/lit/ - Literature

A reminder that these people are the gatekeepers of modern literature and that the greatest writers of all time would simply not get published today.

>>21029868
>become obsessed with shit like passive vs active voice
I really don't get the hate for passive voice. Constant use of active voice is draining and loses its impact through overuse, while mingling it with passive voice can really expand your prose.

>>21029887
Anybody got any advise for defining a characters personality? I have a rough idea in my head but my ideas are a mess and I'm struggling making the personality concrete. If anybody has a formula or a set of questions to ask/answer to define the character that would be helpful

Is actually making a fictional story for adult audiences possible?

How can I stop second-guessing myself when editing? If I was just writing I could wordvomit and solve it later, but that's not an option here

I only have a couple of chapters left to revise in my book. Although a lot of the revisions ended up being full on rewrites. Is that bad? What do I do afterwards?

>>21030024
Start a new book. Or post it to Royalroad and if it gets a following, write a sequel.

>>21029924
Your character is not really knowable until you have written your story. You will discover who they are by the choices they make, what they do and what they say

>>21029903
I never understood how can book publishing become so much gate keeping

>>21029903
>>21030062
It frustrates me that otherwise good people can't see that exluding certain races/groups while handling others with kid gloves is fucked up. Why is it accepted and why does questioning it get you lumped in with hardline /pol/tards?

>>21030062
The whole “muh gatekeep” shit is retarded. I know you Zoomers and Boomers don’t know your fucking history from your taint, but come the fuck on. We literally live in an age with the easiest access to writing/publishing, with the easiest ability to be published. You do realize that right?

For many years the written word was nothing something that most had access to. Many were fucking illiterate to begin with. But those that could read and write often only did so in an official capacity. You’re average plebeian wouldn’t have that access to that shit since it was so expensive. This is generally the trend from cuneiform to veal bound books.

Then the printing press hit. Sure it increased the prevalence of the published word, but do you think Joe Schmo had access to it? Fuck no. It was mostly the rich and the upper class that could afford to be published with it. Even all the way into the 1900s were the rich the only ones published. The industrial revolution shook things up quite a bit but not enough. It changed around the Great Depression era however. But typewriters and large printing capabilities were still locked behind those with (some) money.

The internet changed all that and now you can publish your schizophrenic post online for free. Like Jesus fuck. You have so many more options now a days than you would have even 40 years ago. Get bent with that shit.

>and why is gatekeeping
Because way more than half of what is written is pure trash. Garbage. 86% of people think they can write a book. You think they can? Fuck no.

>>21029903
Go back to /pol/ you fucking waste of a yardarm. You don’t get published for a myriad of reasons, least of all because of these people. And even if you were upset at it, go make you’re own press than you hoser. Go sell chapbooks and zines and do something with yourself. Or, bitch out and become a laughing stock with a vanity press.

Gate keep this ass

how the fuck do you come up with names that don't sound retarded?
after about 30 minutes of struggling I named my 3 epic cool artificial intelligence characters: Declan, Tersa and Crux.

>>21030124
Have you considered naming your characters, you know, with real names?

I'm stuck. What's a better scenario?
>Scenario A
Team wanders around a temple, and one by one, they get snatched up and killed
>Scenario B
Team camps in the main room, just waiting for the monster to come to them.

>>21030132
well I want them to be special since they're supposed to be super powerful and control major parts of the world. it feels weird to have an AI called alex or melissa or john.

>>21029914
Amateur writers overuse passive voice and commonly make mangled sentences. So their editors and agents suggest removing it as an easy way to improve.

But then, people adopt it as a religious stricture instead of helpful piece of advice.

>>21030121
Good point lol

>>21030124
My characters are usually named Jim and Donna for the better part of a draft before I can come up with something. I've always struggled with this in video games too. I'd be spend the majority of character creation starring at the name field. You can use name generators to find appropriate names for different settings with varying results.

>>21030138
Scenario A sounds like it could be padded out into a longer suspense sequence while B sounds like a fast and punchy action climax. What do you feel like writing?

>>21030141
Titles denote status, not names.

>>21030141
I think those are better AI names than the one you came up with. Except maybe Crux, I like the sound of Crux.
>oyo crux my nibba I need more google power over here

>>21030152
Neither. I just want the MC to fight the monster already, but I have to set up the meeting versus said monster.

>>21029903
>the greatest writers of all time would simply not get published today.
The greatest writers of all time tended not to get published in their own days either...

>>21030166
Camp out and kill it then!

How do I know when my book is ready to be published?

>>21030178
I got a better idea. I'm just going to make one of the members a monster as well, and it's joined by two other monsters so it becomes a 3 on 5 battle where everyone but the MC dies, who then gets saved by her sexy old boss who also dies. Leaving said MC going super Saiyan and kills the remaining monster.

That's Isekai power fantasy enough right?

>>21030138
Scenario B

>>21030124
Use a phonebook.

Male MC or female MC in a dark fantasy?

Premise:
In order to protect their own lives, humans begin grafting machines and weapons to their bodies, becoming cyborgs so they can fight ogres, goblins, trolls, and other fantasy monsters that use magic. Main character is one such warrior cyborg, and the story is him grafting more and more machines until he becomes brother eye ruling over all.

>>21030181
There is no real way to tell. But the general rule is that you should be confident in it, and should have gone through enough proofing that you don’t want to look at it much anymore.

If you are looking for more concrete steps; write you’re book, edit it yourself, get someone to read it, take feed back, edit it again, throw it at an editor/trusted authors, get feed back, edit it again, repeat as many times as needed, then edit on the stylistic level, then finally copy edit it.

Then start browsing agents.

>>21030239
Male feels a little overdone. Female gives you some interesting angles, becoming dependent on the machines for strength which is wanting as a female.

>>21030239
Why is your fantasy world heteronormative and treats gender as a binary when it's a spectrum? Make your MC a hermaphrodite

>>21030254
That's a great idea. Starts off as a man, but as more machines graft on , he becomes gender neutral, and can be asked if he was human at all.

is there a dedicated place where we can share links to things we've written to get critique from the anons on this board? id like to share a concept im getting started but dont know if it would be appropriate to just drop the link in a random thread.

>>21030284
>>21029887

>>21030291
so its fine if i just drop the link to it then? if anyone wants to give some critique here it is
https://www.wattpad.com/1271234114-the-four-wind-swordsmen

>>21029887
Need help with new fantasy race.
I want something semi-unique that isn't going to attract furry fuckers or dragon dildoer's.
Any suggestions?

>>21030327
how about a race of ancient humans, infected by spores of a long lost mushroom, that caused them to mutate into a mixture of man and plant.

>>21030336
Fungi =/= plants

>>21030327
Just go by star wars rules and make everything ugly as fuck.

>>21030353
thats why they dont become fungi, the spores just induce mutation and causes them to become plant people. its not a well developed or thought through idea or anything, just spitballing, if somone likes it they can just flesh it out a little more.

>>21030239
Female. Unless writing for Royalroad, then do make instead.

>>21030299
Look I’m slightly drunk so take what I say with a grain of salt.

What you got is a good start, and you’ve got some interesting characters to work with. Like with all writing it does need refining. The biggest question you should ask yourself is what is your story. Where are you going with these characters? You have a collection of stone cold badasses but not much else around them. Where are we starting and where are heading?

The second big thing is world building. We have a sense of who these characters are, but we don’t know much about the world. We get hints at it, but we don’t have much to go on. Is it fantastical? Is there magic? How does it work? Does it intersect with technology? Etc etc.

Finally while this first bit is good to see if readers are interested, it’s heavily exposition based. Heavily. It can, at times, read like a character sheet. So flex your dialogue and prose where you can. Don’t just tell us how cool they lose guys are, show us.

Finally don’t worry about who is or isn’t reading it. Having an audience in mind is great and all, but you should be writing for yourself. What you want to read. Others will find you in time.

>>21030299
>>21030452
Like I said I’m drunk I forgot to mention

I like Jokuls ability to slowly drop the temperature of the things around him as he fights. This can create some super interesting dynamics in future fights. The runes on his armour can make for quite the interesting image as well which is neat.

William as the youngest of the swordsmen is great too as it gives him room to grow as a character. It would also be great to see how the new gaurd interacts with the old.

Teya is an interesting character as well. I always love characters who come from a place out of time, and who’s civilization has long since passed. His dead god is quite interesting and the potential for a concious weapon is a great idea if you decide to go there.

Hope all this helps

>>21029903
Okay, and?

I like to subvert expectations in a unique way. I don’t do the opposite of what the audience is expecting regardless of logic, but rather set up something that initially seems like a no-brainer only for you to realize you’re wrong.
For example, who wins?
>A fucker who can extend its limbs, spew parasite larva, heal from wounds, and create soldiers from things it’s worms infest.
Or
>A big anteater.
The latter wins because all the fancy powers in the world won’t save you from getting split clean in half by those fucking claws

>>21030336
>>21030357
Ugly shroom peeps could work i guess, but it's not exactly original.

>>21030510
That's not a twist or a subversion. You have given us two options, anteater and fucker, and however likely, we know both could win. A twist would be a third option we didn't expect, like the fight was all a dream.

My Royalroad story needs a magic progression system that's not LitRPG, any suggestions what to copy from instead?

https://losetouchcompletely.gumroad.com/l/20192021

put this out recently, could use some feedback on the formatting

>>21030582
All magic is based on familiars. Familiars hatch from eggs and each egg has specific conditions required to hatch it. The more eggs you hatch the more familiars you have, as the familiars are like baby birds and imprint on the first thing they see when they come out of the egg.
The hero has to obtain and hatch these eggs to grow more powerful.

>>21030600
I already have a "system" for getting magic, what I need is to know exactly what that looks like. What ability does the protagonist get first, second, etc?

>>21030631
Well I can't help you there. I'll just take my eggs and put them to some other use.

I decided to finally make a substack and post the philosophical scribbles I've been posting to 4chan over the years in a more permanent place. Not reposts or copy-pastes of posts I've made here - new stuff, just not scribbled on a wall that gets washed.
It's philosophy mixed with allegory.

https://froggum.substack.com/p/return-of-the-crab?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2

What do you guys think?

>>21030632
Maybe I'll steal them for an alternative sidegrade magic system. Your ideas are now mine.

>>21029903
Literally just self-publish

Opinions on having an anonymous, genderless MC?

I want to introduce and explore the setting of my novel (Scottish Police force) to the reader through the eyes of a new recruit, allowing the reader to insert themselves and I think that not specifying the name or even gender of the MC would facilitate that.

Supporting players I intend to make compelling enough to compensate for lack of character exploration / growth in the MC. They are merely a window into the world for the reader to peer through.

Thoughts?

>>21030299
>>21030299
You can't start a story with a wikipedia entry.

>>21030739
Pretty retarded idea, anon

>>21030708
What I don't understand is why PoC are so determined to be exploited by the publishing companies that have historically ignored them. Now they can self publish with no gatekeepers.

>>21030739
First person perspective?

>>21030739
It could work. I think Robbe-Grillet's Jealousy does something like this -- although he does it to highlight the spooky absence of the narrator from the world he's narrating. And of course in Moby Dick Ishmael famously vanishes from the story for most of the book, once he's brought us aboard.

But I think you underestimate most people's powers of imaginative projection if you believe they would need a totally anonymous character to be able to get fully immersed in the world. Most people don't experience the world from the perspective of anonymous, transparent ghost-beings; they view the world from within the particular body and personality they're stuck in, with their particular problems and attitudes -- so leaning into the unique situation of a character can actually help identification, instead of preventing it.

(If you do use this technique, you should have the anonymous main character actually be the serial killer the police force is trying to track down. Don't have it explicitly stated in the narration, but leave enough clues along the way for the reader to puzzle it out.)

>>21030752
Thank you.

>>21030764
Yes.

>>21030779
Thanks for your response.

I would suggest that just because the character isn't explicitly identified or described, they can still have a perspective and a personality. Thoughts?

No serial killer in this one. A suicide in the conclusion.

>first paragraph of my story

David wondered where the highway had gone. There was now a dirt road conveying his Beamer into the night. He must have zoned out and taken the wrong exit. The rear view was the same as the front view. Dirt road receded into darkness, and barbwire ran along either side.

>>21030121
>"hey guys, the industry is openly discriminating against y-"
>REEEEEEEEEE SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UPPPPPP
I've noticed this is the typical reaction from cowards too afraid to face reality.

>>21031166
You were right to delete this.

>>21031252

why? mean

>>21031231
nigga just lie about who you are and use pen names.
It's like you people don't even know the history of the medium

Anon wants to be a writer. Every morning he sits down with a coffee, hovers a pen over some paper and stares into space. He has been doing this for ten years. I have been watching him through the window the entire time. He writes almost nothing, and what he does write is awful. Absolute dogshit. It is high time he saved us both the shame of it all and put the fucking pen down. I really am sick of it, and I walk right up to the window, heave it open and climb inside. ‘Listen, you,’ I say, snatching the pen out of his hand. He puts up his hands and stares at me, wide-eyed. I point it at him. ‘You can’t think,’ I say, 'you can’t write. You are a failure. Give up.’

>>21031231
I self-pub and self-market and I'm actively working with other creatives. Long term plan is to help build a new industry.

Don't complain about the evil in the world, do something about it.

And support your local authors.

>>21031231
>>21031361
>It's just a little competition, sure maybe some favoritism by other groups
>WHITE MEN NEED NOT APPLY
>that's right, I publish under a woman's name - but only because I'm so clever! Just stop your complaining and pretend you're a woman like me
(You are here)
>sure I take estrogen, cut off my balls, and am chest feeding my adopted niglet as I type this but it's all just to keep up appearances so that I can get published (gotta hustle). Can you all just STOP saying it's unfair? In 10,000 BC they didn't even have books you guise

Legitimately the voice of the oppressed, the quisling. The battered spouse always has a million justifications to preserve their own sense of dignity and obscure the ugly compromises that linger like a horse pill in their throat.

Hey /lit/erally kys, anyone planning to do nanowrimo this year or is that only for women and the gays now?

>>21031474
>that's right, I publish under a woman's name
women who didn't have victim complexes used to publish under men's names when it was easier for men to get published.
you're more of a part of the problem than you realize: you find it desireable to be the victim, instead of taking the simple and obvious steps to turn the situation to your advantage. You're a proud loser.

>>21031447
Anon wants to be a writer. Every morning he sits down with a coffee, hovers a pen over some paper and stares into space. He has been doing this for ten years. I have been watching him through the window the entire time. He writes almost nothing, and what he does write is awful. Absolute dogshit. But he doesn't give up. He keeps trying. He doesn't put the pen down. I can't get sick of it because he never gives up. I walk right up to the window, heave it open and climb inside. ‘Listen, you,’ I say, smiling brightly at the pen in his hand. He stares at me, wide-eyed. I point at him. ‘You can do it,’ I say, 'you can write. You aren't a failure. Don't give up.’

>>21030739
that's fine and not entirely new. The a rose for emily and the brotgers karamazov essentially do a version of this

>>21029887
anybody here wants to help me with writing my visual novel

>>21031568
I can. Whatchu got?

>>21031510
I have more novel-lenfth stories than I know what to do with. They should do a nanowrimo for editing.

>>21031582
it's nothing serious
https://tlomdev.itch.io/attention-hero
you can reach me if you like that

>>21031535
Based. If I dont succeed at first, I know my eventual backlist of publications will find readership even if it takes my whole life. The real question I have for myself is how many years of work do I want to put into my more ambitious attempt several books down the line?

>>21031535

thanks guy I needed that.

>>21031529
The reason women don't have to publish under male pen names anymore is because enough people had the courage to admit that was wrong and strive to change it.

You are a coward. A spineless worm so utterly incapable of resistance that you'd sooner cut your dick off than say "Maybe I shouldn't have to do this just to viably compete in the industry..."

>>21031662
Woman using male pen names is what made people realize that the bias was silly in the first place, but you can keep projecting. you're still the one whining uselessly on an image board while I'm the one getting published. I've also noticed you're desperate for other people to fix the problem but you won't do anything about it yourself.

>>21031589
I mean, you could just do it with editing instead of writing.

>>21031594
That is some jank ass art. Normally I'd find that charming but this just makes me uncomfortable.

>>21030138
The question is do they know a monster is present. What type of monster is it, and what tricks does it possess that allow it to gain the numerical advantage.

>>21031679
Only if they rename it to NaNoEdMo instead.

>>21031676
I've been getting published under my real name since I was nineteen. It's made things much more difficult for me (to list a few: higher submission fees, shorter reading windows, explicitly excluded from some journals altogether, magazines openly boasting they're less interested in publishing stories from people who look like me, etc.), but when I do sell a story, I know I did so on the merit of my art, not because I lied to pass a quota.

Not only are you a spineless coward, you're also a hack fraud with no honor, no talent, and no pride in his work.

>>21030024
This is good. You should do at least one full re-write; it will always make your book better. Then you can revise.

>>21031685
uncomfortable how?

>>21031710
>I've been getting published under my real name since I was nineteen
ah shit, I've been arguing with a jew this whole time. Sorry for taking you seriously

>>21031535
Anon wants to be a writer. At 6 PM on Friday he will sit down to write the chapter where one of the main characters is offered a promotion at McDonald's while another is in the same mall, discovering a new exciting arcade game called Polybius.
Anon loves writing. He will drink tea and listen to psychill. Anon is a happy boy. He will have to do some schoolwork during the weekend, but most of it will be spent writing.

>>21031733
It's the kind of art you'd see in an H-game made by someone suffering from severe mental illness—not the fun type of mental illness either. More the type that involves killing animals in a tard rage.

So like I have a two part prologue and each one is 5,000 words but it’s all really important world building? But I’ve been told to get rid of that but then how I’ll the reader know the setting?

>>21031746
damn, it's not even hentai but what games are you talking about for reference

>>21031510
im following the 1500 a word plan, and am at 30k. I started about 2 weeks ago. NanoWriMo was what motivated me.

My book is shit btw

>>21031754
None in particular. I just have a fight or flight response to your art that is tuned to some primal understanding of the situation that can't be articulated.

>>21030121
Gatekeeping is good and necessary. That doesn't mean all filters are good for literature or ethical.

You can screech about /pol/ and plug your ears and be a namefagging little pseudoliterate (go make you're own press than, indeed), but you're left with your own lack of concern about an openly racist industry.

That said, I generally agree that whining about it does little. So I publish my stuff anyway. I get more rejections than transjenga neurodiverse latinx communists, but these white women will not keep me out in the long run.

I'm not even sure I'm capable of creating something unique and original at this point. It's so fucking hard and I have no one to talk to. I have no idea how people even come up with a "creative process", nothing I try works for me.

>>21031867
Stop crying about it and write more. Originality is impossible so stop trying. Focus on quality instead. Be genuine.

>>21031874
>Originality is impossible so stop trying.
whatever helps you sleep at night

>>21031874
Originality is impossible, but unique isn't. I don't think I can stand out from anyone else. I'm too insecure to have my own voice. I can't figure out how to begin with anything. I was trying to come up with characters for a shitty half-baked idea I have and all I could do was attempt to build composites.

>>21031878
You will never have an idea that a million people haven't had before you. You are not that special. Crippling yourself and not writing just because you can't do something impossible is not going to help you.

>>21031800
Not any of these anons but this reminds of an Ezra Pound poem, where he's recalling advice on "how to be successful" at writing. Wish I could be like him and just breakaway from it all, be myself and not give a shit about what the industry expects. I am one push away from dissociating completely and dedicating the latter half of my writing career to schizologu.

>>21031886
>You will never have an idea that a million people haven't had before you.
I've had many

>>21031867
There's nothing new under the sun. Everything is a rip off of something else. Your imagination works the same way an AI does where it just takes a bunch of stuff in you saw and mix them together.

So to take advantage of that:

1. Get PureRef or similar tools.
2. Put a bunch of stuff you like on it -- photos, drawings, movie screenshots, vidya, cars, actors, fashion, etc.
3. Stare at them. Your brain will automatically come up with a bunch of random characters, scenes, or even plot ideas.
4. Write them down and pick whichever ideas excites you.
5. Now, the hard part is turning your idea into a book. Nobody can help you on this one.

>>21031899
Not one.

What are the best ways to show that a character is unusually lucky/unlucky? MCs generally do really well so there should be something that sets them apart, right?

>>21032027
they get a book published

>>21032081
Woah, I don't want to be THAT unrealistic.

>>21032027
he's black but he has a tiny penis

>>21032122
That's the average nigcel spamming shitted threads though

Wrote some poetry:

News so low you can barely hear it
saying:
Promises.

Static singing and a voice, speaking quiet
word after word after word unheard
each a promise.

all metal, on it the gray sky hope we'll never move again

Clouds lit by an orange border in the distance. Blocked by trees.

they're going home.
run through the cold and cut through the sunset
we're going, home.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BFTWLL86

Yay!!! My new cover is online! Going to need pastebin anon to update the link though. Thanks!

>>21032282
>https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BFTWLL86
So how come you haven't joined the unreal press podcast discord server?

>>21032291
What's that?

>head is filled with ambitious ideas about a story that reaches from the prehistoric past to a future where society has collapsed, where the same person is reincarnated into similiar circumstances but in a wholly different context
>story also features people in the present day writing plays/poems/novels whatever wherein these same circumstances occur
>start writing it
>so far I've written about dumb kids trying to buy porn and a guy who works at a video rental store dating a girl who works McDonalds
I'm not sure how this happened but I'll follow it where it leads.

New story idea, going off my alien invasion story from last year. React and r8 please.

A very confused CIA agent keeps getting revived on an alien spaceship and used for suicide missions to retrieve and protect Earth's coordinates. Normally some memories are left behind in the process but its too late for that; he's been revived too many times.

Thankfully, his handler is a 10/10 he keeps falling in love with and trusting

Hijinks ensue until she gets abducted and he gets killed but its alright because he left behind a message to his next clone "SAVE HER"

Now the most dangerous man in the galaxy will stop at nothing and knows nothing.

Agent Rasa

Its revealed that she was his handler because she is his wife

A big motivation to write this is because I want to write about the space-CIA selling space-crack to alien teenagers to buy bombs.

>>21032298
Bruh, do you even lurk?

Writing is hard

>>21032326
If you think writing is hard, then you have high standards compared to the market.

>>21032328
I guess so. I write what I'd like to read and I can't really imagine an alternative to that

>>21032317
No. I write. And I don't want to sign up for discord.

>>21032372
NGMI

Was my poetry so bad that no one wanted to respond to it, so weirdly written that no one could understand it, or so mediocre there was nothing to say about it

>guys it’s ackshullay because the industry is racist and that’s why I’m not published
I’ve never read a single good thing from these threads in years. Nothing that would get properly published. Anon, it isn’t because you’re white. It’s because you make schlock.

Guys, I am having another problem qith dialogue, any help?

Why can't I write? I can't make myself spend even a second writing and never have been able to and have nothing to write about but it's the only thing I was particularly talented at.

>>21032426
i remember seeing like one thing of publishable quality and it was by a guy saying he just got accepted for publication so as far as i can tell the publishing industry is treating people itt exactly the way they deserve

>>21032426
I love to write unreadable shlock in hopes some idiot reads it and thinks it's good. I also read on reddit some guy had a TV deal even though his books sold 10 copies. Wrote it for fun and someone wanted an adaptation.

What makes a complete story in your opinion? Or rather, what element, if it were missing, would make it feel incomplete or half baked to you?

>>21032282
>my name is finally on a book
>didnt even have to write it
Easiest thing I ever done. But seriously, current draft done in November, copyedit/proofread and all the rest next year.

>>21032535
How is AI writing now anyways? I also hear low information books sell very well too

>>21032534
graphic descriptions of nonconsensual sex with minors

>>21032534
Desire
Resistance
Escalation
Capitulation
Payoff

>>21032426
Most of the people here are writing schlock, and that's the main reason they're not publishing, but it's also true that the industry is racist, which is a barrier to the minority (heh) that are actually good.

t. guy actually having luck publishing literary work

>>21032540
No I mean Im the name with the book rec on the cover. I dunno about AI, my books get a bit complicated into feels that I dont think AI can capture yet. Maybe not for another 40+ years.

>>21032534
I like words in my stories quite often. Not always though, asemic literature's sick.

>>21029868
That makes sense, I always have trouble grasping those who speak about technical things because that is just never how I learned how to do it. I started on fanfiction, got some feedback and evolved from there. Now I am writing something original and working with what I can get.

>>21031749
If something actually happens in the prologue and it's not just an infodump it's fine. Otherwise get rid of it and drop info during the story.

>>21031510
Gay people stopped doing it last year so I guess it’s only women now

>>21030284
This is it boyo

>>21031749
The reader doesn't need to know the setting. They can learn along the way.

I don't think they even need to know the setting at all. The setting is something only bought up when someone already dislikes a work.

what are you guys writing :D

>>21032781
Something about coincidences. You?

>"Dude it's X stop taking it so seriously."
>"Just turn off your brain and enjoy it."
>"it ain't that serious."
>"it ain't that deep bro."
>"Why does it have to take itself seriously all the time?"
>"Just have fun."
>"Dude, you're taking it too seriously."
I'm making a fucking story, not a theme park ride. Why does the internet have so many of these euphemistic phrases to dissuade criticism or thoughtful analysis?

>>21032811
Because they can't write deep things and want to feel good about themselves. If they can't understand something, it's pointless and not good. That's why everything's fantasy these days.

>>21032811
Why do keep posting this? What kind of writing or literature forums are you posting on where these are common sentiments? There are many good lit sites online that are focused on thoughtful criticism -- why aren't you reading those instead?

At this point you have to actually post some of your writing to make amends.

>>21032844
The only site that likes good literature is 4chan, from what I've found.

>>21032811
Dude want to read my fantasy novel? It checks all those boxes!

>>21032854
Not true. We like LitRPGs. Look at the authors pastebin.

>>21032875
I retract my previous statement. Good literature is dead, long love shitty fantasy bullshit.

>>21032854
There's obviously plenty of people on twitter who will have similar taste to you, if you can find them. But to be honest I was thinking less of forums and more of all the sites like n+1, 4Columns, Electric Literature, or the LARB, the NYRB and the LRB. I don't understand how you seem to be constantly running into these opinions and why you seem so preoccupied by them. I just read the stuff I'm interested in, and the fact that there are people with dumb books opinions is just a distant background noise, like TikTok trends, or drama in a sports fanbase I've never heard of.

>>21032887
Tbh, never heard of any of those sites. Will check them out, thanks for the recommendation dude.

A running theme in my story is how arrogance never ends in anything good for you. Acting like you're invincible and underestimating your enemy is just begging for an absolute asswhooping. For example
>The creature crept up on the occupied ape, with each of it's wire-thin tendrils snaking across the ground towards it's prey. This would make find sustenance indeed for it's master. It reared up to it's full height, twisting and wrapping it's appendages into a diamond-hard club before swinging down with all it's might.
>The sight came before the sound. Dahouzi's arm was a blur of shaggy hair and twisted sinew for a tenth of a second. The next tenth, an explosion of gray mist that spread for nearly a mile. The mist cleared, and there lay the body of the creature, it's diamond-like club reduced to organic mist by the blow of the mighty ape, and it's core shattered like a glass orb.
>The ape didn't even bother investigating the body. This thing was dead, and it didn't smell good, so eating it was out of the question. Leaving was the best option, and it was the one taken.

>>21033010
This is what happens when you try to pants your fucking themes. Trite nothing tier shit.
Yeah bro, arrogance is bad. Did you know love is hard? What about wealth? Who needs it!

>>21033048
>try to pants your fucking themes
Please explain what you actually meant to say, because "pants" is not a verb that I know.
(I am not that anon)

>>21033060
Think of pantsing as the opposite of plotting. You’re making up the story as you go along. The issue with pantsing is that you tend to end up with no theme, or worse, one that is poorly shoehorned in—like you see here.

>>21033078
If you must know, I also discuss stranger, somewhat more complicated themes. Like how weakness or impotency is an absolute crime. If you're too impotent to do shit, you're better off dead just so people don't have to put up with your sniveling ass. For example
>There was a society that became absolutely utopian
>Our "Villain" tore it down and personally slaughtered every single member of the civilization.
>We initially abhor him for this, but then realize that he's kind of right. They weren't doing anything for the world or their society. So fuck it, just wipe it out because they're wastes of space.
And yes I plotted this out in advance.

>>21033122
Oh, you’re the guy who had everyone calling you a retard for this shit a few days ago. Carry on.

>>21033130
You failed miserably at proving my villain wrong. A perfected society is a waste of space and needs to go.

I should have shilled a book I wrote in 2020 long ago. Take a look, this is an excerpt.

https://terrorhousemag.com/harv-chariot-part-1/

Book: Harv and the Big Collapse

>>21032781
>modernist novel in the internet space (chat rooms, game chat, private servers, stream chats) about a guy who has to get back home for an important clan war in the MMO he plays after having major surgery
>historical fiction about the lifetime of a king and everything a man must deal with in life
>satire about corporate jobs in the modern world
>sports/sci-fi farce comedy [finished]

excerpt

>>21033249
How does this end?

>>21033249
Not bad. But I want to hear more of his incel anguish

second part

this is the last you see of that specific character, though the archetype extant throughout the novel

>>21033249
>>21033291
>>21033296
>>21033302
i like the formatting

i'm taking a writing class tonight because I've been struggling to believe in myself and two different people recommended it.

I'm terrified

>>21033334
Just steal one of /wg/ pieces and claim it as your own

>>21033302
Pretty soul. I was doing something a bit similar with a 1st drafted story except it's less like an e-girl and more like two rich people disappointing each other. I never thought about the box, but I might use that for something that switches between online and offline. Also considered font and font size into a block of text like epistolary novels do.

i chickened out. Everyone there was over 50 and the prompt and the time limit made me blank out and have a panic attack. There was no way I was going to be able to write anything presentable in 20 minutes with an audience who'd have no idea what the fuck I was even going for

>>21033457
I told you steal one of our stories

>>21033457
>>21033457
if you want to be a writer, you have to face your fear
simple as

>>21033302
What happens next?!

>>21033457
what was the prompt?

>>21033562
email goddelmrobert at gmail.com if you want the pdf

>>21033130
I want you to give me a rundown on why his actions don't make sense. Word for word.
He killed 98% of their people, but the survivors actually started doing shit after that instead of doing nothing.

We're all in Carcosa.
Thanks to the discord anon, sorry for the cheap lovecraft 2.0

>>21033620
Not interested in fleshing out your JRPG villain. From the quality of your writing to the quality of your themes, it's blatantly obvious that you are new to this, and therefore, likely to quit within a month.

>>21033891
Same shit as any /lit/ user. All you want is the same broken record of old American novella like Of Mice and Men.

>>21033620
I think you have a good idea but you need to flesh it out more if you want it to be more than shonen tier.

How is this action scene? Do I need more talking?

>In a win for authors and publishers, Amazon will adjust its ebook return policy to restrict returns on books that have been more than 10 percent read. The Author's Guild and the UK Society of Authors advocated for the change with Amazon's senior executive team. The AG writes that the new policy will take effect by the end of the year: "Any customer who wishes to return an ebook after reading more than 10 percent will need to send in a customer service request, which will be reviewed by a representative to ensure that the return request is genuine and complies with Amazon's policies against abuse."
>The current policy allows customers to receive a full refund for up to 14 days, even if they have read the entire book. This policy was widely publicized on TikTok, where videos encouraging readers to take advantage of the loophole garnered millions of views. When an ebook is returned, the earnings are deducted from the author's balance. This has sometimes resulted in authors owing money to Amazon, if they'd been paid in advance through Kindle Direct Publishing.
>The AG says the new policy will be "a strong deterrent against buying, reading, and returning ebooks within seven days, and readers who attempt to abuse the return policy will be penalized under Amazon's policies." The Society of Authors called the change, "a major improvement for authors of books available on Kindle."

Finally. I never thought they'd address this retarded zoomer fad.

>>21033917
My general goal is to create awe-inspiring moments of physical devastation.

When making a story, is it better to have at least most of the story already planned out or make it as you go?

>>21034374
I have a series of events that I connect

>>21034374
Pantsing is exclusively used for trashy genre fiction. It's impossible to achieve a coherent and fitting resolution of themes through pantsing.

>>21030739
>self inserting
holy cringe. whats wrong with gamers and animefags?

>>21031899
lol

>>21032781
just a simple fantasy story where some girl tries to figure out who is killing her comrades

Do any literary magazines consistently publish great material? Just read through a recent issue of Oxford American and it was a bunch of doodoo

>>21033060
https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants.html

When you write a fight scene where there's 3 different fights happening all at once, is it better to go through one fight at a time or just be as chaotic as possible where every paragraph is switching perspectives and fights?

>>21029887
Have you ever told your parents you want to be a writer?

>>21034755
The second sounds more fun.

Even double fun if you have 1 crash into another.

>>21030397
Why? I want to make my FeMC a big boob lesbian, would that be too difficult for the royalroad crowd to self insert?

>>21031867
>>21031887
bump

>>21031983
Thanks, I'll try this. My issue with taking notes using word processors or using them from brainstorming is that its too organized, I can't just write anything anywhere like with pen and paper. But I don't have a desk and with pen and paper I can't include images. PureRef could be a major help.
>5. Now, the hard part is turning your idea into a book. Nobody can help you on this one.
Nobody at all? I have quite a few premises but for the life of me I can't figure out how to develop them into a story or just... anything, at all.

>>21033302
lol

>>21033078
Shit, man... that reminds me of Gurm's "gardening" approach.
>>21034746
Ahh, that one. Yeah, I know that one, just haven't seen it used like this before.

>>21031887
You don't need to start out with fully fleshed characters, because it takes the reader time to get to know them anyway. Start with a stock character and let them develop a more complex personality as you write.

>>21032781
litRPG

>>21034810
to this day I wondered whatever happened to "Mod"

>>21034810
christ she makes 1.5 million a month on onlyfans?

the only question worth pondering is how to eliminate all being instantly.
that is the only worthwhile pursuit ever and that will ever be.

i keep rewriting the same 140 words of a scene and then crashing, making no progress. I know exactly what I need to say in this scene and I know how the dialogue is supposed to flow from one step to the next but for some reason I just can't do it. I'm stuck

"B-bbut 'they'-autist-anon! Singular 'they' totally existed since Shakespearian dinosaur ancient days! It definitely didn't enter the norm only 10-15 years ago! There are NO other means to achieve gender-inclusivity via simple grammar! It flows very naturally in speak!"

"No!"

>>21034907
I feel your energy could be put to better use.

Is it too obvious to use flowing water as symbolism for internal change?
I want to relate it to the speed in which the water moves.
Still water->The status quo
Dripping water->The mental seeds are planted (and watered)
Bridges over rivers->Becoming someone new
Fast flowing water->Character turning points
And the guy who can't let go of the past lives in a house that always seems to be covered in ice.
I'm new to writing and have no formal training/classes, this seems like a great idea in my head but I feel like it might be something that's been done to death before.

>>21035006
Water is very anime.

editor here
i can make anyone's writer better (except that person who has meticulously combed their work and knows exactly what they want to say and has verified they are saying it?
AMA

>>21035034
What if my narrator was actually talking to the reader all along?

>>21035034
dont doff me points for drunk
im published and i get other people fucking published

>>21035036
so what
it all really depends on how you make that an item of interest / conflict / value / mystery or what have you

>>21034825
>>21033060
>>21033078
>>21033048
Keep in mind that when I disparage pantsing it is not as simple as
>plotting = good
>pantsing = bad
If you’ve read John Gardner’s book that is listed in the OP—and you should—you’ll have heard his argumentation on the war between theme and energeia—energeia being a reference to Aristotle’s interpretation with “the actualization of the potential that exists in character and situation”. Basically the idea that characters and events surrounding them will fall like dominos to their logical conclusion. This is one of the greatest factors in reinforcing the core element to storytelling: the uninterrupted “dream” that each and every writer is attempting to force the reader into.
Pantsing is essentially a cheat code to an energeic story, because, by its very nature, pantsing is the logical step-by-step crafting of a story. You have no real obligations to future events that would force you to deviate from this energeia. As great as this sounds, pantsing is also a noob trap. Each and every person who has attempted to pants a story will come across the exact same issue: the realization that a story that follows itself to a logical conclusion is not just an every day occurrence, it is the everyday occurrence; and very few everyday occurrences are stories worth telling, let alone dedicating months of your life to telling.
This does not mean that this type of story cannot be worth telling. Many writers take this into account while pantsing and purposely fudge some logic to accommodate entertainment, but entertainment value is not the core issue to an energeic storyline; theme is. Theme, if done effectively, requires the story to be practically built around it—something that is nearly impossible to do while pantsing. This generally results in a pathetic attempt at some after-the-fact justification of themes. Something like “arrogance is bad because bad things will happen to you”.
The opposite end of the spectrum is plotting. Plotting allows you to build your themes and pay them off in the most satisfying way possible. There is no excuse to fail your themes while plotting—well except for energeia that is. Anyone who has plotted a story to completion will understand the pain associated with connecting each thematically relevant piece in a way that upholds the “dream”. While not impossible, it is something that takes an absurd amount of time and talent to get right.
None of this is to say that pantsing is entirely useless. Much of genre fiction is built on the idea of forgoing the theme all together, and as such, there’s no real reason not to use that cheat code.

Wrote a short piece on aesthetics and ideology. Looking for feedback. (if you're just butthurt about what I say and don't have any substantive criticism then fuck off - I don't care)
If you don't like that I'm linking a substack and consider it shilling - I'm not charging anything and haven't monetized my work in any way.

https://froggum.substack.com/p/aesthetics-and-ideology

>>21035043
Thanks for your explanation.
I've lately felt more and more dismay for storytellers that put "realistic situations, relatable/believable characters who talk like real human beings" weaker and weaker.
The purpose of storytelling, for me, is not simulation. A real life human being is 100 times more complicated than any artifical story character - and also is completely boring unless he happens to be your close friend.
So, what storytelling should aim to do in my world, is not to simulate, but to go beyond. Tell tales of large-than-life characters, and use characters as tools of great impact. Epic mythical shit. I don't want to read a story about a guy who could have existed (it will always be a shallow imperfect copy of the real world). I want a guy who definitely could not exist - but if he did, it'd be a marvle.

>>21035093
I would almost say that the "believable" card is trying to allude to a verisimilitude of the character within the story and not believability as a real human being but maybe I'm assigning too much credit to whoever made it.

I enjoy writing because I enjoy grappling with the mystery of why some things 'work' and some things don't. It's like playing a game to which no one knows the rules but which can still be won or lost.

>>21034843
>You don't need to start out with fully fleshed characters, because it takes the reader time to get to know them anyway.
>Start with a stock character and let them develop a more complex personality as you write.
Wtf

>>21035067
You seem to confuse the terms 'aesthetics' and 'beauty', with the latter meaning for you something like pleasing forms. That then sets up an obvious response: you ignore the vast possibilities of the aesthetic that aren't captured by the beautiful. You should probably preempt that response if you want to argument to have weight.

It's weird that your first paragraph introduces the metaphor of a prettily painted tarp that conceals the depths of truth your imaginary opponents are too cowardly to peep. Because couldn't that same metaphor be seen as a criticism of your position? Do you want truth from your art, or do you want pleasing comforts, in the same way a nice tasty snack fulfills our inherent appetite for nice tasty snacks?

>>21033048
>This is what happens when you try to pants your fucking themes. Trite nothing tier shit.
If anything, the opposite is true.

>>21032426
this

>>21033249
holy shit

How do you describe a person's appearance without making it a boring laundry list of traits, a contrived metaphor, or a vague obtuse descriptor?

>>21035338
I just add a footnote naming the actor to imagine them as.

>>21035043
>If you’ve read John Gardner’s book that is listed in the OP
What book? Its not in the OP

>>21035338
>obtuse descriptor
Wdym

>>21029887
Two of my most recent articles

https://adolfstalin.substack.com/p/woman-in-a-word

https://adolfstalin.substack.com/p/why-we-gentiles-need-poetry-after

>>21035383
'He had the twitching hands of a gambler and the furrowed brow of one who has never seen the sea'

>>21035397
Oh. Cause I was gonna say Stephen King actually had a good example of how to do it, but I don't know if it'd count as obtuse or not.

>>21035292
>You seem to confuse the terms 'aesthetics' and 'beauty', with the latter meaning for you something like pleasing forms
Did you truly not understand the meaning behind the word choice given the context or are you being pedantic and obtuse?
>you ignore the vast possibilities of the aesthetic that aren't captured by the beautiful
Not entirely sure what you mean here. That some things aren't beautiful or some people see beauty in 'ugliness'? If they see beauty in it it isn't ugly even if it's classically considered 'ugly' or 'disgusting'. The last paragraph and my choice of painting alludes to this.
Part of the point I'm trying to make is: The attempt to sanitize and eliminate/ignore 'ugliness'/darkness (what frightens us or is deemed unacceptable) is what true ugliness/darkness is. I never explicitly say that but it's heavily implied throughout.
>It's weird that your first paragraph introduces the metaphor of a prettily painted tarp that conceals the depths of truth your imaginary opponents are too cowardly to peep. Because couldn't that same metaphor be seen as a criticism of your position? Do you want truth from your art, or do you want pleasing comforts, in the same way a nice tasty snack fulfills our inherent appetite for nice tasty snacks?
Again, I think this criticism stems from you missing the point that I was making about true ugliness/darkness and the point that appreciation of beauty is universal so to pretend that it doesn't matter creates cognitive dissonance. It's a critique of hollow virtue signaling - especially when that virtue isn't a virtue in the first place.
See:
>There is an irony here in which the person appreciates the self-satisfied aesthetic they outwardly project of a faux-depth - all the while deluding themselves into thinking their eyes have no appetite for aesthetics - that they are a noble ascetic of aesthetics.

>>21035418
Seems like I did miss the point. Whether this was a failing of your piece or of my Saturday morning cognitive abilities is another question.

>>21034793
Fine. If you need people to hold your hand then do this:
1. Come up with an idea.
2. Turn it into a one paragraph premise.
3. Write a structure: Hook, Act 1, Inciting incident, Act 2A, Midpoint, Act 2B, Climax, ending.
4. Write an outline that list EVERY THING that happens in every chapter. It should be over 3,000 words.
5. Turn your outline to prose.
*Simple tenses only. No passive voice (Yoda speak.)
6. Congratulations, you just finished your first draft.
7. Now rewrite it six million times until it becomes less shit.

>>21035397
this would work in a comedy where everybody is described like that

>>21035456
I probably could elaborate a bit but I don't like to elaborate to the point that I'm just repeating myself.
I could include a part at the end with these passages:
>For so long as the root of wickedness is hidden, it is strong. But when it is recognized, it is dissolved. When it is revealed, it perishes.
>Ignorance is the mother of all evil. Ignorance will result in death, because those who come from ignorance neither were nor are nor shall be
>For truth is like ignorance: while it is hidden, it rests in itself, but when it is revealed and is recognized, it is praised, inasmuch as it is stronger than ignorance and error. It gives freedom. The Word said, "If you know the truth, the truth will make you free"
That might make those implications a little more clear and I actually like this as an addition - so, thanks.

>>21035458
Fuck you.

Trying to decide whether to make my mc's mentor character female or not.
>means more sexual tension (neutral)
>less of a "bro"/friend kind of relationship (can kind of do still do it but it's harder/I think would feel less natural with man/woman than man/man)

>>21035521
as long as he hits the gilf pussy it should be fine

>>21035521
Just have them be bros and hit the reader halfway into the story with steamy gay sex

>>21035521
Do it, faggot.

>>21035521
Can't two people exist in a room and NOT want to fuck each other?

Holly Ingraham丨Editor @holly_ingraham · 2d
Agents! Authors! I'm looking for a great winter holiday #WF. Dysfunctional family that ultimately loves each other, could have some romance. Christmas, Hanukkah, etc. #MSWL

Anna Roberto @anna_roberto · 1d
I'm beyond terrible with #mswl because I never know what I want until it's in front of me. But I'm definitely on the hunt for a YA that's moody and atmospheric. Looking to get lost in gorgeous writing (with a compelling, commercial hook). My apologies for the vagueness.

https://mswishlist.com/mswl

Horror idea: WW1 or WW2 backrooms where a soldier dives into a trench to escape enemy fire only to find out he's in an liminal space backrooms nightmare of his own.

>>21036087
Ideas are worthless.

>>21029887
>Librarian falls in love with a person that left notes on the books they borrowed. Problem is, this person is long dead
Just thought of this a little while ago. What do you think?

>>21029887
I treat parents as a country. Do you love your country when your freedom of speech is outed? Do you still have patriotism when it’s guards beat you blood red for the littlest crimes and punish those for nothing; just to set examples? Do you love your rulers when they set up rousing speeches about your nothing and worthless? Do you feel safe in your country when the black mold is your stars and the piss soaked mattress is your house and the cracked dry wall your trees? Sure they give out food and shelter but are you sure they see you only as a pet or a self image? To me that’s not citizenship, That’s slavery. And for slaves it’s a god giving right to rebel.

>>21036221
Fun idea, feels like it could do well as a short story.

>>21032163
>"run through the cold and cut through the sunset"
I really like this.

opening is neat too - nice stuff anon

>>21032299
this sounds chaotically brilliant - post an excerpt if you'd like.

In the meantime, keep writing it.

>>21032299
>so far I've written about dumb kids trying to buy porn
honestly this sounds more interesting

>>21035342
fuck you

>>21035822
Is this how you get when you're in the same room with your mom?

>>21036367
That's probably why he wrote it.

Is there a better site than RR for progression fantasy?

>>21030138
>>21030138
B

Short horror story
As little interaction with the beast as possible is best
Let the characters speak, chill, laugh.
Then fear.
Then close out with the monster on its way

Journey's End with monsters

>>21035458
>*Simple tenses only. No passive voice (Yoda speak.)
Is this bait? I can't tell anymore.

>>21036221
What kind of monster leaves notes in books? And what kind of self respecting librarian would approve of this crime?

>>21036598
No. Scribble hub is the other option for more weebshit and porn.

>>21036700
It's okay because he signs off every note with a doodle of dickbutt

Aaahhhh. Fuck it!!!! I can't take anymore rejections from agents anymore!!!!! I'm just going to self publish!!!!

>>21032299
>dumb kids trying to buy porn and a guy who works at a video rental store
is that in 90's?

>>21032299
Sounds like Cloud Atlas

I'm not really writing a book. More something that can be used in a visual medium. Animation, comics, movies, etc. Is that okay?

>>21036921
No. Go to /co/, retard.

>>21036598
Progression fantasy?

Soobstoock anoon here. Hitting above 2500 emails on my email list.
Book drop at 10,000 emails and go straight to New York times best seller day 1?

>>21036921
This >>21037057, but not because of the usual 4chan hostility but because you're more likely to get useful, actionable advice since the requirements and expectations of visual mediums are so different from print.

>>21037086
4chan isn’t usually hostile. You’re just a faggot.

>>21037086
/co/ only cares about art, not writing.

Is having poetry in my book a bad idea? Its entirely diegetic, i.e. the characters sing marching songs as they march, for instance. I ask since I have a very specific scene where a lot of very rowdy people suddenly fall silent to listen to this chick singing and playing a harp, where I want the lyrics to go uninterrupted as everyone is entirely focused on her song, including the PoV character. Yes or no and if not, why?

>>21037110
lol

>>21037135
Hence why someone focusing on a visual medium should go there instead of here.

How big is your email list anon?

>>21037207
I meant that I'm WRITING first. Should've probably said that I haven't really decided on the medium if I'm being honest.

>>21037253
OK so post your writing.

>>21037075
Good luck! Is substack free?

>>21037075
Sorry if the question is retarded, but how does one make a mailing list?

>>21037341
Always has been. I charged $8 a month to subscribe to me. Pulling in nearly 7k a year now from the writing.

>>21037414
i thought substack was mostly for essays and the like. people pay for fiction as well?

>>21037414
Time to start one.

>>21037451
You can check it out, most of the website isn’t paywalled.

>>21037168
provided it makes sense in the context and doesn't suck, absolutely yes. The best example I can think of is Tolkien in Lord of the Rings - he manages to incorporate some beautiful poetry into his work. Feel free to post the poem your planning on including, I think it could work really well if you get it right.

>>21037488
huh, theres actual pro fiction authors on there. its changed since i last checked it out

>>21037267
The story or the dialogue? Because my story works in a way that could be called a "Web." IE introduce characters/plotlines, only to have them cross through multiple times and show the same events from different perspectives. For example
>Character lets villain get away
>That villain shows up later as part of another character's story.

>>21037068
>Progression fantasy?
Google?

>>21037853
Rashomon?

>>21037890
I.... Guess you could call it that?

Any &amp writers here?

I posted my short story somewhere and I got hate wagoned and cruelly harassed now I'm empty and depressed. How do you carry on after that?

>>21037925
Push on.

>>21037925
Post it here.

I spent 6 months working out a story in my head, but when I sat down to write it, I found it wasn't going to work and there is no way to make it work, and now I'm not going to write at all.
AMA

>>21037925
Quit pretending you didn't deserve us and tell us what you wrote wrong.

>>21037941
I guess. How does one even make a name for themselves as a writer? It seems like nobody becomes famous for writing anymore because people only trust already-famous names
>>21037943
Too traumatised and it costs a dollar

>>21037948
i didn't post it on 4chan m8s

>>21037946
Push on.

>>21037950
No one chooses to get famous. It's a lottery.

I wrote 3 sentences this week, I may well get a page done by the end of the year, things are looking up!

>>21037954
>Push on.
I was going to, but then I was like, "Fuck it." No one is going to want to read this piece of shit. I don't even want to read it, or write it for that matter. The couple of weeks I actually worked on the writing part were exhausting. I had no plans to work on getting it actually published anyway. I'd was just going to throw it up on amazon for free or something and maybe a couple people would read it. This was just a bucket list thing, but fuck the bucket.

>>21037977
Push on.

>>21037993
Why?

>>21038010
Just do it.

I’ll like to hear lit’s opinion on my Madoka fanfic that’s still being worked on, haven’t got the time to do the next chapter which is on its WIP stage. Just curious
https://archiveofourown.org/works/36191563

>>21038029
Fanfiction isn't allowed on /lit/

>>21038020
Nah, I already know I suck. I don't need to know the level of my suck.

>>21038067
Push.

On.

>>21029940
Yeah? Just look at Game of Thrones.

>>21029887
What do you guys think of fan fiction? Do you think it has any merit?

>>21037925
Don't fret over it man. Even if sucks, you can still learn from it. It's not the end of the world!

>>21038010
"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.
Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
The slogan 'Press On!' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race."
-Calvin Coolidge

>>21038062
/lit/ has rules?
Not from what I've seen.

>>21038144
It's okay for practice, and if you have fun doing it, knock yourself out. But I'd rather read a shitty entirely original work than an excellent well-crafted fan-fiction piece.

>>21038160
https://4chan.org/rules#lit

>>21038144
iirc some guy once posted his morrowind fanfiction in one of these threads and it got rave reviews. so far as the people in this thread go, what's good is good.

Trying to go for a Hokuto no Ken in a fantasy type setting sort of deal. Pretty much nuclear war happened, and all other races decided to blame humanity

>>21038150
Here are some character bios I came up with. It's mostly just ramblings so don't expect excellent grammar or spelling or any of that shit. It's just my own ramblings to myself. I added a part at the top that explains the basic premise. You read that and tell me if there's a story there.
https://pastebin.com/A1bVfQrG

>>21038173
So? The mods don't enforce the rules.
They should, but they don't.
They allow shill-spamming and trolling to continue unabated.
I'll bet you also believe corporate press releases.

>>21038207
Potentially, yes, there's a story there.
But a lot can go wrong (or right) between now and then.
It definitely gave off a '50s pulp-sci-fi vibe (which I mean as a compliment).

>>21038223
Thanks, but I'm still done with this shit. I'm not going to sit here and struggle with a hobby that isn't fun.

How do some author's get to a point where everything they write is publishable, a consistent high quality. These are the ones who release a novel every year. Even if their stories are subpar, their technical skills and understanding of writing is enough.

And then there are those who have one great novel followed by a ton of shit novels. They just achieve good writing once in their lives and can never do it again. This isn't just story, but their writing is actually sloppy as fuck.

How do you become #1 rather than #2?

>>21038327
ghost writers

>>21038327
It might just be reaching a certain level of expertise in the craft. Whereas with the other authors they're unable to separate the craft from the content.

>>21038296
bye. just so you know, when you're on your deathbed, you will always carry the stigma that you never finished a book.

Just made the jump from RR to kindle, when will I stop obsessing over whether or not it's doing well

>>21038454
Throw it on the pile, there's some space next to "never was on TV," "never went duck hunting," and "never formed meaningful relationships."

>>21035379
https://ca1lib.org/book/1310302/46721f

>>21038459
Did you do it yourself or get published? Why did you do it?

>>21036921
>>21037057
>>21037086
/co/ is a very awful board, I would not suggest going there. I'm also in this thread for wanting to write comics and movies. That being said, Understanding Comics and Making Comics by Scott McCloud are very helpful for creativity in any medium.

Don't get a graduate degree while you're working, bros. Not only will the sun EMP the planet in 15 years but you will also have so little time to write before then

>>21038881
My dude, I dropped out in 11th grade.

>>21038459
I skipped RR and jumped straight into kindle. I guess I've made 800 bucks or so, give or take. Now that I think about it, it will be coming up on a year since I started.

>>21038934
I know, bro. You wrote an enjoyable book.

>>21038957
what kind of book?

>>21038971
horror fiction

>>21038957
How did you get people to buy it?

>>21038957
Jeeze that much? I need to get a wider audience somehow. Any tips?

>>21038957
>>21039002
This. How do I into marketing?

>>21038998
Most of the money came from Kindle Vella bonuses.

I checked out royal road because of you guys and now I'm halfway through reading a glorified chick flick called Re: Trailer Trash. It was the first thing I found that didn't look like raid shadow legends fan fiction. Thanks?

>>21039073
I think the author of that actually browses lit. I remember him posting here once.

>>21039073
Check out my story when it goes up in the next couple of days, it's not raid shadow legends fan fiction. I'll post it here when I put it up.

>>21039082
I can see it. His other works seem to be harem serials of some sort. Trailer trash is pretty good ngl

>>21039096
Sure thing. Link the profile if you've got one.

>>21039061
i never realized how much more serials made. No wonder why nobody buys entire books now.

>>21039110
It's just their bonus, I've got very few reads. I think they're trying to attract authors by giving good monthly bonuses to compensate. The whole thing is in a weird sort of limbo, and I honestly couldn't recommend it.

>>21039107
I'll post the story in the next thread once it's up. I'll submit it in the next 8 hours and link here once it's approved.

Someone will have to make the thread because I can't recycle the MD5 hash of the OP image on my phone since my app keeps saying HttpCodeException anytime I try to use it.

>>21038483
>epub
oh damn

>>21039136
>>21039136
>>21039136
>>21039136


Fine fine, I'll bake.

>>21036838
1992 to be exact