/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.13477279]

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

[Anonymous No.13477304]

>>13477279
Sold my first book the other day. Well, I have "sold" a few but I give them away for free. Someone gave me money for the first time

[Anonymous No.13477427]

>>13477279
>career

[Anonymous No.13477459]

I'm working on it

[Anonymous No.13477468]

I'm 50 and have been telling myself I would publish a book since I was 12
I still haven't

[Anonymous No.13477498]

>>13477279
I self published a book a year ago and nobody bought it, but it was shit so I don't mind much
I have since been working on my 2nd book which I think is much better. Once im happy with it ill try sending it to publishers and agents

[Anonymous No.13477521]

>>13477279
I just got agent representation, I'm working on a shitty Wix website, and doing my drafting.
Also, visual artists are a pain to work with.

[Anonymous No.13477691]

>more rejections

[Anonymous No.13477903]

I don't really plan on having a writer career. My goal is to keep writing and getting better until the day I don't hate everything I write or at least get some satisfaction from my work. Then maybe I would try to send to some publishers, but my priority is to write something that can make me feel proud. That's my goal.

[Anonymous No.13477938]

>>13477521
>I just got agent representation

for what?

[Anonymous No.13477975]

>>13477938
For my book. She does the footwork of sending it to publishers. She's also a former editor, so she's acting a sort of a developmental editor too.

[Anonymous No.13477976]

>>13477279
I haven't written a single word that wasn't going into a 4chan post in like three months, but I have regularly fantasized about how great those books I'm going to write someday are going to be.

[Anonymous No.13478004]

Overall good. I sent a ss for a big national contest a while ago, I feel it's the best story I ever wrote, but it didn't even make the first round. Then I sent it to some mid-size magazine and they rejected it. Of course, they've rejected pretty much everything I've ever sent them, and not sure why I even bothered, but I won't bother with them anymore.

Other than That, I got a great idea for this upcoming contest, and good ideas for two other stories I'm going to work on. Then I have another book i want to write whenever I get around to it.

I don't have a huge amount of writing creds, but some. I was kinda hoping to increase that number and focus on short stories before I make another push to sell a book, hasn't been working out great so far. But oh well, shit happens all at once usually, nothing happens for 8 months, and then in the last 4 months of the year I'll get like 4 things published, that's what happened last year.

[Anonymous No.13478010]

>>13477975
No, i know what an agent does, I mean what sort of project did you get one for, a book, an article, a proposal, etc...

[Anonymous No.13478013]

My goal isn't really for a "career", more-so, I just wanna entertain bastards with my writing. I like to write but when I write for myself it feels selfish and weird, I like writing with the idea that someone is gonna like it and or give an interesting critique on it.

My range is usually Sci-Fi, but I like to expand into other forms of entertainment beyond books, like filmmaking, music, television, and comics. I may be shit at art but if I can get someone interested in the stories I write then my work is complete.

I don't believe any of my work is good, but some of my friends like it, and that's enough to keep me going.

So far the most amount of progress I've made is only 80 pages of a space opera, which I've been planning to revise for months now, I'm still stuck on the third fucking page and I'm sitting here twiddling my god damn thumbs and wasting time.

I've been trying to find my source of inspiration. I've tried movies, books, music, paintings, nature, people, financial motivation, threats, daily goals, and none of them work for me. Any of you other writer bastards have any ideas of how to push myself into writing without feeling like dogshit?

[Anonymous No.13478047]

>>13478010
It doesn't really work like that exactly, it least not with good agencies. A good agent will take your first query proposal (in my case, a novel) and typically you're expected to start work on your following project while preparing your current material for publishing.

[Anonymous No.13478059]

>>13478047

No...that's kind of exactly how it works. You get an agent for some type of project, such as a book. No idea what you're disagreeing with. You seem like a real tard actually, hope your book tanks, fag boy.

[Anonymous No.13478064]

Ive had this burning urge to write lately but i cant get out of my head enough to do it. i keep getting bogged down with ideas and concepts to the point where my whole brain jumbles and i'm practically exhausted. if this continues i'm going to kill myself

[Anonymous No.13478092]

>>13478059
I don't know what to tell you, but authors and agents tend to work closely together on multiple projects as agents are reared in the environment.
Maybe you got a shitty agent, or none at all.

[Anonymous No.13478108]

>>13478092
still no idea what you're even disagreeing with.

Agent's represents projects of writers. That's all i fucking said. Just shutup man.

[Anonymous No.13478116]

>>13478108
Make me faggot lol.

[Anonymous No.13478269]

>>13477691
What did you think of the new season?

[Anonymous No.13478553]

>>13478269
I got it for free so I can't complain too much, but it was shit. S4 never. If they animate Beast I'm going to shoot myself. Of course I should probably shoot myself either way if I had a bit of sense, since I'll never be published. As for new projects I already toyed with one story, discarded it, and am working on a different one now, which I have serious doubts about. And that's why Dazai is the only sane character--we should all strive to kill ourselves. There's no use living if you will never be happy. The act of living is a gamble saying you will, someday, achieve happiness and fulfill your dreams. Statistically and realistically that's about as likely as winning at the casino. House always wins. I don't know why I bother struggling so hard to write. I enjoy it but it's lonely if no one else will read it. I can't even release it for free online because I want the traditional publishing establishment to confirm I'm good before I do that. This world is literally hell. This is why I read Dazai--he's one of the few authors who understands that. If I were the devil himself I couldn't devise a more ingenious hell than this world. You lead them on, make them keep crawling through broken glass with a vague hope of happiness in the future, and it never comes to them, they just keep crawling for all eternity.

[Anonymous No.13478559]

>>13477279
I want to kill myself every moment I'm conscious and/or sober, however, I can't commit to suicide much the same as how I can't commit to writing.

[Anonymous No.13478567]

>>13478108
Agents represent authors, meaning book writers. Agents don't pick up projects or articles. You're a fucking moron.

[Anonymous No.13478573]

Sigh

[Anonymous No.13478624]

>>13478553
Now now Dazaianon that's not a healthy way to think. Don't despair frendo getting published is a hard thing especially nowadays but it isn't impossible. I know this sounds very wishy washy and even condescending but have you tried balancing what you want to write with the needs of the publisher? Good writing is something very magical and affecting, when done right it tickles the soul and helps relax or maybe in unnerve the reader. Regardless of what you intend to do you with your stories you have to remember the wants and needs of the reader too. He also deserves your respect because he's giving you something very valuable in exchange - his time. And his decisions on what he wants to spend his time on are his alone but you should never forget the service he's doing for you. Giving up now would be irrational and foolish decision indeed. You have learned so much since you first picked up the pen so dont throw it all away. I have faith that you can write something dependable which might even be appreciated by far smarter than you and me but this can only happen if you dont give up. So please, believe in yourself.

[Anonymous No.13478649]

>>13478567

Yeah, that's something you saw on tv.

Literary Agents represent books, or screenplay, or articles, or specific projects an author writes. An author may very well have a different agent for every book he's ever wrote.

If a writer finds an agent they're happy with, they'll probably stick with that agent for future projects, but they don't necessarily have to.

[Anonymous No.13478697]

>>13478624
>that's not a healthy way to think
Yeah, no kidding?
>needs of the publisher
Other than writing not-YA YA like Murakami, apparently they want not-tragedies and not-despair. Oranges are a hot commodity and all I have are apples. But in seriousness my other manuscripts read like genrefiction on the surface and it didn't get hits. The manuscript was infused with popular appeal in a carefully tended way that I wasn't a sellout or at all disingenuous, and the prose was polished to a damn sheen. Nothing but rejections. How am I supposed to keep crawling? Satan isn't dropping me any carrots and I'm quite tired.

I can't stop writing, either, because it's all I enjoy in life. I have this pathological compulsion to write. But my life would be better with some affirmation.

Thank you for listening to me. Don't worry, I have 12 more years before I commit suicide. That's lots of time to keep trying. I already know it will amount to nothing but why not try my best anyway? If nothing else at least that will be affirmed.

[Anonymous No.13479135]

I've been writing a lot of narrative poetry recently, all starring the same characters and set in the same world, with the same overarching story. I have four longer poems now that I'm going to try to get published as a collection.

[Anonymous No.13479274]

Finished a short story recently and felt pretty good about it instead of being sick and tired of it, like I usually am after I finish a project. Part of me that wants to expand the idea further, but I wouldn't be able to do that without going over my planned wordcount, so I can live with it as is.