/lit/ - Literature

>recommended watching

I remember posting that. I watched every fucking video lol. It was quite good seeing a story come together.

Is incest popular again?

>>19992047
The only incest I'm interested in is kissing cousins and horny aunts

>>19991999
cool digits, i think we're gonna make it bros

>>19992127
I haven't written since Thursday. I'm too busy following the news about the war.
The reason my army book failed is that it was just military service during peace time, nobody cares about that. This is what people care about. Real war.

>>19992150
Why didn’t you advertise your book?

>>19992237
Advertise what? It didn't even get published.

>>19992074
This but I'm only interested in horny sisters with a brocon complex

>>19992274
But anon that's...!

>>19992274
What if a story was about a sister that learns that loving her brother is wrong and she finds a healthy relationship instead?

>>19992074
I’m a momma’s boy personally

How do you comedically start a riot (no, not a "laugh riot," you schmucks)?

>>19992366
Shameless fear-mongering but through song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI_Oe-jtgdI

>>19992270
Why didn’t you publish it and why did you then say it didn’t do well?

>>19992382
I didn't say it didn't do well. I said it failed. It failed because it wasn't accepted by a publisher. This shows the book lacks any qualities that would make it worthwhile. It was, in a word, shit.

>>19992366
Unintentionally, and obliviously. Imagine Mr Bean walking through a crowded place, doing something he thinks is innocent, such as picking up a drink he thinks is free, but that drink belongs to a big strong man who turns around and sees another man with a drink and believes he has stolen it. Fight. Riot. Mr Bean walks away supping his drink calmly.

>>19992386

>>19992412
Yes. That is literally what I said I said.

>>19992366
I think of the Avatar prison riot from the Black Rock episode in season 3. The guy just picks up some other prisoner and shouts, "Hey, riot!" and everyone starts fighting for no reason. Absolutely hilarious.

>>19992386
Why not just self publish?

>>19992456
Any schizo retard can do that. There's no prestige there.

>>19992459
There is no prestige anywhere.

Now that I've been kicked out of my writing group for being racist and intolerant of their faggotry, how do I go about finding a new group of writers? Does /wg/ or /lit/ have a discord server?

>>19992459
Well I see the trad pub propaganda has worked on you.
Some things that are worthy of note
>I have never once looked or cared who the publisher was
>publishing companies now won’t exist 100 years from now
>remember that book by plato you read that had his original publisher print on it? Me neither
But most importantly
>trad pubbed authors make on average 7-15% of the profits of books they get published, while anyone who publishes to amazon makes 70% of all profits.
If this is the first time you’ve thought about these, hopefully I just saved you a lot of time and energy submitting to rando editors who don’t care.
If this is the second or nth time you’ve heard this, their propaganda has worked on you well.

>>19992494
Why do you even need a group of writers?

>>19992505
Not him, but it points out your weaknesses so you can improve faster.

Also, shared marketing.

>>19992494
What are you looking for in terms of genre, upload frequency, and length? I'm also looking for group am really just interested in exchanging thoughtful feedback not having "muh community" as I don't have time to loiter around with discord trannies talking about excuses for not writing.

>>19992494
/wg/ has /wg/.

I might have made a boo boo.
My draft may contain Russian characters in a positive light.
>How тpaхaл am i ?

>>19992576
Why is this bad?
Afraid reddit will disapprove?

>>19991999
Holy shit, nice numbers. Are there any good grammar books like 'The Elements of Style'. but that go into more detail?

>>19992494
>>19992539
I've also been looking for a group of writers recently, or even just a single person. I would like to be in contact with someone who writes literary fiction. I would have no use or interest in people who write genre fiction, or approach writing as a business (I'm not trying to be insulting simply stating my needs). I personally like literary fiction that has absurd or surreal elements, and that is what I aspire to write.

>>19992502
Has a self-published author ever had their work adapted by big production companies? Have they ever been on Good Morning America promoting their new book? You deny yourself a lot of potential money by taking the easy road.

>>19992731
Twilight and Stephanie Meyer

>>19991999
check'd

>should consider social media, an email list, and advertisements sooner rather than later
of these three, mailing list is by far the most important

>>19991999
>your book
Books, plural. If you want to make a living as a writer you need to be prolific.

>>19992380
I like this idea, although I'm skewing it a little more like this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZmVl2eqgt0

>>19992494
>want to be with people
>can't deal with people
The tragedy of modern incel

What's the best forum for writing? i get twitter is good to try and sell shit to gullible people, but how about forums?

Wattpad?

And what's with people trying to be Subscription Writers? Are there people that actually "subscribe" to writers?

>>19993137
Just from the top of my head I know a handful of writers who make 150k+ a year and a lot more who make enough to live off their writing from patreon alone.

>What's the best forum for writing?
What are you writing?

>>19993112
Not all people are SJW queers. I want to be with GOOD people, not those "people."

>>19992731
50 Shades of Gray

>>19993179
how the fuck can a writer make 150k a year from writing?

>>19993203
Two words: Patreon bux.

>>19993213
Is there any way to do this other than the shitty unending isekai chapter-a-day shit?

>>19992630
i'm still conflicted between accessibility and autistic vision tbqh
>Like how the OP's opening line is about meerkating yet the picture is about a city without jews

>>19993213
>Traditionally published authors are using Patreon, too. Acclaimed SFF author N. K. Jemisin currently has over 1300 patrons, adding up to more than $5700 per month. Jemisin started her Patreon page in order to be able to quit her day job and work full-time on her fiction, and succeeded; she now continues to use it to supplement her writing income.

https://writersedit.com/self-publishing/what-is-patreon-and-how-can-indie-authors-use-it/#

Jemisin is an established author and has the most subs for a writer on that site, and she only has 1300 patrons and makes 5700 a month. That's fuck all.

>>19993213
Those people are not writers, over 70% of their words are repetitive filler, their characters are one dimensional. Whats more alarming is they live and breathe in their own stench of intellectual flatulence by way of discord.

>>19993223
It's the most common way to make shittons of dollars that I know of. But I can't help but wonder if self pubbing the next Moby Dick gets you there.
>>19993233
$5700 monthly is $68k yearly. That's more than I make gross from my engineering job, but less than my salary actually is. Assuming she makes money from speaking arrangements or lectures, that's not a bad base salary.

>>19993251
>$5700 monthly is $68k yearly.

yeah, it's awesome. What's not awesome for the regular dude is that that is the top of the fucking pile. Did you ever look at earning stats for onlyfans? The topdogs make millions, the ordinary person makes almost fucking nothing. A similar spread will apply here. If the topdog with an already established fanbase is only earning 60k a year, some fuck from 4chan writing whatever that no one wants to read will need to adjust their expectations.

This is a thread reminder that funerals are not sad and are really bad, shitty scenes to include in any story.

>>19993233
>Author N. K. Jemisin
Looking at her work and her site, its all some thinly veiled form of yass queen overstated noble black bullshit.
I'm all for equality but i tend to lose interest when the lens is solely brown

>>19993179
I finished a contemporary fiction, now working on a stand alone fantasy

>>19993279
Have you ever been to a funeral for someone you care for? I doubt it. Bad writing is bad writing, but you can't count out an experience as universally heartwrenching as the funeral for someone you love. What a fucking idiot.

>>19993250
But these people make 100k making that shit. Who's the stupid one now?

>>19993279
Is this really a threadly reminder? I've never noticed it before. Where's the threadly reminder that nobody here writes? Those seem to have dropped off of late.

>>19993303
Would you prefer money or happiness?
Because this situation is exactly that choice.

>>19993300
I'm not wrong. Funerals are extra beatings on a horse that's already died. You get the emotion out when the character dies. Belaboring the point ruins the emotional effect. What else are you going to do? Have a tearful goodbye speech by the survivors? Have everyone around crying and reminiscing? It's a waste of words and scenes.

>>19993324
well, we're 56 posts into the thread now and no one has posted fucking anything so far. and when they do post, like in the last thread, they don't get many replies.

>>19992047
What do you think dd/lg is

>>19993371
"daddy dick/loli genitalia"?

>>19993330
Money brings happiness.

I've always wanted to write a story set in some pseudo-Victorian era where a little girl is wed to a MUCH older widower who dies shortly thereafter. Inheriting his business, the little girl quickly works with her new stepchildren (all adults) to keep things operating (she wants to retain her independence and preserve the family fortune for her "children" rather than marry someone else and have him take control of the money). Mostly, I just really wanted to write an awkward scene where this little girl, now in control of a fortune and doing quite well for herself, needs to discuss her first period with a "daughter" three times her age. Weird, right? And I'm sure most people would consider it pervy and weird but I think it'd be an interesting perspective to show this little girl growing up paranoid and jaded (oh, that boy my age likes me ... wait, his father is a competitor ... this is all some ploy, isn't it?)

>>19993340
yeah i don't wanna post here anymore because the crit isn't very useful or is very sparse.

>>19993324
because we started righting

>>19993432
This would only work in a fantasy world with different social mores. In the real world Victorian age, the eldest son would take control of the business. Incidentally, you could easily turn this into an isekai if you want that patreon money. NEET turned gender-swapped loli business manager in an epic fantasy world seems like it would appeal to that crowd. And you'd have another layer of irony with the period scene, since its from the pov of a guy.

>>19993448
Nigger detected.

>>19993438
you should only get crit from people you trust. i know that sucks, because what are the chances of you knowing any writers whose crit you can trust? but it's the truth. no crit is better than shit crit. just trust yourself.

>>19993340
>>19993340
Fine Fine.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/14IYv8u3M6g_inX_hAn2zRpZVHztW5bls2q2_ldEvB5I/edit

>>19993474
can you enable comments or something? it would be better.

>>19993471
i've come to the same conclusion. the real issue is the sparsity because even if the crit is bad, if enough people offer crit you can find issues by just taking the intersection. the best advice on taking crit i ever got was "pay attention to what people felt was bad, but ignore their advice on how to fix it". basically think of it as some expectation of the reader that wasn't met, but figure out for yourself how to meet that expectation. problem is you really need a consensus to filter out the noise.

if you guys want actually useful crit, i recommend critters (for the sci-fi/fantasy people) and scribophile. still pretty bad, but at least you get lots of crit.

now i just need to figure out a way to share my writing...

>>19993471
This. Also, you should only get crit on stuff you've published. You shouldn't make changes to a story based on crit. That's just writing by committee. You should take criticism on stuff that's finished and out, and apply it to future writing.

>>19993223
Omg can you imagine writing a whole entire chapter a day??? A whole chapter??? EVery day??? Omg that sounds like so much worrkkkk!!!!! I want to get rich without working plz

>>19993497
>You shouldn't make changes to a story based on crit

No I disagree with that. I mean that's partly what an editor is for after all. Then of course there are all the groups of writers in history who regularly got together to crit and edit each others work as they wrote it. They certainly didn't abide by that rule.

>>19993223
nope. Isekai with a chapter a day is the best way. The chapters dont' have to be long, edited, or even proofread. Just have decent grammar and people will subscribe to your patreon

>>19992731
>Have they ever been on Good Morning America promoting their new book?
Why would you even want that? I would rather pound rusty nails into my ballsack than discuss my writing with a bunch of talking heads. Also, yeah, peacetime military is just a really gay and unpleasant job. It's why I got out in 2013, once it became apparent that there wasn't going to be any more war to actually fight.

>>19993466
While this does sound interesting the last thing I would want is to be stuck catering to the whims of a bunch of mentally ill trannies. "Wah, you didn't present this character with two souls (or whatever these faggots call themselves) properly! I'm so triggered!"

>>19993488
I did that last night, and got nothing but "Nigger" spams.

But I do need to allow you guys to copy it so that you can copy sentences to comment on here.

>>19993502
writing a chapter every day, lets say ~2k words a day, means you'll be pumping out the most minimally edited, slapdash, seat-of-your-pants garbage that'll invariably mean writing yourself into corners just to asspull rule of cool deus ex machina escapes and so on and so forth. it sounds dreadful to read and its probably 100x more dreadful to write.

My first book is a comedy.

>>19993502
>it's an anon in the writing general hasn't written once in his life episode

>>19993474
Not bad at all.

>>19993471
To be fair, shitcrits are usually pretty apparent. Even if they mean well, it's not all that hard to get a feel for another writer based on... how they write. I like to think, having spent basically my entire life writing to people on the internet and reading their responses, that I've gotten pretty decent at making mostly accurate snap judgments. And because critique is such an individualized, subjective thing, you get to learn a bit about the critic from what they choose to engage with in your writing. I sometimes feel like I can even guess their favorite authors from what they pick up, what they miss, what they point out, what they ignore; but that's probably bullshit. Anyway, I disagree. It might take a little more critical thinking to entertain the opinions of a revolving group of complete strangers, but it's not always completely without value.

Is "The city without Jews" a utopia tale? It surely sounds like one.

>>19993602
Isn't that just a city in Japan (or basically any Asian city)?

>>19993596
Is there a term for that behavior, that is, confusing being snarky with having anything of value to say?

>>19993567
I'll confirm that going against the tranny agenda means you'll receive hate and the equivalent of downvotes. My story explicitly and implicitly criticizes it, basically that in order for it to happen you would literally need the equivalent of magic for it to happen, references to things that'll never change with current tech, small, feminine hands, skull shape being different, bones being different, a denial of the idea of the "soul" - basically you are your body and cutting yourself up will never change your sex it'll only debilitate you. Also making your new female character straight they don't like that at all, a lot of them view themselves as "lesbians", which is just, I don't know what to say about that.

>>19993591
Congrats on finishing your first book. I just finished my own comedy. What's yours about?

>>19993382
That works too

>>19991999
nice digits

>>19993608
There's like 2000 Jews in all of Japan.

>slam down a flashfiction for my weekly blog post
>like it so much I'm thinking about retooling it for a novel

>>19993650
A divorced middle age man becoming a beekeeper and the hive gradually becoming his substitute wife. What about yours?

>>19993471
>>19993492
I'm unironically putting together a really simple discord to try an open group on. My concept is to have a really basic group finding chat area and then just a bunch of empty rooms people can self assign to in groups of max 4 based on genre/post frequency.

The catch I'm thinking is that all groups are sunset/deleted at the end of each month for privacy but mainly to encourage mixing it up and avoid writing groups becoming stale/fading into irrelevance where only 1 guy is active.

Thoughts? Going to put it together tonight and although I don't have a ton of writing group experience it's been driving me crazy how annoying the feedback process has been and nobody has given me a good alternative.

>>19993732
A guy gets wrongly profiled as a warlord by an alien crime syndicate who tries to have him killed

>>19993581
That's wrong. By the time the non-paying reader gets to read your chapter you are already writing and letting your patreons read 50 chapters ahead so if there is any inconsistency you can just deal with it way before the general public gets to see anything.

>>19993748
problem with any kind of anonymous set up like this is that there's no accountability so people usually just flake after they get crit for their stuff (or just drop off regardless). the only way to really do it are the sties i mentioned earlier. they create a little token economy so you swap crits for crits but you always have to crit more than you get crit to keep the balance up (or you can pay a subscription fee).

>>19993506
>Then of course there are all the groups of writers in history who regularly got together to crit and edit each others work as they wrote it.
There are far more writers who did not do this.

>>19993789
>>19993748
Another problem with an open group is that its open. In an ideal group you'd all have similar levels of talent, write in similar genres, and have similar goals. If you have one guy in your group writing the third book in his cashgrab fantasy novel and another guy writing literary flash fiction, you're gonna have crossed wires.

https://www.janefriedman.com/dangers-of-writing-groups/

>>19993786
that seems so backwards. you retcon stuff for non paying readers to provide better quality in the hope that they become patrons, but your patrons get the loosest, sloppiest most worn out drek you can pump out, and they'll keep paying for it. I guess there's really nothing more pathetic than paypigs and if that's the case why bother to retcon anything at all?

>>19993581
Assuming you treat it as an actual job (gasp) and write for eight hours a day, that's 250 words per hour, which is nothing. If you cut that in half, it's 500 wph. Most long term professional authors write in the 700 to 1200 wph range, and they write relatively clean copy.

>>19993815
yep, this too. probably the best way to use discord is as a filter. find the ones that are aligned with your goals and then contact them privately to meet up outside the group.

>>19993815
>Each member needs to speak with deep kindness and a sense of hope when it’s their turn to offer a critique. Mean-spirited attacks that leave you gasping for breath and feeling small are among the most damaging realities of all. There is a difference between telling the truth and being mean. Don’t allow mean.
AHHHHH NOT MEAN WORDS AAAIIIEE I'LL NEVER PICK UP A PEN AGAIN

>>19993836
i used to think this way as well, but then i read the essay about giving crit on critters. it's basically about not wasting your own time. if you write mean/harsh crit the other person is unlikely to listen no matter how good the crit is--their loss right? sure, but then why bother writing the crit in the first place? you've just wasted your own time.

>>19993824
that doesn't address what I said. getting words out isn't the problem. its that you'll have to do it each and every day and some days you'll end up going in some retarded direction because you have to keep raising the stakes and by the time you realize you've written yourself into a corner you'll be unable to fix it without just doing whatever and what you end up throwing out as a result is absolute total slop but that shouldn't be a surprise you're pumping out ~2k words a day you're throwing out a lot of slop anyway.

>>19993789
I hear that but still want to run the experiment, I think capping it at a month period makes it a pretty low bar and if you don't get feedback just post it here. >>19993815
Agree, but again the frequent turnover of groups means you can follow up with User DickMunch3r88 who has similar goals/is actually useful.

Also people will self select in the "looking got a group section, I'll come up with a simple "call for participants" template that includes genre, level of writing experience, goals

>>19993843
How is it a waste of time to pwn some loser?

>>19993843
Convincing some narcissistic pussy to stop polluting the literary world with their schlock is definitely worth it

AAAAHHHHH I NEED TO MARKET MY BOOK!!!

DO I HONESTLY HAVE TO FUCKING SIGN UP FOR TWITTER AND SLOW RELEASE CHAPTER BY CHAPTER ON ROYAL ROAD OVER THE COURSE OF 2 MONTHS IN HOPES SOME FUCKER TAKES THE BAIT AND BUYS IT?!

>>19993340
>tfw the only thing you wrote last week was furry porn and you can't post it

>>19993474
Oh, it's you! I see you decided to leave the fight in the background.

I like it. There are some things I noticed:
>the tense switches from past to present at times (ctrl-f "crescent strike", "nobody has ever")
>explanations that may be unnecessary and disrupt flow (e.g. that Adah replaced Sir Pollard: is his inclusion here setting anything up later in the story, or is it filler? You can use names to indicate the reader needs to remember a character, and descriptions to show they're irrelevant after the scene)
>some sentence construction is a little tortured (e.g. "Other enemies wielded smaller and more difficult items to disarm.")

Overall the action is pretty good. Maybe experiment with removing some of the descriptions from the fight scene to make it a little more focused, and/or extending it so we see the squad landing the first blows? The level of detail is fine elsewhere, but the fight scene felt a little slow and hard to follow, considering they're literally just pointing swords at a lich they've surrounded.

>>19993878
>its that you'll have to do it each and every day
Right. Like a job.
As far as throwing out words, sure that does happen sometimes, but not nearly as much as you seem think. Certainly not enough to hurt productivity. And there's nothing wrong with writing extra and throwing some stuff out. It's practice and it helps you improve as a writer. There really aren't any wasted words.
But man if you think 2k words a day is "pumping it out" you are ngmi as a writer.

>>19993948
>And there's nothing wrong with writing extra and throwing some stuff out. It's practice and it helps you improve as a writer.
Then why don't any of these people get better at writing? It's literally the same level of writing all the way through from word 0 to 300K

>>19993898
what I'm doing with mine is I wrote ~75% of the first draft. I then started releasing it on RR while editing and finishing it up. During that process I've added maybe 10 chapters so far to the middle. Once its been fully released on RR I'm going get the sequel to the point ~75% of the first draft done where I can start releasing that on RR. I will then pull the original off RR maybe a month after starting to release the sequel and put it on Kindle Unlimited because kindle requires exclusivity. I'll be completely up front with readers what I'm doing when I do it. I'm also going to take their solicitations on how they want the sequel to go once the first one is "complete".
The benefits of this are: the people who read RR are not the same people who read kindle.
People who've read your book on RR can write positive reviews on kindle when you move it over.
If you really want to get spicy set up a patreon and just have it sit there. There's money in selling books, sure, but there's relatively more money in pulling in monthly donations for chapters as you're releasing them.

As far as twitter I dunno twitter is for fags but you may as well go full shotgun approach.

>>19993948
>if you think 2k words a day is "pumping it out" you are ngmi as a writer.

https://wordcounter.net/blog/2017/12/04/103207_the-daily-word-counts-of-19-famous-writers.html

>>19993948
and again you miss the point where the issue isn't the wordcount. its that you will inevitably write yourself into a corner because 2k words a day every day will do that. it just will. if you want to turn yourself into the literary equivalent of a linecook at McDiks be my guest

>>19993955
There are plenty of prolific writers who have improved the quality of their writing over time, and in most cases sped up their writing pace too.

>>19993989
You're releasing 2k words a day, and you're writing an average of 2k, but there's no reason they have to be the same words.

>>19992657
I want to know too

>>19993898
>DO I HONESTLY HAVE TO FUCKING SIGN UP FOR TWITTER AND SLOW RELEASE CHAPTER BY CHAPTER ON ROYAL ROAD OVER THE COURSE OF 2 MONTHS IN HOPES SOME FUCKER TAKES THE BAIT AND BUYS IT?!
No because "just use twitter" is bad advice by people who haven't studied marketing. Where does your audience post? Where do they hang out? What platforms do they use? Go there instead.
Your aim isn't to shill a book; that's an easy mark to spot and no one will read it. You're there to find readers who want to engage with what you have to say. You have to change your whole mindset about selling your book. You're trying to find people who hear your message or love your characters. These aren't people who you want to grift a dollar from. They're your audience and your fanbase.

Last sample is officially finished! Next up: a set of bug-centered poems.
Post bugs please

>>19993979
Whatever. Why not put Joyce on that list. Didn't he write a word a day some days? Or Flaubert. Or Donna Tartt. If you think you're going to make a living writing a novel every ten years, good luck.

>>19993989
I actually didn't miss the point. The thing is that you are wrong. Yes, you will occassionally throw out words either because you have written yourself into a corner, or more likely, because you've simply come up with a more interesting direction for the story. But this really doesn't happen to the extent you seem to think it does. As far as being a line cook, I mean whatever. Line cooks don't make six figures, and sitting at a computer and making stuff up all day is pretty fun.

>>19994045
Dang you really have it figured out. What's your patreon I wanna see how much you're pulling in.

>>19992361
based but I couldn't do my actual mom. stepmom, even bio aunt sure thing. but the taboo is deep, my own mom seems disgusting. but other dudes with their moms hot again

>>19994076
>famous writer outing himself as a member of the racist hacker forum 4chan

>>19994081
>LARP gets revealed retard scurries away

>>19994037
The hairy tarantula stretched it's legs
It furrowed and burrowed underneath the keg
Reaching out it found a mouse
Hidden never seen inside the house

The rodent jumped and sped away
Only to be followed as an unsuspecting prey
The predator felt the vibrant taps
On the ground threw folded flaps

It felt the furry mammal once again
Sinking it's fangs into the abdomen
A squeal and squeak once loud, but now nevermore
Bones laid still on the barren floor

>>19994096
Bugs not arachnids!!!

>>19993203
Serious question? Because I could answer.
It’s simpler than you guys make it out to be, not easy, but simple.

>>19994045
>If you think you're going to make a living writing a novel every ten years, good luck.

I don't imagine I will ever make a living from writing, because that is the fate of most writers. I don't write as a career choice.

>>19992285
It's what. IT'S WHAT? Say it. I can take the truth.

>>19994105
>>19994096
Spiders and centipedes have ambassators

>>19994045
No idea. I'm just a teacher that writes for fun hoping to make a few extra dollars.

>>19994037
After some thought I think I've got my cast for this bug kingdom:
-Princess caterpillar
-Stinkbug perfumer
-Ant chess pieces
-Ladybug shoppers
-Dragonfly racers
-Beetle knights
-Bee cooks
-Moth maids
-Spider merchant
-Mantis gardener
-Firefly Ferrymen

It can be 10 poems for each bug, plus 3 extra ones about the princess becoming queen

>>19994156
This would make for a good children's book. Keep it clean and you can possibly be the next lewis Carroll.

>>19994174
>This would make for a good children's book
Bullseye for the target audience

>Lewis carroll
>Clean
I'm not basing the caterpillar princess off any little cousins so I'm afraid I have some catching up to do for that one. With any luck I'll be able to post some of these as they're baked

https://pastebin.com/Tay9X2Za
Chapter 12 I hope I got the buildup to the start of the riot right it's probably a little silly but I've wanted to maintain a lighthearted tone this chapter is a little short though maybe I should just continue into the battle that ensues but then the chapter might be too long

>>19994191
Seriously the title is right there. The caterpillar princess. Her ascension is easy too, to be a butterfly.

She gets tricked by the mean spider merchant buying a curse thinking it'll help her become a butterfly faster. In her quest to find the spider that tricked her she meets all the other insects in the world.

This story writes itself

>>19994206
>buying a curse
She could've bought spider silk to try and use it as her cocoon. Things don't work as she wants and she falls from her tall leafy tree castle and finds herself at the roots of the tree. The book is about her trying to go back to top of the tree where her castle is.
After completing her journey and turning into a butterfly she goes looking for the spider to demand reparations. The spider sweet talks her into coming closer and the butterfly queen formerly known as the caterpillar princess gets entangled with the web. In the end she gets eaten. The message is about not trusting sweet talking strangers especially if they fooled you once.
I guess the butterfly queen could be the sequel to the caterpillar princess.

>>19994156
This is kino and I would read it.

I'll be honest, I didn't count the syllables, but here's draft 1!

I offer a service for people with writer's block if anyone's interested.

>>19994286
Is that what we call prostitution now?

>>19994286
I hope you get to quit prostitution soon. Be safe.

>>19994266
the end makes it unsellable. if it's going to be a children's story, it needs to end like a children's story. and the spider silk is a great plot point.

But it's your book. Have at it.

>>19994285
i really think you should abandon the poem idea and write a full length novel.

>>19994290
>>19994297
It's called being a midwife of ideas and it's an ancient profession

>>19994342
I could revisit the idea later, but I'll do it this way for now

>>19994285
Love it. I tried writing poetry but failed miserably. Any suggestions on what to read to improve?

>>19994434
idklol
Go to a used book store and pick up something with poems

>>19994370
Perhaps a demonstration is in order for these doubting Thomases?

Post your novel ideas. It's not like they're going anywhere.

Am I allowed to use the semicolon when writing fiction?

>>19994587
Failing paranormal investigator accidentally commits a murder then later returns to the crime scene to have his most fruitful investigation yet. He begins to believe the only way to true success is to create his own vengeful spirits and capture them on camera.

>>19994594
No.

>>19994587
pige

>>19993748
The 1 Month Writing Group experiment is live for anyone interested in starting/joining a temporary writing group. I appreciate all feedback and participation.

https://discord.gg/rhUDMMTeY5

I like some honest advice. Been working on it for a little over a year
The mahogany wall clock on the wall in the office of the east wing room dessicantly ticked softly as the fat bearded man behind the desk began to part his lips. He slothfully said a phrase but the brooding youth in front of him with cool undertones paid the words no heed. In the hallway a group of students sat in a row waiting for their turn to speak to the fat man in the office behind the desk. The brooding youth frustrated two generations at once. Tick. The time passed on the clock on the wall in the office. Nothing but steely eyed silence between these two men. One set of eyes counted the tiles on the floor of the office in the east wing. Another glassier set of eyes awaited a response and stared at the shaggy head of onyx blackened hair in front of him. Tick. Like a gentle houseglass filled with mildew. The fat man uttered some kind of passive dismissal, and the youth rose from the chair and walked out of the office, forever leaving behind the mahogany wall clock on the wall in the office of the east wing room

>>19992952
You mongoloid. She got a deal with Little Brown.

>>19994642
>The mahogany wall clock on the wall in the office of the east wing room dessicantly ticked softly as the fat bearded man behind the desk began to part his lips.
I couldn't get past the first line.

>>19994587
A nigger has a job.

>>19994632
Whatever happened to pigeposting

>>19994642
Too purple. I know big words and overly descriptive words sound cool, but for a reader it's honestly very annoying, and does not draw you in like you think it does. We live in 2020, not 1820.

Hey guys I'm here from /tv/. I'm not into books but I wrote a poem about an actress I like and I thought you guys might like to see it.

-An Ode to Hunter Schafer-

Sweeney is so-so, Fereirra is fat
Zendaya is frumpy and glum
there's only one girl from Euphoria
in whom I wanna cum

It's Hunter of course! that Elysian belle
the one with the stuff that allures
she's the cutest without even trying
so to hell with the other whores

Like a filet mignon with a cherry on top
or a terrorist thrown from a plane
the appeal is bizarre, but she's hottest by far
for reasons I cannot explain

I'd take her on intimate walks on the beach
and treat her like she was my queen
then later I'd fuck her in all of her holes
and suckle her feminine peen

she's an elegant Aryan princess
she's redpilled on Israelites
she makes /pol/ cope and seethe
like you wouldn't believe
perhaps they're just jealous she's white

The things that I'd do to that bussy would make
the most profligate porn-addict blush
so pardon my versing and off-topic thirsting
'cause Hunter is my crush

>>19994642
I swear you posted this a few threads back and got the same response.
It’s bad. Bordering on purple in the worst way possible. It has all of the legibility issues of purple prose with none of the effort associate with it. All you did was write a basic paragraph of nothing before attempting to spruce it up with a dozen forced adjectives.

>>19994642
You lost me at "dessicantly ticked." I went back and forced myself to read the rest and it was actually much better - I'm glad I did. But I don't think many other people will, and certainly not agents or journal editors who read hundreds of submissions a day. I'd highly advise changing that line.

>>19994727
10/10 would fap to Hunter Schafer again.

Can someone critique my paragraph I just wrote? Something feels very off.

>“Miss Knight! A single coin and 2 beads for a cruncha? The sweet and juicy insides are perfect snacks for warriors!” yelled out the merchant.
>The Knight of Serenity ignored the request in her haste, pushing aside any in her path without a word of apology for her etiquette. Some yielded, but more often, her chainmail clinked with every step she took bumping into others in the crowd. Every stride brought her closer toward the entrance to the Crown.
>Adah leaned over the counter invading the space of the Knight of Vicissitude, Hollard Vilarrd. His heavy weight and rusted face has seen better days. Adah heard stories of Hollard’s younger days, but the current version of Hollard displayed none of the heroism, intellect, or bravery he was rumored to possess. The older knight tasked to greet all that walked through, stared straight into the chest of his colleague, in a futile attempt to look through her chainmail.
>“Vicissitude, up here,” Adah greeted, “I need to see Lionheart.”
>“And I need to see retirement, Serenity. It’s not happening,” replied Hollard, “He’s currently in a meeting.”
>“Please inform him it is of utmost importance, as Menderer, Twilight, Whirlwind, and Velocity are all missing.”
>“Wait? Morath is gone? How?” asked Hollard, “The man holds records across the board for solving and mapping labyrinths.”
>“I know,” Adah sighed, “that’s why this is so important. The four of them just vanished.”
>“I’ll send the word.”
>“Thank you.”

>>19994727
who is this breathtaking specimen of the female sex?

>>19994727
Nevermind. She's not that pretty

>>19994642
This is pretty bad honestly. There's no point in nitpicking it line by line, but here's one big problem. It doesn't have a clear point of view. I know stories can have omniscient pov, but you really shouldn't attempt to do this, you'll fuck it up. I'm assuming the main character here is a the young man with the shaggy head of onyx blackened hair (whom I suspect is intelligent, nihilistic, and has a wicked sense of humor too). Trying writing this scene from his POV. I don't mean it needs to be written in first person. It can be third person but clearly limited to his POV. Write about the setting of the office from his perspective. Try to include all five senses if you can. Provide some indication of his opinions about the setting. Try to write about 400 words of that. And ditch the "Tick" gimmick, it's too clever by half.

The best thing you could do to practice would be to take some books you like, and type in the openings. Like literally put the book on the desk beside you and copy it into the computer. You'll learn a lot from doing this.

>>19992502
He's right, though. Trad pub is chad pub. But if you want to be thad, you need to become the publisher.

>read popular RR stories
>All of them have sex scenes
Hmm... How do I make sure my sex scenes are erotic rather than comedic? Some of these sex scenes are pretty funny. I did not know sperm sprays and men can make their penises hard at will

>>19994984
You can't make your dick hard on command?

What if you need to deactivate lasers?

>>19994984
I bet you can't cry on demand either, or hands-free ejaculate.

>>19995023
I can cry on command, but not ejaculate.

>>19995023
i can only ejaculate when i'm crying

My nu work makes excited, sad, happy and gives me the tingles.
I'm gonna make it bros.

I finally found a reason to write that isn't materially motivated or some kind of pretension. It's the same reason Asimov wrote: he liked the feeling of going back to something he had written years back and getting absorbed into it. I experienced the phenomena myself a few days ago and then again, yesterday. For me, it's enough. I'm just writing for my future self, that's all.

You guys ever have those nights where you just can't get anything down?

>>19995089
nope , i have times where its harder to get it out, but never nothing.
Have you tired outlining and plot pointing ?
Sometimes it helps to know where your going and why your going.

>>19994721
>>19994739
>>19994748
>>19994862
this is brutal man. so its just irredeemable?

>>19995051
That's cool, man. I had the same thing happen to me a few days ago too. I had a number of things I wrote like ten years ago that I had completely forgotten, and I liked them. I had to question myself if it was even me that wrote them. It was a really good feeling.

>>19995273
Listen to >>19994862, he has some super solid advice. I think you might just be trying too hard, and obsessing over your paragraph is indicative of that. Sounds like you're throwing around adjectives and adverbs aimlessly. Definitely copy down a page or two of a book you like, and you will learn a lot - I would also recommend trying to rewrite that page in your own words and compare it against how the book's actually written.

>>19994642
Why is the clock the most important thing in this scene? If it is so important, it isn't communicating to me why.

Nothing really happens here. The dialogue is all missing. Why?

And yes, it's purple. Strip it down to the bones. Get rid of anything unnecessary e.g. the mahogany wall clock on the wall in the office. That's ten words and you just told me twice that there is a clock on the wall. You see? Ask yourself why the reader needs to know or cares about any word here and if you can't answer cut it. Do we need to know the clock is mahogany? About the East wing room? That the man is fat or bearded? etc.

>>19994018
>>19994045
Thank you for posting all that. I've been wondering about how a patreon setup would feel, and you made a pretty convincing argument for viability. 2k words/day leaves me thinking two or three could be done in parallel, given the right prep work, outline, character sheets, all kinds of procedural stuff. I'm not that confident, though.

It'll be a little while yet before I try. It's taken me a long time to take writing seriously, like I could earn a reasonable income from it. It's hard to imagine I'm capable of it. Sturgeon's law has felt very applicable to my past writing, which I've kept almost entirely to myself out of subjectively appropriate shame.
Grinding through the first few days of maintaining steady output, still working through the first chapter of The Lie That Tells the Truth, is it okay if I ask you for a general, meaningless but potentially useful piece of advice? Whatever comes to mind, if you see this. Thank you again.

>>19994642
At first, right at "wall clock on the wall", you got me and I was triggered into thinking it was bad. Then I saw the kneejerk replies, thought a little harder, let your voice do its thing, and got the joke(s).
Good job. Honestly. If that's part of a novel with broader, differently styled chapters, then it's great as a short section intended to communicate the frustration those other anons are clinging to as accidental. Nice bait.

>>19994762
Second paragraph, second sentence, Oxford comma before "bumping".
Third paragraph, first sentence, Oxford comma before "invading".

Hell, just sign up for Grammerly or whatever. You've got issues all over, there

How many gay characters does it take to be woke?

>>19995089
It's like showing up to work and all the machines are down, or the office drama is up again, and you just can't seem to get anything done. I've been there and had days where literally nothing hit the page. But I was there anyways.

>>19995734
The whole cast can be gay as long as they're not gay for gay's sake. Then it's woke.

>>19995620
Thanks. I do notice the grammar issues now. My content is okay though? Or is the grammar that bad it renders it unreadable?

>>19995620
Not him but I thought Oxford commas were just a stylistic choice? Just need to be consistent.

>>19995992
Not him, but it sometimes resolves ambiguity. Who or what was invading the knight's space: Adah, or the counter?

You can work it out pretty easily from the context, but it takes a little bit of work, and maybe causes you to reread the sentence.

>>19991999
Who here self publish? I'm fascinated by the idea of just printing shit yourself. I remember a Canadian hack poet who would print his stuff in booklets and sell it on the street corner or just leave them on busses. Is it based or do you make yourself out to be a fool?

>>19996060
You don’t print the books yourself.
You typically write the books and publish them, then everytime an order is made, the company you print with (say ingram sparks) sends a copy to an amazon or already has a predetermined amount.
Profit is 70% vs the 7-15% a trad pub gets.
You have more personal work to do with each book, but it’s literally just setting up ads once you hire someone once to make a cover for your book.
Formatting and editing is something anyone can do.

Alright, time to read a /wg/ webnovel. I'll be fucking shocked if it's worse than the indie published book I read last week.

Psycho Synchronicity
I had an odd experience recently where, by coincidence, I consumed two pairs of media related by theme. First, late last year I began reading the book Lexicon by Max Berry. This was a book that I’d picked up cheap at a used bookstore, drawn by the blurb about people who were exceptionally persuasive. Like many voracious readers I had a book backlog and so didn’t get around to reading it until sometime after purchase, and then completing it got delayed by the holidays. In early January, I finished it, found the ending a little sudden but well earned (so many books drop the ball at the finale,) and then set it aside. A few days later I’m poring through my backlog of movies (so much cash has been tied up in DVDs and Blu-Rays which, I am ashamed to admit, I may never actually watch). Among them was a relatively obscure anime film titled Genocidal Organ which I remember picking up at a local anime convention some years back, based on a blurb I didn’t recall, and then threw into a pile of “to be watched.” I probably paid too much for the movie but assuaged my concerns about being a spendthrift by assuring myself that I was supporting a small business and hadn’t bought much that day, anyway. My snobbishness likely also justified the purchase because it was something I’d never heard of and was thus far more intellectual than the masses of Attack on Titan or Naruto merchandise being peddled.
Imagine my surprise when I found that Genocidal Organ featured a similar story! Whereas Lexicon featured a cabal of poets (who in ancient times were known as magicians) whose spells consisted of combinations of words, sounds, or symbols to hijack the thoughts of others, Genocidal Organ dealt specifically with a language of genocide. In it, a man is being tracked by a covert military group which specializes in bringing justice to war criminals. This man has the unique distinction of human atrocities breaking out in his wake. Much like the poets of Lexicon, this man employed a syntax, discovered by studying the speeches and writings of tyrants, which he used to stir the local populace into frenzies of death and destruction. Over the course of the movie the morality of his actions, as well as those of a team carrying out extra-judicial justice, are explored in what was one of the most thoughtful, gritty anime I’ve seen in years.
Although we’re not at the point of genocide it’s an interesting concept to ponder when one looks at the past couple of years (Lexicon was published in 2013, Genocidal Organ was released in 2017 and is based on the Japanese novel Gyakusatsu Kikan from 2007 by Project Itoh). Masses being whipped into frenzies are nothing new and often horrific. Maybe it’s better to direct that energy rather than let it run rampant through the population (as the “villain” in Genocidal Organ posits).

>>19991999
Imagine how clean and peaceful it would be with no semetic infection

>>19996853
You meant semantic, right anon?

>>19996901
Where do you think you are right now?

>>19996853
You meant memetic, right anon?

>>19994635
>see several people complaining about lack of writing groups across multiple threads
>make a basic discord to join me make a group with others
>only 1 anime edgelord wanders in to say it's lame

Why did I expect any better?

>>19997195
>shilling some redditscord
I don't know why you expected any different

>>19997214
I mainly use discord for a PBEM games od Shadow Empire so thought the same model would work here - super convenient to drag and drop files between people. My idea is there will be minimal chat/bullshit, just a sort of swap spot.

My opinion of the company/trannies that often populate it are probably similar to yours, but I'm not aware of a good alternative so thought I'd try something new.

>>19996114
Well anime poster?
What are your deep deep insights into this weebnovel?

>>19997436
Not gunna lie, I spent the morning working on a short story instead of reading. I have the first chapter open now though.

Been listening to some stuff by CS Lewis on audiobook

Is it possible to use "the" too much? It feels obligatory for the vast majority of sentences.

>>19997529
Everything in moderation, even moderation.

>>19995158
>>19995937
I wound up writing a paragraph.

>>19997682
Better than many people in this thread. Nice job anon.

>>19997271
Not that anon, but I'd consider joining if it was on XMPP/Matrix.

experiment with archaic english
am I doing it right
>Hagha: Strange indeed and different must our fathers have been to build such mansions of stone.
>Ro'ac: Wert thou so mighty, Hagha, thou too wouldst build thy home among the beasts, and fear them not.
>Hagha: Small love have I for sand-dens and wet caverns. Our place is above.
>Wewwēre: Peace! We draw near. The watch has marked our coming.
>Guard: Alight! Alight, and give your names!
>Wewwēre: I am Wewwēre, son of Hahhūre, beak to T'arra my chieftain.
>Guard: Calm winds to thee, noble one, and long life; I know thy name. Yet those of thy companions I would fain know also, and thy business here, that I may report them to my lord.
>Wewwēre: Hagha and Ro'ac are they, my stout wingmates. But spare thy breath! Of my business I can say naught, save that it brooks haste. My entrance into thy lord's presence will serve for thy report. Bar me not!
>Guard: Such is not my command, lord.
>Wewwēre: Thou wouldst hinder me?
>Guard: I would but announce thee, as my chief decrees I must.
>Hagha: Yet time is scant. Canst thou not leave thy lord's judgement to our ears alone?
>Guard: Shall one judge a judged matter? I will not keep you long.
>Ro'ac: Truly heads turn slowly among his kind. Are we yet more to listen to this clacketing?
>Guard: The noble ear must quickly hear, yet of thee perhaps my captain shall know sooner. Speedily then indeed wouldst thou be brought before the chieftain! And not perhaps so proud.
>Ro'ac: Hawk!
>Guard: To thy serpent tongue!

>>19991999
Holy digits of kek, I kneel. I don't usually come to /wg/ but have been wanting to get back into writing. I am taking this as a sign from the gods that I cannot deny.

>>19997195
Your server is lame and your idea is undercooked. Good to know it doesn't look like you can take criticism either

>>19997796
I've been curious about matrix, but the only posters I ever see talking about it are pedos on v/b

>>19997821
Don't do it. It'll just sound like a moron that has no idea what they're doing. Old archaic English is reserved for people that lived during that time. You will never ever get the same style and grammar. Even your first line
>Strange indeed and different must our fathers have been to build such mansions of stone.

Is all wrong. They never used "have been" it's some random shit like hadb' maken maynors of ye gold in coffers.

Unless you're some super expert in Chaucer and can flawlessly read Canterbury Tales, it's a task that will take decades.

>>19998063
NTA, I agree that it takes time to learn and perfect but it's not so severe of a task that it's practically undoable

>>19998071
can you honestly write this out?

The Persone him answerde, ‘benedicite!
What eyleth the man, so sinfully to swere?’
Our hoste answerde, ‘O Iankin, be ye there?
I smelle a loller in the wind,’ quod he.

‘How! good men,’ quod our hoste, ‘herkneth me;
Abydeth, for goddes digne passioun,
For we shal han a predicacioun;
This loller heer wil prechen us som-what.’

>>19997821
Tbh you might have better chance doing turn of the century literature. I've shilled it before here but Expert at the Card Table is a damn near perfect study of that style.

>>19998029
It's pretty normie-friendly, in the sense that you can get people to just download the Riot client and make an account on their default server---which isn't recommended in the slightest, but it gets the smoothbrains to use it. You can enable encryption in DMs, so the server can't read what you send, but I'm not sure if it works for group chats. The most glaring privacy leak in this protocol is that every matrix server keeps logs of who each user talks to, but this can be mitigated by using separate accounts. Overall, private enough for most use-cases, with a faint aroma of Mossad participation.

>>19998025
>This is unfortunate.
ZOMG YOU DIDN’T TAKE THAT ANON’S THOUGHTFUL CRITICISM TO HEART AND USE IT TO RETHINK YOUR LIFE LOLLORZ U SUXXORZ BRO

>>19997195
Discord is cancer.

>>19996114
>>19997436
Not gunna lie, it's pretty hard to read something that doesn't have remotely consistent tense usage. He jumps randomly between past and present tense, all while flouting the use of commas.

Very obviously unedited, despite needing some edits.

Would someone ever care for another person just because? Romance occurs because people secure sexual partners. Parents care for children to protect their genetics. But I realized I’ve written an elderly woman caring for a guy just because she recognizes a lot of rage in him and I’ve realized that’s so shallow and stupid. Nobody just cares for a stranger.

>>19998179
People care for others because they project themselves onto them. So she either cares for him because she sees herself in him, or at least because she sees someone she loved in him.

>>19998179
The tale of the good Samaritan has existed for millennia as an example of caring out of the kindness of someone's heart. Most people aren't altruistic do-gooders though, so you could say that the guy reminds the old woman of an old partner or family member; thus why she takes him in, even if she doesn't understand the reason at first.

I gave my beta reader my book. He says I should remove the incest since it's gross. It would be better for just feuding families or social classes if I wanted taboo. Should I change it or should I just leave it for the shock value? And the incest somewhat matters. One becomes a revolutionary commie faggot, the other becomes a soldier for the monarchy.

>>19998200
If his only criticism of the incest is that it's gross, keep it. You know what message you want to send. If there's other reasons distilled in the yuck, consider changes

>story is about a "police" story but with Knights and Fantasy
>Need Mysteries
Should I use Nancy Drew stories as inspiration?

>>19998178
I'm wondering which chapter you're referring to with that, because some pajeet made the same comment on chapter 2. Is it that I used the word said, which is past tense, but everything is present? Just curious because I've spent more than a little time editing, maybe I'm too close to the material, and I'd like to squash that particular complaint.

>>19998228
Ross Macdonald, especially his short stories.

>>19995734
Yes

>>19993729
Where do you blogpost, anon?

>>19998235
The first four chapters all have tense issues. And I see no sign of them slowing down. And yes, you always use said even when most of your prose is present tense. But not all of your prose.

The ride to the carriage was silent. It wasn’t that there was nothing to speak about, surely a great deal has changed in both of our lives in the past fifteen years, however, there was no desire to breach the topic. How would one even start the conversation without getting over the obvious elephant in the room. I ran away from her. There’s no two ways about it. I was a coward who deserved to rot in prison, not for the crime I was accused of, but rather for the crimes I have yet to answer for.

Does this sound natural or is it too overt or dramatic about the protag's guilt ridden thoughts?

>>19994587
28 year old man gets hired as a history teacher in an all girls academy. The students ask him to be their sketch club advisor. He gets involved in the tragic lives of some girls. The twist is that he has a notebook that allows him to write notes to the past.

>>19998453
I own my own (Wordpress) website and then I share it on my author Facebook page, from which I then share to my own personal Facebook for people who haven't liked my page. Sometimes I get good traction. Each weekend I try to get a flash fiction out.

>>19998535
this has to be stolen from a hentai

>>19998543
Is it a good premise?

It's an idea that's on the backburner while I write my 1st story.

>>19998553
no, because it's "Dead Poet Society" but with sex.

>>19998553
I like the twist. Could have some fun paradox implications, or "fixed timeline" stuff.

>>19998572
What the fuck does Dead Poet Society have to do with time travel?

>>19998590
just wait. You're going to go Dead Poet's Society. Doesn't matter if time travel is his "magic" power. The minute you have the notes to solve trouble teens problems, it's going to 100% go toward Dead Poet's Society.

Every story I written seems to take a path on it's own and what I wanted in the beginning completely changes midway through.

>>19998601
Not necessarily? When time travel is involved, you can have the protagonist change the timeline to try to fix teens problems only to find out that changing the timeline has actually made everything worse.
The theme could be "you can't solve everyone's problems"

>>19998618
One way to find out. Start writing.

>>19998179
Depends what you mean by "cares for." People help strangers all the time. Consider a broken-down car in the countryside, an old lady collapsing at a bus stop, or someone asking for directions.

Maybe you want to start small? She brings him a cake when he moves in next door, he helps fix her front door, and they become friends rather than having a one-sided relationship.

Got my first book about halfway done, just passed 1,000 twitter followers.
I figure in about 5-6 months this thing will be done and my followers around 5,000 or so.
Plan is coming together.

>>19998709
How'd you get the twitter followers?

>>19998720
I have tweets that attract people from the group of readers I wish to attract that is likely to be retweeted.

>>19998729
Do they actually see examples of your writing or do they just blindly follow you from your tweets?

>>19998750
My tweets are in line with what I’m writing.
No one has seen my writing though, I’d never lift sentences straight from my pages.

>>19998759
I need to start a twitter. But I also heard twitter is a bunch of bots

>>19998779
You realize you’re on 4chan and like 40-60% of any given board is just bots from Israel, China, and the US governments right?

>write story
>completely utterly stop because what I'm writing feels pointless
>do I delete it or just swing back around and try to reconnect it back to the plot?

>>19998793
What about Russian bots? I’ve been told to be fearful of them ever since they won trump the 2016 election.

>>19998796
Never delete. If you don't want to write anymore, shelve it and go work on something else.

>2 chapters in my book
>still haven't described the main character outside she's a girl and a knight/cop.
>Implied she has black hair.
Can I get away with it? or should I begin to describe her physically?

>>19999074
the more you leave to imagination the better, picturing someone as something only to find out that's wrong after 20 hours is annoying

If erotica depicts illegal activities, is it usually censored or banned?

>>19999074
>knight/cop

>>19999074
It is literally your job as a writer to describe your character to the reader. That is unless you are using it as a mechanism later to challenge the readers preconception of the character by dropping their description as they are killed off.

>>19999226
Oh i forgot to add you can drop little descriptors and breadcrumb it along as a kind of guess who sort of thing, but unless that's done well it just comes off as lazy.

How do I write isekai?

>>19999242
Have you ever read any?

>>19999074
I'm almost 50k words in and I haven't made a single description of my main character. I really don't care.

What's the best course of action?

>>19999482
>"I know this sounds like a scam but it's totally not a scam dude, we're with you all the way, honest"

It's a fucking scam, try elsewhere

>>19999482
They're trying to convince you to give them money under the guise of a publishing deal.

>>19999482
Sounds like a scam. Search for authors that published with them and contact them, see what they have to say.

>>19999482
I definitely do not know the publishing industry inside and out but my gut reaction is that they are taking advantage of you.
In all my time in marketing I have never had to pull such immediate damage control in a pitch.
The humble brag of “several hundred new submissions every month” does far more damage then good when the next line is essentially an admission that 50-90 people are offered this exact same deal every month. Enhanced royalties is an empty word when you don’t know the specifics.
Enhanced in what way? In comparison to other companies? The other contracts offered to people who get published for real? Do the royalties scale with sales?
The subsidiary rights section is also poorly worded, and I assume intentionally. From the wording it can either mean that it includes enhanced royalties and subsidiary rights (the services associated with subsidiary rights) or it can mean that the author keeps subsidiary rights. If you are paying for marketing and publishing you would hope that this would mean handling large portions of your subsidiary rights (translations, audiobooks, websites, figurines of anime waifus, etc.) and paying you in return. You need to think of publishing as you essentially auctioning off your rights. The more rights they are willing to purchase, the more faith they have in your product. Considering that they are asking you to pay them to take your product in I would assume that they have zero faith in you and are happy to let you keep your subsidiary rights.
These are the big red flags for me. Like I said, I don’t know publishing. I do know what a manipulative pitch looks like though and this reeks of just that. If you feel this is a legitimate offer from a legitimate company my advice would be to get the specifics of the contract outside of email. Have someone explain it to you directly through the phone. You want exact numbers. I’m sure the highly professional and motivated staff would help you with that, and if not then you probably weren’t worth shit to them anyway.

>>19999482
Take the offer and then tell us what happens lol

Do most good books avoid passive voice and adverbs most of the time?

>>19999713
What is that from?

>>19999788
http://prosecraft.io/library/cormac-mccarthy/the-road/

>>19999811

While /ffa/ is between official volumes, we’re joining /wg/ for those who want to practice writing and discussing flash fiction!

How it works:
1. Choose a prompt (full list of unused prompts in following post)
2. Write a story 1,000 words or less based on the prompt
3. Post it in /wg/ with the tag [for FFA]
4. Add a new prompt for the list

Anyone posting for the /ffa/ accepts that their work may be made available online (Creative Commons) or in print (available for purchase at lowest possible cost).

There’s only the lightest editing (typos, etc) so garbage-in garbage-out. While there are not quality/content requirements (aside from porn, extreme abuse or gore) that doesn’t guarantee all submissions get added.

Prior three volumes available for free (pdf, epub):
https://archive.org/details/@_lit_anthology

And print (low cost) here:
https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/anonymous-/gifts-evil-and-good/paperback/product-mgwkgv.html
https://www.lulu.com/en/ca/shop/anonymous-/rags-and-bones/paperback/product-9d7gp2.html
https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/anonymous-/simian-deluxe/paperback/product-y6z687.html

>>20000006
> Unused prompts
A closet full of skin suits
A dating app with extraordinary risks and rewards
The academy of Paranormal Life Coaching
This will be India in 5 minutes
>What? I can’t hear you! [completed]
A first responder who summons tornadoes
A grizzled detective goes undercover on 4chan
You reap what you sow
"Please don't forget what I told you"
The location the GPS took them to seems to be a little off
A tapestry constantly being added to
Murder in the Cathedral's sanctuary
The cellar houses wine and... bodies?
Finding a one-of-a-kind book in the library stacks
A co-worker has a hidden talent
A shut-in decides to go trick-or-treating
The best way to die on a dessert island
Horrible timing for a pregnancy announcement
A game of twister at a nursing home
There is a ship museum in Utah
A librarian goes blind every Thursday
Someone crashes a child’s birthday party
POV of an alley cat in Istanbul
An unusual item at the bottom of the sea
Pina coladas and long walks in the rain
A gateway opens between hell and earth
a slasher villain's first date
An elevator that doesn't work
>A flooded castle, sinking into the mud [In progress]
Why robot teachers were discontinued
A very lost succubus
Gender Selection Day
The whales save themselves
Elevators have been portals this entire time
Seven-year-old serial killer
>A minor god trying to prove its existence [in progress]
Japanese ghost fish
>The hitman hired to kill himself [completed]
What lives beneath the moss
An embarrassing phobia

Got another form rejection. You can look them up to see how fucking lazy they are. Some feedback would be helpful.
https://www.rejectionwiki.com/index.php?title=Escape_Pod

>>19999713
"Vividness"
:?

>>20000196
Pretty entitled of you. Running a magazine is hard work, giving feedback to every submission isn't feasible. It isn't wise either when you consider the moods of some cunts like you who may have a breakdown if someone were to criticise your work.

>>19999482
You fucking idiot, no publisher would ever ask you for “production money”.
Either you’re self published and cover it yourself or you’re trad published and they cover it.
Also an editor never offers you a contract in an email, they offer it in person.
What the fuck did you even submit your gay writing to?
Dumb nigger, hopefully your email didn’t have your name.

>>19999190
Well they're knights that are also cops. The story is about a cop trying to figure out why people are disappearing. But they're knights that use magic too.

>>19999137
Agree with this, give a broad detail (complexion, head shape, height, etc.) or two at the beginning that can be referenced throughout is just more efficient in most cases.

>>19999713
Yes and no. Passive voice bashing is kind of like the "show don't tell meme" - convenient to yell at a day 1 writers but very limiting and silly when applied rigidly.

While it should not be your default, sometimes it's time efficient for the readers sake to do some telling and passive voice is great for telling without getting bogged down in details of who did what. This particularly applies to stories taking place over long periods and with more characters (and lots of silent background characters).

The Road has 2 (basically 1) characters that it follows very closely for a short period so it needs less telling than most stories. It's also in a setting where other people ARE the threat, meaning there are no silent waiters to bus the table because any action by an approaching cannibal human needs to be described in detail - but it's certainly no mark of shame that X story has 3% more passive voice than Y story if it's used appropriately and I dislike that parts of writing culture push that meme.

do i need critique partners/beta readers?

Do you guys write follow-up emails for short story submissions? I'm well outside this one journal's "leave us the fuck alone" window of two months, and they essentially invite follow-ups, but... what's even the point of following up?
>hi yes i would like to ask for reinforcement because i am feeling insecure and believe that you may still reject my submission

>>19999521
>>19999525
>>19999579
>>19999609
>>20000247
It's for Pegasus Publishing. I thought it was legit.

>>20000215
>Running a magazine is hard work, giving feedback to every submission isn't feasible.
No it isn't. It's not even a job. Then why did every magazine, from Harper's to New Yorker, give feedback to every writer back in the 50s? I know you don't know what you're talking about or you'd know feedback was what every lit mag used to do before they cut costs and just give form rejections to everything.

>>20000315
>>20000315
Yes, if you can find good ones.

>>20000324
Why the fuck did you contact a vanity publisher?
You might as well self publish at this point or even trad publish.
Vanity publishers are the worst of all publishers, the worst qualities of self pub mixed with the worst qualities of trad pub.

>>20000333
>why did every magazine, from Harper's to New Yorker, give feedback to every writer back in the 50s?
Probably because back in the 50s the population in the US was like 40% of what it is now.

>>19993474
the wood cackled? what the fuck am i reading

>>19993474
You kinda almost had me up until this, where I turned away in disgust.

>>19999376
No, that shit looks retarded.

>>19992731
Jokes on you I only care that my book is sold. Who would want adaption anyway unless self funded. They'll gut your work like a fish and leave only a battered shell.

>>20000333
>>20000381

Probably because back in the 50s the population in the US was like 2000% more literate than what it is now.

You have some of the most literature-loving people working at a prestigious publisher looking at an amateur's work? Of course they can give feedback compared to some ESL diversity temp.

>>19992731
Wasn't The Martian self published?

I got two ideas for a novel, /lit/. Which one should I write? One is centered around a NEET set in the early days of the pandemic, the other is about the life of a high school English teacher. I've been both a NEET and a teacher in my life, so I have enough experience to write about both subjects at length. Which would you rather read and which do you think is more marketable? I'm leaning towards the NEET novel, but I'm afraid of it'll lack any major external conflict or drama and no one will be interested.

>>20000724
You're going to have to elaborate on both

>>20000724
I just finished reading Stoner for the third time this weekend, so I'm leaning high school teacher life.

>>19991999
What to do when you're stuck on your first draft?

Just finished my first chapter. But I'm unsure about my second chapter. Since it's about a character with goals I haven't fleshed out yet, and I don't know what to do with him. But at the same time, I'm thinking of other characters. They're much more well developed and I know what to do with them, but they don't come up until after Chapter 2.

>>20000724
>it'll lack any major external conflict or drama and no one will be interested
I think the high school teacher one has more opportunities to introduce cool characters. There's nothing wrong with the neet one. But if it's centered around the neet, you'll have to make him a real compelling character

>>20000744
>The NEET stays at home all day. He's college educated and capable of socializing, unlike many other NEETS, but has given up on finding suitable work. He finds ways of making small amounts of money, which he proceeds to spend on his hobbies. Despite everything though, he seems content with his life, at least on the outset.
>In contrast, the teacher, despite being gainfully employed, is deeply dissatisfied with his life. He deals with all manner of unpleasant students at a title 1 school, feels alienated from his coworkers, and is reconciling with the fact that his youth is slipping away from him.
>>20000763
I think I can make him compelling and believable, but I can't make him likeable or easy to empathize with to most people who aren't NEETs.

Do I need to read everything on that list before starting?

>>20000798
Personally, I think I would like more the neet that's devilishly lazy and dedicated in equal measure, going on pocket adventures as he does oddjobs and gradually changes his life.

>>20000813
Reading is for losers!
If you want. It'll give you some tips on getting gud

>>20000820
>spoiler
Please do.

>>20000820
I have him as a lazy character. He's an English major who aspired/aspires to be a writer, but never found the motivation to write anything longer than a short story. He has some talent as a writer, but believes his efforts will ultimately be fruitless so doesn't bother trying. I have an idea for how he might change his life, but the catalyst for this change and his reasons for wanting to do to do it aren't positive.

>>20000813
No just start writing and learning by doing (and making mistakes). Do some reading on the side or after drafting some stuff so you have more context of what they're even talking about.

>>20000862
But how do I even start?

>>20000878
Look at a wall until you get an idea, then write it down and post it somewhere it'll be criticized

>>20000798
Why not a story about both at the same time?

>>20000856
So what if he's not a good guy? That'll make his escapades a lot more interesting. Just don't make him a total deviant

>>19993474
Good afternoon Adahfag. Your sentences still read weird in my mind, but I commend your effort.

>>19993568
>File
>Share
>Get link / Change
>Anyone with link / Commenter
>Copy link

Have you tried this?

>>20000987
I've considered that. I thought about writing them as having been acquaintances in high school, and they hear about what the other person is up to occasionally from a mutual friend. I feel like if I do this the whole thing will come across as disjointed or pulling in opposite directions. It'd probably be better to stick to one thing, especially considering this will be my first novel.
>>20001007
I know. I feel the same way, but I still want it to be at least somewhat marketable. I want people to read it, but I doubt many will be interested if I make the protagonist too much of an asshole.

>>20001123
>if I make the protagonist too much of an asshole.
It's okay for him to be an asshole, as long as he's a funny asshole. Make him an antihero, if you will

>>20000878
Presumably you have a story in your mind if you want to write? Just start write out 1 scene of it. Describe the area they are in, what the characters are doing, have them talk.

Just write it as you'd read it in a book. By just doing this you'll be making a lot of decisions on things like POV, tense, style (many you only half understand at this point) but it will give you a lot of context as you learn and ultimately you can only learn it by trying new things.

1-3: A
4-6: B
7-9: C
0 : D

>>20001557
>>20001557
>>20001557

>>20001558
shame we must abandon these blessed digits

>>19992722

Telegram name? Email?