/lit/ - Literature

[Kierkegaard No.13377138]

How many years of writing experience do you need to have in order to write a masterpiece?

[Anonymous No.13377146]

at least three, I think

[Anonymous No.13377152]

>>13377138
10+ years of writing every day.

[Anonymous No.13377172]

First, try having some sex.

[Anonymous No.13377198]

>>13377146
this but life experience is far more important.

[Anonymous No.13377203]

>>13377138
none, if you have talent

[Anonymous No.13377210]

>>13377203
+connections to publishers

[Anonymous No.13377317]

>>13377138
It depends on whether you have some interesting idea, your overall fluency in coming up with new ways to express things or new ideas and how others value your aesthetic in relation to "voice" (that helps you decide between ways of writing things). Of course both of these can be cultivated through writing experience

[Anonymous No.13377328]

>>13377203
imagine actually thinking this. you fucks are pathetic.

[Anonymous No.13377346]

>>13377328
still getting rejected by publishers despite working on that novel of yours for years, eh?

[Anonymous No.13377366]

You need to have read all of the major fiction works by the age of 14/15. By 11 you should already have been an avid reader. If you haven't won some sort of prize in literature by age 18 or your English grades in school were less than A+ then you will not make it.

[Anonymous No.13377477]

>>13377138
Interestingly enough, a lot of authors wrote their best stuff pretty early on.

[Anonymous No.13377524]

>>13377203
Kinda this. Although talent is a very loose term. Writing is mostly observation, introspection and finding the best words to communicate your ideas. Obviously all the shit can be learned in a brute force way but if most doesn't come intuitively, you're going to have a shitty time.

>>13377477
Almost as if technical proficiency isn't the most important aspect of art.

[Anonymous No.13378360]

>>13377138
You need to be writing from youth. I've been writing steady since grade 7, and at 30 I'm about to shop around my first real novel.

[Anonymous No.13378584]

Zero.

Any questions?

[Anonymous No.13378602]

>>13377138
Awww she looks so cute, reminds me of Fuko

[Anonymous No.13378609]

While going around some publisher websites, I noticed that all the people getting published already had worked as teachers or has won some awards or had worked for some association for the environment or some bullshit. I am starting to think that you can't be a writer without already being famous/a teacher

[Anonymous No.13378673]

>>13378609
If you're serious about being published nowadays, you need to do some real legwork.
Almost everyone who's published has enjoyed success as a writer already. Your best bet is to whip up some really curated and professionally edited shorts and enter them into grant and amateur competitions in an attempt to gain some sort of experience for your press kit.
Also, you will need a press kit.
Also, you will need a novel that is properly beta read.
Also you will need a novel that is professionally edited and proofread (about a grand per 50k words).
Your press kit will need some promotional artwork, usually a cover, and your profile photograph.

[Anonymous No.13378853]

Zero.

[Anonymous No.13378925]

>>13378673
What's the point of having an agent and publisher if a writer is even supposed to have their own press kit and spend money on editors and artists?

Might as well go all the way and create a social media presence and become self-published.

[Anonymous No.13379494]

>>13378925
You seem to not understand the roles these people play.
Agents and publishers don't fix your fucked up book or prepare it for market. The only time this happens is in extraordinary cases or you're in a working relationship already.
An agent options your book and you pay them.
Publishers buy your book, and they pay you.
An agent won't take your book if it's all fucked up and needs to be proofread. A publisher won't look at your book if it's all fucked up. They're not going to spend several thousand dollars AND pay you a X-thousand dollar stipend for a book that might not sell more than fifty copies once they're marked down 75%. Even published authors advertise their own shit like crazy.
The advantage they offer is 1. proper distribution, and 2. if you're applying for any awards or bursaries or nominations you need to be actually published by a proper publishing house, and 3. you don't sweat any of the details.
Now if you want, your other choice is to do what you suggest. The problem is you have to pay for every copy of the book and it never sees the inside of a book store (books need to be returnable through regular distribution to see the inside of a store).

[Anonymous No.13379905]

>>13377138

>>13330457

[Anonymous No.13379923]

>>13377138

>>13330457

[Anonymous No.13380478]

There are two routes to producing a masterpiece.

Option 1:
>spend decades becoming a technical master of the craft and produce works of incredible beauty that take the field to its highest artform/redefine the field

Option 2:
>have an idea so powerful that even your simple expression of it tales the world by storm

Combine the two if you want to go down in history.

[Anonymous No.13380487]

>muh experience
Meme.
Meme for jobs to.
Experience doesn't matter. Ability does.

[Anonymous No.13380878]

>>13377524

"Writing is mostly observation..."

Get your spy equipment and hacking programs ready if you want to be a writer.

[Anonymous No.13381181]

>>13380478
>have an idea so powerful that even your simple expression of it tales the world by storm

Examples?

[Anonymous No.13381375]

>>13379494
>An agent won't take your book if it's all fucked up and needs to be proofread.
That's given but there is a thick fucking line between somewhat readable and proof-read by a paid editor; and it'd be news for me that they expect you to cross it all the way there. Hell, I recall reading agents who explicitly mentioned that a typo here and there isn't a big deal, as long it doesn't appear neglectful and half-assed; basically respect the other person. Now obviously it's going to be edited before the agent even considers talking to the published but AFAIK that's usually happening in-house either by the agent for light edits or an editor they know for the bigger stuff.

>They're not going to spend several thousand dollars AND pay you a X-thousand dollar stipend for a book that might not sell more than fifty copies
That's given too, they aren't going bother acquiring a book with such a low sales projection in the first place.

>Even published authors advertise their own shit like crazy.
Obviously. The more the better but here is where the the publisher is also supposed to help the most. They employ full-time marketing fags, all types of editors and the likes for a reason, and you generally don't have too much say once they bought your work when it comes to promo material, so a press kit sound pointless.

A bit less bureaucracy, eligibility for meme awards, and distribution in times of book stores dying left and right, doesn't sound like a great deal for a 70-75% cut.

[Anonymous No.13381697]

>>13377138
gorillions

if you want a masterpiece that other people will actually notice you also need gorillions + connections

>>13377203
nope, even wunderkinds were writing constantly, even as children, and getting tons of experience doing it