/lit/ - Literature

Why do you write? because you have an urge to express yourself and affirm your individuality or because you want to be famous and make money?

No great author has ever stopped writing because he thought it wasn't "marketable".

>>6681963
I just wanted to tell people stories. Stories make me happy, so I want to make other people happy with mine. I don't really care about money.

>>6681969
Marketable was probably the wrong word. I just want to know if people would be interested in whatever I write.

>>6681979
Stop worrying about what other people want.

>>6681947
Well, if you write the stories in a short format, you don't actually have to care if they're marketable because there's a huge, diverse selection of literary magazines to submit them to, none of which are making enough money to care about marketability.

If you want to write a novel, well then you will have much better odds if your writing is marketable, whatever you think that means.

To me, marketability means it's effective at communicating with the reader, not a strictly cerebral exercise. Look at the difference between Infinite Jest and a DFW short story collection. Infinite Jest draws you in and only tries most peoples' patience because it's so long, while many of his short stories can leave you wondering what the point even is within ten pages. His novels were marketable and good, his short stories not marketable but also good.

>>6681963
I'm the best around nigga. Dunno about OP, but I'm gonna do both.

>>6681979
Write for you. If you like it that's all that matters. But other people probably will as well.

>>6681988
Novels. To me marketability means, like, Hunger Games or something.

>>6681986
>>6681990
It's hard for me to explain. Like, all of my stories are already in my head, I've already taken everything I can from them. Putting them into written format would be to show them to other people. At least, one other person. If I sold one copy and they liked it and identified with it, then I'd be happy.

>>6682002
>all of my stories are already in my head
Your ideas don't exist until you've articulated them. You have to create.

>>6682007
I don't know, man. The way I see, they're words, not, like a canvas or something. I don't need to see it to take something from it, because it's in my head, all the words are already there. All the ups and downs and falling in love with characters and aesops and shit, I've already gone through and taken from. Writing it down would for other people. I was just hoping they'd want to read it because I have confidence issues and shit.

>>6682030
Writing is no different from any other art. Could you imagine Kubrick saying "I don't need to direct, all my movies are in my head"? I seriously doubt you have every single word for your novel already set in your head. What's the prose like in your mind?

>>6682036
Well, I'm not saying there's no point in art because it comes from out head, man. I have about a dozen or so stories that are all interconnected and shit and I plan on writing because I think they're cool and other people might like them.

This story in particular I've just had with me for so long. Its existence basically kept me going through about seven years of deep depression.

Writing it out and trying to get it published feels like an obligation now because of what I owe it, but because it's so personal, now that I've gotten my life on track and can finally start writing again, I don't know if people would be interested in it. I've thought about just writing it out and printing it and putting it on my shelf just to say I did it, but I don't always want to be wondering because I never tried. There might be more lonely ass teens with abusive parents that might take something away from it and then rebuild their lives like I did. That's why I became I writer in the first place.

Sorry if this is messy, I was getting ready for bed and I'm not wearing ,my glasses.

>What's the prose like in your head?

I can't give you any examples right now, but it's kinda like these pictures I've been posting.

>>6682002
First off, love your pics. If you took those, props, you should be a photographer.

Second, you will only sell Hunger Games numbers of books if your work fits a genre like YA, Romance or Thriller. If it's something as esoteric as I bet it is, you'd better be prepared to not come close.

I went through a long phase in college where I denied myself the freedom to write with an seriousness because I was determined to be a turbo-normie (that's what happens when you grow up super repressed in the middle of nowhere and then go to an elite school surrounded by super successful normalfags, you want to be like them).
I changed my perspective on art and now I'm writing hard every day, and it's totally different from what I thought it would be like. You really need to JUST DO IT. Worst case you can at least say you wrote a novel, or you discover it's not really for you and move on to more productive pursuits.

>>6682069
The way I see it, you have no reason not to write. It almost seems like you don't want to write, why would somebody with a complete story kicking around in their head not put pen to paper, especially one who said "All I've ever wanted to be was a published author"? Do you know how many wannabe writers would kill to have something to say?

>That's why I became I writer in the first place
You're not a writer until you write something. And until you do this whole question of "what if nobody likes it?" is pure conjecture.

>>6682081
Lol, hell no. I wish I was this talented. I just collect pictures with fog and mist and shit.

And really, what I'm writing isn't terribly deep or trying to be greater than it should be. It's really just a simple love story about two teenagers trying to get over some events that in their lives that just, kinda, broke them. With lots of music.

>>6682088
I'm just a pussy, man. For the past few years, I've basically been telling myself that if I never start, I can never say that I failed.

I'm getting a little better. Been through some shit that kinda put me out of life for a while, then I woke up and realized the world didn't stop.

>>6682100
A failed writer is much better than a pussy.

>>6682100
Bro there are two different reasons to write
1) it's therapeutic for you
2) you want an audience and a career

If it's 1, don't sweat it, go your own pace.
If it's 2, you need discipline, otherwise you will fail.

Either way I wish u well

>Shia Labeouf wants to be inspiring
>Actually scares little children and shy people

I can't imagine you writing anything more banal than the regular new yorker fiction entry. maybe if it's a very very niche thing. Try writing it anyway and it might help for a future work. For example, my old grad thesis project was mostly recollecting video of interesting artificial light sources, sort of light readymades. It sounds lazy and stupid, but the results had some decent reception and I'm working with some new people thanks to that now. I changed my project because I couldn't really work it with set timelines and a realistic end goal; but the exercise greatly influenced how I do my work now.
Exercising something that interests you, even if you never show it at the end, is a much better exercise than any program or method you could try.

>>6682030
Not really. When youu just imagine things you're actually skipping lots of steps and not noticing the holes between the ideas you like. Once you start writing you'll notice all the stuff you were missing. Usually that's when the most interesting stuff comes up, too.

>>6682081
>I went through a long phase in college where I denied myself the freedom to write with an seriousness because I was determined to be a turbo-normie
shit, I've been through that too. and the artsy counterpart of wanting to be some sort of avant garde prodigy when that's not even your thing in the first place. It's hard to find your own middle point.

>>6682100
>I've basically been telling myself that if I never start, I can never say that I failed.
w-why would you do that?
you do realize you're a failure if you don't achieve too, right?

>>6682141
It's a bit of both, really. I'd like an audience and career, but not for money or fame or shit like that.I think I'd love to have fans and to have my art mean something to more than just me. But, then all of these "celebrity" authors like GRRM are kinda shits to their fans and I never wanted that.

As for number one, writing is the only thing I've ever done that I felt I had any natural talent in and didn't think I was shit at. I used to love writing, and on good nights I could just sit and knock out 2-3 thousand words and have the greatest feeling in my chest while doing it. I mean, yeah, I might've thought some of it was shit when I reread it in the morning, but eh.

I haven't done that in a while, was trying to get back into the fold but inspiration and time has been difficult lately.

Thanks, bro.

>>6682126
That was actually good advice m8, thanks.

>>6682168
Well, there's different methods for inspiration. Most of the time my better ideas just came from me pacing my apartment for hours listening to music than trying to force it a keyboard.

>w-why would you do that?
Depression. Mostly.

>>6682148
Shia Labeouf is a hipster prick that created a viral video of him yelling at a camera on roids to inspire normies and redditors. Has nothing to do with shyness, man. Shit's just disingenuous.

>I can't imagine you writing anything more banal than the regular new yorker fiction entry.

Love you too, bro.

>>6682186
>Well, there's different methods for inspiration. Most of the time my better ideas just came from me pacing my apartment for hours listening to music than trying to force it a keyboard.
It happens, shower is great too. But if you want to be a writer you need to drop what you're doing and write. It's like siphoning gas out of someone's car, you need to force it a little but once it's out it's harder to stop it than to let it go.

Yeah, the video sucks, I liked the idea of people actually being scared of him. Unintentional villainy.

I didn't mean that as an insult to you, I actually like what the newyorker publishes some times. It's just that the banality of the work is unrelated to the things that make it work. That's why I also left my personal example of doing some small niche thing but liking it and learning from it.

>bro
don't be a mean

>>6682205
What I hate most is getting inspiration to write when I'm not even at home. Then I get home and it's gone. I was thinking about carrying around a notebook in a backpack or something. Wish I didn't have a child's handwriting.

>it's like siphoning gas out of someone's car
lolwhat

What's wrong with bro?

>>6682224
well, it's like puking then. At first it feels as if you're going to die but after that first reaction it's only natural to keep going until you're done.

>>6682231
Dude, I know what you're trying to say but puking is horrible the whole time you're doing it.

Anyways, I'm gonna turn in. Thanks for the advice and feeling and shit with me.

Since lit moves kindas slow and this might still be up, does anyone have any recommended reading? I was gonna pick The Perks of Being a Wallflower up at the library tomorrow because someone told me I might find some common ground with it. Any thing similar? Like, books about depressed teens in general? With happy endings, please.

>>6682246
Puking is horrible before you start, and as you go you start feeling that it wasn't as bad as you imagined and that you feel better through it at least. You can't stop even if you want to, if you just let go it will be fast and less painful.
Afterwards, when the legs as shaky and you're covered in sweat, you feel the silent validation of someone who went through suffering and is now satisfied.
Writing is just like that.

>>6682282
That's beautiful, man.

>>6682246
Wallflower is feel good YA trash, I'd avoid it.

>What's wrong with bro?
Hibari-kun is one of the board traps.

>>6682296
I wish we could add it to the body of dank-modernism (danmo for shorts)

>>6682301
We need more leg threads a la /g/.

>>6682301
But I heard it was good.

Does /lit/ just not like YA?

>>6682318
People have recommended The Fault in Our Starts to me. YA is succesful because most people read it, it's not surprising that they also recommend it.
Read it if you want, maybe it will help you, it's teenager self help that can only hold weight if you have teenager problems in your life. There is no real resolve to take from it and as a novel is as basic as it gets (otherwise it wouldn't sell as much so I don't blame them).

Adults don't like YA, it reminds them of a time in which they couldn't deal with basic problems and confused bidimensional scenarios with reality. Like reading Palahniuck o Cohelo.

>>6682342
Are you sure, man? Lots of stories about teens and even kids appeal not just to the main demographic but also people in their twenties and thirties and beyond. TV shows and cartoons like Buffy or Hey Arnold!, movies like Boyhood, Super 8 and Almost Famous, and I know for a fact that I love plenty of "kids" books to death,

Maniac Magee is my fucking jam.

Those are just off the top the top of my head, but I know plenty of adults who take time to read or watch or listen to stuff considered for "younger" people. Are you saying things considered to mainly be for a younger audience can't be smart or meaningful? Or that they can't be art?

>>6681947
the marketable thing is not your real problem. if it wasnt the word 'marketable' it be another stock word. the real problem is that you think you have fully formed stories in your head and are dissecting/judging them (before and while you write) as if they exist but they are actually nothing.

stories are built bit by bit, taking shit out, putting shit in. and this only happens in the process of actual writing. what is in your head is worthless as anything other than a starting point

>>6682246

Perks of Being a Wallflower is indeed YA. But it's not necessarily trash. I've read /lit/core and enjoyed it and was able to appreciate the book. As long as you see it for what it is, you're fine.

>>6682363
>Are you saying things considered to mainly be for a younger audience can't be smart or meaningful? Or that they can't be art?
why do you have to extrapolate that far?
there is a huge difference between watching a 20 min show to have a laguh and reading 200 pages, it's just normal that what works for short burst of mindless fun won't hold up for days and days.

Comparing feel good YA with purely plot oriented things like kids shows is also a weird comparison. The problem with things like TFIOS passes through how preachy it ends up being with concepts that are dealt with on a very superficial level. On the other hand watching Arnold and Gerald have urban adventures while ditching the school play is just that and can be enjoyed for what it is.

And if someone was written by an adult aimed at children it's implied that it's both something that went through and adults head (making it something other adults can understand and cosume) and way bellow what he would be expecting other adults to be enjoying.

Also Buffy is trash, 80% filler. Angel is many times better in terms of character arcs, acting, plot ideas, general tone management, humor and aesthetics

>>6682393
>Implying Hey Arnold! isn't a deep as fuck character study

Some seasons are definitely better than others. Angel suffered from it being better than the sum of its parts. The actual character is boring as shit. Both pale in comparison to Firefly.