on your own for a year. Eat magic mushrooms. Hitchhike across the country with a drawing pad and sketch people and places. Accept God and get baptized in a small chapel off the road. Participate in a rodeo, try to ride the bull. Cut sheet metal for a living. Get your nose broken after you tell a stupid joke in the wrong bar. Stuff like that.
Then you can write the greatest works of the 21st century.

>>16466809
>environmental law firm
Wait, why are these comfy? I know people working in them but they seem to complain often enough.

>>16470631
there's no money in poetry

>>16470735
poetry literally outsells all other fiction

>>16456248
Sure, I'm down with it

>>16470735
Not really interested in the money.
Would like to earn enough to buy a narrowboat and roam the canals of England though.

>>16470735
Wtf really? How?

>>16470786
hmmm. why does thing that no one reads generate zero capital? Truly a question for the ages.

>>16470876
but he said that poetry outsells every other type of fiction >>16470749

>>16470897
so you're telling me that you believe the shit posted on the website best known for trolling [and cheese pizza hidden in pictures of bread, but we don't talk about that anymore] without so much as consulting a search engine? I'm sorry but I am forced to question your intelligence, sir.

>>16470675
I see those kinds of things being parroted around a lot by the crowd that want to "truly live". Do you really think living in the woods is more real, or doing crazy shit, stupid shit? Tell you what, plenty of people out there in the boonies live their life like that. Guess what? They don't hate life, nor do they love it. They just live, like most of you and I and the ones we call npcs. Sometimes they dream of having a city lifestyle too. But life is everywhere you care to look for it. Nothing less real than the next. But some don't even care to see, they barely live, no matter where, out in Alaska or drinking in a pub reeking of cheap cigarettes. The former at least has that novelty of closer to nature, I give you that. But how many great literature focus on the nature aspects? Or rather they mainly explore relationships between human. Stop wanting to live the life. Live life!

>>16470937
You'll never write Walden if you're not a city-bred intellectual who tries living self-sufficiently in the woods, mate.

>>16470921
You're fucking thick, aren't you?
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jan/21/poetry-sales-soar-as-political-millennials-search-for-clarity

>>16470591
At least you wrote something, I usually get one or two """good""" days where I'll write around 500 words and then absolutely nothing for months

>Doomguy Isekai

Wow.... so this is the power of royal road

>>16471135
REI's stories aren't exactly known as supreme literature. That said you are even greater retard if you expected anything but cringe from one titled as Doomguy Isekai

>>16471164
I expected it to be at least better than the average creative writing student if it has thousands of followers.

>>16471185
Welcome to the internet, fren

>>16470952
Walden has already been written

>>16470952
Walden has already been written

>>16471201
>>16471204
Yes but that's kind of missing my point.

>>16470960
https://www.statista.com/statistics/284452/fiction-book-sales-revenue-in-the-united-kingdom-uk/
>poetry sells 12m pounds in 2018
>fiction sales are 588m pounds in 2018
like I said, there's no money in poetry
If you like poetry, by all means write poetry. Its beautiful.

>>16471214
It isn't. There is a subset of books whose production depended on their authors being familiar with the sort of rough living the myopic may call authentic. However, these books and their methods by no means constitute the only way to achieve great literature. Read Fernando Pessoa, who, by his own admission, never really lived.

Poetry is the pursuit of the pseud.

>>16471290
>Its beautiful
Any examples of Ugly Poems?

>>16471307
>Poetry is the pursuit of the pseud.

This is precisely what a philiseud[1] would think.

[1] It appears that you annoyed anon enough for him to invent a new insult for you. We think this is his way of exerting dominance through creativity on filthy, artless brutes such as yourself. The insult he gave to you was nothing more than a simple additive synthesis of
>philistine + pseud
= philiseud

Now I want you to read Andre Breton and Rimbaud and still tell yourself that poets are all pseuds.

>>16471365
>Breton
Where do I start with him? I wanted to read the Surrealist Manifesto.

>>16471564
>Where do I start with him? I wanted to read the Surrealist Manifesto.

You can get the manifesto and a lot of his other works on libgen and #bookz has a lot of stuff on surrealism. I think that you should start with what you can find, because it seems like not much of his work is translated into english. What I have found, however, has been highly edifying. This guy is the kind of writer you gotta go to the old used book stores to hunt for because he's far from mainstream. Remember the old used book stores? I do. And I miss them.

>>16471792
I'll have a look at Oxfam books or abebooks, thanks anon!

This thread is about to go down

>>16472008
>This thread is about to go down

shit. I'm cooking up a new project guys and I'm looking for a few writers to contribute. This one is going to be called the Lifetree Project and is gonna be fun I think. It will be quite different than nano/lit/, my first project here on /lit/. Look out for the Lifetree Project threads in the catalog. I should have the first one up in an hour or so.

>>16472038
I'll contribute whenever you post it. I enjoyed your last nano thread

I don't really know where to post this but I've been writing short stories in a dying earth setting I've been working on. What do I do with this stuff?

What should you do if your vocabulary is mediocre? Is learning new words at random a good practice or maybe just reading more in general?

>>16472052
Maybe try writing.com people give reviews for points so at least someone will read it.