/lit/ - Literature

YES, YOU BEAUTIFUL MAN

Apologies to anyone who wants the ePub version, but for some reason I can't figure out, the export fails every single time.

Zine day already? let me put on my reading glasses...

inb4 200 posts and 12 image replies

I'm curious, do you just pick up your cover art from Wikipedia commons or something?

One thing I forgot to mention:

Table of Contents is hyperlinked

>>853810
Actually, yes.

Either Wikipedia Commons or Flickr Commons, typically, are the sources of all of our imagery. We need to be absolutely sure we're only using creative commons licensed pictures, and they're also some of the few sources of CC or Public Domain material in a high enough resolution to be worthy of publishing.

downloadan

Oh look, you guys remembered to justify the text this time.

+1

>>853782
>dat breast

Best issue EVER.

I like how the "Illustrations by Bantha_Fodder and..." goes right over the signature of the guy who painted the cover image.

Also, you should get Chris chan to do the next issue cover. God know he has the time and the crayons to get the job done.

>>853877
Er... fuck.

Didn't actually notice that. I always turn image quality down in InDesign so it's faster to work with.

>>853877
We actually discussed having him and Ulillillia to make some articles/whatnot for us, but they're hard to find.

Is THE PENIS WAS there

>>853877
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sadko.jpg

copyright has expired

>>853782
I vote this for best cover EVER.

>>853895
Page 68.
you won’t be disappointed

>>853916
Well, so far it's the only cover that was so far an actual piece of art and not some sort of horrifying hack of Photoshop.

>>853895
Yes it is.

>>853896
I read that as "Sadako" at first

>No awesome russian-themed shorts by Darrin

WHY?

>>853945
We miss him, too

>>853961
BUT BUT BUT BUT BUT ;_;

>pig disgusting american letter format
>not glorious master race international r4

Shit dudes.

>>853982
We OBVIOUSLY represent the free market, you nazi

>>853987
But the first issues were in glorious A4.

>>853982

>>853999
Actually, it's because we changed our book template slightly by going to InDesign compared to what we did before.

We can probably change it back, but I found it easier to get certain things to line up in InDesign this way. So far, you're the first person who's even noticed it.

>>854004
I'm a printfag and stuff.

Well, maybe I can arrange to print it all on an a5 booklet... Somewhere... Somehow.

Why don't these people just try to not suck and to get published in real literary magazines?

>>854018

Who's Mason? His poetry is shit.

>>854025
We encourage you to click the links to the feedback forum and please explain your undying hatred.

No, seriously - feedback is good.

Or, better yet, come up with a lengthy review piece explaining your point of view and send it to us, and we'll see about including it in a future issue.

>>854037
are we allowed to review review pieces?

>>854041
Yep.

>>854041
A review of a review is just like an >implyfight

>>854054
>Implying I give a fuck

Yay, I can't wait to go read it. There may be a fuckton of haters, but I love the zine.

>>854079
Good thing the haters kinda gave up on fucking up with the zine. It's all good work done by the editors and I'm really enjoying this issue. Reading it on a plane and it's way better than those shitty dime-a-dozen mags they sell at the airports.

Aww, yeah! Innocents in the Fog is on the cover!

*Feels special until haters hate*

>>854041
Absolutely. We used to have a Review section, but it got used twice and then people stopped sending them.

We'd love to bring it back.

>>854089
Oh, cool

Author of 'Jade Green' here. Any opinions or feedback is much appreciated.
I'm off to sleep now but I'll check back in the morning.

>>854089
Are you viewing it on a laptop or eReader or what?

For whatever reason, the ePub version of this issue just isn't working - InDesign throws an error every time I try to make one, so I stopped trying. There's an ePub of the previous issue, but none of have an eReader capable of viewing ePubs so we have no idea what it actually looks like.

>>854110
Notebook, flipped to the side, just like I read my comics.

Did you just gather all the genres into one 'Fiction' category or are you guys not accepting scifi/fantasy anymore? I haven't read through the stories yet but I was just curious.

>>854143
We found that people would just ignore whole sections entirely on whim.

Removed section dividers due to popular demand

>>854161
Makes sense.

>>854143
The only thing we do is separate poetry and prose. In testing, our focus group determined it was a bit jarring to go from something like "One" to "Witness to the Dawn." One poor tester had his head explode.

Awesome, can't wait to give this a read.

You guys are doing a good thing for this board.

>>854025

I like 'Front Door'

>>854107
Liking it so far, maybe a few too many adjectives. I'm not normally interested in what the characters look like, but what the hell--if it floats your boat, do it.

Author of "Innocents in the Fog" here. It's a very short story. Care to make a comment, anyone?

>>854240
Reading it right now

>>854235
Finished it. Overall, your story relies too much on narration. One thing that teachers will tell you when writing is to 'show, not tell' and that means just to illustrate what your characters do with dialogue, to get more inside your story instead of just narrating an overview of what they're doing. If you go over this again and flesh it out, you could try publishing it elsewhere. However, I don't know what rights ZWG keeps, so that might work or it might not. It's hard to publish something more than once.

Somebody make a tier list? It's the only way I'll make it through the whole thing.

>>854259
>However, I don't know what rights ZWG keeps, so that might work or it might not.

All of our work is Creative Commons. We are not trying to take hold of this work and keep it forever - it's your work and you guys are free to do what you want with it. All the stories we publish are freely usable within the Creative Commons w/ Attribution license limitations (meaning if someone else wants to use a story, they must attribute it to the original author).

This is more of a collection of stories for people to get a sample of their writing talents and abilities than any real attempt to publish - this is all voluntary anyway.

What did everyone think of the poetry section?

Zion
World
Government

>>854310

>>854280
>>854280
>>854280
Second.

YOU DON'T FOOL ME GOLDENSOX

>more garbage layout and nigger bullshit from a project run by cocksucking faggots
what story did you change without permission this time?

enjoy derailment

On the cover, you've named Karl Mortensen as Mort Mortensen.

Other than that, bloody good.

>>854351

Someone's proud of their DeVry A.A.

>>854354
Didn't notice that. Thanks for pointing it out

>>854346
>Implying Goldensox didn't left the zine by the second issue

Dick up your ass.

>>854361
yeah real incisive remark there college boy. showing off those finely honed critical thinking skills i see.

>>854351

That guy doesn't even look like he's enjoying that BJ. Clearly his partner needed to study more.

Still waiting on a tier list, guize

>>854373
hes a broke ass college guy doing gay4pay

>>854358
>implying americans know enough history to make this chart and it wasnt made by a eurofag

>>854371

So tell me is the trade school facts accurate to you? Isn't the whole thing dependent on what a person goes in for. There's trade schools that charge 25k for a certificate while a community college is worth a pittance to get the same certificate.

Conversely, depending on what trade school, the schedule is highly intensive 8-12 hours a day versus a college of 4-8 (if you're a full time student).

Furthermore, all jobs can be outsourced. period. No matter what education, no matter what field.

>>854375
Will delivar later on tonight

>>854354
Well, shit. Whoops.

>>854379
you cant outsource local skilled labor
no one is going to fly in electricians from india

>>854371
>>854361
>>854351

Please don't derail, guys

>>854379
the facts on the chart are accurate based on both my personal experience and the experiences of the people i have met in trades
sure half of the people in it are dropouts, drunk fuckups, and negros, but the good half, the ones in higher positions, are all college dropouts or smart guys who never even bothered with college

>>854387
>implying it's not one gigantic samefucker
thanks for the bump

>>854386

If you're talking about electricians or plumbers, then not only does your job depend on how strong the union is, but if the union goes on strike scabs can perfectly take up their positions for less pay and more hours.

>>854358
this is a great list of factoids
what books can i get further info from to troll eurofags harder?

>>854404
>implying strikes happen all the time
this aint france motherfucker

>>854410
>amerifag asking what a history book is
WHY AM I NOT SURPRISED?

PLEASE can I have my pretty tier list?

>>854434
>please someone feed me their opinions so i wont have to actually read the whole issue

>>854448

Actually, I'm one of the authors. I'd like to see how I rank in comparison to the rest of the issue.

>>854434
Someone is putting one together, it'll be up later.

>>854472

did you check to see that they didnt change anything without your permission?

theyve done it before

>>854417

>>854492

Yeah, it all checks out. I'm pretty pleased.

>>854492
Jesus, that happened once to you, and it wasn't a malicious edit, it was a mistake.

AND YOU HAVE NEVER STOPPED PISSING AND MOANING.

God tier:
Josef K.

Meh tier:
Everthing else

Shit tier:
Poetry

>>854548

Wow. Close analysis

>>854548
should i read part 1 of One first?

>>854583
It would help a lot, anon.

>>854588
I wasn't real keen on the first part. I take it part ii is worth it?

>>854597
No.

Poetry tier list done

>>854635
Fix'd.

>>854661
you have totally misconstrued what I just presented

need fiction tier.

>>854738
+1

>>854738
+1 

STILL WAITING THE TIER LIST BRETHREN

>>854738
>>854744
>>854753

See
>>854548
>>854790

>>854635
Author of Urinals. Thanks for the input

Well done.

>Not a Priority


my face

>>855147
yeah that was pretty cool

>>854492
I'd like to express again my apologies for something that you obviously consider a personal slight against your writing.

Our policy is to only make grammatical or typographical changes when we see something that doesn't make sense. Like any proofreading, we're still human and susceptible to errors, misinterpretations, or misunderstandings. In every case we make a change, we send the revisions back to the author for confirmation. Unless we have reason to think that the change is controversial or might cause a problem with the author in some capacity, we use the revised version in our publication unless otherwise instructed.

We have never intended nor do we intend to change any of the stories, and if that was one of the side effects of our proofreading, then I apologize for the mistake. Although it may be too little too late to do anything about it now, if you spot an error or serious mistake on our part, please let us know about it via email and we'll publish a correction update in our next issue.

If it's in issue 5 or later, we can actually fix the problem and republish the PDF.

>>855147
Agreement, that one had a great ending twist. And political message to boot, too

The cover page isn't sucking Joseph K's dick for once? What has happened here?

>>855373
We decided we'd been focussing on a few authors way too much and it was time to change things up. The zine is for everyone, why should we only focus on a handful of authors?

Wait, you guys actually got this off the ground? Color me gobsmacked.

Author of "The Man Who was There" here. Some criticism would be real swell.

Also to the editors: From what I can see, the first part of my story is fucked up. Missing letters there and there. What gives?

>>855607
Hmm, I hadn't noticed that. Apologies, this will be changed pronto

>>855607
>>855615
Zine editors' typical competence on display

>>855622

>>855373
lolwut? theres kafka fanfic?

Ah...I wish I could write.

>>855635
And you're a bad editor of a bad project.

>>855648
u mad giga drill

>>855643
He's writing an extended fanfic about how Josef K. got turned into a beetle at the end of the trial. Brilliant

Holy shit.
I already spend too much time doing editing work, but this makes me want to start a rival zine with the gonads to say 'your shit sucks GTFO'.
...But in a nice way, of course.

>>855658
you're fooling nobody

but nice to have you anyhow

>>855652
Dohohohohoho

I actually wish he would do this. But Joseph K's writing style has little to do with Kafka.

>>855662
Give me some time.
As for her, why do you associate me with her?

bump for tier

>>854259

I was aiming for a Lovecraft-inspired sort of theme with this story, which is why it features lots of narration and almost no dialogue (none at all actually...). I guess it may seem old fashioned in the writing style, as that sort of prose is a little outdated by now.

Anyway, thank you for the criticism!

>>855816
This!

>>856304

Same

>>856304
>>856307

Fuck Tiers. People who've read the whole thing pick a few you liked or really hated and give us some brief feedback.

I wrote "King Bee".

You guys like it?

>>857352
> started reading it
> what the fuck is going on here
> not a strong conclusion, I don't think I'd even call it a conclusion

sense, it made none

I am somewhat disappointed that I wasn't credited by the pen name that I insisted upon. Although I appreciate being featured on the cover.

>>857539
Well, fuck.

Sorry about that. Unfortunately, because the cover was not designed in-house, I don't know how easily we'll be able to change it (we can change the rest of the PDF, though that'll be confusing if they're different).

This kinda goes to show that we need more QA. The QA pretty much consists of Prole and myself fixing up technical InDesign issues, and I focus mostly on the technical stuff now and don't do a lot of content.

>>857577
Well, as the story has been split up into two parts, perhaps you could print a small editor's correction in the next issue as a foreward to the second part of the story.

>>857626
So noted.

>>857634
Y'know what we really need Nick, is just empahasize a submission template

I don't have time to catch every little detail while I'm compiling, I try my best but I''ll never cath everything

Suggested template
-------------------------

Name of piece:
Credit author as:
illustration prefrence:
misc:

>not a single article concerned with criticism

Amateur storyteller's hour. Not touching this.

>>857946
> DeepandEdgy
I really trust this opinion

>>857946
What do you mean 'concerned with criticism'?

Also, yes, the point of this is indeed for amateur writing. This isn't a professional publication, and as far as I know none of our authors so far are professional writers. This was never meant to be "professional" - it's mostly just a project for fun and exploration.

Besides, what sane person calling themselves a professional would want their work to be involved in anything that came out of 4chan? That'd be like an artist putting up the Mona Lisa and then someone would photoshop dicks onto it and then apply image macros so people can laugh at each other over the internet.

>>857946

>judges books by their cover
What are even you doing here?

>>857965
>What do you mean 'concerned with criticism'?
I'm saying the magazine has no critical articles. No reviews, no interpretations, no arguments, no theory.

>>857976
fail troll

>>857976

>>857994


>point out what is missing in the magazine i.e. any sort of critical or theoretical element

>get called a troll

Why are you so angry that I enjoy the critical element of the subject, which at the very least provides the possibility of innovation and not people telling pretty stories that are essentially just regurgitated themes and writing mechanics that constitute 'style'?

just submitted my first ever submission to the zine, hope I get some feedback and it's included.

>>858019
I got yo back.

>>858019

How many critical essays did you contribute?

>>858079

Who I said I contributed any? What's your point?

>>858086

If you want a more critical element to a fanzine, contribute some. If the fanzine doesn't focus on what you desire, find something else to read.

>>858118
>If you want a more critical element to a fanzine, contribute some.

Are you aware of how self-defeating that would be? I mean, besides being a blatant tu qouque, why would I want to read my own work? The whole point of reading someone else's magazine is to read THEIR work.

>If the fanzine doesn't focus on what you desire, find something else to read
Who said I won't? This is perfectly compatible with levelling criticism at something at the same time.

>>857976
>I'm saying the magazine has no critical articles. No reviews, no interpretations, no arguments, no theory.

We'd sure love for someone to submit some. Why don't you provide some of your own?

As a contributer, I'm getting very little feedback, but neither is anyone else. Would anyone who read this like to give ANY feedback on ANY piece?

>>858166
Which one do you want feedback on?

>>858189
Any one that you liked or had an opinion about. All the contributers deserve feedback, but do one you had passion or hate for. If you would.

bump

>>858462
Incomplete tier list:

god
--
Jade Green -Very, Very well written. Only complaint is it's short length
Jane - Average writing and cliche setting, but the well-done plot lifts it high above the competition
Not a Priority - Good ending, good writing. A little short
One, pt.2 - Another god-tier win for Josef. The ending is irritatingly inconclusive, but it's a minor complaint in the big scheme of things. FUCK YEA PICTURES
Superhero anonymous - Funny and good writing. Ending is a little too soon IMO, this has potential for expansion

middle
--
Beasts - A little convulted, but funny once the reader gets it
Swing - Good writing, but too short for god tier. Funny ending, and a nice pic.
Stoop - Very smooth writing, but I found the plot to be a little weak
Desmonds bad thought - kind of cliche, but okay execution. too short
Innocents in the fog - Interesting, but rather weak ending. Lots of room for development

shit
--
King bee - Wtf am I reading. No, seriously what the fuck am I reading

>>858508
You're full of shit

Fuck, I'll download this

>>854107
page 12, near the top
"around which myself and Henry were sat."

>>854240
The beginning was good and hooked me in, but when you started talking about the statue I was confused and didn't know what you were talking about (I didn't realize it was a statue until the last sentence). Also, I didn't really get the point of your story.

Why is the text fucked up from page 84 onwards?

>>859063
we had to screecap witness to the dawn to keep the formatting

>>858660
too bad, boi

Sorry for bumping. Author of Jane here. I'd like to improve so the continuation doesn't turn to shit. I'm interested to hear what you guys think.

bump

newfag to /lit/ here. Excuse me for my ignorance, but how might one go about submitting to this zine?

>>860404
Send your story via email to zinewritersguild@gmail.com.

Please clearly label the title, author, and content of the story.

We prefer a standard office document - such as .doc, .rtf, or even .txt. Sending it to us via PDF or other formats may result in some difficulty incorporating it into Adobe InDesign properly.

>>859686
see my tier list
>>858508

I loved to personification and human qualities you gave to the zombie, made the whole thing flow very smoothly. The action by the tub was a little convulted, but nothing really to complain about

Lots of butthurt over literary criticism not being in the zine? Really?

I'll contribute some, then. I've got a ton sitting around collecting dust.

qUIｔ_atｔＡCｋiNｇ_aＮＤ cＬoＷＮiＮG WwＷ.AｎOＮ_X_X_ｘ
X_x_x ＴＡLk.ｓＥ_dＩＲＥｃtlＹ_ＢRｏ_(RemoｖＥ_ＡＬL x)
htgp z wun g tn gt itqzmho vg galq ejzhzkwyvafuj

Theory's kinda weaksauce comin from amateurs

>>860961
>/lit/
>whiney ninnies

>>860952
Criticism of zine work, or random ass reviews?

Author of 'The Anguish of Mort' here, disappointed in lack of criticism. (I know it's only the first part.)

>>860948
It's nice to hear someone who considers my plot better than my writing. The hardest part about writing any action for me does tend to be that I never know if I'm making any fucking sense. So thank you for the workable crit.