/lit/ - Literature

seriously what's with the coomer infiltration now?

What is your weekly writing habit like /wg/? I shoot for one hour of writing a day for five days a week.

A man upon a strange, though familiar, world meanders through recreational woodland during a comfortable spring afternoon. The smell of fresh earth with a hint of fungus waft on the air. Soft chirps echo each other intermittently across the woods as leaves rustle by gentle breezes. He admires his surroundings in contemplative solitude. Though in particular, he studies the trees.

"It's amazing," he thinks to himself. "Uncountable trees embody this forest. Their forms and proximity are similar, even familial. Yet," he delicately fondles the pad of a leaf still attached to a tree ,"all the leaves--all the twigs, and branches, and splitting trunks--are different from one another."

It's true. Every leaf on every tree in the woods, and of his entire world, has no consistent form. Compare two leaves from any two trees, even of a single tree, and there was no immediate way to identify their origin.

The man releases the leaf from his study, and returns to walk the trodden path. His head slowly scans his environment, a subtle contented smile upon his face. All the while, buried deep within the ground at his feet, acres of countless wooden roots wrangle amongst themselves, quiet and writhing.

A man upon a strange, though familiar, world meanders through recreational woodland on a comfortable spring afternoon. The smell of fresh earth with a hint of fungus wafts on the air. Soft chirps echo each other intermittently across the woods as leaves rustle by gentle winds. He admires his surroundings in contemplative solitude. Though in particular, he studies the trees.

"It's amazing," he thinks to himself. "Uncountable trees embody this forest. Their forms and proximity are similar, even familial. Yet," he delicately fondles the pad of a leaf still attached to a tree ,"all the leaves--all the twigs, and branches, and splitting trunks--are different from one another."

It's true. Every leaf on every tree in the woods, and of his entire world, has no consistent form. Compare two leaves from any two trees, even of a single tree, and there was no immediate way to identify their origin.

The man releases the leaf from his study, and returns to walk the trodden path. His head slowly scans his environment, a subtle contented smile upon his face. All the while, buried deep within the ground at his feet, acres of countless wooden roots wrangle amongst themselves, quiet and writhing.

What's a good daily word count to make a habit of? I work 60 hour weeks and only manage about 100-300 per day and I feel like it's way too little.

>>22925948
I'm the same Anon as >22925934

If I have an outline and a good sense of direction I can usually type out ~2k words in one hour. If I wing it then it drops to 1.5k at most.

>>22925934
I write for a random amount of time per day and write so much word count that it puts Stephen King to shame. It's usually pretty good too.

Unfortunately it's scatted between random stories and most days I don't write at all.

>>22925948
2k per day, but that is because writing is my only source of, very minor at that, income, and I spend most of my day in bed for health reasons.

>>22925948
Honestly 500 is bare minimal, and 750 is genuinely progressive. You should be spending as much downtime as you have during your work or "active" hours thinking about what you want to write next. Then you figure out the best possible medium for you to use to put out maximum wpm in your slotted time for writing.

This is so important because if you can slot out 5 days a week for 750 words you'll be getting in 1650 more words per week than at 300. Then, even if you've reached a point where you're generalizing when you're writing, you can then block off one or even both remaining days of the week for editing. Even if you're a great editor you'll likely only be shaving off a hundred words or so between the give and take of removal and adding. Which leaves a bet gain in writing. Plus it helps teach you how to quickly get your ideas down, for that is the most important part of writing--getting all the ideas down and completed! Then you can edit, or at least you have editing "checkpoints" along the way you can flag. But I personally believe it's best to save as much editing until after completing the full rough draft as possible. Can't tell you how many times I'd spend a day editing a week's worth of writing only to delete most of the entire segment during later edits and drafts. If you can't though, like I said, weekly edits is okay if it helps you feel better about having less rewrites down the line or cringing when you reread after completion.

Maximize your free time contemplation to preplan future writing sessions, maximize your wpm during your slotted writing periods, accept being rough before being polished, and think in long term segmentation of goals rather than daily to help maximize proficiency. Do all this and you'll easily be able to turn a free hour into 500+ words. 60 minutes in an hour means you only need to average a bit more than 8 words in an entire minute to hit that.

>>22925959
33 wpm is pretty damn fast, even if you know almost exactly how you're going to type out those 2k words in advance. Hell, when writing organically with a good idea of direction I'd say 15 to 20 wpm is damn good.

>>22925948
Anon, these posters saying these huge word counts are not typical. They probably write smut or uninspired flash fiction, or even more uninspired essays or reviews, and have it all whittled down to a whimperingly profitable formula. 300 is on the low side but not terribly so. 2k and even 1.5k is on the very high side and obviously not what people with full schedules who write as a hobby or pastime. However as I said above, you certainly can at least double that 300 of you really truly want to. It's just all about how well you manage your time, how much you can come to accept to be rough at first, and how badly you want to write in the first place.

I'm a failure because I cannot for the life of me figure out transitions.
Like, carrying one action over to the next

>>22926056
> 33 wpm is pretty damn fast...
That is approximately my typing speed but I also am able to write that many words because I know that what I type is a first draft. I am not sure if further drafts can be measured like the raw typing out of the story like in the first draft.

>>22926102
Try this: https://youtu.be/uDJEjT2kKqY?si=xmA_CJIToFMk-uBb

The creators of South Park are talking about cause and effect. Scenes should have a reason to happen in your story. Character actions are the best reason for a scene to happen. If your characters want something and you make that difficult then they should try to figure out what to do next and then they go try to execute that until the next obstacle. Lather, rinse, repeat.

>>22925948

I'm this guy. >>22926034

On a good day I'll sit down and write some outlandish number of words, so far this year on one day I wrote about 7k words. However you have to take into account that I have tremendous blocks of free time when I manage to do that, and those are only days when I'm able to get into the zone and have hours of uninterrupted time.

More realistically I'll knock out about 500 words here or there. I only manage crazy sprints of a ton of words at a time when I've got the time and I'm in the zone, so to speak. I would prefer to be able to just do something like 1.5 or 2k a day and manage to make it regular instead of these wild sprinting sessions that I manage maybe once every week or two.

>>22925948
Here's something for you to think about: why are you concerned with word count? What is supposed to magically happen when you produce some arbitrary number of words? A story is made up of words but words are not necessarily a story. Type up 90,000 words and you will have produced a novel that is perfect for the adult fiction market. Problem is, what if it's 90,000 words of "All Work and No Play Make Jack a Dull Boy?"

Can you describe what it is like for you to sit down and write? Maybe we can help diagnose your problem and help you help yourself.

>>22926124
That's not what I mean. Like, for example
>He went here
>Then he went there
I need to think of a way to organically transport a character from situation to situation

>>22926125
One of these days I will make myself type out 1.5k-2k words per hour for seven hours - a full time day's work minus the breaks. Unfortunately, when I say that I write at that pace, I usually write for only one or two hours tops.

Guess I should count my blessings though.

>>22926141
Hm. Mind posting an excerpt of your work? Tell us what you are having trouble saying in said passage.

If you have nothing then give the ingredients to a scene - place, time, characters, motivations, and a conflict.

>>22926102
Explain further please.

>>22926141
What? You describe the important moments in between locations. By the time you're done, the scene should change itself. What's to explain? Are you an "AI" and/or bot?

>>22926171
That never works though

>>22926179
It honestly almost always does. Idk how it couldn't for you

>>22926187
I dunno, it just doesn't. I tried to describe a guy walking outside of a room and then seeing something in the hallway but it just felt... Meh.

>>22926191
Post something you wrote. Let us see what you see.

>>22926216
Brave anon, though a hook to the hungry fish is hardly the master... baiter. I'd say the fish had a tendency towards masochism, my friend.

Anyone know some good advice/guide/tips for editing and rewriting stuff? I've got 1st drafts of a few short stories and have no issues with actually writing them out, but I never know where to start for editing

>>22926295
What? Are you an AI? What's the square root of 144?, and how do you say 'panda' in spanish?

Any feedback on the start of this story would be much appreciated. I wrote the character's thoughts in italics, but pastebin doesn't seem to let you use italics.

https://pastebin.com/w9ynGqU7

Good day and good thread, anons.

I'm the one who posted the Walter cyborg story a few days back. I got excellent criticism and feedback here. Basically my work is dry, clinical or bland. Pick one, or take all.

I thought about it, and my critics were right.

In my effort to distance Walter and make him cold I threw away everything unique to the novel form. My prose now reads like a movie script, devoid of human feeling or thought. Just lifeless, bland action, without the added humanity that a script gets from its inevitable rendition on screen by human actors.

I'd given up two things that give a novel life: first, the greater intimacy that is only possible with a written protagonist, and in addition, the quality that enables that intimacy: the ability to know a character inside--in real time.

I thought for so long I wanted my main character cold when I really just wanted him to be strong.

Anyway I'll post another excerpt soon for you anons to criticize. It feels almost naked to be wrested from my delusions of competency and be exposed as mediocre. But if I don't know my mistakes, how can I improve?

Thanks in advance everyone.

I don't know what my problem is. On average, when writing, my WPM is around 90. When I'm just writing for shits and giggles, it jumps up to 110-120ish. This means that I should be able to write a lot more than I'm currently writing: little to none. I'm writing only 200 or 400 words when, at my peak, I was writing close to 5k words a day, and those 5k words being written in the span of 2 hours or so. I write, but then end up reading something so I spend the rest of the day reading or playing video games.

>>22926295
There are a good number of videos about editing on YT but here's what I know about. First, after you have a finished draft, start broad. What is your work about? Who is it about? What happens over the course of the story? Does everything serve the story or reveal characters? Is there anything that is less necessary than you thought? What can you do about it? Are there narrative dead ends in your story? Are there subplots that kind of trailed off and distracted from the story? There is much more but those are all a good start.

>>22926476
Maybe you have a similar problem as me. When you write for shits and giggles do you already have a decently formed idea of your overall story? Contrast that with when you are writing more seriously - do you have less direction then?

>>22926476
Oh, also, I'm not as quick as you but this >>22926147 was me. The math does not lie but yet we struggle to write that much even when we have the time.

>>22926492
Actually, when I write for shits and giggles, I have less of a clear idea than when I write seriously. It's not an issue of writing seriously or writing for fun but an issue of writing in the first place. When I get in the 'flow' of writing, I can write an absurd amount for an absurd amount of time. But despite having more free time than what most people on this general likely have; I'm just not taking advantage of it to write, if that makes any sense. Typing or writing speed is irrelevant in my case, because any amount times zero is still going to be zero.

>>22926509
Maybe it's resolution time for you. Spend an hour, half an hour, fifteen minutes, whatever, and do that every single day. Write it down as a task to be done and then cross it off every day on a calendar so that you may see your new habit add up over time.

Just an idea of the top of my head.

>>22926509
If I had any advice, it would be that you should force yourself some way to get yourself to write the first sentence/paragraph, that's the hardest step in my experience. Once I get started on something, even if I finish my initial goal, I usually keep going until something completely takes my attention away from it. The hard problems are 1)giving yourself an achievable goal every time so that you start writing and 2)making all possible disruptions to your flow disappear from your writing area.

>some dumb shit I wrote ten years ago when I was cooked

We were fucking in a toilet when someone banged on our cubicle.
'Security,' he said. 'Open up.'
'Way ahead of you,' said Mel, groaning.
'Let me in this instant.'
'She's occupied,' I said.
Bang bang bang. He left. We passed the joint between us until it burnt out and Mel, peppered with ash, stood up, sending it into he air like black confetti. We kissed as it sprinkled down on us. 'I'm thirsty,' she said, so hand in hand we left the bathroom to find ourselves a drink.
Waiting for us in the restaurant was the security guy and the manager. They stood in our way before a full house of diners, all staring at us in silence, aside from the crying baby.
'I'll have a Negroni,' Mel said to no one in particular, walking away.
'Make that two,' I said, following her. 'Excuse us.'
'You're not going anywhere,' the security guy said.
'Yes we are,' she said, 'to our table.'
'The police are en route,' the manager said.
'Where are they going?'
'It doesn't concern us, Mel,' I said, taking her arm. 'And while we thank you, sirs, for assuring us that the police remain mobile, we're going to take our seats now and enjoy the drinks you will bring to us.'
She shook her head. 'I won't enjoy anything if that baby keeps crying.'
'That baby is crying,' the manager said, his voice shaking a little, 'because the entire restaurant could hear you.'
'Well,' she replied, crossing her arms, 'had security here not kept the door open coming and going like he did, no one would've been disturbed.'
'He violated our privacy,' I said.
His fat face went red and he began yelling. 'You violated our regulations. First of all, men aren't allowed in the female bathroom.'
Mel nodded at security. 'Like him?'
He ignored her. 'Second, we've a strict no drug policy.'
I sniffed. 'It does smell like weed in here. Why does your bathroom have such poor ventilation? What does it usually smell like?'
'And third, we're a family restaurant. And what you were doing in there is not family friendly.
'What were we doing?' I said.
'Yes, tell us,' implored Mel.

>>22926810

'You were in the act.'
'Of what,' we said together.
'Having sex,' security said.
'Sex isn't family friendly?' I asked.
'Not the kind you were having.'
The baby screamed, shattering the silent stupor of the diners. An elderly lady gasped. Another fainted into her pudding. People began leaving in droves.
Mel ignored the kerfuffle and went on. 'Sex is about as family friendly as it gets. It's, like, literally how families are made.'
God I loved her. We hadn't bothered getting dressed after our bathroom session and her sweaty ass shone beneath the chandilier. I gave her a spank. The four of us watched my DNA slide down the rivulets of her inner thigh's cellulite, and then drip onto the clean linoleum floor.
'Good God,' the fat man said.
Red and blue lights flashed in the window. In came two cops.
'We got a call about a public disturbance,' one said.
The other sniffed. 'Is that weed?'
'Lucky coke doesn't smell,' I said.
The first one stared at me. 'What?'
The manager pointed at us. 'These two were taking drugs.'
'And having anal sex,' added security. There was an awkward silence.
'Sodomy is legal,' said the second. We all looked at him.
'Not in public,' said the manager.
'I think it might depend,' number two
'Shutup,' snapped the first. He stared at us, only now seeming to register that we were completely naked and clearly wired out of our minds. 'Anything to say?' he asked.
'Where are our Negronis?' Mel said. 'We ordered a while ago, officer.'
He sort of laughed and sort of looked at us like we were crazy. 'Tell you what,' he said, smiling. 'Why don't we head down to the station and have a couple of drinks together there. On the house.'
Mel snatched the pistol from his holster and pointed it at the fat man. 'You heard him,' she said. 'We'll be having those negronis to go.'

are most of you writing fantasy and other genre fiction?

>>22926295
Want me to punch them up for you?

>>22926820
This is a litRPG general.

>>22926820
Me and a few anons are writing Southern lit, which I suppose is a genre but it's closer to lit.

>>22926443
I'm one of the guys that offered feedback first time, glad to see I could be of use to you and that you have a good mindset. Wishing you all the best.

Hm, I am back with another version of beginning to my story. I don't speak english as my mother tongue, so it might not be the greatest prose. But I'd appreciate any feedback.


On the western shore of Finland lies a small town. The town is surrounded by fields, where in the summer grows the yellow wheat. Further down from the fields are the forests, where lives many species of animals. Namely foxes, rabbits, moose, deer, wolves and a couple of bears. Here is Matti’s house.
Matti is a young man, though based on his appearance one could think of him as older than he is. He is regular size, but has wide shoulders, and a great strength. His hair is brown, wavy. When he isn’t home, he is in these forests, hunting birds and other animals with the help of his dog Alli.
To his family belongs a brother, two sisters and his mother. His father passed away a couple years back, which caused great sorrow to Matti. It was his father who had supported him during tough times. And often they together fared the forests, and Matti learned from him many skills pertaining to the wild.
It is a spring-day, and Matti is walking his dog, before he starts his work. Today he woke up feeling a bit irritated. And now, while this feeling is coming up from time to time, Matti thinks to himself: “What is wrong with me? I have no reason to be irritated. I have everything I need, here in the countryside, and on the weekends, I can go hunt.” Here is a certain old barn, where Matti usually turns back. And he started walking toward his home.
“But now I might know what is the reason for this feeling. I haven’t, dog take it, met a person in many weeks. If not counting that time in the store. I remember that cashier and her behavior well, hm! But that might be vain thinking. But anyhow, it would be good for me to meet some folk. It is good therefore, I believe, that Mikko’s wedding is approaching. There I will meet people. I will try to speak with people. I just hope they don’t notice anything strange…” And Matti arrived at his home.

>>22927377
I like it, even though English isn't your best tool, you convey a message across.
I just wish you'd include where your story is going, I read something nice and I felt an emotion in there too, but this goes nowhere.
What's the conflict? Who is Mikko? When is his wedding? Is this dude big foot, that he is so scared of being seen? Give me a goal.

>>22927377
>It is a spring-day, and Matti is walking his dog, before he starts his work. Today he woke up feeling a bit irritated. And now, while this feeling is coming up from time to time,
>It is a spring-day...before he starts...Today...And now, while...coming up from time to time,
Extremely chronologically confused. (Imagine the hands of a clock moving for each of these segments.) It's better to present things in chronological order with clear cause and effect.

>>22927404
Yeah well basically the character is just antisocial at the beginning, not having met with anyone. Then he goes to the wedding where he looks at a girl. They don't talk but later on start dating. Then this main character's mother dies and he inherits a forest along with his brother. He buys the forest wholly to himself and starts to build a log-cabin.
And basically when the cabin is finished he moves in there and starts to become crazy because he lives alone in the forest. The girl wouldn't want to move with him in there.

>>22927377
This is the kind of shit first-graders produce when they first learn to write. Boy has a ball. The ball is blue. Boy lives in a house. The house is in a town. The town is near a forest. Jesus. Is this the fruit of education hailed as best in the world?

>>22927377

It has a strong sense of sombreness but within this sense of isolation you manage to create something that's fairly cozy and peaceful I like especially the colourful imagery connected with the forest and fields.

i dont read, i drank coffee and wrote this small short story


"It was 1929 in Casablanca on a cool day in an even cooler cafe.
One absolute faggot and one charming man were sitting down, sipping down their cafe drinks.

"Well she's been good to me so far so I don't see why that would change now." and go ahead and guess which one said it. "

Been working on this story for a while. Thoughts on the start?

>>22927526
The charming man, as the faggot is a homosexual and would not associate with women.

>>22927533
no i self inserted and the vision here was

>settings are always gay
>the faggot is the guy who trusts women
>i self inserted as the cool bisexual

its a rug pull on the setting and subverting expectations of what makes someone a faggot


im very smart

>>22927531
I like it. In the absence of better critique I would like to point out that the names are quite nice.

>>22925767
Gamera is a weird series

>>22926361
>start of this story

It makes you (or the character) sound like a coomer. Who's going to read this? What is your genre?

>>22927531

Don't you mean "tengo miedo?" Unless you're saying they're mocking Ismael?

What is this "northern?" If it's the name of a train or something it should be capitalized shouldn't it?

Wheel of Fortune if the name of a ride should be capitalized.

Are they Hispanic? If so, their names are not particularly matching their identities so it's kind of weird.

>Tries to make an interesting world, and tries to make its history, characters, factions, political situation, culture, religion and concepts developed, sensible, believable and cool.
>"Lol, you just take writing too seriously, why can't you just have fun?"

How do you deal with fags like this?

>>22927792
i am the mastermind behind >>22927526

its always a battle of who cares less because of irony and how everything is gay

id simply respond
"fun for me is being autistic" and then not care LIKE A BOSS unironically

>>22927792
Under what circumstances would you even be dealing with such a person? The only way that I can see that happening before you've published anything is if you're going looking for feedback and get it from some smoothbrain who doesn't really care for worldbuilding. In which case the answer is simple: you don't. It's not your job to convince others of the validity of an exercise that they already don't understand or put any stock in.

However, worldbuilding disease is also a real thing. If you've spent countless hours world building and spent zero hours actually writing the story that you're going to set there then some fag who doesn't see a point in worldbuilding is not your problem.

>>22927847
would be cool if someone wrote fake history textbooks that were racist and entirely nonsensical while SOMEWHAT being rooted in reality

like maybe leave in chankiri tree of all things

I'm thinking of writing a book/novella (100 pages), is it all talent or should I read some textbooks?

>>22927868
hey im new to writing and wrote my first short story in under 6 minutes today on caffiene and zyns

(story here >>22927526 )

I say this because a lot of anons are buzzing about how good it is, especially considering i dont read, was drinking coffee and im new

im likely apt to something like this but i would say go for it and im also allowing you to do so

you are allowed by ME, do not read

>>22927877
you think homos are cool though

>>22927888
yes i do

it feels cool to dominate another man OR submit and suck dick all while hating women

u wouldnt get it tho...

>>22927891
yeah, because i'm not a mentally ill rape victim

>>22927899
>hes not a mentally ill rape victim
ngmi
also im a over sexualized hyper manic so nice try sweetie

>>22927902
>also im a over sexualized hyper manic so nice try sweetie
that's your traumatic cope for being gaped at the age of 5 by mommy's bf

>>22927908
i just tried to visualize if i was raped and nothing came up

try visualizing being fat and lmk if thats why ur mad LOL

>>22927877
>>22927891
>>22927902
>>22927913
Is this today's LARP?

>>22926216
Long story short, how do I deliver a lot of information in a short period of time? Because our protagonist just experienced a LOT in like, 5 minutes.

>>22928214
none of its larp

a lot of buzz around my short story

>>22928349

>>22925948
That's not many words at all. Some of my best work comes in the middle of longer sessions of writing (usually around the 45 minute mark).

I work about 55 hours a week and get 750-1250 words a day, plus usually 1000-3000 on weekends. It's about how much time you put in. Watch tv or YouTube to relax; why?

>>22928349
You're not larping but simply hold a rather inane position? You've sure impressed me.

What program do you anons use for writing?

>>22928363
Q10 & Scrivener.

>>22928363
Google docs.
It works, and I need nothing but that.

>>22928356
hes literally me wow

>>22928362
i wrote that short story so people would stop saying words like inane

>>22928369
I have less issues with your story than I do with your responses. The "story" itself is lackluster but at least it demonstrates some creativity, your comments throughout the thread however? Inane.

>>22928384
show me something u wrote then pussy

>>22927792
Call them slurs

>>22928363
Fanfiction.net
Not to publish anything (not since high school, at least), I just like the layout of the document editor

>>22928363
Emacs

>>22928363
Used to do libreoffice but I like mempad now, much more stripped back. Just use libreoffice for exports to pdf for submissions.

>>22928547
>mempad
It's great itsn't it? Reminds me of hog bay notebook back when I was a macfag.

>>22926820
I write Fantasy that's actually Sci-Fi

>>22927667
The same actress was in Gamera vs. Gyaos, and then appeared in a bunch of femsploitation movies (three guesses why).
>>22928356
Beautiful summation of all of 4chan. Saved!

>>22928561
Baste. That's how it goes.

>>22925926
dick just won't stop

>>22925767
>"Can I Get A Lift" edition
I don't get it where do you want to go?

anyway I just whore "get out of my head" until I filled 10 pages

>>22928363
I like using yWriter6, its pretty convenient.

>>22928363
a notebook and a pen, but I have pens of different colours, green, black, blue, last one was red
I also use a purple lighter that says "peace" on it to burn the paper afterwards I don't want to be commited to a mental institution

>>22928363
Word for actual writing, Scrivener for organizing texts and files.

made an audiobook for the current version of my book

https://youtu.be/gGwqGEBB8-Y?si=f6yPBjvhnfcjZciu

>>22927868
There are plenty of books to read about the craft of writing. You should also actually read stories from the format that you want to write so that you get a feel for the form. Practice, study, read, and write all together.

>>22928300
First, write everything down that happens. Then spread it out a bit. Add descriptions. Add an internal thought or two. Maybe someone says something or reacts somehow to each moment. Reading is not a real time activity. You can decompress what you are saying.

That said, do not just have a bunch of stuff happen. Set things up, foreshadow, pay earlier setups off, hint at what may happen next. The present is only the crossroads between the past and the present, but storytelling lets us linger a bit more than we can in real life. Use that.

Action, reaction. Cause and effect. One event leads into another event through logic. Characters react to what happens around them and then they act so as to regain control of their lives. Back and forth.

You might be surprised how many words you can get just from thinking about every detail that can happen in a moment. In later drafts you can trim it down as needed.

>>22928363
Google Docs for being able to write anywhere and LibreOffice to have saved files stored on my own drives.

Is Scrivener worth it?

>>22928871
Yes, you can get it for free on google.

>>22927540
thanks
>>22927783
They are. A wind current. Ok. Yes.

>>22928859
If you woke up and found out you've been in stasis for 50 years while almost everyone you know and love is dead from nuclear winter, I'd say that's cause for mental breakdown just from the sheer information overload

>>22918497
And so I press on. I'm just going to have to accept that while I can write every day, I'm just not gonna hit 1,000 words on all of those days. I'm getting it on most of them though, so far.

I don't know if it's a bad sign, but the scene I'm currently doing is taking up far more words than my outline had planned it to. I will re-evaluate during editing, when I get there.

>>22924725
The setting my WIP is in has been the subject of the plurality of my daydreams and idle thoughts for over two years. Writing in it has, for some reason, reduced this. Now I idly dream of the sci-fi setting that's been in my head for the last eight years.

>>22925934
Since the new year, I've written every day. The target is 1,000 words a day. If I'm gonna keep viewing myself as a writer, I have to actually be one.

>>22928363
I'm rocking LibreOffice, per my sister's advice. She has churned out far too many Ultrakill fanfics with it.

>>22923802
I will! Thank you for the encouraging words. We're *all* going to make it.

Wrote a short story about a gay guy who gets de-aging therapy to live forever. It's not the best but it's good practice. There are a few moments in there I like. I wrote it in a few hours so I think this is the best I can do in that amount of time. I think you really have to take a lot of time out to get something worth reading

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QmEE_A0fOU6R9KXHrGSbw3L5wbLqdRQ5pdf6LDEF1L0/edit?usp=drivesdk

>powerless male protagonist who does all the talking
>action girl deuteragonist who does all the smashing

It's funny to have the guy with the jobber flags steamroll everyone
>Thickly built
>Mute
>Isn't some old master or young hotshot, just a random 30-something guy who's really, REALLY good at kicking people's asses. Quite literally in some instances
>Zero personality besides "Shirtless mute with a horse mask who kicks people"
>Absolutely bulldozes everyone he fight. Breaks plot armor after plot armor simply because he kicks like a motherfucker

At the beginning of time, there was the Land, and from the Land came the Folk
The Land and the Folk were We-And-Us, and there was peace.

Woe! In the most ancient times, the Green Devils came from across the mountains
They rode floating palaces, and demanded tribute from the Folk.
Blood watered the Land, Green and Red alike.
We paid tribute, and their floating palaces left, never to return.
Though the Land and the Folk were forever changed,
A time of peace came over the Land.

Woe! In the time before the grandmothers of our grandmothers were born,
The Blue Devils came from across the sea, and stole our coasts,
But they were content to sit in their enamel palaces,
And so we paid them tribute as we had to the Green Devils in ages past.
Though the Land and the Folk were forever changed,
A time of peace came over the Land.

Woe! In the time of our grandmothers, the Gold Devils came from across the sea,
And though their mothers had been slaves, they stole our Land, and killed our men,
And raped our women, and put our children in chains.
They were not content to sit in their palaces, like the Blue Devils,
Nor to retreat beyond the mountains like the Green. It was our Land they coveted,
And they spread across it as a wildfire does across the grazelands.
Young man, all you must do is climb the tallest hill and gaze Eastwards,
To know that the We-And-Us shall never again know a time of peace.

-Excerpt, My Journey to the Uttermost West, Appendix 4, “Myths and Legends of the Red-Skinned Savages”, by Alachis kor Vyanikar, Ecclesiastical Academy Press

>>22929089
is the fact he gets killed by a bear after attempting to be eternally young meant to represent you fear as you enter your 30s of getting old, fat and undesirable

Bros, I have a formatting question.
Is the correct way to format this the first or second or neither?

>>22929382
that's entirely a matter of personal preference

Am I even remotely onto something here?

>>22929382
It's a matter of how you've treated dialogue so far. Personally I would do something different. You seem to want it to read with brevity, like it's all one statement. I'd go with something stylistic for that.

>MC stepped through as the door started to close automatically behind him, and as it did he heard the woman speak one more thing in an impossibly clear voice.
>"I hear it too, dear."

Now I don't know if that's the tone that you're going for or not, but it's how I'd go with it.

How does one write flow with out being too sing-songy?

At night, he woke, listening to the rain splitter splatter and swirled around the clogged drain. Scraps and slops congealed by the roadside. Water flooded by the wayside, up the sidewalks they climbed. Bubbles sailed and fought on the dark tide, above and under the grime. Splitter splatter, the rain fell. He lay in blood listening, frosty streaks stabbing his gashing gut.
Endless droplets doused his mangled form and nibbled away bits and pieces. Frosty dribble diluted the red blood. Each drop a hot knife stabbing. Each breath a struggle wheezing, choking with cracked pipes. Plastic, metal and glass fused with flesh, creating a new breed of man. Whose sight affronted merit and his usefulness done.
Eyes clouded by spray and pain with liquid frozen on eyelashes’ tips. The silver streaks lashed the world round and drowned his faint cries. Confined in icy volley, entombed in a twisted coffin. Seconds drawn an eternity of agony, a baptism of pain for the birth of a new man.
Splitter splatter, the steps came. A graceful shape silhouette the sprinkle. The woman waded through the ankle depth waves. Her features blurred then cleared, dark eyes forming from haze. Her wardrobe melted and clung to flesh and wagged and wiggled with each step.

>>22927298
Thank you for your encouraging words. I really appreciated your review.

>Picrel
I wrote again. This time focusing on having Walter think. Feel. React. Like a normal human being. I remember one of my critics asked to see how he went from A to B. Needed to show his personality.

How can I make this better?

>>22927762
I just wrote it. There was no consideration of audience. I didn't consider genre either. I'm just trying to let the character speak for himself instead of being filtered through a narrator's representations of him. I plan to use a narrator only to describe the scene and the physical actions of characters, not comment on them. I also don't want the character himself to be a first person narrator like, for instance, Holden Caulfield, or Humbert Humbert, or the narrator from Houellebecq's Whatever. He's not narrating to an audience. He's thinking privately to himself and without any filter. So if he sounds like a coomer, that's just what he sounds like. It's not suppose to be a good thing. As to who is going to read this, I have no plans to try and publish anything, and if I can't get this format to work, I'll probably go back to writing in a more typical style of third-person narration.

>>22929646
Later drafts.

>>22929453
>"Clear," an indistinct voice.
is supposed to be
>"Clear." An indistinct voice.
They are separate sentences. "An indistinct" voice describes the kind of voice. It's not an attribution.

The first paragraph is good, but be careful not to overdescibe. One thing I like to remember is that everytime you describe, you literally stop the story. Like putting the TV on pause to say exactly how something smells or looks like.
The rest paragraphs are good with action relevant description only. Paints a more vivid picture.
Your writing style is good. I get what is happening. But you could make it more interesting. The question now is "why did they capture him?" and it hasn't been answered. You could use better dialogue and more specific narration to raise even more questions and generate more intrigue.

>>22925934
Right now I aim to put out one ~2500 chapter a week of the practice book I am writing.
That plus daily shitposting keeps me making progress and writing consistently.
I am already seeing my writing get progressively less shit chapter by chapter.
The overall strucure of the book is borked since I am pantsing it and didn't use a outline, but if the end book is even worth salvaging I can fix it with a rewrite in another draft or two.

The main thing is that I consistently push myself out of my comfort zone and keep learning by doing stuff I never done before.
Like this week I just finished a chapter that had dialog from like 6 characters in a conversation. Before I started writing I was almost sure I was going to fuck it up, but putting quite a bit of effort into it, I think it turned out at the very least understandable.
Not great since it's still super exposition heavy, but not confusing.
Next chapter will have very little dialog and more about descriptions of motion and suroundings again. Since I need more practice with that too.

Having a practice project to consistently work on is the way to go.
Sort of like learning programing by working on projects.

>>22926810
>>22926816

This short story excerpt is a wild ride with a mix of humor, audacity, and unexpected twists. The characters' nonchalant attitude in the face of escalating chaos adds a surreal touch, and Mel's bold actions bring a surprising turn to the situation. The dialogue and pacing contribute to the overall absurdity and entertainment.

The excerpt navigates through a series of unconventional events with a tone that seamlessly blends humor and audacity. The initial scene in the bathroom, while explicit, is delivered with casual irreverence, setting the stage for the unexpected encounter with security and the manager. The characters, Mel and the narrator, exhibit a carefree and unapologetic attitude, turning what could be a tense situation into a comedic spectacle.

The exchange with the security and manager is marked by witty dialogue and clever deflections. Mel's responses, especially her remark about the crying baby and her casual defiance, inject a playful and rebellious spirit into the narrative. The manager's attempts to enforce regulations are met with humorous scrutiny, such as questioning the bathroom's ventilation.

The introduction of the police adds another layer of absurdity, and the nonchalant manner in which the characters handle the accusations of drug use and public indecency adds to the story's surreal charm. Mel's unexpected move of snatching the pistol and demanding drinks to go adds a twist that keeps the reader engaged.

Overall, the story masterfully combines elements of comedy, absurdity, and unpredictability, making it a captivating and entertaining read.

>>22929700
Because the simple truth is right now, it's boring. It's just a man being carried somewhere, and he doesn't seem to feel much about it. Why should I care then? I honestly don't care where they're taking him.

More interesting would be

>Sauren frantically plotting his escape. You narrate him recognizing a few opportunities to break free, then why it proves impossible.
This is a man who doesn't want to be in the situation that he's in. Now I care. I even want to know where they're taking him. Is it that bad?

>His captors praying for him/consoling him/asking what he did to end up like this. Rather than saying "clear, clear" like a SWAT movie.
Now they're scared for him. This can't be so simple. What the hell has this man gotten himself into?

>Sauren laughing and smiling in his bonds.
Now his captors are wary. Isn't he supposed to be scared?
>Sauren begging to be released/offering bribes
>Maybe even crying

Anything but
>Sauren exists, indifferently, in his bounds. He likes being warm.
That's just one-note and bland--fine for a movie but even in a movie it would be boring. At least movies are visual eye candy.

If Sayren's going to be quiet at least let him be quiet for a reason. Biding time for something. Preparing for an escape he knows is inevitable.
If this is the story's start you gotta do something to hook the reader. And let us know it. This is not a movie. You can do more with your character's thoughts and feelings in a way that no film ever can.

We need a /rewrite/ or /edit/ thread. Line by line criticism of people's prose is a drag. It would be so much easier to just rewrite the damn thing to show how you would have done it.

>>22929779
how someone else would have written something doesnt necessarily mean it wouldve been better

>>22929710
why

>>22929851
That's true of all advice or feedback

>>22929646
I forgot to spell-check this one.
At night, he woke, listening to the rain splitter splatter and swirl around the clogged drain. Scraps and slops congealed by the roadside. Water flooded by the wayside, up the sidewalks, they climbed. Bubbles sailed and fought on the dark tide, above and under the grime. Splitter splatter, the rain fell. He lay in blood listening, frosty streaks stabbing his gashing gut.
Endless droplets doused his mangled form and nibbled away bits and pieces. Frosty dribble diluted the red blood. Each drop a hot knife stabbing. Each breath was a struggle, wheezing, choking with cracked pipes. Plastic, metal, and glass fused with flesh, creating a new breed of man. Whose sight affronted merit and his usefulness done.
Eyes clouded by spray and pain with liquid frozen on eyelashes’ tips. The silver streaks lashed the world around and drowned his faint cries. Confined in the icy volley, entombed in a twisted coffin. Seconds drew an eternity of agony, a baptism of pain for the birth of a new man.
Splitter splatter, the steps came. A graceful shape silhouetted the sprinkle. The woman waded through the ankle-depth waves. Her features blurred, then cleared, dark eyes forming from the haze. Her wardrobe melted and clung to flesh and wagged and wiggled with each step.

>>22929646
I got reamed for that much alliteration. I personally don't mind it but it can make it harder to read.

I've been working on a short story that became a novella which is quickly becoming a novel.

Basically the plot is the exploration of a married couple going through divorce/separation except they have to stay together as they are on the same mission working on a a giant submarine that is kind of a generational ship that travels through time and dimensions. It's sort of a dramatic exploration of the human desire to be left alone yet apart or something else. There's a lot of stuff I'm putting into it but it's a fucking mess bros. i'm a fucking mess

>>22929851
Everything can be improved. Perfection doesn't exist. People obsess too much about the ambiguous idea of "better", when they should think more about where's the level of shit they're willing to accept

>>22930006
I'm almost done with a novel with a similar theme, but no divorce or submarine. What drove you to write on the topic? For me, I was trying to create a dilemma from what many people today would consider a good decision.

>>22929092
My fantasy novel literally uses that dynamic.

>>22930193
Encyclopedia Brown.
Grimoire Bruen.

is there any way to interact with other writers without having to deal with gay shit?

>>22930241
The heated arguments in cafes and brojobs are the best part.

>>22930242
I’m OK with drama. I'm tired of everyone writing about faggot characters or thinking that something is daring and creative because it has gay characters.

>>22930241
Why not just message one? Writers have contact info on book sites, or Goodreads. You might even be able to message the author if he actually uses GR often. Or if you want to talk to locals, just go to where they meet.

>>22930251
Then you will not like my faggy gothic drama where even being a gay is an allegory for a kind of schizoid disconnect from society and individuals.

>burning need to write
>hands are too tired to type
I wish I was better at articulating my thoughts, so I could at least use a speech to text app or something. This is intolerable

A big time famous writer has just subscribed to my newsletter and I'm now riddled with insecurity as to whether my next post is good enough. Actually made me a little mopey today.

Gulp.

>>22930397
Why do you think the writer subbed? A reader, perhaps?

>>22930406
I got recommended by a big publication so it could be from that.

I think he's just trying me out to see what he gets.

>>22929449
>>22929477
Thank you for the responses

>>22929700
Thanks. I'll get to work answering the why then. I do have a habit of being overly descriptive, but I think I can pare that down in an editing pass.

>>22929746
Well, yes. All questions soon to be answered.

>>22929660
I don't like the "that that was ideal". I'd prefer "that it was ideal". Also, you misspelled 'wrong' at the end of the story.

Overall, it's fine but I got less invested during the end. If this was the beginning of a longer piece, I'd advise you to make his motivation more ambiguous and then reveal what happened later on. If it's a middle, I still don't love the explaining his motivation as it's happening. Maybe allude to it but don't outright state it?

>horrid 3.5 stars rating on Royal Road
>but followers keep going up
It's a bittersweet kind of feel

>>22929092
I do that except the action girl is the protagonist and the powerless male is the deuteragonist so I can make him more mysterious

>>22931410
Dang. I don't mean it as an insult, but I've got a 4.5. I feel like if the right people read it first then it would've tanked my rating from the start and killed my visibility. Unfortunately my followers aren't growing much.
Are your worst reviews also poorly written?
I'm not trying to blow the sun out my ass, but the people most against my story seem like idiots who want sloppy power fantasy stuff without thought to it.

>>22931553
That is what they want. And most RR readers. Why are you posting there and giving up publishing chances if you're writing a more traditional style of novel?

>>22931560
I wanted feedback on my story, and it is the first thing that I've written, so it is training for me.
I'm over a million words in, and I intend to finish it within the year.
I would then like to rewrite the entire thing, significantly reducing its size, and putting it out as a series of novels. But this would only be a side project, since I do have something that I hope is more likely to be accepted on the site that I'd like to write next. Or perhaps my style of writing is just not a fit for a webnovel.

>>22931553
Well yeah, the issue with the low ratings is that they're REALLY low. I'm tempted to put out a ticket to see if I can get the 0.5 ratings removed because no story is THAT bad

>>22931568
couldn't imagine a group of readers I would want feedback from less than RR, but OK
Writing a million words and posting to an ill fitting site instead of editing and at least self pubbing on amazon also feels bizarre
you actually write and publish tho which 3/4 this board doesn't, so good for you there

>>22931568
>I hope is more likely to be accepted on the site that I'd like to write next
that being?

>>22931574
RR mods are almost hilariously author friendly so yes they will remove it

>>22931580
I'm on RR because every agent at every convention I talk to wanted me to have a follower base before they'd consider doing business.

>>22931587
yeah trad pubbing is fucked no advice there. just doesn't seem like RR is the play either, for your situation. better to pub to Amazon I think, and if exceptional, will filter to the top via algorithm. plus some marketing. depends on genre

>>22931580
I've got another story that I'm writing for their magazine contest which I do intend to self pub.
>>22931583
It would be a sequel set far past my main story, young strong female protag, jaded older male companion that can't fight on his own and needs her to focus his power since he's stuck in a ring, higher fantasy than what I'm writing now.
There is a story that I read and I didn't care for it that much, Beneath the Dragoneye Moons, and it gets 20k a month on Patreon.
I figure if I try something more like that then maybe I could get an audience that actually pays. The big difference however is that I won't write litRPG, because I just don't care for it and I feel it has actively dragged down every story I've read with it.

>>22931611
>female protag
To the trash

>>22931611
>because I just don't care for it and I feel it has actively dragged down every story I've read with it.
totally agree. Your premise sounds decent, if a bit generic, but I'm sure you can go to interesting places with it as long as you don't fall into any overplayed cliches that prop up in such character pairings
Also, I meant on what site do you want to write next to?

>>22931621
Oh. I can see how my phrasing could be misinterpreted.
I meant that my next story is hopefully more accepted on RR than my first one.
I don't know where else I would even write to, since the other writing sites that I know of are no better than RR, filled with even more trashy stories.

>>22931611
BTDEM wouldn't be successful if it wasn't litrpg lmao, litrpg is the whole point. it's fast-produced slop that's easy to consume and provides a base-level monkey-brain dopamine hit. sounds like you have no clue what's going on with how genre, audience, marketing, etc works desu

>>22931620
I've been told that I'm good at writing women, which would hopefully mean a better story.
>>22931635
I can concede that I don't know how marketing works, and that without litRPG being part of it my story may do worse.

>>22931630
that's because web fiction sites are almost exclusively for trash. the only good web serials i know host on their own websites. if you're not trying to write slop either trad pub or self pub on amazon and buy ads. it's obviously the harder path but hey that's how it works

>>22931643
The issue I see with buying ads is that I'm poor, actually very poor.
I know I could ask for money from my father since we've come into oil money recently and it looks like maybe another company is going to start drilling as well, but I'm pigheaded and prideful so it'd kill me to do so.
But maybe that's just what needs to happen, since I don't think what I write now is bad, and with my current ability if I rewrote my first story I think it could at least give me something more than the $5 I earn on Patreon each month.

>>22931410
I don't have any ratings or followers. Feels like I'm screaming into the void when I upload a chapter

>>22931660
Could just write actual slop for an easy buck and use that as funds for your more literary pen name. If you actually have decent writing and apply that to an easy formula like litrpg you're bound to make at least a few hundred a month, I would figure

>>22931662
Is it typical RR genres? litrpg, cultivation, or at least progfantasy? Or is everyone here posting stuff that doesn't belong and becoming depressed when it doesn't take off? It's like if you guys uploaded a noir detective novel to WattPad or something. just why

>>22925767
What are some good tips for writing Political Fiction?

>>22931705
Don't

What are some good tips for writing fiction? Do you have to prepare your story/world/characters first or do you just start writing and let your pen guide you?

>>22931780
Here's an unusual take on it that I'm enjoying right now.

>>22931780
I started with an ending actually.
I've been thinking about stories for years, making them up, but never fleshing them out in my head.
This meant that I had many scenes already prepared.

>>22931780
If I don't have some kind of ending in mind before I'm 20% of the way done, I'm in trouble
If I don't know how to execute on that by the 50% mark, I'm doomed

>>22931817
>>22931809
Starting with an ending to work towards is great advice, especially when writing a series, otherwise you end up like GRRM and procrastinate because you don’t know how to finish it

>get major inspiration to write 10 minutes before bedtime
>have to be up in 6 hours to go to my boring office job

AaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAA

>>22931914
>doesn't have kilos of inspiration juice at the ready so he can phone it in at work the next day
It's like you don't even write.

>>22931927
If I don’t get my beauty sleep work sucks away my vitae and I return home after 9 hours as a drained husk unable even to write a shitpost on four channel DOT com

>>22931932
Somewhere in there is a ripe puerh that will raise your vibrations such that you can pass through a brick wall. and possibly some black beauties as well. You really need to work on your writers' pharmacopeia.

>>22931951
Sadly my LSD hookup went to prison

>>22931960
That's...one way to stay up and write.

>>22931951
>>22931960
Also I’m already on Ritalin, but actual amphetamines make me so anxious I try to kms

>>22931904
Just make sure the ending fits. Wouldn't want to force a square peg through a round hole

>>22931951
>ripe puerh

shhh... that's a secret

How long is too long for a horror short story collection? 100,000 words?

>>22932231
What’s the deal? Wiki just says it’s a type of Chinese tea

Decided to write again, starter level, been reading (for arcane reasons that I hope none of you will make out) the NYT best sellers, just skimming checking trends and patterns, I need to get that "decent" (spare me your opinions and warnings about nepotism, I know) in presentation for a special specific project, any advice besides the classic (write more) To be more specific, I do want to meet that as the minimum standard, to the point that a reader of such things would have no objection to writing quality

>>22932449
Just remember what's actually popular among people, as epitomized by reality TV: fighting, crying, fucking, and dying.

>>22931927
what's that good shit chief

>>22932407
It's just a fermented tea with shitloads of caffeine in it.

>>22931927

Nice stash. Is that jsut one shipment? Looks like you got a whole tong of something there. What is it?

Where the fuck am I supposed to post my short horror stories? I've tried Wattpad and I've gotten literally one view, and that's because I showed it to people I know. Every other website is like "Oh, allow our staff to review your work" or "You need to be on a waiting list to be allowed to join our prestigious fucking creepypasta website". Why is fucking Wattpad the only website where I can post shit easily? And even when I do, nobody fucking reads it.

>>22932600
Let the other sites review your work then.
I really only have experience with RR, but normally the story is reviewed in 24 hours or less.
But really, I'm not sure where you'd post your stories.

>>22932604
I guess you're right. The only other option I can really think of is r/nosleep, and even if I wasn't permabanned from Reddit, I wouldn't post it there.

>>22932567
Oh why not just drink coffee? Besides caffeine just fucks up my sleep and ends up making me less productive long term

>>22932644
because "le ebin nootropics"

>>22932644
Theanine regulating the caffeine from jitters to something between calm and drunkenness and a whole host of other weird shit from fermentation, and a fungus called golden flower if we're talking really stank heicha.

>>22932654
I've consumed upwards of 1000mg of caffeine and have never gotten jitters or sleeplessness from it. Am I just a mutant freak?

>>22925767
I don't know how many of you speak Spanish, but I wrote something for another thread and I'd like some critique.

https://pastebin.com/JjTFcHjs

It's a story about a waitress I saw that cried during her shift and how it reminded me of some other things. It's mostly sad, a bit angry and for a paragraph, lusty.

I think that part can be cut, it doesn't add anything to the story but I need to introduce the waitress the way I was introduced to her, I was checking her out, can any /lit/bro recommend another way?

>>22932659
I used to feel like absolute shit back when I was a diet coke addict, it really fucked with my head
>>22932654
Hm might give it a try

>>22932689
I can't read Spanish, but a male POV only caring about a woman for sex and then having greater empathy for her after he sees her emote is actually a pretty good way to introduce the character and how he views the world

Is head hopping really not good writing? I do not understand the confusion.

Is it better to assume third person omniscient than to head hop?

>>22932899
In fact, I am not even sure if I can tell the difference.

>>22932853
Yes, that’s what made it appealing, I thought, there’s a small story in the middle from the narrator’s POV where he goes on the same little journey as the waitress, where we see the scene from the crying employee instead of the spectator customer. I tried, I want more people to read it but I don’t have anyone to show it to.

>>22932689

You are writing it like pornography. There is no reason to be describing the girl in that way.

>>22932922
You’re right, I ought to change that.
That’s what I felt at the time and this is a diary entry, after all, but I understand it detracts from the main point of the story.
Thanks for your message, anon, what did you think about the rest?

Listen. I just want to test an idea. A copper mage in a world of gold, silver, and iron mages. What is your impression of just the idea that you pick up from that sentence?

>>22933069
>What is your impression of just the idea that you pick up from that sentence?
Some kind of world w unjust social ranks and a BrandoSando style magic systems. Probably some nobody kid turns out to actually be the strongest ever due to some glitch in the system. A total cliche story from Scribblehub or Royal Road w like 200 chapters and 500 views.

>>22933088
What would it take to subvert that in a satisfactory way?

Figure i'd ask if my Idea is crap or not

But pretty much in my fanasty world reilgion theres this person called "The messiah" and one of the things the messiah did was bring unity reilgion wise too the 3 kingdoms in the story.

The messiah was a hippy type preaching things about loving the earth and others, ect

However a thing they would do is sleep with a lot of people to show this love.

So my idea for the messiah is that they fucked all the kings/queens in the kingdom and the sex and their romantic moves were so good they all listened too them and thats how they brought unity.

thoughts anons?

>>22933130
In the year of Our Lord, twenty and twenty four, subversion no longer satisfies, meta commentary has no value, pop culture allusions do not excite.

It's a problem of access.
You get a reward
I ask for assistance
looking for work just to pass the time
can't the world see me
I guess it doesn't really work like that, does it
just need some medicine for my tuberculosis

>>22926361
Huey Lewis… of Huey Lewis and the News?

>>22932600
>where I can post shit easily
>I've gotten literally one view

You do realize one is because of the other?

hello writers. I have a question. I hope it's in the right thread.
Is there a site where I can hire story writers? The only ones I found are general freelance platforms like fiver and upworks. Thanks

8 chapters to finish my first novel. I already have ideas for the next one. I'm excited, bros. I think I can easily pop out one per year.

How wise is it to use "Mistress" for a female teacher position of a male teenager? I have no plan to make them sexually involved and he would never, but I dont mind the ambiguity, considering the confused emotional state the boy is in. I imagine it could lend to one or two plot points about emotional attachment and dangerous romantic pursuits.

>>22932600
Reddit has a lot of fiction-oriented subs. Start with https://reddit.com/r/nosleep/wiki/similarsubreddits

>>22933761
Words have meanings for a reason. So don't do that

>>22933761
Missus, that's the word you're looking for.

Question: Started writing short stories for practice and just to keep writing even when not working on novel. Where do yall publish or post your stuff? Do you have a website for online posting or do you submit to lit magazines?

>>22934187
RR is good if you want to upload shit that nobody will ever read because it's not a litRPG.

>>22933458
>Is there a site where I can hire story writers?
This thread, right here and right now buddy.
Seriously. Pay me something decent and I'll write for you.

>>22933458
Reedsy has ghost writers if that is what you are asking for.

>>22934219
has the same energy as "Literotica is good if you want to upload shit that nobody will ever read because it's not erotica"
dumb comment

Decided to write again, starter level, been reading (for arcane reasons that I hope none of you will make out) the NYT best sellers, just skimming checking trends and patterns, I need to get that "decent" (spare me your opinions and warnings about nepotism, I know) in presentation for a special specific project, any advice besides the classic (write more) To be more specific, I do want to meet that as the minimum standard, to the point that a reader of such things would have no objection to writing quality, the content is another thing but it needs to meet my criteria. I've read some and they're pretty dry but still, need to check.

>>22934224
Sorry, I meant good or at least average writers

>>22934323
bad argument, Literotica is clearly branded as an erotica only website. Web novels don't have to necessarily include litRPG elements for them to be web novels. Unless you meant something else, in which case, sad.

>>22934376
RoyalRoad was literally started as a litrpg fanfiction site for Legendary Moonlight Sculptor. It's grown since then into a more generalized web novel site but it's still a LitRPG community at its core. Just like WattPad is for trashy romance novels. Expecting every and any genre to succeed there is ridiculous. It's a community that's grown from a few specific categories of web fiction and hearing people dropping their random manuscripts into the site and moaning when they don't do well is honestly just retarded behavior. Guess what other sites don't want your shitty manuscript? None of them. Standard genre fiction should go through standard publishing channels. Don't try to shoehorn it into websites that don't want it, lmao.
Or do, just stop whining that it doesn't work. Obviously the home-grown litrpg community goes to their litrpg community website for litrpg. you people are such retards

>>22934109
Isn't "Missus" for (housewives)?
More context: it's a fantasy story about learning magic, so the "master" dynamic is very much at play here.

>>22932899
3p subjective omniscient features a single narrator that can tell us multiple characters' insights and perspectives, but still maintains a distinct narrative voice when doing so. head hopping occurs when you describe multiple characters' insights/perspectives from each specific character's POV, in their voice.

head hopping isn't always unreadably bad, but it prevents a good story from ever becoming a great one. if your reader can hop from character to character at will within any given scene, there's no sense of suspense or room for inference. it's a great way to treat your reader like they're stupid.

At what point in a murder mystery story should the reader be able to figure out who the culprit is?

>>22934774
If it's good the reader should be left wondering between multiple culprits even after having finished the book

>>22934813
So you're saying the crime should be left unsolved?

how do i stop myself from just going with the first idea that pops into my head

>>22934774
Is this the 1920's and you're doing a fairplay whodunnit? Around the middle would be the standard.

But who the fuck abides by Knox or Van Dine these days?

>>22934902
>But who the fuck abides by Knox or Van Dine these days?
the guy who wrote the piece of trash that is Umineko

>>22934895
Brainstorm an outline and try to take your idea in different directions.

>>22934880
Yes but take them 99% of the way there. It's like edging.

>>22934774
I'd say that it's a tightrope to walk. Give them the clues but not how they fit together. If a few people solve it early as they read it there should still be a satisfying twist for them here and there. If they figure it out early then they should do a little bit of second guessing here and there.

>>22934224
>>22934235
Thank you! I'll will check out Reedsy and post in /wg/ if I prepared everything. Maybe somebody is keen to work on this project

>>22934907
R07 broke the fuck out of Van Dine and Knox, despite mentioning them. His story's notable because of the meta layers and music

>>22929374
kind of but the original idea was that eternal youth is a bad idea because you will end up dying in a horrible accident

>>22933730
Why are there so many writebros from melbs here

>finish a first draft
>have no idea what to do next

Halp!

>>22935678
That’s funny cos a gay dude who wants to be eternally young getting killed by a bear seems like such blatant symbolism lol. I liked the story though and the fable-esque way it was written. It stuck with me, maybe just because I’m an aging 27 old gay tho lmao

>>22934774
It's not required at all. It didn't hurt the success of Agatha Christie and she pulled endings out of her ass in the final scene.

>>22935805
True, Picnic at Hanging Rock is a great mystery which has no solution

>>22934414
If the word Master is so important then use that, technically a Master can be a woman too. Or you could be bold and use ‘Masteress’, some fantasy invents titles so you could invent that one in particular. Maybe have your character call his or her instructor ‘Lady Thorn’ or some other title like ‘Dutchess’ since it conveys the hierarchy but not the sexual connotation.
I know this is 4chan but the coomer facet detracts from the rest of your character.

>>22934187
Depends on your genre I suppose. I've seen some have success with substack but never really tried it myself, though if you just want a place to put them then it's there. I do literary fiction and have submitted to a couple magazines just earlier this week (so no word back for a few months). Keep in mind for bigger mags there's usually a fee ($3 or so) to submit.

If you're looking for mags pw.org is a pretty good resource, just make sure to look a bit more into the mags in question. Pushcart prize winners are also an option. If you can find a collection at a library or even online they note what reviews each story comes from, and that can be a good place to gather potential options. I have a little list myself of some bigger name ones if you want me to post.

>>22935903
Any good mags for horror/fantasy/sci-fi to submit? I’m mainly looking to build a name for myself and get a few credits so my novel submissions look better

On the topic of formatting, if I'm self publishing does the style manual I follow matter as long as it's a common english variety? I'm finding older and british uses of quotations and other conventions to be less busy and distracting without being overly minimal.

>>22935934
Can't help personally there, but quick glance says Clarkesworld and Uncanny are pretty big at least.
https://thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com is supposed to be a good index there (I can't get it to load).
Another thing I guess would be to look at authors you enjoy as well and see who they've published with. Sorry, this isn't much my area of expertise.

I've got six chapters fairly well edited and 'completed.' My highest word count chapter is 3,750 and my lowest is 2,500 exactly. My average is a around 3k.

Would you say those are a bit short for fantasy? Or just about right?

>>22936073
>Clarkesworld
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/02/sci-fi-becomes-real-as-renowned-magazine-closes-submissions-due-to-ai-writers/

>>22936151
Depends on the chapters and what you have to say in them. For some chapters 3k might not be enough to tell what you want to tell, but for other chapters 3k could be a rambling, obliviating mess. It's highly contextual

>>22935694
Find out what's wrong with it. One step at a time!

Reading stuff on Terror House is hilarious cos every single dude on there sounds like they frequent /lit/

>>22936195
They’re back after finding a way to filter droidslop

Honest question /wg/, whose speech patterns do you think I'm emulating here?

>>22936513
I hear Jigsaw's voice

>>22936513
That sure was something.

>>22932689
>>22932922
>>22932853
https://pastebin.com/k50cQz84
I took a stab at English writing by translating my own diary entry, now 100% less coomery.
Can I get some critique? Mostly on how the story moves from place to place.

>>22936513
Agent Smith like you're copying his speech to Anderson. The line about freckles is good, I like it, everything after "What" sucks.

>>22936513
Hunter Gathers from the Venture Bros.

>>22934902
>But who the fuck abides by Knox or Van Dine these days?
I always follow the rules when I write mysteries. They're good rules and prevent your story from turning into dumb shit.

>find successful short story
>download pdf
>convert to word document
>ctrl+f and replace each character with another name
>ctrl+f and replace every location with a new one
>ctrl+f and replace verbs like ‘said’ to ‘exclaimed’
>jumble up the chapter order a bit
>submit to publisher
>you are now a published author

What's the "easist" way to making a fantasy language? I don't need something that's autistically in-depth but at the same time, I feel that just coming up with shit as I write will eventually lead me to the point where I end up with tacking myself because I forgot some rule I instated 5 chapters ago.
Better said, how many grammar rules should I have in place before I can claim I invented a self sustaining language? Or is this already too much thought put into this.

I see supernovas outside the window. Stars dying and being reborn over and over as I drift lightyears at a time. My entire being mesmerised by God’s paintbrush over the endless black canvas.

The beauty in my gaze is something I am unable to process. Every single multicoloured swirl reminds me that I am the only one lucky enough to witness such a sight. I would give everything to be back home.

The ship’s temperature is perfectly controlled yet nothing feels as warm as being wrapped in your arms. I could wrap myself in the starch-white blankets those experts crafted perfectly for my comfort yet it never feels as soft as my stained childhood blanket, torn apart by multiple washes in that rackety old washing machine. There’s too much liminal space. It’s all too clean.

I leave my socks and dirty clothing around longer than recommended, I just want it lived in. But the ship doesn’t have the history that home has. It has perfectly calibrated gravity, heating, oxygen, and atmospheric control. But I cannot go home.

I play those videos every day. I scramble through my crate of memories for a new item that my fingers can run over, hoping to discover something new in the box full of items I’ve memorised perfectly. There’s a person I don’t recognise in the photos, that person is meant to be me. I cannot go home.

Are you the same? You will always be the same to me. I know I am not. I have seen too much. My absence has not changed you, it has changed me. I am adrift across this infinite sea. My direction follows the trajectory everyone told me I’d be on yet I am so lost. I want to go home.

>>22937482
Should only be thinking about this if it's directly relevant to plot, theme, or character (e.g Chiang's Arrival, A Clockwork Orange, Watership Down).

>>22937253
>"I am sorry Mr. Anon, but our experts found your work to be AI generated, therefore we cannot claim copyright and cannot publish your story."

>>22937503
>if it's directly relevant to plot, theme, or character
It is actually, as the protagonist has to interact with characters and locations in a faraway land without any translators. I plan on splitting the POV between the protagonist and the deuteragonist in different chapters to show the cultural differences between them but this also raises the problem of having to present english (the protagonist's language) as sounding foreign while writing in english, if that makes sense.

>>22937575
I would look into non-fic about anthropologists making contact with primitive tribes, that's probably the closest representation of what you're going for. Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes is a good one.

>>22925767
What does /lit/ think about obvious fantasy fulfilment self-insert writing that doesn't really care about being groundbreaking but wants to satisfy the writer and the readers with some nice make believe and "wouldn't that be nice?'' ?

>>22937482
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFWc0sBO62c&list=PLduA6tsl3gyiEXi1-593FiAPnjhrBcPES&index=34

>>22937689
/lit/ thinks you're an idiot for having anything to do with genre fiction. /wg/ thinks you should stop wasting time asking dumb questions and just write the thing.

>>22925767
what is the secret to making a good protagonist my dudes. It's always the part I struggle the most with in the initial planning stage and half of the time I end up with a generic dude with little to no personality beyond being nice and having some trauma that slopply ties in with the main themes and plot of the story.

>>22937482
language is incredibly complicated and unless you are a literal genius/have been studying languages for years you will not be able to do what you think. you'll end up like bakker or another fantasy slopper writing shit with random vowels and consonants mashed together.

>>22938166
One idea is to convey their background via their use of metaphor and simile. A texas ranger would use a different set of metaphors than a neurotic jewish lawyer from New York.

>>22934774
If you are trying to tell your typical whodunnit story I'd say the sweetspot is around the 60%-80% point. anything bellow 60 risks the readers dropping early and anything above 80 will feel too much like a last minute asspull.

Any advice on how one should turn an interesting setting into an interesting work of literature? I love to think of settings but never people and characters.

>>22938543
Think about what what themes are implicit to your setting and create characters that revolve around them.

>>22938543
I agree with the other Anon.
My setting ended up with free will being an important factor that I didn't intend on but quickly reared its head, and I went with that as the main theme of my story.

>>22938166
A very common practice is for the protagonist to represent some sort of wish fulfillment on the part of the reader.

>>22936593

All of a sudden she's crying and you have no interaction with her at all, so where's the story?

You saw somebody cry, you had the hots for her, that's not enough for a story.

You are also being too emotive ("She was crying!"). Make it low key and give it an arc. The girl shouldn't start crying right away out of the blue. There has to be a reason for it. And you have to interact with her somehow. Whether and how you succeed or fail in that interaction is where the real story is. As it is now, there is nothing there.

>>22938543
You know the whole "setting as character" thing? Have you ever considered what a character even is? Try these three pillars of character: Wants, Views, and Attitude. Apply these to your setting. What does the world around your characters seem to expect of them? How do you depict that through conflict between the setting and the characters? What is the spirit of the setting? What brings about the expectations that it imposes? What is the tone of your setting as a result of this? Roll these three things together as a compare and contrast against your characters.

>>22938166
Does your character want anything? What is something relatable about what they want?

What things does your character believe? What made them believe that?

How does your character act around others? How do they handle conflict? What behavior of theirs drives them to act?

What needs to change about your character? Alternatively, what needs to change around your character that they can inspire?

>>22938650
i probably shouldnt have made my protagonist a conniving exiled homosexual magistrate then

>>22937482
Surely there is no non autistic way. If ever did it, it would be by using the comparative method to reverse engineer a primordial version of an existing language and then combining it with a second similarly deconstructed language in the most organic way possible. Embrace the autism, anon.

>>22937575
The representation of a language the character doesn't understand is easier if you keep a tighter limitation on the narrative perspective. You can't write down something somebody says to you in Greek if you can't yourself speak Greek. You wouldn't be able to, say, quote what you heard to a Greek speaker later and learn what it meant that way. It's just gobbledegook unless you know the language, so as the author you don't have to make anything up.

For a language that someone has a limited understanding of, you could take the artistic liberty of having them hear it and translate it back into their own language (ie, English) internally. You don't really do that irl, but it's an acceptable abstraction in a book.

>>22937689
According to the notion that the true essence of a literary work is emergent and not purposefully planned out by the author, you should still be able to write something meaningful and poignant without actually trying to. Your intentions in writing it have their basis in something profound.

>>22938736
I get you.
Thanks for the commentary, I’ll keep it in mind for my next story.

I realize what my problem is with writing. I find it hard to do anything but describe. Every time I try to write something I just end up with "he or she did this" or "he or she felt this way" over and over. It's hard for me to just not describe what happens in a short story. I need to do much more than say the plot

>>22939372
>or "he or she felt this way" over and over.
Well there's an easy fix with expressing emotions. Just think to people's body language when they feel a certain way. People who are feeling guilty avoid eye contact and look down on the ground, for example

>>22938650
>dude follow this formula and you'll make something that sells
lol
please stop posting this scam book

>>22939651
Scam? It contains a lot of solid advice. And, from what I can tell, the "writers" in this thread follow hardly any of it, and their work remains unread and obscure, because they refuse to learn, acknowledge, or practice basic story structure. You can't just spew any old words and call it a story.

>>22929087
Still I persist. I NEED to pick up the pace a little, though. I did 1,200 today, but my average is apparently exactly 778. I'll see if I write more tonight. The plan was and is to have this manuscript done by late March, certainly before Easter.

>>22930397
Proceed as normal, and pretend that this didn't happen. You'll likely produce your best work when calm and collected, anyway.

>>22931705
Understand the de jure and de facto nuances of the political system you're using throughout, so that you can create conflicts that make sense, perhaps?

>>22931780
First attempt at a novel, but I did two years of on-and off worldbuilding beforehand, although most of that would help for stories *after* this novel takes place. The magic system carries across, though.

In effect this novel is worldbuilding for the rest of the planned stories I have in the setting, but it is standalone. (It takes place 2,000+ years before anything else I have story concepts for)

For the short stories I've done in the past, I did the beginning, then the end, and then the rest. In line with this, I have the ending of my WIP plotted out pretty well.

thoughts on Writing Battle? any other similar contests?

First draft done just now and released
http://lgbtp.life/

>>22937501
feel like there is too much mixing between your descriptions of your current state, the universe and ship etc., and the feelings you have. some of it doesn't fit, for example i would chop off
>I would give everything to be back home.
make it a paragraph break

>The beauty in my gaze is something I am unable to process. Every single multicoloured swirl reminds me that I am the only one lucky enough to witness such a sight.

>I would give everything to be back home.

it seems like you're trying to plant this idea of going home in every other line to make it rhythmic, like the mantra of the text that the narrator keeps calling back to, but i dont think it balances well and just takes away from the descriptive text

there's some other stuff but i'll just rewrite/rearrange how i would do this

>>22939766
The only two types who claim to know what sells are fools and liars.

>>22940292
I see supernovas outside the window. Stars dying and being reborn over and over as I drift lightyears at a time–the single, multicoloured swirl reminding me I’m the only one lucky enough to witness such a sight. God’s paintbrush over the endless black canvas is so mesmerizing, so full of beauty, that my entire being is unable to process it. My gaze is stuck on it.

And yet, I would give everything to be back home.

To be off this ship.

This ship, never as warm as being wrapped in your arms, despite its perfect temperature controls.

This ship, with its starch-white blankets, perfectly crafted for my comfort, never as soft as that stained childhood blanket, torn apart by multiple washes in that rackety old washing machine back home.

This ship asks that you accept its perfectly calibrated gravity, heating, oxygen, and atmospheric control as a substitute for home–with all its history. Instead, I leave my socks and dirty clothing around longer than recommended, just make it feel lived in.

I play those videos every day. I scramble through my crate of memories for a new item that my fingers can run over, hoping to discover something new in the box full of items I’ve memorised perfectly. There’s a person I don’t recognise in the photos, that person is meant to be me. I cannot go home.

Are you the same? You will always be the same to me. I know I am not. I have seen too much. My absence has not changed you, it has changed me. I am adrift across this infinite sea. My direction follows the trajectory everyone told me I’d be on yet I am so lost. I want to go home.

>>22940302
*This ship, with its perfect temperature controls, never as warm as your arms

>>22940262

I can’t believe I’m gonna work on fanfic

>>22940554
Why don't you make everything your own? Take the original property as a starting point.

Is being an author one of the few jobs where you can drink on the job? I should give it a try. Is incelpunk a burgeoning genre?

>>22940717
You can drink on any job if you are careful enough.
But there is almost an expectation that a writer drinks. I mean, I do it, and I drink more while writing, and I write more when I drink.
Just remember, write tipsy, not drunk, and always edit sober.

>>22940717
>Is being an author one of the few jobs where you can drink on the job?
Absolutely.

Write drunk, edit sober
-Charles Bukowski (paraphrased)

>>22939390
Bad advice. Over and over we see anons submit work with the characters flailing around like they're having seizures, every tic and twitch described in detail. It's worse than replacing 'said' with 'ejaculated' or 'guffawed'.

>>22940709
Because it’s dumb.
When I write “Fanfic” it’s less “What can I do with this story” and more “What can I do with this setting?”

>>22925767
>pick up random lit mags
>read all new short stories
>enraged at the terrible literary quality and abysmal level of craft
>immediately start writing new stories with renewed zest and desire to innovate
happens every few months. truly the greatest kick in the ass is to see subpar shit get published. Dae?

>>22940717
If you need to drink then you need to work on yourself.

>>22940951
What's dumb about your story?

>>22941062
This doesn't mean anything concrete, it's a feel-good platitude to jerk yourself off

>>22941064
Orthodox jews show up half way and start jacking off in front of the Gaza children just before they bomb them

>>22941114
What's your story a fanfic of?

>>22940299
You have obviously never read the book. It contains general, timeless principles of fiction. Feel free to cope more.

>>22941013
Same thing happens to me. The final impetus to write my most recent novel was watching yet another horrible episode of a TV show that was supposed to be "classic". If that crap can get produced, why can't mine?

writing fanfic is pathetic

how do I into critical theory? should I even?

>>22941283
>It contains general, timeless principles of fiction.
The book is fine, but it has techniques for writing pulp fiction. Saying the principals are general and timeless is absurd. It's not going to help you write a fairy tale or a Noh drama.

>>22940872
"Hello," he ejaculated.

>>22941427
So the book went from being a "scam" to being "fine"? And you think fairy tales and noh dramas don't need narrative drive in order to engage their audience? You're deflecting big-time here. I also couldn't help but notice that you don't appear to have any useful advice, just seething about the advice offered by others.

>>22941478
>So the book went from being a "scam" to being "fine"
You're talking to multiple anons.
>And you think fairy tales and noh dramas don't need narrative drive in order to engage their audience?
They do it different ways. AftSA has specific advice for pulp fiction: writing in action reaction units, goal-conflict-disaster, scene and sequel. All fine for that medium/genre. But if your advice is general to the point of 'make it engaging' then it's not even advice anymore.
>>22941478
>I also couldn't help but notice that you don't appear to have any useful advice, just seething about the advice offered by others.
Not that guy. My problem is turning decent situational advice into a universal dogma. It's a fine book, but not the ten commandments.

>>22941459
"Nice to meet you," he responded while wiping the sweat off his brow with his left hand, tugging on his ear with his right, and grimacing his mouth into a pained expression like that of a baby holding in gas.

>>22941290
>If that crap can get produced, why can't mine?
We are brothers, you and i

"Hello," she lied.

>>22941013
There was a /tv/ thread recently about writing and anons were posting excerpts of book written by a youtuber and I was actually amazed that it made it to print. The average litRPG excerpt posted here is similar or better in quality. I've written smut fanfiction that was much better. I'm not sure exactly how to process it because I don't really feel personally bitter about the fact that my writing will never be published, but it does bum me out that so many potential readers are never going to pick up a book because everything they have access to is terrible.

>>22941669
>>22941669
>>22941669

>>22941525
>>22941658
lmao

>>22929089
Very well written, kept me going until the end to see how would it end.

wow, look at this pile of crap: https://files.catbox.moe/d9sukc.zip