/lit/ - Literature

>>21649912
Career advice
>>>/adv/

>>21649925
How though?

It's something every aspiring writer on /lit/ will have to confront at a certain point in life. Just trying to figure out how other people struggled with it.

>>21649912
The only reason I would make a book is so I could read it later. The same thing goes for music, drawing, etc.

>>21649912
>>21649938
Since I'm autistic, I'll probably end up like Henry Darger or a guy like that, forced into my own inner world due to a combination of my obsessiveness, tendency to alienate others, sensory demands, and poor social skills. He didn't make his art so others could see it. It was more like his world he was building as a way to cope with being completely alien and forced to function in a world build for a fundamentally different type of person. It was either that or suicide for him really, it was a survival technique without which he would be dead.

Are you shizo enough? Are you genius enough to not end up in a mental ward for it? Do you have original ideas? Did you have a unique upbringing? Did you seriously rebell against society when you were 16? All this comes into your curriculum. Read some biographies of famous people. It's not easy to make it.

>>21649912
People here actually write? I thought it was decided we aren't even going to read any books.

>>21649912
If you want to write you will make the time. As for the concern about being famous or whatever — the sooner you stop thinking about that the better.

>>21649985
I don't think "fame" is the reward here, more a sense of publishing something you judge to be of value and receiving credit for that, potentially entertaining and helping others, and also hopefully making some money from the effort.

As to your initial point, I think that's a rather vague statement in that someone working 12 hour shifts six days a week just won't be able to "make the time" compared to someone working part-time. Many respected writers worked part-time or not at all while working on their books. There's a reason why McCarthy, Pessoa, etc all worked part-time, and why Kafka had nervous breakdowns because he didn't have the time to write even though he was only working six hours a day.

>>21650085
>I don't think "fame" is the reward here, more a sense of publishing something you judge to be of value and receiving credit for that, potentially entertaining and helping others, and also hopefully making some money from the effort.
NTA and I agree. I really hate when people here make out wanting to be rewarded for your work as "chasing fame." If I wanted fame wouldn't I be doing retarded stuff on tiktok instead of dedicating all my time and energy to writing novels that barely a hundred people will read if I'm lucky?
I'm interested in seeing a good response to OP. Give me that black pill, I'm ready.

I have no social media presence so I probably have 0 chance of becoming even modestly successful. I write mostly for myself and the small handful of people that are willing to read. Sometimes, it really digs at me, but then I remember millions of people experience the same feelings every day. I'm like 99.9% of people throughout history who never realized their dreams, and that's okay.

I still have hope of becoming mildly appreciated in my field of study when I publish. I have a legitimately useful inquiry on a hitherto little explored subject. I wish there was an actual place in the world for my more creative writing, but there is room for me in the academia.

>>21651406
What field are you in?

>>21651888
econ

>>21649912
You could make a career out of filming cuck porn.

>>21649912
I've reached the point where I write because I want people to enjoy what I have to say. My plan if I ever get my novels or short story collections finished to my satisfaction is to print 50 copies, five a few to friends and family, and donate the rest to used book stores wherever I travel to.

No, but I often feel as if I should.

>>21649912
Nah but mostly because my idea of what a successful author is is probably way different from yours.

>>21649912
Lots of people aspire to make a living as artists, few succeed. You didn't make it (quickly enough) and now you're cashing in on your plan B--happens to lots of people, more than the ones who stick to it and meet with varying levels of success. Try not to resent the people to whom you're making this sacrifice if you have regrets later in life (if they're still in your life.)

It used to be understood that a creative life took sacrifices in the material realm. Now everyone wants to be some feckless upper west side type regardless, so what difference does it matter how you end up an upper middle class 'success' if fame and fortune seem to be the only measure of fulfillment you've mentioned regarding writing? If you have true creative ambitions you've failed to mention: Carlyle said something about creative types who give in to social pressures and abandon their art usually end up tortured and miserable inside... I believe he also called economics a dismal science. But you'll make the right choice, the work choice, so the whole thread is moot.

>>21649912
No, I am still working at it. Why not change your timetable a bit and think more longterm, plan to finish that novel in 20 years instead of two years and then you don't need to put in 8 hours a day and arrange your life around writing, you can put in that hour a day and maybe a few hours on the weekends and have time for those responsibilities you have to others.
>>21650085
>>21651297
He did not say he wanted fame, he said he wanted to be a respected and widely read author. There is a difference.

>>21652035
I’m >>21651297 and that’s literally the point I was making. Are you sure you meant to tag me?

>>21649975
>Do you have original ideas? Did you have a unique upbringing? Did you seriously rebell against society when you were 16? All this comes into your curriculum. Read some biographies of famous people. It's not easy to make it.
That's my fear my upbringing was too unremarkable and boring. You need to have had interesting life experiences to draw from, and instead I spent my youth playing videogames and reading to escape from experiencing life.
The only unique aspect of my upbringing was that I was raised devout Catholic, and I was really into it..

>>21649912
You can always try writing anyway. Sometimes the feeling of success come from the act of creating, even if it won't be read by a ton of people.
There are tons of substacks out there that have gained a small following. I follow a couple that I like and greatly appreciate the writers' insights.

>>21649912
I would honestly kill myself if I became Stephen King famous. I would refuse to show my face to the public and grant interviews.
My dream is to have a few thousand readers and make enough to wear I won't struggle to pay bills. I don't even want to be discovered after my death.

>>21652298
>wear
Jesus Christ what the fuck. I hate myself.

>>21652300
I do that too sometimes kek

>>21649912
Successful for what reason?

>>21649912
I'm never giving up. As long as I'm alive I'm a writer. I don't give a fuck if not one person reads my shit because the trance of writing is my life juice. People will read it though because I just know they will. I've doubted myself before but my doubts are always proven wrong. I'm sick of questioning myself. You think you're gonna just fix all your responsibilities one day and be able to lie down on a beach and relax? That shit never goes away. You'll always have some stupid crap to worry about. If you can give up on it you were never had it in you in the first place. Can you give up on taking shits and pissing? You had time to post this on 4chan, you could eke out a couple minutes a day and write SOMETHING couldn't you? I mean fuck man. Herman Melville was barely respected as an author when he was alive now everyone kisses his ass but look at the good that did him. Fuck respect. Fuck being widely read. If you want that you should work as a copywriter for Coke and millions of people will read your work. There has to be a deeper reason outside the bounds of your "reasoning" for you to do this shit. If not you're just gonna be churning out derivative crap to fill some imaginary marketing niche that will go away by the time you get published.

>>21652298
That's probably why Pynchon is the way he is. He clearly just wanted to write out all of his autism and reach the people he wanted to reach and did not want the fame he ended up garnering.

>>21652354
Based

>>21649912
No, i'm going to make it and that's all there fucking is to it.
One day you'll be able to brag that you were in the same threads as me here, nobody will believe you but still.

>>21652375
Yeah, but I think if he's anything like me, he was also disgusted by journalists. He was around to see Bob Dylan being harassed in real time and probably didn't want any of that.

I honestly have no idea why anyone in 2023 would want to be famous. I can't imagine losing my job because some asshole from 15 years ago says I was a dick, or some cunt "comes forward" accusing me of a crime because I was awkward with her.

>>21652872
fair fucking point. to anonymity!

I only write because otherwise I'd get insane and off myself.

>>21652400
Dubs of truth. I'm cheering for you, anon! After I finish with the Fairy Tale autism I'll start 4chancore autism and read your novels.

>>21652400
based

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91gT68xeDMM

>>21649912
Why do people who have read fewer than 30 books in their adult life (outside of school) always have dreams of "becoming a successful (e.g., respected, widely-read) author?" Are they genuine retards?

>>21655318
>who have read fewer than 30 books in their adult life
That's literally every gen x/gen y author tho

>>21649912
I just do my boring job then spend the remaining 8 hours of the day playing video games or jerking off

I would want to be like Kafka IMO.

Success ruins writers

>>21652298
>have a few thousand readers and make enough to where I won't struggle to pay bills
a-anon, I have something to tell you...

>>21655536
You know what I mean. I don't want to have so many readers that journalist pigs start stalking me outside my house to get my picture, or start digging into my personal life and start asking people who knew me ten years ago about me. I don't want to go outside and be recognized. I want to be off the normie radar and never talked about in mainstream media. I don't want Weinberg emailing me asking to adapt my novels into Netflix movies so he can turn my protagonist into a transgender Indian.

How many people know who Richard Calder is? Not many. That's what I want.

>>21649912
Studying literature and history would've been my prefered path If I didn't come from relative poverty, but I had good grades and choose a traditional status career over it. I can still dabble in it and maybe get deeper into it once/if I reach retirement, but as it stands my role will be getting my line out of the poverty hole of my ancestry and seeing where my descendants take it from there.

>>21649912
>Has anyone else given up on the idea of becoming a successful (e.g., respected, widely-read) author?
I never had that idea once in my life. Why would I entertain such an idea.