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/lit/ - Literature

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12703247 No.12703247 [Reply] [Original]

This is from the "literary life" thread from several days ago. It got a big response, I re-read his post many times. I feel like this dude might be producing great work, and I kinda worry about him. It got a lot of responses so I don't think I'm alone in this. Is he the most /lit/ man currently posting here? Is he just crazy?

>> No.12703322

What's the context? Did he post anything else?
This caught my attention. Usually best artists were loners or insane.

>> No.12703327

>>12703322
No. It was just his response to "do you live a literary life?"

>> No.12703371

>>12703327
Well that's unfortunate. Seeing lack of attention this thread got we will probably never hear about loner Kansas anon.

>> No.12703410

Did anybody bother to ask if he was actively writing anything?

>> No.12703457

>>12703247
>got a lot of responses so I don't think I'm alone in this
No there are a lot of plebs impressed by basic bucolic prose here. Sometimes I think you could translate Ausonius and have a hit prose poem

>> No.12703502

>>12703247
Wonder what county he lives in? I'm from Kansas but moved away for college. Was always proud to call it my home state, it's a good, honest place.

>> No.12704125

I am Kansas loner anon. This thread is flattering, bless you.

>>12703410
I am actively writing. About 10k to 30k words per month depending on if I'm doing a novel, verse, or short fiction. I have two novels waiting in the wings, and I won't post excerpts here, because I hold out hope they might be published. When I posted the thing he screenshotted I was working on a short story, on a lark, and will link that if anyone cares to read it. It's representative of my style, to a degree, though not my usual subject matter.

https://www.docdroid.net/6s8EOub/ghost.pdf

It will probably disappoint you all. I haven't a lick of actual literary training beyond taking AP Literature and English in high school.

>> No.12704132

>>12703457
Pseud response.

>> No.12704141

>>12703247
nice advertising bro

>> No.12704186

>>12704132
He is doing basic bucolic prose. Anon's right on that. Though if you translated Ausonius I think he's underestimating how much of the success would be LGTBQSJW driven rather than because of country living.

>> No.12704572

>>12704125
This is actually really good. I enjoyed it a lot. Have you ever been published anywhere?

>> No.12705155

>>12704572
Haven't been published but haven't really tried very hard. I had to get my finances and real job in order first, and they are just now really on track.

I am glad you enjoyed the story. Is there anything in particular that stood out to you?

Did you figure out the identity of the spirit?

>> No.12705240

>>12705155
I didn't figure out the identity of the spirit, sadly. There is probably something I'm missing.

The big thing that stood out to me is the despairing frustration of the spirit's dealings with Willy. It was painful, but painful because of the skill of the tale told; I kept yearning and hoping that Willy would do a better job listening to her and heeding her advice, but he kept frustrating me, and I was left despairing and despondent. There is a note of hope at the end, but it's not a happy ending. I do appreciate that.

If you'd like, if you're interested, I think I have a place in mind that might like your type of short story. Unfortunately they don't pay, but if you're just still looking for your first publication, they might not be a bad place to start.

>> No.12705253

>>12703247
Boring person; boring thread

>> No.12705305

>>12705253
Rude anon; rude comment.

>> No.12705396
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12705396

>>12705253

>> No.12705557

>>12705240
>Unfortunately they don't pay, but if you're just still looking for your first publication, they might not be a bad place to start.
I'll take a look, anon, thanks.

>> No.12705655

>>12703247
>It got a big response, I re-read his post many times. I feel like this dude might be producing great work

I feel like there are probably tens of thousands and maybe hundreds of thousands of people we can say this about in the present, as it stands, right now. I've met three or four people in my own life who I felt were capable of producing great works but for whatever reason, don't write or don't write seriously beyond occasionals. It both pains and comforts me when I extrapolate that number across the breadth of human existence and wonder about how many great stories have gone undiscovered or untold or, worst of all, self-suppressed among the members of our species across the thousands of years we've had the capacity to communicate between each other.

There's a quote by Robert Ebert I think where he talks about his approval for a Rob Zombie movie and says something like "There's a great story in every man's head and here's the proof" and I think to myself about all those anon's in flyover states and weird countries and detached times and feel horrible that I'll never read what they have to say about life or their world.

>> No.12705667

>>12703247
>>12704125
pathetic samefag shill KYS

>> No.12705881

>>12704125
You seem like a far more interesting person than what you are writing. Every paragraph i try to read of this just comes off as stale to the point where i don't want to continue. I feel like you should be going over many of these sentences and thinking to yourself "this just doesn't sound good."

>> No.12705910

>>12704125
>https://www.docdroid.net/6s8EOub/ghost.pdf

It has potential, my friend. If I were you, I would stop every time you make a phrase like "Bryce's lighter, a Zippo," and think how much better it sounds when you just say "Bryce's Zippo"

My philosophy is that if you don't like what you've written, 99 percent of the time it means you've got to subtract. Especially if you're a Midwestern sort, the power of the writers of the region is to describe things briefly and metter of factly. I don't mean to say that *has* to be your style, but I feel like your writing has a lot of places where it can be cut down and it will still sound good.

>> No.12705933

>>12703247
this guy just talked a lot about himself and he said things you would like to see in yourself, so you like it. congrats you now know the trick to successful writing: appeal to people. lol. successful =/= good, though. hard to tell what's good and what's just appealing to you though. hard not to make the mistake of assuming your taste is truth. gets easier as we get older.

>> No.12705957

>>12704125
the first sentences image graphed me a scanner darkly

>> No.12705976

>>12705881
This is an interesting critique. I've never gotten one like it before, the stale complaint. I think it might come from me trying to tone down my urge to be a little musical in my writing and very wordy and so coming off too far to the other end. Most of my writing is actually neo-romantic (if that's the term?) and sounds like it's fairly old. I'm not saying that's a good thing, as that also rub people the wrong way, but as Willy is the 'narrator' for this story I wanted it to be little stilted, broken, and ugly.

>>12705910
>the power of the writers of the region is to describe things briefly and metter of factly
I'm not particularly interested in doing that because it's a regional stereotype. I don't want to write a bunch of stark crap that trades as much on any appearance of flyover state victimhood. I would agree, however, that some things are overwritten. Though I tidied up the formatting, what I posted is only a few days old and still a rough draft.

>> No.12705981

>>12704125
What books have you enjoyed reading recently? Do you have any personal favorites you care to mention?

>> No.12705992

>>12705655
thanks for adding some depth to this thread, anon.

>> No.12706020

>>12705981
Sure, and thanks for asking. This is all stuff read in the last five years, since I started reading in earnest, that I would call a favorite
In no particular order
Tess of the D'Ubervilles
Crime and Punishment
The Idiot
The Master and Margarita
Wuthering Heights
The Honourable Schoolboy
Master and Commander
A Murder of Quality
Mallard by Don Hale
Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy

>> No.12706030

>>12705933
>hard not to make the mistake of assuming your taste is truth.
if you dont do this, you trust another mans taste as truth. there is no escape.

>> No.12706331

>>12705557
All right, here. Check these guys out:

https://newpoplit.com/

I really do think they'd publish you.

>> No.12707538

bumping

>> No.12707657

bump for hope

>> No.12707678 [DELETED] 

please help him in the link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g1drZ1j-C0

>> No.12709056

bump2

>> No.12709060

>>12709056
Dude stop bumping this. Pretty sure you can get banned for that in slower boards

>> No.12709240

>>12704125
Some of the best material I've seen out of /lit/, although that's perhaps not a high bar. The basic advice of >>12705910 will do you good. I think what you have needs some proofreading and editing, but it's basically sound. I don't know that I agree with >>12705881 but I can see where he's coming from.
Good luck.

>> No.12710077

sounds good. google uss liberty

>> No.12710089

>>12703457
As if that is what caught our eye and not the bit about talking to wallls.

>> No.12710112

>>12704125
Kansas anon, you should get into tulpamancy. It helps with the loneliness, and if you're too much of a skeptic at least read a bit on the subject at tulpa.info, it'll only take you 5 mins.

>> No.12710153

>>12710089
>talking to walls.
Not him but https://youtu.be/G_7MJQnk4M8
If you're under 30 that might not be a cultural reference, but you also probably think Indiana Jones started with the alien movie.

>> No.12710163

A few things, the whole idea of “flyover state” writers is romanticized beyond belief. This isn’t a knock at Kansas Guy because he seems very hardworking and friendly which writers need. I think this is mostly because we’re inundated with an insane amount of media from coastal cities and New York writers and entertainers more broadly. People like that this Guy are approachable and down to earth but it almost feels like just another caricature in art obsessed community desperately trying to find “authenticity “ in the modern world. I think largely the whole southerner/flyover “type” is something that doesn’t even exist anymore. This guy is extremely smart for recognizing that. Coastal people think that America is the same as it’s always been. Technology has effected everyone even this guy. I haven’t read his writing, so I wouldn’t know if it’s good or bad. I can’t say the kinds of people writers are don’t color their writing because we all know it does, but the whole flyover thing is such a trope. We’re all one big homogeneous blob of chain stores and parking lots. The best thing you can do, Kansas, is keep working hard. Get your work out there and do it a lot. Like someone else already pointed out there are good writers everywhere but not all of them are smart or hardworking. Good luck.