/lit/ - Literature

>>20362694
Apparently Rupi Kaur thinks it's very clever to say 'come' when she actually means 'cum'

>>20362694
Reading this poem, I can't help but wonder what the clause "but no one ever comes and is willing to stay" opposes. The lack of punctuation adds to my confusion.
I understand that this is poetry and there doesn't have to be a particular clause that is being opposed but I can't even suss out which notion it is supposed to be:
>"you have been taught" <-> "but no one ever comes and is willing to stay"
>"a pit stop for men that need to place to rest" <-> "but no one ever comes and is willing to stay"
>"a vacant body empty enough for guests" <-> "but no one ever comes and is willing to stay"
None of these make particular sense or express anything remotely profound. To add to this confusion, the free verse adds ZERO to the meaning of the sentences and contributes solely aesthetic congruity.

>>20362727
This poem makes me think of my ex when I was younger. It makes me feel uncomfortable, remembering how I was clumsy and sometimes unsatisfying. I can't respect this poem for its complete lack of savvy and craft. But I have to respect the fact that our affected me and is therefore good.

>>20362764
It's not supposed to oppose any of that, it's a result of it, women being taught only that their bodies are for men's pleasure, so instead of building relationships they end up with guys that pump and dump them.

>>20362694
this thread is cursed

>>20362694
>>20362727
Love from Kazakhstan

>>20362694
>How did Rupi Kaur sell tens of millions of books edition
Industry plants, modern advertisement in the form of Instagram clout

OP fucked up and posted an image more discussion-worthy than the general itself

>>20362727

Don't you feel like the first paragraph matter less than the sequence of the first three? I think the first paragraph can be quite empty and simple as long as it is modulated well by the proceeding...for short stories...

>>20363090
The first eight words decide everything. No one will commit to a whole paragraph unless you hook them.

>>20363090
The first paragraph defines whether you reader will drop it 1 page in or power-read until it's 2AM.

>>20363104
This is wrong.
>>20363090
People will tend to give at least a page or two a read before deciding if they're interested enough. It's overstated how important the first line is, though having a strong opening is never bad. You need to express something about your protagonist, your world, your story or rarely your narrative style to really get people invested.

>>20363104
Obviously I disagree. I personally will always read the first page at least, if it is clearly worthless then I wont read further. I don't think anyone would only read the first sentence, nor do I think they would decide whether to read the story based on the "hook" of the first.

Paragraphs can be just several lines - four or five at least I would think.

>>20362694
how should i fix act 3

https://www.scribd.com/document/551280851/Unfiltered

She is a worthless trollop and nothing more. She belongs in a whorehouse

>>20362694
hey /wg/ I can recall some of the plot of this book but not the author/name:
There's a career assassin in (some asian metropolis). The first act of the book is him killing a target in a gym by basically being a shitty spotter. Something something, conspiracies, CIA. Was pretty good
Anyways fairly prolific author, good writing. Anyone? Cover was blue.

Cleaned up a short bit from the other day, feels like I fleshed it out in an appropriate way although the dialog doesn't feel particularly strong still. Someone said to get rid of the all-caps, so I met them half-way.

>>20363553

*posted the wrong screencap

I'll stay.

>>20363570
Incomprehensible poorly written gibberish.

>>20363627

>Incomprehensible

What couldn't you comprehend?

>>20363481
Googled "tokyo cia assassin thriller", found this: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/925.A_Clean_Kill_in_Tokyo
Is that it? The cover is indeed blue.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DRlv01MC7xhMr06IDZ-Y1BBDQkuc7cdsb34GJe5JFwU/edit?usp=sharing

Hell-Anon here, just dumping some thoughts and planned work. I've decided to break down my self-critique stuff by chapter.
>1
I can't tell if I'm hitting the right tone here. I'm trying to walk a fine line between shitting your pants because you've realized you're in Hell, and also that cool sweat and anticipation of having your fucked up little life on full display. I don't want physical fear to be the dominating force here. I guess I'm trying to capture the confusion I feel like someone's body would be sent into when faced with trying to respond to all of these thoughts at once.
>2
I just overhauled this chapter and I think it feels much more personal now, but I might be covering too much ground too quickly.
>3
If this were meant for the screen I feel like this chapter would be much more effective. I'm trying to establish the bureaucratic nature of the setting and also have there be a bit of shock.
>4
I'm unsure if I'm selling this chapter correctly. I don't know if it's believable that the MC wouldn't just bolt for the closest mirror and is instead just sort of sidetracked and pushes those thoughts to the backburner for as long as they do.
>5
Admittedly this is filler and exposition but I don't know what else to do with it and I wanted to build up the world and plot expectations a little through dialogue.
>6
I had a lot of fun writing this section and the characters were fun to write. My main fear is that I'm not properly communicating the nature of the jobs/roles. The idea that the agent representing "Avarice" isn't necessarily greedy himself is hard to portray. They aren't meant to be demigods or avatars of their respective field/sins, they're just uniquely gifted at looking into the hearts and minds of people who do embody those sins.
>7
Again, wanted to show what one of these characters was like in action and how they worked. The premise of my setting is that humans can't actually sell their souls, but that the act of convincing them that they are for a rendered service degrades the value of their soul by an amount sufficient to ultimately result in the same postmortem destination. They're like Faustian con artists.
>8
This felt like a needed addition and I think it turned out alright, honestly hit me in the feels a little.

(Just going to leave things there for now, I have some big ideas for the setting and the plot. I actually fucking hate magic systems and magic in general beyond just being a fun tool to play with. I don't want to write absurdly powerful characters who exist on a cosmic powerscale. The Fallen Angels in my setting who I plan on introducing later I intend to have be something more like a very large human. I really don't want to overdo that element of the story because I feel like stakes begin to feel meaningless.

(I'm an idiot and posted this in the old thread/wrong tab by accident)

>>20363684
>https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/925.A_Clean_Kill_in_Tokyo
Ahhhh, thanks man this is the series. I read Hard Rain which came after (also Rain Fall was the original name for CKIT, which is why I looked it over), I recommend it to anyone who likes thrillers. The plot felt very fleshed out, well-paced, good read. Ty anon

>>20363766
Bary Eisler held a position in the CIA and used his experience there and abroad to write his novels and predicted a lot of stuff in his novels which would only later come to light.
The only author I could compare him to is Lee Child for the Reacher series. I've also only read one of those books and it wasn't the best in the series, Child does better one-off characters though. Persuader, I think.

>>20363265
The POVs are the prince and his friend, yeah. The issue I'm having is I don't feel that I've given enough actual build up for the coup to feel like it's been slowly coming. It doesn't feel sinister enough. We start to get hints of it as soon as the prince disappears and the friend starts hearing from the Duke about new security in the castle, special jobs he needs discretion for, etc. It's during his crisis of faith that he comes to a realization that the Duke is betraying his trust as well, leading into an arc where he starts to question not only his faith but authority in general. By then I'm pretty sure the reader should know what's going on.
I didn't have a twist like that planned, but it might not be a bad idea. Right now the friend gets imprisoned by the Duke and he is broken out by the guards and flees to find the king.

>>20362694
How come I cant get a Jeeta gf to come in?

>>20362835
Bullshit. Get your feminazi propaganda out of here you stupid fucking bitch.

>>20364004
It seems to me like that was what was meant by it as well so I don't really see how how that image in particular is feminist, what's the actual meaning?

>>20363570

Another pass-through, if anyone is curious.

>>20362694
You weren't taught your beauty would fade.
Walking off a life without care.
One day the wall will arrive.
Were you ready for the consequence to entail?

>>20362727
i cant tell anymore which of these are real and which are memes

>>20362984
Kek, can't believe it.

>1k+ a day words
>more plot holes to plug
>more characters to humanize
>today i'll make a batch of butter chicken.
I also hope you all make it and don't meerkat yourselves to death.

>finish writing the climatic scene that I've been putting off for a long while
>feel emotional for characters that don't even exist

>>20363090
I usually judge by the first paragraph, but it's mostly about writing style, not content so much

How do you guys make money while writing. I either get a job to survive and have no energy to write, or i go NEET until theres nothing left.

any advice for writing with a theme?
or planning for a theme, really.

>>20364962
I'm a teacher so I can work on my books after school. Give a few worksheets then say a few things then write. Like right now.

Any of you write non fiction?
I’m tired of fiction writers desu.

>>20364962
I sometimes do a free day to bring in new eyes.

>>20364962
some jobs would be better than others. i always thought working as a nighttime security guard would be perfect. you could dream up what to write while on the job and then write it once you got home

>>20365028
>why isnt my genre popular
>waaaaaaaah
go write a letter to a newspaper about it.

>>20365315
>EITHER IT’S FICTION OR I WON’T HECKIN READ IT

>>20364962
>Boo hoo I have no energy after working part time at Starcucks
I work 8 hours, then work out, cook my own meals for me and my GF, shit post here and I still write every day. Grow the fuck up

>>20365458
Fiction is the thinking man's genre. Nonfiction has its place, but more often than not reality is gay and full of niggers, and so are you.

>>20365473
Post your writing

>>20365480
I'm at work, then I'm going to the gym. I'll post my writing afterwards because I know your lazy ass will still be here.

>>20365028
what's the difference

>>20365492
So you don't have anything.

>>20365492
>I know your lazy ass will still be here.
Correct, and waiting for you to deliver.

https://www.scribblehub.com/series/467954/a-trillion-trillion-years/
rate chapter 17-19 plz, did it feel like a good breakdown?

>>20365575
>tense confusion in second sentence of 17
Stopped reading there.

>>20365575
>“…”

writingexcuses.com

god i hate howard
doesn't know what he's talking about
rambles on for half the show

>>20365707
tried to listen to that podcast once, seemed really retarded and extremely unhelpful

>>20365575

>>20365476
>fiction is the thinking man’a genre

Being told my writing is shit and I'm a moron on here is one thing, but having professional editors tell you you're garbage makes me wanna kms

As he got close to the entrance of a tunnel, Arki felt something crawly on his right shoulder. He knew that this could only mean one thing and tried to remain as calm as possible. His muscles got loose, his breath got slower and he closed his eyes, as any panicking misstep could prove to be his last. The crawling got slower and slower until it finally stopped. Arki opened his eyes and felt every single hair on his body stand up. What beheld him was a giant hairy black scorpion, which were known as ‘swamp rats” by the Elyrians.
The scorpion lifted its tail and started swinging sit lowly in a hypnotizing motion. One sting and his legs would go from numb to completely paralyzed, all in a matter of minutes. As he unsheathed his rapier with his other hand, Arki took a better look at the beast without moving his head. Almost as big as his forearm, this one was bigger than the average. Must have crawled out of this crevice in the wall in search of food. Fuck, I ran into a mother, Arki thought. I’ll need to do this quick, or else I’ll join a watery grave.
Arki clumsily moved the rapier’s point towards the scorpion, hoping to grab its attention. Sensing the movement, its tail stopped swinging, giving place to deafening stillness. In an instant, its pincers firmly grabbed onto the sword and Arki swung it with all the strength that he could muster. The swamp rat finally let go of the sword and was swallowed by the fog. Upon hearing a splash, Arki knew that although it wouldn’t have died, it’d be someone else’s problem now.

>>20365613
>>20365626
I think grammar is not important right now, maybe latter.
>>20365824
don't look at me like that bitch

When did you realize that writing was like weightlifting? You gotta do it, even when you don't feel like it, to build that muscle.

>>20365707
Howard fucking sucks - less than .05% of your audience as any interest in drawing fucking webcomics yet this old fucker gets 5 minutes of the 15 minute episode (after a 2 minute intro, 3 minutes shilling some shitty book Mary did the audiobook for or a BIPOC wrote). You only get MAYBE 5 minutes of actual decent advice snuck in from the rest of the group assuming Mary didn't already poison the topic by framing it around "representation" or by prattling on about puppets.

Oh now Mary mentions her books aren't earning out as well despite her awards? Could it be because you stopped writing Jane Austin fanfic that people actually read and now write lesbian nigger astronaut fanfics?

And none of this even mentions the whole Mormon mafia angle. It's crazy that this is the closest thing to a regular writing podcast people can recommend.

She didn’t sell that many books OP. We live in the age of fake online likes and inflected numbers paid for at YouTube and Spotify HQ. Ask yourself, have you ever met anyone that reads her? Oh the off chance anyone in this TV read has met someone that owns her books what percentage of those read the words? 5% nobody reads that shit you fucking homo.

>>20365927
Which professional editor told you this?
Also I'm sick as a fucking dog, bros. I can't focus on anything.

>>20365949
Formatted this better, as I forgot to change it after word, oops.

As he got close to the entrance of a tunnel, Arki felt something crawly on his right shoulder. He knew that this could only mean one thing and tried to remain as calm as possible. His muscles got loose, his breath got slower and he closed his eyes, as any panicking misstep could prove to be his last. The crawling got slower and slower until it finally stopped. Arki opened his eyes and felt every single hair on his body stand up. What beheld him was a giant hairy black scorpion, which were known as ‘swamp rats” by the Elyrians.

The scorpion lifted its tail and started swinging it slowly in a hypnotizing motion. One sting and his legs would go from numb to completely paralyzed, all in a matter of seconds. As he unsheathed his rapier with his other hand, Arki took a better look at the beast without moving his head. Almost as big as his forearm, this one was bigger than the average. "Must have crawled out of this crevice in the wall in search of food. Fuck, I ran into a mother," Arki thought. "I’ll need to do this quick, or else I’ll join a watery grave."

Arki clumsily moved the rapier’s point towards the scorpion, hoping to grab its attention. Sensing the movement, its tail stopped swinging, giving place to deafening stillness. In an instant, its pincers firmly grabbed onto the sword and Arki swung it with all the strength that he could muster. The swamp rat slipped off the sword and was swallowed by the fog. Upon hearing a splash, Arki knew that although it wouldn’t have died, it’d be someone else’s problem now.

Holy shit you guys.

>F Gardner is now unironically getting studied in schools.

We have memed him into fame. This is hilarious.

https://pastebin.com/Dk0LuzjN
Book 1 chapter 14 draft 2 revision 2
I'm worried this chapter is reading a little ... shizo. Does Tad seem like an impetuous youth or just an idiot who falls for obvious propaganda, almost dies as a result, but with greater reverence for his ruler?

>>20366276
kill yourself shill

>>20366276
F Gardner’s had ads all over here for years and he’s all over goodreads. Not really a surprise.

>>20366276
How much did you pay the person for the fake review Gardner?>>20366330

>>20366276
Wow I haven't seen crocposting in a solid minute now. Is this aging?

>>20366276
Based

>>20366367
I checked out Publisher Rocket after hearing someone in another thread say F Gardner consistently sells. It checked out. So no matter how much that guys books make you seethe the reality is that the guys ads must work.

>>20366502
You can lie about your sales all you want dog.
It’s public info on Amazon.

>>20366502
>>20366525
Idk why you’d lie about something so easily verifiably false.

>>20364497
That's how it's supposed to work! Kudos!
>>20364962
I have a day job. Engineering related.
Occasionally it leaves me with enough energy to write and be creative.
>>20365970
Seeing frequent spelling/grammar/punctuation errors tells me the writer doesn't care.
So I stop caring too...and reading.

>>20366525
>>20366530
Compare this to Bronze Age Pervert’s books which sell over 599 copies a month in paperback alone, and several hundred more on kindle each month.

>>20366032
>her books aren't earning out as well despite her awards
Get woke, go broke.
Disney just learned that in a big way.
Netflix is catching up to it too.
Who knows...maybe soon you won't need to be gay/black/female/trans to get published traditionally.

>>20366550
>intentionally poor grammar
riiiiight

>>20366550
Ancient Greek and humor are niche genres. Of course that book is higher. Easy to get on top of a genre with not many books.

>>20366584
>>20366556
Cope
Seethe
Smarter than you and more successful.
Go drink your daily onions.

>>20366530
That’s not what Rocket says for either book.

>>20366330
Goodreads did some sort of giveaway and F Gardner was included. Pretty sure that’s the reason why Call of the Crocodile became so popular. How do you even arrange that anyway? Is it just a random contest? That just seems too luck based.

>>20366602
I'm more of a ghost pepper (and above) guy.

>>20366654
I don’t care what rocket says.
It’s straight from amazon’s bsr.

>>20366602
Sir, Call of the Crocodile and F Gardner (PBUH) are world famous. You are anonymous. I understand this is likely your first day here but please show some respect. F Gardner is a 4chan icon and it is extremely offensive to speak the way you’re speaking.

>>20366668
Rocket is made by Amazon you retard. It was made largely so that writers don’t have to check the shitty and unreliable BSR’s that are constantly changing and usually don’t even lead to the right books. You can look up specific keywords, titles, ISBN #’s and everything to make sure you’re actually looking at the thing you’re looking for.

>B-B-But my 5 year old history humor book has a higher ranking in a genre that has 5 books!

Fucking kek.

>>20366683
Damn. Been awhile since I’ve seen someone on here get so unconditionally BTFO.

>>20366692
>>20366683
Cringe upboating your own comment.
Also just unequivocally untrue.
I pulled it straight from Amazon.
Cope retard.

>>20366721
Rocket IS straight from Amazon. It’s literally the hyper accurate version of BSR. How hard is that to understand?

>>20366683
Don’t bother explaining it. People on here seethe from the merest mention of F Gardner or Call of the Crocodile. Crab in a bucket mentality. Even if it’s from basic stats like those. They’re not going to care.

>>20366550
Those are obscure sub genres. F. Gardner’s books are in enormous genres. Horror and fiction.

According to Goodreads Call of the Crocodile is more popular than Bronze Age Mindset (which has been out years longer than Call of the Crocodile.)

Not adding up.

>>20366803
Lmao. Amazing.

For the love of all that is good there needs to be an F Gardner General as a containment thread. I’ve seen this happen too many times.

>>20366824
Too late man. Even if the mods sticky’d A perma Call of the Crocodile thread I don’t know if it would make a difference. That book has become fucking eternal here.

>>20366803
>f. Gardner paid for reviews and those he couldn’t purchase on Amazon were truthful and plunged his rank down
Amazing

>>20366830
He has thousands of reviews. You’re seriously implying he paid for all of that?

>>20366803
Why you gotta lie and photoshop dog?

>>20366803
>>20366851
Why you gotta be this dumb homie?

>>20366846
>buying bot reviews on a 3rd party site so Amazon is less likely to ban him straight off of kindle
Why is Gardner this desperate?
BAP writes intentionally poor grammar.
Gardner writes unintentionally poor grammar.

>>20362694
Anyone have experience on Royal road? Seems like the best place to post my fantasy novel as I write it, but curious what the community is like

>>20366856
>>20366851
If the situation were reversed you’d just be claiming Gardner’s buying amazon reviews. Which are notoriously easy to buy compared to GR.
As I pointed out Gardner did Goodreads giveaways. The other book you’re citing is older and more obscure

>>20366912
Good to know you’ve looked up which websites are easier to buy reviews on Gardner.
Honestly, why do you even hide behind anon?
Just namefag, we literally know it’s you.

>>20366920
If I’m Gardner you’re BAP at this point considering how hard you’re shilling him.

>>20366920
>ever talking to the gardner shill
He will do it forever, just call him a shill so newfags know and move on.

How do you portray a character that's supposed to be perfect to an unsettling degree without making them a Sue?

>>20366957
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MlzScB6DaE

Is there a better way to do this with my process?

First I write down some "idea drafts" (Vigettes at random points in the story)
Then once i can get a start middle and end I write an "Outline" (A summery of the story for me to work off of)

Then I write more "idea drafts" from that outline and get a feel for the characters and edit the outline until the plot is right and I have a good feel for the characters

Then I write the first draft whitch would be just editing prose and diolog.

Is there a better way of doing this?

>>20366931
Lmao, I wish I was BAP.
Do you wish you were Gardner? Fag.

>>20366966
Rather than writing vignettes just make them short, short descriptive lines in the outline. I find when I write a scene earlier and then I go to stick it in something about it is always drastically off and I need to change/edit/revise it so much I feel like I shouldn't have bothered to go very in depth. My outlines are more bullet points of event milemarkers than a summary.

Best way to do it is know your inciting incident and then come up with a way to get there very fast from the start. Like a couple chapters at most. Then follow your milemarkers and change stuff when it needs to change. And have something that provides a constantly catalyzing force for the story. Your MC has a goal that pushes him to do stuff today and tomorrow and the next day. The villain does something that sets things in motion and it has to be dealt with right now. A natural disaster occurs and shits on fire yo we need to do something. Something providing impetus for your characters and gets the reader invested in the story.

>>20366276
That’s awesome. I hope my book gets half as memed as Call of the Crocodile.

>>20366973
I would be astonished if Gardner even knows who BAP is.

First three chapters have been released:

Royal Road:
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/54100/wish-mountain-adventure-drama-fantasy-tragedy

Scribblehub:
https://www.scribblehub.com/series/492464/wish-mountain/

If you'd like to listen to audio recorded versions of the first three chapters:
https://pastebin.com/EH5cuDRU

>>20364029
Neophytic and overwrought. This is vague in all the wrong ways. Why does a metal detector need "percussive maintenance"? Women and girls disintegrating into the black dross makes no lexical sense. You could have just said "earplugs" instead of sound-protectant foam. The latter is an ugly turn of phrase and adds vagary for no ostensible purpose. The former is still ugly, but sometimes a little ugliness is necessary in passing. At least it doesn't beat you over the head with it.

I see what you were trying to do with this passage and I personally approve, but the execution is predominately terrible however punctuated intermittently by evidence that maybe the author could actually write if he removed his cock and balls from his own ass hole.

The dialogue is exclusively bad without redeeming quality or mitigating factor.

>>20364437
>managed another 1k words today
>batch of beauty butter chicken done
>my words also made me feel
Writing is strangely fulfilling

>>20367277
To add, you have an abstract image in your mind. Disintegration, banging metal detectors, etc. It doesn't make sense, and it doesn't have to. HOWEVER, your problem is that you describe abstract imagery with abstract language. The difficulty of rendering a scene that makes no sense is not an excuse to write in a way that makes no sense. The real artistry in abstraction is providing sensory information that's concrete, but in aggregate requires intuition and interpretation from a reader. It's the difference between a fifteen year old with a phone camera and David Lynch. It's the difference between you and Thomas Pynchon.

>>20366276
I’ve talked to Gardner on discord. The best way I can describe him is like Kronk from The Emperor’s New Groove. Retarded but extremely confident in himself. So confident that he’s just blissfully oblivious to how retarded he is and any criticism. Nothing ever seems to faze or bother him and it blew my mind.

>>20367307
I've talked to him as well. He's very rigid in how he defines his principles regarding writing/being a creator and extremely dogmatic in terms of his moral outlook in regard to the above. It's quite obvious he has autism and doesn't have a normal sense of reality testing (but that is arguably what makes him fun to read).

I'm in desperation
Been trying to get into this writing thing for quite a while now, maybe two years or so, and I'm unable to even reach the fifth chapter of any project I start.
I usually have an idea, chew on that idea, and then decide to commit and jump in to writing about it. But I always lose focus and rewrite it all three chapters in, or have another idea and start another story.
This cycle can repeat forever, to the point where I have like twenty folders in my writing folder, each dedicated to a ``book´´ that I'm ``working´´ in.
How do I stop this bullshit and start writing, I genuinely think that I have good ideas and that competent novellas can come out of my mind, but I'm unable to even write one.
I've tried recently to drop writing on my computer and grab a pen and a notebook and write in to it, the fact that I cannot go back and edit something makes me value more what is written and bound me more to what I'm working in. Is this a valid start to break my block?

>>20367307
>>20367350

So F. Gardner is like our Chris Chan?

>>20367460
Kinda? The similarities somewhat there. I know he self inserts and one of his books is a Pokémon knock off. And yes by self insert he literally is a character in his own books. The ego on him is definitely Chris-Chan levels of autism. But he’s more of a Terry Davis type conspiracy nut than Chris is. 99% of his posts in the discord I was in we’re about how he thinks the Earth is flat and other retarded beliefs he has. I thought he was joking at first. Nope. He would talk for hours and post never ending giant walls of text about it.

>>20367460
The thinking man's Chris Chan

>>20367460
Someone needs to make an F. Gardner wiki.

>>20367472
I don’t think that it’s fair to compare him to Terry.
Terry was an autistic savant who had a mental breakdown. Even after this breakdown he still showed incredible technical prowess. The humour in his work came from the subject matter being born of mental illness rather than a lack of skill or effort. The literary Terry would be someone like Francis E. Dec.

>>20367513
A decent Venn diagram could be made with Chris Chan, F. Gardiner, Terry Davis, and Ignatius J. Reily.

>>20367497
His lore isn't deep enough. The beauty of CWC is that his life is so extensively documented, F. Gardner just showed up out of the blue.

>>20367458
Ideas don't matter. What matters is the writing itself — more specifically, the quality of it. No idea has ever been so good that the writing doesn't matter. No writing has ever been so good as to make an idea matter. Musicians don't have this problem. The song is a thing in itself. In the classical 12-tone temperament, there are only so many configurations of notes that can follow one another. There are even fewer that can do so and sound good. It is, as such, the ordering and the sequence of these notes and their combinations which compose the art of music. More to the point, there are only so many musical "ideas" that can be expressed. There are major and minor scales, augmented and diminished chords, etc. The "ideas" behind a song are completely subservient to the artistry by which they are rendered.

It's the same dynamic by which a painter chooses his subject. The Mona Lisa is just a picture of a woman. Sure, some people have become obsessed with determining who Mona Lisa was, but we call these people academics rather than artists. It's irrelevant to the efficacy of the painting who precisely was the original model. It's completely irrelevant. The only people who care about things like this are philistines and their ideologically-opposed contemporaries on the other side of the coin: the academics.

Nobody gives the slightest shit about your ideas insofar as they contribute to the piece as a whole. Ideas are an afterthought to a compellingly rendered piece of art. They're byproducts to the process by which they are depicted. Stop caring about ideas. Write.

>>20367539

>>20367580
I disagree.

>>20367580
I also disagree.

>>20367636
>>20367672
>t. incognizant aspirants to the thrones of Britney Spears and Taylor Swift

>>20367680
I'd rather listen to Britney or Tay Sway than sniff my own farts, let alone yours. Fuck off you pretentious pseud faggot.

>>20367700
It's better to have pretension to greatness than to socioeconomic status. If you want to be great, at least you aren't just slaving away for a nominally different matter. I just want to be good at my art. If what I'm saying doesn't help you, feel free to disregard it. The irony is that when you write for the sake of the writing, with the goal only to keep improving, you never really struggle with questions of HOW 2 I WRITE.?. You just kind of find yourself in the constant process of writing. It doesn't make any sense to me to be throwing elbows from the bottom, but hey, I guess that's the world we live in.

>“Have you heard the story of Judas Iscariot?” asks Bucksneed.
>I nod.
>Bucksneed muses: “Iscariot was a car salesman from Issaquah, or perhaps a technologist. You know the kind. Smile empty of all but its too-white teeth. Fantastic dentistry! it must be said. Eyes uncreased by genuinity. What I mean to say, Stan, is that Iscariot and his people were inured to falsity. It was the standard to which everything was measured. It provided the counterweight, opposite the fulcrum, to all that could be shoehorned into the weighting cup: grain, parenthood, labor, land; all measured out to its immaculate precision. Iscariot never quite gathered the nerve to sit down upon it himself.
>“It would be easy, here, to delve too deeply into the mundane. Yes, it is a fact that Iscariot was obsessed with value. All was subservient to the strictly material. But all is subservient to the strictly material—is it not?—so this is hardly out of sorts. Iscariot was taken by a particularly offensive brand of philistinism in aspiration of facilitating, and then maintaining, his entrance into the bourgeoisie. Of note: I adopt here the manner of greater men and paraphrase Flaubert, by which I mean ‘bourgeois’ to evoke a state of mind, rather than a state of pocket. In fairness, one usually follows the other.
>“This is, of course, not a sin. A weakness, to be sure—to fall prey to contemporary convention—but not a sin. The greatest sin is that of inauthenticity. You see, Iscariot considered himself an artist. With the salary of a technologist, he accumulated tchotchkes and some semiotic trappings of the artist’s ply. His home, tucked into exclusive hills of bus-unserved suburbs, became a shrine to the image of the artist. Upon its edifice, he placed his own crude simulacrum. Though too tired, too busy, too engrossed with the care of larval half-images of himself, he’d come home and perhaps pick up an expensive guitar—one of many!—to strum a few chords with soft fingers and remark sadly upon the state of the world, that one such as he could find time only for work. Such talent, squandered! he’d think to himself. ‘If only I could have all these tools and this home in the hills and spend all day creating art! Perhaps I’ll retire young—at sixty—and enjoy it all!’ This, of course, never happened. By the time his career fizzled out, so had his youth.
>“His was a displaced egocentrism. His desire for art and lust for material were at dissonant odds. Lust prevailed, as is its wont. Iscariot was a creature strictly of this world. There were some small betrayals along the way, but his greatest betrayal was to his own basic nature. We all aspire to mastery, Mr. Howl. Remember that.
>“Irregardless, within this mug, I have your medicine. You should be needing it soon.”
For the record, this >>20367722 is my (most recent) writing. Judge for yourself whether or not you want to listen to me from it. Also, input is welcome in general, frens.

>>20367458
Just write anon
how hard can that be?

>>20367751
God this is absolute trash.

>>20367804
post your writing

>>20366871
What you looking for? Reviews, tastes or can you say nigger??

>>20367804
Why? Please, continue.

>>20366871
scribblehub is a better, newer royalroad.
royalroad is still good though but if you just look at new updated for an hour you'll see that everybody and their mother is uploading to it

>>20367805
>input is welcome in general, frens
Learn to take criticism.

>>20367808
Thesaurus victim high on his own farts. No one wants to read this shit and he knows it. That's why he always defaults to this "it's masturbatory so it's good!" cope.

>>20367821
>Thesaurus
Never opened one in my life!

>>20367823
Another fart to huff.

>>20367821
I was just hoping that you would post something that you see as not trash instead of posting useless words

>>20367827
Aren't you huffing your own farts right now? You think your opinion is important enough to propose that it's better than mine. I'm not saying it is or isn't — just that there seems to be some inconsistency in your philosophy. We all think our own farts smell good. It's a very contemporary kind of schizoid narcissism that hides behind the particular, implicit self-denial you're employing here. I believe in sincerely and to the exclusion of all other influences expressing yourself. Does that make me pretentious? Maybe. If it does, I don't care. I just refuse to moderate myself and the way I naturally want to write! Sorry... but I'm just not gonna do it!

>>20364437
>>20367290
Need more of this energy, well done anon. It sounds like a pleasant life.

>>20367821
>this is absolute trash

this is not criticism, you cretin

I wrote an average of 1451 words a week for the past 7 weeks.
Can't really see that being pushed up with a full-time job, but how exactly would I push it up? Anybody got any tips for shitting out more words?

>>20367856
Yes it is. You not being able to take anything from it is a you problem, not a me problem.

>>20367850
This is some next level cope.
Let's break down your fart huffing vs my own.
>come into thread and argue from a point of authority that ideas do not matter because ideas are only part of a whole. Assert that only the whole matters so ideas do not matter.
>call anyone who disagrees with you NPCs who like pop music
>unsolicited excerpt
>refusal to take criticism
>proud proclamation that he has never used a thesaurus
>accuse anyone who critiques you of huffing their own fart because having an opinion = fart huffing
>proud proclamation that he is pretentious

My fart huffing
>having an opinion on an excerpt that was asking for critique.

>>20367580
>>20367783
I get it, shut up and write is the answer, somehow It's what I needed to hear, ty for the input

>>20367888
Sure, okay. Thanks for your opinion!

>>20367906
anon writing is like sculpting, but your words are the material, and you just have to get them out there so you have SOMETHING to work with. Without the words you're sculpting with air. And only Michelangelo could do that shit.

>>20367722
>blah blah blah
I told you I don't want to sniff your farts, faggot. Since you insist on jerking yourself off, here's a pic.

wtf is that technique called wherein the author intentionally misspells words in a way that is meant to suggest a particular pronunciation or dialect?

>>20367978
Eye dialect.

>>20367955
Read it. Or else.

>>20367906
Cheers, anon. That was the major point. You might not be as much of an extremist about ideas WRT writing as I am, but the point is that ideas are never as important as we (the Idea-Havers) think they are.

>>20367883
Stop playing Vidya. Stop watching Netflix. Get up earlier, eat while you write. Do it every day unless you're dying. Write.

>>20367580
>no idea has ever been so good that the writing doesn't matter.
Er...we were literally just discussing Call Of The Crocodile and Bronze Age Mindset, both notoriously badly written...?
I mean, I WANT to agree with you...

>>20368043
He's just going to call you a kike who only cares about money. Those aren't real books. They will never be Joyce. Blah blah blah.

>>20367636
>>20367672
Great response. Good discussion there.

>>20368055
The best thing you can do with pseud effort posting is a short dismissal. You'd be amazed how consistent the asshurt is.

>>20368058
Are you calling >>20367580 pseud?
It was written in the context of >>20367580 .
It may not be a comprehensive answer, to apply in all cases, but it's still useful.
It seems to have been well received by original anon...see >>20367906

>>20368043
BAM isn't fiction. Well, maybe it is, but if it is, its poor writing aids in selling the character. I think it's a safe bet that it's not read as a work of fiction. I didn't clarify this, so I hope this doesn't come across as moving the goalposts, but I was talking about fiction initially. Also, CotC is notable mostly BECAUSE of how badly it's written, plus some minor e-celeb gimmicks going on behind the scenes. I don't think anyone can say with a straight face that it's an even passable work of fiction.

>>20368096
Shush. Tabbing out to read your shit crashed my Path of Exile session.

>>20368106
Well, at least it didn't crash your WRITING session.

>>20368023
>eat while you write
I don't get it does eating make you write more?

>>20368113
It does by you not taking a break from writing to have a meal.

>>20368023
that seems like a quick way to burn out of writing.
I think you need a constant flow of ideas to actually get more ideas for your writing and isolating yourself from other media seems like a bad idea, especially when you need to know the trend to sell a book.
I was hoping for techniques to more efficiently write and not just "make your entire life writing"

>>20367989
word, thank you. i seem to remember there may have been another, more uh latin type of term for it but this is great, thank you.

>just looked at my Chinaman story for an hour without a single word typed
Yep... I think I'm done. This story will never be finished

>>20368258
Write about a donkey.

>>20366032
one episode mary robinette koal tore patrick rothfus a new butt hole
rothfus liked some writing to a "seductive mediterranean mistress."
mary lost her shit and told rothfus that what he said was a harmful stereotype
rothfus was stunned. he didn't know what to say
they invited rothfus back for the next episode to show there were no hard feelings
it was amazing!

>>20368377
I do enjoy the thought of Rothcuck getting BTFO

>>20368258
Just put it on the shelf for a while.
You can always come back to it.
Meanwhile, I hoped you learned something from the experience.

>>20368397
his first book is some of the best fantasy ever written
his second book sucked balls

>>20368445
They're the same book.

How do I practice writing?

>>20368468
Write.

>>20368474
Write WHAT?

>>20368486
Anything. Look up writing prompts if you need something.

>>20368474
best free program?

>>20368489
For what? Use fucking Notepad to write if you want to, just write.

>>20368489
libre office or google docs

>>20367580
What if you're a plagiarist?

>>20368496
You're only a plagiarist if you're intentionally copying something and barely changing the words.

>>20368494
thanks

>>20368493
im a dif anon u homosexual

>>20368486
Write what you're interested in. If nothing intestines you read until you find something that does.

At a tactical level though I'd suggest focusing on getting a strong short story or chapter 1 down before feeling any pressure to churn out high volumes/an entire book. Look up stuff about writing craft on the side, revise yourself harshly, and get critique feedback.

>>20368494
Good advice

>>20368517
>Write what you're interested in.
That's the thing, what I'm interested in are big, beefy novels and I know

>At a tactical level though I'd suggest focusing on getting a strong short story or chapter 1 down before feeling any pressure to churn out high volumes/an entire book.
Yeah.

>Look up stuff about writing craft on the side
One of the books in the OP good enough?

>>20368524
one of my favorite authors started by writing really good one page shorts, then moved on to like 5 pages, then 10 ect

>>20367751
pretentious rubbish

>>20368377
>rothfus liked some writing to a "seductive mediterranean mistress."
>mary lost her shit and told rothfus that what he said was a harmful stereotype
I hate writers so much it's actually unreal.

>>20367751
>Of note: I adopt here the manner of greater men and paraphrase Flaubert, by which I mean ‘bourgeois’ to evoke a state of mind, rather than a state of pocket.
Genuine secondhand embarrassing.

>>20368542
>oi mate pretentious rubbish innit, bangas and mash

>>20368434
I learned I'll never make it

when are you actually going to post some writing?????

>>20368524
I liked Steering the Craft but mostly I just mean looking up blogs/articles online about dialogue formatting, semicolon use, and all that fun stuff in your spare time. Mastering basics gets you far in my view, also just being genuine and not a psued.

I made a playlist of everything I enjoyed on YouTube, I need to add Shaelin's one videos on Specificity though. I like to listen to craft stuff while working/doing dishes etc.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvFmakK8XmFNHJuKVD2r7yOMyIHQqI41W

>>20368589
You'll never make it if you quit.
Dust yourself off and face the pace anew each day.
Take on the challenge every minute and fight the doubts that drag you down.
Never give up.
You are already writing. All you have to do is keep struggling.
You will make it.

>>20368594
https://docs.google.com/document/d/11q39jdlnZxvZe5jRuz8bpfESLQikJDOnV5ixJSht7uE/edit?usp=drivesdk

You better read my shitty fantasy

>>20368594
When I've got something I feel good about posting.

>>20368104
You haven’t read BAM and it shows…
Anyone who even entertains the idea it might be fiction is 40 light years off the mark.

>>20368594
Sitting at the back of the bus had been a mistake. Countless rides during childhood had instilled an instinct for filling the vehicle from the back, but he should've known better by now. The rumble of the engine rose up to his crotch, the thin, somewhat loose seat was like a vibrator.
That would've been manageable, but he was going down Hayes Street, and that was paved with cobblestones. A relic from bygone centuries, the street was maintained in this condition for reasons of culture. The uneven cobblestones made the ride even bumpier, alternated the vibrations.
He ejaculated, it could not be prevented. If he'd at least managed to nab a window seat, he could've stared outside and tried to escape the confines in spirit if not in body.
But no. He was in the middle seat at the back, with people on either side of him. Their arms brushed against his. That warmth, that touch, an unbearable intimacy not asked for, endured only out of necessity. He stared ahead, and met the gaze of an old woman who looked upon the world with general disapproval. From the way she squinted he doubted she could see his face at all, but it felt as if she was judging him specifically.
Public transportation. Blessed are those who own cars of their own. Blessed in their solitude, their privacy, their freedom. Their arms go unmolested, their cocks do not rise up in defiance of social norms, their seed does not stain their underwear while old ladies look on with wrinkled faces upon which are writ large the past glories that faded all too soon.
He got out of the bus, he had to change to another line. While walking to the appropriate stop, he was accosted by a fat man in a leather jacket, his hair greasy and both eyes black.
"Spare a couple bucks? I need beer before my head splits."
"I, uhh, don't think I have any," he replied.
"You think? So you're not sure?"
He was spared from answering by the timely interference of a wasp that rose from a nearby trash bin. The aggressive, striped insect made a beeline (a waspline?) towards the mendicant, causing the man to move with unexpected nimbleness and jump to the driveway to avoid being stung. Here he was hit in the back of the legs by a Ford, which moved at a mere crawl, but still caused the man to topple.
Visiting mother really wasn't worth all this, but she did insist on making dinner for her sons at least once a month. Once a month was often enough.

>>20368646
I feel like you have been heavily inspired by infinite jest, as have most white male 20 somethings. But remember that he killed himself.

>>20368654
I have never read Infinite Jest. I have never read any DFW other than the essay about lobsters. I don't care about DFW. This was a quick autobiographical bit about something that happened to me last summer.

>>20368489
I write in Markdown format using a text editor.
I use pandoc to convert it to a styled LibreOffice document, for conversion to e-book or printed.
Everything I write with is open-source.
>>20368526
That's how I worked up to long-form fiction.
It wasn't easy, and took a long time, but I made it.

>>20368671
did you really blow your beans on a bus lad? Either way, I like your writing

>>20368681
It's not an uncommon occurrence. Seriously feels like a vibrator.

>>20368709
Read a doujin recently with a similar plot. Gyaru if I remember correctly.

I found some old unfinished drafts of mine.

What do? Scrap them and start over or try to continue even though my style may differ?

>>20368721
There see, it's not just me!

>>20368646
Very well written

>>20368646
>>20367751
The difference in quality between these two is staggering.

>>20368750
>>20368756
I specifically wrote it for>>20368594

>>20368756

>>20368728
There's no need to make firm decisions.
If you think you can resuscitate one of them, do so.
If not, sit on it longer.
Just follow your muse, wherever it may lead you.

>>20368571
it's not actually paraphrasing flaubert, for the record. it's quoting nabokov almost verbatim.

Jesus Christ /lit/ is terrible. No wonder they stopped doing the magazine. I'm just going to stop coming here expecting to read something decent.

>>20368756
what's the difference? can you provide some of your own writing in good faith so we can get a feel for who's talking?

>>20368768
The "beeline (waspline?)" joke is what sold me on it. I'm a sucker for unfunny 4th wall breaking puns.
Probably why I enjoyed Antkind so much. I still laugh to myself about B finding a stiletto shoe stabbed into his back and musing that is was his old coworker in the shoe industry trying to kill him in a fitting manner.

>>20368853
What a pathetic response. I need to post my writing so you can feel better about people not liking your writing? No better cure for a sore ego than to tear someone else down I suppose.
The crab snaps his claws in excitement.

>>20368886
>I'm a sucker for unfunny 4th wall breaking puns.
nevermind, don't need to see your writing.

>>20368830
Then post something decent, instead of whining about it. We're not here to serve you.

>>20368892

>>20368886
>Antkind
Why yes, I am also a Charlie Kaufman fan, how could you tell?

>>20368917
look man, i posted my writing in good faith, so we could all collectively have a discussion in good faith with our individual writing to actually back up our writing. i've attacked nobody personally ITT (if you feel attacked, well, that's part of having an opinion). it seems like the genuine irony of you telling ME i'm trying to drag everyone down is lost on you. so we're clear, the irony is that you are completely anonymously, and without providing ANY evidence that you have the slightest clue what you're talking about, are making short, one-line shitposts. i think you've been treated pretty graciously. it's okay to say you don't feel comfortable sharing your own writing, anon. you are categorically not alone in that you'd prefer to keep your own writing separate from your shitposting. it's the rule here, rather than the exception, that we all want to throw stones while keeping our own ego intact. if that's what you want to do, be my guest, but just know that i see through it. i really just want to know who i'm conversing with. i'll give your writing a fair shot.

>>20362694
It's not 2014 anymore, nobody cares about lolcow feminists anymore.

No idea where I'm taking this, wrote it a few weeks ago and didn't touch it again. Mostly just some vaguely pretty prose and loose direction. Any suggestions that don't include me killing myself, anons? Overarching idea was that my man here gets in a car with a serial killer, but that's about as developed as I got.

The diamond dozen sat around the table. Each eyeing each other for the hundredth time. This meeting would not be their last. It was a doggy dog world out here. The first of the dozen spoke.
>I have a wailing of a bride, and I have no clue in what to do.
"I would prefer that over our reigning cats and dogs," said number 5.
"The reign of cats? Surely you must have taken an ounce of blue moon for that to happen!" said number 12.
"It's true! I swear by the night in the shining water!"
The other eleven were astonished. Until number 6 spoke.
"Are you being paid by the ear?"
"Nonsense! There was no loud jumping on the moon!"
"We should investigate further. Let us call Ita Day and confirm."

>>20362694
dumb question but what would be the best book/series whatever just to understand how story works or what makes a good story? i don't want to write but i do want to be able to express why i don't like certain stories and how they failed imo

>>20368969
What is this pathetic pleading dogshit?
Are you challenging me to a write off? Do I need to wager my own ego in some Yu-Gi-Oh style winner takes all? What the fuck are you on about?
Is this how you respond to everyone who calls you out for being shit? Quit while you're behind.

>>20369047
check out Story by McKee, best one I've read on the topic, nominally it's about screenwriting but that doesn't matter a whole lot

there are different styles of writing. if you just want to tell a good story, you don't need fancy prose.

>>20369015
>The diamond dozen sat around the table. Each eyeing each other for the hundredth time.
Diamond Dozen here feels like it needs capitalization -- it feels like the name of a group, the way you're writing it. You also need to combine these two sentences, the latter is cut short.
> It was a doggy dog world out here.
Cut this line. Feels juvenile.
>The first of the dozen spoke.
Colon at the end, not a period.
>>I have a wailing of a bride, and I have no clue in what to do.
Not immediately clear what this is supposed to mean -- needs clarification before developing further.
>"I would prefer that over our reigning cats and dogs," said number 5
Also unclear as to the context here. Cut out the speech tag at the end, it looks aesthetically unpleasant.
>"The reign of cats? Surely you must have taken an ounce of blue moon for that to happen!" said number 12.
Is Blue Moon some kind of drug? You're throwing out words and phrases here that seem to have some meaning in-universe, but to the audience they feel like random, meaningless additions that are tacked on in an attempt to flesh out a world with no real character. Using unfamiliar terminology can enhance the feeling of the world if used sparingly, and in conjunction with more concrete worldbuilding, but using it for every sentence makes your work feel unnecessarily muddled. Again, cut the speech tag at the end. Introduce speakers organically through dialogue and description. Use those kinds of tags very sparingly.
>"It's true! I swear by the night in the shining water!"
I can see that you're trying to do the 'knight in shining armor' wordplay there, but it isn't working out because I have no context for its meaning. I think you'd do well writing an initial draft in very plain language first, then constructing from that plain language more clear, concise, and elegant prose.
>The other eleven were astonished. Until number 6 spoke.
Another two sentences that should be conjoined; they feel aborted midway as is. Why are the characters astonished? You have to build around these concepts before you introduce them.
>"Are you being paid by the ear?"
By the ear is a fine turn of phrase and is understandable to your meaning, but feels superfluous.
>"Nonsense! There was no loud jumping on the moon!"
Same as above. Understandable meaning, but superfluous language. Write clearly and then complicate it. If you don't, you end up making your writing feel aimless.
>"We should investigate further. Let us call Ita Day and confirm."
Ita Day is either a typo or an unnecessary addition of a proper date that flounders without, as I keep saying, context. I want to know what they're investigating -- I should have a clear answer as to what that is by the end of this conversation. Overall, you need to work with your characters in concrete settings first because you make your world strange. Right now it feels like its trying to inhabit without doing anything beforehand to earn it.

>>20369047
There is none. Every book/series is itself a guide on writing: you just have to pick parts that you identify with as being 'good' and discard parts you consider 'bad.' Reading more makes for better writers, and writing more make for better readers. Read what you want you want to write, and read what you don't want to write.

>>20369083
Is this the power of autism?

>>20369083
You're overeading. It's just a bunch of idioms misheard and used completely wrong

>>20367547
>no lore

there’s 11 books of his now and he self inserts in them. That’s more than Chris has written. I haven’t read them but I’ve seen plenty of excerpts. I’m aware he’s a character in his own books and is supposed to be viewed as a beloved and famous writer in his own stories

>>20368106
Still astounds me that people actually play the steaming pile of crap that has become.

On a semi related note; What is the best writing in a games story you have ever seen?
For me it was the cut scenes in diablo 2

>>20369179
Blacksouls 2 is kino.

>>20369083
And, coming from me, that's saying something.

>>20368646
A good bit of writing anon. Well done.

>>20369218
>>20369117
>>20369112
I don't even know why I try.

>>20369179
FFXIV, insofar as being an exercise in salvage and longform storytelling over many years.

>>20369241
It was well done.

>>20369051
i asked you to quantify your opinion. i also asked you to post a piece of your writing.
>Do I need to wager my own ego
no, retard. you don't need to do shit, except be as genuinely unpleasant a shitposter as you can, it seems.

>>20368989
this is actually pretty damn good. naturally, it'll get ignored. some nitpicks:
>the doublemint bubblegum simile works harder than it's worth
>his stomach protests pleasant
i'm ambivalent about this one. i'm also personally pretty gun-shy on the adverbs, but i think it's important to remember that dropping the -ly doesn't make it any less of an adverb... it's just one that slips by as your average NO ADVERBS EVER guy scans the page. i don't think it works in this instance. maybe try that mccarthy'esque:
>His stomach's pleasant protest.
might take a reimagining of the prior sentence or two to make it fly.
>something three-days plucked red
reword, or add apostrophe appending "days"
>but good lord he can smell it maggot roasted
it's losing steam for me a bit here. this sentence is by far the most awkward so far.
>seismic screaming
another -ly drop. they stick out once you sniff out the first one and take offense. you start looking for them after the first time they bust up the flow just to avoid using an adverb.

these are all nitpicks. prose is really good. i like it.

>>20365949
>crawly

>>20368969
>>20369051
>>20369320
For the perplexed reader I would like to offer some small context on this baffling instance of outsized buttrage. You see dear Dr. Bucksneed and I crossed swords 3 threads or so back after a similar outburst of psued level prognostications from the good doctor.

In response I challenged him to share a writing sample, which he readily did to the great amusement of myself and several other anons. So not only have you denied him a target for his impotent rage, but you have revealed to him his own earlier naivete (a benign sin in the shadow of his pride, but one he actually acknowledges) thus sending him into a spiral of rage desperate for release.

>>20369148
Wow I didn’t know he had that many. How the fuck is he writing these so fast?

>>20369492
i have no clue who you are, but thank you regardless for letting me know that it's some gay little grudge instead of an actual, cogently-held opinion based on anything other than... whatever it is that causes you to hold a grudge with an internet stranger for however many weeks. i'll be looking out for that next time! cheers.

>>20369492
>>20369516
Boys, boys...play nice now.

>>20369492
What other lore is there to this guy? What manner of abomination have I been arguing with?
Is this the same guy who thinks no one should be allowed to make money from their work? I got an irking feeling it was when I read this post >>20367680

>>20369510
I could turn out garbage at the speed of a book a week if I didn’t care about quality at all too Gardner.
Your books are utter garbage.
You’re not making money from this.
You’re ruining your reputation by publishing shit.
You’re definitely not making money from all the garbage ads you have to buy for a 99 cent book.
Why WHY are you doing this?

>>20367307
That's how you should be.

>>20369492
>>20369543
>>20369547
>https://old.reddit.com/user/ulatekh/comments/pluf8q
>https://www.youtube.com/user/ulatekh
had to wrack my brain for a bit, but i remember you now! hello r*ddit!

>>20369617
>being accused of being Boswell now
Is this the last ditch effort cope? Attempting to associate me with a dogshit writer?

Can't we be the one general on 4chan where there's no autism and just discussion

>>20367580
the mona lisa only got famous and became a meme cuz somebody stole it in a brazen heist. lady with ermine is clearly superior artistically.

>>20369625
>cope
>pseud
you are the genuinely worst shitposter in this general. you hijack an entire thread because you still hold a grudge from probably months back. get some help. alternatively, tell me what it was i said to provoke this enormous grudge you're going to pretend not to hold so we can hash it out like two adults and avoid polluting another thread to this degree.

>>20369510
I dunno but yea F Gardner is a writing machine. Seeing the success of Call of the Crocodile here has actually inspired me to finish my book. Makes me think I can do it too if F Gardner managed to do it.

>>20369671
Gardner, stop, it’s embarrassing.

>>20369629
It's only natural that it's even worse here. We have anons who are basically required to put themselves out there and open themselves up to criticism, many of these anons will not handle this criticism maturely.
Look at the pseudposter in this thread. He's already accusing anyone who dares question his obvious talent of being his archnemesis, an archnemesis that he apparently has the dox of.

I remember back in the WoW private server generals it was the same way. Every action you took was tied to an in game name and was commented on by an anonymous horde looking for blood. Rivalries developed and spiraled from there. So much doxxing and real life harassment happened because of those threads, there was even a couple swattings if I remember right. Easily the worst general I've seen on this site. I genuinely miss it.

>>20369671
Same. F Gardner inspires me too.

>>20369772
Gardner… stop…

>>20368489
Pirated Scrivener

How do you get new inspirations/ideas?
Music? Sitting in silence? News?

>>20369864
They come to me

>>20369864
Smoke weed, party, live to the fullest potential, and write during the hangover.

>>20369671
I’ll agree it was semi-inspiring to see Call of the Crocodile take off. But can that really be replicated again?

>>20369909
Impossible

>>20369940
Why?

>>20369944
It's the definition of a first-mover advantage. It was the first comically bad book to get advertisements on /lit/. From here on out, every comically bad book will just be bad, because Gardner was the first to purchase ads.

>>20369952
How on earth was F Gardner the first author to do that here? 4chan’s been out for almost 20 years.

>>20369970
Brilliant ideas tend to seem obvious in retrospect.

>>20369970
Self-serve ads, anon.

I wrote 4 books of poetry here are links to them in PDF, EPUB, and just as textfiles.

https://files.catbox.moe/4s8yl4.pdf
https://files.catbox.moe/7isxqi.txt
https://files.catbox.moe/f21v69.pdf
https://files.catbox.moe/sjzm7m.txt
https://files.catbox.moe/2g5pm8.txt
https://files.catbox.moe/4yzwpf.txt
https://files.catbox.moe/82sced.pdf
https://files.catbox.moe/ltjweu.epub
https://files.catbox.moe/lsp6cd.epub
https://files.catbox.moe/irz98h.pdf
https://files.catbox.moe/e41yja.EPUB

>>20369970
I'm actually surprised 4chan has yet to produce a good book, video game, or tv show. Shows how much dedication one needs

>>20369991
We had many games in gamedev thread on /vg/, you know? Notch used to browse 4chan as well.

>>20369991
So you didn't like "Son Of The Sun" or "Salvation On Peril Island"? I did.

>>20370020
I liked the preview of call of the Crocodile

>start rewriting the storyline for one of the side characters
>coming along really well, I like the depth that's being built
>get to a chapter that is nothing but senseless filler that needs to be nuked
>there's another one right after it full of melodrama
I WILL REFINE UNTIL THE DIAMONDS SHINE
EVEN AT THE COST OF MY SANITY

>>20368486
Why do you even want to write if you can't answer this question yourself?

>>20369991
Jigoku was actually really good. Gardner’s improved a lot. The only other book I read of his was CotC and Jigoku doesn’t have any of the old issues.

>>20370109
That’s the one that’s like edgelord Pokémon right

>>20370114
Yeah. I liked how it’s literally just the “What if Ash Ketchum is in a coma?” Fan theory except as an entire novel. Absolute lunacy to think someone actually made a whole book out of that concept and it’s actually readable.

>>20370109
Well considering how much F Gardner writes I guess at least one of them have to be good. I’ve heard about how that happens with writers. Write enough and you might accidentally write a good book based on quality.

>>20368551
>>20368830
>>20368969
>>20369051
>>20369320
>>20369492
>>20369516
>>20369547
>>20369617
>>20369625
>>20369635
so much seething today

>>20369015
lel
instant meme
can't believe >>20369083 missed the joke and gave it a line-by-line critique

Is there a reason women always default to their own genitalia/sexuality when trying to express themselves/trying to be artsy?

>>20370394
They're working with the themes that they've noticed got them the most attention in the past.

>>20369441
Mistake, meant to write crawling. Maybe I should post the edited version next time.

>>20370394
Because their thoughts don't extend beyond that

What are your influences?
My primary influences are anime/manga, yes. But I'm talking the really fucking out there ones, primarily Baki and Dorohedoro. No, not Jojo because that shit's not the right tone for me.
There's shit like
>Mermaid DNA being used as a genetic donor to create the protagonist
>A signal from the 4th dimension that brainwashes people into making bodies for it out of literally anything they find
>A guardian spirit that looks like a snail and is also an organic transformer
>A dinosaur who's the size of a 20 story building and has a near-religious devotion to beating the shit out of people.
>A part where the protagonist gets into a non-verbal argument with a talking metal statue in the middle of nowhere
Shit that doesn't make any sense is my forte, baby.

>>20370538
>Non-verbal argument with a talking metal statue
Why does it talk then.

>>20370547
It responds to his body language

>>20370538
Some influences of mine include
>Arthurian literature
>Wilt
>Hitchhiker's Guide
>Joyce
>Fitzgerald
I'm not very well read but I'm trying to do better. For humor, I really like farce. There's something hilarious about a good few consonants and physical humor. I'm trying to implement more colorful language and scenes in my work without going overboard. I was told several times that my prose was solid but cookie cutter, as if anyone with a masters in literature could have written it.

>>20370538
I'm not really sure I could nail down my influences. There's a lot of stuff that inspired me to write, but it's not quite something I actively think of. Pratchett's probably the biggest one for the character writing aspect, but actual writing style and whatnot I don't have a clear answer on.

How come I can read nonfiction for hours but can't read fiction at all?

I want to start writing erotica but I don't think I have the chops

>>20370585
How should we know? We're not you.

>>20370585
Maybe you just lack imagination?

Wrote 7000 words today. Im exhausted but I think my confidence in writing first drafts has improved a lot. The tough part was I tried to switch the voice of very different characters back and forth. Normally I wouldnt think about it but now the distinct voices are clear and they just come out.

New thread >>20370652

>>20370655
Why do you keep making early threads to force these shit OP images?

>>20370658
Because I can and it’s funny.

>>20370662
You're contributing to a lower quality of discussion in these threads.

>>20370682
Anon, Gardner has been jerking himself off for months.
I’m just lightening up the place and improving the OP links.

>>20370030
That’s just a drop in the bucket of how crazy that book got. Say what you guys will but Call of the Crocodile is unequivocally the Evangelion of literature. Absolutely bonkers.

Rupi Kaur, I will beat you to death with a blunt object

Freud claimed people dream of sex when they dream of flying. Tells a lot about Freud, but very little about people's unconscious, deeply rooted desire for defying gravity. Everyone dreams of flight at some point in their lives. Not flying high in the sky like Superman, but lower. You're floating a few feet above the ground. Through the logic of dreams you know how to move, by flexing the muscles of your arms and shoulders, engaging your pectorals, the same muscles birds use, but you don't have wings.
There was such a dream just last night. A trainyard just below, and there I floated, just above the powerlines. They were freight trains. No people about, which is just as good. Gives a man some privacy. I wasn't wearing any pants.
Maybe it is about sex after all.