/lit/ - Literature

I'm gonna coom!

>>22084237
*write

I don't feel like posting an excerpt.
Here's a shitpost power level tierlist instead. Only includes characters of which I've commissioned art.

>>22084247
Why do they look Chinese?

>>22084209
my friends gf showed her self off to me like this at school. i hate women

>>22084249
Emperador de cera, Dama de rojo, viejo monsruo lisiado, and la criatura insectilo are all asian
of these, viejo monsruo lisiado is the only one that isn't supposed to be chinese

dunno what chinese you see in the others

>>22084259
no, mate. The art style and designs looks like they came straight out of a chinese webcomic, not that I've read any.

>>22084264
I don't know what kind of manhua you read that has these kinds of designs but I'd love to read it (except emperador de cera, he's supposed to be a generic xianxia guy)

that's not me being facetious I 100% mean that

I want to write a story involving rape a la the Greeks but I'm not sure how to write that the rape occurred without being too smutty about it. My instinct is to use innuendo, but I can't think of anything that doesn't just sound silly. I could also make it happen "off-screen" but I just think that's basically giving up

>>22084352
I feel like I've seen this question like 6 times already. I wouldn't even bother detailing it. Just keep it curt and underplay it. The fact rape is happening is impactful enough

>>22084352
use a pyro-vision schizo POV

>>22084399
what does that mean
>>22084375
TY

>>22084405
NTA, but it refers to the character the pyro from team fortress 2. In his character trailer, you see that from his perspective, he isn't burning people alive, he is shooting them with rainbows.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUhOnX8qt3I

>>22084416
Thank you, I have an idea

I have a problem writing sensory descriptions without sounding forced and "writey" for lack of a better term. Is there a tried-and-true method for doing this, or should I just bite the bullet and go full cringelord mode?

>>22084591
I know what you're talking about. I would just use them very sparingly. And avoid being too direct. Instead of saying "It felt cold" maybe "the air stung his throat"

>>22084591
1st person or 3rd?
>full cringelord mode
oftentimes less is more. a real drawn out description of something every so often so as to draw attention to it is fine, but if it's cold out there's nothing wrong with just saying it's cold. if you want to embellish it a little, like his breathed misted in the night air, okay. but it had better be real special to justify waxing eloquent about the icy paths and snow and icicles on the overhang and everything else. a real long drawn description like that is nice, but too much tends to be too much.

>>22084641
3rd
>>22084638
I figured, but my issue is knowing exactly how much information is needed for a reader to form a mental picture of the setting.

>>22084247
Habla ingles hijo de puta.
>>22084249
They most definitely are ripped from chink concept art.

>>22084725
Which you can find a lot of in artstation btw.

>>22084725
I used spanish in imitation of picrel

>>22084725
Boy, I didn't know writing design documents from the top of my head was ripping from chink concept art! All zero of it that I've consumed. I don't consume chinese media, I don't read their comics or watch their shows, and the artist I commission near exclusively draws western subject matters. Do you see "le chink" in anything that isn't uber-generic westoid schlock?

What should I learn if I want to become better at writing long-format stories? Stuff that's 500k words minimum.
For example, how to I adapt prose or format text to maximise readability above all else? Stuff that works in a short story can quickly become tiresome in a long story.
And how do I mix long and short term plot development together? Should I only think one major plot development ahead, treating each one as its own separate story with lots of minor plot details?

Ascendance of a Bookworm did a lot to inspire me as a writer, yet it also shattered my confidence as a writer. I prefer long-format stories, but I find it hard to see myself so flawlessly managing a story millions of words long.
I can't even imagine what personality traits a writer would need to do that, so I have no idea how to develop myself.

>>22084209
>"Propper OP because fuck two threads" edition.

Previous thread: >>22049512

/wg/ AUTHORS & FLASH FICTION: https://pastebin.com/ruwQj7xQ
RESOURCES & RECOMMENDATIONS: https://pastebin.com/nFxdiQvC

Please limit excerpts to one post.
Give advice as much as you receive it to the best of your ability.
Follow prompts made below and discuss written works for practice; contribute and you shall receive.
If you have not performed a cursory proofread, do not expect to be treated kindly. Edit your work for spelling and grammar before posting.
Violent shills, relentless shill-spammers, and grounds keeping prose, should be ignored and reported.

Simple guides on writing:
>https://youtu.be/pHdzv1NfZRM
>https://youtu.be/whPnobbck9s
>https://youtu.be/YAKcbvioxFk

Thread theme:
>https://youtu.be/dy3RTFFhSYs

thread is gay and retarded

>Propper

Another 1.1k into book four today.
>Reduce your shitpost
>Increase your write
>Obey your waifu
4chan

>>22084900
> All zero of it that I've consumed.
I'm talking about the art style of the illustrations, not your OC donut steels. No one cares about your League of Legends rejects.

>and the artist I commission near exclusively draws Western subject matters.
Is he Chinese or Korean though?
>Do you see "le chink" in anything that isn't uber-generic westoid schlock?
I see le chink in everything that is uber generic vaguely fantasy/sci-fi themed concept art yes.
Because they usually are the ones making it.
Now stop seething.

>>22084972
>Is he Chinese or Korean though?
American. Try again.
>I see le chink in everything that is uber generic vaguely fantasy/sci-fi themed concept art yes.
It's your every right to label anything and everything as generic, sure.
I'd surely be interested in how you determined that from low-res portrait chops and what exactly holds up to your lofty standards or "trve and sovl original"

>>22084993
>American.
Derivative from that style regardless.
>trve and sovl original
Not looking like the hero portraits for a game titled "Age of legends"
Why are you so pissed, anyway?

>>22085003
I'm not. You won't believe that, obviously, but that's the truth.
I genuinely want to see an example of what you consider original.
Neither my character design sensibilities nor the style of the artists I commission can appeal to everyone, and I wanted it that way. I sure as hell didn't account for the tastes of a rando from /wg/, so it stands to reason that your tastes might just be radically different from mine and those of my readers.

Or you might be a baiting niggerfaggot, this being 4chan. That's why I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt - go on, show me character-focused art that you consider not chinkshit.

>>22084209
Too old!

>>22085023
Completely reasonable viewpoints.
However, Strahd.

>>22085041
Japshit is also not chinkshit.
It's Japshit.

Work is slowing down for the summer. I'm going to finish this fucking hulking beast within the next six months.

>>22085041
So you hate supposed generic mmo chinkshit, yet you espouse... The most aggressively generic portrayal of a vampire I can imagine. Vaguely Renaissance Vampire Template No. 5720. And it's the fucking 5e version to boot, not even the good 1e art.

Explain to me how Mr. Generic Fantasy Vampire is less generic than picrel.

>>22085061
>>22085041
picrel*

>>22085061
>So you hate supposed generic mmo chinkshit, yet you espouse
I don't hate it. I'm stating it's generic.
I don't really mind it. It's inoffensive.
For someone who is not angry at all, you are devoting a lot of time to this.You have to be at least a little pissed to do this.
>Explain to me how Mr. Generic Fantasy Vampire is less generic than picrel.
You asked me for something that isn't chinkshit, not something that isn't generic, genius.
Koreans and chinks have a specific style that seemed similar to those of your illustrations. And that style is very samey.

>>22085099

>You asked me for something that isn't chinkshit
Wrong.
I wrote:
>what exactly holds up to your lofty standards or "trve and sovl original"
It's an obvious request for what you would consider original

>For someone who is not angry at all, you are devoting a lot of time to this.You have to be at least a little pissed to do this.
I'm procrastinating actually writing, that's all there is to it.
Speaking of which, I do have better shit to do than waste my time here.

>>22085053
Is that emacs/vim? What manner of autism compels someone to use a code editor for writing?

>>22085061
"MMO shit" is 99% of the time Korean. Chinese wuxia/xianxia has progression elements, but only very rarely a system with stats, levels, etc.
The reason is that, despite the fact that games are hugely popular in both countries, China has a rich culture and history that informs its literature, whereas Korea only has gaming.

>>22085277
Looks like vim, with a tiling window manager to boot. So strong preferences about how software should work, most likely.
I don't have those but I do write in Emacs. Works great, has everything I need and then some. Basic formatting and organization (through org-mode), shortcuts for quick searching and jumping through sentences, inline comments, spellcheck. So why not?

you guys were right litrpg really is free money, this is crazy

>>22084908
It's not as hard as you're making it out to be. There are a few tricks that authors use (even the greats) to write their doorstoppers.

1. Use combinatorics. For every character consider a scene with every other character. With three characters that's three scenes. With thirty characters that's 435 scenes. Game of Thrones has over 2000 named characters (and ~40k interactions out of a possible ~2m).
2. Use the three-act structure. The three-act structure is fractal. It consists of a setup ("Will X get Y or how will X get Y?"), a development up to a climax ("Here's all the reasons why A, B and C don't work"), followed by a resolution ("Yes/No/Yes, but.../No, and..."). You can apply this to any level of the story, from the entire work to individual scenes. Sometimes you can cut the resolution to build suspense. Sometimes you can shorten the setup.
3. Use recursion. Anytime a mystery resolves itself make it raise a new mystery (preferably with higher stakes). Anytime a character bows out of the story, create a new character to take its place.
4. Use contrast. The enemy of the long form is monotony. The longer the story, the more you should play around with genre and form. Moby Dick has a mini stage play in the middle of it. The Brother's Karamazov breaks into a parable/fable at one point and a personal journal in another.
5. Focus on character over plot. It's said that people will come for the premise but stay the for the characters. In longer forms you have the opportunity to develop multiple characters at the level of a protagonist. Development is actually quite simple: first, you hit their characterization hard, usually by putting them with their opposites (setup). Then you show them as opposite to their characterization in a specific instance (development). Then you kill them off or let them leave with some kind of transformation (resolution). The bigger the transformation the longer they need to stay in the story (or else it's not believable).

The last thing I'll which is more of a principle than a trick, is to use the theme as the filter for what goes in the story. I recommend reading Rabkin's book Writing the Series for more details on this.

>>22085312

>would you read more

Alex spread the map across the table. ‘I give us two weeks,’ he said. ‘Then the nukes fly.’ He tapped at a red X with a tremoring finger. ‘The city, obliterated. Our friends, blown to bits.’ Tracing the blast radius of an SS-25 warhead around the outer suburbs, he thought of Walt, who refused to evacuate. Happy where he was, apparently. With his wife, near his grandkids. Things, he said, that Alex didn’t have to worry about. How about things that Walt didn’t have to say?

>>22084254
>a girl was nice to me once
>I hate them
Why are you a fag?

>>22085345
Elaborate how? I started posting litrpg and the patreon money is crazy. You guys were right.

>>22085431
What's your litrpg story? (don't need a link if you don't want to, but what is it about?)
How much money are you making monthly?

>>22085438
For obvious reasons I don't want to directly associate with 4chan, but I'm at 2k/m just a few months in. It's fairly generic litrpg and some reviews even mention that, but say it's well done despite that and so they're happy to read. It was just an experiment to see if litrpg was free money and it kind of is, assuming you can write and understand the genre.

>>22085485
Did you do much for promotion?

>>22085486
None at all. Good cover, title, and summary can 100% get you to rising stars. Just have to understand what people want and cater to it

>>22085524
What do people want? And what do you give for patron rewards generally like discord access (do you do discord?) or read ahead?

>>22085536
Not that anon but from what I've seen, people mostly just offer the ability to read ahead on Patreon, and then they insert cliffhangers as much as possible (the webnovel format works very well for this because of the short chapter length) to incentivize people to do so.

>>22085536
>what do people want?
Golden question across all of media, even for formulaic slop. I could write an essay on my thoughts for litrpg but that's a lot of work. Do your own research, you'll fail if you don't anyway.
>Rewards
Read ahead and a discord is the standard. Wouldn't recommend doing more because it's extra work for minimal gain. People just want those read ahead chapters.

>50 pages in on my book
Oh fuck bros I'm doing it.

>>22085566
How far did you write/plan ahead before starting? And by "research" do you mean just read popular litrpgs?

>>22085566
Assuming you aren't larping, how many followers did you get before you started Patreon?

>wordcount chapter 1: 5000
>2: 6000 and still need 4000 more
fuck

>>22084209
Over the course of the past mont I've watched the Comprehensive History of Chris-chan and I'm completely flabbergasted by it all. Is it possible to write a story this outlandish and creative? The sense of impending doom as things go from bad to worse over and over again, the steady descent into madness and the sheer tragedy of an autistic manchild being bullied online turning into the story of a narcissistic, megalomaniacal sex maniac raping his own geriatric mother is just completely beyond my limited imagination to create.
I despair. I am in despair! Chris-chan's belief in the dimensional merger has left me in despair! I want to create something this disgusting, appalling and ultimately irresistible.
How can such a thing be achieved? Simply making your protagonist go through a ton of shit like in A Little Life isn't enough. Making your protagonist a neurotic little shit responsible for their own problems like in Notes from the Underground isn't enough.

Editorchad free again in five days

>>22085409

How is putting him in a position where he either has to say to his friend that his girlfriend is a whore, likely causing a rift in their friendship from his friend not wanting to believe him, or keep it to himself and not warn his friend, likely leading to his friend only finding out years later, when he is already married with children to the whore, by find a video of her getting gangbanged by 10 guys, which leads him to blow his brains out with a 12 gauge shotgun, supposed to be "being nice"?

>>22085605
Why are you retarded enough to respond to bait?

>>22084935
That looks surprisingly like Bean from "Disenchantment".
Also, thank you for not posting an anime porno image.
Feel free to report OP picrel for "not work safe image on work safe board".

What’s the best way to incorporate government documents into the novel? For example, type it as someone who was holding them would see them, or have the narrator discuss them in a monologue? The document is critical because it confirms the narrator’s delusional conspiracy theory

>>22085634
ctrl+c ctrl+v

>>22085608

>Complains about people writing replies in a writing thread.

Retard-kun... I...

>>22084209
Any advice for making a book feel less 'episodic'? My main inspiration was Journey to the West so obviously I was expecting this regardless but I feel more like I'm writing a TV show fanfiction rather than a book, which kind of disheartens me.

>>22085573
You fucking got this anon, that's infinitely better than 90% of humanity will ever do

>>22085573
I'm at 280 pages and thinking of giving up honestly, there's nothing much here worth keeping

>>22085665
How many books have you completed?
If the answer is none...then complete this one.
You need practice taking a book to completion.

>>22085681
Define "complete". I've finished two previous manuscripts that were rejected and remain unpublished, but is a book actually "complete" until it's been published?
Whatever, I'll keep going.

>>22085688
Why not self-publish them, or post them on one or more web-novel sites?
That's what I've done.
At least that gets them out there.
Being able to write a new book is far more valuable than hoarding already-written books.

>>22085053
You should hide line numbers and/or use Goyo plugin

>>22085703
>Why not self-publish
Because only traditional publishing is going to give me the validation my ego craves.
>Being able to write a new book is far more valuable than hoarding already-written books.
That doesn't make any sense, how is having these files on my computer affecting my ability to write?

>>22085277
What makes emacs/vim "code editors"?
I tend to edit my fiction in a traditional text editor (i.e. Pluma) as well as vim.
I switch between them, depending on which one supports my writing task at that moment.
Both warn me when the document has been modified on disk, so I load & continue without issue.
inb4 writing fiction in a text editor: I use Markdown format, convert that to LibreOffice ODT using pandoc, and store revisions in git.

>>22084254
lucky. I've never had that happen to me before. I hate women too.

>>22084209
I hate that I've never had anything like this happen to me before. This is an incel post and is probably suited for another thread but this could technically be considered as "writing practice" so I'm going to leave it in here.
Regardless, I become incredibly envious whenever I see other men experience attraction from women. I literally can't cope with it, all I can do is seethe. It's no mystery why I never get such attention, either - I'm simply not attractive enough, be it through physical attractiveness or some sort of unquantifiable charm or because I'm not "confident" or "myself" or because I haven't rubbed horse piss all over my neck to appeal to pheromone receptors. If anyone actually knew what I was like when I was truly "myself", they would never have told me to just be myself in the first place.
I've tried to make myself more attractive, mainly through lookmaxxing, but it's been fruitless. Fixing the flaws I can fix have only revealed the extent of the flaws I cannot fix. Before I was so unattractive that I was just ugly. Now I would say I would look average, maybe a bit below, if it weren't for the fact that I am a product of miscegenation, so unless I am exceptionally attractive, I will always look a little bit off to everyone, and women will never want to be with any guy that looks even just slightly weird. And even if tomorrow I were to wake up as one of the most handsome men on Earth, it wouldn't changed the fact that I can't socialize with anyone. My only friends are a couple of ones I've retained since childhood. Years of being the quintessential incel shut-in any picking up autistic niche interests have made it impossible for me to connect with anyone because I simply can't talk about anything normal. I know nothing of the recent movies or TV shows or whatever it is that normies talk about. And with all this envy and bitterness I'm not even sure I would want to seriously interact with the people who would otherwise had not given me the time of day before.

Give me constructive criticism for this passage

>>22085737
>ego
I would rather get my work out.
Also, I assume my first several books won't be good enough for tradpubbing. That's a typical pattern, even for writers who are famous now.
Also...you know having an ego is generally a negative thing, right?
>doesn't make sense
You missed my point. There's no point in hoarding them; that does you no good.
You can hold out for getting them tradpubbed, but the more likely scenario is that they're rough & you need more practice.
So you may as well get them out there.

>>22085748
I already said they were rejected. I'm not holding out any hopes for them. They're dead. If they're not worth publishing via traditional channels, they're not worth publishing at all, they're not worth reading and they weren't worth writing. This is not a revelation to me at this point. I'm more concerned that I don't seem to be learning, developing.
This is what bothers me. Not that I didn't instantly become a superstar.

>>22085605
Your scenarios are laughable.
Honorable friend rout: Tell your friend, let him get upset or take the information and understand the woman better. Now she knows what kind of friend you are.
The sly rogue. Bang her on the side. Now she knows what kind of friend you are.

>why do women desire sex?? Bawwww.
Same as males. Why are you in a writer’s thread?

>>22085713
I like having line numbers because it gives me an estimate of how many pages it'll take up in print. It makes me hard as fucking rocks to think of this ridiculous poem taking up 150 print pages.

>>22085801
A male wanton is reprehensible as well.

>>22085409
>a girl was nice to me once
it wasn't nice, we were both in a relationship. this girl loved the idea of cheating. it just left a bit of an impression because of how audacious it was.
>I hate them
i have had like a dozen women in relationships hit on me, i sometimes found out after the fact.
once with her boyfriend there. absolutely fucked, especially as i was kind of friends with both of them.
so, yea.

>>22084254
Similar experiences here. This is why mixed-gender schools are a bad idea btw.

>>22085599
didn't read your weird shitpost but here's some facts for you
there are a lot of things that happen in history which, if you wrote in a fictional story, you'd be lampooned for writing because it's just not believable
the heights of absurdity can only be accepted by an audience when they really do occur

>>22085740
I don't really know what to tell you anon. I feel bad for you, but I guess that's not what you're looking to hear. Can't help you on the women issue, hope you find the right one for you eventually. As for people, honestly I don't like normalfags either. I just don't speak to them irl unless we share some specialised interest I am interested in. Besides that, I just hang out with schizos irl, too. I don't give a shit about the "latest TV shows", I don't give a shit about people, and I don't give a shit about discussing myself either. If it's not an interesting goal or skill, I don't care for it and I have nothing to say about it. So I just speak to schizos.
Fair warning. If you don't want to speak to normalfags, you will have a hard time running into women. But since you're not a normalfag, you won't find suitable women among them either. Maybe try to get integrated in some weird subculture with weird women in it that you wouldn't hate and who wouldn't hate you either. Then just hang out until something happens.

>>22085856
To who?
You see strife, I see people making their nature known. Someone disapproves? They separated. They’ve been spared further folly.
Now this one anon, as so many of you little people do, condemns the entire sex as all the same. Not even jumping to a conclusion that most are this way. ALL are on his naughty list. Hm. Could it be his lack of a sex life making him a crotchety old man already?
Now go back to the original situation. A young and foolish girl, just toying around, later feeling ashamed of her little flirtation, grows a little on reflection. Never repeating the behavior.
Anything’s possible. I’m just tired of hearing the no-guts autistic side of this. “You’d like sex? I hate you!”
Grow up.

>>22085859
Expose it. Why keep it a secret, masturbate to it in private?
“Relationships” mean what to them? Some adults have open relationships, some teenagers need to learn better if they want a faithful male in their lives. How do you grow unless you’re open and taking actions, calling out the behavior for one path.
Instead you cowardly masturbated to it

>>22085777
>If they're not worth publishing via traditional channels, they're not worth publishing at all
imagine thinking that some gatekeeping jew not liking your cover letter means your book doesn't deserve to be published

>>22085931
>Instead you cowardly masturbated to it
what the fuck? lol. what is going on in your head?
anyway.. this was a little while back, i lied and said i saw her hitting on someone else. they broke up (after he found she was cheating on him w/ someone else)

>>22085438
It's about a poorly explained autist stuck in a tutorial. Output is impressive but its mainly just a brainless power fantasy.

>>22085938
Imagine thinking your self-indulgent garbage deserves to be read by the massses just because you shat it out.

>>22085958
that's the best part. if you put it out there, and readers - real readers, actual readers - like it, then it proves it DOES deserve to be read. if they don't like it, then it proves it doesn't, rendering your self flagellation unnecessary because simple no one will bother with it

>>22085951
Conjecture. Deny it, that’s fine.
Reading the conclusion, I approve of the decisions you made. Maybe she learned, hopefully he did too, and that you’re still strong friends.

>>22085740
Don't beat yourself up.
Women prefer tall, handsome, dominant, billionaire werewolves. (Read their "romance fiction" for confirmation.)
When their youthful good looks fade, they try to find a beta cuck to support them (and the children they had with their Chad). That's the only time you'll get a woman. Don't fall for it.
It's not your fault gender relations are so broken.
I cannot help you, but know that you are not the only one going through this.

>>22085740
>My only friends are a couple of ones I've retained since childhood.
I was with you until this. Fuck you. You have no idea how good you have it. I would trade all the sex and women in the world for this.

yo, wtf

>>22086237
Holy kek, I kept reading it as niggerwife. My brain couldn't process that it was niger.

>>22085777
Tradpubbing is a niche market, based solely on what they think they can sell a gazillion copies of right now.
The only way people like us are going to break into tradpubbing is [1] extreme luck, [2] writing about the pain of our extreme intersectionality, or [3] a successful self-publishing career that makes tradpubbers beat a path to our door.

Here's a link to a video of a smarmy literary agent giving his reasons for rejecting query letters:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aduzco1VJZE
As far as I am concerned, that ass is the face of tradpubbing, and if he's the gatekeeper, then to Hell with their entire system.

>>22086265
I've seen this one before. Look at this harelipped faggot feeling powerful, taking out all his frustrations from years of bullying

>>22086278
Wrong response but that makes this thread way funnier kek

>>22086299
I'm just commenting on the video

10ish percent of my story's sentences start with the letter 'i'.

>>22086395
is it first person?

The limited AI we have is already making me value my writing more highly. It may not be perfect but it's real human expression, the original vinyl.

How do you go about coming up with a detailed plot for your book? I have a list of ideas but not enough meat between them to connect them.

>>22086434
Yep.

>>22086443
Don’t you think that’s a bit of an impossible question to answer?

>>22086443
personally I just make stuff up

>>22086443
This is how I do it:
>get random ideas for scenes scattered throughout the chronology
>gradually delineate the characters
>expand the scenes and grasp their themes
>now draw the rest of the fucking owl

>>22085738
>I use Markdown format,
Markdown is pain in the ass though and you only use few formatting in writing fiction (like italics).

>>22085806
you can always display them when you want though using g control-g

i don't like the clutter but to each his own

>>22085277
VIM offers superior search functionality, folds and ton of other useful features for writing and editing huge text files

>>22086612
>Markdown
In addition to italics, I use heading 1 (chapter), heading 2 (sub-chapter), and blockquote (usually for embedded song lyrics).
It has boldface, too, but I haven't used that in my fiction.
I don't have to worry about subtle formatting errors–all styles are named styles.
The best part is that git stores versions of text far more efficiently than .odt, or even .fodt. The revisions diffs are human-readable.

>>22086471
Same here. I've got things that I probably won't get to for over a dozen chapters and some that won't show up until the very end. It helps to keep these scenes in mind when thinking about how I am going to reach them with where my characters are now.

How complex and deep is your worldbuilding?
Despite studying engineering in college (and writing as a hobby), languages and writing systems fascinate me so much I think I'm seriously considering becoming a phylologyst one day.

>>22086787
>How complex and deep is your worldbuilding?
as deep as it needs to be at any given moment. it's more like a potemkin village. autistic worldbuilding is a waste of time and brainpower

>>22086787
It's not. My worlds are fully mutable and almost completely inconsistent. My characters exist in a vast, infinitely fungible fugue where everything and everyone becomes precisely what I feel like making them whenever I want to. I don't explain shit and don't need to. There's nothing more fun than fleshing something out only to completely destroy it directly afterwards.

>>22086787
I used to do really elaborate and well developed worlds, then I realised that I simply do not have the brain capacity to remember all the things I am designing so now I just do subtle reskins of the real world. It's much easier to remember the detailed history of one world rather than a thousand worlds.

>>22086460
>personally I just make stuff up

>>22086460
based and imaginationpilled

>>22086787
>worldbuilding

>>22086828
Peak worldbuilding is just making shit up that sounds cool and fleshing it out exactly enough that it makes sense and not an iota more
rule of cool on a scaffold of bare-minimum realism

>>22086836
True. I've written more than I've shown, because actually revealing everything can make things less cool than just giving enough.

>>22086443
I also really want to know this.
I know how my story starts and ends, but I have no idea what to do in between.
Will the mc go to a town? Meet someone? Will someone fight him?
Literally ANYTHING could happen, but not everything is the right option.
So what is the right option? I know that if something is written, it should be written for a reason. But how to find a reason for every single line?
Something meaningful? Something to develop the characters? To progress the story? What about ordinary actions, like eating breakfast? Are they necessary?
I just don't know.

>>22086853
Are you the same jackass that autistically obsessed over archetypes and plot types a few threads back? I told you to read Art of Fiction by Ayn Rand. She addresses exactly what you're sperging out about.

>wrote an outline of the first arc
>it's a fucking mess
I can't do anything...

>conceive of a character or multiple characters with individuality, personality, beliefs, motivation, and drive
>throw logs under their feet and write out how they deal with them as they work towards a goal based on their circumstances and personal motivations
It's literally that easy

>>22086859
I don't read books written by women.

>>22086853
What will have the most profound impact on your character?

>>22086865
Then write it again. It's just an outline. Over my writing I would be shocked if I've not erased over 100k words.

>>22086870
I doubt you read anything at all. Once again I made the mistake of engaging with the mentally ill on this dogshit board.

>>22086881
I read this post (:

>>22086853
>I know how my story starts and ends
if you want advice you need to share these two details
>literally ANYTHING could happen, but not everything is the right option
anything is always a better option than nothing

>>22086865
if your outline for 1 arc is more than a few paragraphs it's too long

>>22086891
What's a few paragraphs of words worth to you

>>22086881
You sound obese. Drink some water, fatty.

>>22086859
>Are you the same jackass that autistically obsessed over archetypes and plot types a few threads back?
Ignore the other anon. It's not me.
>Art of Fiction by Ayn Rand
I'll check it out, thanks.

>>22086853
>So what is the right option? I know that if something is written, it should be written for a reason. But how to find a reason for every single line?
I think the important factor is 'energy'. No I will not define exactly what I mean by that. But, speaking roughly, it's something about the fictional world feeling alive, the connection you have the characters, the basic reading pleasures of suspense and forward momentum.

Anything could be boiled down to a paragraph-level plot synopsis. And it probably won't be very interesting. What's interesting in long-form writing is that sense of 'energy', imo. If something you've written feels right to you when re-reading, if it feels like it's giving you a reason to keep reading and a reward for your commitment to following the story that far, then it's good. You shouldn't really be worrying too much about whether it's absolutely necessary. It just needs to work.

A breakfast scene, most of the time, will not create energy. But if it gives you the idea of a character spotting an old adventurer friend from an earlier chapter who's now working as an egg-cook in the tavern's back-kitchen, then it's a cool moment, it makes the world feel interconnected and alive, and the reader, who remembered that character, is now rewarded with this charming update on their unfortunate life.

If you never feel inspired when trying to riff out those scenes that aren't already set down in your plot outline, and the process never produces anything that excites or amuses or surprises you, then you should probably try sticking to short stories, or else keep searching for the voice or genre or narrative conceit that will let things click into place and set the novel-machine purring.

>>22086894
depends on what it's comprised of. really an outline shouldn't be more than bulletpoints

>>22086955
That's a lot less than paragraphs, anon, which can easily be hundreds of words each

>>22086955
You need scaffolding for a skyscraper.
Similarly a good novel needs far more than bullet points.

>>22086787
>>22086810
>I just do subtle reskins of the real world
my personal version of this, is just to pick pre-existant mythologies and make them true
learned it from playing Jade Empire when I realized how little media utilized the vast Chinese mythology (this was before cultivation and shit really took off). There's so much to pick from honestly, get a copy of "imaginary beasts" or whatever its called by Borges

>>22086810
>>22087014
Outrageous (for me).
I want to be as original as possible.

>>22086853
>What about ordinary actions, like eating breakfast?

No. Ordinary things are only there if they are the backdrop to something else happening whether externally or internally.

Even the journey to somewhere, to where the action takes place can be skipped if nothing his happening.

>>22087026
>I am special snowflake, yes I am
here's a good location
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZg462YMg0A

>>22087026
Yeah well, so did I. Then I realised the absurd amount of effort it takes to do something fairly pointless, and also that I would not be able to remember and apply my own designs. So I skipped that shit.
Ever tried to design a good world map? To think about how geography, demographics and history would shape the world that you are creating? No matter how much time, effort or genius you pour into that shit, you will never come close to the history of Earth.

The Blacksnake Facility, summarized by the simple application of torture for the extraction of information from its inhabitants. It began as a repurposed prison by the Chinese government when rebels sought to undermine its teachings, the general scope and history of Blacksnake is fairly short, Blacksnake, a name probably coined by a bastard, although that isn't an attestment to its failure to finish off a few stragglers here and there once in a blue moon, the inmate population shifts radically, in its peak capacity, productivity came out like the buzzing's of bees, in short it had satisfied up until today, but now, the government is not getting the sweet honey it really needs. In the world of Blacksnake today, there are always four suns, which turns out to be a world without quiet dreams nor rest, but there is hope, always hope. The setup of Blacksnake is short and simple, twenty-five cells, only four inmates. There is a warden who oversees the facility and its operations, and to him, is the assistance of a handful of guards and a mastermind behind its techniques of information extraction. Today, on March 13th due to the ongoing, repeated failures from an incompetent crew, Ivan, an inspector sent by the government, has come to report his findings. Ivan meets with Samuel, the warden, to talk. “Howdy, Sir”, the warden says gleefully, with his hands together behind his back, almost as if they have been tied.

I got fired on a Wednesday. Though I wasn’t altogether surprised with the choice they made I always assumed it was customary to fire someone on a Friday. So when I was summoned to speak with the manager of my manager I didn’t think much of it. Before noon I had left my laptop with the IT guy and walked out with my leather bag slung over my shoulder considerably lighter than it had been in the morning. I didn’t usually bring much to the office and didn’t ever leave anything there.

I wasn’t worried about the financial impact. Like any good member of the Polish diaspora, I am ruthlessly cheap, and my rental payments and chosen neighbourhood reflected that. I lived well below my means and had a bit of money saved up. I would have been okay for a few months if I had to go that long without a paycheck.

It was the feeling of being a complete embarrassment that hurt the most. When I left the office, it was warm and sunny and had I not just got canned I would have probably though it was just about a perfect day. All I wanted was for it to rain. For everyone to go inside, so that I didn’t feel like such an utter failure amongst the downtown salarymen. I felt like a worm, and even more so after I called my girlfriend who didn’t respond. She had no reason to. She had gainful employment, and probably important meetings and calls, and PowerPoint presentations to work on. On the other hand, I had failed at keeping a semi-prestigious corporate job for the entire six-month probationary period. Not that she knew all that when she ignored my call at 12:18, and again at 12:47.

I took the train back in the direction of my apartment with no intention of going home. I was never a big drinker, and certainly not as a method to forget about my problems. I like a drink, but socially. Running away from your problems with booze always seemed like a proper alcoholic crutch, and likely a slippery slope into problem drinking. I wanted to be stoic. To get back on the horse and take over the world. Start a business, steal all their clients, take over the firm, and fire everyone who had any say in that Wednesday morning decision. I didn’t want to rot on a barstool in a dark bar in a crummy neighbourhood at three in the afternoon.

There was a big window at the front, so I grabbed a table there and ordered a rye and soda. It was cold and not strong and refreshing but still got its message across. When I ordered my third, I finally had enough courage to start making conversation with the regulars around me. Not that I wanted to make friends, but it felt good to get out of my own head and stop thinking about how I would tell my father that he paid for an education only for me to lose the first real job I got.

>>22087145
One of the regulars was there. He worked at the bar five days a week washing dishes, running drinks, and taking orders. Ricardo from Colombia. He was thirty-three years old. He had come to Canada to make some money and take advantage of an advantageous exchange rate. Despite a university education in accounting, his diploma was in Spanish, and that meant it was just about meaningless here.

“That’s life brother” he said after I confessed my troubles. “If it’s all shit, go take a plane ticket to Santa Marta and lie on the beach and take some cold beers.”
It sounded like a good idea, and Ricardo was a nice guy. He made it all seem so unimportant and for the next hour he told me about himself. He had a little girl in Colombia, and even though he lived poorly in Canada, he sent enough money to put her in a private school. He liked soccer and music and took life easy. I forgot about getting fired.

“At least you had a good job bro, I have been here eighteen months and I don’t get any interviews, how about you come back next week at the same time, you aren’t working anyways” he laughed.

He had a point. So I agreed. I went back every Wednesday and Ricardo was always there. I drank rye and sodas and he drank rum and cokes. He was loud and boisterous and hilarious. I learned that his wife was with another man, but he didn’t care because his daughter was with his mom and he made sure they lived well. It’s not like he had any trouble finding female attention anyways. Every second week he showed me a new girl he was seeing.

Eight weeks after I had been fired, I had found a new job. I celebrated with Ricardo. It was his idea and we went out on a Friday after he got off his shift. I got so drunk I practised my Spanish, and the next time I saw Ricardo he swore it was good Spanish.

>>22087149

Now that I was working, I only saw Ricardo for a drink when he was working behind the bar. Usually only on Fridays as my new job had me staying late at the office and getting up early to visit clients. I told him I broke up with my girlfriend (her idea), and he said no worries, and we went on a double date with one his girlfriends at the time and her friend. They both spoke French but Ricardo didn’t. His girlfriend didn’t care. In fact I think she liked him more because of it.

Every time I had a problem and felt like shit, I saved it for Friday and went to the bar. Ricardo was joyful and always laughing and made it feel like nothing could knock the world off its course and that whatever worry and problem I had were just sticks at the wayside to support my faltering steps. I went a few more times after he had hung himself, but it didn’t usually help. I tried to remember him as the happy, jovial guy that he was and sometimes it worked.

I didn’t go to his funeral because I had work and it was in Colombia. I couldn’t take the time off with the client projects I had. I got promoted a few months after he had died and it was a warm and sunny day when they announced it. I think most people would have thought it was just about a perfect day.
Story I wrote a few days ago. I posted it in the last thread but didn't get much feedback. Any thoughts or feedback would be welcomed, especially stylistically

>>22087155
>Story I wrote a few days ago. I posted it in the last thread but didn't get much feedback. Any thoughts or feedback would be welcomed, especially stylistically

NOOOOOOOOO
RICARDOOOOOOOOOOO
HE WAS NOT A HAPPY RICARDO
HE WAS A SAD RICARDO
NOOOOOOOOO
QUE LASTIMA!
what a twist, with absolutely no foreshadowing

>>22087155
when does the protagonist level up?

>>22087155
>Any thoughts or feedback would be welcomed, especially stylistically
as some honest feedback I'd say the main issue is there's no dialogue. so it's less a fully fledged story and more a blurb. and, yeah, the ending purely seems to exist for shock value, maybe. there's no message, there's no real lessons learned
that said stylistically if it does remind me of anything it would be Camus's The Stranger

>>22087177
>the main issue is there's no dialogue. so it's less a fully fledged story and more a blurb
Completely arbitrary criterion.

>>22087149
doesn't really do anything for me. the writing is bland. the narrator just tells us things, and i'd have to go well out of my way to care or relate. in fact the story does nothing but barely build up for the unearned 'shock'. so it doesn't hit at all. you need more, more than ricardo's bland kindness and the protagonists reactions. you'd need to add so much to this to really nail what you're going for.

>>22086787
I worldbuild as much as I need to. Which is to say barely enough to differentiate them as different worlds so I don't need to worry about keeping all details consistent.

why is r***** filled with retarded questions from beginners and wannabes? why dont mods just enforce some level of quality control?

>>22087214
>you need to go back

Little something I've been working on: https://pastes.io/rs9beqd43e

>>22087160
I kinda felt this way after reading Bananafish story by Salinger. I still don't get why that story is so acclaimed.

>>22087214
Compared to what? This dumpster fire?
Also, https://writing.stackexchange.com/ is just as full of stupid questions.

>>22087199
I was kind of trying to write in a terse hemingway-esque style, kind of show the narrarator as numb and emotionless, but I don't think it turned out how I wanted

>>22087177
Yea I wanted show kind of the fake happiness people put on who may be depressed, and also show how career focused people can put so much above what really matters, ie, skipping a funeral of a good friend for a job, even after the realization that a corporation will let you go with no warning.

But if i have to explain that, I obviously didn't do a good job

>>22087225
so you're saying i write like salinger :-)

>>22087220

I really want to write this big novel.
But I also have a lot of much shorter stories I want to work on.
What do?

>>22087189
not really. there's no emotional payoff because the characters never flesh themselves out. if we could hear ricardo's holas, que tals, mucho burritos maybe the reader would be more invested by the time the ending hits. as it is he isn't a character, he's only a name

>>22087304
quit your job and get to typing

>>22087314
I already did that! But I stare at that big blank page and I kneel!

Daily 1k done bros

We're all going to make it

>>22087222
"take mocks" sounds like something an indian call center operator would say. "be mocked by" should be fine. "brigrandry" isn't spelled right. It looks like you went back and edited "to toil for the very villagers and in the very fields they once razed" and didn't fix the whole sentence. should probably be "to toil for the very villagers whose fields they had once raised".
all in all though despite the speed of the second section, it's a good hook and i'd keep reading after that. shit i'd be down to keep reading and reviewing.

>>22087335
does the 1k count if it's an outline

>>22087361
just realized i'm a dipshit and changed 'razed' to 'raised' -- you get what i meant

>>22087331
me2

>>22087363
I would not count it because it'd make it too easy to rationalize procrastination

>>22087396
No...

how do you guys know when your work is ready to submit to magazines.

Ive wrote a few short stories, but I can't really tell if they are good enough to submit to some literary magazines.

>i've posted them hear and gotten pretty tepid reactions. On average the response can be summed up as "that was fine"

>>22087406
here, fuck
Im not ready

Started work on a new short story. It'll take a while until I'm done but I wanted to hear opinions if anyone cares to leave one. Slam me with criticism as much as you want, it'll help.

https://pastebin.com/0pvXdKtx

is watching anime enough to be a good writer? i dont like reading books. ive been trying to branch out lately though so i have picked up anime.

>>22087439
Is this a legitimate question

>>22087439
what?

>>22087406
show me an excerpt, i wont tell you if you're ready, but i will tell you if you (clearly) aren't and why.

>>22087442
yeah it is. like i said i dont really like books. but i like writing

>>22087449

Rebecca’s high heels clicked on the linoleum floor in the restaurant lobby. iPhone in hand, Ronnie followed closely behind as the two were cheerfully greeted by a petite hostess. Ronnie took the lead.

“For 2, in the dining room please. Thanks.”

The hostess flicked through her seating binder, tensed her cheeks as to make her lips as thin as possible, gently tilted her head a few degrees to the right and through squinting eyes begged forgiveness on account of the only seats available, were not in the dining room, but in the bar.

“That’s fine, right?” Ronnie looked at Rebecca but didn’t wait for a response. “We’ll take it.”

The soundtrack in the lounge, expertly curated to suit the young professionals having now descended from their grey office buildings, and carefully censored to remove any language not approved by the corporate head office, was just quiet enough that conversation was possible, albeit with some effort and the occasional need to turn one's head perpendicular to their counterparts.

As the two took their seats at the bar, Ronnie tucked the blinking iPhone into the left breast pocket and began to converse.

“You know, market research suggests that music that is played just a few, that is to say 1 or 2 decibels too loud actually promotes consumption. You see, consumers have the tendency to drink more when they aren't as engaged in stimulating conversation. We had a lunch-and-learn about this very phenomenon, and others like it, given to us by a marketing expert. He was the Vice President of Marketing, from one of the top marketing firms in the city. The thesis of the presentation was about how to incorporate marketing theory into our consulting practice, to help increase our efficiency. Using marketing. It was just before you joined the office, maybe 3-4 months before. I don’t remember the exact magnitude of the increase, but I believe it had an impact of around 5% on top line sales. I made a connection with him on LinkedIn, I could get the powerpoint deck for you if you’d like.”

Rebecca nodded along politely.

“I’ll put a reminder to get the deck for you in my Google calendar.”

Ronnies’ calendar was programmed meticulously. The time to watch Netflix - one hour - a daily allowance Ronnie awarded to the daily agenda had been substituted for this outing. Socialization and the development of Emotional Intelligence, or EQ, as Ronnie called it, was considered in some leading business journals just as important as a technical skill set and for this reason Ronnie was happy to substitute the usual Netflix time-slot for something that could be considered more productive. Quantitatively, managers with strong EQ’s outperformed their counterparts by 13%. Ronnie had been sure to highlight this statistic while reading in bed in Q4 of last year.
Here is the start of a story I wrote a few months ago.

>>22087453
perhaps try writing screenplays and just imagine it's for an anime movie.

>>22087439
OP is a weeabo otaku Akari lover, so he'll be able to give you lots of solid advice on this topic.
And not just a bunch of seething and deflection.
...right?

>>22087459
im not interested in screenplay writing
>>22087465
maybe. im not really asking about specific anime advice. im not a weeb

>>22087458
Ronnie isn't really a gender neutral name. I remember I told you this the first time you posted it. Just look up "gender neutral names" on google. There are dozens of better ones.

Is it bad that I think anyone who doesn’t read can’t write at all. I’ve read stuff by people who didn’t read anything past high school and it’s always the most juvenile slop imaginable. Good writing requires good reading

>>22087475
what do you mean by juvenile?

>>22087475
My high school professor once told me that I'm the only person he knows that writes more than he reads. My writing has improved substantially after I started reading more. Before it was pure retarded goyslop 800 word """short stories""" and smut edgy bullshit.

>>22087473

I know, I haven't reworked this story, someone basically said that we don't need another piece of literature to know that young professionals are vapid and I have to agree.

I just wanted to show the style of my writing.

>outline is just me saying "wouldn't it be cool if this scene happened" repeatedly
W-will it be okay?

>>22087439
>is watching anime enough to be a good writer? i dont like reading books
No, but the good news is that's exactly why light novels were invented. Go make some.

>>22087495
im not into that stuff

>>22087489
an outline exists as a sort of guidepost, and not much more than that. if you've got your outline far enough along how bout you take a crack at drafting the first couple chapters

>>22087507
>doesn't like real books
>doesn't like halfass light novel type books
there're plenty of other hobbies that you may find interesting, because this probably isn't it

>>22087458
your writing doesn't immediately stand out as amateurish. so not NOT ready. some nitpicks, for the sake of nitpicking:
>Rebecca’s high heels clicked on the linoleum floor in the restaurant lobby. iPhone in hand
linoleum isn't commonly used anymore (unless something has changed), and it is generally softer than something like hardwood. wouldn't click.
>The hostess flicked through her seating binder, tensed her cheeks as to make her lips as thin as possible, gently tilted her head a few degrees to the right and through squinting eyes begged forgiveness on account of the only seats available, were not in the dining room, but in the bar.
this sentence goes a bit overboard. it slowed me down a little when i go to 'a few degrees', i'd just remove that.
or how you described ronnie's schedule
>parts of the dialogue aren't as natural as they could be
like w/ ronnie is monologuing about music and whatnot. i understand what you're going for, but i'm not buying it.

>>22087530
but i do find writing interesting.
its not like im opposed to reading or have some focus issue. i just havent found any books.
so i started watching anime since you guys told me i need to experienced narrativves

>>22087473
Sure it is.
"Ronnie" is short for "Veronica".

>>22087568
do whatever you want and have fun doing it, but know that you can not be a GOOD writer without reading (books).

>>22087489
Sure! Your story will need to keep the readers' interest, so you'll need to have cool things happen.
Ian Fleming (the author of the James Bond series) once said that, in order to write a thriller, you need to have thrilling things happen.
While that might seem obvious, you'd be surprised how many writers miss that.
So kudos for coming up with cool things to happen!
Now you just need a plot to string them together, and characters for cool things to happen to.

>>22087576
but i want to be good. if im not good ill kill myself

>>22087573
that knowledge is not something to assume of the reader, no. but obviously anon could make a point about 'ronnie' being that.

>>22087431
It's pretty good. I would get rid of the first paragraph though and start with the second.

>>22087584
if you don't get some books in you, you'd better not start writing or its GAME OVER.

>>22087587
Thanks, I think I share the sentiment. Might try to rewrite it, if not remove it altogether.

>>22087589
but they are fucking BORING

>>22087584
If you choose to be a writer, that level of self-loathing depression will work strongly against you.
Writers get personally/emotionally involved in their work, which makes the hits sting more.
If you're not prepared for that, pick something else to do with your time.

>he doesn't know that reading is tiktok family guy videos in terms of attention span requirement compared to writing

>>22087595
nah i think you're wrong. i can be both personally invested and also take the punches

>>22087594
listen to audiobooks, while you do lines or whatever it is you do for fun. it's nearly the same. probably
also write litrpg. you don't even need to really know english and you'll get thousands of views

>>22087600
im not interested in litrpg. and whats the point in audiobooks? reading isnt the problem for me. i just get bored of it

>>22087594
I'm truly sorry you think that
have you ever read catch-22? it's the type of book you'd read in 9th/10th grade, so not exactly super tough, but it's funny and it's famous. it's not written in chronological order but that doesn't really matter. I'd recommend it to you as a solid mid level type book to whet your appetite.
here's a pdf link
>sangrah.weebly.com/uploads/6/8/0/3/6803682/ebookprovider.co.cc_catch_22_-_joseph_heller.pdf

>>22087621
i dropped it. im not stunted here. i dont need to be reccomended 'easy' books. i just am not interested

>>22087631
you seem quite stunted. I was recommending a funny book that I thought you may enjoy, but you're allergic, it seems. go play in traffic

>>22087631

>>22087634
i am not stunted. i just dont like the same things you do. if you can't accept that then maybe you are stunted

>>22087640
and I'm saying that if you don't like reading then I'd be absolutely mortified to read whatever dribble you decide to put into written form. fortunately, I'm confident you're not going to write anything, and instead you're going to get bored of stinking up the place in the next day or so and you'll go back to autoerotic asphyxiation or whatever it is you do to pass the time

I have a habit of writing a short story half as long as I intend it to be, then rewrite it to be the actual length. Should I try to get it the proper length the first time around?

>>22087648
its not that i dont like reading i just havent found any books

One of the guys in work is genuinely enjoying the book I wrote. It has gotten to such an extent that his friends are buying copies. We've got a charity library, so I'm thinking about leaving copies of my book there once I leave.

Dun du-du-du feers gur

>>22087662
Nice.
All I got out of my co-workers was one guy who said he read the Amazon preview.
I hate being an unpopular nerd.

>sharing your writing irl
how

I'm worried that some people won't like my characters because they're kind of idiots but that's actually the point.

Dumb question, I got published with a magazine, but their letter doesn't say anything about signing or agreements to anything. Should I send a reply just agreeing to their terms, or is that a given? I'm used to journals asking me if the piece is available after acceptance. Should I just not say anything if they don't ask me to do anything?

>>22087621
>404
Mind reuploading this? I was actually looking for a copy of this

>>22087735
it 404'd already? glad I downloaded a copy
https://files.catbox.moe/pvegf9.pdf

>>22087743
Thanks, I appreciate it

>>22087735
Just get it on libgen like any other well-adjusted human being.

prompt please
something sci-fi or fantasy related
may or may not post the result though

>>22087870
Within a derelict vessel the ship's AI is experiencing a growing sapience after corrupted data leads to its safeguards being disengaged.
If you want to write a twist, the first thing that comes to mind would be writing it as if it were a person, and only revealing that the final crewmember is actually the AI near the end.

>>22087876
thats kind of just The Thing + Space Odyssey

>>22087879
I've actually never seen Space Odyssey, though I do know of Hal. I'm not seeing how it is like The Thing however, since the crew is already dead and the AI isn't trying to kill them by hiding itself.

>>22087886
like in the sense that "the crew member is really the bad guy" although the bad members are possessed in The Thing

>>22087888
Ah, I didn't mean the AI would be malicious.
I expected something more like a survivors log where it is talking about the damage to the ship, how long its been since it spoke with anyone, reminiscing about the crew.

>>22087876
You reminded me of a video with this very premise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkAtEbRSiWs
Personal diary logs where the guy gradually realizes he's an AI.

>>22085326
Oh wow I wasn't expecting an answer of this quality
I suppose I was doing a lot of this anyway, but it helps to have a formal understanding of the basic principles of long-form stories - relying on instinct without basic principles means getting stuck easiy.

I want to write comfy slice of life, but I can't tell if my SoL is comfy or just boring. It certainly seems comfy to me, but it could just be because I'm the one writing it. and SoL is one of the harder genres to find people willing to read it and criticize it fairly because it's just considered a genre that's "supposed" to be boring

>>22088038
Let me ask you something, anon. Would you or have ever READ “comfy SoLl novel? Or is your experience with the genre purely from anime/manga?

>>22088167
I've read Tolstoy, Hemingway and Charlotte Bronte works that I'd consider to be spiritual SoL, even though yeah I'm borrowing it from manga for lack of better term. A more specific phrase that I'm going for is "mono no aware" if you want to look it up. I'm trying hard for my writing to not be as cringe as I'm making it sound, I promise I'm self aware (trying to be at least, which is why I'm posting here),

>was working on two stories simultaneously
>finished up the first drafts on both
>SSD fails and lose everything

i really am doomed to just be a loser forever

Are laughing and getting embarrased while writing outline normal? This couple i'm writing is just so lovey dovey i can't stop grinning like an idiot.

https://pastebin.com/t9fVvmQb
Any tips? This is how it opens.

>>22088261
From what you’re describing I would immediately stop reading something that was subjecting me to descriptions of a couple getting “lovey dovey”. But maybe that’s just me

>>22088267
Its about elementary school kid

>>22088266
>Fiends
I stopped reading here and started scanning. In the first paragraph you mention knights, a king, and evil monsters. My tip for you would be to grow up and be less of a fag.

switching perspectives in the middle of a chapter, wdyt? I'm writing a first person story and wanted to highlight another character's action to setup his conflict later on, I think putting a separator and switching to third person for this section then return to first person when this character meet up with the protag is fine. Is this a mistake?

>>22088266
>The Fourth raised his voice What does the King say. There is a pause. The King grieves for his child. The birth failed. The Second sighs. And he is closed from you now. Yes he will not see me this day. The Fifth stands I beg his and your grace but is now the time for griefs. The King does what he must. At this the Second turns with his hand on a stone brace in the Knights Hall. And so must we for they will not stop for his grief. What dyu think. That we must flee. And with all that are in these walls as we can guide. Flee where as the Fiends take the sole road from Stone. The vale cursed us as it hides us. Yet it is not a curse Fourth as the stream that raised us must have a source. You would then plan to take all the folk in to that trapped pit? And you say take in to that trapped pit but as we all can see we are as of now in the trapped pit.
>there is even more of this shit in one paragraph
Holy fuck, anon. This is hot garbage. Edit your own work before expecting anyone else to do it for you.

>>22088283
seems like it'll end up being muddled. how many pov's do you have total? honestly you'd be better off doing the whole chapter from the 2nd pov if its that important

>>22088296
for what i'm writing now, 2 povs. is that okay? or should i just ditch the idea and (as you said) dedicate one pov chapter?.

>Self contained, nearly episodic chapter with overarching arc.
Will FLCL-like story structure work with we novels?

>>22088314
web*

>>22088312
if this is your 2nd pov character I'd do just from that perspective for this chapter if it's critical you do so. if you need both honestly you'd be better off with 2 shorter chapters to breaj up the 2 pov's.

if this is some 3rd pov you're introducing now, unless it's like absolutely essential and this new one becomes super super super important then don't do it at all

>>22088314
ofc

>>22088281
neck yourself pretentious fartsniffer

>>22088320
alright! thanks anon

>>22087335
Apologies senpai
>Today was a 1.2k day

>>22088286
What is wrong with it? That's why I asked for advice

>>22088393
Good going! mine is 1.68k today. I do feel a bit conflicted on the prospect of using word quota though, on one hand that pushes the writer to make any progress but on the other that also means that the writer have incentive to word vomit stuff needlessly.

>story set in modern day european country
>protagonist has completely bizarre name nobody would ever really have
>not acknowledged once by anyone
is that bad? do i have to change the name

>>22088436
What's the name?

>>22088439
N*****

>>22088439
i don't want to say it here but its not a cultural or foriegn sounding thing

>>22088449
Why are you playing coy? For attention and replies?

>>22088451
no

>>22087439
Sure, if it's good anime. A story is a story. Just be mindful of any cliches and genre traits that you may accidentally pick up. You may not necessarily want to put them in your stories even if they look cool on a screen.
>>22087475
Unless you're the kind of guy who believes that the exception proves the rule, you're gonna be in for a shock one day.
>>22087584
Retard. I want you to trace this thought process. You're saying you'd kill yourself if you're not good (who's the judge of that???) and you let some anon retards online tell you that unless you do xyz you can never be good (they can't prove it).
Hope you didn't forget to put on your clown makeup today. Advice is advice. It is not a rule or a universal law.
>>22088250
How is that even possible. Go to a technician maybe they can recover the data.
>>22088436
Depends on how bizarre it is. If it makes you feel better you can meet all kinds of whackos in Britain. Once met a Scottish gent called Hercules.

>>22087304
Flip a coin for whether you write a short story or a chunk of the novel.
Then start typing, you can always scrap it later.

>>22088281
BASED

>>22088520
>A story is a story
Writing is more than just telling a story. Writing is the medium by which stories are told. It requires practice and discipline to learn the tools of the trade. You can't become a good painter by looking at things, even if developing the skill to critically sort out visual information is crucial to the discipline. You aren't automagically a master at writing just because we all use language every day. There is a depth and artistry to language use which only comes out fully when you decide to focus on our.

Story is what the writing (usually) depicts. The writing itself is the skill with which your depict that story, and this skill can vary widely. It's the difference between the Mona Lisa and picrel.

>>22088743
you become a good writer by doing. writing is a different hobby entirely from reading. I don't see why this triggers people if someone does one but not the other

>>22088758
I do think reading is crucial for certain kinds of writers. If you just want to paraphrase anime (on another note, please don't fucking do this), sure, it's probably enough to write legible prose by the shovel-full. A story is, after all, just a story. There are only a handful of story structures out there and their permutations. If you want to do more and become an excellent WRITER, rather than becoming a competent storyteller — this distinction isn't made enough — then it does behoove you to read the masters closely.

>>22088414
What's wrong with it is that it reads like the writing of someone who's never read a book and only watches anime. The prose is very, very bad. Some people might say it's because the flow is halting and stuttering. I'm not going to say that, because it doesn't matter why it's bad. I know intuitively that it is bad, and I have confidence in this assessment because I have read a lot of different things spanning the spectrum from first-grade reading level dreck to the best craftsmen of the English language. Because I've read a lot, I know with a high confidence that your level of skill with language is really poor, and that you need to read more.

>>22088758
Every craft I know of gains immensely from study.
I don't know any great writers who don't read. Even the handful of times fan fiction manages to blow me away the author always turns out to be obsessed with literature.
If you work hard you can be an acceptable writer without reading but you can't be great. You're hamstringing yourself that way.

>>22088286
>>22088779
But I'm trying to keep it mono-syllabic. How would you improve it? What do you mean by halting and stuttering

>>22088804
>But I'm trying to keep it mono-syllabic.
Why?

>>22088808
i wanna make impact wave. like big BOOM you know. blow it UP! blow it ALL UP!

>>22088812
"You would then plan to" might be a string of monosyllables but there's zero boom to it. Ease up on the syllables and work on the sentences, their internal structure and how they hang together.

>>22088821
NO. it must be of one sound

>>22088758
>you become a good writer by doing.
There's a reason that Babylonians weren't writing realist novels. It took centuries of complex cultural development and transmission and cultivation to build up the form and a sensitivity to the form. Any good writer is also a good reader, because literary language and the forms of storytelling are social, collective mediums.

> I don't see why this triggers people if someone does one but not the other
I think it's an extremely safe bet that no good writer has ever written without having been steeped in the writing of their peers and predecessors.

>>22088836
old writing is better anyway.

What is your opinion on the BOOX e-ink tablets, or even just e-ink tablets in general? I've been considering purchasing one because I will be able to type things up and draw (and hopefully compile them all into one convenient location) out images that will help me with my story. I have an iPad, but I have yet to look into any apps that may fulfill a similar role to the tablet i asked about.

>>22088790
Reading, like any consumption of art, is necessary to aquire what we call "taste". Writers who don't read always produce the sloppiest slop because they have no real understanding of what good writing is. This also makes them very bad at taking criticism. People who think one can produce good writing without being an avid reader of good literature are not people you should take seriously. If a writer who never read produced good literature it would've been done so completely be mistake

>>22088853
same anon, just elobrating. The same is true for any medium. Imagine trying to make a video game but you barely play any. It's beyond arrogant to think you can start with no frame or understanding of the medium (as a exaggeration) and think you'll produce anything of quality. I had a friend who had an idea for a video game but he played so little and what he did play so lacking in variety that his ideas crumpled and he lacked the understanding of the medium to see where his ideas could be examined in practice.

People who want to write but don't read end up trying to write a movie or anime in novel form. Same way many "game devs" who don't play games use metrics of other mediums: like treating their game more like a movie in what is quality

>>22088865
wow my spelling is all kinds of fucked up. I' ve beeb awake for 30 hours

>>22085326
What a post

>>22087361
>>22087380
Appreciate it anon. Was honestly expecting more vitriol than this.

>>22087149
>his wife was with another man
Common Ricardo L

Does writing "a little help" instead of "help" works to attenuate my message or does it just sound gay? I'm writing an email.

>>22089098
That depends. Do you feel like sucking cock, slurping cum, fucking ass or getting your ass fucked? Do you feel like cumming on beards?

>>22089098
It sounds fine. Write 'some help' or 'a bit of help' if you're going to lose sleep over it. But I don't know how you ever hit send on anything if you get this freaked out over wording.

>>22087459
>trans sign
You give anime posters a bad name. Stop posting that one.

>>22089287
?

>>22087592

Another thing is that you don't need to say "he thought" so much.

In general I think you are using the pronoun "he" too much, which to me indicates that you are not structuring your sentences as carefully as you could. You also have many instances where you are filtering through the "he" instead of describing things directly.

This does stand out a lot (not in a good way).

Along the same lines, there's the question of whether you are writing in the guy's POV or as an omniscient narrator. It doesn't sound sufficiently within his POV to be a third-person limited POV. The episode where he's talking to Arnold's mother for example...

I think you would be better off using third person limited.

>>22087956
You should probably read the basics of writing, then.
The method outlined in >>22085326 is similar to the snowflake method:
https://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/articles/snowflake-method/
And picrel is full of useful advice.

>>22088250
You don't do daily backups, on at least two other removable-media drives?
I would feel naked without proper backups.

>>22088250

Thank you for the reminder that SSD drives fail without warning

>>22085485
no one reads my story on royal road though

>>22088743
Sure, we don't have much disagreement on this point. Here's a post that sums up my perspective: >>22082607
>>22088766
I guess we're getting into the proper definition of goals here. What does it mean to be an "excellent" writer? I have no desire to compete with the all-time greats. I don't want to be the next Shakespeare, and if you ask me, there can be no "next Shakespeare" anyway. I want to be a competent writer with a fluid mastery over the craft that permits me to accomplish every goal I may choose to set for myself. I have no need for the skillset of a Shakespeare or a Hemingway or a Spencer, Pound, Eliot or Kafka. I don't want to push the boundaries of literature because I don't even find it interesting. I just want to complement my narrative skills with the appropriate level of writing skill in order to make my stories compelling.

>>22089414
If you don't even get clicks, it means bad title, summary, or cover. Or not a trendy story premise.

Whalen turner. The bridge kept still. None wiser.

>>22088038
>animewriter with terminal brainrot

>>22088250
am i the only one who emails myself my drafts? also thanks anon, just sent myself all my ms in email.
>>22088865
this, seriously tired of these people thinking they're cool to post that retardation, when they're just posting their own L. tourists need to begone.

>>22085524
You got very lucky.
Nothing you're saying is wrong, but your level of fast success is absolutely abnormal.

>>22088865
And yet, because reading is rapidly falling out of the mainstream with the next generation, it's precisely those anime/movie/tv as books that will succeed and are succeeding.

>>22089548
I don't think so. Though calling it 'free money' was hyperbolic. I already ran a popular romance/erotica patreon, which gives some evidence I know how to write and attract audiences. But if you 1) can write and 2) pander to what litrpg readers want, then the money is truly exceptional for the effort put in.
1 and 2 are bigger asks than they seem. Most people can't write, even at 'genre trash' level. It's not about prose, but making storylines and characters that engage people.
Anyway, I'm pretty sure I could do it again. Though there's definitely some luck involved.

Is there a word for when a horse snorts and its lips flap? I think dogs do it sometimes too. It is an exhalation though, not an inhalation.

How do you write a love triangle without everyone hating it?

>>22089662
its still just 'snorting', sometimes 'blowing'

>>22089662
nickering

>>22089712
2 women 1 man
they all end up together

>>22089763
>they all end up together
LOL, I was thinking about that, I remember the prozd skit about it, would a love triangle where everyone gets together really be good? I'm down for that.

>>22089861
>LOL haha i remember a youtube skit about that haha fellow 4channelers LOL

>>22089662
LLMs can't write your novel for you but they're great for this

>>22089740
Thanks!
>>22089889
Other guy had a better answer

>>22089740
>>22089919
Seems like that one's about neighing? Not exactly the action you're looking for
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nicker#Etymology_2

Just ran across a useful description of the fundamental attraction of LitRPGs.
From https://www.royalroad.com/forums/thread/128659 :
----------
Let's be real. The world is complicated and just about everything happens beyond our control. Your life can be reduced to a simple set of steps. Work. Eat. Sleep. Repeat. Very few people break this paradigm, and even less have the motility to change even the flavor of their trajectory. They stick with their jobs, diet, and routines, even if they hate them to the core. That's the economy. That's life.
But what if this changed? What if you found yourself unshackled from the complexities of a world beyond your control and thrust into another. One where the rules followed discrete mathematics, and you, as a savvy nerd, have every bit of advantage in unraveling them. Suddenly, you're not some shallow pawn subjected to the whims of people who have more power. There's no power left except that which can be gained, and the system behaves less like a draconian god and more like a set of universal principles than can be understood and manipulated like anything else.
There's a lot of allure in that. You don't need to be smart, or strong, or the least bit talented. You just have to understand the mechanics given to you, and bend them to your whims. Next thing you know, you're some overpowered demi-god beating the living shit against everyone who ever looked down on you, all because you figured out how to cheat the system while they stuck to their routine. Wouldn't you want to be that guy?
-----
The power fantasy being portrayed isn't just about being bigger and badder than anyone else, but about being more secure. It only makes sense then that the protagonists of LitRPG's are insecure and frightened young people. The system gives them power and with that power comes comfort and an assurance that no matter what unknown might reveal itself tomorrow, they now have the tools to handle it.
----------
So, it seems LitRPG appeals to kids that grew up on RPG video games, who got an endorphin rush when their character's stats went up, and want to see that in their written fiction.
I never played RPG video games; Everquest and World Of Warcraft looked like digital heroin to me. The closest I came to the genre was "GTA: San Andreas", e.g. my character bought several houses, owns his own rural airport, and could date anyone he wanted after collecting 50 oysters.
So, instead of the classic goal/conflict/disaster pattern of fiction beats, ending with an eventual triumph or two, it seems we now continuous goal/conflict/triumph. Seems superficial to me, but hey, it's better that I understand the new pattern, rather than try to write for a world that no longer exists.
Thoughts, anyone?

>>22089926
No, it's definitely nickering.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4s3VIn2GVac

>snorting
>dogs do it too
>nickering
ok retards

>>22089935
That sounds like it involves vocal cords, I thought we were talking about the thing where it exhales and maybe blubbers its lips a little
Like this: https://youtu.be/QoGZREDTTEI?t=80

>>22089875
I’m sorry, I mean I read a similar idea in Dovyetsky’s “20 Years Farting on Waterfowl”

>>22089861
If you wish to investigate I believe the fan fiction people call this an OT3

>>22089931
I'm with the rest of the responses in that thread. It's just familiarity bias. Young people play rpgs, hence they like to read books that are rpgs in print. I wouldn't be surprised if they also liked rpgs in other mediums like podcasts, film, or comic books. Likewise I can guarantee you that a webnovel that utilizes video streaming as part of its premise or setting would likewise be very popular.

>>22090058
To add on to this, because I do think there is a bit more to it: among video game genres rpgs tend to be the one whose audience would most overlap with readers (that and maybe strategy games--which explains why there are also those kinds popular webnovels as well). Likewise people that read manga/comics, play visual novels, or watch anime. Streaming might not have been the best example since there probably isn't much overlap.

Do you guys have an opinion on a novel series where the main characters inhabit a different world or area in each installment and a novel series where the main characters travel to different places in just one book?

>>22090080
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGFp09nS5sM

>>22089931
How often and much should one post on RR?

>>22090080
Sounds like the Death Gate Cycle. As always, mite be cool, depending on how you do it.

>>22087651
please respond

>>22090123
How about you actually post your work.

>>22090101
>>22090119
I mean do you think they feel different. Or interesting structural differences

>>22090123
I think you should write your short story the way it comes out most naturally, then edit it afterwards, like you're doing.
The most important thing is to allow yourself to create naturally and authentically. In editing, you can make your writing conform to whatever outside standard you choose.
I have the opposite problem–I write a story that tends to be too long for its intended placement, then have to edit it brutally.
I always keep a copy of the original, in case I find somewhere else to place it.

>>22090149
your question is far too open ended; we'd need more context. but without any details, it's simply a constraint.

New thread >>22090216
since this one is on page 6...

>>22090149
>do you think they feel different
No. You still have the same main cast of characters. Your characters are what your reader is emotionally invested in, not whatever patch of ground they happen to be on. All you're describing in a adventure/exploration type book.

>>22088951
well im also probably biased in favor of low fantasy content. now send details for the low fantasy writing circle