/lit/ - Literature

I have heard of this bathhouse before, he thought. It was one of the few bathhouses in Kadesh whose business didn’t decline after the invasion, thanks to its proximity with the Academy. Its popularity with the Elyrian youth intrigued him. Corys knocked on the door and waited.

After a few minutes, a hunched old woman opened. She put on her glasses and took a closer look at Corys.

“You can’t come through here, sir. Come round the other way and we’ll let you in.” the old woman said.

“I live nearby. Only a night with a woman is what I want.” Corys said. “I won’t take long”.

“Come round the front first.” she repeated.

“I just wanted to see Zana. She’s my favourite girl here.” responded Corys.

The old woman frowned. “Zana is our most prized girl. She is not meant for lightweights.”

Acknowledging the catchphrase, Corys put his hand in his pockets and searched for the key to the bathhouse. “I can pay.” he said, handing three coins to the woman. Two of them were typical bronze dirennes. The third, however, was rather obscure. Rusted and shaped like a kite, it depicted a king holding a staff, back from a time when Kadesh still had kings.

The old woman examined the odd coin. Giving him a decisive look, she nodded at him to come inside. Closing the door behind him, loud music flooded the area. Lutes and tambourines were playing untiringly, their bangs and strings echoing from the walls that surrounded them. The walls and floor of the hall were decorated with sea shells and vibrant frescoes of seductive sirens and wine drinking sailors.

“Sashke has been waiting for you. Go upstairs and look for the guard. Big brute, you can’t miss him.” The old woman said and departed slowly through another door.

You can't convince me this thing isn't at least a spiritual jew. The picture is from her wiki entry. She could change it if she wanted to but she chose le happy merchant hands.
>cheese becoming too tasty
textbook abrahamic insanity. if life is too good god will punish us suffering is our fate

Is around ~1,200 words bad for the beginning chapter?

How's my cover?

>>20422272
1.2k is very short. A chapter should average 3.25k words, plus or minus maybe 750. Obviously there are longer and shorter chapters but 1.2k is very short.

>>20422273
I mean, you just know

Firstly, dem pents.
Also, what's so wrong about having something be "Anime?" What's the problem with having characters fight in a way that's dramatic, central to the storyline, and progresses the plot in at least some capacity?

>>20422272
book or webfic?

>>20422308
It's a matter of taste. That's like someone saying that he doesn't like a book because it's fiction.

>>20422272
It's a little short, but you can probably get away with calling it a prologue. Also, what genre? If its fantasy, then it's skirting the edge even more. My opening chapter is around 2.3k words, and I thought that was short.

>>20422301

>>20422320
Because the story I'm doing is very, very out there.

>>20422320
>Also, what genre?
Fantasy, with some character-study stuff thrown in there.

>>20422318
Not entirely sure, but I'm leaning more on the book side.

>>20422320
My opening chapter was not much more than a page at 300 some odd words.
The concise nature suits the non fiction umbrella category.
Though generally speaking fiction chapters should be longer. At least 1,000 for the opening chapter’s word count.

Tag yourself with your goal self pub chads.
Part 1/2

>>20422353
Pretty sure that's a prologue at that point, but there's no point in arguing semantics. Your opener should be as short or long as it needs to be, as long as it serves its purpose.

>>20422366
Part 2/2
Where do you genuinely think you’ll end up vs where do you want to be at a minimum?

>>20422222
I'm not writing a book but I'm writing story/dialogue for a video game like my favorite game, Disco Elysium.
Please do not kick me out.

>>20422394
Don't worry, anon. The book I'm writing is based off a game too.

>>20422366
>>20422371
>i'm ranked #1,423,243
>sell 0 books a day
>I'll never make it.

>>20422366
Being rank 50k to 100k sounds great. Close to 1 book and per day? That’s be fantastic. I don’t know how Amazon sales work though, so it’s all just a fantasy really. I’d rather just write and let people do their thing.

>>20422366
>>20422371
Goal: finish the book. If I could average 3 to 5 sales a day I think I'd be happy with that. Right now I sell maybe a book every other week.

>>20422414
>>20422404
>>20422402
Btw, those numbers are all about 9 years old.
Every rank is much harder to get.
10,000 is now roughly 25 sales per day.
5,500 is over 45 per day.
I’d be happy with no less than 10 sales a day on average.

>>20422414
at least you're selling a book. My sales completely dried up and now I won't ever get another sale again

>>20422414
You’re selling a book right now and have another in the works? What are you doing right? A sale every other week is amazing. Is it your first or fifth?

>>20422438
Which author are you and why didn’t you think of a sales and marketing strategy before hitting the publish button?

>preparing the next draft of my book again
>got two storylines threading through each other
>things are happening too fast; a man decides to kill a major character at the start of one chapter and is arrested for his attempt by the end of the same chapter, for example
>some chapters just feel directionless and meandering; same character, in jail, preaches to the guards and later has a fight with the bishop about religion (which IS setting something up, but the whole religious speech just reads like saccharine tripe)
>if i just cut out the back-and-forth i'd have two distinct storylines, half the words, and if i got rid of one of them i'd probably have a more focused story
VANITY OF VANITIES, MEANINGLESS, EVERYTHING IS MEANINGLESS
>>20422222
also checked

>>20422444
I finished my fourth and it's getting a cover design done now. I'm actively working on my 5th and on, which is a series, but it is undergoing a heavy amount of development hell as I am struggling severely to set up the proper themes and develop an interesting story that will keep readers engaged.
I haven't been advertising the past three books much, but I should. The third one is still pretty damn good despite my development since its publication.

>>20422445
I shilled on tik tok, twitter, facebook, at work, instagram, i even paid for an advertisement on Reddit.

Nothing.

>>20419401
Ugh...is "diamond dozen" the newest /wg/ meme?

>>20422510
Why don’t I believe you?
Here’s a very basic test.
How are ads purchased?

>>20419691
>>20419706
>>20421109
>>20421655
seethe

>>20422512
>new
don't get lent out of shit

>>20422532
Do you remember this instant classic? LOL

>>20422538
I want more.

>>20422524
for reddit, you go to advertisers page, then pay x amount of days after filling in their form, then you choose how many days you want, which of hte more bigger ads space you want, which subreddits you want and viola, that's all i did.

That said I only spent $200 so it wasn't a lot, and now i'll never see that money back

Anybody want me to read their shit? I'm bored and have nothing going on right now.

>>20422538
I love how it started with mishearing of idioms and the punchline is /tv/ Jokerposting e.g. "what kinda name is Notem Portent?!"
really subverted my expectations

>>20422544
Then write it! This is /wg/ after all!

>>20422538
Yes. But what made it funny was the one dude that actually did a line by line critique.

Is it even possible to write an entire short story of idioms? I don't think we have enough for a conversation to go on and on.

>>20422271
>>20422222
what if she got really fat from eating cheese haha

>>20422553
Aw, you're right. I should have saved that one too.

Re: nothing but idioms, there's an old cartoon called "Symphony Of Slang":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEeROUVzCHk

>>20422552
I'm not talented to write. I only consume that which is written by other, real people. I'm a mere NPC to fill space.

>>20422545
Don’t know about reddit but literally every ad platform I know of you have to BID not BUY an ad.
This is why I doubt you and why I know you’re lying.
Try again next time.

>>20422544
https://eggcorns.lascribe.net/

>>20422607
>ah ha! I got you with this! HAR HAR HAR
Go write already.

>>20422615
It’s pretty clear you want anons to not even bother with marketing because you want to feel good about yourself not marketing and think it’s unnecessary.
You’re secretly afraid that if you tried (requiring effort), it might just be worth it (thus internally compelling you to do any work).
Pretty gay mindset fren.

>>20422614
No I meant the continuation of the story of the Diamond Dozen, who seem to be up to no good...
They're a gang of bandits or on the contrary, law enforcement, and they ONLY communicate in incorrect idioms between each other
funneh

>>20422599
>i don't write
then...why are you in /wg/?

>>20422394
How do I do that? Where am I supposed to learn how to write for a video game or visual novel?

https://pastebin.com/wYEmrfZm
Book 1, draft 2, chapter 18, 2nd revision.

>>20422271
That's a whole ass Jew.

>>20422624
>already conceded doesn't know how reddit advertising works
Yea. Go write.

Do you maintain previous versions of your writing or at least track changes or just let it get lost as you tweak and fix things?

>>20422549
Post thumbs

>>20422580
Imagine the smell

>>20422657
>generic fantasy telling style
Eh... reads like Skyrim

>>20422549
Please read my shit!
>>20422657
I worry it comes off as a little gay.

>>20422549
Read my shitty fantasy story. Give me inspiration or encouragement to continue.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/11q39jdlnZxvZe5jRuz8bpfESLQikJDOnV5ixJSht7uE/edit?usp=sharing

>>20422672
>thinks reddit is different from google youtube amazon even 4chan
???
I am writing rn.
Go advertise.

>>20422652
What’s easier to sell in? The video game/visual novel market or the self publishing book market?

>>20422222
>Greentexting links
hello retard

I’m at 110 people now bros. There’s no stopping me.

>>20422711
grats. who are you?

>>20422674
I write my fiction in a text editor, in Markdown format.
All versions are backed up with git.
>>20422701
Hey, it's better than not having any of that info at all.
Srsly, wtf was up with the >>20414931 schizo.

Will Abraham Lincoln sue me if I copied word for word his Gettysburg address?

>>20422719
I am anon. Who are you?

>want to write all types of stories
>also want people to read them and tell me if they’re good or bad so I can get better
>/lit/ and every other writing community makes it seem like people won’t read your writing unless you’re some top rated author with tens of awards to his name before being worthy of even having a hundred people read your writing
>now have to read everything in that genre, learn every single thing that has been done and hasn’t been done then innovate upon it or people will not read anything you write because it’s not derivative
I just wanted to write for fun and have some people read my work afterwards with some feedback. Why such a doggy dog world? Am I wrong in seeing things this way?

>>20422742
Unironically...try Reddit.
They have a zillion creative-writing subs.
Some are more active than others, but you'll tend to get feedback, even if it's just up/down votes.

You guys think too much.
Write more.
This guy was an idiot, wrote two books, and by my estimates makes more than 3k a month from these two books alone because he marketed them well and got good covers.

>>20422742
>I'm a whiny bitch inventing imaginary problems in my head to avoid actually sitting down and writing
ngmi

>>20422761
I thought his books were well written

>>20422766
I read them, I’d give them like a 4/10 all the way around.
I liked the shitposty insults and dissection of asian mentalities, but it doesn’t read very well.
My point is if Mike Ma can do well, so xan you with proper strategy.

>>20422742
post your work here I'll look at it

I've been going on with my chinaman story. Do I put more stops in kearney's speech? Would it be beneficial to throw in a few action and exposition to break up his speech, or should I just keep continuing on and let him speak?

1/2 of me thinks readers will get bored of him talking all the time
1/2 of me thinks its too important so they'll get annoyed by the breaks in the speech, and since it's a speech, it's supposed get "everyones" attention.

Thoughts?

I've surrendered to making a fanfiction book about my favorite video games. Figure it'll help attract an audience, help me practice, help bend the brainrot, all good things.
The bad thing is that it's about Sonic the hedgehog.

>>20422766
You should read more books. Mike Ma paraphrases and outright plagiarizes /pol/ posts, strings it together in a loose (and I mean fucking loose) "narrative", slaps a dope cover on it, and calls it a day.

>t. half a page excerpt from his first book is a verbatim /pol/ post I wrote involving the ink on paper receipts transferring bpa to the blood stream when coming into contact with skin

I want my fucking check Mike.

>>20422796
Proof?

>>20422748
Worth a shot. What’s there to lose?
>>20422765
I’m not obsessed with making it.
>>20422775
I post them every now and then, just stick around.

>>20422794
How's that going to read?
"And then...Sonic ran real fast, leaped into the air, and grabbed a bunch of gold coins!"

>>20422838
/r/nosleep has 3000-5000 readers at any given time, but the mods are total asshats that'll remove a post for the flimsiest of reasons.
I've posted 7 stories there, and all got removed. I finally gave up.
Still, feel free to give it a try...if you can follow all the idiosyncratic rules.
/r/shortscarystories has 300-500 readers at any given time, and the mods are nowhere near as crappy.
The rest of the creative-writing subs don't have nearly as many readers, but at least your stuff will get read.

I think I have an issue when it comes to writing, though I don't know what to call it. I can only describe it as thus: I write down a sentence, it neither sounds nor looks right, yet whenever I put it through a grammar checker, it claims that the grammar is correct. What's going on here?

>>20422794
I was unironically thinking of making a fanfiction book about Smash Bros (maybe only the melee cast) and started doing an outline for fun and realized that 1. It would be an absolute logistical nightmare and 2. Some franchises are very wonky to adapt (think Kirby or Donkey Kong).

It'd be like writing Game of Thrones but with every single character starting off in their own universe.

>>20422989
dyslexia?

>>20422975
Usually?
>area description, light nod to game areas if you're feeling sassy and also give a shit
>if Sonic's moving, describe how the movement impacts the environment either from the perspective of viewing that environment or from the third person perspective of someone nearby, aka alot of 'force of nature' esc descriptions
>character dialouge, not similar to recent games, but as close to what I envision as the perfect canon as possible. Sonic's a mindful asshole, but still an Asshole. Tails isn't a babyshit anymore. Knuckles wouldn't hesitate to punch Sonic for fun ect
>plot events that are structured the same as your standard adventure novel
>VERY simple subplots if at all
>medium to high stakes events, only one truly high stakes event allowed, no bullshit edge is allowed on my property
>going to write Robotnick as a desperate genuis just yearning for something to bite his mind teeth on
so yeah I rely on area descriptions for it to be worth a damn. example (shitty green I wrote a day ago)

>the local chao garden had gotten bigger as of late. Ever since Eggman's defeat, without much of a natural barrier the Chao had more or less floated into an era of thriving, eggs popping up left and right.
>Tails would find them in trees, bushes, his home. Had it not been for their relative self-sufficiency and how cute they were, this would have quickly became a problem.
>He had nothing to do between cooldowns of metal for new parts, so he began to document their behavior. Chao that maintained their rich, blue and yellow color often stayed in the main garden, living out their untouched lives of peace without much influence, save for the occasional non-ripe fruit.
>Sonic could be spotted stepping in periodically. Changing the fruits. Changing the channels. Creating a stockpile of non-worry for a race of little beings that seemed absolutely immune to even the idea of a worry.
>Tails would have insisted that Sonic stop interfering as to not change the Chao's color. If he brought in so much as a dusty wind in when he ran to the garden, the Chao would take to it like a new attraction. Then Tails would notice a few had a darker, dustier tint.
>Chao were truly products of their own environment. Sonic's naps proved to bring the grand majority of them into a bluer, more leisurely slumber.

It's practice so the trick is that I don't care if it ends up being dogshit. Better for the fanfiction to get the short end of my pixie stick than for my projects.

So we all agree scribblehub is better than royal road right? Anything better than scribblehub?

>>20423038
The spelling's right, apparently the sentence structure is right, but it neither sounds good nor sounds correct. I think it might have to do with my probable misuse of active/passive voice, which is made even worse when combined with my somewhat loose understanding of past/present/future tense.

>>20423052
explain? I've lightly used both and don't quite have my feet wet yet.

Is there an app or software where I can have my writing uploaded to both my PC and my phone (Android) and have them sync automatically so I can go back and forth?

>>20423072
Just easier to get clicks on scribblehub as far as I've heard

>>20423073
google docs
>>20423029
agreed. smash bros is a clusterfuck but yet again, look at the IPs you're working with. if an opinion matters I'd say that you should just go with your highest heart desire and hit it on the head for practice.
my issue is that I'm trying to nail more than a few as my '''non serious''' projects
splatoon, undertale, sonic, and an unnamed but not neccesesarily trying to be canon to godzilla but totally going to follow the tropes of godzilla kaiju novel

>>20423083
Is Google docs free?

>>20423088
yes

>>20422271
The headline is fake, retard.
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/may/22/uks-strictest-headmistress-fears-schools-will-stop-teaching-shakespeare

>>20423090
Ty my friend

>realize about 30% of the population can't visualize much in their head
>Writing needs to be concrete and exact
Hmm.. is a simple prose the best?

>>20423139
*Your* prose is the best

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nBQqfx2AnFoC55tovM91pqKgCkXS_5MjW_Np9aCrTC4/edit?usp=sharing

Hell-Anon here. Little polishing here and there. Slow and steady. I am outlining the plotpoints I want to work towards and also working on reworking some earlier sections to try to improve the overall consistency and quality. Thank you all for your feedback and support.

>>20423123
wtf based Brahmin milf????

>>20423139
the simpler something is the more accessible it is, if that's important to you then yea it's the best. if your style is flowery and dense and you enjoy that, then that's the best

I found my cover artist boys. One step closer to publishing.

>>20423139
Why have prose at all? Just write things as it is.

>>20422780
Can you please include the quote being said by an African American character,
"If they're Central American, then I'm a goddamn Chinaman."

>Fox stood with his paws clenched on the spectator’s rail, watching as Marth charged his Shield Breaker. It was a desperate gambit, but with the enormous damage he had sustained so far, it was Marth’s only hope. The slightest flick would send him careening off stage. Bowser continued his leisurely stroll across the platform, hopping each barricade individually. Marth’s sword was glowing, his entire body trembling as he struggled to restrain himself, waiting for a perfect moment that would never come. It was too obvious; Bowser wasn’t just going to waltz into striking range. But at the last step, just as Bowser lunged for a swipe, Marth dropped his charge and roll-dodged past him. Fox swallowed his fear. Marth hadn’t lost his cool yet. This wasn’t over. Not by a long shot.

Hello /wg/
I’ve been endlessly rewriting this paragraph for a while now. I can’t seem to get it just right. Any suggestions?

>>20423052
Scribblehub is for porn and weebs.

>>20423434
Anger doesn't turn into dread, dummy.

>>20423058
How on Earth can you not understand tense? Are you ESL?

>>20423052
SH is mostly a secondary platform that people who publish on RR also use.

>>20423436
Is that not what royal road is for too?

>>20423445
Complex, multifaceted emotions are a thing.

>>20423467
Anger = adrenaline
Adrenaline = no fear

>>20423469
I see your point.

>>20422271
Jesse what the fuck are you talking about

>>20423434
Suggestions:
>behind her escort, falling
>behind her escort and fell
These happen in sequence not simultaneously.
>unyielding dread
>resentment?
>what she ever knew.
>what she had known / all she had known /anything she had known / ?
Sounds weird.
>veered and turned
>turned
redundant
>fate she never dreamt of treading
>path / accepting?
Mixed metaphor. You don't really tread a fate.
>flung through the air, cascading
>the air and cascaded
same as above.
>down against
>down
one or the other.

>>20422222
Here's a WIP. Not sure if I should scrap it, and try something else, or keep going. Any feedback is welcome.
>>20422780
Commas should be inside the speech marks for "Oh! Columbia" but that's about the only typo I saw.
I wondered as a reader why Fei-Ming and Hutch are together if they're seemingly worlds apart. I also asked myself: "Why are they clapping, 'joining in like lemmings,' for the protectionist party?" I haven't read what else you've written so this is probably already answered. It would just be helpful to post context or develop character ties and motivations here.
The actions of the public speaker are well done though, it's very embodied.
I like where it's going! It is very interesting and I like the period you set for yourself. I'm sure you've done a bit of research too because the way they speak sounds genuine. As for the speech, I think it works the way it is, because it sounds like people are listening and not interrupting or drifting their attention elsewhere. I liked the way he talked and it was interesting to see how he characterised social classes and jobs in America.

>>20423505
Thank you for your suggestions.

>>20422624
>It’s pretty clear you want anons to not even bother with marketing because you want to feel good about yourself not marketing and think it’s unnecessary.
It's pretty clear you want anons to market because you want to feel good about yourself marketing and think it's necessary.

This is a really flimsy and poor argument that relies on an intuition that everyone else works under the same profit-centric mindset you do. It's just not the case. No matter how many different ways you reframe your own personal beliefs about marketing, it doesn't make them anything more than just a statement of your beliefs.

Just stop.

>>20422687
>I am writing rn.
>Go advertise.
This is like the most zoomer of all possible statements.

>>20422366
My book's current bestseller rank is around 10,000,000

>>20422366
i will be number 1

>>20422366
>Tag yourself
This isn't fucking Instagram, you absolute fucking retard.

How would you respond to fans making fanart of your characters? Embrace it or do the opposite?

>>20423654
It would mean you made it. You’d be a fool to not embrace it.

>>20423654
Why would you get mad about having fans, much less ones that like your work enough to spend time making derivative art from your own work? I'd boost them on social media, if anything. People love being noticed by the creators of things they like.

>>20422308
Taste, like the other anon said. I can only think of BrandoSando as an example, but in Stormlight the more dramatic the fight the more I cringed. It smacked of an MCU third act, and the description was as flashy and as bland as a CGI skybeam the-fate-of-the-universe-is-at-stake extravaganza.
It also has nothing to do with what you described them as. All fights should be dramatic, central to plot, and definitely progress the story.

>>20423671
Some creators think it is derivative or can create inaccuracies. An extreme example is fanfiction.

>>20423679
That seems very dumb to be upset about, considering the concept of a "canon" is a thing for this very reason.

Is there a list of all the published /lit/ books? Seeing ppl talk about them is very motivating to me

>>20423682
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5g9-pfIImw

>Write
>"Holy shit, I just wrote a masterpiece!"
>The next day
>"What the fuck did I just wrote?"
How do I solve this? Any advice?

>>20423754
I don't know what did you just done wroted? Hard to tell what your issues are without seeing some excerpts.

>>20422984
Is writingprompts no longer a thing? I used to post shit in sss, it was pretty comfy

>>20422989
Lack of rhythm. Grammar correctors won't help you, reading aloud will. There is no solution except tinkering, paying attention to sentences you do like, and practice.

>>20423052
Does Scribblehub have less litRPG, timeloops, and progression?
I despair of the unholy trifecta.

>>20423773
I know of the first two, but what's progression? Do you mean stuff like video game stats?

>>20423434
>falling --> and fell
The other anon is completely correct
Is disbelief the word? She seems furious. Also, why can't she just fall against it, why does the emotion need to be inserted in some innocent falling?
>unyielding dread
Eh. If anger is the theme we should stick to it. Dread is fear, and anger and fear tend to be subsequent, not overlapping. Try 'choking her in bile' for roughly the same level of drama.
>who cared little of her
Sounds wrong because it describes a weak emotion, like her life is being conducted by pen pushers and bureaucrats. Despise, etc are stronger, but underlining the vastness of the powers that be vis a vis her own insignificance could work. 'the whims of powers too large to grasp.'
>Dark fate etc
Maybe it's that I lack context, but this is base self-pity. And self-pity can be entertaining (see Jezal in First Law), but not if it's based on vague dark fates. What did Princess do, specifically, that chafes so much against her pride/innocence?
>flick of wrist; cascade, etc
A bit more violence, please! Crashed, smashed, broke, ripped! You make it sound like she sent a sheet fluttering.
>Life as she knew it was over.
Trite + cliché. It ties her thoughts nicely but needs pepper.

>>20423757
A village was visible in the distance, but its true form was obscured by blue mountains that were scraping against the sky.
In it lived people with shared background. They knew eachother as if they were a part of a massive family.
Their bond was made out of diamonds.

A colorless fog consumed the entire village.
It is not the first time it has happened but this no was like no other.
From the fog a bizarre figure could have been seen.
This being slowly approached us, escaping the fog in the process.
This creature was never seen before, only heard.
It was said that it was a giant reptile with a scortching mouth and a freezing inside, who could pierce the stars at its will.

The village quickly turned into terror as each villager was killed by the beast itself, one by one.
The only sound you could hear was scream.
The mighty beast killed indiscriminately with no care of its prey's state of being.
The young ones, the old ones and even the female ones. Everything goes.
Homes and other structures were also the victims of the fog.
No one survived expect a young child whos loved for his home was limitless.
His mind couldn't fathom what just happened.
Eventually the fog left us and so did the monster making our beloved village nearly deserted.

>>20423818
>>20423434
Rewrote it:
>The Princesss slammed the door behind her escort and fell against it with a scream. Anger turned to venom in her blood, poisoning her spirit, choking her in a tide of bile. She kicked the door and the pain flared red behind her eyes. Her entire life turned at the whim of powers far beyond her: the Elders, the Deceiver, and now him. They were to blame for her misery. They were the conductors her mounting humiliation. Violence swelled in her--With a flick of her wrist, an elegant writing desk flew through the air and crashed against the likeness of some old aunt, ripping the old crone's face to shreds. She cursed the world that asked so much of her and gave so little back. Her life was a trap. She could feel the teeth closing in around her.
>>20423374
>It was a desperate gambit, but with the enormous damage he had sustained so far, it was Marth’s only hope
Lifeless and academic. Does Fox like Marty? He should react somehow, spin the phrase so it sounds like his friend is about to do something very dumb.
> Bowser wasn’t just going to waltz into striking range. But at the last step, just as Bowser lunged for a swipe
Sounds like Bowser just waltzes into striking range there. The arena and the risk/consequences are a bit confused in general. If you set up the fact that Bowser approaching = Marty gets his shot, then it sounds weird to just ignore it. Less definitively, if you set up Marty accumulating dangerous levels of energy and then skipping away without consequence, the reader is left floundering. Are there rules here, or are you just baiting and switching me?

>>20423821
Who is telling this? It mixes tenses (get that sorted immediately), but it also mixes perspectives. You start with a nebulous village in the distance, obscured (immediately mysterious, unknowable, strange), then a lizard appears ("was never seen before" -> delete), kills everyone, then a child survives and our "beloved" village (why beloved? Who's telling the story?) was left deserted.
You swing from detached to close, from describing weird events with clinical curiosity to vague statements about how I the reader should feel about what's happening.
The most egregious flaw is that you write a cool setup (Village in fog, monster comes and kills everyone, innocent chosen one is improbably left alive) in a series of lifeless one-liners. There could be a stylistic point to this, but I suspect you just couldn't bother to put in the work and turn it into an actual prose piece.
Oh, and
>even the female ones
is eternally cringe, like a reader in 1966+2(15+3^3) is going to gasp and wail and shit his pants because the women were killed along with the men by a presumably amoral lizard.

>>20423460
RR frowns on erotica, while SH is profiling towards it

>>20423779
In my understand, stats is litRPG, progression is xianxia crap. Like, Beware of Chicken, the RR one with a gazillion views, is a satirical progression story.

>For Australians only
The Best Australian Yarn is a short story writing competition for Australian residents.

>Top prize
$30,000 AUD ($21240.15 USD | $27256.52 CAD | €19886.85 | £16916.10).

>When is the deadline?
31 May 2022.

>What genre must I write?
Any genre as long as it is fictional.

>What's the word limit?
1500-2500 words.

>Can I submit a published story?
No.

>Can I submit a story that has been submitted elsewhere?
No.

>Can I submit multiple stories?
No.

>Can I withdraw a story that has been submitted to The Best Australian Yarn?
No.

>I am not an Australian resident. Can I enter?
No.

>I am Australian living overseas. Can I enter?
No.

>Can I get an Aussie family member to submit for me?
No.

>I am American living in Australia. Can I enter?
Yes.

>Nord VPN?
No.

>How long must I wait to receive my $30,000?
Winners are expected to be announced by the end of 2022.

>Will The West Australian steal my story?
No. The copyright belongs to you.

>How old must I be to enter?
12 years and older.

>How do I get started on writing?
Just write.

>Can I write anime?
Yes.

>Can I write philosophy?
No.

>Can I write?
Probably not.

Beginning writing is a lot more fun when you accept that you'll be shit for the next ten years. Previously, I paralysed myself by asking questions about every minor thing, asking if I'm supposed to do X or if a character should really be Y. I'll just make the mistakes as I go, instead. Now I can actually write more and write about writing less.

What is prose?

>>20422222
Someone bought my writings recently and left some funds in the process. Hopefully more will follow

>>20423754
I think that's the core of the writing process.

>>20423754
You're already solving it by noticing.

>>20424063
That's good to know. Though I wish I knew how to improve my work without the outside help

>>20423985
i'm glad you've found a process that works, hope you keep it up. my problem was/is similar, instead of actually finishing a project i'd get stuck on editing as i went, eventually going nowhere

>>20424084
It happens subconsciously. Without outside help it'll be slower but I believe you'll find a more distinctive style.

>>20424017
I've been trying to make sense of this image for like ten minutes and can't

>>20424094
Thanks anon!

>>20423434
The Princess slammed the door behind her escort and fell against it, snarling, teeth bared, jaws clenched.
Her whole life - her whole fucking life - she had been controlled by Elders, the Deceiver, and now him. Him! From behind the shadows and with spider-like finesse they had arranged her life, influenced her decisions, and led her down this dark path she never dreamt of treading.
The princess clenched her jaws till her teeth hurt and clenched her fists till nails dug in into her palms as a scorching wave of anger swelled through her body.
With a flick of her wrist she flung the furnishings - the chairs, the tables, even the red canopy bed - of her room against the far wall. They hit the grey wall with a loud crack, then crashed to the floor and lay with their wooden legs upturned. To hell with this world! It demanded too much but gave little in return.
From now on, life would bend to her will.

You rely too much on past continuous (-ing) when writing actions following one other. Use past simple if one actions happens after another. Use past continuous if actions happen at the same time (She slammed the door and fell against it. She slammed the door and, crying, fell against it).
And more show instead of tell.
>Violence swelled in her
>Anger in her veins
>in total disbelief
I also shifted the paragraph to third person limited to further enhance the perception of her anger.

Do you autistically fixate over small things for a character, like what they say or how something about them is being described?

>>20424141
give an example

You guys are really smart unlike me

>>20424170
Like, let's say Character A sees a bottle of water, but, before they saw it, they were worried over like dogs or something. And when Character A sees and grabs the bottle of water, I contemplate over if I should write him as 'grabbing it' or 'snatching it'. Because I think if he were to snatch it, it would make Character A look more childish, and I don't want that. So I kind of think about this longer than I should and finally choose a word.

>>20424186
>they were worried over like dogs or something
is your character a white woman?

>>20424191
No. I would never. I'd rather write black first.

>>20424186
Actually no. That's pretty normal part of characetrization. Just don't spend to much time picking the right words.

>>20424186
Normal. Ideally, you would keep it to the second or third draft, not the first, since it wastes writing time and interrupts flow.

>>20423957
Thanks.

Are there any good books or tutorials on improving one's prose?

Should I worry about how a reader might read my writing; like, how fast or slow they'd read it? Because I find some of my sentences ending a bit too fast.

>>20424381
Yes. Techniques of the Selling Writer is a great starting point. Ursula Le Guin's Steering the Craft has exercises which you might find useful and insightful. Independently, you can try copying prose passages you like verbatim, trying to understand with you like them and why they work, and trying to write a paragraph/scene in the style of an author you like.

>>20424392
Post examples. Reading things out loud is a good way to gauge how natural it sounds.

>>20422243
tl;dr

>>20424441
Well, here's some parts of my story I think go a little too fast. You might've seen some of these before in this general. This is still in an editing process, by the way.

>The ruler caught onto the silence of Veringtil this morning, with heavy breath and a thumping heart. It was a quiet town right now, with barely anyone out except for the usual salesmen and women. And, coupled with the dirty and drab look and constant cloudy weather the town had, it would make the lord’s breath a bit heavy, with questions starting to spawn up in his head; something he didn’t expect at this point.

>But, then, he looked out from Veringtil, and saw that drab sea. The sea that surrounded him for so long. He almost hated looking at it. But, suddenly: Vexkamus remembered. He remembered what he was so curious about. He was reminded of a small part of why he became ruler. He was reminded of what that man was scared of doing.

>As Vexkamus stood there at the sight of his town, he couldn’t help but notice his servant starting to shake; sweat getting on his head, and a look of worry written on his face. Half of him wanted to belittle the small butler, but, another part of him knew there was something more meaningful he had to do. Something more meaningful he had to say.

I have finished my book yesterday.
What do I do now bros?

Planning to write a book took the longest time. Once I actually sat the fuck down to write, it went surprisingly smooth.

>>20424494
Well done! What is it about and how do you see it now that it's over?
I simmer and boil over and stop because I'm shit. Now I stick to poetry. So be proud you finished a book (of prose, presumably).

>>20424494
Now you focus on other things for 2-3 weeks, then edit it.

>>20423995
A miserable little pile of words.

>>20422495
Honestly you are in a good position. I forget the name of the author but one girl continued to write her series, improving it until when someone published it was a massive deal and readers immediately binged the books. If you get lots of exposure it could generate a lot of excitement. Not that its a superior strategy but sometimes you can advantage of happenstance.

>>20424448
I won't lie, those are pretty rough. I don't think you're at the point where revising individual sentences is useful. Practice the basics, read Elements of Style, copy paragraphs from authors you like, etc.

>>20423691
Barring fat pink mast or sunset found her, I love GRRM and his writing. Been re-reading asoiaf recently and I like it more the second time around, not sure why.

>>20423139
What is this? People can't visualize an apple and rotate it in 3D space? I'm a literal drooling low IQ neanderthal with purple prose and I can do that

>>20423511
Thank you anon. As for your piece, I personally prefer less of a "fantasy" styled writing. It reads like a video game with it's short sentences and speech patterns.

>>20422742
>seek feedback on a contrarian website
>get contrarian feedback
>how can this be happening to me?
I hope you learned something.

>>20424523
But enough talk... JUST WRITE

>>20424689
Yes. Remember too that these people vote, prepare your food, raise children.

>>20424772
We used to call them "Hylics". Read Pistis Sophia.

>>20423272
It's not the predator anon. But I'll insert it somewhere

>>20424796
Gnosticism is satanic though.

>>20422599
They also serve who consume and fill space.

>>20424842
whatever helps you feel better about your failure of a creator deity, demiurgist

I'm struggling to keep a clinical tone for an autistic character. Help me, autists.

>>20424689
No, they just misunderstand what "seeing" means. They think other people can literally see the apple as if with eyes, rather than visualizing it through mind's eye.
>>20424772
Solipsist, people aren't NPCs
Every other person is just as intelligent and real as you. You don't know their thoughts and it's idiotic to assume. You're not the protagonist of the universe.

>>20424861
I think that's a bit of a surface-level understanding of autism. They're more likely to be a bit more superfluous and unemotional with their vocabulary, I suppose, but they're not really clinical.

>>20424861
>>20424869
Autism isn't real

>>20424873
Then how come this site exists?

>>20422301
that's just your degenerate mind playing tricks on you, you watch too much disgusting porn and are probably a shitskin (more prone to degeneracy).

>>20424863
You sound like a female

Do any of you do commissioned writing? If so, is it mostly smut? Do you have be any good as a writer to bring in that sort of work?

>>20424689
It's a disability, man. It doesn't have anything to do with intelligence. People with dyslexia aren't too stupid to read; they have a fucked up visual process that scrambles the letters. Same kinda thing.

>>20425048
Yes.
Yes, the worst of the worst.
No, you just have to be willing to write even the creepiest nichest most abstract furfag bullshit, and yes your clients WILL be furries so get used to that degeneracy, you can be a total retard and make constant grammar mistakes and fuck up your paragraphs and have godawful dialogue and they'll still pay as long as you deliver what they asked because they're autists with zero taste and a suspicious amount of disposable income. The real struggle is getting your name out there so they know who to call for their fix. I fucking hate social media.

>>20425048
I did some ghostwriting using my RR story as proof that I can string a sentence together. It wasn't smut, but it was a weird blend of YA sci-fi/academia/fantasy/romance. I wrote one book out of a few dozens.
It's pretty easy (editing is not a requirement, or wasn't in my particular case), but it's shit pay and pretty mind-numbing. If you're a literal who/don't have the traffic to set your own prices you'll be writing 20-30k word books in a few weeks to a month for a couple hundred dollars a pop.

>>20425048
No one would pay enough to make it worthwhile. Writing AIs fill that gap now anyway. A computer can churn out all the low quality smut scenes a person could want for like twenty bucks a month.

>>20425138
disrespectful!

>>20425131
You’d make a better living by flipping burgers for minimum wage.

>>20425138
good lord is that picture real

>>20425141
The worst since Barney Frank

>>20425138
Bros. She’s so hot. I want to buy an electric car and eat fried tofu mixed with kale for her.

>>20425159
Probably, but you wouldn't build a backlog, gain experience, and earn a living as a writer.
(However, I dropped it like as a hot beat as soon as I found a salaried writing job)

>>20422222
Congratulations on your beautiful quintuplets

Which of these books should I read first:

For General Writing
>The Rhetoric of Fiction, Booth
>Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft, Burroway
>Steering the Craft, Le Guin
>The Anatomy of Story, Truby
>How Fiction Works, Wood

>>20425239
I've read all of Turby and parts of Wood, and I'd only really suggest doing this if A. you have a very methodical / pre-planning focused approach to writing, or B. you are very new to writing. Most of what Turby had written seemed like common knowledge when I read it; don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to suck my own dick or imply it isn't worth reading, but I feel like you'd get more value out of it if you're new or otherwise confused about the particularities of 'behind the scenes' elements of writing.

Is it possible for me to overcome a backlog of over a hundred stories I'd like to write?

Last night I wrote six hundred words, tonight I wrote eight hundred, tomorrow I will edit.
It's all coming together bros.

>>20425281
Do them one at a time and start with the best ones. Take a good look at them because if there is enough complexity it may deserve a novel instead of a shortform.
Speaking of which I finally decided what my antagonist stood for in my next story and realized I was trying to follow up on a theme from my first story that didnt have a character to represent it. This girl is fun to write she is the worst woman I can possibly think someone could fall in love with.

>>20423818
>>20423843
>>20424126

Thanks for you help. I’ll take all the advice and fix my shit.

>>20425257
I agree and as a seasoned writer I sometimes flip through those books to see if I need a reminder about something. Most of the time I avoid them because I don't want to get influenced or be told what to do/how to write. But I think a brief skim once in a while keeps technical tips fresh in the mind.

>>20425281
Do the math. Ideas take 10 seconds to come up with an idea but a good story takes hours to write, revise, and edit some more (presumably at least a cumulative hour per 500 words)

>>20425315
Nice, consistency is king, King.

>>20423073
google drive
google docs

>>20423073
I've been looking for some other than docs and I found one called zoho writer. don't know how good it is but im gonna test it out for a few days

>>20425315
>write 10k on Saturday
>write 10k on Sunday
>get into an argument on Monday
>read on Tuesday
>write 1k and get into an argument on Wednesday
>want to write 5k without interruption today
If I didnt read before I got home I probably couldnt read at all but Im trying to make this more regular and I cant. At least I dont live alone anymore.

>>20424863
>You don't know their thoughts
Usually I do. No one surprises me anymore. I know how you're going to respond to this.
>and it's idiotic to assume.
Incorrect. If your fat ass is standing at the gas pump, a hundred pounds overweight, smoking a cigarette, with food stains on your sweatpants and unlaced shoes on your fat fucking feet, I can assume you are a slob who doesn't care for himself, are going to die after after a long degenerative slide through the predatory medical system, leeching my tax dollars along the way, and in all likelihood blame everyone else for your problems.
You can absolutely assume things about people based on their appearance and actions. It's fundamentally retarded not to do so.

>>20425210
do it faggot

>>20425725
>10k in one day
I kneel
One of these days i'll have this kind of power, but not yet

>>20422222
would like some thoughts on these two pieces I wrote, mostly about what I'm proposing

https://pastebin.com/CU14N6WN

https://pastebin.com/LjfqSK8L

https://pastebin.com/tyNjBZyN

>>20424863
>You're not the protagonist of the universe.
Imagine actually thinking this.

Would it be too autist to put a thank you to /wg/ in acknowledgements? I can’t stop thinking of my novel being finished.

>>20425754
actually three, whoops

Get ready guys. I'm going to blow your minds right now... Are you ready? Okay here it goes.

You can use your mobile e-mail app for quick "cloudy" writing. Write a message, quit and it gets saved up as a draft. When you get back to your battlestation you can open the message up and copy it to your actual file.

Boom. No special app, no special configuration. These draft can also be opened and edited, naturally.

>>20425737
I was up for 10 hours, 5am to 3pm with a 5 minute break to eat deviled ham. That's not normal for me but my first drafts tend to be fast. That particular day I just really could feel the characters voices so I didnt want to stop. Trying to do something like that again. Most of what I need now is narrative because theres so much dialogue already. I dont know how to choose which dialogue scenes become narrative. Id think some are better seeing the back and forth and others its just one character telling you their version of the dialogue. Ive heard PKD say write from the perspective of who is in the most pain and also depending on how I structure each it could control pacing also.

>>20425754
You're still writing without paragraph breaks I see

https://vocal.media/challenges/the-fantasy-prologue
Will any fantasy anons be able to win $10,000 for a prologue?

>>20425840
Thx anon. I’ll try it out and win 1st place. I needed the 10,000.

>>20425810
stream of consciousness. its a lot easier to write like that, at least for me. I'm moreso looking for perspectives on the ideas I'm putting forth rather than grammatical stuff.

>>20425849
Retard. Stop making stream of consciousness writing look bad by using it as an excuse to not try.

>>20425788
Don't put /wg/. Just put anonymous strangers on the internet

>>20425863
not what I asked for. next.

>>20425849
Based and same I will try to read it after work. Whats a comp title what type of story is it?

>>20425840
>Join Vocal+ to enter
So this is a campaign to shill some neverheard web platform?

>>20425281
No. Because you haven't even written one

I didn't realize how calcareous this sexual encounter would be. When the handjob started, my penis was a penis, my cum was cum, and I was a man, but by the end, my penis was an udder, my cum was milk, and I was a cow.

>>20425914
It's like all the streaming platforms. Join ESPN+ to watch baseball! Oh, uh, there's thousands of hours of it online? Well...

>>20425914
It’s not never heard of. I’ve been looking at it for at least 18 months but never bothered to enter anything.

>>20425926
Looking at the top stories, they're all some nobodies' personal diaries. Who the hell thinks "oh I'm gonna tell everybody about my dog's vet visit" and how the fuck is there an audience for this shit? I'm losing my mind

>>20425754
>1st
>Lets face it, no one likes trying to get a job only to find out that five other people applied and not only that, they know him personally, and have for many years.
What? Know who? Apart from that, the text seems like a couple of commonplace observations about nepotism without much of a thesis behind them except people who offended you personally should have their property forcibly apprehended.
>2nd
Basic /pol/ credo with the edge blunted.
>but borgeiousie
But "bourgeois", anon.
>3rd
Unreadable.

>>20425950
YWNBAW because you can’t reach the masses. Those “personal diaries” are written by salt of the earth pioneers.

>>20425754
The first essay makes you sound like a hypocritical whiny baby because you want all men to be accepted for the job no matter what their eccentricities are unless they're black or non-christcuck

>>20425754
This is all worthless /pol/ manifesto shit. Don't go crazy now dumb fuck.

>>20426059

>>20425950
The double's advocate in me wants to say there could be deeper themes about today's society and the role of women or the state of the country like true masters would, but let's face it: no one in these contests is writing deeper themes than whatever is on the surface. "Oh but it permeates through the writing bro!" No, no I don't think it does.

>>20424861
This >>20424869 desu. Precision of language is more the autism thing. Not exactly 'big' words but words that are exactly right even if nobody else knows what it means. I used the word pecuniary in casual conversation by accident, for example

>>20426100
>double's advocate
Checked

>>20425952
fair enough

>>20425989
whats hypocritical about having a basic source of income?

>>20426059
I don't post on /pol/. they lack epistemic justifications for the ideology they promote.

>>20425754
Holy shit that second one glows so bright it blinded me. Get the fuck outta here

>>20426100

>>20426126
not a real argument. the whole "muh glowies" thing is really played out nowadays.

>>20425754
>https://pastebin.com/LjfqSK8L
exceptionally based, but written poorly

>>20425849
Oh wow these ideas as so so so smart! Yes they are- oh who's the smartest? Yes you are!

Don't you worry about that yucky grammar and readability of prose my little genius, any girl worth your time will learn to read through unintelligible corinthian pillars of unbroken text to glean your totally original ideas.

>>20426146
ok that's a good boy! who wants some peanut butter!

>>20425754
stop writing if this is what youre gonna write about. no one is interested in the ideas your proposing especially if its written like this

>>20426107
I personally have a tendency to use the word "esoteric" a lot.

Whats the best automatic translation tool i can use for my writings? I tried google translate, and azure translator, both are shit

>>20426163
Thanks for the advice. But ill pass

>>20426122
You sound like some idiot with a weak sense of History and read too much angry incel crap spewed by youtubers.

Seriously your entire shtick with Roosevelt isn't empire building it's strictly imperialism. And Wilson was strictly isolationist. None of your crazy nation building crap. Nation building came after WW2 and the Cold War.

>>20422222
So, I've written two 500 page long novels. How do I get someone who isn't my dad to read them? I published both of them but man, selling things to other sucks.
I'm currently going for the third one.
Watching the advertising videos as we speak.

>>20426059
>>20426146
>Seething fags

>>20426181
>read too much angry incel crap spewed by youtubers.
Wrong. I rarely go on YouTube anymore
>Roosevelt isn't empire building it's strictly imperialism
No idea what you mean
>And Wilson was strictly isolationist
Sure, pal. He may have not "spread democracy" per se, but his foreign policy at the very least indirectly sponsored the same crap Bush Jr., Obama et al, would put into policy regarding Iraq and Libya, respectively

>>20422524
Shut up
>>20422510
Tell me the book name, I wanna confirm something.

>>20424405
Thank you!
>>20424405
>you can try copying prose passages you like verbatim, trying to understand with you like them and why they work, and trying to write a paragraph/scene in the style of an author you like.
I don't know enough about writing and prose to do that. Hopefully these books will help me understand it better.

>>20426134
You write like a fucking AI that was fed /pol/ shitposts for a week. You propose nothing thought-provoking, interesting or novel and only feed into a strawman of a jaded, outraged, outdated memento whose time is up thrashing without impact at the world going by around him. Any good points you may have are buried beneath your inability to resist snorting your own farts, but I suppose that comes with the territory of dredging up manifestos. As pointed out, you are a slimy "rules for thee, not for me" cretin, encouraging the very behaviour you so passionately criticize. You are a genuine detriment to your own side and cause, the grand majority of which would call you the unsubtle rambling retard you are. It doesn't matter what unambitious, by-the-book, surface level spiel you spew about niggers, roasties, trannies and whatever other demographics are on your checklist, I will not shoot up civilians after wanking to my furry waifu.

>>20426199
I’m afraid of this exact thing. Just about finished with the first part of a 2 part but am dreading the advertising aspect. Hold me.

>>20424863
I can see the apple so clearly, I basically shut off my eyes whenever I truly "visualize" something.
But I have hyperphantasia, sometimes I get lost in my own brain.
Reading books is fun because sometimes when I really get into it, I don't even notice I'm reading, it's like watching a movie.

>>20426141
oh look, an internet brainwashed american found a keyboard

maybe if we feed it dollar bills and big macs it’ll shoot us too

>>20422730
What kind of markdown? Which editor use? Some plugins?

>>20425921
Thanks for the laugh, mate

>>20426317
neck yourself leftoid

>>20426317
>It's a "foreigner lectures Americans on American culture" episode
Very nice, please continue

>>20425754
I see you really, really like /pol/ and /r/antiwork.
Learn how to write and read a book on critical thinking.

I love giant monsters and the tokusatsu genre as a whole, to the point where multiple characters in my story are inspired by stuff like Godzilla, Ultraman, Gamera, Daimajin, etc.

>>20426199
>>20426266

How much re-writing have you done?

And have you taken the chapters apart, looking at the flow and just what those chapters *actually* contain? Maybe compare that meta-data to some of the books you like and/or know have sold. Stuff like that.

Sorry if my language is "off", i'm not a native english writer or speaker.

>>20426323
>>20426329
try not to shoot and murder any children with your at-15’s while you

seethe

then

cope

>>20426363
I've done a fuckton of rewriting. I'm not an English speaker either.

I'm currently translating it into English. It's been a few years since my first published novel, so the contract with the first publisher is over. That's why I was thinking I'll probably try to have it published again in English under a different name. I'll edit and tweak as many things as I feel like to improve pacing and all, which I don't think it will be an issue since I sold less than 120 books and they were all family and friends, mostly. Not counting some writers who were as desperate as me so we traded books
>>20426266
A good publisher should take care of that. Instead it seems like you're paying for them to make a cool cover and edit your book, then fuck it, you're 100% on your own.
Better start making that twitter account, anon. Also follow as many writers as you can. Those people also read and sometimes they even buy your book or advertise it for free.

>>20426441
>under a different name
But why? You can just add a subtitle

>>20426363
I’ve rewritten twice about to go over a third time. I have done research on my targeted demographic. I just need to find a way to connect. I’m considering sending advanced copies to youtubers in that genre to shill but thats as far as I’ve gotten

>>20426441
I figured I’d have to get a dreaded social media account. I can barely participate on the chans let alone with my public image. Currently pondering a pen name.

>>20426213
>No idea what you mean
Exactly. Hit the books
>his foreign policy at the very least indirectly sponsored the same crap Bush Jr., Obama et al, would put into policy regarding Iraq and Libya, respectively
Okay what nation did he invade to nation build? Oh wait let me guess, your entire thesis hinged on the United Nations which he failed at and already had a stroke.

>>20424509
I love it and can't stop rereading it. I once tried to be all literary and shit and please the literary minds, and of course it never went anywhere productive. You sit and dwell on anything, you really just do nothing and swell and seethe over a random ass comma and keep questioning yourself whether one word is the right word or not.
Stop.
One day I simply sat down and I kept writing. I was writing non stop for weeks, not even bothering to edit at all. I went almost 50k words without even looking back, just writing my story as it came into my mind.
Now that it's over and I've been writing EXACTLY what and how I wanted, without any regard to the literary tradition, I can say that my book is my favorite book of all time. It's the shit I want to read.

As for what's about, it's about a cat's journey to become a human. It's fantasy as you well understand

>>20422679
haha, yeah...

>>20426574
>Exactly. Hit the books
Way ahead of you since 20 years ago
>Okay what nation did he invade to nation build? Oh wait let me guess, your entire thesis hinged on the United Nations which he failed at and already had a stroke.
Not the point I was making, dumbass. It was the intent being his foreign policy. Not what he actually did

>>20426337
No thanks. I don't take advice from children

>>20426317
Rent free
>>20426329
Aint it though?
>>20426370
Boy you're mad. Smoke a joint.

>>20425921
How do I get my writing to read well like this? Beautiful.

>>20426596
>No thanks. I don't take advice from children
I gave you a chance, but you're clearly just an idiot.
Good luck buying that AR15, dude.

>>20422222
I wrote a short story of 18 pages, and the first 5 are pretty much pure exposition. Am I doing it wrong? The short story belongs to a much, much larger world.
The beginning is very lordoftherings-esque.

>>20426589
Your assumption is wrong too stupid. If anything, you can stretch it that He believed in self determination and protection of democracy not impose it on others. And thus intervened when a government was threatened by another.

Holy shit man read some history books about he guy

>>20426646
If it helps in telling the rest of the 13 pages, is it wrong?

>>20426652
Well, it kinda doesn't but it's cool. Summary:
>There's this ancient land evil demons conquered
>And a hero came to kick them out
>Then humans built kingdoms too,
>These kingdoms splintered and the lineage of the hero was lost
>demons then returned
>but a wizard found someone from the ancient lineage
>And they lived adventures of all sorts
>Until they saved the day and he became king
>shortly after, he found a wife
>THEN, the story begins.

>>20426596
I will smoke a joint as it’s legal in my nation and then continue mocking your freedom to kill children

>>20422366
I usually sell about a book a day with zero marketing. I just released another one under a pen name, and Amazon is doing everything they can to prevent it from succeeding, which is a little annoying. What they don't tell you about working with platforms like KDP is that they have a whole bunch of invisible hoops they expect you to know how to jump through. Optimizing your listing (and avoiding their strange traps) is harder than you may think.

>>20426710
Hard copy or digital?

>>20425754
Others have already beaten you to the punch on this stuff, m8.

>>20426730
Hard copies. Gonna release e-books soon, 'cause it seems people like those quite a bit these days.

>>20422272
that's more like a scene, anon

>>20426741
I’m worried about pirating in digital. I realize I may lose $$$ but isn’t keeping your book yours alone a priority? I was considering doing hardcover exclusive and printing maybe a hundred so to start.

>>20425754
the massive blot of a paragraph kills all desire to read it

>>20426748
Pirating is a real possibility these days. But if someone takes the time to pirate your stuff or consume your material in that form, that still means they're interested in your work. The worst possible outcome in this industry is apathy on the part of your would-be readership. Also, don't do just hardcover unless you're a best-selling author. You end up having to charge a shitload for those, and that'll deter prospective readers.

>>20426761
Are you a best-seller? How did you get your copies?

>>20426765
*Hard copies

Is my writing style any good or nah (the main character is about to drink a vial of dragon's blood)

>"It had somehow remained warm throughout the dormant centuries in its vial, an inner motive force compelling it to produce a subtle heat, an echo of the fire which erupted out of the long-dead beast from which this life-blood was procured.
Enneron hesitated, staring into the depths of the liquid, and with a final breath, drank down a mouthful of the vial of blood.
>The sickly liquid slid uneasily down his throat, threatening to choke him, so cloying was the ichor. The entirety of the vial's contents drank, Enneron felt a change begin to occur. Subtle at first, then a steady vibration began to spread from his core to the tips of his fingers, building to a crescendo.
>New pathways formed, new elements of the psyche shattered into being, latent faculties awakened, and a metabolic spike flushed the blood through his entire body with the force of a thousand suns.

>>20426778
'Building to a crescendo' is a little cliched as writing terms go. As does the 'force of a thousand suns' line. Don't need the commas before 'and' and after 'breath' I'm pretty sure. It's overall fine, but nothing noteworthy. Utterly middle-of-the-road.

>>20426778
I liked it but im a nobody.

>>20426765
I've had that designation before, but Amazon constantly updates their sales rankings, so it's easy to lose your spot. That latest book of mine, for example, was at the top of three categories for a full week, but they didn't give me the bestseller designation because of strange behind-the-scenes shit. Print-on-demand methods don't require you to keep physicals on hand, but you can order author copies whenever you like. Another project of mine just got picked up by a publisher, but they're small-time, so I'll only get a few author copies from them.

>>20424141
i think that would be easy to do. however, you have to struggle against it.
i always just write out out and tell myself i'll fix it on the next draft
i think you have to bulldoze through the first draft to get to the end
after that, you can tweak the manuscript all you want.

>>20426778
some variation of "it felt like his blood had caught on fire" would've worked better than the crescendo line imo

>>20425754
you write the way spergs speak

>>20422222
How's this paragraph sounding?

"After that great victory, the free peoples raised kingdoms of stone and gold; wonders the likes of which dreams can barely fathom. Years passed inexorably until even the mighty empires of old and the deeds of their heroes became nothing but a distant memory, embers of the great fires that had ushered this blessed age. Nations splintered into nations and the world lost its way for a while. In this time too, however, the holy bloodline pervived, and the humble kingdom of Bargond was born, and with it a new age of peace, with fair rulers and plentiful harvests. But the greed of the demon god is eternal, and so is his patience..."

>>20426710
Any advice for jumping through those hoops?

>>20426581
Good. Edit it, and sell it. The picture you have is perfect too.

>>20426811
Oh man I'm really bad with commas, I need to practice that. And yeah maybe I should work on some better metaphors, just didn't want them to sound jarring
>>20426815
Thankyou anon
>>20426829
Maybe actually

>>20426849
Not bad, a bit grandiose for my tastes, but
>pervived
?

>>20426849
I like it. Maybe some word choice issues but I do like it. Instead of distant memory I'll go with something akin to folktales or fictionalized stories. To really emphasize they're forgotten but not all of it

>>20426581
>You sit and dwell on anything, you really just do nothing and swell and seethe over a random ass comma and keep questioning yourself whether one word is the right word or not.
the trick is in doing something WHILE you question and reword and do your best to write the best all-fucked thing you can.

>>20426778
Pretty good, a bit on the abstract side though. After all that build up would have liked more visceral description of the taste of the blood and what specifically he's envisioning while his mind is blown (more concrete)

>>20426849
I don't think that first semicolon is warranted - its a dependent clause so just a comma I think.
>Nations splintered into nations
?

Hey all. Attempting yet again to start a story and finish it. This time I feel good about it, actually. Might stick with this one.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/tbueaegpy6vb42i/5-26-2022.pdf?dl=0
As always, let me know if you want critique on your work and I'd be happy to do a critique exchange. And please be brutally honest, but also sincere. I try to filter out bogus reviews, positive or negative.

You ever just struggle writing a particular scene, and at the end of it, you just hate it even though you know it's fine?

>>20426883
Fug. English is not my first language..
>>20426885
That does sound good. I'll probably do that.
>>20426916
>>Nations splintered into nations
as in the empires of old became other nations over many centuries.
>>20426924
Very easy to read. The flow and word choice is great. Good job.

>>20426916
I guess it's abstract because you don't know the context of the story just from my excerpt but yeah, maybe I should focus more on the visceral taste of actually drinking the blood desu

I want to write a love letter for valentine's day, related to cats cause I bought her a cat necklace. Any tips?

>>20426925
If you know it's fine why do you hate it?

Can I get good at writing despite being an ESL?

>>20427007
no

>>20426970
Me fook you long time
No wrap egg roll inside
Very tasty inside your mouth
Make ching and Chang
Sum Ting Wong

>>20426674
>>20426646
Eh. Without reading it, I'd say you should kill your darlings on principle. And these 5 pages seem like a darling, especially since it's a short story. Would the story suffer if you just cut them?

>>20426942
>as in the empires of old became other nations over many centuries
Then say "empires became petty kingdoms" or something like that to show the difference

>>20425840
>Join Vocal+ for $/month
I swear I read a somewhere that a non-monetary entree must be provided for competitions.

>>20427007
Kinda. Just remember there will always be a native English faggot whose writing is way shittier and unreadable than yours.

>>20427053
True. I mean there are people who say "I could care less" instead of "I couldn't care less".

I want to write a story with dual MCs where one is possessing the other and the host gets control half the time. What should I keep in mind to keep them balanced against each other?

>>20427098
Make sure each perspective feels fairly distinct, if you're doing third-person limited or first-person. Make it so that each character's headspace alone can clue the reader in to who's in control. Ensure that, while they may be in conflict with each other, they should never sufficiently hamper the overall story by just doing an eternal tug o' war.

>>20427098
Make them contrast character wise and make them talk with each other. Nier Replicant did something like that with Kaine in a nice way.

what are all the books published by /lit/anons?
Call of the Crocodile
Mike Ma books
The Emily Project
Eggplant
what else?

>>20427140
Is this F gardener

>>20427140
Those are the only books published by /lit/anons

>>20427052
Does it come with drinks too?

>>20426646
>Am I doing it wrong?
Yes.

>>20426811
>'Building to a crescendo'
It's also technically incorrect. A crescendo is a rising sound. 'Building in a crescendo' or 'building to a climax' is better.
It's like saying climbing to a ladder instead of climbing to a summit.

New thread >>20427485

>>20423616
>>20426203
seethe

>>20427162
Naw lol I just like hearing about books published by litizens. It makes me feel inspired