/lit/ - Literature

Proud to say I have never counted.

>>19916418
lucky you then. I Have a problem with myself

How do you even start writing and not just seethe in your depression?

>>19916406
i don't really write often but if i do it's generally a burst of 700 words so if i did that every day for a week i could probably hit 4k-5k

>>19916406
And how good are those words?

>>19916979
filled with fucking mistakes, but they, thats what editing and polishing is for. I run for numbers, then quality

I don't do word counts anymore, or at least not as a metric. To me, five hours spent writing 500 words is equal to five hours and a single sentence. I write very slowly though, and prefer it that way. My words are all high-quality, printable words over which I'll pass in the coming months every time I sit down to write, making small adjustments here or there for flow. I can't imagine the horror of opening a document written at a clip of 30k words per week with intent to make it actually-good.

>>19916406
OP here, I cant believe that Im actually much more talented than I thought I was, I write around 3000 words per chapter everyday, I usually plan ahead but the quality of my work is usually compared to well edited and that of un-rushed works.

this got my confidence up when it comes to writing. Thanks bros.

>>19917046
Wow, now I'm super amped myself. I write 6k a day. Never counted before but damn if I'm double what you have then I must be the cream of the crop.

>>19917046
>I cant believe that Im actually much more talented than I thought I was
Post an excerpt. Use all that newfound confidence to impress all of us with your talent, if you've actually got either.

>>19917060
ok! here you go -

Elena and I hung out in the balcony till the surroundings were pitch black, only illuminated by the miniature light that came from the torches around us. We would see guards pass us by from time to time, and both of us would see if we could recognize them, a game that Elena proposed so that the two of us can pass time more easily. I, for one, wasn't able to recognize any of them, whilst Elena, despite having arrived here a day prior, was able to name around half of them, with the other half being unrecognizable to her only because they were in night shifts.
Her memory surprised me by quite a bit, it was borderline superhuman, and I might need to remember that if I want to convince her to stop being a villainess in the near future.

Speaking of her becoming a villainess, I tried to think about when she would become one, as in when did she start her journey downward. The game didn't really explain it in detail, and when you play her perspective, the only thing that you got is that she was a perfect match for Cecil, with the entire run composed of only a small romance path that lets you try to take back the crownprince from the saintess' arms, it didn't involve villainy at all.
I wondered when she would actually start, I tried to think about it as much as I could but I wasn't able to theory craft that well, as I probably suck at the subject. Left with no other choice, I waited for both of us to once again go silent and asked-

"say, Elena, would you want to kill the saintess as things are now?" I didn't look at her as I was too ashamed to do so but I could feel her gaze at my cheek,

"why would I want to do that?" she asked back, and I heard the sound of air being sipped along side wine. Crude. I thought to myself.

"I just think that... I don't know, maybe you hate the saintess so much that you'd want to kill her." I replied, a snort entered my ears.

"as if." I looked at Elena relieved and conflicted at the same time, for one, I was glad that she doesn't have the thought of becoming a villainess yet, and the other is that I'm quite scared of what this means, I haven't abused the knowledge I have but having a gap in said knowledge scares me, I don't like treading in uknown territory and at the same time, I also want to try and do it.

"Maxwell," Elena and I locked eyes, her voice was soft, her mouth reeked of wine, it smelt sweet, it reminded me of trefoil, "what if I don't want to take revenge on Elena and instead I-" her voice was starting to sound smooth. Seductive.

The duchess leaned in, and I was able to feel her breath on my face, I didn't know what to do, I was paralyzed, I tried to move but- "Maxwell, there you go again, drifting somewhere else..." my vision was once again cleared and I was pulled out of my daze, I put my hand on Elena's shoulders but I felt weak, I couldn't push her off. "what are you thinking about?" the light refracted from here eyes became whole, her sky-blue eyes had an unusual luster.

>>19917081
I wanna post a link here to my google doc but I dont trust you guys.

is there something that can happen except maybe stalking me? I have my full name on the google doc but is there a problem other than that?

>>19917081
I don't have the heart to crush you. Maybe this passes by litRPG standards, but writing like this would get thrown into the bin of any publisher or agent you could possibly find.

>>19917108
oh, I actually wanted write like that.

since Im more of a web author, I have posted several stories since quarantine and I dont really plan on writing for publishers.

thanks for the appreciation though!

>>19917081
Well. I think you should focus on your reading speed for a while. Maybe like, a year. Then pick up where you left off.

>>19917081
>a snort entered my ears

>>19917133
The point wasn't about getting your writing published. It was the QUALITY of your writing being poor. To remind you, this was in response to bragging about your TALENT as a writer. It's not a stretch to say that talent and quality are interrelated. I don't see much talent here, and definitely not enough to actually brag about.

>>19917148
ah yeah I guess that doenst really make sense,

pop.

I have much respect for people who can keep the discipline of writing regularly.

>>19917154
Of course it makes fucking sense. It's just extremely fucking bad writing.

>>19917150
yeah thats fair, I wanted to say that I am actually capable of coherent stuff even though I write 30k words per week though.

>>19917154
Don't give up. Just take that sensation and find a more interesting way of writing it.

Maybe try and find a simile. Use imagery, there's too much dialogue.

>>19916406
Quantity doesn't equal quality, go to hell with your numbers and ego boosting

>>19917154
Just read more, and use imagery instead if dialogue.

Classic Water - David Berman

I remember Kitty saying we shared a deep longing for
the consolation prize, laughing as we rinsed the stagecoach.

I remember the night we camped out
and I heard her whisper
“think of me as a place” from her sleeping bag
with the centaur print.

I remember being in her father’s basement workshop
when we picked up an unknown man sobbing
over the shortwave radio

and the night we got so high we convinced ourselves
that the road was a hologram projected by the headlight beams.

I remember how she would always get everyone to vote
on what we should do next and the time she said
“all water is classic water” and shyly turned her face away.

At volleyball games her parents sat in the bleachers
like ambassadors from Indiana in all their midwestern schmaltz.

She was destroyed when they were busted for operating
a private judicial system within U.S. borders.
Sometimes I’m awakened in the middle of the night
by the clatter of a room service cart and I think back on Kitty.

Those summer evenings by the government lake,
talking about the paradox of multiple Santas
or how it felt to have your heart broken.

I still get a hollow feeling on Labor Day when the summer ends

and I remember how I would always refer to her boyfriends
as what’s-his-face, which was wrong of me and I’d like
to apologize to those guys right now, wherever they are:

No one deserves to be called what’s-his-face.

>>19917166
This is a coherent image. You can see eyes, a mouth, hair. It is, for all intents and purposes, coherent. If you pump out a thousand variations on this image per week, maybe you'll get some dick rubs on deviant art, but all that really means is that you've found a group of other people with really, really, REALLY fucking low standards. Try to have some pride in the quality of your work. You fucking zoomers are supposed to pick up the torch.

>>19917189
i'll try it when I edit it in the near future.

can I actually upload my google docs here though? I mean, I really wanna hear all your thoughts on it now.

anyways, ill do it regardless here - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wIB8JTnZvugQwgaXfZjqdaL-lRMw-UIDpKZViqOKMRA/edit?usp=sharing

>>19916998
This is a good way of thinking. Many people try to start with perfect work and end up not doing anything.

>>19917414
It's also the mechanism that when properly managed creates the best works of art and literature. Sure, it might not work for everyone, but who cares about everyone? The only people you should really encourage are those who have that drive for perfection anyway, because, well... what do you really care if someone abandons all notions of quality, proceeds to shit out a couple thousand words of drivel per day and rests on their imaginary laurels? It's the perfectionists that actually matter, and who actually need encouragement to harness it. The drivel-shitters don't need anything, and will happily continue shitting and farting unmolested.