/lit/ - Literature

Whatever happened to /ffa/ anon?
The last time I remember seeing a post on the subject was July 26th.

Why do you still include the anime section of the OP? Are you dense? Are you retarded or something?

How do I make an addictive serial fiction?

>>20773458
Because anime is very popular.
As is LitRPG.
The world just isn't what you want it to be anymore, is it, old timer?

>>20773465
By writing really well.
You think there's a simple formula or something?

>>20773469
Then why are the resources in the OP satirically bad?

>>20773477
Feel free to suggest better anime-writing references.

>>20773475
If you actually read popular serial fiction you will realize that, yes, there is a simple formula.

>dont want to write
>want to write
>cant write
>write bad
>think its genius
>cant write anylonger
>realize my writing is bad
>stop writing
>write out of boredom
>still bad
>stop writing
>have the urge to write
>write even worse
>write a lot
>keep writing
>give up
>write for money instead
>stop writing for a while
>start writing genuinely good stuff
>cant stop writing
>now forced to write by others

feels tiresome and not cool at all

>>20773490
Feel free to share it with us, then.
If it was as simple as a formula, it could be automated, and then no one would need humans to do it.
And that hasn't happened yet.

>>20773469
Litrpg as a very concept is laughable. So are rpg based isekais/manga. If its all a videogame why care?

>>20773488
Why would I do that? I want it gone.

>>20773500
>why care
Because it's popular.
Go to bed, Grandpa.

>>20773504
>i want anime gone
That's not within your power.
You may as well wish for a flying rainbow pony.

>>20773515
So is twilight

>>20773504
You're on 4chan you dumb shit.
If you got a problem with weeb shit you're in the wrong place.

>>20773540
Twilight is something my mom read.
You need a blanket, a warm cat, and a hot bowl of soup.

Ew, a tranime tripfag quoted me.

I may be addicted to writing. I told myself I didn't have time to whack off tonight because I had writing to do. How do I reverse this

>>20773558
You know you liked it, bitch.

>>20773558
>nevermore

Showing exactly why people feared dragons so much.
>The artillery shells bounced and detonated harmlessly off of it's scales. Scales that would put diamonds and tungsten to shame in terms of resilience. It responded not with any sign of pain or even annoyance, but with a glare of raw contempt for all of those who dared to meet it with such a feeble attempt at scratching it.
>It reared up and started to draw in a breath. A very deep one. So deep that the smoke in the air started to spiral into it's gaping maw. The air became thinner and thinner. It snapped shut and began to shake as the barrage of weapons did nothing but make it more eager to unleash what was stirring within. It opened it's mouth, and there was just a flash.
>Human beings to bloody ashes. Trees to scorch marks. Stone to magma. Metal to slag. All in an instant.
>The destruction stretched for a kilometer, and at the epicenter, it flew off to continue it's crusade.

I have a hard time putting my ideas into prose, but everything falls into place nicely when doing poetry. What are examples of novels in poetry form? Is it even possible? What is The Divine Comedy in this?

>>20773681
Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

>>20773669
from each line I would change
>Scales that would put diamonds and tungsten to shame
remove scales, the last sentence ends with scales already, its redundant and reads oddly.
>It reared up and started to draw in a breath. A very deep one. So deep that the
I'd remove a very deep one for the same reason.
>Human beings to bloody ashes. Trees to scorch marks. Stone to magma. Metal to slag. All in an instant.
bloody ashes is an odd phrase imo, I'd change it to either just ashes, or "their blood boiled before they turned to ashes"
rest of it seems fine.
I also have a dragon in my story which will be powerful, and an explanation of why there is only 1 left.

>>20773681
It's not all poetry, but Thomas Wolfe's novels like Look Homeward Angel is very poetic. A lot of his poems found their way into the novel since everything he wrote about was related.

>>20773769
Yes, I even wondered if I couldn't write it in poetry form and then edit it into a novel, but that sounds kinda... Wrong? I don't know, the thing is I enjoy writing poetry, so it has more potential to keep me going then trying to force myself to write prose, specially since I have zero commercial interest in this. Maybe I can find a midterm between poetry and prose.

>>20773681
Most old stories were told in verse.

>>20773550
Fuck off Sponge.

>>20773710
The scary part is that he's not even in the top 10 of strongest characters in the story. That honor goes to
>The protagonist
>The fucker who's been around for around 100 million years
>An undead dragon hunting giant
>A massive robot designed to violently beat the shit out of monsters
>An (Actually adorable and nice) giant-ass bug who can manipulate gravity
>A mermaid
>A living statue who's just THAT good with a sword
>An electromagnetically powered alien
>A mountain-sized weapon platform
>The main villain, who is a literal dinosaur
It's a... Diverse cast, let's say.

>>20773444
Where do you even start? How do you develop your ideas? I have a few vague ideas, but I have no idea how to expand on them, or what direction to take them. So it's more like I have concepts more than anything. Or very simple premises.

>>20773892
neat, in my story the dragon is sleeping as a mountain off the coast of the continent the story takes place on. he is the last one because after causing a ruckus the gods forcibly split the traits that make up a dragon into different species. where as this one is around to stop world ending threats should they appear as the cost of the gods not just atomizing him.

>>20773904
Create one good solid concept and work off from there

>>20773910
Seems we have the same idea as "Giant monsters beating the shit out of each other"

>>20773904
honestly start writing, don't like how its turning out? start again. I felt like I would never be able to write more than 1 chapter, but once I started what happens next began to consume my thoughts, I wanted to put my ideas to words. and then I looked over my stuff, and I started cutting and changing quite a bit from my original idea.

>>20773916
What makes a concept solid rather than weak?

>>20773920
nah, I am trying to write a more personal story about someone from birth into an immortal mage.
the dragon is one of those there's always a bigger fish things. in this case there is actually a
bunch of sea monsters that also surrounds the continent and stop ships from leaving for other places.
I don't want my character to ever have to fight the dragon. might end up with it razing a country for doing something naughty though.

>>20773921
>honestly just start writing
I don't even have characters yet.

>>20773934
put together a document. I wrote ideas of what my world was and then decided who I wanted my character to be in this world after that. when I wrote the first chapter I didn't even give them names yet.

>>20773928
A solid one is one that you feel "Yeah, I can make a story about this."
Something with a central core

>>20773892
I have exactly one character who can be considered the strongest. This person is in a sense the descendant of Death and can therefore destroy anyone in a single hit except for their successor who was born with the same conceptual power.

>>20773941
>I wrote ideas of what my world was and then decided who I wanted my character to be in this world after that.
What your world is? You mean, like the perspective you're approaching the story from? The tone? I've come up with some character ideas in the past, but they were all trite. There's really two ideas I'm looking to develop here and both would have an ensemble cast of at least 5 characters. Really, I'm aiming for 6. I think 6 would be ideal but coming up with interesting characters and entertaining dynamics seems like a huge challenge.

>>20773942
>A solid one is one that you feel "Yeah, I can make a story about this."
>Something with a central core
Okay. I think that's what both my ideas lack. I'll have to figure that out.

>>20773978
>You mean, like the perspective you're approaching the story from?
My world is fantasy. So I set that up then I decided on where the character would live, what is his station in life, how does that effect him and the characters around him.
if you are writing non-fiction then my advice might not be as helpful.
But you can still write up where are they from. how did they grow up? lower class or upper? think of these things and how they would effect how the character would view the world and others in it.
And for the other Anon's advice in my case the central core is my main character being a human sub-species that is hostile to everyone around them, but since he was abandoned in the woods and found by a farmer he lacks this mentality but still has some innate abilities that make him valuable to the kingdom for exploitation. the events of the story spread out from that point.

>>20774005
>if you are writing non-fiction then my advice might not be as helpful.
Both ideas I'm working towards are fiction. But not fantasy. Or even sci-fi. One will take place in a reality indistinguishable to our own, even if it doesn't abide by the some logic. The other... I'm not so sure yet. But it will be near indistinguishable from our reality, or at least resemble it somewhat. To be completely transparent -- I'm not looking to write a novel. Both my ideas will be written as scripts, one for a comic and one for a movie. You come up with the setting before you come up with a personality?

What's the difference between a lore dump and exposition? Do you all have an example of lore dumping? I'm starting off my fantasy(?) story by explaining what happened 5 years ago so that the current setting makes sense.

Ima be real witchu niggas. Half of you ain’t gonna be able to finish 10 chapters of a rough draft.
And the other 49% too rarted to finish the rest of it.
Maybe like 0.99% of you gonna write a book and fuck up the launch and not learn from yo l shitty mistakes. 0.01% of yall gon make it.

>>20774041
Lore dumps are fine in fantasy if they're interesting.

Okay, I managed to work 6 hours on my story on a weeknight after work. This is just about the most I can do before the fatigue really hits.

>>20774040
I had some idea of who I wanted my main character to be before hand, a middle and an end point. but his formative experiences would be based on where he was born, how the world worked. he solidified as who he is as I wrote those parts of the setting.
>>20774041
how natural it sounds. if character is being taught something it will come off more natural. but if you keep having the character be taught things it might be repetitive and start to come off as unnatural.
20774051
you don't even get my (You) work on your bait.

>>20773954
The dinosaur in my story is actually the toughest fucker in it.
He literally curbstomps everyone else he fights

>>20774088
That's only to be expected from a goddamned dinosaur.

>>20774093
It's a story about Kaiju, what did you expect?

>>20774070
Well, it's the narrator 'explaining' to the reader what happen. I'm the narrator I suppose. Just giving the necessary background info

>>20774095
Nothing less, in fact I would be disappointed if someone had a dinosaur in their story and didn't make them awesome.

>>20774104
He literally kills an entire prehistoric civilization of superhuman giant mermaids with his bare hands in the prologue. And he doesn't take them out in swathes, he does it one at a time.

>>20774112
Now you've lost me, the hell kind of dinosaur is this?

>>20774116
His name literally translates to "The Sovereign King" in Latin. That's about all you need to know.
These merfolk were formed from 4 billion years of genetic natural selection, and he just absolutely mauls all of them despite being born to a completely ordinary pair of Lufengosaurus. No explanation is given for how he grew into a 65 meter tall, highly intelligent, thermokenetic killing machine who could literally take on and kill guys who could split tectonic plates open. And frankly that's hilarious.

I have no artistic aspirations, I just want to write entertaining stories like ASOIAF since it's one of the rare stories that engaged and gripped me from the start instead of forcing me to tolerate it until I grow to like it by force, what should I be doing/learning/researching

Is it worth it to join a writing/critique group? How many eyes should you have on your manuscript? So far I’ve sent my work to three friends. All of them are well-read (one is a humanities prof, another was once an aspiring writer, etc), and have given some helpful feedback, but I wonder if talking with fellow active writers will help even more… or if they're most likely to be just be dumbasses

>>20774440
Writing/critique groups are often more pathetic than /wg/ and filled with miserable failures looking to bring other people down to their level, or people who think they're absolute geniuses who will passive aggressively shit on you thinking they're too good to be there and yet there anyway to begrudgingly "network".

Day 51 editing
Chapter 67 fin
Libre is taking some adjustment
Also i made mussanan curray

>>20774440
Why though? Isn't your work good enough already? Why would you not just be a good enough writer to not need any such thing?

>>20774459
One annoying thing I've found about Libre is it doesn't seem to keep formatting changes between sessions. I'll set all the formatting to proper paragraphs and indents and shit then when I reopen the document everything is smashed to the left side again and the spacing I've got to set chapters to the right page layout is fucked up.

>>20774440
The only noteworthy writers with critique groups also did a SHITLOAD of drugs with them.
Be it Hunter S. Thompson, PKD or the Coleridge era people.
You either do it sober on your own or high with people.
Straight edge critique just drags you down.

>>20774490
>no friends to eat mushrooms and write subversive and irreverent literature with
Goddammit

>>20774490
Doesn't Sanderson have a writing group and doesn't do any... oh.

>>20773515
Popular things are bad

Should I sell my soul to the algorithm and do LitRPG so I can harvest patreon money and exposure until I can write my dream story?
Isn't that what real authors did too?

I am writing something in a different style for the first time so far. I have heard before people saying not to write in chronological order and to just write whatever part of the story comes out. I have never been able to do that but I have done it this time. Right now I have like 10,000 words in a document of serious gibberish in terms of narrative or story, but it all means something. I have kept saying to myself I would start writing it into a story once the moment felt right but it keeps going and going and I can't see an end in sight. I'm about to try and start but I don't know where to begin. Anyone write like this usually?

>>20774051
>0.01% of yall gon make it.
That's being extremely fucking generous.
Guess it depends on what you mean by "making it"

>>20773869
Hello Rape-chan
I should probably stop calling you that though, your deviant ass probably likes it.

>>20774453
>>20774463
Never been a part of a "writing group" but my guess it's usually going to be a bunch of cringe wannabes. Seems like a pretty cringe thing to want to be a part of anyway.
Having a couple writing-chan friends to bounce ideas off of individually works though.

>>20774679
>that retarded ant running around the snake's face
>>20774711
That is part of how my first project began. Try to get at the reason you are so interested in it. It doesn't have to be the ultimate message or core of the story necessarily but start at least from something you can crystallize off of. You get used to the idea of creativity, and I learned a lot of it by engaging in deconstruction of stories I liked (without knowing exactly how the author had gone about conceiving it) and then applying a similar process to my own story going forward. Take American Psycho:
>man, advertisements are so soulless. It's a guy with a mask but there's nothing underneath
>what if a person was an advertisement?
>he'd be a psychopath
>and he'd talk like a commercial
>and he'd primarily kill women who are suckers for commercials
>if he had a girlfriend he couldn't kill because she wasn't particularly impressed by him but he can jack off to Calvin Klein ads because they are soulless like him
>what if he became self-aware and desperately wanted redemption?
>would anyone care?
And so on and so forth. Don't leave your story at 10k. Keep running and your story will fill out.

>>20774070
I'm asking, what if you don't have an idea of who you want your main character (or characters) to be? Where do you start?

>>20774934
Depending on the kind of story you want to tell was the starting point for my characters and then a lot of details are just flipped:
>main conflict is that people have been given an ultimatum
>a character who would have the most trouble with this is one who doesn't like to be influenced
>who tend to not like to be influenced? Let's say he has a poor blue collar background
>but the foil has no trouble with making this choice, let's say she is middle class
>how do I get these characters to run into each other? Let's have them get married and a parallel conflict
And then I add some similarities and other differences, I investigate the reasons why these characters are motivated the way they are, add more supporting characters that address other aspects of the story.

>>20774051
>fuck up the launch
I feel personally attacked.

>>20774051
I'm up to chapter 25 thank you very much

>>20773444
>see list of literary agents
>all women
>all do young adult
>all do LGBT

>>20774968
Tell the class what you did and the end result.

I feel like all of my characters are just representations of myself in various ways, it feels a bit weird

>>20775097
Well they all exist only inside of you so it stands to reason they'd represent parts of you, mixed in different ways. I've come to accept this and freely give my own insecurities and obsessions to different characters.

>>20775086
Been going on youtube podcasts as I can (as I meet people through networking) and I keep checking their previous video views and they're decent hundreds. Obviously that's not full time stuff for youtube but I'm trying to build a network.

Every single one of them is lucky to get a few dozen views instead of hundreds (let alone thousands)

I have a circle of online friends that all preordered it, and I asked for day 1 reviews, but either they were away for the day, or didn't like the idea of reviewing a book they didn't read, because not one of them tossed up a rating yesterday.

Learned that by law, I'd have to dox myself (or pay for a fake address) to use a mailing list, so that went out the window.

People I thought had social media presences, turns out they haven't been posting so their engagement went to crap.

My box of copies to send to reviewers is still in the mail because I had someone else double check for typos (none found) so I haven't sent any of that out yet

Whether I've gotten any twitter/gettr traction is yet to be seen. Big accounts are liking/reposting but I'm certainly not viral.

But, no money lost. Sales will trickle in while I get my next book ready. Not like the book can't be bought in the future.

>>20773469
>Because anime is very popular.
anime, not "anime books"
>as is litrpg
lmao

The major issues of our time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_global_issues

fuck i always been a midwit writer. this blog is gonna be fucking impossible
is anyone even slightly interested in the metaphysical truths of our existence?
has anyone even been so far gone to consider that determinism and the reality of the big bang mean the moment of abiogenesis was fated and had a date from the moment the universe was incepted?

does anyone realise that we are basically OBSERVERS of the universe with no greater agency other than the ability to exercise some will and that in turn is the only agency we are granted to achieve greater agency? to what end, my guess was free will. something like interstellar, god even.
otherwise who the fuck planned all this and what is it leading to? is this a prison? or this supposed to be a heaven?

CMON PEOPLE, HOW DO I MAKE THIS CONCEPT RELATABLE AND INTERESTING TO PEOPLE
THEYVE ALWAYS HEARD OF GOD'S GREAT PLAN BUT HAVE THEY NEVER CONSIDERED THE GREATER IMPLICATIONS OF IT?

SOMEBODY FUCKING READ MY SHIT

>>20775152
>the reality of the big bang
doesn't exist, never happened
>does anyone realise that we are basically OBSERVERS of the universe
Only because we devolved as a species

>>20775193
so what do you believe happened? god?
i agree that in general we have less will as individuals, but as a species our greater will is incomparable to ages old

>>20775152
start from something more relatable and work your way to the big ideas as the undercurrent. People don't read "why art and suffering are more worthwhile than carnal pleasures, or that our motivations are tragically connected to hedonism regardless of this path" which is more suited to philosophy. They come for Brave New World, a dystopia where orgies and psychedelics are completely normal. So your high-concept does not need to broadcast the deeper point of the story because no one will appreciate it or want to come in preparing for you to endow them with a belief they might not yet agree with.

>>20775217
>so what do you believe happened?
can't be entirely sure yet, something gnostic makes the most sense though. As in, some eternal mass of energy that always was, gradually devolved until we got the material world. And given the sheer amount of patterns and circumstantial evidence across a vast array of subjects. I cannot trust few if any mainstream conclusions that have settled in society as "truth". So I cannot trust The Big Bang Theory, for multiple reasons. So far I have started assuming we are wrong about everything, no matter how seemingly fundamental, and have gone from there.

>>20775243
dont you think that's too far? that you're teetering on the logic of a flat earther?

there's literally science behind the big bang and not just some random guess
they've got no clue about what it was before that or why but the big bang is pretty established
have you read too many books and invented your own world instead of investigating the ridiculous rigor that is astronomy?

le parallelism

>>20774695
Absolutely. Remember, even "Moby Dick" was a commercial failure in Melville's time.
He followed that novel up with something much more ribald and titillating...and not for the artistic merit.

>>20775145
>thinks anime books aren't popular
>never heard of manga
>definitely never heard of Goblin Slayer

thoughts on my prose?

>>20775152
I would imagine most people read fiction to escape the news, not ruminate on it.
>>20775217
>we have less will as individuals
NPC detected

>>20775280
very postmodern

>>20775291
in general, in general. im referring to other people

i am overflowing with will. i am abundant of will

I read my first chapter to my wife in bed last night
she said it was pretty good

>>20775381
Did she stop knitting?

>>20774051
We're all gonna make it, my friend of African descent.

>>20775097
Sounds like you don't interact with enough other people.
Your social circles may either be nonexistent or shallow.

>>20775294
Then you may have a problem with being dismissive of other people.
Possibly arrogant.

Is there a way to bring up 4chan in my novel without it coming across as cringe? My protagonist is a NEET who spends most of his day at home, so I'm not bringing it up just for the sake of bringing it up.

Trad publishing is a dumpsterfire but I can't afford an editor etc to self-pub at the quality I want. I'm thinking after a certain number of rejections (though I get positive feedback) to just make a website and post all my work there for free, or PWYW. At least I won't feel guilty for charging people to read something that's essentially an unfinished book. Self pub authors that use paying customers like beta readers are scumbags. Anyway, is my plan any better than just trunking my projects and they never see the light of day, or is it really stupid?

>>20775571
when it doubt, just make it abstract

My soul tells me I should be studying the bible to write stories of virtue.
My brain tells me I should be studying the WEF to attack the globalists with my science fiction.

But my dick has me writing about cute succubus girls.

>>20775571
Don't be a Boswell. He added it into Playtime's Consequence as 16Otaku and thought he was being super clever about it.

>>20775594
Listen to your dick.

>>20775616
Oh, I am. But I'm at least making the heroes good people.

It's perfectly fun to write about bar fighting gangsters because they slapped the girl.

>>20773500
>Litrpg as a very concept is laughable.
"He Who Fights with Monsters" is a litrpg book that made a lot of money.

>>20774453
>Writing/critique groups are often more pathetic than /wg/
like everything else, it is what you make of it. there are good critique groups and bad.

>>20775575
How do you mean?
>>20775609
I just read the description for that book on Amazon, and Christ it sounds awful. I was thinking about being vague and just saying a certain imageboard, but I might be better off just saying 4chan.

>>20775680
>How do you mean?
convey the idea, but smother the details in purple prose

>>20775680
Boswell is genuinely our worst author. It's almost freeing to know what an impossible feat it would be to do worse. PC should be required reading here just so those new to the thread will know it's okay to post their work as we've seen worse than anything they can throw our way.

>>20775692
Is there a pdf or sample? i'm curious

>>20774934
>don't have an idea of who you want your main character
for 3rd person limited, a lot of authors will have 2 or more viewpoint characters. most all of these authors have a dominant viewpoint character.
so just write it and see which viewpoint character is used the most often

>>20775706
Nope. We're all just waiting for some anon to buy a copy and throw it on Ca1lib because everyone here refuses to give him a penny.

>>20775280
Utterly dexterian.

>>20773444
Working on log lines for my stories
“A career journeyman prepares for a fight where the outcome is fixed, and everyone knows it except him.”
“Recently diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, T. Payne thinks that the world is telling him to commit mass murder; and he finally finds someone who believes him.”

Just something to stick in promo posts or to write as a lead in to a longer description or pitch. Both short stories tho the second is an unwieldy length.

I wonder how weird I should make my island story. Already having nuclear war in it, so I might go full experimental but I really don't want to stray too much into sci-fi/fantasy territory while keeping it more psychological.

>>20774058
That's awesome anon, keep working at it.

How do I write historical fiction without rewriting the same characters, scenarios, settings, etc. in the same way the last guy did it? I really want to write about the American Revolution or around that time but I'm afraid that what I'm doing has already been done.

>Remember I read the entire Twilight series when it came out
>Realize that I didn’t see any glaring errors at the time
>Didn’t know Twilight was considered objectively bad until recently

Am I fucked as a romance author?

>>20776243
Don't let women try to convince you what they want, because they do not know. There is a reason twilight blew up in the first place, and got 5 movies

>>20775572
Sounds like a pretty good plan considering the alternatives. I'd also self pub digitally on amazon and such. You've got a good philosophy and its very selfless to publish for free or PWYW. Better to have it out there at all than for no one to ever read it. Don't forget to try your hand at some marketing efforts.

Short scene

Our Summer's End


Lizzie opened the fridge and beneath the dim flickering light looked for the long lost Budweiser she had somewhere in there. Kneeling down on the cold green tiles of the kitchen, she took out one by one the many leftovers trays she had stored for weeks on end. The breath of cold out of the refrigerator hit her pale delicate face, all the more having her copious auburn curls trapped in a knot over her head, only a lock escaping and lonely swinging next to her left cheek. The cold out of the fridge travelled her body, a circuit from face to feet quickly cooling down her body from the fever-like heat she had suffered all day.
When she found the can laying down at the back of the fridge it was cold as ice and with a thin layer of frost. She took it, stood up, and with a heel kick closed the door as she left toward the terrace, quickly walking over the living room, the shiny parquet floor burning her soles. Once in the terrace, without minding much she let her drop on the floor, her body resting against the french doors that connected her living room and terrace.
The city she saw from her privileged, overhead view was endless buildings, endless cars, endless people walking in thick pure wool suites, a world capped by an opaque, colorless sunset. She opened the cold can with a fizz, and took a sip, the cold immediatley frezzing her chapped lips, and the bitter taste of it silencing the white, constant noise of the city for the time being. She let out a big sigh, and closing her eyes dropped her head against the glass door. The world was in perfect silence.

>>20776243
>Twilight was considered objectively bad
teenaged girls loved it
so did a lot of adult females
it made a ton of money

Toque all ra Bunche. Of fuckeing faggots want I yogurt all die

>>20776228
>what I'm doing has already been done.
everything has been done before
you just have to disguise it so that readers don't notice
the american revolution in occupied boston is a lot different from the american revolution in charlestown, for example
or use an uncommon character
there are lots of ways to make it seem different

>>20776243
any of us dream of writing garbage like the twilight series

One can hardly feel bad about mistakes that made millions.

Zombpocalypse: 2014

Circa 2014, in the waning days of the Obama presidency, Brendan McTimber is a normal 24-year-old kid who spends his free time playing Left4Dead and devising the perfect strategy to survive the undead horde in the unlikely event that some sort of zombie virus were to be unleashed in his normal, suburban parent's neighborhood. He knows the best weapons, he knows which of his friends would fill which role in his survival group, and he's even got a quirky plan to ensure his party's continuous access to bacon and the hilarious new social phenomenon known as "advice animals." He told himself it was all fun and games, but he never *actually* expected the apocalypse to never come. But then one day, and then the next day, day after day, week after week, no virus ever mutates to seize control of the host's body and send them into an unstoppable rage, it doesn't spread unchecked until society collapses, and women still aren't impressed with the crossbow he got off of Amazon. Now Brendan is forced to cope with the stark reality of living in a society which is utterly devoid of thrilling adventure. Will he be able to survive the understanding that he is several years behind his peers in terms of personal development and simultaneously at the peak of his own physical and mental potential?

>>20775711
I'm trying to write a slasher movie and a magical girl series.

>>20774945
I have tried basing the character around the conflict but it didn't seem good enough.

Any Kings/Emperor story writers here? What do you think of this quote from Machiavelli?
>Titus, Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antonius, and Marcus had no need of praetorian cohorts, or of countless legions to guard them, but were defended by their own good lives, the good-will of their subjects, and the attachment of the senate.
Earlier he states that a throne inherited by birth always leads to ruin, whereas a throne adopted (gifted to) always leads to good.

In my book, I have a MC who is a third generation inherited king. I've seen research through history that suggests the most stable regency is a hereditary monarchy, so I've written it in that way. What do you think?

>>20776358
hot/cold motif is a bit too explicit, which becomes grating by the second paragraph.
you need more synonyms or merely implying /hinting, as "cold" should not show up 6 times in that short a passage.
I'd also trade out the heel kick for some facial description of happiness/joy.

>>20776524
thank you for your input

I agree the cold becomes too repetitive, I feel it too. I didn't do otherwise because I could not think of synonyms that would fit, or better, a physical description that would imply cold.

Are there any grammatical or awkward sentences? English is not my first language, thus I am always in need for a native speaker to note what doesn't sound natural (I take "everything" as a valid answer).

>>20776524
thank you for your input

I agree the cold becomes too repetitive, I feel it too. I didn't do otherwise because I could not think of synonyms that would fit, or better, a physical description that would imply cold.

Are there any grammatical errors or awkward sentences? English is not my first language, thus I am always in need for a native speaker to note what doesn't sound natural (I take "everything" as a valid answer).

>>20776562
not the same guy but
>the cold out the fridge travelled her body
here traversed may be a better word choice, or travelled over or travelled through through
Although I think it has a charm to use a word that's slightly off or inaccurate

As far as twists go, is having a character that is established as dead at the start show up again about 70% of the way through - having faked their own death, gone into hiding, very actually near died but had to recover in secret - a decent twist? Or would it be too obvious.

>>20776652
it's cliche

>>20776652
I should write a book with a twist

>>20776652
>a character that is established as dead

yeah, you'd have to disguise it somehow. i'm not sure how. maybe he comes back as a ghost or in a dream?
another way is to have one of your characters admit it's a cliche.
"Oh, that's not been done before," said Rodney.

>>20776679
That's what I was concerned with. Obvious twist is obvious, but the other option of teasing the obvious twist but the real twist is there is no twist seems equally cliche imo. I don't know what to think, since in the context of the original twist might work since it'd be after one of the main characters goes down a one-way path, but learning the dead character is still alive after basically signing up to die would make for a tragic and potentially interesting twist.
>>20776683
You should!
>>20776798
In response to the first anon who replied, I was thinking an alternate way to play with it is the main character starts imagining situations where the dead character comes back to them or dreaming about it, but later revealing no that character really is just dead.

>>20776562
>I could not think of synonyms that would fit
Pick a metaphor for the fridge to briefly allude to, then the rest will be easier.
what is its purpose for the scene exactly?
>Are there any grammatical errors
Laying -> the action
Lying -> the position/state
>awkward sentences?
I agree with the other anon, you need a better verb for the circuit association. But at that point, the fridge is an implicit source of cold, as you've already established where she is. So you could do something like
> From face to feet, she felt a chill tracing down her body; An eventual relief from the fever-like heat she had suffered all day.

>>20776860
>>20776575

>>20776652
It's so cliche, that readers don't even believe in character deaths anymore.

>>20776358
Not enough description don’t forget what it smells like and sounds like and whether there’s mustard in there or not

Reminder to submit your work to &amp! Also, check out the /&amp/ general thread if you want to discuss past issues or share your progress on your submission for the next one:

>>20775861

>>20776913
Wait what? I've been really out of the loop with modern lit.

>>20776971
>waging, reading and writing every waking hour with less than 6 hours of sleep a night
>no short stories to submit still
I'm gonna lose it. Goddam I have to finish this novel first and the first short story seems incomplete.

>>20777030
Why not submit a short excerpt from your novel?

>>20777044
I will consider it if I have anything I want to share. I may share cut content that is still canon. I need a still have a few months left because I dont polish chapters one at a time but drive through each draft like a circular racetrack.

>>20777001
Think about it. If a character has an unresolved arc or anything that means something to the story, why would you believe they're dead?
No one believed for a second that jon stark actually died.

>>20776652
Have them come back to life with no explanation.

>>20777123
Great thing is I already admit resurrection is possible in my story so it's not supposed to be a surprise that someone can come back, but why they come back.

>>20776358
It's hot here too. I liked the careful detail. My response/reinterpretation/theft:

Lizzie opened the fridge. There was a beer in there, somewhere, she knew it. Kneeling on hard tile she piled weeks of leftovers on the floor around her. She had suffered from the heat the whole slow day, sweated through her shirt like some kind of sick woman. Did they notice, did it show? She hadn't looked in the mirror. Now the cold was pure and blank, and she pushed her head into the space. The single can was on its side behind a bag of bruised greens.

Out on the terrace she sat on the boards, body slack, eyes closed. Press its sides against your cheek, no one's watching. It was a cold slick alien thing. It was an impossibly perfect cylinder made by alien scientists who communicated in a language of calm, half-audible hums. Hold it against the blood pumping under your neck.

A rush of music from a car way below warped in the thick air. Someone was laughing or shouting at someone else. She was thirsty. The crack and the hiss were louder than all the rest of the city. Like something from another civilization.

Soon leftovers began to drip in the kitchen behind her. Soon the can was empty, foam drying crusty on its rim. Maybe there was another in there, hidden. There had to be, she must have missed it. Maybe. She went in. She knelt down. She looked behind the greens.

how the fuck do you describe when someone is "whisper-yelling". Like, whispering but in an exasperated loud tone (but still trying to keep it somewhat hushed). Hissed?

>>20777265
maybe it's too cute, but I'd write something like "he at once raised and lowered his voice, accomplishing neither"—something to get across how self-defeating it is because that's the most important part

>>20774498
I'll be your fren

>>20777158
Not my cuppa, anon, sorry.
>>20777123
Fair. I think toying with the obvious twist and subverting it might work better in this case.

>>20777265
"said"

Caught up on all my editing work this week. Reply to this post if you've written anything you want me to look at.

>>20777265
You are overthinking it anon. A dialogue tAg never needs to be that complicated.

If you insist though you could say;

“Fuck off!” She whispered.

>>20775571
Just say "anonymous forums online" or W/e

>>20777265
Hissed is what I'd use, too.

>>20777265
> the fuck do you describe when someone is "whisper-yelling"

i think you did it in your question. if you're looking for just one word, that's going to be difficult
hissing might work. snakes hiss. idk
you could even use "whispered urgently"

I'm 99% sure this is an abandoned project, so I'm dragging its corpse into this thread to be done with it.

Title would have been something like 'My Real Life Eastern European Sex Castle Nightmare: Uncensored'.

It's a very goofy erotica story I was intending to upload to literotica. But - rookie mistake - the plot was way too ambitious to ever have a hope of finishing it.

The premise is that a guy travelling in an unnamed Eastern European Resident-Evil-8-type country wins a Dracula-like castle in a drunken card game with a baroness, and over the course of the story goes mad with power and turns the castle into an evil BDSM pleasure dungeon. (It's very slow burn and there's no proper sex scenes or even that much actual erotica in it as it stands.)

Hope someone enjoys it: https://pastebin.com/raw/2fwdR2DU

I'm 99% sure this is an abandoned project, so I'm dragging its corpse into this thread to be done with it.

Title would have been something like 'My Real Life Eastern European Sex Castle Nightmare: Uncensored'.

It's a very goofy erotica story I was intending to upload to literotica. But - rookie mistake - the plot was way too ambitious to ever have a hope of finishing it. I wrote about a fifth the intended scope.

The premise is that a guy travelling in an unnamed Eastern European Resident-Evil-8-type country wins a Dracula-like castle in a drunken card game with a baroness, and over the course of the story goes mad with power and turns the castle into an evil BDSM pleasure dungeon. (It's very slow burn and there's no proper sex scenes or even that much actual erotica in it as it stands.)

Hope someone enjoys it: https://www.klgrth.io/paste/suq8u/raw

>>20777493
Rewrite it as a short story, send it to me for cheap editing: we'll get it published in a Lovecraftian magazine. The concept is good and your writing is passable

>>20777505
Appreciate the offer (and hustle), but my heart's not in this one anymore. You know how it is.

>The (relative) quality of this thread

>>20776606
>>20776860
thank you both, I appreciate the time you took to write your feedback, and I will do my best to incorporate in future writings attempts

>>20777253
Thank you. I find your re-writing very clear and to the point. This part I liked a lot, it's an idea I had in my but I could not properly write
>Now the cold was pure and blank, and she pushed her head into the space. The single can was on its side behind a bag of bruised greens.

and also
>Soon leftovers began to drip in the kitchen behind her. Soon the can was empty, foam drying crusty on its rim. Maybe there was another in there, hidden. There had to be, she must have missed it.
I find it very vivid, it's great.

>>20776934
I'm not completely clear if you intended this to be sarcasm or not. I did, at some point, had the intention to write out the contents of the fridge to, though I was not sure how to incorporate them in a way that worked - I thought at, the description of the food inside could reveal something about the character, like for example I believe the fact that she had stored leftovers for weeks did.

The origin of that writing stems from an assignment in an online (coursera) creative writing course. The assignment was:

>Write a three-paragraph description of a person or a place. Show the reader what it looks like, smells like, feels like, sounds like, even tastes like.
>Try to put pressure on every word, every phrase. Make every sentence meaningful, sensible, and clear."

I find that overall it's not easy for me to do physical description, to show and don't tell.

>pic
the guy who asked the assignment, what he asked is belo, above is Frank Conroy's Language Pyramid which should be considered as a basis for writing

>>20777520
I know

I'm reading American Psycho and I noticed something pretty cool. In the earlier quarter of the book, paragraphs that mention murder or sex that Bateman is recalling is almost never at the end of the paragraph, it's the section right before the end to de-emphasize it as much as possible (the way rhetoric is typically done). There's this paragraph he does with three topics:
>Patrick observing his friends' offense when he recommends Pepsi over Coke when mixed with rum
>recalls a porno called "Inside Lydia's Ass" and describes the entire movie
>mentions that he got the new Stephen Bishop he gets on disc, cassette and album so he can have all three formats.
So it has this effect most of the time, when Patrick's calm, that murder and porn don't bother him nearly as much as trying to look normal and hip. Ellis does this a lot and even before you see him do anything criminal it really builds the case that something is deeply wrong with his mind and his desires aren't like other people. It's a nice trick for writing first person, or even in dialogue.

>>20773453
>Whatever happened to /ffa/ anon?
We’ve got a ‘Dread Pirate Roberts’ scenario here.

The first /ffa/ anon (editor anon) started the /faa/ threads in Jan 2021 and ran the first three volumes. After the release of Simian Deluxe he noted that he would be taking a break until 2022.

Cover-anon assisted in vol 1-3 threads, and in Nov 2021 agreed to compile submissions from /wg/ toward a 4th volume. He posted and lurked here for a few months on and off, but submissions tailed off.

New FFA anon attempted to revive the thread in early July (w/o the iconic badger pic) but got nothing. So he merged with /wg/ for the second time and has been compiling stories throughout July.

If you write it, they will come

>>20777835
Really interesting observation/technique. It could almost be like avoidance too if the 1st POV isn't comfortable dealing with something directly they throw out an idea and chatter on almost like a nervous speaker to cover the topic that terrifies them.

How do I make my stories longer? Is it to do with plot? How do I make a more complex plot? All my stories just have two characters interacting with each other. Here is an example of my writing.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B856CXNY

>>20778177
I'm an editor. Do you have an editor already, or is your book terrible? Maybe I could help

>>20773497
Look at all you wrote, a fart in an imageboard.
Apply yourself.

>>20773710
>All of this post
>Didn't catch the glaring "it's" in the first fucking line
>Still gives advice
Lmao

>>20773669
This is a pretty bad description of a sequence in Shin Gojira.

As a western writer attempting to penetrate the Japanese barrier of entry for manga/anime (or even a light Novel to keep it /lit) is blending concepts such as psychology, religion, and a western concept like power rangers something that would be feasible? or is it too much of a fan fic even if I have no intention of making it a fan fic.

>>20775609
>>20775680
>>20775692
>>20775706
>>20775717
Same seething schizo pseud.
Sure wish we had /pol/ style IDs here on /lit/.
>16otaku
Not a 4chan reference...it's an R&D division, not even a messageboard.
>sounds awful
Reviewanon gave it 4 out of 5 stars.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59217782-playtime-s-consequences
>sample
Same place it's always been...
https://reddit.com/comments/q1k9ps
>waah waah Reddit
But even Gardner posts on Reddit...
https://reddit.com/comments/j7poea

>>20778098
There is probably a more appropriate term for it but spending more sentences to talk about something then upending it with another idea in another clause is similar to Paralipsis which is essence drawing attention to something by acting like it doesn't matter (i.e. "Forget I said that.") One of the funniest ways this happens is if you are walking by two people gossiping, not realizing they are gossiping, when they start whispering and suddenly they become suspicious. It's hilarious.
And I was thinking more in general. Just showing how the flow of a sentence and the order you put information in has a big impact on how the reader perceives meaning. People used to say that to me a lot and I didn't really get what they meant but this is definitely an example of that.

>>20778240
FUCK.

>>20778013
>ffa-anon got nothing
No, I submitted 4 stories.

>>20775692
Let people decide for themselves.
Here is a sample of the seething schizo samefagging pseud's "writing":

>Slayer narrowly dodges The Hellhound’s fiery
>assault. The beast had missed. The Hellhound inhales
>deeply. It was going to try again. Killer jumps at
>The Hellhound, but is engulfed in the fiery blaze of
>its breath. Killer yelps, rolling around on the
>ground.
>Ripping off his shirt, Otto rushes over toward Killer.
>He places his shirt on Killer, trying to put out the
>fire. “Wew…that was a close one…” Otto says.
>It seemed his idea had worked. The boy had reacted
>quickly, and used his shirt to put out the fire.
>Killer was safe.
>“That was fast thinking” The Skeleton compliments.
>“Yeah…thanks” Otto says. He felt a bit chilly now that he was
>shirtless. But that was the least of the boy’s concern. He
>couldn’t just put his shirt back on, now that it was burnt from the
>flames. Otto was just going to have to go on without a shirt.

Imagine what it looked like BEFORE he started editing.

>>20778321
Please tell me you cut those sentences with linebreaks yourself on accident and it doesn't really look like that.

>>20776502
Bumping my question.
>Do you like hereditary or elective monarchies?

>>20778209
What are your credentials? I am wondering whether I could increase the word count of my stories satisfyingly by adding more characters with their goals of their own

>>20778242
I know

>>20778395
What is your business email address? I don't want to post mine in case they consider it advertising

MY WEBSITE FUCKING BROKE

WHO DID THIS?

>>20778450
it was me barry

>>20778365
Why not combine the worst of each? I haven’t seen that many fantasy HRE’s, which is a damn shame because, in spite of its frankenstein-like nature, the HRE was a very interesting Kingdom in terms of how it was run.

>>20778271
>>20778321
>bringing up Gardner to deflect
Pathetic show Boswell.

>>20773444

4 means death in china

Minimag issue04

submissions open for issue06

minimagsubmissions@gmail.com

>>20775097
i feel this

I've been purposely trying to write in first person as people who are nothing like me. But it always comes out as me wielding them like they're raggedy puppets

but maybe we're all just waves of energy and our notions of separation & independence are just failures to understand the universe. fuck it

>>20778532
I see you can't actually address any of the points, opting instead for gaslighting.

>>20778549
>>20775280
i came

>>20778563
rest of story @

minimag.space

>>20778568
>>20776971
stoked for the next issue. y'all make me embarrassed to even post

>>20778575
forgot image

>>20773498
https://becominghuman.ai/how-to-use-an-ai-story-generator-to-write-your-stories-3c81680ae1ee

>>20778579
minimag.space

minimagsubmissions@gmail.com

>>20778013
where can I find the list of prompts
I'm down to contribute

>>20778581
>The woman remembered the horrors she
>had seen in her battles: paint spilling
>everywhere, bob flying off into the
>air as if they were never joined together,
>to begin with.

No, not paint!
Bob, come back!
I'm not concerned.

>>20778598
Writing prompts last seen here >>20740107

>>20778460
fuck you barry you broke my website.

>main antagonists aren't introduced until about 150 pages in
Is this bad writing?They are constantly alluded to and the town the protagonists are in is flooded with refugees escaping the antagonists. There are rumors, often conflicting, but there are points where the protaganists do give exposition on the coming threat which I am not sure about because it feels like info dumping. Is it fine to have the antagonists introduced so late as long as there is plenty of build up and you see the results of their actions on the world -refugees, scouting parties razing villages, bodies floating from upriver and even an infiltrator who is captured but refuses to talk no matter how much he is tortured.

>>20778672
nothing is inherently good or bad

however some mountains are steeper than others

>>20778672
I would say that you are building him up.
If the villain showed up 150 pages in without build up then I would say it's poor writing.

>>20778622
>>there is a ship museum in Utah

gimme a week

>Libre doesn't find and replace, only find and add

>sent 4 queries for my magnum opus
>0 replies
I'm going to walk into NYC and shoot myself in times square and maybe then they'll pay attention to me

>>20778767
Send your shitty book to me and I'll edit it for a reasonable price

>>20778655
i'm not sorry either

>>20778787
I've already edited it ten fucking times. I said it's perfect. There is not one god damned weak sentence, typo, or self-contradiction in the entire two volume work. I have autism I'll have you know.

But i didn't write about american negroes' plight so i'm unwanted

>>20778672
This is fine, you've already introduced them in a way.

>>20778672
Not in my view. It depends what your story is about at its core. Does seeing and hearing directly from the antagonist convey the experience you want readers feeling - the emotional essence of the story? If so yea you probably goofed. But it might be that the antagonist is more of a conceptual opponent than an in scene one.

Example that comes to mind is Farthest Shore by Le Guin as an example where we meet the antagonist like 2 chapters before the end and it makes sense.

>>20778734
Speaking of Libre, does anyone know what the fuck this thing is and how to get rid of it?

Its in the middle of my book fucking with the formatting. Text goes into it and it breaks lines mid-paragraph. I deleted all the text yet this fucking thing still remains. I sure as fuck didn't insert it, and it can't be clicked on, selected, highlighted, right clicked. What the fucking shit even is this thing and how do I delete it?

Day 52 editing
Chapter 69 short but gooderer
>>20778912
You need to zero out your HDD and install Gentoo
>>20774465
Haven't found that problem yet, maybe its cos I haven't converted the .doc I'm working from yet.

Diogenes here again, with a more final draft of Ninaa Ootakii. If any of the anon's that took the time to write the critique in the image is still around, I'd love to hear what you think of its current state.

>>20779085
shit, forgot the link

https://drive.proton.me/urls/81KDMH0S3W#LOHN36SjqoCB

Friendly reminder that free software is only free if you don't value your time. Libre Office is a nightmare.

>>20779122
noted

>>20779122
I am not installing W*ndows, M$ , please go back to >>>/g/

>>20773444
How does one write compelling characters that the audience cares about?
All you really need are good characters. There's lots of shit books/stories that would've just disappeared into mediocrity, if not for their entertaining cast. The Netflix animated show High Rise Invasion is one. The show is such vapid garbage. There's at least one camera angle that showcases the protagonist's meaty thighs and white underwear. And and one point, the second main character gets her shirt ripped and for the rest of the show, she just hangs around with her bra out. But I still watched it all the way through. The two characters and their relationship was enough to keep me hooked to an otherwise terrible show

>>20779090
>>20779085
Diogenes from Backyard Radio?

>>20778767
>only 4
Sweetie, try an order of magnitude higher. If that doesnt work then work on the pitch, your intro or get an editor since everyone's too busy to accept a manuscript they have to actually work on.

>>20779626
>compelling characters
>inspired by Jap porn bait cartoons

>>20778767
Set your expectations low. You have any idea how many would be authors are sending out their shit on a daily basis? It's a numbers game with a good amount of luck involved. Also like you said certain places are looking for certain types of stories.

>>20779823
he has some truth though. Japs are really good at making endearing characters that carry an otherwise bad story.

I will use DF legends reader to get inspiration for characters in my novel. How valid is that approach?

I’m so annoyed with “__ of the __” that I vow to omit “of” from my writings entirely.

>>20780031
>smells of ____
I dont care if this is more correct than "smells like" when you want to describe the literal smell. No matter what, the term evokes neckbeards in my mind and makes me cringe. Shan't.

I self-published my poetry book. Is it pathetic if I buy a paperback version of it and give it to my oneitis (my ex)?

>>20780075
No. I fully intend to give my oneitis a copy of my first novel to read even though we haven't seen each other in 9 years and she's probably forgotten I ever existed.

>>20780075
If you self-published it on Amazon, you can order "author copies" at a steep discount (i.e. the cost of printing).

>>20779626
Sex appeal helps, yeah.
Put a cute anime girl on your cover to give your sales a boost.
>>20780075
>>20780083
Don't forget to include an ear or a finger or something.

>>20780031
If your book title is any of the following
>(noun) of the (noun)
>(noun) of (adjective) and (adjective)
>(noun) of (noun)
You are a subhuman who has no original thoughts

>>20780117
"Balls Above the World"

One must consider that Hirohito wanted no bomb to be dropped. One must foresee that today, of all days, is crucial to stopping the bomb. One must see in the past that the bomb is total annihilation and remember that today is the day to stop it. One must wish an end to the third world war; one must not want to see our best go out to kill theirs. One must spread word of Hirohito and his part in the last war. One must tell all today to stop it. One must imagine Hirohito as an antinuclear hero; and one must consider him friend of Zoroaster.

t. Quasichan

Editorchad is caught up on his current projects. Anyone else interested? Advice is free, but a revision will cost a nominal fee

>>20780117
>(preposition) the (noun) a (noun)
>(number) (noun)
>(noun) and (gerund)

>>20780139
Is it advisable to send a copy to beta readers and an editor at the same time and fill the editor on any beta reading comments? I know I can work on something else as I wait but I'd like to not sit through several rounds of feedback and editing. If I can save time.

>>20780163
Don't use "beta readers." Get an editor. If you send your piece to me, I'll mark up the first few pages for free. If you want to continue, we can work something out.

>>20780115
>ear or a finger
Nonsense, that's what you send to politicians whose policies you dislike. What you send to your oneitis is romantic poetry and watercolor paintings of them nude.

>>20780174
What's wrong with beta readers? I didnt want them to edit it was more gauge the response from various kinds of readers to see if Im coming across.

>>20780215
You need one person who understands your voice and what you're trying to achieve. Beta readers are like the focus groups: they reduce your work to the lowest common denominator. It's better if you hand over your script to an editor instead. I've seen books that look like 4chan posts come back from editing as salable novels

103000 words. Gosh golly gee that's a lotta crap. In the chapter I'm writing today, one of my MC's is on a date. They walk by a pond, see a kid throwing stones at ducks, the girl tries to make him stop, the kid's dad starts chimping out at them and both the MC and the dad end up taking a dip in the pond, which leads to the girl inviting him over to her place to get dried up.
The path to scoring is long and arduous.

>>20780215
He's a freelance editor trying to shill you his services. Beware.

The writing world is crawling with people who will make your book "maybe" more publishable for a price - no guarantees and no refunds.

>>20780174
Very disappointed to see you doing this hard sell bullshit editor anon, you were always pretty benign up until this point.

>>20780375
Sorry, but seeing the Call of the Crocodile shills drove me clinically insane

Incidentally, Gardner, I would fix your literary abortion for a nominal fee

>>20780375
>Beware

It's proofreading, not rape. Go outside

>>20780075
>Is it pathetic if I buy a paperback version of it

lot's of people do this

>>20780075
>Is it pathetic if I buy a paperback version of it
of course n-
>and give it to my oneitis (my ex)?
dear god dude YES get a fucking grip

>>20779881
>I will use DF legends reader to get inspiration
i say anyway you can get inspiration is fine
you could even use it for niche marketing

>>20780375
I was going to get someone else I was just after free advice.

>Amazon discounts my book $1.50 for no reason again
I really don't know how I should feel about this, but okay.

What is /wg/'s opinion on Microsoft Word's editor? I'm used to using older versions of Word, but for my job I started using the online web-app version of it with the built in editor. It's amazing to me that Word has evolved past just checking spelling and simple grammar to checking for clarity, perspective, formality, etc. Do you all think this will impact writers by nudging them to write in a certain style? Do you use it, if you use O365?

At work, I really only use it for writing technical documents.

>>20781104
better than grammarly and hemingway but worse than a human

How do i get more kenp reads?
My poetry book has only two reads. Also could someone critique it please?

Did any of you anons contribute to any of the /lit/ collaborative fiction projects (Hypersphere, Coronameron, etc)?

>>20781158
I had a story in the Coronameron, it was written in 45 minutes without a single proper editing pass because I submitted it at the last minute and so there's embarrassing typos and mistakes that make at least one sentence incoherent.
It's the first thing I wrote that saw print and I have a copy of the book just so I can warm my heart on those cold nights of rejection.

>>20781158
I have two in a the flash fiction edition. Not sure which. I wish I had done something for hypersphere though.

>>20780176
That will never get her attention you idiot.
Send her a dead cat with a note that says, "I killed it because it was beautiful like you.

>>20781261
And because it's a cat and cats have 9 lives, the cat will resurrect once at her house and then you'll have someone on the inside.
Good thinking.

>>20781261
You still writing "Balls," Sponge? Tell the class how well we worked together. They're planning to vote me off the island

Is stealing adjectives from online resources for my college essay plagiarism. I want to take 3 adjectives from a similar essay. Stealing adjectives can't be plagiarism right? Who owns adjectives.

Thoughts on using AI to write for you?

>>20780331
Why is that in the story?

>>20773941
Who cares, just start writing. Start describing a location. After that everything should come naturally. Once the characters show up and you figure out who they are they start writing themselves.

>>20781291
Are you editor-chan or the Filipino prostitute I had gay sex with for research?
Either way, I can voucher for this anon.

And it's "Sange"

63 more days. I'm still writing. Maybe 4th draft done on time.

>>20781496
Editorman liked that.

See? I'm not a shill! Just a threat to society

How often do you have to publish in a platform like Royal Road? The most I think I can realistically manage is once a week. I can write 2000 thousands words in a day but the next few will be spent editing and story fixing.
Yet I see fuckers on Royal Road publishing every day, several thousand words chapters. Then I got curious and read some of them, most of those are crap.
But it begs the question, I go for quantity? And forgo quality? I don’t think I can do that bros. And if I keep my 1 week schedule, am I going to make it?

>>20781530
>>20780438
>It's proofreading, not rape.
If I pay extra, can it be both?

>>20781610
Or neither!

Maybe not the best thread for the question but I was wondering when you write, if you do, do completely let your hands loose and write in terrible prose and later refine it or think about and craft every paragraph.

>>20781653
No proofreading, or rape?
Just what ARE you selling, sir?

>>20781699
Rough draft, just keep the words flowing.
Good writers are good editors.
You can do it the other way around, but you'll never finish anything.

>>20781699
It's ok to write as a mode of thinking, as long as you understand that only your school teachers appreciate being able to see your thinking process in your writing. Other people expect you to have already thought before you started. Just understand that that's what you're doing: thinking, and any artifact of that process needs to be removed from the final text—best rewritten entirely with a firm grasp of what you're trying to achieve.

>>20781699
i try for something in the middle, but the former is probably more standard for a reason.

Want to do a scene where my character is out hunting on the island and encounters a weird supernatural creature but what to make it ambigious and show that he is slowly snapping, and losing touch with reality. What's a fun creature I can shoehorn into this?

>>20781699
Some people do the former, some do the latter, most do somewhere between. The only "wrong" way to do it is the way that ends in you not finishing/doing anything.

>>20781849
a dog barking.

>>20781749
not him but wtf? I always thought that the later (craft every paragraph) was the more common and it's the main reason why my output in writing is very little whenever i write, by the time i make 2-3 pages of nice prose I become exhausted and stop writing

Am I wrong?

https://lordbozzel.tumblr.com/post/690746144310034432/the-traditionalist-july-25th-2022

>>20781922
Then when you get further into the story and realize those pages have become irrelevant or need to be rewritten you will not have the willpower to kill your babies and stop moving forward all together.
You are living your life incorrectly.

>>20781934
I've cut entire chapters and entire characters so speak for yourself.
I'd rather do it right the first time even if it's more effort up front. Stop being lazy.

>>20781699
I craft carefully. I'd rather get 500 quality words a day than 2000 words of vomit, most of which will get axed and the rest rendered almost unrecognizable during my edits.

>>20781922
Most professional writers you'll talk to or look up, will prefer raw WPM over initial quality. They'd rather crank 20k words in a day, and do most of the writing in editing. Which is fair, because you really don't want to spend a week on a single sentence/paragraph you'll trash in a procrastination edit session anyway.

>>20781849
A garloid.

>>20781925
Just skip it, dipshit

>>20781925
Couldnt even squeeze out 1k words?
Get a twitter, jesus.

>>20782122
I am going to write a fantasy short story about a Garloid farmer going to market.

I will upload this short story, second draft by tomorrow.

Forcing myself to write.

>>20781699
If you try to craft every sentence you will either never finish or you will force yourself to accept a piece of junk in the end because you will be too reluctant to edit.

Until you’ve gotten to the end of the story you don’t even know if it’s any good. You don’t even know what you have to change and believe me there will be entire chapters you have to delete. You would be a fool to invest all that time in perfecting chapters that in the end have to be deleted.

>>20782062
thanks!

>>20781849
unicorn, illogical because it's a horse on an island, strange but not out of this world because it's a pretty vanilla supernatural creature, and yet unnerving because of its connection to his mental state declining rather than him entering some splendorous world of magic. he could put a glass bottle over a tree branch to mark a way and then get lost a little while later and mistake the glint of the glass bottle blinding him for a unicorn's horn

New thread >>20783599

>>20773921
>honestly start writing
This.
And consider writing short stories first.
But you'll never get anywhere if you don't practice.

>>20783604
This thread hadn't even reach the bump limit.

>>20783618
Imagine that...an anarchist message-board where no one follows the rules.

>>20782025
How many books have you written?
I will not disclose the exact number on here but I am in the double digits.
8 hours in the writing room every day.
That might be a lie though.
I will leave it to the viewers at home to decide.

>>20773587
Embrace it and become great

>>20774058
That's pretty crazy. The good kind. Most I've ever done is like *maybe* 2 continuous hours.

>>20781925
>Traditionalist
stop using that word, you fool.

>>20783789
Fuck off Sponge.

>>20781485
Because both of my MC's take an unwanted dip into a body of water in consecutive chapters. It's symbolic for their baptism into a new phase in their lives.
And because I want it to be in the story.

>>20781158
I wrote some of the only serious annotations in Moby Dick to try and temper the retardation with genuine thoughts. In hindsight, it was out of place

>>20779796
nope, not me. Different Diogenes.

I'm writing a low-fantasy story set in bronze age mesopotamia, based or cringe? Fantasy is my favourite genre but I'm dead sick of medieval settings with dragons and elves.

>>20784531
sounds based. It's a difficult setting to write in because of most of the things we usually use in fiction (knight, lord, castle etc) didn't exist then so you gotta do more research. try reading soldier of the mist.

>>20784541
Thanks for the rec, I'm currently reading Fifth Head and it's really amazing. I was planning to start New Sun right after but I may take your advice

>>20783789
Sounds like you have potential to be the next F Gardner.

>>20784556
Gardner’s work unironically feels a lot like David Lynch.

>>20784556
>F Gardner.
Who?

i found a short phrase describing a certain situation i want you to write some short stories from, is there some specific thread i should post it in (here?) or can i make a new thread with it?

>>20784645
The guy who wrote this

>>20785057
the name, that cover, it sounds stupid familiar. i wouldnt have seen it here, but if not here then where!?!??!

>>20780031
"Lord the Rings"?