/lit/ - Literature

Going through my third draft now. Going to try to find some betas after this then start agent hunting, I suppose.

>>23513007

I was banging my head against a wall, trying to find how to make a chapter work. I knew where I wanted to end it but no idea how to get there. Spent like two weeks turning the problem around every way I could think of. Eventually just went "fuck it" and completely changed the outline from the ground up. Now ideas are flowing again, and I think they look good.

How long does it takes you to decide that, essentially, what you have in mind, and maybe even have already written, just doesn't work?

I'm glad some of you anons are hitting 2,000+ words a day, I'm just happy to be writing again and actually producing more than just 5 or 10 words in a day. I'm averaging anywhere between 500 and 1,000 words in one day, and that's good enough for me at the moment. I'm slowly getting back in the swing of things.

/wg/ I made the chosen one mistake and now its too deeply woven into my novel to remove. Would making it so every single pov character is ALSO the chosen one emphasize that the MC isnt really all that special?

>>23513102
Not long, usually halfway into what isn't working. If it isn't fully cooked or doesn't make sense, it's hard to write. Flashy ideas are the most prone to fall flat and end up boring; letting it cook and connect with strange gunk before it's ready to work from seems to yield something more subconsciously intricate.

Sometimes I have to abandon structure and go wandering in the woods to get to the next point.

>this general has turned into blog posting.
Why don't you fucks post your shit instead?

>>23513201
Just make "chosen one" be a randomly distributed attribute, or one bestowed out of convenience rather than bloodright.

>>23513230
birthright is unfortunately the problem, not the title of "chosen one" itself

>>23513201
Here’s a tip: don’t write fantasy shit. Grow a brain and then try writing something intelligent.

>>23513201
Just do it like the Matrix did, where the chosen one concept is just a lie all along.

>>23513205
Mine is far enough along it is at risk of getting stolen. I've come too far to risk it now.

>>23513302
just be like that one anon and post the pdf. I don't think a single person stole it yet

>>23513205
It's too hot to write :(

>>23513007
there's literally nothing wrong with comma splices in writing. grammar is a meme

>>23513205

https://pastebin.com/CNXQGikg

Here is my old beginning.

It's definitely easier to self publish as a female. Guys will see a cute girl as the author and buy the book, not even to read it, but just to throw money at her. Just like on Twitch.

>>23513957
I don't care about gender when it comes to books, only reputation and what how their previous books were. Male, female, if everyone says your books suck, I probably won't like it.

Although it also matters where the good reputation came from. Someone who enjoys Twilight tier stories giving it five stars might as well be 1 star for me.

>>23513957
Troonbrain nonsense. /lit/ hates women authors.

>>23513957
True
>>23514118
Work on your reading comprehension

>>23513957
> but just to throw money at her. Just like on Twitch.
If that were true then explain why less than 10% of the top Twitch streams are women.

Finally starting to shop my urban fantasy around to publishing houses. How screwed am I?

https://files.catbox.moe/eib4ma.pdf

>>23513636
I likey, curious to see where this would go

Anon told me if I sell to a publisher I can negotiate to get back my rights to print it myself after 5 or whatever years. But I'm looking into it and it seems that is absolutely not the case. The company owns publishing rights for my life + 70 years. Sanderson expressly said all of the big 5 publishers will not budge on this. That's really a deal breaker for me.

>>23513129
I started at 100-200 words a day. Once the habit is there you stop thinking about word count and only think about continuing the story, then it becomes easier to hit 2k+ words a day

Anybody bought an ad on /lit/?

>>23514345
My problem is I can't think of what to write for the next scene. I don't really plan things out. Like right now I got a rough idea of how I want the middle of my next story to be, but no idea on how to start or end it.

>>23514355
You don't need to plan it in detail but you should have an idea of how the story will end. It will give you something to focus on as your writing - a "destination" that you're writing towards, otherwise you'll be stuck in Act 2 hell like you are now. Knowing what happens in the middle and end will let you know what to introduce in the beginning.

>>23513636
very nice

While my book is with an editor:

You get 1 (one) character each. A name, a short description and a picture. give them to me, and I'll bang up a scuffed 6000-word story about them in the next couple of hours. I need to keep fresh. It's going on wattpad so please don't make them a pedo or something.

I'm entitling it "A carnival caper"

How am i supposed to keep track of a long novel?
it's epic style with each chapter split into places and each place holds one central story and theme.
I have ridiculously short notes for each place but i don't know where to start. Do i just elaborate on every place from start to finish? or do i make the scenes that are most vivid in my head first?
I also need to introduce a lot of schizo religious ideas but i honestly can never tell if i am doing that right, it just makes sense to me.
Maybe i'm being overly judgemental of myself but i want to get it right

>>23514580
i also have this schizo tendency where i don't actually care about the characters as people and see them as things to progress the MC's development and plot and that might be shooting myself in the foot, they are all loosely based of "archetypes" i picked up from having friends and going outside and meeting all kinds of weirdos but idk.

>>23514355
>>23514580
Guys, if you don't plan in detail but you're struggling to finish your story or even write, then you might need to try planning. You need to try different processes until you land on the one that works for you. The reason some writers can be gardeners is because they get a high output from that process. If you don't, it may not be the process for you.

>>23514589
"uhm just work harder" brother heard that one before many times it's not actually helpful in this context.

>>23514597
>you should try planning instead of pantsing your stories if you're struggling to get words out
>"uhm just work harder"
The problem might be your ability to read, not your ability to write. I've given you good advice. If the process you're currently using isn't giving you words then change the process. Is this your first book? Then you should welcome the opportunity to experiment with the process, not get mad at me for trying to help you.
How do you keep track of a long novel? A strong plot outline, and lots of side writing and note taking. Don't expect to keep everything in your head and then have complete clarity when you come to write. You need to get some of it out of your head and into notes that you can refer back to - THAT's how you keep track of it.

>>23514597
...like just screenshot your notes or something i could genuinely gleam a lot from that without any explanation provided

>>23514600
That's better, thank you.
Yes this is my first attempt at anything longer than a few pages. My first attempt at writing anything with no visual elements. Usually i just make images of scenes from whatever story i have in the head.

>>23514604
When I was in your position I did this
>or do i make the scenes that are most vivid in my head first?
and I was able to write those scenes very easily, but when it came to stitching them together into the wider story I had a lot of trouble. Once I switched to planning, I was able to look forward and have a better idea of what the connective tissue between those key scenes were.
There's definitely something to be said for spending too much time planning, but again, if you're struggling to do the writing itself then its time well spent, as you'll be saving yourself time in the future during the writing stage.

I have notes for all my major characters and parts of my world that a reader won't be able to infer from experience. E.g. if you have magic in your story, it's probably good to have some notes on how it works. You don't need to write notes on how 'horses' work, because audiences know that.
These notes normally are not longer than 500-600 words each. It took a little bit of time to get it all down but it means I have a LOT less to keep in my head when writing.

>>23514604
and a planning tip: if you know roughly the end of each scene/act, the major character changes, and the ending of your story, then you are halfway there.

>>23514613
The only "magic" i have is talking birds and scifi hallucionogens. I don't really feel the need to explain those much other than keeping to the notes i wrote from some of my very religious vision quests and what i remember, what i clearly remember is how "illogically logical" it all was.
No, the complex things i feel the need to elaborate on are archaic political systems and social orders that would probably make sense to some village hick where i live, but i doubt they would read, like, at all, and i don't know how to break this to urbanite types. Presently that's kinda besides the point if i have no clue how to write the actually important stuff.

So, if i understood you right, i should make a more detailed outline of the story, elements and characters BEFORE i write the vivid stuff? I'm used to planning way too much for artsy stuff anyways, never like it when i start right away and bungle my was to the finish line, sometimes it works, but other times the result is usually just good for firewood. I brood on ideas for years before i get to them. I am assuming writing is similar to normal art in this way.

>>23514615
i do attatch major character moments and personal developments to each place so i guess i'm doing it right?
I maybe spend too much time in the first place but i need to somehow introduce the more "normal" side of the world and a slice of the MC's life before the major things start happening and the world is forever changed. Feels like it's twice-to-thrice as long as the other stuff i've written or rough-cut, only trying to really introduce 3 concepts at first and it still feels like too much

>>23513129
maybe I'm autistic but I realized that I type way more in apps with large text and spacing than I do in Microsoft Word. I can easily get up to 2000+ a day if so. I'm disappointed that I only managed to do 500 yesterday

>>23514623
>>23514626
The main point you should take away from what I am saying is to experiment with planning, pantsing, detailed or sparse outlines to find the process that works for you. You should be thinking about what you can do to "prepare" for the writing stage, what will make it easiest for YOU?
>So, if i understood you right, i should make a more detailed outline of the story, elements and characters BEFORE i write the vivid stuff?
Not necessarily, I was just giving my own experience and that following this process can sometimes leave you with a bunch of good but disparate scenes that are hard to put together. The various notes I mentioned were there to help inform my outline, which then informed my writing.
>I brood on ideas for years before i get to them.
I did this too, but there was too much in my head that I needed to get out before I could write it properly.
>I'm used to planning way too much for artsy stuff anyways, never like it when i start right away and bungle my was to the finish lin
You might be a pantser, and that's fine, I'm only talking about planning because this is your first try at a long book, and I've come across the same pitfalls as you before. I just know too many writers that insist they are pantsers because it's a more romantic view on writing than the effort and time planning takes (not saying this is you, but just an observation I have made)
>i do attatch major character moments and personal developments to each place so i guess i'm doing it right?
Yes, this is always useful in planning.
>I maybe spend too much time in the first place but i need to somehow introduce the more "normal" side of the world and a slice of the MC's life before the major things start happening and the world is forever changed. Feels like it's twice-to-thrice as long as the other stuff i've written or rough-cut, only trying to really introduce 3 concepts at first and it still feels like too much
Again, same experience, due to lack of planning. If you have a clearer view of where your story is heading, and what you need to setup in the beginning of your story BEFORE you write, you can be more concise. But then again, nothing wrong with writing too much, that's what editing is for. As I said, it's about finding the process that works for you and being honest with yourself when the current process isn't cutting it.

I stopped wriitng for 6 months after writing myself into a corner, and have gradually rewritten all my characters in my story and made some major plot changes. But now everything is feeling incoherent because I've changed so much and don't know whether I need to scrap large amounts of my current material/planning. I don't even want to write the same story I was working on before

I was roughly using Truby's anatomy of story to do planning before but the whole "write from the end to the beginning" is inorganic shit. Should I just read Aristotle?

>>23514636
I don't really understand what you mean by "pantsing"?
>I did this too, but there was too much in my head that I needed to get out before I could write it properly.
I guess it is different when you can actually see the result. A lot of the time with anythig i end up with a lot of fat to be trimmed off, sometimes spent months on all the extra trinkets and kitch, but it is very hit-or-miss but i still feel the need to do it.

I have a lot of artistic projects i just dropped because i couldn't figure out how to make it work, sometimes it's the smallest (but load bearing) thing that ruins the whole idea but i feel like i've learned a lot about what works and how to make it work in general, how it feels when something isn't right.

>>23514643
not him but google pantsing vs planning

>>23514641
Unfortunately there is a chance you were too self-critical and have chopped up your story beyond recognition. I would take a step back and try to figure out what the initial spark of inspiration for this story was, or what your 'why' for writing it is, and maybe rekindle your passion for the story. If that fails, consider shelving it for a month or two then coming back to it.
>Should I just read Aristotle?
Everybody who wants to take this seriously should read Poetics at least once. You can finish it in a couple hours.
>>23514643
pantsing/gardener = somebody who immediately jumps into writing without planning and 'gardens' their story. You just write and let it grow during the process of writing.
planner/architect = what it says on the tin: somebody who plans and architects their story in detail before jumping into the writing.
you don't HAVE to be one or the other, in fact most writers probably land somewhere in the middle of these two types.
>I have a lot of artistic projects i just dropped because i couldn't figure out how to make it work, sometimes it's the smallest (but load bearing) thing that ruins the whole idea but i feel like i've learned a lot about what works and how to make it work in general, how it feels when something isn't right.
Relatable. I definitely believe trying some planning will be good for you. It helped me.

>>23514650
Oh well, i don't really know where i'd be on that chart.
When i am making, say, a costume, i draw very very rough sketches of what i want to make, i look at a lot of references and i mostly just try different ways of folding fabrics or weird materials. Don't really write much notes but i don't see what i could write in that context. I'm very good at physically visualising things, like i can see how something will turn out if i keep doing something and (usually) i do see the eventual point of failiure and i do encounter it where i imagine it would have been. But this isn't paper mache, sewing, design or carving so i don't know how many of these ideas apply.

>>23514652
tho when i try writing many times i got a lot done and then i ran into this impass, sort of like in real life, where so much time passed and things happened that i start doubting the characters even care about the mcguffin or whatever anymore, like, i think they moved on, and that it isn't that cool or special in context anymore.

>>23514655
planning, bro. All the issues you are talking about are textbook problems for when beginner writers don't plan. Trust me. I have been there.

>>23514658
Yeah i understand that, just sharing a personal anecdote

>>23514659
Fair. Good luck.

>>23513201
So what's wrong with the chosen one?
>UMMMMMM THIS SPECIAL PERSON IS REALLY SPECIAL
Yeah, and?

Nobody "normal" moves the world.

>>23514665
honestly a lot of the story (world building side, at least) is me looking at the conquest of mexico and saying, like Charlemagne said,
>if my mountain Vlachs were here, we would have beaten those spaniards and then raped Madrid!
Though i do concede a lot of the times and they still lose, but i do think the natives really bungled themselves.

>>23514670
what i mean is i am drawing a lot of real life anecdotes and it doesn't fail me.

>>23514655
Adapt and overcome.

>>23514667
The 'Chosen One Mistake' is not that one person is really special. It is when the Chosen One is written, usually unintentionally, as someone of no virtue, no merit, and, often, so many vices that his wickedness would strangle your soul if you were to see it.

>>23514589
Planning is for losers who want to write crap without any soul. pantsers keep things interesting throughout.

>>23514670
Another piece of advice: don't be like this guy >>23514702 there are no hard and fast rules (those are normally spouted by amateurs or writing teachers to take your money) there is only finding the process that brings out the highest quality writing for you.

>>23514700
And what's wrong with that? You just described an average king.

>>23514716
False.
By nature, kings must have merit: in earlier eras, on the field of battle, in later eras, in the field of management where nobles and priesthood could depose them.

>>23514733
>By nature, kings must have merit
Hahahaha fucking retard.

90% of kings were worthless tantruming retards, or puppets.

>>23514667
It turns to shit when it's revealed you're actually special only thanks to your parents/god/stars/cool sword, and your person was irrelevant all along

>>23514713
i do see his point

>>23514758
if you're interpreting it as an actual dichotomy, sure, but it's not that.

>>23514761
Didn't say i agree necessarily.

Okay but what if the vagina went into the penis?

>>23514587
I always saw characters as an element of the story, as tools serving the central purpose of the story.

Archetypes can be good. I don’t understand the worship of the gray and muddled character.

>>23514484
>>23514326

Thanks. I’m still filling in the details of my outline, but I have all the major plot points down.

I’m new to /lit/, so I’m not sure how to go about sharing stuff (how much / how often).

>>23514815
>I always saw characters as an element of the story, as tools serving the central purpose of the story.
I used to think this way, but then I was enlightened and realized that in the center of every story must be human, and the story is only the consequence, the by-product of people seeking their humanity. Now I can't not see the vast rift of quality between the stories that follow this and those that don't.

>>23514792
It would be extremely painful.

>>23514749
I have a story actually hinges on that premise. I'm not going to tell you how I made that cool because you'll steal it, though.

Recently self - published a free ebook but only 98 people downloaded it. Damn, it's hard. I feel like a huge failure.

>>23515007
>expects 520385208 readers
I expected 0 and got a lot more.

>>23515027
Yeah but it has like 3.9 million words or like 12-15k pages depending on the formating. I've been working on it since 2015/16 D: and I just feel bad because people are not interested in it.

>>23514349
No. Every sane person runs ad-blocking software.

>>23515101
You underestimate the sheer number of casuals that come here.

>>23515035
>like 3.9 million words

I'm astonished 98 people thought this abyss could be worth staring into

“A summer afternoon on the cusp of a much needed slumber,” observed Mr Hardy at the windowsill as he fiddled with the radio perched upon it.
The words signalled the end of unbridled freedom that the summer break brought wherein his step daughter would be sent away from the joys of lounging under the oak tree standing tall next to their yellow home, swinging from dawn to dusk as she watched the little bird take care of its young whilst peering anxiously down at her from its perch, wondering if she posed a threat or was simply just a nuisance who screamed loudly when a bee approached or stamped heavily in the ground playing games where the sun and the shade became one, and have to resume her studies only to be told reprimanded for the lack of education she had received over the summer and that she had hardly an excuse when she didn’t travel to any foreign countries or exotic places like any of the other girls.
She picked up another daisy at the edge of the shade and stared at the sky. The sun baked all it could see and laughed at the world sweating under parasols; the world cursed in response for the heat was too hot or that having to slap away curious insects that crept or flew to the unfortunate person engulfed in a lingering perfume or indulging in a sweet beverage was more than a nuisance, but a horror inflicted by the great, engulfing sun and it offered too little shade than was acceptable; so of course, they would then scream, like the girl playing alone in the garden, when a bumblebee or wasp appeared (often mistaking the former with the latter) and dart out of their brief solace to be in momentary safety until the searing heat forced them back seconds later.
Above the world, beyond the trees and the birds and the bees, clouds momentarily draped over the sun and a silent cheer swelled within all below as they were released from captivity and began to, quickly, finish any engagements they needed to fulfil ahead of the hibernation that would soon begin behind a blanket of moody weather the world was more accustomed.
Yet summer was not yet over and in this reprieve, little Anne darted from the shade. She danced across the lawn collecting a couple daisies she’d eyed whilst waiting for the creeping clouds to obscure the sky.

>>23515035
Dude, break that shit up into a series. Seriously.
Or let it trickle onto RR at 20k words per week for the patreon bux.

What does it mean to “do something rather than nothing?”

>>23515533
It's the opposite of "analysis paralysis".

>>23515533
It means stop being a deer in the headlights, anon. It cannot be helped, or can it?

>>23513129
I've been looking at some RR authors and am consistently astounded at the pace of even the "slower" authors. There's one, Sleyca, that seems to write around 5-6k very high quality words per week. I can barely get out 500 words on a good day.

>>23515563
>6k per week
>high
I write 24k a week.

>>23515574
NTA but can I see your writing?

>>23515587
Since you asked, anon.
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/76148/revenge-of-the-slop-king-litrpg-cheat-power-harem

>>23515595
Completely incomparable in terms of quality. You're writing barely coherent prose while Sleyca's is as good as if not better than actually published authors in the genre.

>>23515607
Okay?

>>23515317
what does everyone think of this? is it over for me bros?

>>23515595
Just the title made me heave

https://pastebin.com/V86wmW6c

>>23515627
Thank you, anon.

>>23515595
>That title
If this is ironic, bravo

How do I avoid my readers (if I ever get some, let's not get ahead of ourselves too much) thinking my "soft" magic is the equivalent to pulling convenient shit out of my ass? I will roughly describe an early scene from the start of my story
>Dude shows up at a painter's workshop after one of his acquaintances, who had one of his works put up in his office, noticed the painting's scene changed overnight, from a foggy night to a bright dawn
>The characters are already "in the known" about magic, which in the story is famously unpredictable as gods giveth and taketh away powers on their will alone
>Painter isn't there, but his latest painting is. A scenery of town strewn with random objects bigger than in reality, like books the size of house, a knife placed down across a street, and a key
>The MC notices the building he is currently in is painted in the background, and the motto of the building (actually part of an university) is (translated from latin) something like "TO TRY THE IMPOSSIBLE IS THE KEY TO KNOWLEDGE UNDREAMED"
>So he just... reaches out into the painting, take the key in his hand, and pulls it out.

This isn't a "painting-based magic system", you'll notice the two paintings I described weren't even magical in the same way, so far as the rest of my story goes, I don't particularly intend to have the painting play a bit role (although I will probably play cheeky with symbolism). I am simply trying to manage expectations, as I think it's important that the reader feels involved in the story and can reach their conclusions ideally right before the MC does, and at the same time I really like this kind of dream-logic magic that obeys no set rule.

To try to get these points across I will likely try to write the scene in this way
>Focus especially on the thoughts of the protagonist as he works up from what he knows of the painter to his work
>Show that the painting, in this case, needed a specific mindset to unlock, it's not just a portal any shlomo with a bad sense of balance could've accidentally found
>Introduce a character to actually talk with the protagonist so a good portion of the chapter isn't "man standing alone in a room, looking at a pretty picture"

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

>>23515781
Do not try to appease retards.

>>23515007
Did you market it at all? I would think free would be reason enough to get people to click on it, but 98 is still pretty rough, especially considering how less than 1% tend to leave a review, which is what you need getting started.

I got an idea where my priest goes on a killing spree (justified, he's not a psycho), and I have the ideas in place for where he starts as a saint and gradually gets corrupted until he resorts to violence. But after that I don't know what to do with him. He gets caught? Jail? Death? He escapes? I have no idea what would be an interesting final arc.

>>23515035
Post your first page here

>>23515595
how much do you earn?

>>23515317
You need to learn more about writing from a single perspective and how to shift from scene to scene. This seems really pretentious. How does Hardy know his daughter is seeing a bird or a bee, why does the sun laugh and the world curse? And that sentence does not need to be that long since it hardly flows.

>>23515810
he gets crucified with his side open like jesus and left for the vultures

>>23515829
everything is from the girl's perspective

>be Dutch
>write in Dutch
>nobody reads it
:(

>>23515838
That's not clear at all. The first name we get is Hardy then a rambling sentence without a clear subject. This passage does not flow, get rid of the first sentence about hardy and introduce the girl and her location, and chop up that god awfully long sentence.

>>23515820
Nothing, I'm not in it for the money.

>>23515834
He goes full schizo, whips himself, builds a wood cross, carries it up on a mountain while wearing crown of barbed wire

>>23515883
Kino.
>>23515834
That's Prometheus you fucking degenerate.

>>23515856
I honestly didn't even know that was a language.

>>23515902
It's just silly German.

>>23515886
Prometheus wasn't crucified, it was one eagle, and he only went after the liver. Faggot.

>>23515886
exactly, it will get the literary fags excited that their start with the greeks degree isn't worthless, it's also realistically climactic unlike that schizo ending above me that leaves a bitter taste on the families of the victims, there are better ways of being edgy if you are not familiar with bad endings in television

>>23515007
>98 people read it
Were all 98 of them related to you?
If not, you made it, kid.

I read you can expect a self-published book to sell 240 copies on average, with most people falling on the extreme low end of under 10.

>>23515035
>3.9 million words
You know 50K words is a book, right?

>>23515920
The trick is to just become a prolific writer.
Eventually even the most dogshit writer who writes a lot will get recommended.

>>23515101
I hear people say to get Amazon ads, but thinking on it, I've never seen a single ad on Amazon. I didn't even know they ran user ads. 99% of people use ad-block so you're just throwing money away buying ads, imo.

>>23515922
I wish I could get to 50k. Right now I'm at 40,400 and there is really nothing I could reasonably add that wouldn't be fluff.

>>23515925
If you're going to advertise, you're better off doing it on your own youtube channel (and/or website) or even streaming your writing sessions.

>>23515878
thanks!

>>23515920
Woo hoo I past 10 copies!

>>23515928
Then your story is done, dumbass. That's a novella, I think.

>>23515856
>Nederlands
>Nee, der land söllte deiner Bücher nicht lesen.
>Fucking fascists

>>23515922
50k is a fucking novella at best. Books are 120k or so.
>>23515924
The King method.

>>23515810
Boxing match against someone in a similar situation, but of an opposing religion.

>>23516018
It seems like every publisher has their own definition of where a novel begins. I've heard 50k, 60k, 80k as minimums. Rarely 40k, but depends on the genre, like for a thriller it might work, but not for epic fantasy.

>>23512796
I'm on page 18/235 with my new book. FML. I ate too many carbohydrates. But it'll be like my 5th book this year, so that's not too bad.

Anyone knows of a good course on prose?

>>23516045
>But it'll be like my 5th book this year
How can you do so many so fast? I've been working on mine since October and it's only like 160 pages.

>>23516024
>>23516018
Arbitrary publishing requirements aren't indicative of the form. It's more about what you do in 40k-80k words that defines a novel. There are also long ass novellas that still aren't novels in form or structure. And things that aren't novels at all, to be extremely pedantic. I'd deny that some epic fantasy qualifies as a novel under strict definitions, for example.

Historic averages before market bullshit started padding everything tend towards 200-600 pages, averaging around 50k-80k words dead center, formatting can make a book longer or shorter by quite a few pages. We're back to shorter novels for market reasons and even novellas are back on the table, though not always in name.

>>23516074
Prose must match the story. If you're writing with an MC that's a teenager, have the wording be teen-like

>>23516106
>I'd deny that some epic fantasy qualifies as a novel under strict definitions, for example.
Why is that? I don't read that genre.

>>23516127
All my teen characters speak in elegant Shakespearean English because they are very intelligent and cultured, like me.

>>23516086
I work hard, and work often, put my best foot forward and it helps that I don't have a job anymore, instead, I treat my writing as work. Then after a book it's pause time. Not all my books are 235 pg. A4+, this is an exception. Most are 160-200pg A5. Eating well helps, and smoking faggots is a break, as it is Printed in the Holy Scriptures: 'Not as the scribes' / (Nut, ash, the scribes)

>>23515618
Obviously anons point was that 24k words a week of inane garbage means nothing. What's impressive is that some people have high output while maintaining quality. like good for you, but don't play stupid as if you don't understand what his point was

Writing is terrible because now I have to take about 3800 words and turn them into 10000

>>23516086
And past a certain point, it's just the thought
>Gotta pump 'em out like I'd pump out seed when I was a teenager and twentier
Most delusions about the self vanish through this method though, so that's good. The few delusions that are left are shattered and obliterated when I publish and I receive surface-negative but very. very lowkey-positive feedback. Like >>>/fit/ used to lift 'for her', I as a >>>/lit/ browser should write 'for her', and for 'the kids'

>>23516137
They're more strictly a romance, in the classical sense, and deal with what would be wooden and psychologically inert characters in a novel. A novel is a study of character, among other things, and a medieval knight type or chosen hero simply aren't meaningfully human and the interiority isn't there. Here's an example of the kind of continuum of novelistic concepts I'm talking about.
>I remember an anecdote about him from Orson Scott Card. They were at a sci-fi writer's convention or something and were brainstorming a story together with the other gathered authors. The group had invented a fantasy character—a young king who had to abstain from all sexual activity as a kind of sacrifice; if he ever achieved any kind of sexual fulfillment, his kingdom would weaken, the magic that sustained it would slacken or fade. They all came to the natural conclusion that the young king would be yearning for sex and trying to find a way to escape his guardians. But Wolfe apparently said, "No, no, you don't understand. This young man thinks they don't restrict him enough. He's absolutely terrified that he'll accidentally slip into some form of sexual release and cause some dire consequence to his people. He'd make sure they watch him all the time."
Where normalfag novelists are thinking one decently psychological thing, Wolfe is in a different direction with it. Fantasy romance books aren't as far from them as they are from Wolfe.

I saw a video from Sanderson the other day where he mentioned some woman on Amazon was self publishing a new book every 2 weeks and she was in the top 3 of whatever of bestsellers. I'd have to go back and find her name, but I'm sure some of you probably heard of her. I am certain she's either using AI or hiring helpers because no living human can pump out books to market that fast.

>>23516181
>a young king who had to abstain from all sexual activity
>fantasy character
Haha, yeah... like that would ever happen, right?

>>23516218
Pay a hooker or get one of your sleaziest friends to hook you up with drunk crazy, leave your wallet at home. Just don't fag out and act like you deserve better than that, I did my time in that hole and so can you. You just don't want the possible, fellow unicorn fucker.

>>23516191
it's pretty easy to find out, did she suddenly become a prolific writer after ChatGPT 4 dropped? It's AI.
Unless it is absolute shit.

>>23516127
Who the fuck asked? Link courses or commit suicide

>>23516157
I was more interested why the anon thought I was interested in his opinion when he just wanted to know what I wrote.

>>23516181
>But Wolfe apparently said, "No, no, you don't understand. This young man thinks they don't restrict him enough. He's absolutely terrified that he'll accidentally slip into some form of sexual release and cause some dire consequence to his people. He'd make sure they watch him all the time."
She's not wrong. Her way is more interesting, but it could go either way. Some guys just have more willpower than others. Or maybe in this case it's brainwashing, if the servants drilled into the kid's head since birth what he had to do "for the kingdom".

you can make fun of me, i don't care. writing is more enjoyable than sex to me

>>23516287
It was a follow-up reply to you butting in to the original topic of certain popular authors being so productive, and how anon was surprised they could write quality stories that so many people enjoy at such a high pace.

You went:
>6k per week
>high
and then bragged about writing 24k a week.

Then you posted the absolute embarrassing slop you write and anon pointed out of course you can write 24k a week, it's literal excrement, even by royalroad standards.

You caught up now?

>>23516299
It's definitely more satisfying. Less embarrassment, too. I mean, I'm assuming here, of course. This is all a hypothetical scenario.

>>23516309
>it's literal excrement, even by royalroad standards.
Thanks anon.

As for "inane garbage", to me, that means writing that doesn't progress the plot.
I'm glad you've enjoyed the /wg/ anathema.

Is it too late to capitalize on the popularity of loli vampires?

>>23516086
Runners build up stamina and speed over time.
Mental pursuits are much the same.

>>23516336
Hi anon, I've seen you around a few times.
I've gotta ask why you write that story. It seems to be an insulting parody, except it's mostly filled with anime tropes instead of royalroad tropes, so you're parodying a genre of stories that doesn't even exist. And you write so much of it that you have to enjoy writing it just for its own merit.
What's your motivation? Just why? The answer has to be "because I like to" but why? If you like writing slop why don't you make real slop?
And why do you use those weird dialogue markers?
Genuinely just curious

>>23516140
Well, that's one way to keep the cops from figuring out what the teens are up to. The police will have to hire a classic-literature professor to serve as a translator.

>>23516349
Definitely not, although Lily is the thinking man's choice.
>>23516357
>It seems to be an insulting parody, except it's mostly filled with anime tropes instead of royalroad tropes
I'm casting a wide net on the slop, and covering it all underneath a large umbrella.
>you're parodying a genre of stories that doesn't even exist
You have no idea how correct you are - I am parodying my own non-existent works that I have yet to write. You'd like the cat.
>And you write so much of it that you have to enjoy writing it just for its own merit.
Indeed, though I have other projects waiting to be finished.
>What's your motivation?
To deliver a story that is worth reading despite it being kneecapped, shot, poisoned and thrown into a river.
>why don't you make real slop?
If it were real slop, the point would be lost, and I'd hate it with every fiber of my being.
>And why do you use those weird dialogue markers?
They're Japanese, and I use them because I make awful choices and horrible decisions. They do add uniqueness to it, though.

Thanks for asking, anon. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.

can I shill my own book on here when I'm done with it? i'll do a free weekend so no profit motivation, just want some reviews

>>23516407
people do it all the time

>>23516407
Sure, if you don't mind the risk of troll reviews. Not that any of the friendly anons in THIS thread would do it, but . . .

>>23516406
Can't say I really understand, but thanks for the answers.

>>23516407
>can I shill my book here
You can shill books that don't even exist. Might get reported for spamming if you spam though.

>>23515595
This is pretty good. Impressed you can keep it going for so many chapters.

>>23516428
>Can't say I really understand
That's understandable. Not a lot of people intentionally sabotage themselves as a challenge.

While the Japanese quotation marks make things difficult, I only regret is not having enough free time to continue pic related. I also have Snipe Hunt to work on, but that's a VN, and I have no assets yet. Those are my "serious" stories taking it for the team, while slop slops on sloppily. And it will slop 'til I drop, or finish the plot. Whichever comes first.
>>23516436
Thanks anon. Rather than motivation, discipline is the key. That, and not tripping up on the suicidal pace.

>>23516428
I'll tell you because I know the author. He is somewhat new to writing.
He's just a weird and eccentric guy. He is angry about all the soulless drivel written by turdworlders and the following they get. Slop King is motivated by this. In my opinion, Slop King is genuinely good if you're a weeb (like me).

>>23516430
huh? whats the story behind this

should I draft my entire series or draft and edit one book at a time? I'm already taking notes for later books

>>23516523
I've not done anything that encompassing, but I'd imagine you would want to draft the series as a whole, because there are things you might think of near the end you would want to foreshadow near the earlier bits. Hard to go back and put those parts in when they're already finished.

>>23516553
that's how I'd prefer to do it. Book one is close to the end of the first draft.

Is this good?

>>23516619
No. It’s “is it well?”

>>23516619

>>23516619
it works as a scene

>>23516181
Weird seeing a random throwaway post I made suddenly return in /wg/ of all places.

>>23516627
I mean, if you posted it … ?

>>23514339
It is the case that *copyright* protection currently is for the life of the author plus 70 years, but everything I've seen wrt book contracts is that the publishing rights revert to the author once the publisher lets the book go out of print (a rule that could be muddied depending on whether ebook editions count for remaining "in print") (and evidently that *is* the position that publishers currently have taken: https://authorsguild.org/news/a-publishing-contract-should-not-be-forever/).).

I have started to write my prose epic a decade planned. May God grant me health to finish my work.

Someone tell me I’m a nigger and you’re going to lunch me.

>>23513205
It's way too good to post here. I'll do an AMA thread here for you imbeciles when I'm rich and famous.

>>23516654
>It's way too good to post here.
Agreed.

>>23516649
Okay, but you have to pay the tip.

>>23513205
I've posted before and you guys laughed at me. But just for you, here:

>A scarlet streak stained the frosted canvas of the valley floor.

It's how I opened one of my chapters describing a traffic jam in a snowstorm.

>>23516699
Nix the alliteration and imply it instead with a synonym. Or at least don't do it too often, I have that habit myself.

>>23516699
>a traffic jam in a snowstorm.
While it's not a sidesplitter, do you seriously not think it's trying a bit fucking too hard?
It's a traffic jam, nigger. I have no idea what your book is about, but:
>The scarlet stream of brake lights blinking on and off sluggishly chugged on in bursts. Like a clogged artery feebly trying to flow some blood through, just fast enough to make the departure all the more uncomfortable.
It might be my subjective taste, but I think that's less pretentious than trying to elevate a shitty road to be a canvas.

>>23516705
I use a lot of alliteration. It might be too much, but I think it gives a poetic tone to the writing.

>>23516713
>trying to elevate a shitty road to be a canvas.
The snow covered valley is the canvas, the road is just whatever. I wanted to create the idea of looking down from a mountain, seeing the white sheet of snow in the darkness, interrupted by a bright red line of line from the cars. I will probably re-work it though.

>>23516730
>I wanted to create the idea of looking down from a mountain
From a mountain, you wouldn't really see shit. Chances are, there would be a cloud in the way or the visibility would be just shit.
I was just ONE kilometer up, and I couldn't see shit.

Unless you're in a helicopter or otherwise looking from directly above, with no trees or anything in the way, it's hard to see it as a canvas. I have no idea if it's a rural shithole or next to a city, but I'm picturing a snowed-over highway clogged with cars at density of LA rush hours. Places like that would barely have any snow, though.

I'd say keep it simple and get to the point. An average person isn't going to compare anything to something higher and beautiful, especially something extremely mundane like cars and roads. Do YOU do that every day, as an idle thought? If not, it's better not purple it. If the character does it because he's a photographer, or a painter or some shit, it might be excusable. Not an average Joe Shmuck though.

>>23516743
Hopefully anon isn't writing from the perspective of Joe six pack. Who the fuck wants to read that? There's enough insipid stupidity in the world.
>>23516699
Aurally pretty, but impossible to judge without context. But I also wouldn't advise to post more than a paragraph here.

>>23516456
bump, genuinely interested

If your book gets made into a movie do you get a portion of all the ticket and bluray sales?

>>23516943
You have the IP rights nigger. Unless you signed them off like a total retarded tool.

>>23516973
Sometimes it's better to take the money up front.

will reading childrens books degrade my writing skills

>>23516943
Depends on what contract yoyu sign.
>>23516978
Given modern Hollywood's inability to make good movies, if they're offering enough for you to live comfortably for the rest of your life at your current standard of living, the lump sum could be worth it, especially if the IP you're selling isn't your baby.

>>23517018
No.
Children's books are good to understand since, unlike what most people believe, writing to children is harder than writing to adults.

Does reading textbooks and documents alter your writing style? I feel for books to alter your writing more you need to observe and pick apart what the writer is doing while reading it. The effect might be more subtle if you read purely for entertainment.

>>23517037
>writing to children is harder than writing to adults
Why is that? Children know dick about good literature. They have zero standards and eat whatever their parent or teacher tells them is good.

>>23517044
>they have zero standards
Lol
>and eat whatever their parent or teacher tells them is good
Have you ever worked with children?
>good literature
Oxymoron. Literature is appealing to a super-minority.

>>23517046
>Lol
It is true. Look at all the crap cartoons in the 80s kids put up with because they didn't know any better. I mean the real weird shit, like Roseanne Bar's cartoon. You think anyone with a fully functional brain would willingly watch that?
>Have you ever worked with children?
Once, for six months. They did not impress me.

Protip: if you go with Kindle Unlimited use lots of dialogue and line breaks. You get paid by the page read so you want to stretch it to be as long as possible. Avoid dense paragraphs.

>>23517063
>You get paid by the page
How much?

>>23517063
pretty sure ku uses "normalized pages" or something which prevents that sort of gaming

>>23517161
What is a normalized page?

>>23517147
NTA, but appearently not much.

>>23517212
"Not much" by a per-page basis, yeah, but if your genre has a big KU audience, your page reads account for 85%+ of your income because of the sheer amount of people reading

>>23515035
https://www.mediafire.com/file/ftsy9hdhh49pbj5/mongol-corpses-of-the-divine.epub/file

This is the book in question D:

Why are royalroad lit so shit?
>Paranoid Mage
Schizophrenic psychopath consecutively pulls off elaborate murder spree while the world wide mage government with an average IQ of 80 fails to stop him.
>Tori's transmigration
Was alright until the project arc where the writing starts to blatantly sucks off the femc repeatedly much of the integrity of the plot and other characters.
>Father of Monstrosity
MC with a kelvar plot armor wanks himself to completion starting from chapter 1
>The Perfect Run
Boring and predictable
>Memoirs of small-time villainess
This one disguise itself pretty well but the self fellating becomes evident around the demon castle arc and it goes downhill from there.

Probably many more that I already forgot or didn't read past the first few chapters. The only ones I found worthwhile was Mother of Learning and Cult of Cerebon. The latter showing some worrying signs since it's giving me xianxia vibes lately and less about the original premise of politics lit.

>>23517346
No one cares, buy an ad

>>23517212
Last month, I made $13 just from one person reading three of my books. Imagine if I had more than 1-2 readers per year? I could pay my phone bill!

>>23517360
No, seriously, recommend me a good modern lit. I'm tired of reading slop

>>23517063
Fucking retard

>>23517367
There's this thing called google you can ask even for specific types of novels and get recommended lists and rankings by seasoned curators instead of random faggots on a Chinese basket-weaving forum, who don't read

>>23517367
check out /wg/'s author's pastebin

>>23517212
>>23517063
>you get paid unironically less than a cent per page
>you getpaid 84 cents PER BOOK

How brown do you have to be for Amazon?

>Tolkien would get roughly $1.8 pre-tax for LOTR on Amazon

what's the worst mistake you've made (that you learned from)?

>>23518166
Parts that deliver critical plot buildup that are boring as fuck have to be broken up or filled with interesting bits happening.

>>23517367
Archangel by Paul Watkins

>>23518166
Pantsing isn't the right way to write mystery.

>>23515628
I only made it about a paragraph into this piece of shit. Nobody care’s about your genreslop.

>>23517309
this doesn't even load properly in the ebook viewer i use, it just freezes. i opened it in an editor instead and turns out it freezes because it's trying to display all 4 million words at once, because they're all in a single enormous html file. you need to fix this on a technical level before trying to show it to people because i'm pretty sure this would crash a hardware ereader. like, epubs are supposed to be internally broken up into one html file per chapter, but as far i can tell you don't even have chapters, you just have four million fucking words in a row with no divisions at all, and that's why it exported this way.

also looking inside this 4 million word html file i can see the formatting's all fucked up too and some sentences seem straight-up incoherent.

>A beak laid long and a pair of wings from the sides and back, leaving the poor worm-like body unable to fly in the least.
>Such a poor miserable desecrator had no place anywhere in a place as damning such as this.
>He would've been aware if it weren't for the fact that he suffered dearly at the thought of which, he couldn't see nor could he be introduced properly.
>Another beak extended from behind its head and in a moment, such it came, it leapt from across the room on four pillow shaped bottom feet which had no way of moving and it spoke.

the hell, bro? it looks to me like you have about 10 years of editing ahead of you if you want people to actually read this

>>23518360
Dude writes 4 MILLION WORDS of one story and you actually expected something sane?

>>23518360
https://www.mediafire.com/file/mmcs68vxvccjklb/Mongol.pdf/file


There's a formatted pdf but it's NSFW because I used the word nigger and kike in it.

>>23518369
>There's a formatted pdf but it's NSFW because I used the word nigger and kike in it.
And you expect someone to read 4 million words of a fantasy story where someone casually drops nigger and kike in?

I feel a little better about my wordbloat now.

>>23518378
I mean Stephen King uses the n word.

>>23518385
Please point me to any of Stephen Hack's works that are 4 million fucking words.

Stephen KANG is a trash author and he's not someone anyone should aspire to be. He's the definition of throwing shit at a wall and seeing what sticks.

>>23518360
The e-book loaded fine for me in Calibre.
>>23518369
PDF seems fine too.

It took two years for my fiction to get 10,00 views on RoyalRoad. Should I KMS?

>>23518387
PYW

>>23518496
What does yours look like?

>>23518516
NTA but why not.

>>23518496
It took me two months and that's apparently bad too

>>23518496
>Should I KMS?
Yes, for caring what RoyalRetards think about your story

>>23518581
Bad is relative. You have to define your goals to know what's a success or failure

>>23518496
>>23518581
Views are not as important as followers. The latter is what converts to money.

>>23513274
Different Anon, what if I want to write fantasy that is intelligent?
I tried to find reasons why some people hate fantasy, but I could never get a very detailed response.

>>23518625
>but I could never get a very detailed response.
Because they are inarticulate raging crabs that regurgitate memes.

>>23518094
>84 cents PER BOOK
That's still more than I'd get not putting it on KU where no one buys it at all. So in that sense, it's a pretty good deal.

My protagonist:
>NOOO!!! I CAN'T USE MY POWERS FOR BATTLE, HURTING PEOPLE IS BAD! I ONLY FIGHT(nonlethally) TO DEFEND MYSELF OR OTHERS!!!

His main girl:
>I will kill anyone I need to.

Man, I love subverting gender stereotypes. My male hero is a technical pacifist that hates fighting, while my main heroine is a blood knight who will carve her way through an army if they stand between her and her loved ones.

>>23518632
Then they’re like everyone else here.

>>23518697
I hate your protagonist because he sounds stupid and I hate stupid people. I hate you by extension.

>>23518697
>sissy basedjak and boss bitch powergurl
I don't think you're that original, anon.

>>23518744
Nah, he's a genius. He's just a sensitive, religious soul who's very feminine in personality.

He even likes taking care of animals and children.

>>23518697
anime

>>23518756
There is nothing new under the sun. But I think it's rare enough to be refreshing. Most people are writing about psychotic Cultivators that will slaughter three generations of their enemy's family, while my protagonist hates to even have to hurt someone who attacked him.

Of course, he only gets away with it because he's very powerful, but it's a rare kind of powerful man who still remembers mercy and gentleness.

>>23518758
You could not have written a more dislikeable character.

>>23518832
You dislike peace loving, gentle characters?

>>23518844
Not the way you sell him.

>>23518853
Alright, give me some constructive criticism. How did I sell him wrong?

>>23518855
I just dislike homos.

>>23518697
>men are morally burdened and conflicted, women are amoral and selfish
So how is this subversion of stereotypes again?

>>23518858
I don't think you read the post properly, because I explicitly state that I am talking about the MC and HIS GIRLFRIEND. Or rather, one of them. He's got two more.

He's pretty far from being a homosexual.

>>23518866
Never heard of a beard, huh?

>>23518864
Misogynistic boor.

>>23518866
>Three girlfriends

>>23518868
I agree, definitely homo

>>23518870
You must not meet many women.

>>23518882
You must not have met any.
>>23518872
>>23518868
Nothing more homosexual than having a harem of sexy girls, of course.

>>23518890
Congratulations, you have written an anime protagonist. You may not think it, but this is an incredible insult. And I do not joke when I say that I am repulsed by the character you have described.

>>23518963
And I'm once again asking why. And don't just say something trite again.

If there's a real problem, I can fix it.

>>23518992
I enjoy being trite and will continue in that fashion.
You are the problem because your aesthetic preferences are obviously incorrect. They are malformed, I assume, from a steady diet of slop and slush.
Why does your character think that hurting people is bad?

>"Alright, time to rewrite chapter 1 for the fourth time"
>"Well, I can just use most of what I've written for the last version, so it's fine"
>Rewrite 90% of the whole thing
Such is life

>>23519010
NTA but your opinions are worth less than nothing. you're a petty, small-minded, mean-spirited jerk, and there is no value whatsoever to appealing to your demographic.

>>23519075
You seem to be confusing me for some of the other people replying to this guy. I am great fan of homosexuals.
Anime Protagonist Syndrome (APS), on the other hand, is the single worst cognitohazard that can blight a creative mind.

I am inspired by anime

>>23519107
i weep

>>23519113

>>23519121
I mean, anime itself isn't necessarily bad. My main gripe is with the typical isekai/kirito-esque inoffensive turbo-tard character archetype that has been a staple of the genre since whenever. That shit is intellectual canceraids, to put it concisely.
I assume that some japanese cartoons have non-repulsive characters, but those ones aren't popular, so I don't really know.

>>23519102
>Anime Protagonist Syndrome (APS),
The hell does that even mean?

>>23519138
I and a lot of other anime fans have a distaste for the kind of narrative you're talking about. We may even hate it more because we know how good anime can be.
You will find slop anywhere money can be made.

>>23518385
How long until he gets cancelled and bankrupt? I'm honestly amazed it hasn't happened yet.

Any of you anons have experience writing erotica?
What makes a good one?
>inb4 it's good if it's hot
I was thinking more on the detailed side.

Any resources on writing a nonlinear story, specifically having the emotional climax happen anywhere but the end chronologically? I have a setting and topic that works best in this way but I've been mulling over it for a few days and I'm stumped at how to have a satisfying emotional resolution anywhere but the ending.

>>23518697
Is that even a gender thing? I know most girls will kill a spider with no mercy but guys are pretty chill about it and just let the spiderbro hang out.

>>23519339
You can judge the moral character of a man by how they treat the harmless and inferior.
Not that morals mean shit, but you can.

>>23518697
Reading your replies to other posts it has become abundantly clear you have seldom strayed from the bendy (or digital) pages of a Japanese light novel. If you read at all...

How do you come up with a name for the book? I have the main story beats, I have the overall theme. I have the general mood. I don't actually need to think of a name for the manuscrit for a long while but it still turns inside my brain. It must be eyecatching, unique, and fitting the tone, but how do you do it?

>>23519335
What's the motivation for the reader to continue reading after the "emotional climax?"

>>23519410
There is none, I want to end with the emotional climax. Since the story is told in a nonlinear way, this means it chronologically doesn't happen last.

I want to write a harem romance anime where the prologue is the end result and the readers must find out who the MC chooses. Like quintessential quintuplets

>>23519389
I wish I knew. Mine is essentially finished and still after 6 months I have no idea what to call it. It has to be catchy, marketable, reflective of the theme, and original. It seems impossible for all these stars to align.

With how infrequently I browse /lit/ and 4chan nowadays, have these threads always been so shit? I don't remember so many people wanting to write "anime" stories or be inspired by such fucking slop. Unless your objective is to pump money from the idiots that read such stories why degrade yourself by writing such horrendous drivel?

>there are people ITT proudly writing anime harem
jesus

>>23519389
>I have the main story beats, I have the overall theme. I have the general mood.
cool, cool. so, uh, how many words have you actually drafted?

>>23519315
>have experience writing erotica?
tons, but nobody else but me has ever read it so i have no idea if it has the capacity to arouse others

>>23519551
Eh. Do you have any pointers to give anyways?

>>23519520
I love animes. When I write my story I picture in my head how the scene would look as an anime, then write what I see. I don't do harems though because I have zero experience with women.

>>23519554
this is general writing advice i guess but you need to get inside the character's head and work with sensations of all kinds, as opposed to what people tend to do, which is picture a porn scene and try to describe what it looks like. you'll never be as "visual" as what porn provides so it's a waste of time to try, but you can get into all sorts of non-visual sensation and you can get pretty abstract describing it. like, in porn they do external cumshots a lot because spunk splashing on skin is a visual spectacle, whereas coming inside isn't (they have to make it about how it drips out afterwards). it's really very limiting. meanwhile you can describe whatever the hell you want with words, spin it however you please, invent your own vocabulary for sensations and then play with it to create fantasy sensations that don't even map to real sex and so on. have fun with it

also "pussy" is the lamest word. you should bite the bullet and call it a cunt

>>23519636
>I don't do harems though because I have zero experience with women.
this never stopped anybody else

>>23519520
There’s a reason genreslop is inherently awful.

>>23519653
I was thinking of doing both of these things actually, so thanks for confirming that it's standard.
>>23519551
>nobody else but me has read it
Did you ever consider making them public, just somewhere on the internet, to get feedback? I hear deviantart is pretty popular for "publishing". There's too much garbage and lack of proper tagging on ao3 unfortunately.

What’s a word that

>>23519668
>Did you ever consider making them public, just somewhere on the internet, to get feedback?
NTA and more of a consumer than a writer in that sphere, you have to know the kind of websites that go for your specific form and content of work. No idea what that is in general erotica, but niche work does better on niche sites and longform work does better on sites with series. 1500 word fapfics have their own niche and shouldn't be underestimated as a form, but we all know how hard a good short story is to write.

Gonna start writing my first mystery novel tomorrow. It's all mapped out. Unique setting, realistic motives, clues, red herrings. Anything annoying in the genre I should avoid?

>>23519315
Yes, only for one reader, but some others have read it over the years. Less detail is better, focus on the feelings. Women care about the feelings surrounding it more than "insert tab a into slot b" think about it for men, what is more thrilling? The chase or the catch? Once I've fucked them, I am less interested.
>>23519653
like this guy said.

>>23519976
Me

I wrote this little poem inspired by picrel. Thoughts?

Be cold to me, you whore, and laugh at me;
Defame, scorn, slander, mock me, chilling ire;
For daring to adore you humblely,
Fill me with shame, presumption of desire--
Bring forth the winter killing everything,
An icy loneliness that drives insane;
Frigidly cold do your offenses sing,
And even colder freeze my tears with pain. ----
But know my flame will burn intense till spring:
In mine and yours will bloom the sweetest flowers--
The melting snow the purest water will bring--
Love you will show me, and with kisses shower.

>the equivalent to pulling convenient shit out of my ass

Show at some times the character not understanding at a specific time, or failing at a certain point.
If they get it right and everything works along all the time, then it's bullshit. If they fail, then it seems more "whimsical"

I asked the Universe and it said your title must be in the structure : BLANK of BLANK

Hope that helps.

>>23519976
You can't make the culprit a minority. That's forbidden these days.

>>23519360
Never read a single LN. I prefer classics.

From 2 threads ago, but fuck you I haven't checked /lit/ since then.
>>23500710
>footnotes
>Lawyers generally don't use footnotes when writing legal documents. Footnotes are more for judges and law review writers to kind of go on a little tangent about something without disrupting the flow of their writing. You also sometimes use them when citing to nonlegal websites, but practicing lawyers don't do that a lot unless they're writing an amicus brief or something, which probably isn't going to show up in a legal thriller, because they're kind of boring and worthless.
Most states have pretty clear guidelines that they promulgate, so find your state, and then look up [state] legal citation guide. Or if you're in fed. court, then just use the bluebook.
Some courts prefer footnotes to in-document citations. Some judges don't care. Some love it. Some can't even read. Read your local rules bucko, if it isn't explicitly disallowed of course I'm going to fucking use footnotes in my suppression motion or suck the 13th court of appeals dick and hyperlink everything. Who the fuck would ever want to practice in federal court anyway? I know how footnotes, end notes, and in brief citations work. The point is to use it as a literary tool and to use it in an interesting way.
>parentheticals
>A legal parenthetical is just a case description. They follow the same bluebook format in most jurisdictions. You write out the case cite, open parentheses, then start with an -ing verb, then explain the case.
>example: Bitch v. Cunt, 69 K.Y.S.2d 420, 433 (2016) (holding that premises owners have a duty to make premises as safe as they reasonably appear).
You act as if 'just' a description can't hold massive bias or be used as a tool to implement your force of will upon judges and justices who don't read. Again, as a tool of rhetoric and style, it would be an interesting and unused gimmick. I highly suggest you go read The Common Law Origins of the Infield Fly Rule, as a stickler for the based blue book, I think you'll get a kick out of it. Please make time for it between your long Bryan A. Garner dick sucking sessions. Remember you can only bill so much for 'research'.

What's wrong with using ai to pump out words for you when you're using it to express your idea?

>>23520390
What's wrong with using a hooker to ghostwrite for you?

>>23520390
Nothing. Words are words. They belong to no one. An AI's words are just as good as anyone's.

>>23512796

How do you guys do word count for chapters in your novel? if your novel is written in one word document?

>>23520420
I have a separate folder for each chapter. Then when I go back to my file the next day I make a copy, rename it to the current date, and work on that one. Repeat per day so I always have a 'papertrail' of old ones I can refer to if I need to check my old work.

>>23520287
>hurr durr classics
Then there's literally no reason to account for your taste, since you won't read anything new. Why are you even in a writing thread?

>>23519550
'bout 30k so it's getting there

>>23520467
>You only read Light Novels! Wait, you don't, you read some of the most respected books in the world? Well, that's also bad!

Loser.

>>23519339
It's a cliche that the female characters are a bunch of "wise" pacifists who hate war and violence while the guys are crazy badasses who love violence- as long as they win.

I subverted that gendered stereotype with my main characters.

>>23519010
>Why does your character think that hurting people is bad?
Because it is. Normal human beings dislike causing others pain. That's called being humane.

He's unusually compassionate because I want him to be a proper hero.

Have any of you written superheroes?

>>23520549
>He's unusually compassionate because I want him to be a proper hero.
I think that's good. It's nice to see an actual good guy. I like Batman but even he beats people's asses to within an inch of death sometimes. I actually find it very difficult to think of one who doesn't cause any pain at all.

I'm writing someone who's a piece of shit and the point of the novel is to shit on him for being said piece of shit. But I don't want people to drop the story because he is, after all, a piece of shit.

>Demon hides its true name inside the slave it always keeps at hand (upon acquiring the soul of the slave, the demon ate his name and hid its own name in its place)
How much of a twist is this? It feels really obvious to me for some reason.

>>23520604
You gotta hook them by either starting the guy out as a nice guy who turns evil, or is so charming and charismatic that everyone accidentally likes him. You are the author, you have control over the readers feelings.

>>23520604
I'm gonna level with you anon, it doesn't matter how well you write it, there will be a significant number of people with 0 reading comprehension who will think "wow the author agrees with this character I can't believe it".

>>23520611
Feels alright, but I think you need to foreshadow it properly.

>>23520604
Authors usually circumvent this by making the protagonist someone else, a friend of the piece of shit, his doctor, banker, a nice guy who has an excuse to follow his life closer.

>>23520544
People hate moral posturing. Flipping the roles doesn't magically make them hate it less

>>23520611
What do you have to eat and how much for that to make any sense?

>>23520758
>He's not familiar with demon-logic
Names have powers anon, that's demonology 101

>>23512796
What are two opposing ideologies one could use for demons and angels, where either one can do great evil or good, and that's not "order vs chaos"?

I was thinking "greater good" vs "individuals" but that still feels too much of the order vs chaos thing.

>>23520839
Yeah, but how do you "hide" a name inside a person? Like, just don't say it?

>Haven't even wanted to write in about 5 days
Is it over bros?

>>23514667
You are all just pieces of my solipsistic mind. Seeing what I made fills me with disgust and despair.

>>23520839

>>23520973
You can hide anything inside anything anon. That's old-magic 101

>>23520857
"Give" and "Take"

>>23520390
what's wrong with using a black guy to pump your wife for you when you're using him to express your love?

>>23520995
me either but forcing yourself to write usually helps

>>23521410
>>23521410
>>23521410

>>23520544
One more time...this is a writer's thread, not a reader's thread. You did not *write* one of the most respected books in the world.

>>23520611
Sounds like the story of Gamall from the video game "Thief 3".

by reading "young girl" you think the character is around what age?

>>23521460
11-16
Below is little girl. Above is either young woman or just girl.

>>23518866
>My mc is a super pacifist beta male that also has a harem of hot girls lusting after him because uhhh he's kind I guess
My friend you have written an anime.

>>23520533
Okay, great, 30k is a solid start my first book I didn't know the title until I was roughly 75k in, so don't stress too much. it'll make itself clear as you get further