/lit/ - Literature

>>18193298
No more words. Real life awaits us!

>>18193298
I want to thank OP for keeping these threads going, they're the best.

You ever feel like a poser or a fraud? Like maybe you want to write a certain character or story that has slightly semi-autobiographical elements but you give them certain traits, or experiences, or put them in a setting that you have no experience with?

Any stories about a certain thing that gave you a specific idea or inspiration for a book? I recently saw a photo online that gave me an idea for a book and it got me wondering how inspiration comes to others.

Good morning /wg/ it's time to write a comedy story that hyperbolizes something trivial but ridiculous that happened to you

Should I force myself to write even if I don't feel like ir on given day just to reach certain amount of words per day?
I feel like I'll never finish otherwise.

is it retarded to set my story in alternate history Europe where geography is the same but geopolitics are totally different because of introduction of fantasy elements? should I just make up my own continent instead?

>>18194419
a hundred years of solitude gave me lots to think about. that amazing first sentence, the end of the world, magical realism in general, etc. etc.
pictures of the kowloon walled city or the hanoi old quarter led me to a short story once.

>>18194856
I think readers will put about 1/100th as much stock as you do into the setting and worrying about these things just makes it unnecessarily difficult on yourself. Just because there's one /tg/ autist out there that will complain about the castle locations being unrealistic because they're not located near a stone quarry and berate you for not fully fleshing out trade routes and tectonic plates doesn't mean readers will actually care. Even the /tg/ autist won't actually care, not really.

>>18194891
I'm just kinda worried that people will think it's lazy to use Europe instead of creating entirely new world but I also want to play with politics so having familiar nations and events twisted sounds kind of fun to me, I'd lose all that if I were to write about entirely fictional nations and places.

>>18194856
you get a free setting by using europe, but then you have to research and have less leeway for handwaving. like people will know it takes x amount of days to travel from Milan to Paris, but no idea how long it takes to travel from whatever two cities you ass pull in your made up continent.

>>18194931
If people think that it will be because it was boring, not because it was European. Readers aren't going to be like, "You know, it's a shame it turns out all that fun I had was fake fun because the setting is alternate history. What a shitty author."
If it sounds fun to you just fucking do it. Actually doing what you enjoy makes for better reads than trying to please whatever geist lives instead your head. That faggot's never happy with anything. Trust me.

>>18194782
I’m a firm believer that you should write everyday, preferably first thing and hit a minimum even if it’s useless garbage. I think the ideal is 1 page because that’s something you could realistically do every single day if you just out in some effort. To be clear, I don’t practice what I preach at all but I wasn’t lying when I said I firmly believe it.

>>18194856
No. Authors do that sort of thing all the time.

>>18194964
>>18194979
>>18194988
>>18194891
thanks anons

Several people have let me know my story is uninteresting and nobody will want to read it. I will still finish it but it will probably never be published.
Anything for this feel?

>>18194302
I want OP to die in a fire

>>18195229
post excerpt

>>18193298
no one commented. please tear this to snippet to shreds:
a man approaches --
i cross the street
over the lava rocks
memories
from my childhood
cul-de-sac towards

the mailbox, i'm
out of his way, the
cig smoke doesn't affect
those it need not.


the twists and turns of
postmodern perception of
those mislead by those
they trusted to lead.

a 300 does an x-point
u-turn, and drives away

as a man walks by with
groceries, and another
with shorts and a white
dad hat with his hands
in his pockets as i

write poetry. who would
have thought that a punk
like me would write for
a punk like thee as the

ash is blown off the right
cuff of the raw denim of
your humble narrator's levi
trucker, the san francisco

>>18195276
No, I'm going to hide behind the language barrier like a coward.

>>18195337
>caring what anons think about your writing

>>18195362
To be fair, anons are the only honest audience, there's no need to play nice when you're anonymous. You can tell everyone how shitty they are.
>>18195336
Like this guy doesn't know how to capitalize words, what a moron.

>>18195394
>implying that's a fault
fuckwit

How much world building do I need to do before I can get to actually writing a story?

tell me I can do it

>>18195700
Not only can you do it, but you should do it.

>>18195692
none at all
you can make it up as you go and as long as you don't contradict yourself, no one will care.

>>18195739
But Tolkien developed whole languages for his books.

>>18195692
as a reader, not only would I not notice the effort you put in, I would stop reading if you made it a point to convey to me your effort

>>18195692
I just wing it and make it all up on the spot.

>>18195743
Tolkien loved language
you're a productive procrastinator

>>18195739
>>18195745
>>18195747
Then what do I do with all this work of mine? How do I come up with a story?

>>18195743
Tolkien was a professional linguist who knew over ten languages and translated Beowulf from Old English. Unless you want to pull a linguistics degree out of your ass, stop burdening yourself with retarded excuses and just write.

>>18195789
>wanted to write without having anything to say
uh oh...

>>18195692
The world building should be intertwined with you setting, characters and plot. Much of it will come from those interactions, so unless you have 100% of your plot you will not have 100% of worldbuilding. I built the world as I moved along writing the main narrative, although I had some general ideas before I started, that is all you need.

>>18195789
this is the type of attitude that tells me you're ngmi.

The story should be bursting from your heart onto the page and the world should be catching up with it.

>>18195789
Good god you're the type of writer that gets on my nerves the most because you're exactly like how I used to be. Stop worrying about this shit so much. Just think of anything off the top of your head and go with it. Unless you're a pseud you should have read enough stories to ape some kind of story progression. Just put two characters inside a box then start asking yourself questions about how the fuck they got in that box. Better yet, put one character in an actual box instead of a metaphorical box, then make him wake up in that very non-metaphorical box. Then start asking yourself, "What would this character do when he learns he's trapped in a box, how did he get there?" Make it a coffin, make it an alien ship, make it a prison cell, I don't fucking care. I've just done more work on your plot than you have apparently and I did it while scratching my balls.

>>18195840
>and I did it while scratching my balls.
Are they at least pretty big balls?

>>18195743
Tolkien used his passion for language and history as the basis for the story that he wanted to tell.
If you have the same ingredients that Tolkien had, that is a story you want to tell and a subject that you are passionate about, then the world will create itself as you write. Don't put the cart before the horse. If you make a worldbuilding bible before you've even begun outlining the plot you will inevitably have to rewrite it to include everything you learned about your story after writing it out for real.

I've started trying to kitchen sink my stories out of frustration. I have all these vivid scenes in my head but while none of them actually fit together, I can't seem to squeeze a full story out of them individually. Once I accept mashing them together also doesn't work, I don't know what I'm going to do.
And I can't write novels. I'm too retarded to.

>>18195864
Yeah, but you should see the size of my dick

>>18195878
So here's the set-up: a bunch of people are stuck waiting, so they swap stories to pass the time. Those scenes in your head are the stories they swap.

>>18195229
There's medication for autism. It can't be cured, but you'll be able to live almost like a normal person.

>>18195789
did you really build an entire world without having a story to tell in the first place?

>>18195902
sounds like the castle of crossed destinies desu

>>18196056
>All that lore and no idea for a story
sasuga worldbuilders

>/tg/ endlessly world builds
>/lit/ endlessly larps
>/a/ writes
any other boards represented in /wg/?

>write a paragraph
>get embarrassed by my prose
>read instead
haha atleast I'll end up well read r-right

>>18196106
people in /a/ don't write

>>18196106
>/a/ write
Not anymore presently. All us Minotaur posters got scared off by June last year and then became dormant. Incidently this happened at a few months before first /wg/ was made here. I still lurk every few days for any signs of fellow Mino homebrewers on the isekai threads to no avail.

>>18196106
/lit/ wrote and published 2 anthologies this year, and there were a few issues of &mp magazine too

how hard is it to get published in a journal? on the one hand i don't have anything i'm confident is really good, but on the other hand there's lots of stuff that gets published that seems like trash i can do better than

>>18196804
Journals of interest to an agent, for example, accept around 0.5-2% of submissions. The editors are ideological zealots and care about two things: 1) their magazine winning awards 2) using their work at the magazine to get a better job. The second point is accomplished through extreme sycophant activities, including bragging on social media about so-called diversity and inclusion efforts. For example, most journals explicitly seek stories from non-white authors and offer non-white authors exclusive submission periods in advance of normal submissions.

This is a high-profile example of what's going on, and the situation has become much worse since: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Derrick_Hudson#Yi-Fen_Chou_and_accusations_of_%22yellowface%22

SFF magazines are bleeding subscribers: https://locusmag.com/2021/02/year-in-review-2020-magazine-summary/

Story quality has very little to do with what gets published. Most editors are vain and arrogant and believe a story is good because it is published by them.

>>18196900
I fucking hate this pozzed "looking for more Black voices" shit in every single goddamn publication. makes me sick, I should just make a pen name that is super black and write the gayest shit.

>>18197130
I tried that once. It's actually really difficult to talk black or AAVE correctly. People will accuse you of making a novel version of those /pol/ shiiiiet black comics

>>18197130
I'm strongly considering launching a publication for dissident fiction. Talked to a few people about it and they really like the idea. The downside is that running it would take away a large amount of my writing time.

feedback on this? only a page long. no offense to japanese anons btw

https://pastebin.com/SPHRAsd6

>>18197368
my current wip has a group a black characters (all rappers/drug deals lol) and I found it pretty easy to ape their speaking style. The risk is people will be lie "thats stereotypical, culture vulture ect." I never actually identify anyone on the whole thing by race, so it won't be super obvious, and Im not dropping nigga anywhere. Still gonna be awkward when I read those scenes to my writing group, they are super pozzed and have some black members.

How can I, an autistic robot, both understand and learn how to write characters people care about

I tried laying out the characteristics of characters I like, and characters I don't particularly care about, and nothing jumps up at me as the core distinction, both have backgrounds, personalities, motivations, hopes, dreams, conflict, change etc and they're both executed in reasonably competent and relatable ways, yet there's still something about them I can't grasp that makes one work and what the other lacks

>>18197497
have you gotten feedback from real black people yet?

>>18197519
Can you really not just jump into the skin of the characters you're writing and align your thinking with their life experiences and personality?
I doubt it's easy for everyone but it comes naturally to me.

>>18197542
I can, but that doesn't guarantee the reader will care about them, that's why I'm using myself as an example of the reader, I'm wondering what the writers of the characters I don't care about could've done better in order to make me care

>>18197497
It's about content, not writing style. Check out the children's book Front Desk, about a child heroically helping their parents hide illegal migrants in a motel. It was a major book release.

>>18197568
If you write real characters they will care. People are naturally inclined to analyze people's behavior, it interests us. It's written into our DNA.
Of course that's provided you don't dump characters at the first occasion. That's Chekov's gun, if you make them care, don't stamp on their interest. I will drop a book if I spend 10 pages reading about some redshirt and the writer tells me that was for nothing.

>>18197538
No I will be reading to some soon though.

Would appreciate any critiques of my stupid-ass story. Have posted here before, I need to get around to editing it:

https://pastebin.com/GBJDukhj

>>18197606
Based on my own experiences, you may want to get, some pre-feedback. Black people are very sensitive to """"""bad""""" portrayals of their people

>>18197823
what was your experience?

>>18197606
remember that the woke crowd doesn't respond well to apologies. they have less contempt for people who just flout them like houellbecq than others who try to tow the line.
also (and this goes for everyone of any identity) class is the big thing that determines how sensitive people are. i've worked minimum wage jobs with a diverse team and people tolerate bantz etc and worked in more professional settings where libs will eat you alive for the smallest of transgressions

>>18197844
my plan is to go the houellbecq route, if they vibe check me, ima be like "these characters were inspired by Black artists and in fact all the characters in this story are PoC." Which will be true because it is far future sci fi where the whole world is mutt land being constantly geociding itself for gibbs .

>>18197886
overtly political writing sucks, especially when motivated by hate

>>18197916
don't worry I am giving the pol level explanation, it is really a much more straight forward mil sci fi with some ambiguous moral questions that the reader will have to struggle with. Like would you kill another copy of the Earth you are on if you could keep all their stuff?

>>18197486
>She asked, “Topu seceret?”
kekus maximus

As a (by default) evil white man, I'm happy to say that there are precisely zero negroes or other undesirables in my works. And they're better off for them. If I wanted to have a stand in I suppose I could write in a fantasy setting and have orcs or troglodytes or something equally hideous and stupid serve that role
Seeing people in this thread clenching their hands in worry about poorly or, more precisely, accurately depicting people of crime is a goddamn shame. I don't know how you have the patience or self loathing to do that, but I hope you at least enjoyed writing the story in the first place.

I've never thought about race as significant once in my life
Feels good to be a ruralfag. Maybe I'll write about the clarity of air and beauty of non-idpol living today

>>18193292
I'm not sure what you mean. I don't think people particularly hate me.

does anyone worry about wasting the readers time while writing so you end up being very vague about details you think they might not care about?

Have you guys ever had fun reading a book? Was there ever a story that sucked you in and made you feel like you were right there with the characters in the world as they went along their journey? Did you spend hours reading it because you couldn’t wait to find out what happens in the next chapter? Did you finish the book craving a sequel just so you could go back in the world and hang out with the characters again?

>>18198232
yes

>>18198232
obviously?

>>18198232
i had fun reading this post if that counts

>>18198232
>yeah I don't read but I was thinking of writing
>well actually I hate books
>I just want to write because drawing is too hard

>>18198232
i want the sequel to this post

>>18197886
next week on the news
> Outage as man reads his racist essays to local writing group

Good evening /wg/ it's time to write a story about a loser from history

>>18198372
turn on your monitor

>>18198387
kek

>>18198357
ill let you know how it goes

Thinking of writing a book in 15 days with no prior writing experience. I don't have Microsoft Word though so any other recommendations?

>>18198471
write or die

>>18198471
notepad or your OS's equivalent if you have nothing else

>>18198471
I there’s a search engine that goes by google use it to answer your fucking question.

>>18198484
really? i'll bing it

>>18198482
Trying to make this a destressor so might go with just notepad like the other anon suggested.
>>18198484
Theres this thing called an "opinion" you might not want to search for those. Its either sponsored shit or "hollistic" faggots trying to pretend some indie app they read about in a single tweet is somehow gonna kill word.

>>18197823
They get very butthurt and accused me of being a racist. The main criticism was that real black people would never ever act the way that they did in my story (even though they do). "That ain't cute" was the slang phrase used. I'm sure that if I were using my real name or photo, I would've ended up as a screenshot on BlackPeopleTwitter

>>18198387

>>18198511
also, when I say, act, I meant speak. I did do research on AAVE and do some online lessons, but ultimately I wasn't able to learn/imitate it to the level of a native black person

>>18198232
Harry Potter. Like, I totes could picture myself at Hogwarts with the kids there! I’m such a Ron!

https://writingwithcolor.tumblr.com/
Here’s a good place to start on writing more inclusively.

>>18198654
but... why?

>>18198689
So you don’t offend the niggers like that other guy did?

>>18198693
oh nooo

Jesus fucking Christ, ignore the fucking obvious bait.

Anyone has any insight on videogame story structure?

>>18198733
no

>>18198741
ok thanks

>>18198744
np

>>18198733
What a vague question.

>>18198693
yeah, not a fun experience. I've given up on writing black or poc characters desu and reading through that tumblr website, I'm convinced I have neither the skill level nor the patience to do so

>>18198654
god damn places like this are where inspiration goes to die. i feel sorry for anyone who falls for this bullshit. imagine not being able to play around with ideas you think are cool because your "friends" will excommunicate you from the cult if you overstep your skin color.

>>18198733
You need to sacrifice plot to fit within the context of gameplay.

Are chapters something you should build your story around(with each chapter having some sort of particular internal logic and structure) or you only choose where to divide things after first having everything down without premeditated fundamental breaks?

>>18198821
chapters exist fundamentally within the story and I'm just giving them form by writing

>>18198799
This is unironically true. The alternative is focusing on plot over gameplay, which just results in hours long exposition dumps. Like The Last of Us. It’ll win awards among the retards, but doesn’t actually make for a good game.

>>18198790
My local writing group recommended that site as a starting point for handling characters of color.

>>18198846

>>18198821
>Are chapters something you should build your story around
absolutely, I think of my chapters similarly to television episodes, that is they both stand on their own but are also an essential gear of a greater whole

how the fuck do i include my villains backstory and motives in my story?
i can't have him just chat with my MC casually explain everything and I don't want to make him a pov character because it would fuck with the mystery
at the same time my characters have no way of discovering that backstory on their own without breaking the narrative
fuck why is it so easy to do in film where you can just show flashbacks and shit

>>18198870
show don't tell

>>18198870
What’s the backstory?
>>18198858
It’s very important that CoCs are handled properly.

>>18198870
Show (the villain reacting to things that directly correlate to his backstory and motives; i.e. if he was burned by an iron as a child, he keeps his distance from heat. Discover through natural dialogue why he's doing things), don't tell (the reader to feel bad by infodumping)

I desire to write a story with time loops and philosophical bullshit since I'm an autist for philosophy. How do I write that without coming off as pretentious or alienating readers?

>>18198915
that;s what I said fampai! >>18198882

>>18198733
video game stories should focus on setting up an enticing context that potentiates different permutations of action even if there's a set ending.

so if each level is the equivalent of a chapter/episode, you focus on its introduction(characters, setting, goals) and conclusion and leave the middle development up to the player.

>>18198923
Just do it.

>>18198925
Yeah but you didn't give examples and examples help writers a lot!!

>>18197486
kek

>>18198977
This. That other guy just regurgitated trite feedback.

>>18197798
>And as I pondered this, I pondered my own pondering and realised I was smart.
this sentence does not make the narrator sound smart.
what's going on here? is he an immortal being who for some reason chooses to fixate on this particular memory of hanging out? is he just high and for some reason chooses to off himself? who are 'they'? i like how you transitioned to the board game and i that entire paragraph but i thought it would lead to something more worthwhile.
the beginning can be cut. it's just description with not much weight, unlike the later paragraphs.

>>18195692
>>18195743
>>18195870
Tolkien also didn't have everything planned out beforehand.
>Tolkien began writing The Lord of the Rings with no conception of Black Riders at all. The horseman in dark clothes in the early chapter "Three is Company"[T 16] was originally Gandalf; in 1938, Tolkien called the figure's transformation into a Black Rider "an unpremeditated turn".[13][T 33] Frodo's ring, too, was simply a magic ring conferring invisibility, both in The Hobbit and early drafts of The Lord of the Rings, with no link to Sauron. However, Tolkien was at the time starting to consider the true nature of the Ring, and the idea that it had been made by the Necromancer, and drew itself or its bearer back to him.[13][T 34] The Black Riders became Ringwraiths when the hobbit, at that time called Bingo rather than Frodo, discussed the Riders with the Elf Gildor, later in the same chapter. Over the next three years, Tolkien gradually developed the connections between the Nazgûl, the One Ring, Sauron, and all the other Rings of Power. The pieces finally all came together when Tolkien wrote "The Mirror of Galadriel", some hundreds of pages later, around the autumn of 1941.

>>18197470
I think most dissident fiction as been shunned away. If you did that, with some level of quality I'm sure it would be successful. People will always be on the look out for that kind of stuff.
makes me think of this article
https://im1776.com/2021/04/27/the-new-literary-bad-boys/

>>18199384
You see this same kind of thing with music too. It's endlessly amusing to me seeing punk-rock wannabees shouting about fucking up the system about forty years too late and simultaneously screeching about NSBM (National Socialist Black Metal) even though they're more counter-culture than they could ever hope to be. It's an interesting phenomenon. It's going to be interesting to see what happens when counter-culture becomes simple culture and new counters appear, especially in the literary world.

I didn't know which short story to post, but here is my shorter one https://divinecypher.substack.com/p/speed
Feedback is appreciated


>>18197798
>I fought with the Whites in Russia and with the Natives in America (until I realised how they lived; then I fought with the Civilizeds)
kek
Also neat story it took a second for me to get what was actually going on, but I think it was done pretty well especially the beginning, but the part talking about machine wars etc feels kinda disconnected. Not enough to be distracting, but there might be a way to do that smoother. I liked the switch into second person at the end. Cool story bro

>>18197486
Very good style of narration and quite humorous too. the wah-wah bit was weird, but gave it charm.

What do you guys think would be a good way to depict a regime change on an enemy nation without it looking like they are being forced to change by its enemies?
I thought of maybe having a high ranking or well-respected dissident take the reign after the collapse but I'm not sure how I'd feel about him skipping the line, or it occurring only because of the conflict they just lost.

>in the writing z0ne
>pause for a second to gather my thoughts
>instantly feel ready for bed
fuck

It's hard to take a break from writing when you're the one running a small writing group. I feel pressured to have something to show every week which was ironically the entire point of the writing group in the first place

>>18200179
Yeah, same thing for my foreign language study group club. I've become informal teacher leader and now I cannot ever miss a meeting

is it just me or does first person narration feel wonky to read for some reason?

>>18201048
It's just you, otherwise literature would've abandoned it.

You know how in old literature, people call their parents Mother and Father? Do you think they actually did that in real life, instead of calling them Mom and Dad like normal human beings?

Another writing convention from that period is the verb cried in dialogue. Now we use yelled or said

>>18201048
It's restrictive, but it's more personal.>>18201048

Another thing, why are locations and names self-censored in old novels?
> Last Tuesday I had tea with Mr.----- who lived in T----- Street

>>18201158
Because if they had proper names, the readers would think it would matter later.

>>18201057
>>18201148
oh wait, sorry I had a brainfart there
I meant to say present tense narration (for either 1st or 3rd), not first person which is totally normal for me too

>>18201236
Pfffff oh come on. Present tense is pretty much a meme. Do it if it interests you but don't break your head over it.

>>18201236
>present tense
I have no clue why anyone would ever use this but it does exist so it's valid, right?

Has anyone read any of the books in the op ? Do they actually have any techncial advice or is it just standard humanities jargon.

>>18201392
I wrote my first three serious books in present tense because I had reviewed my previous writings just before and concluded that 3rd person past tense had made me a passive, lazy writer (which was true). Now I'm back to writing in past tense, but I have nearly the opposite problem: all action and dialogue and some small descriptors. It forces me to write "stellar dialogue" but it comes at the cost of weakened or near skeletal prose.

>>18201442
I’ve only read the story genius book. I like her outlining technique which you can find easily if you google “story genius scene cards” wouldn’t bother buying the book itself

>>18201392
I had to do some writing in present tense for a VN I contributed to, but that's the only setting I can imagine it being used.

>>18201596
Are you me? Wrote my first three novels in present tense. Now gone back to 3rd person past tense for the fourth and find there's less description and less prose and less heart. Not sure how to combat

>>18201787
I think the best solution I've found is to look at the pacing of a chapter or scene and determine if what I'm writing suits that pacing. I won't clog a war chapter with long descriptive sequences, for example, but I think that's just common sense. But then when I get to the descriptive scene options it's often something like "He looked out at the green fields"; very bare bones and simple adjectives, nothing flowery or really even innovative. I'm hoping editing will fix this.
Another solution is reading and seeing what authors have done when their style or narrative is similar. Someone like Dumas for example has loads of excess dialogue because he got paid by the line, and someone like T. S. White wrote a glorified summary for Malory's long epic so there's a lot of explanation.

>>18201831
>I won't clog a war chapter with long descriptive sequences, for example, but I think that's just common sense
Why not? I love it when authors take a bing bing wahoo topic with woah dude action bro and give some kind of new perspective.

So /wg/ this more of a poll. Do you write as a hobby or aim to get professional works.

>>18202433
Yes I do!

>>18202433
both you underachieving, undermotivated, undersized little shrimp

>>18199439
NSBM fucking sucks though lmao.

I'm practicing the Free indirect style.
What do you think?

She instinctively reached out for the latch a few paces out. Flakes of paint, loosed under the pressure of her grip, gave way uncomfortably. Clenching her fist and hiding the debris in a latent punch she turned at once and smiled, her eyes quivering.
“Of course, this property is much loved.”

Just catched up on your black characters talk. I have lots of black characters in my narrative, but it's not a realistic present-day setting. It's done more so for visual purposes because I am illustrating my book and want skintone variation, it just looks better in the visual context. Not going to tackle race shit at all because of the setting and I'm just going to write every character's personality normally. No AAVE either, because it doesn't happen in America. Now that I think of it there are characters of all kinds of ethnic backgrounds but no identity politics shit.

>>18202433
Why do you have to do something en route to something else? I want to perfect my craft. Anything that follows will follow.

>>18202479
Yes but that's irrelevant

>>18202639
I wouldn't label NSBM as counterculture because counterculture historically was never about rehashing century-old ideas, but that may be a semantic nitpick.

>>18202433
I write because it's a very healthy emotional outlet for me and because I get an unbearable compulsion to write out ideas anytime I get one good enough to be a book. Like everyone else here, I've got a notebook (Notepad document, actually) full of ideas I want to do something with someday

>consider switching the place of two characters to streamline an arc
>that arc consisted of a magic entity sending people he can trust into a quest
>now i have to change a character that was carrying the entire group in the first draft because he would become complicit in subverting the quest with this change
>i will have to go through my notes to check if i have any other characters in his specific power level because i don't know if there were
anime is hard bros

Amateur question, but can an omniscient narrator introduce a character (name and relations) or should it be clear/implied from dialogue?

>>18202984
Dude literally show don't tell. The narrator should make the story interesting, that's all that is required. Endless infodump isn't interesting.

>>18202984
There are no rules, just tools

>>18202955
>powerlevel
that's why powerlevels should never be linear or, god forbid, exponential. always go logarithmic.

I do motion design as a hobby, stuff like pic related, you set up the shapes and their paths and transformations and how long each element will take using the tools in the UI, and then you preview the animation to see if the timing is right. It's very hard to know if you have satisfying stretches, snaps, pops, etc without checking and tweaking them over and over in the preview animation, but the animations are short so you can check and tweak them dozens of times in minutes until you get the necessary effect.

How does this principle apply in writing, how can I know if my character and story arcs are properly paced, if the story beats hit at the right times, if things aren't drawn out or rushed? In my mind the characters and stories are already in their post-conclusion state, when I re-read what I wrote it makes sense to me but I have no way of knowing of how it will read to someone going in blind without beta readers.

>I felt lighter. And also lighter.
lmao why yes I am a writer

>>18202433
i take it seriously and write very short things but its purely a hobby and i dont think anyone else outside of 4chans gonna read them

do you guys write in chronological order or jump around?
I jump around a lot whenever I get inspired to write a certain part but because of that I don't even have 1 full chapter finished just a bunch of disjointed bits and pieces

>>18203822
chronological because I have some favourite scenes in my head
knowing that I will get to them soon pumps me up and helps me write what I do not care about

What's the best way to study before writing a character whose main characteristic is curiosity?

>>18203069
Borges wrote a bunch of stories as articles so it isn't really a hard rule.

>>18203207
How does logarithmic power levels work?

Just to clarify, though, I don't go by "guy is so strong absolutely nothing below his level even fazes him" but by estimating how good at each combat related aspect each character is and how each of these aspects interact. This guy for example, is very durable, agile, hits really hard, and has great firepower but since he is a robot he can't into magic, an EMP would fuck him up on the spot, his reaction times can't be faster than electrical signals if things really go to that extreme, and strong enough temperatures can mess with his parts and armor. No matter how strong he is, any character that can exploit any of his weaknesses is going to give him a bad time but anyone who can't will have a bad time themselves.

Damn people were not joking when they said that you need life experience to write books

Most big authors started off a bit later then me so im thinking about switching to short stories

>>18204092
Alternatively, go have some life experiences.

>>18204124
I feel like a lot of these things come with age, im turning 19 in a couple of months so not sure what else i can do with myself

>>18204188
>>18204092
You might need to mature a couple of years. Invest 2-3 years into reading and analyzing writing while practicing. I would advice taking a more analytic approach to writing rather than magical thinking (life experience, "God chose me for writing," "You either have it or not")

>>18204188
You probably are a bit young, but then again, some people had a lot of life experience by 19. If you lived the life of the average young western man so far though, you'll probably change a lot in the next few years and you'll be glad that you didn't write anything published now. That said, write stuff, practice is good.

>Write something
>Read it back
>Feel like a genius
>Read that section again after a week
>Worst shit I've ever seen

ngmi

>>18203838
i think that's my problem
i star with parts I'm most excited about and then can't motivate myself to write the rest

>>18204092
honestly true
i used to write in HS when all I knew was living in this one small town
now I'm 27, lived in 6 countries to date and did so much more shit it honestly makes writing significantly easier

>>18204092
Age isn't tha---
>19
Yeah that's pretty young. Unless you've read a lot you're going to look back on whatever you've written in five years and wonder how it came from the same person. Experience is extremely important, as is research, and whenever you're writing you're essentially cashing out that experience and putting it to paper. You see it a lot, some authors making very good, very thoughtful books packed with complexity, only for them to write a sequel so garbage you're in awe that the two can come from the same person, and in my mind it's because they drained their whole life of experiences and ideas to write one book and there simply wasn't anything left to write the sequel. When you're that young you just don't have much to draw from.

>>18204260
>Write something
>Read it back
>Feel like a retard
>Read that section again after a week
>It's actually good

How are you the opposite of me

>>18204260
>>18204290
>Write something
>Read it back
>Feel like a chicken
>Shit my pants and call my mom
>Eat a plate of strawberries

It's all so tiresome.

>>18203865
Maybe look at polymaths?

>imagine entire story inside my head
>star writing it
>lose motivation to finish it
wat do?

>>18204480
Jerk off

Do I need to set my book in a particular place? It's not important for the story and I don't want it to be tied to a particular place. Mainly just looking for arguments for the opposite, for why it should have a place.

>>18204487
That's just what I do once I lose my motivation.

>carving out the story in my mind when not writing
>whenever I have a flash of inspiration for ideas I think I'll forget I write them down
>if the idea is really good just commit it to memory instead of writing it down
>check written notes after some time
>they're all garbage

Goddamn, I guess there's a subconscious reason why I think I'll forget them

>>18193298
Ok Bros.

I read a lot. I want to get started writing now that I'm reading proust he inspires me even though i'll never be as good as him.

What are some practical tips and advice you guys have? Write every day? What do I write about?

>>18204882
>Write every day?
Yes. It's the most important rule and it's almost the only rule. The common advice every writer from Stendhal to Zola to Stephen King will give you is
>read often
>write every day

>What do I write about?
Anything at first. Your day, what you thought, whatever random memory leaps into mind as you're searching for a writing topic. Only once you've established an habit of writing and some practical experience of completing sentence after sentence do you start wondering about greater narratives.

>>18204515
things usually occur in places anon. helps the reader with imagining whats going on

>>18204882
jack off to rats being electrocuted and plaster your bedroom with cork so you can be fully nocturnal

What are the staples you tend to see on a good science-fiction/fantasy story? This isn't about pointing out specific overdone tropes or cliches, more like identifying recurring generalist elements and patterns that are proven to make for an engaging escapist narrative.

At the top of my head I can think of:
- protagonist is an outsider in some capacity thrown into an unfamiliar situation
- non-human pet-like buddy
- conflicting factions with their own set of strengths and values
- supporting ensemble cast with contrasting personalities, often representatives of the different factions coming together
- ruling authority figures playing pivotal roles
- opposing forces competing for the same tangible thing (mcguffin, resource, location, person...)
- special powers or abilities that allow for extraordinary fits not possible in the real world
- takes you through a vast set of very distinctive geographical environments
- vs nature sequence - surviving through an harsh location or (un)natural disaster
- a really large building is significant to the story
- ruins
- very imposing non-human singular entity as an obstacle (like a monster, robot, superweapon, battleship, etc)
- chase or escape sequence - more like a race than a direct battle
- an "epic" large scale war-like sequence between clashing groups
- a more intimate one-on-one confrontation between the protagonist and the villain or anti-hero
- someone switches sides
- tragic death

What ingredients are still missing?

>>18204882
I could tell you to write every day, but I wouldn't be practicing what I'm preaching since the last time I wrote was 5 days ago. Most I could suggest is aiming for a certain wordcount (maybe 500 or even 1k) whenever you do feel like writing. Write what you want to read, and stuff.

>>18202500
I don't think you know what that means. Nothing about this is free indirect. Refer to Flaubert and James.

>>18204896
Plenty of people don't write every day, and not all writing days are equal. What even counts as writing when you have sources to read, notes to take, sketches to make, etc?

>>18198232
Name of the Wind at first.

But it's one of those series that gets worse the more you think about it and I can't help but roll my eyes doing a second readthrough

>write story
>it mutates over time until it is unrecognizable from its original concepts and outlines

>>18205346
An idea whose consequences you show in humanity's future?
Also, I find that worrying about patterns leads to formulaic stories. But if you care, my sci fi piece hits all of those points plus mine.

>>18205542
every single time

Wait are we not supposed to write in present tense???

>>18205627
You can do whatever you want. It gets frowned upon for some reason because it's apparently some rookie pitfall or something. I'm personally writing mine in present-tense since it feels comfortable for me to do so. On the other han almost every work I do read is past-tense so it's kinda jarring sometimes, especially when reading other ameatur writer's works.

How do I name characters?

>>18197486
Brilliant, very nice

>>18204426
I didn't even knew the term existed, thanks for that.

>>18193298
“I’ve never been more terrified than when I went to the Sahara desert for vacation once. And that's why.. when I named the book Dream of a Desert Night. I thought maybe I should name it Dream of a Desert Nightmare.” He said with a disgusting chuckle. “Because these sand dune- well first it was completely pitch black. I was in this cave in Texas when I was a kid and the lights went out, darkest darkness I've ever seen, or not seen rather. Anyways so I can't see anything at night. Except for right above you is a million trillion stars. Just wow so many fucking stars. It's like dark-black-void-nothingness and right at the horizon , just an infinite number of stars it seems. And it's the only way you can tell that it’s the horizon at all. And that was on the night of the new moon, where there was no moon, right. On the full moon all the sand seemed, well you could see the sand now, it seemed like this black silver powder all over. Maybe like a black-blue powder. But the main reason it was so terrifying was the sandstorms, They were completely invisible at night, There was just all of a sudden a loud bulldozer-train noise and bam it's right on top of you. That’s why we couldn't travel at night, like I thought, wouldn't it be easier to travel at night, you know it's cooler, but no it was freezing, and it's easier to get warm than stay cool. So I thought we just have some jackets on or something. But no the darkness of everything, NO LIGHT, nothing but the stars, and the sandstorms, you can't see them. So well of course we were in these caves at night, the guy would take us from cave to cave, and even if there were all good amounts of daylight left sometimes, a few times we would just have to stop for the day. He would always say ‘this good here, today we not go, the next cave is tomorrow.’ He said it just like that every time but he always sounded kind of sad when he said it, weird, whatever that was about. But anyways so we were in this high up cave always high up and that way, is because, because.. because the sand. Sorry almost lost my train of thought there, umm, oh yes the high up caves, the sandstorms would shift them around. I'm sorry the sand would be shifted around by the sandstorms. (1/2)

>>18206165
(2/2)
Yes once, on I think maybe the third or fourth day umm, or night rather, we heard that bulldozer noise and are guide shouts out ‘cover up’ So they taught us that means we need to face our face to the grounds and get in safe kind of you know um, position. So I pull my jacket over my head in that sort of halfway when it's raining. But then when the storm passed we just walked out the cave. Which I forgot to say we climbed up a bit to get in. And it was there just at ground level now, this massive sand dune that hadn't been there before. The sad thing is our guide, his name was Muhammad, he told us his cousin went missing. He said ‘that why I only use the high caves, low caves, there is too much sand’. But then we're going along and there's this massive jungle rainforest in the middle of the desert, this oasis's there. Crazy vacation, like a hellcation. Really cool in hindsight and the things that I learn, but damn it was not so much fun then, so fucking fucked you know?”

>>18194405
Oh, dude, all the time. I can think up fantastical things easily, but when it's time to write a real-life profession, like a farmer, I lock up.
Like I sit there going
>Here's a farmer. He's doing farmer things. Look, he's plowing the fields.

>>18194405
>>18206200
this

>>18193298
Currently on page 186 (250ish if it's formatted) of my novel. I've only ever finished one manuscript and I gotta say, the ending seems to be the hardest part. I feel like tying up all the loose threads is harder than it looks. However, I feel like if I tie this up I could have a semi-decent book

>>18194419
The movie Soul gave me a pretty awesome idea I'd never even considered before. Overall it had its moments but the idea of the Before was something that genuinely surprised me at how it's never even crossed my mind

>>18205346
This
>non-human pet-like buddy
and this
>ruling authority figures playing pivotal roles
Are complete shit and worn out so thoroughly at this point that I actually drop any web story that has either of them. No I do not need some R2D2 ripoff character that only exists to fill space to give a fuck about the story. No I do not need to see all the political bullshit drama of the space king biggus dickus or whoever, and I especially don't want him jumping into shit that he should logically not give any fuck about. Maybe I'd just read too much shitty sci-fi, but 95% of all sci-fi is shitty sci-fi.
Bonus round of other stuff that fucking ruins a sci-fi story, by no means a comprehensive list
>/r/HFY meme bullshit (muh capsaicin, muh DETHWURLD!)
>nearly every single military officer of a rank higher than "grunt" is female
>pointless sex scenes, pointless sex drama, pointless love drama (emphasis on pointless)
>characters that literally exist to spout 21st century memes
>characters that literally exist to be a political stand-in for the author's viewpoints and aren't even trying to be subtle (emphasis on not trying to be subtle, everyone does this but most do it badly)
>characters acting in ways that should earn them a beating getting away with it because they're supposed to be "sassy" or "a jokester" (haha robotguy is so funny, hacking our ship and making us think we were going to die as a prank!)
>a billion different viewpoint characters
>low-tech worlds having modern ethics
>in fact, worlds of any type having ethics that make no logical sense at all under even a cursory examination
>space orcs, space elves, space dwarves (unless that's literally the theme and it's fleshed out properly)
>characters with names like Xkhtli'kti or whatever where it's clearly just an unpronounceable trashfire mess made to give a sense of alien-ness to make up for the fact that the author can't write or characterize for shit
>so much jargon that I need a wiki page open to know what the fuck a character is talking about even when it's something very simple
>things that are clearly the author's fetish and that I can picture them masturbating to while writing
>a villain/opposing force that's built up to be insanely strong being defeated by a convenient magic machine introduced shortly before their defeat (the author wrote himself/herself into a corner and asspulled)
>Fucking LitRPG anything
>Authors who have no understanding of technologies writing in depth about them (non-programmers writing about programming, non-electronics specialists writing about electronics, etc.)
I could go on, but I won't.

>>18206288
>pointless sex scenes, pointless sex drama, pointless love drama (emphasis on pointless)
This applies to not just sci-fi but to everything.

>>18205889
Pick some exotic country and anglicize their names. I have a character named after the latin for sparrow.

>>18206302
Yeah it's not exclusive, those are just things I see very frequently that are massive red flags that indicate that a given sci-fi story is going to be total shit. Applies to other stuff too, especially fantasy.

>>18206288
>>a billion different viewpoint characters
heck....

>>18205889
Create a list of phonemes for their language and make a short script to slap them together in valid ways. Basically a markov chain generator but simpler. Yes I did this for my characters.

>>18205889
Name them after what they do but in another language.

>>18206307
>>18206318
>>18206332
Thanks a lot

im making a graphic novel. story has been about 75% finished and im getting through the sketching process for what i have complete.
i haven't published any of my work before since im a bit of a perfectionist and dont see my work as releasable until its actually done.

my question is should i attempt to publish it, or has the market changed to where releasing comics online can be more favorable?

it is pretty intimidating to me to get it published in my eyes, but a lot more hands off compared to doing all the publicity, managing a site or social media, and other things im just not experienced in that comes with online comics.

in the end i would like a physical book in my hands by the time my graphic novel is done, but i know that isnt off the table if i release it as a webcomic either. and i know i shouldn't take money and profits into account but it is a thought on my mind which would be more favorable for me.

im a creative type, not a social media influencer so im stuck on this question and what could be the best fit for me.

>>18206430
>has the market changed to where releasing comics online can be more favorable
This one unless you live in Japan. Make kickstarter or something and pretend you haven't made it fully yet to scam some people out of shekels, then release it. You can also print physical but fucking nobody buys that shit anymore, the profit will be small.

>>18206430
Sorry to bother you but how's the writing experience for someone wanting to get into that, making a novel? How long have you been at it?

>>18206288
I think I dodged these. Speak further.

How would you guys go about making a fictional currency?
Does the average reader really care how intricate it is?

>>18206488
Just copy the British monetary system, it's so weird and fucked up nobody will ever believe you didn't make it up

>>18205608
Expand, please.

>>18206288
>>things that are clearly the author's fetish and that I can picture them masturbating to while writing
I'm deranged, clinically so, I like deranged things in many contexts but what would you say it's fetish and not? I don't want to have some things I take seriously come across as a fetish when I never wanted to imply that.

>>18193298
What in your eyes constitutes good prose, particularly in fictional novels?

>>18206450
that makes sense, but i have a lot of enjoyment for physical books and is the only reason id attempt things like darkhorse or viz.

its just i have no clue how to do social media honestly, and if i chose to go the digital rout id have no idea how to get the word around. web toons seems cheap to me, i never enjoyed the site. and managing a patreon in the past has felt too overwhelming for me.

>>18206456
no worries. and for a graphic novel, basically a thick comic book, i find it a bit easier to write for than long form literature. ive had the ideas and themes sitting around since October or November but only got around to making a first draft some time last month.
im more the artsy type anyways, i can make a good story without having too many words actually on a page. a literal show dont tell.
major theme was unwanted responsibility and battling with what you actually want to do in life, something i have experience with which i can easily write for. the theme can be applied to really any setting and imo what makes a story good. you can have a story but without a theme of emotional journeys it doesnt matter. its probably more important than the characters in some ways.
i basically just ripped off the heros journey and harmons story circle and compared it to what i already had written out and moved some scenes around until i saw the gradual impact.
eventually i rewrote the entire thing just to fit with the center theme, then rewrote the ending again to hammer it in.
for a graphic novel the story is almost second to the art despite being so much more important, so i already know what to draw now and was able to get the easy part out of the way.
i will probably be drawing upwards of 300 pages for a year. so if i didnt have a story first it would just be pretty pictures or nothing to even draw till the story is done.

If you're clearly either jacking off to it or physically aroused by it, it's a fetish and it'll probably come across as one.

>>18206508
I think the point of science fiction is modeling the future with author ideas in mind.
Even those who are not scientists or have a rich life experience can do that, if they are earnest, although they might lean into different areas.
For example, an ex-military might have an idea how to use robots for a future military tactic, or organization, while an engineer might approach robots from how to build and make safer perspective
For example, Burroughs showed a fantastic world of Mars where people remained humane despite the planet becoming less and less livable. Heinlein was more interested about a world where only those that served in the military had the right to vote. Star Trek showed how people lived in the post scarcity Federation, while Herbert Wells preferred to try and warn others of mistakes, like the story that showed that air raids alone can't win wars, it'll only make the enemy fight harder. And Wells was proven right when air raids on nazis and Japan did basically nothing when compared to naval and and ground assaults and still cost tens of thousands lives.

Why is it so intensively hard for me to construct ideas or create analysis on media? Surely a person should not struggle to let out their opinions about a specific scene, or piece of writing or even characters, yet I struggle to do it.

>>18206488
In my sci-fi wip, I haven't dwelled on anything concrete yet. I thought about using 'eurodollar' but in context neither of those continents nor their states exist by the time the story takes place. I thought about a similar prefix-suffix with 'yen' but I haven't decided yet, and it wouldn't be too important either way. I also thought about using korean won or ancient nip mon, marks, or even simply dinars or florins.

If it's a sci-fi of some sort, there's also always vaguely calling it 'credit' or something. And like the other anon said: you can't go wrong with bong's pound/sterling. If it's a medieval fantasy you can probably get away with just calling currency whatever medieval currency suits your fancy.

>>18206601
youre not wrong in author experience effecting the importance in certain scifi technologies, but i dont think that it is the only point of scifi.
to me its just another expression of themes through a certain atmosphere of rules and styles that come with genres.
for example you can have a gritty 20's noir and the characters journey is coming to terms with his families death by solving another's, but you can easily apply that same story to any genre. it didnt need to be a noir. it could be a modern FBI movie.
many points of scifi can be divided into "how today will make the future look given a certain set of circumstances" and make commentary on world views we have today, like blade runner, avatar, or what some startrek themes try to do. then theres a more fantasy aspect of scifi that things like starwars use more as a setting to tell a story that could be through any medium.

>>18206625
euro dollors are used in cyberpunk already if youre looking to be original. they call them eddies, so you could go the slang rout for naming it. no one really cares about the currency so as long as you keep prices consistent with how much something costs youll be fine.
though, ill tell you an idea i had, you can base it on cryptos and use the decimal. you dont really have to explain what the decimal is based on though, you can just choose some unusual but currently stable currency and translate all the modern prices for things

>>18206488
It's a post scarcity world so I didn't care to describe economy or currencies. Money exists and is limited but mostly for younger characters to learn how to set long term goals and achieve them with limited resources.

Is there a specific word for the term "negative karma"?

>>18193298
i have this problem where i have immense feelings that i want to convey but they only come to me in images and sounds and never words... how do i get the words?

>>18206613
if youre posting pepe pics youve probably internalized a level of cringe self awareness that prevents you from having opinions on anything

>>18207021
I just simply want to uphold 4ch's culture, that's the only reason I post pepe and I will remain posting pepe's until time has moved past it or I'm bored.

>>18207142
You should be posting rageguy instead if you want to keep 4chan culture alive.

>>18207161
That phase moved past it's time though. Pepe still has relevancy to 4chan. Now I'm curious what the next major phase will be.

>>18204283
I got some things i want to put into paper, but im gonna keep practicing untill i make it to the big one

>>18204209
I don't like the idea of writing being analytical because i think that good writing really does come from deep within

>>18204209
Do you actually engage the analytical part of your brain when writing? This is something I've been mulling over for a while now. I want to say that I'm using 90% intuitive faculties and 10% analytical. I think it's inarguable that writing is mostly something that happens beneath the conscious experience. As McCarthy wrote in his brilliant article on the Kekulé problem, the subconscious doesn't really work with concepts on the same level of abstraction that thinking does. If this is plausible for mathematics, it should hold for creative writing as well. If writing were an analytical activity, the "expert" academicians critics would all be bestselling authors. As we all know, that really isn't the case. I really believe that analysis of writing is almost completely useless. The way I learn from authors I like is by getting an intuitive feel for what they're doing. The "why" follows almost completely on its own and in a way that's already pre-soaked in the context of my own writing preferences and predilections.

how do you describe surroundings in 1st pov without making the character sounding like an autist?

>>18207256
>without making the character sounding like an autist
From the extremely limited and vague way you've asked this question I'm not convinced you can actually write anything vivid enough to be called """"autistic"""". If you want to sound like an average, run of the mill normie, just keep doing what you're doing. You've got that down pat.

>>18207256
it would only be the things that matter to them and their personal narrative. you wouldn't be able to describe the smallest of details unless they were autistic or are the type of person to notice those things.
if your favorite color was blue you would sooner notice the blue furniture than the yellow curtains and ignore the curtains all together unless you disliked the color yellow.
what are you trying to say by them pointing out their surroundings? it may not matter at all outside of giving the reader a place they are at.
so all you have to ask is what does the character feel about the surroundings, not what they notice.

>>18207256
>1st pov
You mean first person? First point of view is not an established term. Maybe focus on using language better in a general sense before worrying about how your writing reflects 4chan buzzwords.

>>18207256
That's one of the earliest hurdles, at which first person writers end up making clowns of themselves. Either they don't describe anything and their shit is really difficult to follow, or else their uneducated, uncaring self-insert MC suddenly develops great, uncharacteristic interest in flora and architecture the instant they step into a new place. Everyone just has to work this out on their own

>>18207386
Why can't an uneducated character have highbrow interests? I don't understand why you normies are so consumed with finding some arbitrary sense of congruence, as if it's some kind of insipid game where you see it as your duty to expose the most tangential, inconsequential little details. It sounds really tiresome to interact with literature like that. It tires me out just reading some MFA grad's unexamined regurgitation over and over and over again.

SON OF A BITCH IOWA REVIEW REJECTED MY CONTEST ENTRY THE BASTARDS

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/37998/wish-mountain/chapter/679136/chapter-eleven

I'm back bitches. Chapter Eleven hoooooooo

>>18207744
Put on the read later list. You have a planned end or like lots of webnovels will you go on for as long as you can?

>>18207809
I have a very definite ending in mind. The story is made to have a chonky middle part with lots of characterisation and adventures, but the ending is planned as much as I can without taking the fun out of discovering it for myself as well.

>>18206288
>>a villain/opposing force that's built up to be insanely strong being defeated by a convenient magic machine introduced shortly before their defeat (the author wrote himself/herself into a corner and asspulled)
Oh this makes me angry as the dickens. I hate asspulls almost as much as infodumps.

>>18207979
Sounds like Avengers Endgame

>>18207019
Notetake your stream of consciousness. Draw or write something completely intelligible if you have to.

>>18207850
You gonna throw up a paypal on the site? What happened to your other story with zero pages?

>>18207996
I just want to gain readers before asking for money. I don't even care about money for this story just people enjoying it is what I'm after. If I get a few hundred followers I might put up a paypal but doing it when I don't have consistent readers is a waste of time.

The other story is getting a new ending that I need to write and doesn't really fit on royal road anyway. Also it is a damn shame that a fucking fantasy story that is inspired by adventure stories and fairy tales is out of place on Royal Road. Like if there isn't some autistic video game or fetish element people don't care. It is what it is though. I'd like it if there was one website for books that aren't written for 14 year olds.

>>18208009
>Like if there isn't some autistic video game or fetish element people don't care.
Nigga why do you have to lie like this?

>>18208009
>Also it is a damn shame that a fucking fantasy story that is inspired by adventure stories and fairy tales is out of place on Royal Road.
Never understood why some people go so hard on a genre. I like horror movies but I don't want to watch only horror movies.

>>18208009
>Like if there isn't some autistic video game or fetish element people don't care.
Did you shill your work or have constant releases?

>>18208009
Wasn’t Mother of Learning the top rank story of Royal Road? And isn’t that just an original work of a fantasy world? I also remember reading another story that was more akin to a psychological drama than either an litrpg, Xianxia or a fetish story.

>>18208009
>Like if there isn't some autistic video game or fetish element people don't care.
People don't care about your story because it is boring and bad.

>>18208167
I wouldn't go as far and say its bad, it has potential, and I think it works great as a parody.

This might be a longshot, but does anyone here have experience in restructuring their story? If so, do you have any tips you're willing to share?

>>18208271
A story doesn't need to be restructured. The story is the human element. It's not what happens to a character but how that character is impacted by those events. The plot is just the sequence of events which drives the story. If you feel like you need to restructure the story, what you probably need to do is restructure the plot. How? By identifying and crystallizing the interactions between these two elements. How does the plot allow the story to be told? How does a specific plot element tie into the story you're trying to tell? Which elements of the story could be brought out more? Which elements of the plot are mostly irrelevant to the story? This is, of course, all to assume you are writing "conventional" fiction.

>>18208290
>Anon just wanted tips
>Gets a condescending response from a pseud.
Looks about right.

>>18208307
By all means, feel free to use my """"pseud"""" condescension as a springboard for your own ideas. You do have ideas, right?

I want to write but haven't read anything yet
Is this allowed

>>18208312
Everyone has ideas, they’re a dime a dozen.

>>18208317
Sure, just give it a try. Where does the desire to write even come from though if you haven't read other works? It's like wanting to direct a movie without ever seeing one.

>>18208322
Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today!

>>18208317
Yes, why wouldn’t it be? Just write.

>>18208271
Only small adjustments when some flashbacks from chapter 22 got moved to chapter 8, or some stuff in the last 3/4 got changed completely because the antagonist nor the timeline nor the tension really worked the way I wanted them too.

I'm always going by feels. If I get stuck at some part, it's likely because something is off, so I keep thinking and overthinking, and then get tired of it, and eventually figure out what's wrong.

>>18208351
Was thinking of writing my giant story into separate stories, with each focusing on an individual protagonist.

>>18208377
Damn, now that's restructuring. Just thinking off the effort required makes me dizzy. Or do you mean it in a sense of giving them more separate plot-lines but still inside that one story?

I never had that problem due muh plotting, and actually later did the reverse in my second book when I got rid of POV characters to keep things more straight-lined. But hey, if you have the material for all of it and want to do the work...

>>18208399
>Damn, now that's restructuring. Just thinking off the effort required makes me dizzy. Or do you mean it in a sense of giving them more separate plot-lines but still inside that one story?
Nope, separate stories for each individual, didn't want to do it, but I got no other choice left other than to scrap it and I refuse to do that.

>I never had that problem due muh plotting, and actually later did the reverse in my second book when I got rid of POV characters to keep things more straight-lined.
I supposed it's because in the giant story, there was only one POV, with the occasional interludes to clue readers in on what that secondary character was doing. Problems began to arise, however, that I needed more than the one interlude.

>>18208271
I'm about to go through a major plot restructure with my current wip. It's not the same as your plan where the whole story is being rewritten, but I'm adjusting all the major plot points which necessitates a major revision.
I had to do this for my last book and I found that having an Excel document with the timeline of everything that happens in the book written out in ascending order really helps me visualize. Additionally, it's easy to add another column next to one and write a line or two about what that plot point is being changed into so when I get to editing that section, I'm not writing blind. You could do this in Word too I guess, but Excel's cell and column layout feels better for this sort of work.

>>18208377
>into separate stories, with each focusing on an individual protagonist.
Ngmi
Seriously though, do you even read? Do you have the slightest idea how hard it is on the reader to care about a new main character? I don't know why so many 'writers' make the same mistakes over and over again. And then you'll drop everything because you can't tie loose ends or enjoy writing your story anymore. Almost every time, man. Even if you want to write about other characters, that doesn't mean the readers wants to. What, you think you can write GOT? Even the best writers out there don't dare doing that shit.

>Royal Road
>Owner and Data Controller
>6094/7
>Nazareth, Galilee 16040
>Israel
>Owner contact email: admin@royalroad.com

Would be writers farmed, supervised, and manipulated at every turn, all over the internet (even here). Riddle me this batman: why isn't there a true independent writer space anywhere on the internet?

>>18208452
Yeah, I really don't care, I just want to write my story, so I don't care about whatever you think an actual writer does.

>>18208460
Anon...

>>18208460
>I-I only write for myself, I don't care about making my writing good!

>>18208452
>There's no way you can do it, just give up!
Ignore this retard. Investigate your options, do it your own way if nothing here is useful. If you still believe in it, do it. At the end of the day the only person who will believe in you while you go through an interim period is yourself.

>>18208469
>h-he's not doing it the way I told him to! doesn't he know who I am?

>>18208469
>I-I paid $200k for my MFA in creative writing! I am better than you and you must listen to me!

>ITT: unpublished/self-published writers and angsty high school teachers eclipsed by their students are nasty to each other for no real reason

>>18208474
Sure, let's just push someone into wasting their time and efforts. I am not saying he should give up, just that this specific idea is retarded as everyone that actually read once in their lives know. It's not like there are literal guides on how to pick up writing and basic tips on making storytelling good.

>>18208477
>Evil anon on writing general is being mean to me because I shouldn't begin to write with my one piece story, boohoo!

>>18208482
>Laughing my ass off desu, someone providing advices is probably some retard paying for creative writing courses!
I'm a STEM student, I don't even pay for my studies, so why would I pay to write? You're a fucking idiot

>>18208507
>It's not like there are literal guides on how to pick up writing and basic tips on making storytelling good
>I'm a STEM student
It all makes complete sense now

>>18208520
We're reaching another level of retardation now.

>>18208525
You don't even know what I'm talking about, do you? I'm sure it's gratifying to assume everyone who disagrees with you is an idiot, but that's not always the case. Not everything you don't understand is nonsense. Not everything is quantifiable.

>>18208489
It's always been like that with /wg/

>>18208458
There is it's called yourdomain.com

>>18208538
Please go on with your point so that an internet anonymous can assume you are not an idiot indulging in basic stereotypes.

>>18208627
I've made my point. Nothing follows.

>>18208336
ideas are easy execution is hard, that is the true litmus test for ideas, not how cool they sound in your head. this is the same in everything.

>>18208569
yeah these threads have been horrible, from obvious baits to blatant shitstirring like the anime schizo(s) or that gamete fisherman faggot. less than five excerpts posted here. damn shame. i think i'm gonna take a break from this shithole for a while. get well soon, /wg/.

>>18208637
I got decent feedback on the last thing i posted and ignore the anime fags, I think there is really only one or two

>>18208458
Just create a website like stated above, you'll have a hard time marketing it but at least you'll be (almost) free of writing what you want. Honestly, as long as your story doesn't delve too hard into extreme categories, royalroad is the way to go.

>>18208647
what are the ownership implication of the story, like what if you want to take it and sell it to someone after you post it to RR? Do they own it now that they host is?

>>18208662
They don't own anything as far as I know. You can always remove your story from the site and sell it, publish it, whatever. Traditional publishers are known to be reluctant towards RR-based stories though, so you'll probably have a hard time going that way. Kindle requires you to remove your story from the internet, if I remember well, and that's basically all there is. There has been cases in which unaffiliated people published RR stories without the ownership, and you can make publishers blacklist them or even bring them to court.

>>18208708
>There has been cases in which unaffiliated people published RR stories without the ownership, and you can make publishers blacklist them or even bring them to court.
Really? What made them think they could get away with theft?

>>18208637
I have a lot I could post, even the fiction itself, and I do if there's reason to do so. Usually, there isn't though.

>>18208861
Not really the first time it’s happened. I remember someone did the same thing with the one web serial about humanity ha devils vs angels.

>>18208868
>even the fiction itself
What do you even write? Hard to figure out what people here are writing.

New thread

>>18208879

>>18208637
Yeah I'm probably going to check out too.
See you tards in another month.