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/lit/ - Literature

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12345972 No.12345972 [Reply] [Original]

I turn 37 this week. At what point do publishers stop looking at your potential and just start tuning you out with all the other middle-aged midwits who send them recyclables? A...asking for a friend.

>> No.12345981

>>12345972
If you haven't been published by 25 you're just wasting your time and embarrassing yourself.

>> No.12346005

>>12345981
Oh please what could a 25 year old -- someone born in 19 and ninety-FOUR, someone who was barely sentient when the towers fell -- possibly have to say about life. I know some of them could have a gift for storytelling learned from careful attention to novels or yarn-spinning uncles. I only doubt people who have spent the past ten years on youtube could have anything worth saying.

>> No.12346029

>>12345972
38.
gave up a couple years ago.
have no idea what i'm doing.
think I'll get a job at a grocery store or something.

>> No.12346046

>>12346005
Most likely you are only 24 if you were born in 1994 by this time of year.

>> No.12346047

>>12345972
I think the point was very much that I had something to say about life, but that people didn't agree with it.

My writing had a sort of youthful vibrancy, it colorized what was generally a black and white medium, and publishers hate that.

They can sense life, anything with a pulse, really, plants shrivel and die in the waiting room.

>> No.12346053

>>12346005
you don’t know what sentient means you fucking retard

sentient does not mean self aware it means able to feel, you fucking idiot

>> No.12346054

>>12345972
I think most publishers won't even read your cover letter unless they think you are over 40.

>> No.12346058
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12346058

>>12345981
Oh it's this faggot again. Why do you insist on coming in here and LARPing an important person? JK Rowling was well over 25 and published a massively successful series of books. In fact I can't think of an author who is 25 that is currently being published.

>> No.12346060

>>12346053
its the era of dissapointment.
you can no longer give people what they want because they feel like they don't deserve it.

>> No.12346066

>>12346053
hey mister dictionary. do lit a favor and look up the definition of hyperbole.

>> No.12346069

the thing I'm struggling most with is translating my dozens of ideas and premises into something that isn't one-dimensional.

creating characters, multiple arcs, promises, themes etc. that all tie in with one another under the broad premise of what I set out with in my initial paragraph idea.

...and then I get bombarded by another eureka idea which pulls me completely out of any focus I have, and I start writing a basic premise from scratch again.

>> No.12346071

>>12346066
hey mr redditor, please go back to your stifling 100 verbal iq quip factory and never return
>>12346060
great tweet bro

>> No.12346073

>>12346069
i do this except i never write anything down.

if i wrote shit down i'd probably have a novel outline by now just from showerthoughts and errandthoughts

>> No.12346085

>>12345981
This is coming from someone with no knowledge of the industry. Some of the biggest names in mainstream midwit literature started late, like Don Delillo and George Saunders. But neither of them were 4channel rejects so OP is probably fucked.

>> No.12346088

>>12346046
Yeah I’m 24 and was born in 94. And I will be for the next 9 months.

>> No.12346092
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12346092

>being crushed under the weight of expectation to finally get a job and move out so your mother can retire
>you remember the promise you made to yourself that you'd rather kill yourself than degenerate into a miserable wage slave

now if only I could translate this feeling into a novel I'd be set

>> No.12346094

>>12345981
Nah, my first novel was published when I was 28.

>> No.12346868

>>12345972
I don't think age really matters in publishing. It's not like the Olympics where you need to have a good body. You need a good mind, and I think most people peak mentally in their 30s and 40s.
I do know some guys that I think are probably too old to get published, but it's because they're starting old, not because they've gotten too old. If they'd been writing that whole time they'd definitely be publishable, but they spent their whole lives doing STEM work and so they're used to creating efficient, not beautiful things.

>> No.12346888

>>12346868
>most people peak mentally in their 30s and 40s
i like how most of your synapses die by 25 and instead of that being a grim situation, everyone just agreed to interpret it differently so they could be young forever (which also means everyone under 25 has to be an infant)

>> No.12346889

>>12346047
>it colorized what was generally a black and white medium

bringing a bit of latinx flair to literature i like it

>> No.12346906

>>12346058
no he's not that faggot, I am that faggot.
And he's right.
The only way you'll be published post 25 is if you write a pandering genre novel, have an established audience, use bribery, or nepotism.

>> No.12347022

>>12346906
Or it's good and marketable because of the quality of the writing.

>> No.12347031

>>12347022
People don't have time to read your shit even if it's "good" (mostly subjective).
It needs a recommendation or other incentive.

>> No.12347116

>>12346005
Based.
This one especially resonates in my mind.

>> No.12347140

>>12346005
Not based.
The reality is you are correct to assume that no old people will read young people's work, but dont mistake that for them wanting to read /your/ work instead.
The problem is that literature has a lengthy history and takes a lot of time to consume, there is a huge backlog of good content to get to that youtube videos and movies dont really have. The modern world moves much quicker and so in a sense any intelligent publisher would aim for writers that speak tihs youtube language you fail to undestand.

>> No.12347330

>>12346005
Link us to your novels?

>> No.12347364

>hey give me your unpublished novel, for free

>> No.12347382

>>12347364
in a way that should be expected nowadays and if you disagree that's part of why you won't be published.

>> No.12347408

>>12347382
you sound like a boomer who wants people to work for him "for the experience"

>> No.12347421

>>12347408
you sound like a true boomer that doesn't understand how the dang-fangled internet works.
All books should and can now be free, people just buy them as trophies.
you fucking dumb pig.

>> No.12347460

>the failed business model of the corrupt music industry should be adopted by publishers

so this is what communism is like. fuck off back to your napster and torrents, kiddo.

>> No.12347465

>>12345972
I'm 24 and got a short story and some meme poems published. They are horrendous but hey, it's something.

>> No.12347470

>>12346906
There's no correlation with age you dunce.

>> No.12347497

I'll never understand the being published meme. Like if that shit actually mean something.
There may be a correlation between being published on a prestigious editorial and your skill as a writer, but ultimately that's just mental jerking off.

>> No.12347498

>>12347470
there is actually.
It has to do with how the industries seek out new talent.
It's too complicated to explain right now but basically this:

ways to be published: write a pandering genre novel, have an established reputation audience, use bribery, or nepotism.

>> No.12347501

>>12347460
your words aren't worth jack shit to be honest.
It's not communism, it's capitalism.

>> No.12347572

>>12346088
Based September 94 child
Does your birthday fall on the 4th?

>> No.12347591

>>12347572
that is far from based.

>> No.12347665

>>12345972
I gave up on writing and started drawing. Years of writing and nothing. Not even two years into drawing and I'm already getting people asking for commissions. And it's far more fulfilling since 90 percent of your output isn't thrown away never to be seen by anyone.

>> No.12347727

It's not really going. My why isn't enough of a motivating factor to make me finish anything other than short stories. I'm pretty alone when it comes to just finding people who also share the same interests as me or even the same desire for more in life.

>> No.12348184

>>12347665
How did you learn to draw? Pls share fren

>> No.12348240

I've written a short (150-page) novel over the last few years, that I love so much I don't want to publish or share it. The world doesn't deserve it.

>> No.12349165

>>12348184
Literally just start drawing. At the beginning, that's more than enough since drawing is heavily based on muscle memory. After a few weeks, you'll know where your weak areas are and will be able to focus your learning on your own.

>> No.12349382

>>12346005
>anyone who is not an old fuck like me cannot possibly have anything of value to say
>tfw you think you are smart by browsing lit and reading books but you are so ironically dumb that you have the same opinions as every other boomer in existance
just off yourself you are stalling

>> No.12349419

The last 5 times I sent short stories for contests I got nothing out of them, before that I think I got a confirmation that they received it at least.
I don't even know anymore. I hate everything I write, I just hate other stuff more so I assume I'm not as bad as I could be and keep trying. Sometimes I check someone's small bio and find selfpublished books or no evidence of it existing and I rage so much it's not even funny.

>> No.12349758

>>12346005
Imagine being this jealous of another man youth. You're getting old gramps