/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.11615030]

Hows your book coming on lit

Do you stick to the autistic "1000 worlds a day no matter what" rule or the "when its ready to come out" rule?

[Anonymous No.11615034]

>writing
no i grew up a long time ago

[Anonymous No.11615035]

>>11615030
>1000 worlds a day no matter what
You are like a little baby. I write 3000 worlds per day on average. My first book has already been published and I have three or four others well on the way.

[Anonymous No.11615039]

>>11615035
>] [Top
Nice, and how does your editing process work? Do you chop lots out? Also link to the book

[Anonymous No.11615051]

>>11615039
>how does your editing process work? Do you chop lots out?
I have the first draft out in a couple months, then I let it sit for a month while I rest and do other things, before returning to the work with a fresh perspective. I fix errors, rewrite parts, delete bits that don't work, and autistically change something every time I open the damned thing. I probably could've kept it going for years but I had to put a stop somewhere and basically kicked it out there once I was more or less satisfied with it.

Unfortunately, as at least a couple people have told me, it could still use a proper editor. I'll make sure to have one for the next work, which should come out sometime around winter barring delays.

>link to the book
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FJPM8XY
If you like fantasy, underdogs, and weird shit, you'll probably enjoy it okay.

>genre fiction
Yes, I'm sorry.

[Anonymous No.11615061]

>>11615051
Yeah I'm definately going to try and attract an agent and editor first but its hard as a debut novelist

[Anonymous No.11615314]

I'm never ready

[Anonymous No.11615529]

>>11615061
just get daddy to make some calls

[Anonymous No.11615779]

>>11615030
1000 words per day is retarded, I can't force inspiration. Even if I wanted to I couldn't just force myself to write more without it all coming out as forced dogshit.

[Anonymous No.11615798]

>>11615030
Am i the only one who wants to give her a real perl necklace?

[Anonymous No.11615832]

>>11615051
Yeah definitely needs an editor:
>For a brief moment a plethora of negative emotions was seen by everyone
Shouldn't that be 'were' seen?

>Melker butted in, rumbling and eyes gleaming strangely
What is rumbling here? His voice? His stomach? Unclear

>something resembling grief passed on his features, then shifted away
Awkwardly constructed, the whole 'passing on his features' thing is strange. Is shifted the right word?

>All of them got some clear, odorous liquid poured into small glasses.
Again sounds awkward to me. Were they given the drinks? Or were their glasses refilled? 'Clear, odorous liquid was poured into small glasses and offered to each of them', sounds more natural.

>His tingly fingers had a hard time not spill any.
I assume it should be 'spilling'?

You basically just need some to go through with a fine-tooth comb in this manner for the whole thing, would improve it immensely. The style is strangely casual at times and it could all just do with a cleaning up. I've been critical so I feel I should buy it, but currently can't spend anything until Friday when I'm paid so I'll do so then

[Anonymous No.11615878]

>>11615832
Thanks for the feedback and I hope the book's got enough to keep you reading it till the end.

Feel free to come over to /sffg/ to talk more about it if it's got enough to discuss apart from the editing mistakes.

[Anonymous No.11616755]

I finished my first attempt at a novel back in October of 2017. My life has gone to shit since then, every aspect of it. I'm not sure what I expected, but at least I did something I cared about and actually finished it.

Mostly, I just wanted to prove to myself that I could do it, that it doesn't require any real special talent or skill. I was curious about the process and I learned a lot along the way.

The real challenge now is figuring out what to do next. I say that with no optimism because it has not been easy or pleasant at all. Writing the book felt like at least I had some direction and focus, even if it was leading me down a dead end. Now, I have no clue what I'm supposed to be doing. I'll be 30 soon and have very little to show for it. I could wake up tomorrow and my life would be no different from when I was 19.

[Anonymous No.11616783]

>>11616755
>The real challenge now is figuring out what to do next.
Write another one.

I'm serious. Your very first novel is most likely ineligible for publication. The second one as well, probably. Trying to publish them would be kind of like a guy running around the block one time and thinking he can take on the marathon: not entirely impossible, but most likely you're still a bit pudgy and out of shape and might want to keep on working out a little bit more.

You'll have to keep on writing shit until you're legitimately sure that it's something worth throwing out there. I wrote about four before I ended up with something I considered worthwhile, and even that's not taking into account a decade's worth of fanfiction and other shit that was either too short to really count or that I never really finished. If this really is your "first attempt", you're nowhere near ready.

Keep at it, though! I have faith in you: if I could do it, then anyone can.

[Anonymous No.11616811]

>>11616783
That's the worst part, I think. I had put myself through hell to get the first one finished, not worrying about publication or editing or anything. I just wanted a complete manuscript written from an original idea.

And then as soon as it was done, I recognized that now I knew how to do that much, so I started writing the next one immediately, wanting to take what I'd learned and apply to another idea.

It doesn't cost me anything but time to send off queries to agents and publishers, so I do it anyway. But yeah, of course it's been rejected or ignored by every single one so far lol

[Anonymous No.11616920]

I just self-published my first book today, but I don't know where to go from here, or if anyone will ever actually find it. Any advice for beginners?

[Anonymous No.11616942]

>>11616920
Put it up as free promotion. Start an ad campaign somewhere. Tell all your friends. Keep shilling that shit like crazy.

[Anonymous No.11616962]

>>11616920
>>11616942
I've got to say, this is bad advice.

My inbox gets flooded with ebooks being given away as promotional items for self-published authors and I delete every single one, have never read any of them. I can't imagine anyone does.

[Anonymous No.11616976]

>>11616962
When I put mine up to free promotion I ultimately got like a hundred people in five days picking it up. It's not much, maybe, but it's also more than zero.

Do you have better ideas? I'm always looking for more things to do to spread out, myself.

[Anonymous No.11616985]

>>11616942
Where should I put it up for free promotion? I don't have the extra income for an ad publicity. I was thinking about printing out some flyers for cheap and posting them at local businesses that are down with that. Also, I haven't had a social media account since fucking myspace if you can believe that because I've always felt that they were soulsucking vortexes of vanity, but I should probably change that if I want to get my name out there. What are the best social media sights for promoting art, specifically stories and books?

[Anonymous No.11617018]

>>11616985
Where did you publish the book? They should all have free promotion available.

[Anonymous No.11617065]

>>11615832
the plural "emotions" part can cause confusion, but in this situation "a plethora" actually takes the place of the subject, which is singular, so was is correct.
You make a lot of good criticisms though.

>>11615051
Take my advice with a grain of salt as I'm just a casual reader, and have little experience with writing fiction. Using the block that 878 used, the main issue I notice is weak/awkward grammar (of which there are very few of).

>"turned it around with his thin long fingers"
This should be "thin, long fingers", as both thin and long are modifying fingers, making it a coordinate adjective.

>"you never heard he wasn't, either"
This is a stylistic choice, but either acts as the adverb to was(n't), so no comma is needed. That being said, if you want it to be read with a pause ("you never heard he wasn't... either" rather than "you never heard he wasn't either), definitely keep it as you have it.

Both colons in the paragraph beginning with "Peal fumbled" are unnecessary. A general rule when using a colon that doesn't start a sentence is to avoid it whenever you could use a coordinator. In the case of "His face softened: something resembling grief passed on his features, then shifted away", I'm not sure if the part after the colon describes what the softening looks like, if it's happening at the same time, or if it's happening after. The colon (and the semi-colon for that matter) can be used quite beautifully, but I wouldn't advise sacrificing clarity for that.

Don't be afraid to use "said". Mixing your dialog up with verbs is nice to stop it from getting stale, but you can be quite liberal with said before it gets stale. Read Tolkien and count how many times he uses "said", you'll notice it can be used at least 50% of the time before you even notice it.

Your writing is solid, but sifting through it with a grammar textbook or whatever you have would do you a lot of good

[Anonymous No.11617133]

>>11617018
I published it on Lulu and it's up for review on createspace

[Anonymous No.11617146]

I only write when I feel like I might start getting a panic attack. It's never anything good nor is it meant to be read ever again, it just helps me until the moment passes.

[Anonymous No.11617168]

>>11617065
Yes, now I reread that part it makes sense to me - Scratch that part then Mr writer

[Anonymous No.11617227]

I block 3PM to 6PM as the hours I have to do something with the book, anything at all. As it's now in the draft stage, I tend to write, and it often tallies up to anywhere between 1K and 3K words.

I write each chapter in a seperate Word document so I don't focus on the 60K word minimum for a novel.

At this pace, I should be ready to publish within 12 months. It took me about a month to outline and corkboard, and I expect editing/revision to take two months or so.

I'm enjoying the process and the pace. Keep an eye out for me!

[Anonymous No.11617294]

>>11615034
>calls writing childish
>posts on /lit/
What did he mean by this?

[Anonymous No.11617298]

>>11615035
Can you believe it actually took God 7 days to make just one?

[Anonymous No.11618148]

>>11615030
I have not written a single word of it. I mean I am writing, mostly short stories but not the big one. I probably will follow the 1000 words a day model when I do start.

[Anonymous No.11618152]

>>11618148
Climb upon my faithful stEE-eed

[Anonymous No.11618163]

>>11615030
I just write philosophical essays most of the time so I don't really push myself, if I have somethimg to write, I write it.

[Anonymous No.11618175]

>>11618163
Then we gonna ride, gonna smoke some wee-EE-eeD

[Anonymous No.11618179]

>>11615035
Yeah, but 1000 nuggets of gold are worth a lot more than 3000 nuggets of shit

[Anonymous No.11618180]

>>11618175
I don't do that stinky stuff I'm a good boy

[Anonymous No.11618185]

>>11618180
Climb upon my Big. Assed. STEE-eed.

[Anonymous No.11618391]

>>11615798
If by that you mean cum all over her then no

[Anonymous No.11618551]

>>11618391
And riiide, riiide, riiiiIIIIiiiiiddddddah

[Anonymous No.11618587]

>>11618163
I feel ya man. We live in a society and sometimes it can just be too much

[Anonymous No.11618589]

>>11618587
Based and redpilled

[Anonymous No.11618966]

>>11618179
But 3000 nuggets of gold are worth even more than 1000 nuggets of shit.

What a useless post.

[Anonymous No.11619042]

>>11618966
Of course, but gold is not what you're producing here. You're simply digging your head deeper and deeper up your own asshole mining for more and more shit. Up the ass is the path of quantity over quality. I imagine you sitting in a room filled with piles and piles of shit, like Smaug's lair of gold mounds, but instead of gold it's shit, tons and tons of shit that keep adding to and taking away as you devour and produce as you smear it all over your keyboard saying, "Thanks a lot for being so unworthy of my superior intellect society"

[Anonymous No.11619513]

>>11619042
I wonder what provoked such vitriol.

Are you jealous?

[Anonymous No.11620303]

>>11619513
>muh fantasy

[Anonymous No.11621248]

>>11615832
>>11617065

Both of you missed the fact that the sentence is still in passive voice. Should say "For a brief moment, everyone saw a plethora of negative emotions".

[Anonymous No.11621275]

I've realized that I am not a genius at storytelling, only writing sentences. So I've abandoned my unreadable project. Instead, I'm going to focus on building plots and psychologically plausible characters, because the other way of writing is pure vanity, excess, like a dumping ground for all the toxic waste of my mind.
I have one character who is incredibly self referential and neurotic, who tortures himself with his own thoughts, while I have another character who is barely aware of himself, lives a happy and successful life. The neurotic character sees the carefree character as an ends to a means, that hopefully he can become more like him, as if through osmosis, while the mentally character sees the neurotic as an interesting companion, a means in and of himself. They are both expatriates in Israel

[Anonymous No.11621283]

>>11621275
means to an end*
mentally healthy*