/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.11574138]

How's the writing career coming, /lit/?

[Anonymous No.11574153]

>>11574138
>accepting money

[Anonymous No.11574160]

Not well.

How do people do it? How do they get up every single day and write and think to themselves, "yes, I'm going to upload/publish this" and believe that their writing alone is going to matter to other people, that other people will actually care about reading it? I'm so scared to start. I have no online presence, no social clout, it would be highly unlikely anyone would find what I write, let alone want to read what I have to offer. I'm so focused on the goal of success that I've lost the passion for telling stories inside of me. I just don't see myself making it anymore.

[Anonymous No.11574183]

>>11574160
Thats because you most likely have no real interests. Writing for the sake of writing is a trap many people fall in

[Anonymous No.11574201]

>>11574160
i am slowly realizing i will probably never be published, mostly just because i have never sent anyone anything ive written. I once met a guy who was the editor of a poetry publication and showed him my stuff which he said he liked and i should send it to him, but i think he was just being nice to me because we were getting along well and having some beers

but to answer your question, I started my adolescence with an unreal amount of arrogance. I had basically succeeded at everything I ever tried and I assumed poetry would be just another example of this. I think many kids have similar experiences until reality smacks them up a bit.

to continue into your 20s with this belief requires either positive reinforcement from actual success or a narcissistic level of confidence

[Anonymous No.11574203]

>>11574138
Not great but thanks for asking.

[Anonymous No.11574216]

>>11574138
>write shit
>its uninspired
>writers block
>no creativity
>all my best work is behind me
>i never even started

its going well

[Anonymous No.11574239]

>>11574138
My blog got 5 views today. Things are looking up.

[Anonymous No.11574276]

>>11574183
I think my problem is that I feel my interests aren't particularly interesting. I enjoy coming up with slow-burn mysteries that get progressively darker and more fucked up as the story progresses. I like writing characters who develop over time, especially if it's an ensemble cast. I like writing horror the most. Horror, mystery, fantasy.

The problem is I feel comedy is what sells. Everyone wants light-hearted humor and stories that don't have a lot going on, but I can only pull off dark humor at best. Also, I prefer writing screenplays to prose.

[Anonymous No.11574286]

>>11574138
Self-published a month ago, more than a hundred people have found my book so far.

Of course, most of them were during the five-day period where I'd set the ebook to be free. But still, I think I could've done worse for my first published thing.

[Anonymous No.11574288]

>>11574276
>what sells
https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/bestsellers/

just look at this shit lmao

[Anonymous No.11574317]

>>11574138
You guys are all going to fail if you continue with this mindset that no one will be interested in your work.

Have some dignity and confidence in yourself, it’s repulsive.

You will find success if you allow yourself to. Even if it takes 10 years, you will make it. If that scenario sounds daunting to you, stop writing. You don’t want to be a writer. Learn a trade and sink into your mental hole.

[Anonymous No.11574339]

>>11574138
Writing my Christian bildungsroman, desu senpai

[Anonymous No.11574451]

>>11574276
>The problem is I feel comedy is what sells. Everyone wants light-hearted humor

dude only normies like that shit, don´t be discouraged about it

[Anonymous No.11574474]

>>11574201
I haven't read your stuff but for what it's worth your assumption about the editor seems more defensive than well-founded. You're quite possibly right, but I don't see why you should feel that way without some further indication that it's the case

[Anonymous No.11574486]

>>11574138
LMAO

[Anonymous No.11574524]

>>11574474
im pretty sure my stuff is not suitable for publication. I really only write it for myself, because i am just obsessed with capturing little moments of beauty.

Some of my friends who write like it but they say it's like im not really writing poems, more just collections of pretty phrases. Which is accurate. It's like a little drug for me.

It's also really romantic in a way that modern sensibilities would find unfashionable I believe. one of my favorite poems I wrote contains the phrase 'your heart is like that ruin, forgotten in the breeze' to give you a sense of the level of gayness we are dealing with here. Im aware this stuff is ridiculous but i cant help it

[Anonymous No.11574536]

Got a poem published at the end of last month. I have quite a few other poems out for submission. Hopefully I continue to get poems published. I seem to be better at poetry than I am at prose, judging by the reaction my work has gotten.

[Anonymous No.11575346]

>>11574288
wake me up

[Anonymous No.11575360]

I love writing romance in various genres and quite a few people have told me they like my stuff, but I have no connections and I'm cripplingly terrified of rejection.

[Anonymous No.11575375]

Gonna submit some short stories soon. I'm confident I can get some stuff published eventually, even if its in small mags and I never progress beyond that. And that's good enough for me, I'd rather have my work read by a small group of people who actually appreciate it than a larger audience who don't really get it.

>>11574524
That sounds nice anon, I've done some similar stuff myself. I'd love to run a zine dedicated to that kind of work someday.

[Anonymous No.11575380]

>>11575346
Writing has never been a profitable enterprise because literary fiction doesn't have wide commercial appeal. Until the glorious revolution comes you're going to have to deal.

[Anonymous No.11575385]

I'm teaching high school lit for the most part, but I got a contract to write a novel.

[Anonymous No.11575417]

first I gotta find a way to get microsoft word for free then I can stop writing on paper with a pencil, its so slow and gives me occasional carpal tunnel.
Living pay check to pay check in Brooklyn isn't "comfy" as my peers believe it to be

[Anonymous No.11575433]

I'm working on a novel now while also finishing up coursework for my Ph.D. It's about grad school, of all things, and I'm about 40 pages in. I don't plan for it to be longer than 300 pages.

[Anonymous No.11575461]

>>11575417
>wanting to write in word in the first place
>not being able to figure out how to pirate word
>not using any of the huge number of other editors
not gonna make it

[Anonymous No.11575623]

>>11574288
Are we in the part of the cycle where novels are considered women's schlock?

[Anonymous No.11575642]

>>11575623
i think that's the entire cycle m8

[Anonymous No.11575654]

>>11575642

[Anonymous No.11575665]

>>11575654
man i loved that character's progression, probably the only good part of that retarded show. Let me take this time out of my day to say that Mike is the stupidest fucking character ever created in any medium
>walter, i murder people for money, but let me tell you about morality
>walter, let me talk in my gay gravelly voice about some stupid anecdote that makes me seem badass
>walter, let me be unflappable about everything excep this small subset of sentimental things that appeal to the middle class audience of this retarded show
god i fucking hated mike

[Anonymous No.11575673]

>>11575433
i don't even have a pussy but it's so dry right now.

[Anonymous No.11575683]

I can't write more than 500 words a day and it's pathetic.

[Anonymous No.11575694]

>>11575683
Practice writing short stories. You only need to double that speed to match the average professional writer. MFA programs expect 6000-7000 words a week. 500 is not that bad if you're consistent and write every day.

[Anonymous No.11575696]

>>11575433
What kind of campus novel?

[Anonymous No.11575718]

>>11575694
HOW THE FUCK DO YOU WRITE A SHORT STORY?

HOW TO COME UP WITH AN ARCH THAT CAN BE INTERESTING IN SUCH A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME?

[Anonymous No.11575722]

>>11575694
That's the funny thing. If I'm writing a short story, I can crack 3-4k words in a day and be done with it. Pretty weird that my novel isn't going anywhere. I'm about 20k words into it.

[Anonymous No.11575725]

>>11575718
What's your word target? I doubt you can't write a 3k word story. Read a lot of Chekhov.

[Anonymous No.11575760]

>>11575718
It's way easier to come up with a short story arc than a novel-length one anon. Just start with something, a theme, an object, a place, etc, and spin a short narrative around it. e.z.

[Anonymous No.11575764]

>>11574288

[Anonymous No.11575948]

>>11575718
ughh just arrange words

[Anonymous No.11575951]

>>11574286
congrats man or woman. you can still promote your stories on a platform like wattpad or thinfiction

[Anonymous No.11576649]

>>11574288
what the FUCK is the deal with Kevin guy and his schlock about being rich and chinese?

[Anonymous No.11576663]

>>11574160
Writers generally suffer from a sort of inverse Dunning-Kruger syndrome, where the more skill they actually possess in their craft, the less confidence they have in its quality.

[Anonymous No.11576666]

>>11574288
>37 self helpbooks with the word fuck in the title
>19 books for teenage girls 90% with the word woman or girl in the title
>James Patterson, Dan Brown, Stephen King
>2 seperate books with the word homo in the title

[Anonymous No.11576670]

>>11576649
Asian people read the most. And I guess they like money a lot.

[Anonymous No.11576694]

>>11574288

[Anonymous No.11576730]

Could be worse.

I published my first book 6 months ago and media is still interested. My book was on two newspapers last week. Now I'm finishing my second manuscript and going to send it to publishers (hopefully) next week. Then I can finally start my third book.

But I don't think writing is ever going to be my career. I make 4k/month in my day job and I still have lots of time and energy to write. Maybe if I would make like 5k with writing, I could quit my actual career.

[Anonymous No.11576732]

>>11576663
i always got this feeling in high school when doing my finals, i wasnt wrong though..l

[Anonymous No.11576782]

>>11576730
Good for you anon

[Anonymous No.11576846]

>>11574138
Got my first short story published on my own merit a month ago. Felt good.

[Anonymous No.11576862]

I have many really good ideas.

That's how my career is going.

[Anonymous No.11577394]

I'm currently stuck on coming up with a setting for my urban sci-fi thriller mystery slice of life novel and it's kinda bothersome since I'm a very indecisive person, but at least I have a pretty solid idea IMO. I actually plan on porting it as a visual novel once I'm done. I know it might turn off a lot of potential readers since everyone will assume it's just another amateur dating sim kind of thing, but I think that the medium has an immense amount of potential and if it does end up succesful then it'll stand out more than if it was a succesful book.

[Anonymous No.11577415]

I'm not a fame whore.

[Anonymous No.11578382]

I make pretty decent money writing technothrillers for neocon boomers.

The only cost is my soul, and the fact that I've polluted my mind to such an extent that I'm not sure I'm capable of writing anything good anymore.

"I'll just do this under a pseudonym for the money while I write my real novel" is a trap m8s.

[Anonymous No.11579243]

>>11576663
Not always. Some writers are very confident. Wordsworth was extremely cocky about his work, as was Joyce.

[Anonymous No.11579271]

Not easy.

I'm so fucking tired from work everyday, it's so difficult to sit down and find some kind of will or want to do it. Then I end up falling back into that trap of feeling like I haven't done ANYTHING, so I constantly have to bring up what I have written so far and remind myself that, yea, I did do SOMETHING. Even if it was only one sentence, it was fucking something.

Then I edit for a while and fall asleep.

I haven't got much new in the past few weeks.

>>11574160
Most of that fear is in your head man. It's no doubt a drowning fear, but you gotta think of like...what reason do you even get up and talk to people each day? We are listening on here and responding, so even if your work -is- crap, right at this moment, it doesn't mean it won't get better or that no one wants to read or hear it.

Try and put away the dream of making some real money on it. You have to let realities sit in without them actually crushing you.

Your writing could be amazing, but if it doesn't hit the right crowd, or get the right amount of publicity, it may never get big. So if you do eventually want it to get big, you have to hussle to make it happen. Just like everything else in life.

[Anonymous No.11579325]

I'm a direct response copywriter so I make a lot of money. Thanks for asking.

[Psoid Froid No.11579484]

>>11579243
As is I, Psoid Froid, the greatest contemporary philosopher!

Praise me!

[Anonymous No.11579563]

>>11574138
I write poems fairly frequently and I'm pretty sure that I'll be able to get it published sometime within the next few years. I don't expect to become a famous author nor to be able to make a living writing, but I'm confident that I'm pretty good and that some people will enjoy reading what I write.

[Anonymous No.11579578]

I just submitted a poem to the Atlantic, wish me luck.

[Anonymous No.11579624]

>>11575380
Yes once the revolution comes I sure would love for the state to kill me, because of what I have written.

[Anonymous No.11579654]

>>11574138
It could be better, but I am writing all the same. Sadly I seem to write only a few thousand words, get bored with the idea and move onto the next. Only finished one story so far.

[Anonymous No.11579772]

>>11579624
>all leftism = ussr
it's ok to admit you don't know what you're talking about anon

[Anonymous No.11580069]

>>11579772
>It'll be different this time I swear!
The revolution will only allow for tyranny

[Anonymous No.11580330]

>>11574138

Those who can't, teach.
That said I just signed papers to be hired as a writing instructor at a community college today.

So, poorly.

[gogem.pro No.11580432]

finished the second draft of my first novel yesterday
just need some art for it and im ready to get rich.

[Anonymous No.11580453]

One of my stories got nominated for the Best of the Net anthology, so that was nice.

[Anonymous No.11580460]

>>11579325
How’d you get into that?

[Anonymous No.11580512]

>>11575417
hey i'm also in brooklyn, lets link up