/lit/ - Literature

I may as well post it here and hope someone will give it a read, tell me how shit this is and I can then decide to keep going or toss this shit in the trash. It's on a throwaway account.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CKVn15gki6IZ6poQ26cIX2mHCQP1avShU-Qjx4IDTJY/edit?usp=sharing

I'm reasonably proud of this one, and it seemed perfect for lit

> micz.substack.com/p/playgrounds-and-theodicy

I would not stop for this gentleman

>>22374753
That was fun. i liked it.

>>22374660
Unless its completely awful, i will read on the train home today.

I wish people would stop telling me to write more likable characters.

I have a mildly successful story but I'm seeing a few thousand users drop off, with the main complaint being that the mc is not living up to his apple cheek farm boy beginnings.

Yeah that's the point

I wish I didn't feel so guilty about being upset with you. Am I allowed a moment of frustration, even if you really meant well? For once, I know how much you love me. I'm irked anyway.

He opened the door to the hotel room. Number 69.
"Heh. Now that's funny," he said as it ran the card through the slot. The locked beeped and the green LED lit up. He pushed the door open.
She was already on the bed ready to go. Her tits were out and her cock was hard.
"What took so long," she asked in her best imitation of a genuine female voice.
"The ice machine was broken. Had to go all the way down to the lobby."
He filled a couple of plastic cups with ice and poured some Mad Dog 20/20.
"Here. Drink up."
He handed her a glass, took a swig of his own and winced.
"You sure have a pretty cock. Very feminine."
"Thanks," she replied. "But it's not going to suck itself."
"She opened her legs and laid back, rolling her head back.
"No. I suppose it isn't."
He downed his glass like a kid forcing himself to take the medicine his parents were insisting on.
"Well... I guess this is it. No going back now," he thought to himselfbas he crawled onto the bed and began lowering his head between her thighs.
"Damn. I think this bitch might be bigger than me," he thought as he took hold her her shaft and began sniffing her penis.
It smelled like peanuts or something. He couldn't quite place it. It was the very distinct smell of girl cock.
He appreciated that she was circumcized like himself. He wasn't sure he'd be able to go through with this had she still had her foreskin. But as things were, he was still willing to explore.
Was this wrong? Was he going against God? As the Mad Dog kicked in he found that she possibility of the answer to either of these questions being "Yes" only made his own cock begin to throb with anticipation.
Tonight was not going to be the time for philosophy. That can wait for post-nut clarity. Tonight was about living in the moment and being "Who you really are," as the LGBT cults often put it.
No. This wasn't about ideology. This was about cumming. Something he most certainly intended to do.
He stopped thinking. He gave in, opened his mouth, and closed his eyes.

>>22374753
That's excellent except that I think the names are stupid.
IDK if your choose them for the flow but as someone currently in the process of picking out baby names Jeffrey feels particularly out of places.
Regardless this is great fun and I will for sure look through the test of your stuff later on.
If most people on chan should probably give up and stop writing you should absolutely continue improving.
Cheers.

I have a feeling that there are many people on /lit/ who started out writing through fanfiction but won’t admit it.

https://seanfranks.substack.com/p/an-unhinged-anti-tech-screed

>>22374902
I started writing through Roblox RP back in 2008.

>>22374553
Bros, I hate being high T and wanting to bone anything that looks remotely feminine.

>>22374915
Hey, brother. I've been thinking about starting a substack too. Is it too hard to get readers? Maybe we should start a /lit/ substack community. I'll definitely give a read to your blog later to support a /lit/ bro.

>>22374753
I wish more people here tried to be amusing rather then deep. Good job anon.

I quit checking the poetry thread because of all the 16yo trying to write war epics.

hey when do i get my phonecall with travis?

>>22374991
I used to autistically write Doctor Who episode treatments for imaginary 12th Doctor series while waiting for 'Deep Breath' to air.

>>22374902
I started out writing (or trying to write) because I got tired of never finding the very specific Coomer fantasies that turn me on.

>>22374902
not me. I honestly don't see the appeal

I'm still working on practicing my dialogue, and I just randomly had this idea for a short passage. Any comments or tips on how to write dialogue? I've been trying to focus on keeping dialogue succinct and including words that achieve something (i.e., advancing the plot or powerfully characterizing someone).

>>22374902
I didn't start with fanfiction, it was when I was 13 or so and wanted to replicate all those YA books I was reading. But I definitely had a fanfic phase.

I am a furry writing a high fanasty novel while I love my anthro animals/furry's I do feel I need to write some other race types then just a basic furry's

Should I try to get more creative with it and write more unique races or should I just go "Its my story it shall have furrys"

Its not even like from an out siders/readers point of view I just feel creativity bankrupt here. I love my furry people, but how do I get more creative with the races?

Or should I just say fuck it and write all the furrys all the time?

>>22374998
I don't care about quantity of readers, just quality. I managed to attract the attention of who I wanted, so it worked out in the end. Just create a Twitter account with the link in your profile and be active there. You'll get 10% of your follower count, roughly.

>>22374553
Idk why I thought that was Alizee from the thumbnail. Of course she'd be too based for /lit/

nazi kike.

Any advice for writing something autobiographical please?

General advice is appreciated, but specifically I'm unsure what to do when it comes to names. I want to use my own name but I don't necessarily want to compromise the privacy of my family and others I'm writing about.

>>22375401
write using real names, then go through and replace every name with pseudonyms. This is common practice for that sort of book.

Cave Guy got exciled from his group in a kangaroo court what's the next step of his master plan?

1) Go wonder the wilderness run into sasquatches and other weird shit while trying to form his own group
2) Hunt down the members who exiled him for sweet vengence
3) Just explore the world seeing where life takes him

Should you give up if you start thinking your fantasy adventure story seems too anime?

>>22376245
do they yell their attacks and think rice balls are the epitome of cuisine? yes.
otherwise, no. finish the draft and edit to remove cringe

>>22376283
Oh. No. Nothing like that. It’s just that in my story I have a character who uses magic to construct weapons (think of it like a very limited form of a Green Lantern ring). I’m writing an action sequence where she faces someone who uses the same kind of magic to build giant armored arms (so lots of punching through walls and throwing people around). It seems like a logical extension of what I’d already established, but it feels a little too anime rather than traditional sword and sorcery crap.

>>22376193
Figured as much, thanks.

>>22376330
>lots of punching through walls and throwing people around
maybe tone down the power level a touch. make it more a fistfight and less hulk knocking shit down

>>22376330
At first it sounded like Arifureta, but I guess not.
If you want to keep a more medieval setting, just make sure the arms are described as a knights armor. Are you sure the story justifies characters surviving being punched throw walls? If you have a problem with that, perhaps you should ground the world a bit more, or just go ahead with it.

>>22375145

It's pretty good, anon, but you can consolidate some of the lines. Avoid having your guy asks obvious prompting questions or responding too much with one-liners, like "Jesus." Ask yourself how this person might just deliver a speech without being interrupted constantly. You can tell just looking at your sampe visually that you are doing too much back and forth.

Why does the fact that my writing is dogshit bother me so much? I have no way to publish it, no one is ever going to fucking read it so why do I agonize over the quality of my work?

>>22376651
Because you care, you are putting you heart into something and it isn't living up to what you want it to be.

>>22374753
I like your other stuff more, but this is perfectly fine.
I actually flow 2 people from here and both of your are excellent. Imo much better then the various attempts at lit mag / zine bullshit we have going on.

Just don't get to mixed up in discord drama and your are good.

>>22376651
progress not perfection

>>22376651
>no one is ever going to fucking read it
You'll never know. See: Moby Dick.

How do I keep up the pace when writing a story, chapter after chapter, day after day?

The twist of having two characters be the same person just with an unexplained time gap is probably stupidly overdone by now but dammit if I'm stuck trying not to use it
It's just such a convenient way to do backstory

>>22374902
I never stopped and use /wg/'s advice under false pretenses.

>>22377157
>touching receipts
shiggy diggy they print that shit with bisphenol

>>22377157
I dog ear pages
who cares?
I don't care

>>22377174
>bisphenol
>also in eyewear supposedly
Am I gonna die?

>>22377193
just your pecker

>>22376627
Fair advice, thanks anon. I've spent most of my time writing imagery and non-dialogue, so it's been interesting trying to adjust to make good dialogue. Can't just replicate real life interactions, sadly.

>>22377197
That's what I use for all my thinking

>>22374902
I did, but then I let others shame me into not writing it, and then my progress stagnated for years as I turned into a pure consoomer.

>>22377202
I'd recommend searching YouTube for Sorkin, Tarantino, and Linklater dialogue discussion. I wouldn't say copy those three, but from those videos you'll notice further suggestions on the subject of crafting compelling conversations and driving the story through dialogue that can be both stylish or not.

When you write consider: what does a character want, why now, and what happens if they don't get it.

>>22377243
>Sorkin, Tarantino, and Linklater dialogue
ugh

>>22377247
"I wouldn't say copy those three..."

>>22377193
No, BPA is the monomer in polycarbonate. And a lot of polycarbonate, especially in plastics for drinking bottles, use hindered monomers. Polymers are almost always non-hazardous, but sometimes unreacted monomer gets trapped in the polymer matrix.
Also the evidence against BPA is kind of sketchy. It is mostly alarmism, for the same reasons that people freaked out about anabolic steroids.

>>22377302
you're right bro. nothing wrong with a lil' endocrine disruption here and there.

>>22377524
If it gives you peace of mind, touching a receipt exposes you to less than 1 ppm of it, and it doesn't readily absorb into skin so you have time to wash your hands.
If anything I would be more cautious about Sodium nitrite in food because that generates nitroso compounds, just like anilines can. That shit will kill you.

>>22375145
I read this and there was so much wrong with it that my immediate impulse was to just rewrite the whole thing. And then I realized that it would just be a waste of time since it wouldn't really clarify what I found wrong with it.

I don't believe there is such a thing as "bad dialogue", or if there is, you can't solve it by writing "good dialogue". The solution is usually structural. You have to fix the characters and conflict and details and then, even if you have the same exact dialogue, it will suddenly become good.

In your case, this is an utterly insipid conversation. You somehow made the confession of someone's parent committing suicide into the prose equivalent of Ambien. I have a hard time believing you put any thought into this at all because every line feels like you just jotted down the first thing that popped into your head. There's no actual sympathy or consideration, or hell, love, for any of the characters. You have someone admitting that their mother actually told them that they're going to kill themselves (itself such a completely ridiculous and unbelievable premise that its effect is more comedic than anything else) and what is the reaction? Is it disbelief? Is it secret disgust or awe? Is it nervousness? Is it thrill?

>"How awful." I shook my head. "And you couldn't stop her in time?"

An utterly absurd response. And not at all helped by the complete lack of internality in the entire passage. They both say exactly what they think, a trait common to the characters of Aesop's fables and about 1% of the world's population that have an intense fascination with trains and Sonic the Hedgehog.

What this is missing, fundamentally, is contrast. Contrast between the characters, contrast within the characters, contrast between what they say and what they feel, between the beginning and end. Contrast and confidence. A dialogue in which characters just agree with each other and engage in inane banter because you're too afraid or too lazy to put them into conflict, is a complete waste of everyone's time. They might as well be talking about the weather.

And there's just so many ways this scene could have turned: she was lying about the whole thing, he's actually morbidly fascinated by the suicide, she's actually suicidal herself, he gets angry at her for telling him, she gets irrationally angry at him for "making her confess", he calls her mother a coward, he was planning to break up with her but now he feels like he can't, etc., etc., etc. Which is why I can't believe that you spent any amount of time actually about thinking about any of this.

So, that's how you write dialogue. Stop caring so much about the actual words and start thinking hard about the situation, the conflict, the characters. Imagine each of them has been given a different, irreconcilable script on the same situation, which both believe is the absolute truth.

>>22377797
>>An utterly absurd response.
H-haha, yeah, nobody would ever talk like that...

>>22375145

Where are you from? It sounds kind of weird that she refers to her mom as "mom" while talking to this guy (instead of saying "my mom").

>>22374902
Nah nigga I started through forum roleplaying

I'm posting this one in here too and there's nothing you can do to stop me.
NOTHING.
https://files.catbox.moe/9vq53v.pdf

>>22378197
How'd you translate your skills?

>>22378211
Wow, that's awful formatting.
You either need to indent the first line in your paragraphs, or put extra vertical space between paragraphs.

Some stuff from the current version of the rewrite of an old manuscript I'm doing. Is my characterization of the protagonist and his friend the dealer good? I remember feeling very inspired when I wrote this stuff.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18UbtkhlsRQMWnlls-MvdDTRRmqB83TN_88FdXhshRBI/edit?usp=sharing

>>22377797
I disagree with that. There is definitely good and bad dialogue, and while I agree that a premise and conflict has to be set up (i.e. a reason for this dialogue to exist), you act like people agreeing with each other and having a character who just nonchalantly agrees while being awkward and not knowing what to say is always a bad thing. Nor is it bad that two people are in tune with each other and say what they mean, so long as the topic is interesting.
But in this case, I actually rewrote it earlier with the premise that the male character had recently found his own brother dead by suicide, and retooled it such that he was shocked by the whole thing and disagreed with her viewpoint entirely, but hid that. The dialogue was practically unchanged though, save for removing some pointless remarks as another person had suggested. It was mostly about adding physical cues that suggested he was uncomfortable.
>You have someone admitting that their mother actually told them that they're going to kill themselves (itself such a completely ridiculous and unbelievable premise
And why would that be unbelievable?

>>22374660
>>22374753
>>22374844
>>22374859
>>22374915
>>22374992
>>22375062
>>22375145
>>22375160
>>22375240
>>22376219
>>22377797
>>22378211
>>22378326

>>22376245
yes

>>22378427
You said it was bad but my article has 0 new views (it's not hard to tell given nobody reads it) you are a liar!

>>22378445
I mean, this is clearly some lame bait attempt...

>>22376245
try to rewrite your fantasy setting without character magic, see what you come up with

>>22378300
fixing that right now, anything else?

>>22378445
>>22378454
sorry, tell me what your text is and I promise I'll read it, but don't expect much since I'm an ESL. just wanted to hit the thread and really wanted to use that webm (you can't deny it's cool). I'm sorry again.

>>22378497

>>22374915
It's polemic and a diary.

I joined the official /lit/ discord server, thinking I was going to get to talk to my /lit/ bros, but it's full of chronically online trannies with anime profile pics. What's up with that? Don't tell me those are the people posting on /lit/. I refuse to believe it.

>>22378518
Those are the exact people. Reason why I left.

>>22378518
>the official /lit/ discord
What?

>>22378709
There's an alleged /lit/ official discord that gets spammed here from time to time. As far as I could tell, it had nothing to do with /lit/, and it revolves around simping some zoomer bitch called Ingrid.

>>22375160
Just make the various furry races distinct enough from each other.

Where am I supposed to post my anime harem story for critique?

Just finished my latest project. Anyone else need a cheap editor?

>>22378813
here

>>22378821
Sure if you can do $0.

>>22378356
>having a character who just nonchalantly agrees while being awkward and not knowing what to say
That's not what you posted though. There is absolutely nothing to suggest awkwardness or that "he doesn't know what to say" because you avoided all internality and physical signaling.
>Nor is it bad that two people are in tune with each other and say what they mean, so long as the topic is interesting.
This is pretty much universally bad in LITERATURE, the one medium where you are actually able to look into a character's head. But go ahead and give even a single example of this that isn't from fairy tales or children's books or screenplays. You can have one character be straightforward like this (which can create conflict) but not both.
>But in this case, I actually rewrote it earlier with the premise that the male character had recently found his own brother dead by suicide, and retooled it such that he was shocked by the whole thing and disagreed with her viewpoint entirely, but hid that. The dialogue was practically unchanged though, save for removing some pointless remarks as another person had suggested. It was mostly about adding physical cues that suggested he was uncomfortable.
So it ended up being exactly what I said? You changed the structure, and the dialogue, unchanged, suddenly became good? So what is it you are disagreeing with exactly?
>And why would that be unbelievable?
I don't know if you've ever had kids or suicidal thoughts but your kids are the one person you'd never admit that to. And you'd never in a million years do it so bluntly. Are you genuinely autistic?

>>22378197

Same here. I still do forum rp 20 years later. It's the best.

>>22378965
minimum order on fiverr is $5, iirc

>>22379489
>I don't know if you've ever had kids or suicidal thoughts but your kids are the one person you'd never admit that to. And you'd never in a million years do it so bluntly
I know you're childless and have a nonexistent relationship with your parents because that happens to me all the time, most recently less than five minutes ago.

>>22379746
Jesus christ Anon, please tell me your kids are 40 and that you’re not burdening children with the chore of babying you and your feelings.

>>22374753
>>22374753
Ehhhh.
It's fine stylistically but there's something dead about it. Please don't listen to the other anons, you have no talent for anything except technical exercises.
You should stop wasting everyone's time and give up on poetry.

This ugly fucking tranny OP pic has been haunting me every time I refresh the front page, why didn't I hide the thread until now

>>22379489
>I don't know if you've ever had kids or suicidal thoughts but your kids are the one person you'd never admit that to. And you'd never in a million years do it so bluntly. Are you genuinely autistic?
You seem to have a very basic (and optimistic) view on humanity. Plenty of parents kill themselves and leave their child behind; in this case the mother decided to kill herself after giving her kid a good upbringing out of a variety of emotions, and felt guilty enough about it that she decided to give her child a proper goodbye first.

Uploaded my sixth book to Amazon. That's two trilogies done and over with. They were all flops that sold less than dog poop, but I did it. I did the absolute best I could and finished what I started. Now I'm finally free. Amen.

>>22374553
What would happen if you had sex with a zombie? Or at least someone who's infected with the zombie disease?
This is very important

>>22378518
>I joined the official /lit/ discord server
>but it's full of chronically online trannies with anime profile pics
many such cases. sad!
seriously, dd you expect anything different from discord?

>>22380064
What do you want to happen?

>>22380064
probably a yeast infection, man.

>>22380064
Depends on how the disease is spread. If bodily fluids are involved in transmission, unprotected sex would likely spread it. Or perhaps zombies in your world are more demonic or supernatural, in which case intercourse wouldn't really do anything I'd imagine.

Anyone tried using uncensored local large language models to assist them in their writing? Apparently you can even train it to write like you.

>>22380144
yeah. It's like having your retarded friend shout out basic bitch ideas at you while you write but it does speed up the process.

>>22380144
it will only write like how you've written before. So if you're bad, expect to get even worse.

>>22379770
>your kids
based reading comprehension failure

>>22380064
Depends on the setting. One eroge I read had it that zombies gradually became more sentient the more bodily fluids they absorbed from the living, which for most of them meant eating people and even other zombies. The MC kept a curvy uninjured zombie girl around as a sex slave and repeatedly came inside of her. Guess what happened.

Wrote one paragraph today. Are you guys proud of me?

>>22380484
Keep up the good work anon.

>>22374660
Read two chapters
The dispassionate, borderline autistic character voice would be interesting, but it's handled clumsily and the protagonist doesn't entirely sell as having the substance to support it. You try too often to have affecting and intimate lines. Most of them are awkward. The moments that could have held weight are cheapened by the ones that don't. I found myself glazing repeatedly

Prosaically I found it O K but annoying. You try to let your sentences move freely, addressing subjects other than the strict advancement of the plot or dry scene description, which is something I'd appreciate if the digressions weren't so frequent and so corny. So much effort is put into trying to avoid repetitive structure, that none seems to have been spared for whether it's effective or even worth reading. It feels repetitive. The metaphors and musings all feel like arbitrary injections. The regular sentence structure is droning, especially since it feels like I have no reason to pay attention since the

The protagonist is chuuni-cringe incarnate with a sexual revolution flavor. The constant musings and his dialogue is such a hamfisted way to integrate his perspective into the prose. I want to appreciate this D A M A G E D gaylord but his character feels skin deep. The way he's expressed is a self serving kind of cool I'd expect from a sonic OC; the through line of his actions and motivations don't feel justified, which makes it feel like his actions are trying to get the reader to feel aghast at the randomness and unpredictability (I wasn't); his dialogue is terse and autistic, and is honestly the only part of his character that I like. It suits this detached, traumatized, soul seeking retard and I enjoyed the absurdity of it

This reads like the second thing you've ever written. It's like you're trying to implement common advice, but doing so in all the most surface level and awkward ways. I appreciate that there's a sense of narrative direction and themes. Do more with your scenes; don't waste a readers time depicting and describing when the scene doesn't culminate into anything; have a clear intent for why you're building the atmosphere before you commit to trying to build it. Don't be scared of letting your pace move faster than a deflating corpse. Stop forcing your paragraphs to gasp out melancholic angst every other line. Keep at it

goodluck

>>22380833
>it feels like I have no reason to pay attention since the
pace is so fucked up and there is no plot or drama to hold onto

>>22380064
Read Monster Nation. Dude fingers a zombie and gets infected when she bites him on the neck. Other than that you'd probably have to read accounts of actual necrophiliacs.

>>22374553
I want to write something like this:

A guy in his early 20s becomes enamored with a girl that he meets at a Halloween party while drunk. He forgets her name but remembers a specific tattoo that she has. An innocent desire to reconnect with her leads him on an epic and increasingly dangerous quest through New York City that forces him to discover and confront what he fears most.

Any similar novels ya'll can think of? For research and pleasure purposes.

>>22379489
For someone who's whole argument boils down to calling the other party autistic, you sure do have an extremely rigid standard for how people are "supposed to act"

>>22381079
>crit
>an argument
lol

>bro just read classics and learn from them
>read some of mcdoyle sherlock
>sherlock has drawn out, tiring dialogue and every single thing that comes out of his mouth reeks of trying to convince you of his intelligence
What was I supposed to learn from this

>>22381250

>>22381250
That not all so-called classics became so because they were the best but only because they were the first. Doyle is honestly a terrible writer. Christie is much more engaging.

>>22381250
that sherlock is not a classic, it just has good branding

>>22378197
A fellow brother
>>22378258
NTA but roleplaying allows me to get deep into the mind of a character I’m writing. It helps you write someone believable while keeping a unique story and personality to them, assuming you’re competent at it. I’m actually writing an outline for a story loosely adapting a character I wrote who ended up being shockingly popular
I think the major drawback comes from that roleplaying =/= storytelling. In RP, you can afford to pay less attention to setting the scene and you’re in the head of only one character. Your prose is sure to suffer too if you’re not careful. For example, you’ll have lines like, “X WOULD attack Y” because you need to roll dice/get other player’s consent. I’d argue its better practice than nothing and can teach you some good lessons about character-building if you’re in the right crowd, but it shouldn’t be a replacement for writing entirely.

What are the best books on writing characters that you have read?

>>22374844
What are you talking about?

>>22381476
The Secrets of Character is pretty good.

>>22381495
By Matt Bird?

>>22381515
Yep. It's just lists but it can be useful for analyzing stories and generating ideas.

>>22378821
You just keep posting the same review.
Is that the only one you have?

How easy is this to read/understand for you? Does it flow, or do you need to stop every other sentence and go back to reread it?

>>22381601
it's just gay

>>22381540
Thank you. I just picked up these books as well:
Creating Characters: The Complete Guide to Populating Your Fiction" by William Bernhardt
The Art of Character: Creating Memorable Characters for Fiction, Film, and TV" by David Corbett.

"Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint: Techniques and Exercises for Crafting Dynamic Characters and Effective Viewpoints" by Nancy Kress
"The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers" by Christopher Vogler
"Creating Unforgettable Characters: A Practical Guide to Character Development in Films, TV Series, Advertisements, Novels & Short Stories" by Linda Seger

>>22381601
It reads fine to me.

>>22381625
Haven't read any of those, but good luck. I think I'm done reading instructional books. I recently made a list of all the useful bits of advice I got from across all the books I've read and now I think I'm just going to try and put them together and come up with some kind of "process". It's probably just another form of procrastination but whatever.

https://openpsychometrics.org/tests/characters/

>put my characters in
>scour results for good characters to crib further from
>if no good characters are in the results it means there's a problem with the character that needs fixing
Cool tool

>>22381729
I've only taken this quiz once before, because a friend said everyone in the group should take it.
I found it a little interesting how I didn't lie during the quiz like I would to people, and when I posted some of the characters in my list that friend thought something was wrong because I seemed far too confident to have gotten that character, only for me to admit that false confidence is a trait of mine.
Though this is a bit of a tangent, my point is more about how people lie to the people they know, but would fill out a random internet quiz honestly. It was unconscious on my end, though I've seen recognized this and do sometimes lie on these kinds of quizzes when taking them with friends.
Anyway here is the top 30 characters most like mine based on the results of the quiz. I don't agree with all of these, and I think part of it is the somewhat contradictory nature of my character.
A question like 'outlaw or sheriff' doesn't take into account a character who willfully and often breaks the laws for themself, but then also holds some manner of respect for other laws that they do believe are just.

>>22381729
Ah fuck this stupid thing.

>>22381601
Yeah, >>22381608 got it right. It reads fine, just faggy.

>>22381909
I got Detective Munch from Law and Order...I can live with that

>>22381909
>>22381945
There's a list of similarly ranked characters below, the image is only of the most similar one even if by 0.1%

>>22381950
They were all similar oddball characters. Second one was that goth chick from breaking bad and third Janis from Mean Girls.

>>22381590
we've worked on a lot of projects

>>22380833
thanks anon.

tell me how this sounds:

In the city of [redacted], in the beautiful country of [missing info], the young Sveta was on the verge of a breakthrough.

The room was dark. The only light came from the single, narrow, slanted window high on the opposite wall.

As it was common for the era, she had taken the sciences as a passtime.

So she wasn't a stranger to the smell of freschly picked egyptian mummy, or brightly colored Australian spider specimen, or the dried skin of exotic beasts and animals.
But something had changed.
Her father, an accomplished merchant, had recently traveled to the great land of the Ottomans and brought back many wonders, and a new friend, as he often did.
He was incredibly old, but a brand new discovering, and Papa Sveta knew he had to get it for his daughter the moment he saw it: a sealed nobleman's coffin, from around the 14 century.
Papa Sveta had brought it to his daughter immediately.
And the second her fingers had brushed the ancient metal, she felt her blood run cold.

The room was suddenly filled with the sounds of the foresty night, of howling wolves, and the calls of the avian predators.

Sveta thanked her dad profusely at the same time she commanded the automata to carry it to her private quarters, anjudging by her jumpyness her father knew she'd be focused on her new toy for at least a week. Relieved, he went back to his ship and sailed to the next planet.

She ordered the noisy robots out of the room just so she could savior the moment. If this was really a sealed coffin it meant that she would be the first person to see the corpse for centuries.

And seeing things was her obssession, her reason to be, ever since she was a child she had the need to see how everything around her looked like, from the growth of a plant to the birth of horses, and the different ways water would pour depending on the hose's pressure. She needed to SEE.

Sveta then took a deep breath, grabbed her laser tool and slowly broke the seals that kept the box shut. each passing moment she grew more and more exited. Each dead body was special to her, that's why she'd treat the bodies with plastics and seal them again in the special glass boxes that adorned her room. These were her prize dolls, her beloved collection.

>>22382022
>4.3 stars
why is krake such a faggot? he knows how this rating system shit works, and from your picture he was satisfied with the results. nah eff you, 4.3

>>22382022
what are these fake ass reviews and who the fuck are you

>>22378427
LOL everybody hates Chris

>>22378500
ok I read it twice and I can only make some superficial observations because as I said english is not my native language:

1. It seems messy to me, I mean, there's a common thread and all that but for some reason (style maybe? A sense of urgency to tell everything typical of youth? idk) I have the feeling that you jump around suddenly everything time
2. In my opinion it is too extensive and it is redundant/boring, perhaps you should set limits, how about one page maximum? It's like in a good movie, if in the first 10 minutes you don't have the attention of the spectators, you will get empty seats
3. Too much 4chan there, I'm 33 years old and I've read all of this hundreds of times on all the boards, even you say it in the first paragraph. Have you ever read Stig Dagerman's short story 'to kill a child'? I think you did the same here but wrong.
I'm sorry if at any point any of this sounds pedantic or totally out of place to you, it's just an opinion.

>>22382439
I fairly recently watched the entire series, funny show.

>>22378427
yeah nice job grooming and harassing someone who stopped counting rapes at 6,

>finish manuscript
>Self edit
>Pay 5-10k for an editor
>Query letters
>Another 10k to edit again
>Hopefully get accepted
>Professional editor
>Now rewrite it another 1 year
>Book is ready
>Give 1k advance
>2% royalties
>Sell 5 copies
Lol

>>22382650
the lesson here is never make an effort for anything.

>>22382655
I just don't see a point in hiring independent editors. If your writing is good enough, trad publishers will edit for you. People are very forgiving with indi published books.

Just have AI edit.

>>22382499
lol ive been watching clips myself, it's not bad, though i prefer the husband+wife/Chris's siblings banter over the Chris hijinks. Chris's corny black brother lol

>>22382650
In what substance-induced fantasy land does a person start to believe it's okay to pay 20k for someone to edit his gibberish? You could buy a small airplane with that money, or make a trip around the world.

>>22382022
Business must not be exactly booming if you have to constantly shill on /wg/ of all places.

>>22382650
The problem here is you thought editors were the key. Editors are useless.

>>22381601
There is no destiny, you create your own path; but if you stray from the path, you're corrected, it wasn't destined...

>>22382650
just never edit. editing is for suckers and most people can make out the meaning behind un-edited writing

>>22382650
>editor
I happily read MTL slop. You have no idea how abysmal my standards are.

Editors are worthless. A good story is all that matters, and you can write one regardless of how much of a mess it is.

>>22379789
that's mean =(

>Create mini arc to fill in some space
>Literally 2nd arc of the story
>Already wrote myself into a corner
>Now I'm just having an old man exposition dump about where to find the person they're looking for based on old stories
Maybe I was too harsh on writers before

>>22382736
If you read real books, you'd see that all stories have already been told and done better before. I personally don't give a crap about what happens in the "plot" of a book these days. The style of delivery is the only thing that still retains any chance of original personality and provides some satisfaction. And the general quality of writing just keeps going down year after year because of retards like you, who don't value it. So the result is a growing flood of not only worthless stories, but also terrible writing. The future of literature is bleak.

>>22382793
If you have the brain to understand you fucked up, rewrite?

>>22382793
it's ok anon, that actually sounds pretty cool

Something I always forget is that I have a gift for writing natural sounding dialogue and characters talking and interacting but it scares me depsite it not being true that my dialogue sounds like this...:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rz9Hokt6Jx4

>>22381476
>What are the best books on writing characters that you have read?
I would like to rephrase this question to ask abounds the best books on writing character voices.

>>22382370
Our page is https://www.fiverr.com/matthewg42

I just finished another collaboration with Joel Carberry, so I have open availability this week. If you say you're from /lit/ I can give you a discount

>>22383267
How do you do it so cheap? Are you a bored multimillionaire?

>>22383328
I have money saved from crypto and enjoy editing for fun. People usually tip anyway

>always confuse "past" and "passed" when writing
Am I just retarded? Or do other people suffer from similar bullshit?

How many people here ignore the criticism here?

>>22383469
Criticism, just like praise, is like a treat you shouldn’t be ingesting too much of.

>>22382811
nah you don't know what fun stories the east has

>>22383606
east-asian stories are a special level of deranged i haven’t found in most western stories

I'm at a crossroad, writing-sisters. (In case you don't know it's a meme to call your community as "sisters")

I want to play video games and do whatever I want with my free time. It will bring me minor enjoyment but nothing of value. At the same time, I have a dilemma inside because I know that time can be used reading and bettering my intellect. What do I do?

>>22382698
blatantly wrong

Looking for some feedback on an idea

>Dystopian sci-fi story
>World government in charge
>Food shortages, energy shortages, etc... except it's just the world government creating problems in order to keep people dependent on them
>Mandatory sterilization for male children at birth in order to combat the "overpopulation"
>Government promises that the procedure can be reversed, but only by a procedure/medication they can give access to
>Those born before this started must get a "birth permit" to have children
>Really just a way to further control the masses
>Story is about a mother and father who find that they're having a son and decide that they don't want that taken away from their child
>Have escape government agents and other, more subservient, citizens as they try to make their way outside of the mega city and into the wilderness that used to be rural, "fly over" states

Is this too on the nose, given the recent happenings? Or would it fit right in with standard dystopian stuff?

>>22383695
If you want to get anything done, you're going to need to alter your priorities and sacrifice certain things. Is writing important enough to you that you can give up playing video games?

>>22383695
You can do both. Treat writing like a job and use your time "off the clock" to play games.

>>22383844
>except it's just the world government creating problems in order to keep people dependent on them
this may be part of it but the reality is under a one world government type systems corruption would be off the charts and it would be less some evil bureaucrats scheming to create shortages and more supplies being siphoned off

The ending when they get away they should breathe a sigh of relief because now they're safe and have the mother hold her newly born son in her arms and everything seems good, and then he gets taken away and circumcised and the last lines are him screaming his lungs out and the guy with the scalpel saying, oh, he's just a fussy baby.

>>22383958
>then he gets taken away and circumcised and the last lines are him screaming his lungs out and the guy with the scalpel saying, oh, he's just a fussy baby.
Now THIS is the feedback I come here for

>>22383876
Honestly? Yes it is. I want to create something of value for people to enjoy.

>>22383889
I will consider this. Maybe I'll play video games during my rest day.

>>22383366
I'm retarded and I mix them up quite often.

>>22374859
The sentences are primitive, the pacing is not good and it could do heavy editing, but the premise was kind of funny. Taking a jab at trannies never gets old
> "You sure have a pretty cock. Very feminine."
Read about "show not tell". Describe the feminine cock eloquently and make it sound hilarious, that would be fun to read.

If I'm using a word from another language that resembles a word from my native language but has a different pronunciation and meaning, should I spell it out phonetically or keep it as is?

>>22383657
dumb westoid

Before introducing the main love interest in my story, I added a side character I didn't even plan to include at first, and she immediately stole the best girl status and now it seems completely RETARDED for the MC to end up with anybody else. Now what do I do? I hate it when my characters start to live a life of their own.

>>22384373
A spider web caught on the palm

Someone post sonething. I want to practice crit

>>22384476
Luther stood at the edge of the pit and stared down into the dark where the sound of far-off swells, as the ocean, comes to those who stand quiet and focused, who had heard the call of the sea before and could place it, faint as it was, unlike most Martians who knew nothing of the kinds of great bodies of water as on Earth, and as Luther leaned against the railing and cleared his mind of all thoughts except the crashing of waves against the shore, he arrived at a kind of peace that he had never known before, the kind that precedes great moments of clarity and inspiration, the kind only known to those who engage with the chaos of the universe and spend their lives muddling over small differences—those inperceivable puzzles which God or chance has placed before thinkers such that they may think—and for a second, merely a moment, they see through the infinite chaoses of three-body problems, they find that the whole thing, the world and all its baggage, are indeed reducible to simple principles, and that sense can be made of it afterall—Luther felt the waves wash over him which whispered a portent: you will die here.

>>22384373
What's stopping you from introducing the main love interest and seeing who's really best girl? Let the characters interact and see what arises. Love triangles are spicy.

>>22384490
The run-on sentence is exhausting and fails whatever artistic goal was intended. Add a full stop after Luther stares into the darkness of the put. Then a sentence on the swells of the ocean and how Martians are unfamiliar with it. Then a sentence on Luther's reflection and inner peace, and this is where you can dial up the style and do a free flowing thing if you want. Then the concluding line, returning to the physical space of Luther and the waves, with the "you will die here" hook.

You clearly have some skill; what you need is discipline.

>>22384490
>one paragraph-long sentence
STUPID
The simple language and focus on repetition undermines the piece. I feel that there's a clash between the simple immediacy of the language and the metaphor and abstraction. I'd suggest making the first half more precise and grounded so that the escalation comes across better, as it is it's very muddled and the affect almost imperceptible
I hate your uses of em dashes. Chaining them like this doesn't feel right and just makes me think you're trying to avoid periods. The use is jarring because the sentence's subject isn't immediately recognizable as directly connected with what follows after the interjection. Either more clearly communicate the clause of the line which so it feels more cohesive and distinct from the interjection, or drop the gimmick
Consider formatting for semicolons
>unlike most Martians who knew nothing of the kinds of great bodies of water as on Earth
This line made me feel bad. Clumsy and out of place
The final line is a bit kitsch. Its lame but could be cool if executed well
This
>he arrived at a kind of peace that he had never known before, the kind that precedes great moments of clarity and inspiration
Into a suicide should be satisfying, but the prose doesn't support the effect
I'd recommend on writing less like a dweeb and instead trying to focus on precision of depiction, then build on top of that with whatever flavor you like

>>22384562
thanks
>>22384583
>>one paragraph-long sentence
this is one of the exercises in the back of The Art of Fiction
>Write three effective long sentences: each at least one full typed page (or 250 words), each involving a different emotion (for example, anger, pensiveness, sorrow, joy). Purpose: control of tone in a complex sentence.
thanks for the crit, though—I'll try to write less like a dweeb

>>22384599
I respect the exercise and think it's worth doing. It's just I've seen it done pointlessly and poorly often
You seem to "get" the exercise. You clearly tried to work with the language in order to create stylistically distinct sections, and work with that progression to develop a narrative. It's just that you didn't push it far enough
Thanks for posting

>>22384373
Keep going and make the main heroine win in the end anyway. Make your readers seethe. Follow the path of harem writers that have walked this road countless times before you, learn from their wisdom.

You know how sometimes you get these intrusive thoughts that keep on nagging as you try to write a dissertation, fill out Excel sheets or simply fall asleep?
For me that thought is always Yoru. Yoru from Chainsaw Man. It's a Japanese manga; it's really cool.
I often dream how Yoru takes me to an abandoned nickel factory, just at the outskirts of Norilsk.
She convinces me it's for a geocaching expedition or some urban exploration bullshit for her TikTok channel. Doesn't matter. It's not like I need any convincing for her to take me literally anywhere. Hell, I'd snorkel in a goddamn septic tank if she merely asked.
Anyway, once we're there she tricks me and shackles my wrists to an old, smouldered radiator. I don’t know where the handcuffs came from—they just did, okay? Maybe a prelude to kinky sex, maybe she thinks "it's funny". Irrelevant.
What matters is that I'm restrained, helpless, and it's just two of us there, in this vast industrial compound, brimming with rust and rats.
She then retrieves a yellow boxcutter from the front pocket of her uniform and undoes my shirt with the keen edge of the blade.
> CLACK! CLACK! CLACK!
A white button pops off and skips across the dark ceramic tiles.
I freak out and beg her to stop; yet all of the sudden—she's become deaf, like someone’s just driven a sewing needle right through her eardrums.
Seeing the implacable blade get closer to my exposed chest, self-preservation instinct sets in and I try to kick her away. When that fails, I scream for mercy, only to get bashed in the mouth with an elbow, chipping an incisor and splitting my upper lip in two floppy chunks of flesh. Taste of iron fills my mouth and makes me cough fat chunks of black phlegm all over her soft cotton skirt. There's a tooth fragment there, too.
She doesn't even wince.
Then she starts inscribing kanji directly into my chest, tearing my flesh apart with the ragged blade as I writhe in agony and wail like a banshee.
I can't see what she's writing, nor do I really care.
Not with the searing pain jolting through my limbs in agonizing waves that come and go as I feel the sharp tip of the industrial scalpel ripping my skin apart and slowly digging at my innards. Feels like being operated on by some lunatic battle-surgeon under aerial bombardment.
And all throughout this, I'm staring into her beautiful eyes—ruthless, cold and insatiable in their cruelty.
Anatomists say the pupils dilate when we’re looking at someone we love. The human eye tries to capture more light or something like that. Whenever she slices a vein hers dilate like a heroin junkies would at the prospect of another fix.
Finally, a fine spray of red mist gushes out of the severed artery into the open air showering her like she was taking part in some deranged Luciferian rite.
Eventually I pass out from blood loss, those glaring, amber eyes being the last thing I see during my final heartbeats.
That's when I usually fall asleep.

What is wrong with me?

>decide to continue writing story
>???
>end up posting on /lit/ again and wasting my time.
bros?

What software do you use for writing? Or is it anything other than Word/Gdocs a purely a distraction?

>>22385037
LaTeX

>>22385049
I've been thinking about using that since I know it already and it can produce high quality output. I can write in whatever software is easiest then cut and paste into some template at the end. Got any links / templates to help produce ebooks ?

>>22385159
you can produce ebooks using google docs.

>>22385213
I know. But Latex is a more advanced tool that can produce more customizable and higher quality output. It is not just for writing academic articles.

>>22385037
I use scrivener, it's just handy. Suits me really. OneDrive to sync across devices, though I usually just write on my PC unless I go away with a laptop.

What do you think the next fad will be for short stories? Lovecraftian horror serms to be losing some steam. I'm guessing sword and sorcery or maybe westerns.

>>22385299
LITRPGS

>>22385312
Oh fuck, I think you're right. Do they work for short stories though?

>>22385341
I can't see it. The genre is about progression. That doesn't work in short-form.

>>22385037
libreoffice
it's free

>>22385341
LitRPG is basically a character drama except the drama is replaced with stats and personalized mechanics
Write Dubliners but its a litRPG dungeon delver anthology

>>22384373
I have a simple yet unorthodox solution: JUST FUCKING KILL HER.

>>22384373
Have her not be interested in the MC. Women are fickle and incomprehensible.

>>22383844
Part of it sounds like "The Handmaid's Tale".
Part of it sounds like modern-day China, where people have stopped having children & the population is shrinking.
Funny how people stop breeding when life isn't worth living.

>>22385341
>litRPG
Pic related.

And yes, you could absolutely write a short LitRPG story where the focus isn't on "progression". The issue is that LitRPG is for the most part just a crutch. You could write most LitRPGs without a system. Unless the story leans very heavily into the system aspect there's no detraction from the story if you remove, omit or gloss over it. Most systems could be abstracted to the point where leveling up or even evolutions are just a measure of character development or plot progression (think literally every shounen anime/manga). To begin with, levels are a man made abstraction created by programmers for the sake of simplifying, and make measurable, the concept of growth. As a writer there's no reason to follow such a thing to a fault unless you're using videogames as a crutch for one of the simplest things everyone has experienced in life: change. If you're truly pursuing art, do not take shortcuts. Do people in LitRPGs ever level down, lose skills or stats? Have you never changed for the worse as a person? If you write around abstractions you start to miss their original point. Losing levels becomes a subversion of a trope, when in reality it happens all the time. People gain weight, they laze about, they forget things, develop bad personality traits, etc. Yet LitRPG characters have something pop up and they lose some stats, that's somehow "subversive". It's "subversive" to lose progress despite it being universal to the human experience, really think about that for a second. What are you giving up on as a writer by making it so that things only go up or down? Does your writing ability go up and down? Isn't saying so trivializing the work, or lack thereof, that you put into it? What else are you trivializing when you chase abstractions? Have you ever put in work without getting results? Has it ever hit you that you're no longer good at something? Have you ever been lost without knowing what you should do next to move on forward? By how much are you willing to sacrifice meaningful understanding and your ability to think about your surroundings and conceive ideas on paper that are too complicated for what levels, stats and skills as tropes demand you write like? You might not want to write realistic, psychological or more serious/mature stories, but I think this should bring some pause to anyone that wants to pursue hot garbage because it's popular.
You could absolutely write a good LitRPG that's also a piece of art. You'd just have to think so outside of the genre's tropes that you might as well not be writing a LitRPG. I know! What if you wrote a story where level ups weren't announced, where skills aren't things written inside of HTML tables and stats can't be looked up at a glance? It's so subversive that you might even call it revolutionary.

How much of the story and characters should I have decided on before actually starting writing? Is it possible to just write completely blind and see where it takes you?

Are sanderson's lectures on youtube good?

>>22386116
Sure

>>22386116
Good enough. Even if you don't agree with everything he says or they are too focused on his genre they cover a lot of decent ground and will give you ideas where you can improve or research.

>>22386106
The answer is actually covered in detail here >>22386116

tl;dw Both are valid choices. It depends on what kind of writer you are and what works best for you.

>>22386106
less than you think. probably significantly less

>>22385739
The easy representation of power is the point. 99% of litrpg is designed to be shlock. It's something consumed and enjoyed. A greasy hamburger. It's not meant to be art. How do you not understand this? It's not literature. There's a certain skill to crafting it, even still, and the simple proof is: how much bad fast food is there? There's tiers to shlock, as with anything else. But it's not meant as art. People trying to make a 'good' litrpg are missing the point.

>>22374553
Writing a novel about a twenty year old video game addict getting his shit together:
I’m completing a productive day. My college essays are almost done.
I do a long meditation before going to bed at 4pm.
I sit and think, keeping my mind as still as possible.
I haven’t thought of video games in a few days. My breath is steady.
I feel warm throughout my body. My mom. My mom is fine.
I think about titties.
I let it pass. My breath is steady.
I think about big thick asses.
I let it pass. Sit up straight.
I sit and think, breathing with perfect posture.
I am here now. My thoughts become more distant.
I feel the warmth leave my body. My breath is uneven.
I try to smooth it out and slow it down.
I think I’m done.
I sleep.
I dream.
I don’t even masturbate.

What is the best format to publish? Serialization, short stories, novellas, novels?

Which story lengths have the largest markets? I know that YA fiction tends towards 75k words while adult fiction tends towards 90k words. Can one write a 75k story for an adult audience?

>>22384516
>Let the characters interact and see what arises. Love triangles are spicy.
I guess, but it wasn't really meant to be a soap opera. Investing time in something that wasn't even part of the intended plotline may mess up other things. Also, who wins the MCbowl plotlines attract a very specific kind of cancerous audience, which I'm not sure I want.

>>22384689
Harems have made me rage so many times, I'm reluctant to perpetuate the cycle, but then again, why fight it. I'm starting to understand why it happens.

>>22385455
It wouldn't be the first time I kill a lovable character, but beside losing all readers, like usual, I might actually get death threats for this one too.

>>22385494
This seems to be the only real way, leaving her in the friendzone. People will complain, but maybe they'll get over it in time.

>>22374553
How would you approach an attractive person of the opposite sex while they're sitting alone at a cafe? I swear this is related to a character I'm writing.

>>22386821
Hiding your intentions isn't really possible in such a situation, so the only real way is to just be politely direct.
>Hi, could I talk to you for a moment?
To which the attractive person will say, "no thanks", but anything is possible in writing.

But realism is boring. Might as well get creative.
>A: (Sits down at the attractive person's table.) Hi.
>B: Hi?
>A: (Seriously) Are you aware that you're being followed?
>B: I am?
>A: Yes. By me.

>>22386821
Observational and contextual humor or inquiry. Thankfully, context can be created in your manuscript, whereas in real life sometimes it's not there.

>>22386877
>To which the attractive person will say, "no thanks"
Realistically, you'd probably hold their attention until they realize you're talking to them for the sake of taking to them. If you had a genuine inquiry, or one that at least appeared genuine, they'd speak to you. Personally, I'd comment on their jewelry if they had any
>"Hey, sorry to bother you, but where'd you get that necklace? It's georgous and I've been looking to get something like that for my sister"
Though, if there's nothing to pick up on like jewelry, or a book she's reading, or a meal she's having, the best way to create an opening is with something simple like
>"Is that your car outside? I think you might be getting a ticket"
>"Sorry, did you know where the bathroom is?"
Then leave. These last two aren't converstation starters, but you get to make eye contact and exchange a few words. As long as you're polite and smile then you soften the next approach when context becomes available, ie. her food arrives, etc.

To comment on your post, I like your approach, but it's as you said, unrealistic.

>>22386821
>How would you approach an attractive person of the opposite sex while they're sitting alone at a cafe?
With a gun

How do you guys find places to submit your work? I've been using the Submission Grinder to varying degrees of success, kinda looking for an alternative.

>>22387369
I honestly just posted publicly on royalroad with a "pay 5 bucks to read X chapters ahead" type patreon for some side income and eventually got contacted by one of those small publishers that publishes WNs

>>22374553
How's this writing? I just want to make sure I don't irredeemably suck before continuing with this project

It was 2 p.m. on a hot summer Friday. A pale, thin, 25 year old James Henderson with dark, wiry hair stood on a pier that jutted out into the east River, peering out into the ebbing and turning water. His eyes rested lazily, despondently, as if the river being in front of them was merely a coincidence. Across the way was a jagged array of corporate architecture with thousands of twinkling windows, among which stood the personal injury law firm where, at the age of 23, he had worked for a year and a half before getting laid off. At least that’s what they officially called it. “Laid off.” Talk around the office of James acting odd had made its way to him shortly before he’d been ejected from his position, which only made him act “odder.”

>>22387209
What do you mean "sorry, did you know where the bathroom is?" isn't a conversation starter?

>Sorry, do you know where the bathrooms are?
>Uhhh yeah I think they're down the hallway next to the counter
>Great, thanks. I can never find a bathroom when I need it, haha
>It's a pretty small café...not too hard to find the bathroom...
>Yeah, I like bathrooms. Sometimes I just go to check it out and wash my hands. Don't even have to piss and shit.
>Oh my God
>How about you? What's like, the uhh...best bathroom you've ever been to?
>Hey listen, I'm glad I was able to help you, but I'd really like to be alone now
>Oh, you're not getting off the hook that easily! Alright, I'll go first: I went to Bangkok last year - for business, you know - and I stayed at this amazing hotel. The bathrooms at this place were just incredible. And it's a good thing too, because I ended up spending a lot of time on the toilet. The local cuisine was a bit of a system shock for me, and I drank a lot of the tap water even though they told me not to. But that's just the kind of guy I am: I make my own rules, you know?
>Can't even sit alone in a café anymore without the freak show lining up for me...fucking ridiculous
>Hey, where are you going? Let me tag along, you still owe me an answer on your favorite bathroom!

>>22387398
>It was 2 p.m. on a hot summer Friday. A pale, thin, 25 year old James Henderson with dark, wiry hair stood on a pier that jutted out into the east River, peering out into the ebbing and turning water
On a hot Friday afternoon, 25 year old James Henderson stood on a pier jutting into the tumultuous East River. He was pale and thin, and his dark wiry hair was tousled by the wind.
>His eyes rested lazily, despondently, as if the river being in front of them was merely a coincidence.
His eyes gazed disinterestedly past the rolling waves, as if the river's existence were merely incidental.
>Across the way was a jagged array of corporate architecture with thousands of twinkling windows, among which stood the personal injury law firm where, at the age of 23, he had worked for a year and a half before getting laid off
Across the way was a maze of corporate buildings, with their hundreds of office windows gleaming under the summer sun. A personal injury law firm was one of those buildings, the same one that fired him about two years ago.
>Talk around the office of James acting odd had made its way to him shortly before he’d been ejected from his position, which only made him act “odder.”
They had kindly categorized his firing as a lay-off, but it was no secret that he had been terminated for his "odd" behavior. Of course, after his departure, his behavior only became odder.

>>22387394
Excuse my stupidity, what's a WN?

>>22387488
I'm sure you'd realize it if you spent more than 2 seconds thinking about it

>>22387521
Winking Negro?
Wise Nanny?
Whiny Nincompoop?
Written Novel?

>>22387209
>If you had a genuine inquiry, or one that at least appeared genuine, they'd speak to you. Personally, I'd comment on their jewelry if they had any
If a man approaches a lone, attractive woman, everyone above age 12 understands immediately he's there for pussy. In which case contrived topics like this are only major cringe for everyone involved. If she's bored enough, she might see how deep in that trap you'll dig yourself before leaving, but you're wasting your time either way

>>22387488
WN=Web Novel
LN= Light Novel
VN= Visual Novel
CN= Childrens Novel
PN= Paper Novel
HN= Human Novel
NN= Neo Novel
RN= Retro Novel
AN= Anti Novel
ON= Orthodox Novel
SN= Subversive Novel

>>22387471
Thanx fren

> wrote a shitton of non-fiction article for work & hobbies
> never gave a fuck about style or whatnot
> decided to wrote my first novel
> finally satisfied of my 3d draft
> try to look at writing advice to convert draft into finished product
> did everything considered"to avoid"
> avoided like plague everything they tell to do because muh
doubting myself.png

>>22388240
just get someone else's opinion on it, ya dingus

This is a second draft of a piece I posted a couple of threads ago. See what you guys think. I still welcome feedback. I want to get the basics hammered out before marching ahead.

https://files.catbox.moe/idi2v3.pdf

Thank you for reading if you do and thank you for feedback if you provide.

If you share your story to someone and they steal it and publish it themselves, how do you prove it's yours?

>>22388486
You kill the guy and wear clothes made of his tanned hide and polished bones as you parade around the town. The authorities must then recognize your authorial rage as genuine.

vent prose


If i could see you it would be worth my time
To walk in the sunlight of each others majestic presence
As the giants once wished
Oh my girl from a different world
Across the compass you sit
Glowing with a greenish hue
I am firmly blue without you
Uewh i just wish
You could give my time some thought
If that thin line is not to much to cross
I would wish to be with you
If i could figure crossing that line
Without forgoing my eternal life
Or my trinkets and talsimans
I hold them all so ill and near my heart
I gave you a ring of silver and still have to wonder
If youve ever worn it since that night
If you took it on the plane at all
Lord light of life
Give me an answer
Even if it be steeped in nothingness and absurdity
That is after all youre normal way
Of all my trinkets the ones i have given away
Stick most closely to my heart
That they suffocate it
Like the volume of thought
Which gathers in my empty head
Threatening to bulldoze the both of us
If i ever set my tongue loose
To a listening you.
Ahhh but yet i still dream of a chance
A chance of an encounter
When the tides of time and fate unite
A bind us together

>"That's cool", she thought.

>"That's cool," she thought.

Why is the second one considered correct?

>>22388765
Commas go inside of quotation marks because the comma punctuates the phrase being quoted. The quotation marks are lines of demarcation between what is being quoted versus what is not.

>>22388765
Because you're punctuating the quote and also indicating to the reader that the following text is directly related to the quote. Otherwise would you have to do
"That's cool.", she thought.
or
"That's cool.". She thought.
to distinguish between "she thought" as a dialog tag or as a complete sentence.

>>22388765
Because everybody else does it.
There are arguments to be made for either style. But on some level it's just arbitrary, like driving on the right or spelling "debt" with a b.

>>22389150
>or spelling "debt" with a b
the word comes from a latin root, so not arbitrary at all it's purely based on precedent. as an interesting factoid the width of train tunnels, and roads, is based on roman mining carts

>>22389257
It arrived in English via French, which doesn't have the b, even if the earlier Latin happened to have one. They didn't have to add it back in, and it would have been better if they hadn't done so. The only reason to use it now is that everybody else does it—which is a very strong reason, as it turns out.
Yeah, there's a reason they chose to add it. And I'm sure American style guides had reasons for settling on this punctuation style. But inertia's the real thing keeping it together, which sets it apart from certain other conventions.
>roman mining carts
No such thing. You're thinking of regular carts and ruts in regular roads, but even that is just a nice story somebody made up without historical support.
The story is a good example of the obsession with Roman-derived legitimacy that got them to add that b, though. Everybody wants to be Rome.

What are some writers on youtubers who are super critical of other people's works, yet their own books suck 10x harder?

>>22389150
Driving on the right is not arbitrary.

>>22389288
it was added back in because the people writing things down were educated and knowledgeable about religious texts that were in latin. adding it back in aids in understanding as people can make connections to the root word.

>>22389301
most actual writers are pretty charitable to other writers because they know how hard it is to write something good

your first book will never be good enough. those days are over, anons.

the truth is that any good publisher can take any manuscript of any quality and then fix and shill it. they wont, though. they only want to work with people who have track records that show they've been gatekept. the 'best idea' or 'best prose' doesn't exist when all trad books are a professional team effort by their editors.

how do you prove you can be professional?

1. contest placements
2. publications

these prove you're worth working with. 100000000000 other people have a very similar story to yours and a lot of them are better writers. the talent pool is immensely saturated with 'good' ideas and 'good' writers.

if you self publish and it gets famous, you will be successful. if you self publish and it flops, an agent wont even look at it at all. and these days, even blog or personal websites are being counted as tainted.

do not self publish if you want to trad and you arent already popular. keep writing, be patient, put the books aside. enter contests, get small pub credits. build a resume and this will help your writing so much that your next book will be better anyway.

on your next book, submit the manuscript and your achievements. despite the flaws in the book they may pick it up if they see you have a professional history. they may ask if you have anything else, that's when you bring out the old books.

if you post your book on amazon 'just to get it out there' and an agent says no self pub and finds a record of your work you will be disqualified for not following basic instructions. they have 100000 manuscripts to go through, they don't want one that already failed at self pub because these days, authors need to do a lot of their own marketing. .that's right, your social media retardation will directly work against you. build an audience by posting short work not intended for trad publishing, this will be essential when you try to prove you're worth the effort of a publisher.

imagine there's two books. they're very similar. one is by an author with no history, one is by an author with several achievements and a decent follower base, whos the best financial investment?

the one who already knows how to write to standards, deadlines, and build audience.

contest wins and publications prove you have a decent output of work to a high standard no one wants to work an a slightly ok first book in a series written by someone who has no proof they can follow through. and if it took you years to write book one, you wont be able to just instantly write 2 just because it might get picked up.

write. read. read books about how to write. trade work with others. don't shill your shit online without a defined plan and commitment. remember only the top % of published writers quit their day jobs

Not reading your demoralization post

>>22389695
>doesnt self defeat
NOOOO YOU HAVE TO QUIT YOU HAVE TO GIVE UP

>>22387398
>I don't irredeemably suck

No, you're not that bad. You need some work like everybody but you'll get there if you put your heart into it.

>>22389695
large scale trad publishing isnt a charity. its a process of preparing a product for sale. you wont stand out on concept or prose alone and if you think being told to have a resume is demoralising then stay on fanfic websites.

prose. plot. character. reputation. reliability
these are all necessary. if you don't want to measure up to the standards, stick with self pub. my info was for trad only and in self pub you can do what you want.

those that write non /lit/adjacent work, are you worried people will find out you use 4chan if your book becomes popular? im trying to write YA and middle grade and with cancel culture im worried if i posted recognisable work it could be discovered later and used against me. i might as well write a kids book and get outed for being part of the kkk

is the only solution to post work here that will never be considered for anything attached to me irl?

>>22389810
Publish it somewhere else, link to it here pretending to be a fan of yourself.

>>22389810
don't post it on /lit/, hire an editor

i can handle it if you don't have a guy

>>22389832
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrFtpSfc-b4

Thanks for the reply but I didn't read that one either

>>22386821
Depends how long I've been stalking her.

>>22389823
what if i link a google doc or pastebin and later delete the file?

>>22389878
That works too, as long as people don't respond with comments that include specific details.

>>22389878

Yes you can do that and you can even post directly here but say you're doing it for a friend. That's enough for plausible deniability.

Where do you meet writers who actually write, who aren't also normies?
Any kind of public discord is awful. Tried meeting people irl on a friend app but no one who puts writing as a hobby actually writes, they just like it in theory.
I've had some luck on /soc/ but everyone knows how that goes. If I add people who write, they don't write. If I post asking for people who write, I don't get added even if i don't specify skill level or genre.

My ideal would be a small group. I wouldn't mind skill or genre as long as people were willing to trade. It seems like the only way to get into a good community is to meet someone and get invited, but why would someone with a good community go looking for writers online, knowing how hard it is?

>>22389961
Why exclude normies?

>>22389966
I tried to join some public discords and any that are active have incredibly strict safe space rules. I tried one today and one rule said you cant discuss any real political figure, alive or dead. I think they wanted to say Hitler but were too afraid to trigger someone with the word. A lot of writing servers have huge lists of rules so they can boot anyone and back it up with a specific annoyance to defend it instead of just kicking idiots.

I define normie mostly as someone who wouldn't necessarily use 4chan but would be more laid back in the face of potentially offensive content online. Tired of being in communities where people get outed for interacting with a presumed bad post or person. Im avoiding writing twitter because I know there will be drama but I'll have to give in if I want to advertise and network.

I am not overly offensive on purpose and I'd like people I don't have to tiptoe around.

>>22389985
If you look a little harder you should be able to find communities that don't do that. I've found though that hanging around any discord server tends to make me less interested in whatever it's about. Try meeting people IRL at your local library or something. They might have clubs or meetings where you can meet other writers.

>>22389961
you've got /lit/ and that's as good as it's going to get

>>22390004
I have some health issues that would prevent me from reliably attending irl meetings, but maybe i can find some local based ones that moved online since covid.

Has anyone had luck with irl? Im a bit of a sperg but I guess I could keep it professional.

>>22389961
Ive had a pretty good experience with public discords. Just form 1 on 1 relationships with individuals you like

>>22389791
No one cares about your dying industry, crab.

>>22390072
do you find them through disboard?

I'm sure this has been asked to death but is getting good at writing a mixture of writing a lot, reading a lot, identifying what you like about good writing, comparing it to bad writing, and maybe reading about more technical stuff such as specific literary techniques, art movements, etc.? Not sure where to focus my practice time.

>>22390109
>a mixture of writing a lot, reading a lot
these 2, read a bunch 1st to get a base, then mostly putting your words to the page and then, and I can't stress this enough, editing your draft into a polished final product. writing is an iterative process. also make sure you're reading technically proficient authors and not total junkfood crap

>>22389685
sounds like good advice. When you talk about getting publications to prove your value are you talking about literary magazines, websites? I honestly dont follow that stuff. Are there reputable ones? And are there ones that if you publish there it sort of blacklists you because of their reputation for poor quality? Is there a way to differentiate them?

And are we talking about short stories? I've been writing lots of little short stories about a group of characters in an area and some of them would work very easily as a standalone with some polish and fleshing out. But many of them could be tied together for a longer work.

>>22390109
Write every day. Read every day. Study a little. When you feel an area is weak, study that area more intensely. Let your book tell you what to study as you research how to portray certain concepts or use certain styles. You can read a lot about how to write but it needs to be actively put to use or you'll likely forget it. Thats why directly studying something you need is a good idea. Of course, reading an entire book on a skill is useful but don't think its required to get started.
Research, study, planning, talking about writing, and world-building are not writing when it comes to having a word count. The skill of just sitting and getting some words out every day is almost more important to prioritise because you can study or plan all you want but it requires application.

>>22390137
>make sure you're reading technically proficient authors and not total junkfood crap
Can confirm, I made the mistake of marathoning a cultivation novel and my prose is still in the process of recovering from it

>>22390142
Publishing definitions would include anything you would reasonably show a professional, it didn't used to include websites but now it would. Take a look at the other work on the site or in the magazine or in the book. If its all shit, it wont be impressive. I'd say there's no specific blacklist offense that would turn a agent off as long as there's better stuff too. The idea is to prove your work was selected for quality.

Starting local is a good idea, with a university press. You can also look up contests online. Reedsy is a good place to start. Any contest you find, you can google the name and 'legit' after to see if people report it or discuss it as being a scam.
Be careful with copyright because some may request you don't use the story anywhere else for a period of time. Pay attention to the terms of service because some wont like if its been used anywhere else, even a personal website.

start small. find one with a very low prize and no entry fee. look at the theme and try to write something, even if you don't submit. Youll get better at writing on a theme and on a deadline which is already a really useful skill. Then, start hitting submit. You may not hear back but if you do, it goes o the resume. If you don't, you still got purposeful writing experience on a deadline. Its really valuable as trad publishg would have deadlines to make changes or write the next book.

>>22390160
You must not write very often or have any personal style if a single bad novel could ruin your prose. How are you supposed to read a bad novel to analyse why its bad without getting infected? Is your style just a reflection of whatever you last read?

>>22390182
>Is your style just a reflection of whatever you last read?
Yeah

>>22390173
thank you

tried for 100 words. Was an interesting challenge to try

I'm writing a short story about a guy who travels back in time to prevent AI from being created. He ends up accidentally trapped in the body of a girl in the year 2001, who gets the ability to access information about events that happen in the future, including 9/11. In the end she is unable to stop it, but everyone around her thinks she's a prophet and the guy wants to use her to create an anti-tech world religion and stop AI.

This story is aimed at the YA/Teen/Anime watcher/RoyalRoad audience, but I want to include "serious" themes such as cults and the power of belief, Ted Kaczynski's shit and 9/11. I want to make it entertaining, attention grabbing and "deep". But before I can go on any further I need to know what the fuck I am doing wrong, because something feels off, and if my readers don't get past the "boring" parts, then what the fuck is the point? Rate and h8

https://files.catbox.moe/q6xqpi.txt

>>22390198
>aimed at "audience"
>thinks specified themes are 'deep' or 'uncommon' in the medium

do you read a lot of the genre you're writing for? implying those themes would be considered 'serious' compared to whats normal says no. cults and 9/11 are not deep and if you feel the need to write it as 'deep' you are likely writing stuff you don't even take seriously. Why waste your time?

If your readers arent getting past the slow parts, they're too slow, and you haven't set up enough interest right away. No slow part should be boring if its obviously building on something interesting.

Ill check it out soon but I can say all that just from the way you describe what you're doing and the issue. AI is also an insanely overdone topic right now.

>>22388479
Update. This is a ~7k word sequence that serves as the first of twelve parts. Should take about a half hour to read. I hope you enjoy it and want to read more. I want constructive criticism and feedback if you have anything to offer.

>>22390216
What I meant to say is I want to make the reader feel as if they are reading something "deep", a story that has something to say about the world but is also entertainment slop.

>do you read a lot of the genre you're writing for?
I guess my story would be sci-fi, but I'm not thinking about genres, I'm thinking about the platforms themselves. The stuff I see that makes it to the top of RR and Scribble Hub makes me feel like I got to meet certain standards of simplicity and immediate gratification. I'm just butthurt by all the isekai/litRPG stuff that makes it to the top. Just read my stuff and tell me what you think.

>>22390198
Seems like an interesting enough concept, though it could easily come across as a spoof of the Terminator movies if not handled properly.

>>22390198
Overall it reads well. I thought the pacing worked and you built the right amount of sympathy for Casey. Things happened at about the right times to keep the story moving.

Notes:
1) Watch your adverbs. Find a stronger verb rather than resort to adverbs. Think of them as a last resort.

2) You use the passive voice here and there. Passive voice is okay when it relates to objects of little importance. Active voice is preferred with people and important objects.

3) See about removing "seemed" from your text too. Dive straight into metaphor.

4) "Google it." This is 2001. Nobody "googled" yet. Google was just one of the many search engines. It was not the "Kleenex" or "Coke" of search engines yet. You just looked stuff up on the internet or the web.
> t. 38 yo millennial.

Those are closer to the nitpick side of things. Nothing about what you wrote is fundamentally bad. It's quite sound. I hope that it leads to more. I admit that I do not know what your desired audience is looking for though.

>>22390219
Whoops. Forgot the link. Apologies.
https://files.catbox.moe/s17x8d.pdf

>>22390245
Why would you restrict yourself to writing for an audience you don't even like or respect? Spend the time building your skill with something you like. Writing takes a lot of practice and if said practice is in a style you don't even like, you're setting yourself behind.

If all you want is money just write furry fanfic smut commissions.

>>22390282
>Spend the time building your skill with something you like
But anon, I like "slop". I like genre fiction stories where the protagonist is a cute girl and there's dumb escapist stuff like super powers and lovey dovey romance and the like. Problem is that I can't enjoy those types of stories anymore because it feels like they lack something, and (at least for me) that something is "depth" and overall quality. I don't hate my audience, I think I understand them, and I like to think that I can give them quality fiction.

If not RR, Scribble hub and the like, where else do you post this kind of story that most people here just dismiss as slop?

>>22390301
the way you described your work seemed a bit derogatory, especially how you felt restricted to following trends of popular stories. Now I realise you just aren't confident. People here will dismiss almost anything as slop. If you want nuanced feedback for the specific audience you need to connect with them for advice because nothing here will be accurate to what your audience wants. Its like asking a horse how he thinks you can improve your cat impression. Go talk to the cats. There has to be some forum or discord for your audience.

>>22390301
i know how you feel. I wrote a book about magic cats because I like that sort of thing, but anyone I'd meet in writing review places thought they were above it. I was able to connect with people who write for a similar age range and style and that helped me write what I wanted, like I wanted, and not the way 4chan thinks it should be done.

>>22390270
>4) "Google it." This is 2001. Nobody "googled" yet. Google was just one of the many search engines. It was not the "Kleenex" or "Coke" of search engines yet. You just looked stuff up on the internet or the web.
>> t. 38 yo millennial.
“Willow, she’s seventeen!”

>>22374553
>Tell people about the story you're writing
>End up never finishing that story
Why does this happen everytime?

Okay guys, bear with me, not a native here.
What is wrong with generally accepted writing advice ?
I despise showing not telling.
I mean, showing makes the story too much verbose, sentences to much tedious.
What do you think your doing when showing ? Avoiding cliché ? Not a fucking chance, quite the contrary boys. What are the best stories you ever heard ? The one you were told.
Showing is great sometimes. Making me feel like I was here, I get it.
But I am not here, tell me peter is feeling nostalgic about his grandmother when the house smell like bread, do not fucking bore me with useless details about the small burnt aroma slowly filling the home.

Now, One to Passive Sentences.
Never ever I have in my mother tongue (French) ever heard something negative about trying to wrote a complex sentence building nuance, subtility and well calculated swift of emphasis to make dynamics and focus feel more natural. You know ? as if in real life.
>The mouse is running away from the cat.
Mouse running, get it, cat. Okay, Mouse go brrrr sure, Is the cat running ? maybe, probably, whatevs.
>The mouse is being chase by the cat.
First I see the mouse running, then I feel fear as its being chase, then see the cat, then think to myself, the running mouse is experiencing the fear I just felt, because you I want words to convey feeling, not information. The mouse is being tracked here; do you think its running for its life for pleasure ? No, only for its life, the chase is imposed by the cat, the mouse undergoes the experience. Of course, the fucking mouse have a passive role. Why should I express myself in direct sentence like speaking to a 2-year-old child because a half ugly middle school language teacher on youtube tells me that if I don’t I’m some kind of novice ?

>>22374553
What's this action called? Craning towards you? Leaning in?

I'm writing a sort of magic academy story, but when you get down to it, what kind of classes would you realistically have at a wizarding school? Thinking about Harry Potter, I feel most of the classes in the series are bullshit that serve no real educational purpose and fail to prepare the students for any credible profession. Rowling basically just took "this known magic thing" and made up lessons around it, and the result is just a cosplay school to help kids get into roleplaying wizards, while setting up barely connected plot devices. And then the kids are expected to know how to hold jobs in the ministry straight after graduation? It's silly.

I believe realistic magic education should be more pragmatic and geared towards the working life from the start. The school in my story is for 16-year-olds and above, so it's expected everyone already has basic life skills is literate, knows math, the basics of biology, chemistry, geography, etc. So how would you build the curriculum from there?

The theoretical and practical sides of casting spells are obvious subjects. Stuff like alchemy, finding and harvesting materials, and interacting with the spiritual side seem a given too. What else? Is there anything you think is vitally important that I'm not seeing?

>>22390886
Picrel

>>22390821
>I despise showing not telling.
>I mean, showing makes the story too much verbose, sentences to much tedious.
Why do so many people fail to understand the point of the principle?

>>22390897
I dunno, lake of explanation ? Because explaining is better than showing ?

>>22390931
Anon, the whole point is that it's often much simpler and effective to show something through action than spend page after page explaining it. Showing does not mean, "go into obscene detail about irrelevant things". It's very opposite of that.

>>22390940
I get what you're saying but in practice I mostly see the contrary. Maybe when it's done right, it goes unnoticed, but imo,and I might be wrong, it's rarely done right

>>22391031
>in practice I mostly see the contrary
Well, if one tip could magically turn bad writers into good writers, they wouldn't be bad in the first place, nor need tips.

>>22390892
- Fabrication of magical materials, building novel mechanisms (akin to engineering)
- Legal framework and governing protocols
- Academic and analytical inquiry (soft sciences)
- Pure theory, magical equivalent to science
-Security and risk prevention (law enforcement)
-How are "muggles" represented in your world? You could have studies for containment/diplomacy to manage that relationship (or secrecy)

>>22391031
> In practice
Name a few of the most recent stories you read.

167k words. 1 year and 4 days. FINISHED.
How do I into editing?

>>22391832
pm >>22383267

if you tell me you're from /lit/, i can give you a discount and work you in before i have to continue editing this textbook about stem cells

>>22391832
You suffer.

>>22391585
Excellent suggestions, thank you! You guessed correctly that the intention is to keep the magic side separated and hidden from the non-magicians, and there should definitely be courses dedicated to managing that, as well as the unique laws on sorcery.
And now that you mentioned, engineering seems such a broad field, there should probably be specialized colleges just for that, huh.

>>22391870
My work is in Finnish...

wanted to use pastebin to share a short horror i wrote. its not even that bad but

'Pastebin’s SMART filters have detected potentially offensive or questionable content in your Paste.
The content you are trying to publish has been deemed potentially offensive or questionable by our filters, because of this you’re receiving this warning.
This Paste can only be published with the visibility set to "Private".'

i guess ill use catbox. reeeee that's what i get for trying to share my work for once.

>>22391911
come back when you speak American

>try to write naturally and with my internal editor turned off
>read what I’ve written
>prose falls towards proust, melville, poe, and conrad
Are there still any short story magazines that accept stories written in this prose style or should I edit to shorten and ‘modernize’ it? It’s easily readable in spite of the length and complexity of each sentence, which is something I’ve been trying to do, so I’m personally happy about that.

>>22374844
You’re allowed a moment of frustration.

>>22374902
I will unashamedly admit it.

>>22374902
I started writing because of school. The first stories I ever published though were erotic ficiton

>>22390729
>open big fat mouth
>LOOKAME LOOKAME LOOKAME
>oh wow anon, that's soooo cool
>validation secured
how bout you don't open your yap about your story until it's ready to share

>>22390729
Because if you don't tell anybody, then the anticipation of FINALLY being able to let people know will give you extra motivation

>>22392451
amen
>lool everyone im a writer!!!!!
>actually has no consistency or reliable output
>shocked when cant deliver

just admit you're better at talking about writing than you are at writing. then go out and fix it.

>>22392458
no you see the validation of talking about being a writer is instant, unlike the struggle of actually proving it. This is why everyone claims to have writing as an interest right up until you ask about the word count on their wip and this is why most writing communities without enforced quality standards are shit

>>22392603
>word count
>quality standards
Did you mean quantity standards?

>>22392617
>t. has written 200 words in the past month

>>22392633
Acknowledge your mistake and make amends for it.

Is anyone going to start a new thread?

New thread:
>>22392775
>>22392775
>>22392775

>>22392776
>Thanos edition
I think I'll stay in this one

>>22390729
I really like that image.

>>22392655
wasnt me. but no, i said what i meant. you don't just suddenly start writing quality without the ability to get some word counts going on wips.
quantity of words doesn't equal quality but at least someone who can write something has a good place to start vs someone who sits there crying their first sentence isn't perfect.

>>22393331
also i dont care about any project that doesn't have some word count. anyone can sit around and daydream and world build all day. I only care about actual prose and most peoples ideas suck until they're able to write through a few and learn what issues come up.