/lit/ - Literature

https://www.docdroid.net/rYT5ENp/sample-pdf
/wg/ doesn't seem to like screenplays so I'll only ask for feedback once more

>>16983293
>Female characters
just write a character who has none

This has been a test of the Female Broadcasting System. Had this been an actual emergency, the tone you just heard would be followed by a litany of complaints. "Oh my God, is this thing on? How do you-I just can't even. That's what passes for emergency lighting in here? The flashlight on my phone does a better job."

>>16983303
Have you considered a non-cancerous hosting website? I'm on mobile and threw in the towel immediately when the entire screen was blocked with ads.

rolling for trips

>>16983331
I use an adblocker so I had no idea there even were ads. Know of a better PDF uploader?

>>16983331
>>16983332
check 'em

Yeah so is this any good:
Try to see, while light maintains, the afterimages of butterflies from the dead forest whose trees we used as fuel to, among other things, kill it a thousand times over. Miles away, the sea wails, its immense dirtied waves sine against the pink, one hundred or so stories tall (with respect to sea level) manmade shore, immense enough now to breach the surface (And make no mistake; it was made by men. The young Wingding Brack—one of the beach’s many tireless construction workers, all those years ago, who miscreanted with the best of them and filched beers when he could and loved whom he did with everything he possibly had—is testament to that fact, and his hallowed corpse, the result of a horrific accident involving a crane, mechanical failure, gravity, and plain old rotten luck, now consecrates these grounds, out of ordinary sight but capable of being seen under the right circumstances, of which we won’t dwell on). Upon contact the sea pukes—and plastic of every sort, limp doodads, tatterings of need-to-know-basis documents, detritus from lives/marriages past expiration, deadly waste from that incident several years back (you remember, y-yeah?), articles of general and universal rejection and failure—spew forth onto this artificial beach so high above us, congealing into a kind of pool of tar, undoubtedly toxic, a blackish wound oozing longing that becomes larger and deeper with each passing tide. It has no agreed upon name, and over the years it has become something of an attraction, in equal measure for freak sightseers, tourists who mean definite harm, the residents of the overlooking house (if you could call it that), and finally those unknown voyeurs mostly hoping to catch a glimpse of the house’s mechanical geisha, rumored to be beautiful beyond human reason. But it—and she—prove hard to locate by this time. The day draws to a close, the light dims, our ignorance takes hold.

any tips on writing metered poetry?

Also, is it better to stick to writing one particular form of poetry to master it, or write different types? For instance, I currently write sonnets and I am interested in writing Limericks and Ballads. But will my writing ability suffer because I am not sticking to one style first? Like Pope mastered the couplet first.

Second try -

https://archive.is/jTriP

First ten pages of my screenplay. Link should be ad-free and work fine on mobile+PC. Any feedback appreciated.

legit the only way to write a female character is just write a man and change the name, if you do anything else you will get called sexist or something e.g scott bakker's esmenet is one of the most realistic female characters i've ever read and he gets shit on all the time

When it comes to written characters, they have two sides.
One is characterization. These include all outwardly observable qualities; height, weight, IQ, hair color, age, race, sexual orientation, and yes, sex. These qualities are transient. They can be changed to suit your whim.
The other side, the "in"side, is *true character.* This is made up of the objective your character has throughout the story and the steps s/he takes to achieve it. This is your character's heart and soul. This is what gives your character life; not any transient outward quality.
So the answer to "how do I write a female character" is, don't. Write a character. Then simply make her female.

>>16983522
Eh this seems like a incorrect and useless distinction honestly. You’re telling me factors like IQ and race and so on wouldn’t affect the internal dynamics of a character in one way or another? Sorry if I’m misreading what you mean by the way

>>16983369
Use line breaks if you want to be a poet.

>>16983537
You're right, that's exactly what I'm saying. And it's the truth.

>>16983546
Fair enough, so I’m assuming it’s shit even in that context too?

>>16983522
Well, I don't think sex or any of the qualities you listed are entirely transient. Any quality that you have will inform your being due to interactions with the world around you (or how you perceive those interactions). Those physical attributes when pushed through a setting create potential avenues of development for that character's own heart and soul since the experiences that develop them are influenced by those physical attributes. There has to be a match of some kind between the physical qualities of a character and the actions that they undertake, though which of those qualities manifest into tangible character traits is dependent on both the setting and the story you want to tell. This isn't to say that a character can be entirely telegraphed by those qualities, but more that not utilizing said qualities is not using a tool at your disposal, and it's left at your discretion while writing to see if that's a good or a bad thing on a case-by-case basis. Physical traits also might not manifest just due to external influences, a dumb character behaves differently to a smart character and so the character's agency within the story can change as a result. I think sex does have some qualities that affect the decisionmaking process that are partially cultural and partially biological, so that does make it matter in my eyes, while I think race is much too nebulous to affect a character's internal process and instead only matters in regards to external affairs which may take their race into question and shape them.

>>16983562
Well, yeah, it doesn't flow well enough to be a poem, it's not concise enough to be prose, I suggest you pick a clear direction and don't try to be all at once. And don't add weird commentary (I mean like this!) that belongs in bad screenplays.

>Using neologisms
Dost thou?

>>16983612
I do, but /lit/ would trash my schizo-writing anyway.

>>16983563
What you must understand that our job, as storytellers, is not simply to replicate reality as it is. That's too easy. We must see deeper than reality. We must boil reality down into it's most essential pieces and use those pieces to create something *more real than real.*
Maybe it's too hyperbolic for me to say these characterization traits can be changed "on a whim." Such changes would take some reworking of the text. Possibly a great deal of reworking. But they can be made. And they can be made without compromising the soul of your story. The soul of your story lies in that simple, boiled-down reality: what do your characters want? What do they do to get what they want?
These are the only truths in any story. They are what must be clearly known before you can even put pen to paper, otherwise your ideas will flow unguided and chaotic. Everything else- be it characterization traits, settings, language, style of prose- is transient. The sooner you realize this, the sooner you can begin penetrating deeper than the surface with your work.

>>16983612
Brékkek Kékkek Kékkek Kékkek! Kóax Kóax Kóax! Ualu
Ualu Ualu! Quaouauh!

>>16983633
>Everything else- be it characterization traits, settings, language, style of prose- is transient. The sooner you realize this, the sooner you can begin penetrating deeper than the surface with your work.
But these are all tools and symbols which you use to put forth your truth. In fiction you aren't just dropping it raw on the audience, it needs to be conveyed like you said through characters and their actions, but even then those characters can't just be raw avatars of action and desire, they need to have context in order for the reader to parse them. My point is that the actions and desires can be underlined and enhanced by the use of the so-called transient traits as symbols that both convey information that the reader interprets out of their preconceptions and also blend with elements of the story itself to create meaning. I think even with the supposition that the underlying "soul" of the story is all that matters, there are better and worse ways to tell that story using the symbols at your disposal and further I think that the supposition is in itself flawed and that the way the story is told both influences and is influenced by the underling "soul" of a work. Having to rework a story to make a change will undoubtedly affect how the audience sees the soul peeking out from underneath the story, and when working from the truths you will undoubtedly find traits, style, etc that all fit snugly with it or that do not work with it at all.

>>16983635
those are onomatopoeias, not neologisms

How fast can you write /lit/?
As a commissioned writer, I average 3k+ words an hour, but I have to drink a load of energy drinks beforehand
If I'm tired or bored sometimes I think I write about 2k an hour. I've written 100k total in the past month, which is £4,000

Is there any tips on how to write faster? The faster I write the more commissions I can accept per week

>>16983742
edited I write about 17 words a day, excluding non-poetry. CAn I write faster? Sure. But I am not a pleb.

>>16983742
You could write faster dropping dumbbells on your keyboard, simultaneously freeing the rest of the world from your text-based prostitution.

>>16983742
>3k+ words an hour
it's probably not very good then. I probably do about 700-1000?

>>16983774
>>16983782
Eh, it's not pretty work, but it pays
You'd be surprised how easily wine-aunts and online weirdos part with their cash when confronted with gratuitous self-insert sex novels and fetish literature
You kinda get desensitised after a while

>>16983805
Wine-aunts, you say? I knew about fetishists, but that's an interesting demographic.

>>16983805
what do you use? Fiver? Do you larp as a female to solicit commissions?

>>16983816
Yeah literally just go on any website with middle-aged childless women and listen to the shit they come up with. It's all the same - they all want stories of some intern / maid / aspiring actress / artist falling for some powerful, mysterious man who takes them into the bedroom and fucks them. It's genuinly creepy the level of hive mind. No wonder 50 Shades is so popular
Sometimes they ask for stuff like "Oh could the protagonist be called [their name, probably]?" and it's kinda hilarious. You could probably find out so much based on what they tell you, and I don't even press them for stuff, obviously

>>16983839
Which site? Asking for myself

>>16983826
Fiverr's where it's at
Porn is against TOS, but written stuff is fine because Fiverr doesn't automatically read it, of course. I've even spoken to Customer Support directly and they don't give a shit. I mean, crappy customer support but totally laissez faire
No I don't LARP as a female but I don't reveal my gender either. I never reveal anything about myself at all, like a mysterious genie that gifts childless women erotic literature in exchange for money

>>16983839
That's just really sad

>>16983852
The only commission that I ever gave out for free was a non-erotic commission about a woman who becomes a millionnaire A-list singer and gets a model husband, lives in a big house with loving kids etc
It was kinda a nice story to write, typical 10k words, if a bit boring, since it was literally one girl having the perfect life
After I sent it the woman tipped me £200 and told me that the reason she'd asked for the story was that her daugher (same name as the protagonist) was a really good singer, but she died of cancer when she was 19, and her mother wanted to have a fantasy of her daughter living and becoming successful
Gave her a full refund immediately and told her that she can have the story for free

>>16983839
>>16983845
I never get any commissions for erotic writing :(

>>16983910
Jesus fuck. Real good on you for giving the refund, anon.

>>16983910

>>16983911
Talk to more people. You gotta network and get fans. Most people find me via previous commissions. Oh, and post them to wherever if the people allow you to (never post a story without their express consent)

Beer:

Which beer is best for an aspiring artiste de littérature?

Corona? Kirin? Grolsch? Moretti?

>>16983934
I have an instagram - is that a good way to network? And how specifically do you form these connections? All I know how to do is comment on people's work with "so good." or something like that.

>>16983950
Nah... social media ain't really gonna cut it. You need to find forums where people congregate. I'm not gonna reveal mine but literally just browse the internet as if you were a childless single woman in her late 40s or a massive degenerate fetish weirdo. You'll come across a reasonably sized forum eventually. Try and discreetly say that you do commissions (e.g "Hi, I'm anon, here's a couple of paragraphs of my writing, oh btw I also do commissions")
Eventually somebody will commission you, and then all you have to do is get permission to post their commission back onto the forum, with "Hi, I'm anon, this was a COMMISSION for [X]"
More and more will arrive over time. You know how streamers make pretend-frienships with their simps? Yeah, do that with your customers. Most of your customers will be return customers. Never say anything controversial either
That's pretty much it. From then on it's branching out into other sites and social media platforms. After a while you get bigger and bigger commissions, and it becomes a case of picking and choosing the commissions you want to take on, since you literally won't be able to write all of them in the allotted time

>>16983944
Exclusively Belgian sours

>>16983978
Wow, thank you friend! I was expecting some half hearted shitpost but you surprised me. Sometimes I don't regret falling into this site.

Now the obligatory shitpost:

>but literally just browse the internet as if you were a childless single woman in her late 40s or a massive degenerate fetish weirdo

so /lit/?

>>16984007
Kek yeah basically. The thing is "normal people don't buy erotic literature". If you want to write for normal people, start a travel blog. You won't make any money, but you might win an award if you whine enough
Writing for commissions is honestly kinda fun sometimes, especially if it's something you're genuinly putting effort into. Since the people usually give you at least some skeleton ideas, you're never stuck even if you aren't really imaginative on that day. And it pays decently for the amount of work you put in

What's a good place to read and post short bits like poems and flash fiction? Royal Road seems to be focused on really long serials.

>>16984016
What about commision writing that isn't erotic? Is it even a thing?

>>16984306
Yes, but you won't make any money
If you want to go down that road, just become a ghostwriter instead

>cute anime girls says she wants fanfic of her

Guess I'm a fanfic writer now.

Short story, ~2500 words

Any feedback, criticism, suggestions greatly appreciated

https://pastebin.com/L70rXZtq

>>16983742
Don't tell me you write smut.

>>16984613
I've never seen a """commissioned writer''" on the internet who didn't write smut. Even artists get commissions to paint people's dogs and cats. What's wrong with writers? It's Only Fans tier shit

Chapter 9.

https://awfiction.wordpress.com/2020/12/09/engine-zero-zero-chapter-9/

>RF Kuang is the same age as me
>24
>has a trilogy thats published, well-received and commercially succesful.
>her books are now being adapted into a tv show
I'm filled with envy bros

>>16977018
Bumping this question. So far the only thing that comes to mind is to use relevant slang from the narrator's age and interest groups.

On a related note, what are some tricks for making flashbacks in the first person read well that don't involve chapter breaks? I'm looking to take advantage of the conversational style to freely move the narrative through time, but I'm worried it might get too confusing since I can't use the usual 3rd person tricks.

>brain starts shitting words at 21h
>have been sleeping at 24h for months
AAAAGGGHHHHH

>>16984727
Non-smut commission is just ghost writing. And beyond smut there isn't much scope for commission pieces. People that have ideas and want them written as stories will usually write it themselves.

>has a good plot which I can include litrpg elements to get it's known but also write it in a way that those elements can be removed later if I decide to publish it traditionally.
>put it on royal road
>become popular
>sell it to a publisher after removing all the litrpg elements
Retard, I know, but I'm gonna try it anyway.

>>16985161
Self interruption rubs me the wrong way. Can't stand it.
The best thing I can suggest is to read books with young protagonists. Lyra in His Dark Materials comes across as a dumb, boyish, young girl.

As for the flashback question it really depends how long your flashback is and what it's about.

>>16985320
Not to mention the only thing that makes real money on internet is porn. Games and other form of non erotic subscriptions can get you money too, but it's not even close to anything porn related.

How do I make first person narrative interesting?

>>16985342
Write a better story.

>>16985323
This is what every fucker on Retard Road thinks will happen to them. Your idea isn't special, and is actually quite stupid.

Publishers don't want something that's been published elsewhere first. A much better approach would be to self-publish one novel, have it become successful, and try to get an agent for your second novel now that you have a portfolio.

>>16985564
Projection much cus I don't. A considerale amount of people do publish their stuff on Amazon or kindkle and remove most chapters except for sample ones though.

>>16983712
bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonner- ronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthur- nuk!

>>16983704
Perhaps it's just a personal philosophy, but I believe very firmly that the simple is more beautiful than the complex. A wise man once said, "An idiot marvels at complexity, a genius marvels at simplicity." The same man also had some good tips for dealing with CIA niggers of the glow-in-the-dark variety.
The idiot becomes overwhelmed by the complexity. He thinks to himself, "I can't possibly comprehend all of this, so it must be brilliant." Meanwhile, the genius understands how much more skill it takes to see the complicated, the confounding, and to whittle something simple out of it. Something concise, yet still bearing truth. Where the idiot's complexity runs skin-deep, the genius's simplicity breeds an endless complexity of it's own.
My point is that, when you taint the soul of your work by assuming anything but what lies at the center hold the greatest value, you are needlessly overcomplicating your work. You're pandering to the idiot. It is obviously true that making these transient changes will change people's perception of your work. But a thing is a thing, not what is said of that thing. The soul of your work will remain intact.
>p.s. if you're not the metaphysical type and object to the word "soul" on pure principal, you can instead see it as the story's molten core. It's center of gravity.

>>16985765
Well said. In most cases, the person trying to write like an intellectual is actually really dumb himself and just trips on his own verbal trickery. The result is intolerable to all readers who don't eat crayons for breakfast

Do people generally like stories with unfulfilling, miserable ending?

>>16985976
no

>>16985976
Miserable/sad is not the same as unfulfilling.

>Penny was a smart, and beautiful girl
>Penny was a smart, and beautiful, girl

Which one of these is correct?
I think I have been staring a words too long; I can no longer figure out basic punctuation.
The second comma isn't needed, right? Despite 'and beautiful' being it's own clause.

Also, what is an adverb?

>>16986038
Neither of the commas are need, retard. You only need a comma between "smart" and "beautiful" if you remove "and".

>>16986052
Isn't the comma after 'smart' considered an Oxford/Serial comma though?

>>16986062
No, there's only two adjectives. Oxford Commas are for lists of 3 or more.

>>16986080
tytyty.
Time to start looking up basic junior school shit and re-editing everything.

>>16983293
Masashi Kishimoto mastered the art of writing well rounded woman characters. I think you should all watch the 700 episodes of Naruto to appreciate his art. Then move on to Boruto

>>16986093
Just use commas naturally to break up ideas and indicate pauses and stop stressing about where they're supposed to fit in. Neither of your examples sounded natural, did they? It was a single statement with no need to break up ideas. Commas serve to break up statements as a sort of lesser period and to make lists easier to read.

>>16986099
Naruto is a gateway anime of the worst kind. It's a bad series, a clusterfuck of story and characterization that isn't very well done by any aspect, but which attempts to compensate for its weaknesses by adding in excessive shipping faggotry and DARKNESS. The normal anon can see this as the shit it is, and may enjoy it, hate it or be indifferent to it, but all the while recognizing that the series itself, regardless of their opinion, is plain bad.

However, these very aspects that try to smear over the shit of its core make it a breeding ground for aspie, unsociable underageb& faggots who engage in every kind of faggotry both online and in the real world. The superpowered characters all trying their hardest to look cool, the jutsus, peculiar, colorful clothes, the whole ninja faggotry and everything about the Naruto world fuels their escapist fantasies, while the pity-party character backgrounds, emphasis on revenge, and overall preachiness of the series make it fit just right with the mary-sueish drives of your average preteen and his sense of unwarranted self-importance towards the world. Exactly the kind of shit that makes little kiddies and underageb& retards eat this shit right the fuck up.

Naruto is basically THE series to attract the most hated anime fanbase known to /a/, which is why, regardless of individual opinions, it is the responsibility of every anon to troll the fuck out of this show and everyone who likes it, and ensure that no Naruto threads ever encourage the newfriends to show their faces here.

>>16986248
you're just a seething NaruSaku fag

>>16986038
>Penny was, a smart, and beautiful, girl

I'm gonna put some annoying neologisms in my story and you can't stop me, pipeworkers.

>>16986611
as along as they're Anglo-Saxon in origin and not Latinate, otherwise you're a pseud

>>16986629
Can I do latin suffix+english word?

>>16983293
hey, I was wondering about my story. that the main character arrives at this town to take a rest but later on this guy disappears. I was wondering how the townspeople react? should I have a sheriff interrogate him and have people look at him when he leaves or what. I'm trying to get him to leave the town without much drama. now I'm thinking about it should I have the guy come back but remembers nothing during the interrogation? by the way this story is set in the late 1840s.

Lifehack: Your story can't have plotholes when it has no plot.

>>16986683
How the hell should I know?

>>16986038
Penny, was a, smart, and, beautiful, girl,

>>16986742
P,e,n,n,y,w,a,s,a,s,m,a,r,t,a,n,d,b,e,a,u,t,i,f,u,l,g,i,r,l.

For those of you with daily/weekly writing goals, do you set a time goal (I'll write an hour a day) or a word goal (I'll write 2000 words a day)

>>16986680
i suppose, as long as the latin suffix doesn't have a common english equivalent

I'm almost done with a thing I'm writing.
What's the best way to send it to friends for them to see?
I'd like a thing that lets them add notes or suggestions or whatever but I can only think of google drive and I don't want them to see the other people's notes

>>16986931
>What's the best way to send it to friends for them to see?
Anon.... they're not going to read it.

>>16987004
Y-yes they are!
They t-told me they w-would!
They wouldn't l-lie to me, would t-they?

>>16987029
It's okay, Anon, we get it. We've been there, bro. Facing the truth is always the hardest part. It took me three years to finally admit that my friend wasn't going to read the book I sent him. He lied. I can say that now, he lied. Even though he was my friend. It hurt, of course, but after I put it in words, it felt better. Like breaking free from chains that you've been carrying for so long you forgot how heavy they are. That's the first step, the little baby step. If you work hard at it, one day at a time, you might still be able to smile again and move on. You just gotta believe it.

>>16987140
no....
no!
NOOOOOOOoOOOOBut they asked me to show them though

>>16987198
It's not long is it? I find the longer it is, the more likely they might trail off and give you less input the further they go in. ;_:

>>16987247

this is quite true. I'm actually amazed around 4 out of 15 people i've sent my 80k words novel actually finished it. Also my gf still hasn't read it. Fuckin bitch.

>>16987247
>>16987308
It's just 50 pages (probably 60-ish when I'm done editing)
But for real should I just send them the google doc?

>>16987338

nah i save it to a pdf and send the pdf. they'll fuck up the doc. Don't send the original, but maybe create one for each of them and let them leave comments maybe...

>>16983293
What do you guys think of that? I'm an ESL if that matters.

>>16986038
Penny, smart and beautiful, was a girl

What do you think of the Neopets Writers board?

>>16987308
I once took a year to write a thin Roman a clef about myself and a girl I was seeing and then made a nice print for her as a cute present. She texted a picture of the climax scene a few hours later saying how touched she was.
I said I was flattered that she read it so quickly.
>oh I haven’t read it yet, I was just flipping through
It shouldn’t have broken my heart, but it did. We stopped talking soon after.

>>16987779
>>16987785
wholesome and white pilled.

>>16987779
>>16987785
Too pure and wholesome for my fried dopahime.

>>16983293

>>16985332
>His Dark Materials
Huh, I completely forgot she was something of a tomboy.
>flashback
The original idea for the story has two parts: one where the protagonist suffers through depression, and the second where she becomes a vagrant in search of a better life. I felt it might be more impactful for her physical journey to mirror her emotional journey, and therefore use the conversational style to expose the first arc as her remembering thinking back on the life she left as she traveled.

Therefore the flashbacks are fairly variable in length and content, but relatively frequent. What I'm really trying to pull off is that additional level of insight you get from what she chooses to remember, and how she reflects upon it, in contrast to the physical journey which is written in a straightforward and unexamined manner.

It's a bit cliché, but I think it might work really well here.

>>16985342
Use it as an opportunity to communicate more of the character's perspective; you've got an unreliable narrator that focusses only on details important to them and explains them in their own idiosyncratic way. Scenes can be more visceral, since you're describing not only the events, but the very experience of them. It's also less jarring to break the fourth wall in the first person, since it could just as well be the narrator talking to a character "offscreen".

How do I write a character with fucked up morals who slowly turns into a warmonger created for war without being edgy?

>>16984513
Feels.

>He breathed a twin stream of smoke out of his nostrils. The rest of the way we said nothing.
>We sat there, on the barren face of the huge, brown-gray rock, looking out into the expansive Appalachian mountainscape. For miles and miles all we could see were the blue ridges of the mountains like the waves on an ocean, bright clouds stuffed with afternoon light drifting over their peaks. Gav was smiling, and I was, too. Moments like these were what defined our trips. To an extent, they defined our whole friendship. We sat up there in silence for a long time, grateful for the view and for each other, probably, to be able to share it with.

Only issue I had when reading was continuity between narrator entering the garage. Really beautiful description above though mane—reminded me of summer trips with friends at Katahdin. You have good economic prose.

>>16987847
I will never understand how women are so soulless when they are supposed to be the romantic sex. They consume mostly romances and seem to only ever talk about relationships and men when they are together, yet in reality they are the calculating and selfish ones in relationships while most men are simp to their lovers. I know I'm black pilled and it's sad, I will never be able to write an enjoyable romance

>tfw all my female characters are generic housewives

>>16988205
The only kind of females who should exist. Don't feel bad about this.

>tfw questioning my ability and even my desire to be a writer
>tfw start new story out of blue
>tfw I can tell it's going to be my personal "make it or break it" moment
>tfw I can tell it's going to be longish
>isthisfinallyanovel?.png
>print out calendar of December and number out my goals for each day of planned writing
>mfw on track to hit over 50,000 words on Christmas day
I'm gonna do it, lads. It'll probably be shit, and it'll probably be too weird and obscure/specific to get published, but I'm going to finish it and I'm going to have a novel for myself. I doubt I'll see the new year if I don't.

>>16983293
The last word was cut off as I leaned up against the overloaded pallet, putting all of my tiny mass into my shoulder. The boxes didn't move at first, but after a second, despite my complete lack of any strength they toppled and buried Foster in an avalanche of poorly secured merchandise. She staggered back, falling down before taking a box of snow globes to the face.

"Fuck!" she screamed.

I turned as quickly as I could in the slanted heels towards the opposite end of the aisle. The hem of the skirts swirled wide around me. I had to get away from this woman who had somehow transformed me into a short, stacked girl and seemed determined to take me back to her hotel room with her.

I could hear her still reeling from the barrage of boxes, stumbling around blind. If I hurried I could make it around the corner of the aisle before she saw which way I went. That was easier said than done. I grasped onto the shelves for what balance I could, forced to slow down because the hem of the skirt kept getting caught under my little clicking feet. I quickly noticed that the way I was forced to walk wasn't entirely because of the shoes. My hips had to be wider and unless I stood in exactly the right way painful ribs in the bodice of the dress dug into my sides. I grabbed onto the edge of the shelf and used it to propel myself left down the aisle, wincing as my chest heaved upward and came down into a wobbling mass. I clamped my free arm overtop of my bosom in a vain attempt to stop the bouncing, my brain nearly melting as the pain of getting my boobs compressed washed through me.

"Viola!" I heard Foster shout. "Get back here, young lady!"

It was almost immediately apparent that if I wanted to put any distance between us I was going to have to move faster than traipsing around, trying not to step on the volumes of petticoats attached to my curvy hips. I had seen girls run in big gowns like this before. Where was it? The movies! I released my death grip on my boobs and pawed at the sides of the bell-shaped skirts. Unable to look down very far because the weight of my hair would strain my neck I fumbled blindly. I couldn't get a grip on the slippery fabric with my satin gloves, but after a moment I found what felt like a loop hidden among the folds of the taffeta. A pull on it felt like it went through all the petticoats beneath. Quickly finding another on the other side I pulled both upward and managed to clear enough space under the skirts for my feet to move more freely and I was off.

The only downside was that I couldn't do anything about my bouncing boobs.

*Click *Click *Click. *Boing *Boing *Boing.

Tears of humiliation started to form in the corner of my eyes as I realized how feminine I must look with my heels clacking on the floor, dress billowing out behind me like a sail and boobs bouncing furiously.

>>16988166
Thanks for the feedback man, appreciate it a ton. What do you mean exactly with the continuity? Do you mean, the amount of sudden detail is a bit jarring?

>mfw the plot outline isn't even finished yet

If I want a path to becoming a traditionally published novelist, should I try to publish short stories first and build a portfolio?

>>16989012
No, you should focus on improving your blowjob skills

I'm getting published in a literary magazine for the first time in February. the head editor told me he'd edit anything I wrote in the future and help me submit to fancy, high paying gigs. he thinks I'm good enough, and he has connections and good taste. I can't believe it, and I'm losing my shit. I didn't have money for college, I've spent six years working in restaurants, I never thought something like this would happen for me. I've only told my sister and my dad in case it all falls apart somehow. honestly if I can get paid to write pieces, even if i have to keep working shitty jobs on the side, I'll die happy.

>>16989606
That's pretty fuckin sweet, anon.

>>16989606
Congrats anon. I have questions:

What tier of mag is it? Pushcart winner? Over 1000 circ?
How long did you take to write the story? To edit?
How many stories had you written before?
Do you have any kind of writing background? Anything that you put in your cover letter?
How many submissions had you made for this story before this acceptance?
Did you know in your gut that this story would be your breakout?

Please restore my faith and satisfy my curiosity.

>>16988907
They're more like guidelines anyway. Don't worry about it and write your story.

>>16989677
I second this anons questions.

what your thoughts on this. is this funny?
>john came out of the store, holding the supplies to his chest. He walked closer to his pack mule until his foot came to a rock. He tripped to the ground and scattering his stuff on the drying dirt. As he about to get up he saw an old man sitting on rocking chair holding a pipe in his mouth watching him. They both made eye contact. john gathered his strength to pick up his supplies under the watchful eyes of the old man. He came closer to his pack mule; each step made the blood rushed to his face. As he was done filling the bags of the pack mule. The old man pulled out his pipe and said, “better luck next time” and placed it back in, puffing.

>>16989677
> I don't know shit about tiers if I'm being honest. I never read literary magazines before this, I just read short story collections I got from the library. It seems to me that they have good distribution, at least 1000 issues printed.
> three ten hour days. One for the first half of the story, the second for the second half, and the third to revise
> I've written two full stories before this, but I write short scenes in a notebook a few times a week
> I have no writing background. I've read about a book a week for the past six years. A lot of trash if I'm being honest, but a lot of good stuff too. My taste has gotten better over the years.
> This was my first submission ever.
> I didn't sleep the night I sent the email. Of course I had hope that I was good, but since I'd never shown my work to anyone besides my family, I knew there was a good chance that I was terrible.

>>16989743
Where's the joke?

>>16989784
I'm guessing it's not funny

>>16989814
Jokes generally have a punchline

>>16989828
alright, I think I got it.

>The old man pulled out his pipe and said, “you poor thing” and placed it back in, puffing.

>"I'm alright thank you, sir"

>"I was talking to the rock...I hope you die"

>>16985577
Ngmi

>>16989850
I guess that's an improvement but it still didn't make me laugh or smile.

>>16985976
no

see The unholy consult for example

>>16983742
What site do you use? What do you write?

>>16988324
Great job anon

>>16983910
Beautiful, champ. One of the few blessings I’ve had in life is a mother who’s always cared about me.

>>16986931
Unless it’s a short work, they won’t read it. Some of my friends won’t even read my published books. Sucks to say, but most people just can’t be bothered. You’ll always care more about your work than anyone else.

>>16990112
> my published books
God, are there really published authors on here? what do you write anon?

Also I wouldn't take it personally that your friends don't want to read your books. I have friends who I love dearly whose writing I simply have no interest in because it is niche

>>16987715
You blueballed me through the whole page with the repetitive dog thing, only to end with some incel punchline? damn, son. Your grammar is ok for esl but take care not to switch tense mid-sentence.

>>16988121
Read 100 Years of Solitude. The character Aurelino Buendia has this transformation and it's stunning.

>>16983910

>>16990181
There are. I used to browse here quite a bit before I started my career. It's fun to come back every so often and watch people argue. My books are Humour works; my poetry is a bit niche. Working on a novel at the moment that will either get me banned from publishing or start a new trend.

That's fair. You see that sort of thing in writers' groups a lot. Sometimes, as much as you care about someone, their stuff just isn't to your taste. Still, I do think that it's rare to find someone these days who'll actually go through an entire manuscript if asked to. Short attention spans or something.

>>16985123
looks like only one of her own tribe members picked her

> Starlight Media Developing TV Adaptation Of Rebecca F. Kuang’s Fantasy Books Including ‘The Poppy War’

Rebecca F. Kuang’s series of fantasy novels including The Poppy War, are set to be adapted for television after Peter Luo’s Starlight Media optioned the rights.

Starlight Media, which has backed films including Crazy Rich Asians and Midway, has taken the rights to The Poppy War, Dragon Republic and The Burning God.

The company has teamed with financing and production banner SA Inc to develop and finance the female-led, fantasy epic, which combines the history of twentieth-century China and a world of gods and monsters.

https://deadline.com/2020/12/starlight-media-tv-adaptation-of-rebecca-f-kuangs-fantasy-books-the-poppy-war-1234651757/

>>16989606
Good job anon!

>>16987847

Oh btw, sorry for perpetuating a bad stereotype by saying my gf is a bitch. She is in fact lovely and has recently had a fuckton of work to do so i don’t blame her for not reading a genre she has very little interest in and a book of which everything has been spoiled since i have talked about events in the book with her. Just needed to clarify.

>>16990695
Dude...

>>16988820
Not the details being jarring. That Gav is described entering the garage then the narrator is suddenly there.

I did reread it and noticed you did say he entered, just didn’t catch me at first since you described Gav as crawling in.

Chapter 10.

https://awfiction.wordpress.com/2020/12/10/engine-zero-zero-chapter-10/

>>16992117
How many chapters do you write ahead or do you release when you finish writing each chapter?

>>16992688

i think he said he's done writing it and was gonna release one chapter per day until christmas.

>Writing away
>Finish a few scenes or maybe a chapter or two
>Read over and hardly wrote anything despite all the information that's needed for it to progress written down.
Anybody else fail at just making things longer? Even my short stories sometimes hover around 1000 words.

>have to write a house party scene
>tfw only experience with house parties is movies and family gatherings
Fake til you make it, right guys?

RIGHT?!

>>16994172
Are you going into enough detail? Does the world feel alive? Are your characters getting along too well? Is there enough conflict?

If the answer to those questions is "yes" and you still write short, then don't worry about it. I know what you're feeling, but don't add fluff for the sake of making something longer and nothing else. Serve the story you're writing, not how you *think* it should be.

I spent 7 hours yesterday critiquing 3 stories in my novel level 400 class and did my best to make their works better, and everyone else just wrote "thats relateable" "wow so good" "I loved this" and during our class zoom discussion, everyone shit on me for being "picky" and "mean" and the professor did nothing, I'm literally the only one who tried to improve their works, 0 suggestions from anyone else, I hate it here

>>16994407
I always find most of my stories are carried by dialogue more than anything which probably doesn't help, also a feeling that I am fluffing it up when I'm not, especially knowing that if I want to get properly published I need to hit 60k words usually.

>>16994432
kek what a bunch of pussies

>>16994432
Didn't you post this before like a month ago?

I just finished with my 200 level creative writing course. I had a better experience than that, but I am the only one that really offered in-depth critique other than the professor. Also had the best score in the class on all three of my submissions.

>>16994630
this just happened 2 days ago

>>16994432
>going to school for creative skills
here's your problem

>>16994457
>carried by dialogue
Same, desu. As long as you go back and read and edit your stuff. There's plenty of people who underwrite and then go back in and add lots of detail. Don't feel you need to get it right the first time.

>>16994432
This is why you don't take creative writing classes, dumbass. It's all faggots and women who don't understand the concept of constructive criticism. They're the kind of people who think participation trophies are a good thing.

Would it be an asshole move/dickish to post my daily and total word count for the thing I'm working?

Part of me feels it could be cool and possibly motivating to others, but another part of me feels it might come across as bragging or some shit. I like the idea of feeling obligated to someone other than myself, tho.

>>16994432
This is all schools everywhere today. Teacher tells you to critique each other but if you say anything other than "it was so good, you're really good!" then you get branded the "mean guy" and everybody hates you. Teachers are too incompetent to direct the discussion and, you know, teach. Shit sucks but this is the kind of culture we're living in. People are mentally fragile as shit.

>>16994892
>Part of me feels it could be cool and possibly motivating to others
How? Why would anyone care?

Instead of arbitrary numbers, talk about what you actually did, what was your goal, if you had any problems, and how you solved them.

>>16994935
>Why would anyone care?
Competition? Idk. You see some other fuckhead getting his shit done and it makes you feel like you need to go get your shit done?

>arbitrary numbers
>what was your goal
My daily goal is those arbitrary numbers. Once I hit a certain number of words for the day I feel I can stop writing without feeling bad. I don't stop when I hit that, it's just a minimum I hold for myself.

But as for covering problems and shit, I feel like that'd be more like a blog post and it would get real old real quick.

>>16983369
Paragraphs anon. I liked it, but without paragraphs it's hard to maintain focus

>>16994972
Jesus christ, you've got to be kidding me

>>16983522
This is how I do it

>>16994935
Gaskun used to do this all the time and people loved it. Don't be miserable.

>>16985952
>>16985765
Extremely good points.

Why do some amateur writers have such similar prose? And how to avoid this?

>>16995047
who?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mWF1kmCo3U

>>16995115
>Why do some amateur writers have such similar prose?
Because they only read fanfiction/web novel garbage, if they read at all.

>And how to avoid this?
Read books, but don't just read them as you normally would. Pay attention to what the sentence structure and dialogue and whatever is like.

>>16986285
This picture and your reply only proves his point

and Naruto is maybe the most hypocritical and sanctimonious protagonist in anime history.

>>16986285
>>16995383
Newfags can't spot a stale copypasta

So we're all well aware that Hollywood would never make a movie that presented a character who shit on gays even if that character was gay himself in a neutral light. He would need to be vilified in some way or another.

My question is, is there more freedom in the literary world? Can I present the kind of characters that modern sensibilities would want erased from existence in a neutral light and still get published? Or would it result in me getting flagged as some crpyto-nazi and everything I submit would be automatically rejected?

>>16995522
It's not necessarily true that there's less freedom in the film world. Films are expensive to make, and require the dedicated work of a great deal of people. Investors have to be selective of what they put their money into. Doesn't mean you *can't* do certain things, just means you have to be prepared for people to question your creative choices, and add their input.
Sorry that doesn't answer your question but I felt like pointing it out.

>>16995679
There's less creative freedom these days because everything is politicized. Back in the 90s there was a comic serious about a civil war of sorts that had a faction of white separatist out in Idaho/Montana and they were presented as neutral as any other group. You would never get away with anything even remotely close to that now because of shit like cancel culture.

Ffs, before GoT bombed in that last season, the creators wanted to make a series called Confederate about the South winning the Civil War and there was such outrage because "how dare they entertain the """"""bad guys""""""" winning"

I got hit by another bout of anxiety (only partially related to writing) and I haven't touched my novel in almost a week. This is starting to weight down on my conscience but I don't fill I can handle the writing process right now.

>>16983944
Whatever keepa you from binge drinking. For most, this would mean an potent pale ale. One beer is enough to get you in the mood to write, but any more and your creative wit will be stifled.
I go with Sapporo, but I hate the taste. I've been looking for an alternative

I wrote some lewd fanfiction about Chongyun (a character from Genshin Impact). Anyone want to help critique? I've never written any fiction before so I'm sure there is plenty of room for improvement.
https://pastebin.com/ZpZ0hGcU

>>16990312
thanks. Didn't really cared for what I was writing and just went on.

>>16995725
Hate to break it to you, but "everything" was politicized in the 90s, too. A single anecdote doesn't prove that wrong.
>a series called Confederate about the South winning the Civil War
There's already a mockumentary about just that from back in 2004. Why do people on 4chan seem to think that liberal politics being injected into media is some hot new thing? It's been a thing since the red scare ended, and before that it was conservative ideology.

>>16995522
>>16995679

There's no meaningful freedom in any creative medium. Literature, however, is perhaps the least free of them all.
Not only does your book have to SELL (to a demographic that actually buys books: Zoloft-popping mid 30s wine aunts), but the industry is run by post-ironic neoliberal shills (mostly brooklynite kikes) from top to bottom. Everybody from the editor, to the agent, to the fuckwit intern who sorts through the slush pile will view any deviance from globohomo slop as a disgusting, existential threat. You can either plumb the depths of allegory in an attempt to outwit them, or you can try an independent "dissident" publisher (who will only sell five copies and probably ruin your life anyways).

>>16995725
>Everything is politicized
This isn't even accurate. If "everything was politicized" then there would be an open supply and demand of "dissident" or "far right" or "far left" publishing, and blasé genre schlock would be, in fact, the greater impossibility. There's no communist fiction. There's no fascist fiction. There's not even plain old reactionary fiction outside of a few writers (hollaback) who were grandfathered in. The current literary market is pure status quo--it could almost be described as apolitical, given that the moral paradigms that the industry espouses are taken as a quasi-divine gospel. Opposition isn't stifled, it's categorically not possible.

Try to instead realize the truth that all art is inherently political (and therefore cannot *be* politicized) and you'll figure out that the "revolution" you think you see in our culture was already won decades ago. You're completely stepped in it, and you need to have your "this is water" moment. You aren't the sane one in this system, you're merely a reactionary relic that they've been doing their best to root out for the past century. I'm not saying this to demoralize you. I just hope you can start to think about these problems seriously (instead of with point-and-scoff boomerisms like "everything is politicized these days"), because they're only going to get worse.

This guy >>16995892 has a better grasp of things.

>>16995910
It's easier than ever before to self-publish your work. Obviously you've still got the issue of actually getting people to read it, but it's not like it's impossible to get your work out there if it happens to have a bit of "deviance from globohomo slop." Such an attitude is just a self-defeating excuse to never even try.

Why do self-published authors have this kind of ego?

>>16985976
>unfulfilling
no you retard
>miserable
depends

>>16995745
Just write. It might actually help. I know I tend to get really cranky when I got a few days without writing.

>>16995994
That's not a self-published author thing, it's a neo-liberal thing. They have a totalitarian view point that influences literally everything and anyone who slightly deviates from this is automatically wrong on moral grounds.

>>16995959
>It's easier than ever before to self-publish your work
You can also print out your manuscripts at Kinkos and sell them by the roadside, which would qualify as "getting your work out there."
Or you could recognize that I, like the person I was replying to, am talking about the industry/community/market as a whole, the commanding heights of culture, and not just the bare logistics of putting ink to paper or pixels to screens.
If something considered "dissident" actually gained traction on Amazon and started becoming an influential "bestseller," do you really think they would allow it to remain? To show up on Joe Shmoe's recommendations page? It's allowed to exist in its crippled way because it's not a threat (it specifically caters to a hyperniche audience and has no broad appeal, just like Parler or Gab or even /pol/). The literary industry is so titanic in its breadth, it can't be pelted down with sticks and stones if you wish to use its machinery for actual cultural influence (which any artist who cares about the topic should).

Apologies for my anger, which you probably don't deserve. My own line of employment is very adjacent to the literary industry and this place is the only place I can bitch about it.

>>16995994
Twatter preselection bias.

>>16983712
It’s GOP cult lingo. Trump and MAGAs easily understand

Can someone explain to me why most people who revere The Picture of Dorian Gray are usually insufferable faggots that clearly missed the point of the whole book as being a warning *against* hedonism and debauchery as ails on society rather than things to be encouraged and celebrated?

>>16996096
James Joyce was a Trump supporter?

>>16996110
fuck decadents
degenerates should be hanged

>your buddy from writing class writes litrpg
>his new book is full of philosophical shit and romanticism
>one chapter is some battle shit with stats like from vidya and the other is full of monologues, thoughts and details
Not gonna lie I enjoyed it

>>16996146
>degenerates should be hanged
You had one job and you fucked it up

>>16996165
>stats like from vidya
The after battle stuff from Total War games you mean?

Either way, I'm intrigued.

>>16996110
You are the insufferable faggot. I bet you are a joker fanboy too, so random and edgy.
The whole point of Dorian Gray is that hedonistic and thirst for outward aesthetic destroy the purity and beauty of art and true love.

>>16996181
>joker fanboy
Not really, desu.
>whole point
It's about a gay guy understanding that while he might get his jollies fucking dudes there's more to life than sexual gratification and society is better off when keep that shit in check.

I agree with your take too, but it's ultimate Oscar Wilde admitting that euthanizing faggotry is an appropriate way for civilization to handle that shit.

yo anons, is this book excerpt good enough for shitty webnovel sites?
https://pastebin.com/rf4ygvrE
If so, what stupid site should I put this on?
I wrote a book when I was a teenager and would like to do something with it.

>>16996374
>when I was a teenager
I'd recommend burning it like I did with all my writings from before I became an actual person.

>>16996374
the link does not work

>>16996063
Don't worry, anon -- I feel you. I have two books on the market that are "counter-culture-y," and I've been blackballed so many times it's not even funny. Trying to put something out into the world that even ironically challenges the metanarrative is a Herculean task. I'm confident the novel I'm writing will get me blacklisted permanently.

>>16996417
When do a handful of us get together and found our own publishing house?

Also, how are you blackballed? Just curious

>>16996393
>>16996410
>>16996374
whoops
here it is
https://pastebin.com/xsWTWhQi
if anyone knows any webnovel sites besides goodnovel, webnovel, and anystories, let me know

>>16996463
There's Royalroad. Scribblehub, and Wattpad. There's also a forum called SpaceBattles as well.

>>16996438
Ready when you are. I had to set up a publishing imprint to put my stuff out there because my book deal got fucked by COVID and publishing politics, so I like to think I've learned a great deal about what it takes to put together a book and market it. I'm interested in such a project.

The first book in my series was banned from advertising on Amazon, and I had to call over and over again, just to talk to random Pajeets who didn't know how to help. Lost whole days trying to send emails to the advertising department, just to get redirected. Still can't advertise on the .com platform. I've also lost advertising deals with social media influencers (lol) who thought certain parts of my book "perpetuated outdated ideas" and "reinforced stigmas." (It's a fucking humour book that's very clearly ironic.) There are honestly too many instances to count.

>>16996485
>>16996485
but can those make me the dollar

>>16996463
It is GARBAGE.

I specifically looked for one specific flaw, and I found it immediately through skimming. Why can you retards never punctuate dialogue tags properly? It's not a period, it's a comma.

I will literally not continue reading if you have made this error. It shows that you are extremely underread, as you would have learned how to do this if you read ONE (1) book. And I mean a book-book, not some garbage English webnovel or poorly translated Japanese webnovel.

>>16996490
>social media influencers
They and the people who listen to them aren't the kind of people who would like our works anyway.

ngl, I've understood that people like us would need to build an entire network, both of producers and consoomers, if we were going to succeed. It'd need to be a parralel market opperating along side(or some kind of black market of sorts). Not just for books, but any media. The sad reality of this is that takes money that no one really has or is willing to put up for such a thing.

The movie-fiend in me loves the idea of buying a plot of land, building a few warehouses, and making movies of our own in the middle of bumfuck Montana or something, but without a way to release those movies profitably we'd be fucked.

My long term plan is to fly under the radar as best as possible. I've got plenty of ideas that are philosophically/politically neutral that I want to write and build an audience that way. Then once I'm ready to finally write stuff that's more explicit, jump ship and forge my own outlets. But that's ultimately just a pipe dream LARP probably.

>>16996528
Scribblehub has a donation button, and Royalroad allows people to set up patreons and paypal links, and neither take any cut from it.

You'll need to build a following since you won't wake up one day with cash following(probably). I think on RR's forum some users suggest you might get at best 1% to 3% of your readers giving you money for it. Patreon works best if you have backlog to release to them ahead of public releases.

>>16996581
yes I agree anon, but webnovel IS garbage tier
is it SO garbage that it can't impress those who consoom webnovels?

>>16996463
I'll critique your teenage writing after I get back tonight if you critique my teenager-quality gay smut fanfiction:
>>16995844

>>16996597
I will try!

>>16996463
bro why don't you just bury this shit and write something proper, I too wrote abominations as a teenager and take the only existing memories of them with myself after I die

>>16996612
because one mans trash may be another mans treasure
why bury it when I can make MONEY

>start writing details, let autism lead your way, write some beautiful sentences and mc's thoughts
>have to continue the story
>don't know how to end the thoughts and details and go back to story
every time

>>16996667
"Anon, wake up!"

>>16996590
Yeah, I quickly realized that. They're too scared to have opinions that will upset their fanbases.

I was thinking of setting up a Sam Hyde-style operation out in the woods, too. What matters more than having a lot of infrastructure in place, though, is having something worth saying and the still to convey it. I think I've reached that level of experience and skill, and I hope you have, too.

I say put out the stuff that speaks to you -- the shit you want to read. It's tough to build a base founded upon neutrality. You have to be exceptional. People gravitate toward those who take risks and those who show at least some sort of transparency in their work.

I'd love to read some of your stuff and chat more about this. Shall we exchange emails?

>>16995844
Reads like the descriptions I get from the youtube ads. I only have a basic knowledge of Genshin and don't really even know who this character is, so, from my perspective it's a little boring. I'm sure somebody who likes Genshin impact would like this though.
I've never seen someone write erotica like this though. Seems a tad textbookish. But I'm no smut connoisseur.
I think it's pretty aight for smut.

>>16996776
>founded upon neutrality
The stories were politically neutral. They're about people and nothing more. Didn't mean it any other way.

>emails
Discord?

Wrote 540 words today and all of them are fucking brilliant, I don't even have to edit them, they are so good bros
I don't want to go to sleep because I'll lose this flow

>>16996952
>I don't even have to edit them
That'll change tomorrow when you go back and read it over.

>>16996875
Ah, I see.

Yeah, I have Discord. I don't go on very often, but I checked out the /lit/ chatroom a little while ago. My username's Biff Thiccie

>>16997024
>/lit/ chatroom
That sounds like the most cancerous thing I could think of.

Honestly, I only asked for discord because I forgot that I had a throw away email. I was planning on getting rid of it and using a different one soon, but
>Chadlee@tutanota.com

>>16996806
Thank you anon! It's funny that it seems textbookish as I haven't read other erotica for years, but I'm quite happy with that compliment given that I have no particular talent to speak of. Any particular aspects you thought were weak would be helpful to know more about.

>>16996581
Retard here
Don't you only end a quotation with period if you're sentence is structured in a shitty way?

>"I'm a dumb bitch," anon said.

Is it fine to use a period if it's structured like this

>"I'm a dumb bitch."
>Anon crossed his arms and nodded to himself, proud of his contribution to the thread.

I generally try to avoid ever doing X said, Y shouted, etc. Is this autistic? Is this grammar shit?

>>16999020
Not that anon, but yes. Quotes aren't interchangeable with commas and periods. You should treat them as if they aren't even there.
>"I'm a dumb bitch," anon said.
This is a single sentence
>I'm a dumb bitch, said anon.
The quotes only indicate the part that is spoken aloud.
>"I'm a dumb bitch."
>Anon struck a proud pose.
These are two separate sentences and must be ended with a period.

Use of dialogue tags is mostly just a matter of style. But never using them tends to come across as kind of awkward and confusing, especially when multiple people are talking, and results in ugly formatting.

Any good short story collection to learn how to write them?

>>16999383
You write short stories.
Then you like, put them between the same covers.
That's it.

Thoughts about my beginning?

We started dying before the snow, and, like the snow, we continued to fall. We were surprised that so many of us were left to die. For those who survived the spotted sickness from the south and our long fight west to Dakota land, where we signed the treaty, and then a wind from the east, bringing exile in a storm of government papers, what descended from the north in 1914 seemed terrible, and unjust.

>>16999623
>starting with I/we/they etc
Don't do that.
>referencing to still unknown, random information
You are making the first page confusing. I understand you want to give readerssome questions, but it looks dumb and incoherent like babbling.
Rewrite it again.

I'm trying to do a sort of hard-boiled 1950's detective thing here, but I'm wondering if the style is too 'sparse'.

>>16999745
masterpiece

>>16983293
this podcast is good

Chapter 11.

https://awfiction.wordpress.com/2020/12/11/engine-zero-zero-chapter-11/

>>16999533
Oh how funny, what cleverness. Yes just write bro, just put the words down and a masterpiece will come to be. Why don't you show us your 700.000 words fanfic?

>>16984513

Reposting this for more general impressions.

https://pastebin.com/L70rXZtq

Just passed 60k words in my novel.

>>16983549
you are retarded

>>17000630
3500 for a novel I write for one month already

Asterisks for emphasis: Yay or nay?
EG:
>Wow she's so hecking cute and valid
>you're wrong, *he* is an abomination.

if nay, what's the best alternative?

Does /lit/ quarterly still exist? Did anyone make it into the new edition?

>>17000831
Italics.

>>17000831
Yes, if you write a silly webnovel and can format this correctly

For normal literature, italics

Why is modern literature and the publishing market full of neo-liberal dipshits?

>>16983742
I write about 15 words, then walk around and pace my room for an hour, then sit back down and write another 100, then walk around for 2 hours, write another 30 words, then finally give up for the day.

>>17001097
It's the current year.

>>16979395
> "eschatology"
Thanks, man.

Any links to the books in the OP?

Man, wanting to be an aspiring writer nowadays both awesome and fucking terrifying considering the amount of options you have at your disposal, I don't even think that the traditional approach to fiction is the right one. Writing novels is immensely challenging and the most gratifying for any writer, but I want to explore the new mediums such as films, comicbooks and video games and make my mark on them by twisting them and bending them to my will, seeing how I can transfigure them into something unique that can't be boiled to genres and isn't mere entertainment, but holds value, and most important of all, has power!

What about you, /wg/?

>>17001569
I've been writing stories and fragments since I was in the 3rd grade and I've only shown my work to less than 10 people over the 17 years I've been doing it.

>>16999383
Choose your favorite ones or authors that you love most of all and that excel at them, then start reading them extensively and do so ad nauseam, take notes, copy them, steal from them, and in the process develop your own style.

>>16999383
The complete stories of Jorge Luis Borges seems like a pretty good bet

>>17001585
And, were you given any useful advice/criticism or got some compliments for it? Do you think you can write for shit? And what do you write about, anon? Talk to me here.

>>17001612
>useful advice
Not really, friends and family are worthless in that regard
>compliments
I got one of my friends to laugh so hard he peed his pants at school, I take that as a compliment that story is gone baby gone
>Do you think you can write for shit
Yes. At least well enough for my people.
>what do you write about
Humorous fantasy stories. It all began when I was 5 or 6 and forced my mom to write down stuff for me. She wanted to make a story about a prince saving a princess and yadda yadda and I decided it would be funny if a dwarf set the forest on fire and interrupted the story. This path has made my life an enjoyable one.

>>17000656
>waited two days to reply
>no counter-point, just name-calling
I'll take that as I'm right

How long should I make my chapters? I fear I extend them beyond what the reader might expect out of a chapter. They're usually pretty linear too, with very few time jumps or perspective shifts.

>>17001680
2000 words

>>17001680
depends
is it a book? web, light novel or what?

>>17001569
>such as films
lol
>comic books
comic writers are a thing and unlike you have studied about page composition, comic pacing, page turns and what the fucking ever. if you can draw yourself you could make your own comics but good luck getting people to draw your story if you're not famous already. Although you could ask for a commission i guess.
>Videogames
If there's an indie studio that likes your shit you might get a job writing for them, otherwise good luck.
You can't just write a story for a videogame.
You can write about the lore, the setting and the characters but you need to collaborate with the levels designers and what not to have your vision mean something and also interlace with the actual game, unless you're thinking of a VN in which case lol.

There's a reason why people prefer to write their own story and hope comic/film/videogame people will notice it and adapt it, it's a whole 'nother process, especially because books allow you to be as detailed as you want with your setting and story, and the better realized a setting is the more there is to pick for an adaptation.

>>17001647
>I got one of my friends to laugh so hard he peed his pants at school, I take that as a compliment
I also got my start writing stories to entertain my friends in class. They usually consisted of two notebook pages and were usually about Hitler raping some anime character.

>>17001755
That's just silly.

>>17001688
A book. I don't intend to publish it in stages either; I hope to send it to an editorial as a single volume.

>>17001768
Then don't use chapter at all

>>17001791
I suppose I could do that too. I've seen some authors do that and it seemed to work out for them.

>>17001755
I remember getting a writing assignment in middle school and had to read it aloud.
I made it a silly unfortunate event story and everyone liked it and laughed along a lot, even the teacher.
I dunno why I never tried writing until a few years ago, I enjoy it and my friends like my stuff too.
Maybe if videogames hadn't taken up most of my waking hours...

Any advice for writing Visual novels?

>>17001901
VN professional writer who writes novels and short stories for a hobby

ask me anything you want and I'll try to help you as long as I'm online

>>17001914
Holy shit, really? What have you written? What would you say are the main differences in writing terms between the two mediums? ADV or NVL? What advice would you give to someone with little writing experience who wants to start in this medium?

>>17001680
However long they need to be. They should convey a series of events that have something roughly tying them together. Making all of your chapters a uniform word count leads to pacing problems. Generally, don't go above 4k words due to attention span issues.

My chapters in what I'm currently working on are only comprised of one scene each. If it cuts away to somewhere else, then I end the chapter. This is nonstandard, and it means that my chapters could either be 500 at the minimum or 4k at the maximum.

>feel like I'm writing too much dialog
>it's a romance plot line and it's the only way I feel these particular characters can grow closer at this point in the story
Does anyone else have this problem, or am I just a hack?

>>17002131
No; there are plenty of novels that contain a lot of dialogue. Well written dialogue is nothing to spurn, it can be both engaging and aesthetically pleasing. If you need to have them talk, then it is what you should do. Do not worry about it; you're doing fine. Just make sure that the reader doesn't lose track of the space they inhabit and you'll be alright.

>>17001947
I don't want to talk much about myself because it'd be easy to track down my studio, we made a free game that got pretty big and then started releasing normal VNs for money. I'm taking care of writing, music, sounds, simple designs drawn by hand and basic programming stuff, my two friends deal with turning it into a game, drawing actual graphics and help me with editing.

Answer this:
What can and what can't you do? What are your skills? Don't worry if you can't do anything besides writing.
What do you aim for, what is your goal and target? Do you want to make it big, be a pro, or just write VNs as a hobby?

The biggest advantage of VN is not having backgrounds or characters before you, it's not having engaging routes (if you're not writing a kinetic novel), it's actually music. You know how popular Key's music is, right? If it's good, it will make your scenes overflowing with beauty, it will give them their own feelings. A beautiful, poetic scene with pretty CGs and great music is better than reading anything else in the world.
btw, writing VNs will teach you how to make great, believable characters with soul and great dialogues (if it's not some silly random harem story)

>>16992117
>>16984862

Readin up again, been away for a while. I really like your style. Your metaphors are great and... it's just good. It would need editing i guess, but not a lot. Chapter 5 and keepin on, just like engine 00

>>16996952
>>16997006
It's still so fucking good, I just need to polish it a bit but it's so fucking good

>>17002203
I can't really do anything besides writing, and my writing is just beginner tier. I have some art experience, my drawings don't look good, but they're not higurashi tier either. I can fiddle my way around ren'py enough to make things work.

I want the things I write to be read by people, to find an audience. I don't care if the audience is niche, ideally I'd like to be able to make it a full time job, but I realize how foolish a dream that is.

A big problem is I feel like my ideas are too similar to other things I've read. I can't shake the feeling that everything I write is just a ripoff.

>>17002247
Could you show me any of your drawings? Can you draw backgrounds?

Renpy is solid, probably the best free engine you can work with, it's easy to do anything you want there if you learn some basic python, and you'll learn it easily by simply writing down your story and thinking
>what can I do here
>how do I do that, wait, let me check it, www.google.com......

and that's actually what you should be doing right now, you have some ideas so try to write something, text comes first, add some notes in ## what should be here and here, see things in your head, turn your notepad on
I can help you with combining everything into an actual game and merging things together if you want to send me your email address

>>17001569
I feel like I'm not writing as much as I would want to and I get real bad anxiety when thinking about balancing my time between writing, anime, wagie, and vidya with friends. I had to put Muv Luv Alternative on the backburner for the past 5 months since it was cutting too hard into my writing schedule, but I started reading more of chapter 7 yesterday since I had a small amount of freetime to play some of it. I was lucky to get on quarantine from wagie this week and the last so I was able to get a decent output but I fear I'm still not close to wrapping up this volume before the end of the year.

>>17001680
>>17001768
I usually aim for 900 words minimum and usually land somewhere in the 1,800~3000 word range. I think books have somewhat of a norm at around 4000-5000 words but depends on trends so it's likely never set in stone. Some of my chapters were over 6,000 but sometimes it can best to chop up chapters where it makes sense to do so(this is more of a webnovel issue though).

>>17002376
I'll give you an old email I don't use much anymore, I don't want my main on 4chan. Throw me a line there and I'll give you my main one. analogwavelength@hotmail.com Let me know when you've gotten in contact.

I mostly draw figures, I haven't really messed with backgrounds a lot, but I'm versed in perspective rules so I know the fundamentals at least. I can show you some drawings through email, if you'd like.

I'm doing some brainstorming right now, I feel like I have overall plot ideas, but not as much character ideas. I feel like an interesting mystery or plot won't be able to be carried very far without fleshed out characters, and having a series of events without characters to push them feels like writing backward, in a way.

>>17002412
>about balancing my time between writing, anime, wagie, and vidya with friends
>he didn't include reading in this
Never gonna make it as a writer.

>>17002450
Sent.

>>17002479
I don't have a problem having time for reading here and there

>>17002487
Replied.

Am I going to make it if I read in English but write in my language?

>>17002178
I just heard a number of places that dialog heavy writing is a noob thing, so that's always something that sticks in the back of my mind. It's not that I *couldn't* make it more prose-y, I just find the dialog to be more character revealing, and fits the "show don't tell" bill better.

Personally, I try to take things a little further with my dialog. For example, someone might capitalize Hell, while spelling God as "god." On the surface they might look like mistakes, but it's all intentional.

>>17002646
That's all fine, even great, honestly. I've also seen some recognized authors who had a preference for dialogue and that did not make their works less valuable. If your novel relies on character interaction rather than character introspection, then you have few options other than doubling down on your dialogue exchanges. Besides, you are adding your own personal touch and giving it an interesting twist to compensate for its abundance. This is just my opinion, but while it is normal that you doubt yourself, specially if this is your first novel, you have done nothing wrong (on principle, at least, the execution might say otherwise). I believe you shouldn't be concerned about this issue.

>>17002479
How much do you read a day anon?

>>17002591
I recommend you read in your language. There have been times in which I caught myself using an unnatural sentence structure in my own tongue that would have worked fine in English, for example, and that is despite the fact that I do read in my own language. Writing is an art that comprises several skills; your mastery over a language is one of those skills. You need to keep it in shape, learn more words, expose yourself to different ways of expression. I believe that you really need to do a substantial amount of reading in the language that you write. Don't stop reading in English, but dedicate your tongue more time.

>>17002724
>I believe you shouldn't be concerned about this issue
Thank you, stranger from the internet. Sometimes you just need to know you're not a total fuck up(in theory).

/wg/, when i started this novel i originally set out to write the next homestuck. in the process i ended up telling a very different story that was nowhere near as twisty or convoluted. im not sure if that's a bad thing or a good thing

>>17003275
Serve the story, not your ego.

It feels amazing to be ahead of schedule. I don't care if it's only by 300ish words, it still feels amazing.

>>17003492
bro don't tell me that i should write like 9000 words today to be ahead of schedule

>>17000856
Yes, still reading the 400+ submissions. Have selected about half the fiction and two of the essays so far.

>>17003613
9000 words is like 3-4 chapters, that's like maybe one and a half weeks at most of releases.

>>17003613
How did you fall that far behind? Figure that out and then figure out how to not do that in the future.

>>17003695
Because I'm a fucking retard.

>>17003702
So am I, Anon. That's not an excuse.

>he publishes serially
>he does this because he wants to imitate isekai garbage WN writers from Japan
>he does this because deep down, he knows that he needs more than a decade's worth of experience before he'll be up to the level of trad publishing
Never gonna make it.

>spend so much time learning languages as a hobby that my writing suffers

all the old, great writers were multilingual so how did they manage?

>>17003746
If he does write everyday, he's already made it farther than you ever have. Now imagine the gap between you abd he in ten year time.

>>17004279
They didn't spend any time posting on imageboards

>>17003746
It's a little comforting that after two months of not visiting this thread, you're still here seething over Royal Road posters

>>17004279
They were mostly rich and were taught them during their childhood

>>17002131
I've read a great novel that was almost entirely dialogue. If you can pull it off well, then I really don't see it as a bad thing. Really just comes down to what kinda style you like writing in

>>17004479
>If he does write everyday
I do that too.
>Now imagine the gap between you abd he in ten year time.
He'll finally be sending out his first query while I'll be a world-renowned author.

>>17004754
I'm not the only one. You're someone without sense so you expect sensible people to be rare.

just thinking who I would like to cast as my main character when my novel gets picked up for a movie adaptation

>>17004947
Idris Elba

>>17004947
Sorry anon, your main character is now a mexican or a black girl. Enjoy!

New thread? Don't let this die again without a replacement.

>>17004769
>style
I waste too much time worrying about this, ngl.

>>17004947
>he thinks he'll have any say at all
If you even attempt to add your input, the director will go exactly the opposite route you recommend. And worst of all, he'll make a movie a thousand time better than your book while doing so.

new bread

>>17005055
>>17005055
>>17005055

>>17005047
>tfw my love of movies makes me interested in becoming writer/director
It's not my favorite book, but Perks of Being a Wallflower holds a special place in my heart, and Stephen Chbosky is my idol for having written the book, written the screenplay, and directed the movie.

>>17005123
Clive Barker had to live through the experience of his short story Rawhead Rex getting made into a horrible, cheesy 80s slasher flick. So he went out and directed Hellraiser, one of the horror classics.

>>17005039
Style is definitely very important, though; it's just not the only thing you should focus on

>>17005243
I feel I've got a good grasp on plot/story, characters and all that. Style is the only thing I feel I don't have a hold of. It just seems so... elusive and intangible for me. There was one story I let my friend read that said it feels like he was in the world I'd written(wasn't fantasy or anything, just generic city#482 and a basic bitch mob plot because I felt like it), so that gives me hope, but...