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/lit/ - Literature

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13605947 No.13605947 [Reply] [Original]

I'm fucking depressed. I've written all of my life, but I've always attempted other hobbies, such as art, sculpture and animation over the years. With those visual mediums, you can be a good artist, but I feel like today no one is a good writer. It's like the hobby I've spent my entire life honing is null and void because there's no such thing as a quality contemporary writer. I only ever read old classics--why read anything new? We only have a finite time on this planet, so why would I want to read anything, say, after the 1970s? This is a problem I have. I can't dispell the notion that writing as a hobby is pointless because our age just isn't a writing age, at least in terms of fiction. Only plebs read new books. Fuck sake. My entire creative output is meaningless because even if I did manage to publish a novel/novella it'd be considered crap, especially here... simply because it's new. And I would agree with them. New books are shit. Is there a single author that is on the same level as Woolf, Hamsun, Dostoevsky, etc. etc. from today? I don't think there is.

>> No.13605950

>>13605947
I've never read a single person on this board mention a new author, even one that's award worthy.

>> No.13605955

Seriously, help me stop thinking that all new books are shit.

>> No.13605962

>>13605947
Nobody went to Schopenhauer's lectures, his books sold ok but he was too edgy for most of the population to be popular and he only really gained the fame he has today after he died and they released a compilation of his works.

It's common for artists to only find appreciation and fame long after they're dead. Write for the enjoyment of it, if you write for the affirmation of others you'll only be disappointed.

>> No.13605964

Try Han Kang. Human Acts is a god tier book. Only a retard believes all modern fiction sucks. Maybe try Mier Shalev and Michael Cisco too.

>> No.13605967

I'm basically realising my entire creative dream is pointless. In most other mediums you can excel. But with writing... you're essentially putting out work into a society that doesn't read and even the award winning books are pleb shit if it's fiction.

>> No.13605984

>>13605964
Maybe those are good books, but I've spent years on this board and rarely come across new writers. I want to have this notion dispelled in a general way, not a few localised examples. It's sad.

>> No.13606000

What annoys me is that with art you instantly know it's good. There are many god tier artists out there today. But with writing... no one on this planet is the equal to most of the classic writers. Who has the same reputation as Dostoevsky? No one. It's like there's no way to be a master of the craft. There's no easy way to say what is good writing and all of the consumption of your potential work will just be done by plebs in a society that doesn't read anymore.

>> No.13606004

>>13605950
Because nobody on this board reads anything besides what gets assigned in class.

>> No.13606015

>>13605984
The real problem is yourself.

>> No.13606027

>>13606015
I know it is, for the most part. I said it before, I read mostly old books and have a low opinion of anything new that comes out. Part of the issue is that I don't see the point of reading anything new because there's thousands of books and why read anything but the best? And also, I just have this strong gut feeling that there are no good writers today... The newest thing I ever read was from 1980, I think. It's like a severe prejudice I have, but what books are actually good now?

>> No.13606034

>>13605984
Societal trends aren't isolated.

For example, video games took a dramatic shift away from targeting teenage boys with scantily clad women and became far more about social issues, empowering women and minorities and all that other wank. Why? Well it's a long story but the gist of it is Mr Businessman realised there's profit to be made pretending to care about social "issues" so they started appeasing feminists and the like. Now, how does this relate to books?

Who do you think sits there in the publishing houses and decides whose book gets published? That's why there's so much garbage out today, because "oh this story is pretty trash but an ASIAN-AMERICAN WROTE IT WE NEED TO PUBLISH THIS BOOK WE'RE FIGHTING THE RACISTS". Sounds silly but that shit happens day in, day out now.

>> No.13606039

>>13606034
Is this supposed to make me feel better? You're only proving my point. Here's another shit thing about investing so much time into writing and it all being a waste: the publisher decides your success, not you. Artists get to create their own work and release it themselves. So depressing.

>> No.13606043

>>13606039
It's kind of difficult to express how depressed I am now. I've never really thought about how much my creative pursuit is pointless, the thing that gives me most of my life's meaning. Fuck this.

>> No.13606044

>>13605947
Just write for TV and Film. Write a book that a great director can adapt. Write genre fiction.
One day if something interesting happens in your life you can write literature

>> No.13606053

>>13606027
Why worry though? There are enough books for you to read - more than enough. And your writing: if you enjoy it: whats the problem? You are worrying about nonsense, that is: yeah, maybe you are right: now what? Cry about it? Do you have something better to do than write and read old books? No? So: ???

>> No.13606058

Yet another thing I've just realised about writing. With art many people can see your work, especially if it's digital, and there can be multiple people doing good work. But there's only ever a few good writers that are known. Like, you don't have more than one Pynchon. The audience is so small and it's all just shit.

>> No.13606064

>>13605984
The people on this board are retards, I don't know what you're exactly expecting. Of course they can't name anything beside the fifteen or so popular titels. These were some suggestions off the top of my head. Eugene Vodolazkin, Mark Helprin, Amos Oz, Herta Muller, Eric Basso, Philip Roth, Marek Halter, Russel Hoban, I could name good modern authors all day. Get your head out of your ass. Good art won't seek you, you must seek it yourself.

>> No.13606071

I genuinely keep coming up with reasons why writing as a hobby just doesn't work compared to others. Multiple styles of art are good and valid. Again, many people can be good artists. With writing, the entirety of genre fiction is frowned upon. That leaves you with, what exactly? A very niche 'literary' pursuit which will hardly get noticed at all.

>> No.13606086

>>13605947
Literature is kind of like music. its hard to make timeless stuff, and a lot easier to make music for the times. i think there are plenty of good authors out there, but a lot of it is yet to be discovered or maybe will never be known.

However, I think you're right in the sense that we can't waste our time reading a bunch of crappy new books hoping we stumble upon a new masterpiece. People are better off filtering their reading choices, and a filter such as yours (nothing after 1970) is valid imo.

>> No.13606089

>>13605947
>>13605950
Try Krasznahorkai, the man is easily one of the best and most innovative writers working right now. Just because /lit/ is filled with idiots who don't read doesn't mean good writers don't exist at all.

>> No.13606096

>>13606086
Which is why it's pointless writing for a 'non-pleb' audience today because 'non-plebs' won't read your shit. Fucking hell.

>> No.13606104

>>13606089
I have to admit a large amount of this is my own perception and prejudice. I have the fucked up notion that people on this board are somewhat intelligent and that they are "patrician" when it comes to book choices. I mean, they obviously have decent taste when it comes to the big classic authors (for the most part) but I spend so much time here that I need to shake off this notion that all of writing is about the old guys. It is my fault.

>> No.13606605

>>13605947
there's not been any good english writers since before wwii. writers like k. amis, etc. are the best of a bad lot

>> No.13606633

>>13605947
If a blind man could write about the most beautiful woman in the world, you can write a good book

>> No.13606699

>>13605955
Convince yourself, you already admitted that your logic is flawed

>> No.13606824

>>13605967
>you're essentially putting out work into a society that doesn't read

Yep. Literature is by far the least important of all the major art mediums, and it only becomes more obsolete by the day. A lot of litfags don't like to admit it, but books as a medium are finished and have no future.

Writing is easily the worst creative pursuit for someone living in the 21st century. Learn how to make music or how to draw instead.

>> No.13606854
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13606854

Here's a website, that you can write on, if you feel depressed. Stop being a faggot, and stop wallowing while you can be writing.

>> No.13606902

>>13606000
Today I learned reputation equals ability. Thanks annon.

>> No.13606913

>>13605947
Imagine thinking you're into literature and never reading any Pynchon, McCarthy, Wolfe, or Munro

>> No.13607001

>>13605947
Your book would be good in 50 years tho.

>> No.13607038

There's tons of good writers out there. But their work will never see the light of day and you will never read it, because the (((publishing houses))) make sure only things that fit their agenda get published.

>> No.13607195

You all should write visual novels. They're the only medium literature will survive in the future.

>> No.13607204

>>13606104
> I have the fucked up notion that people on this board are somewhat intelligent and that they are "patrician" when it comes to book choices

Idiot. This subreddit gets dumber every year.

>> No.13607304

We live in a visual orientated society.

>> No.13607499

Honestly, if you have that spark in you, try to make a visual novel or simple enough video game. No guarantee if it would work, but it seems like a more open medium than our best-sellers that don't have to actually be best-sellers to be on the best-seller list.

I'm kind of blackpilled myself though. I want to write a story to inspire people, but I sort of feel like I'd be lying. And of course, the market is full of human misery disguised as depth.

>> No.13607642
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13607642

>>13605947
>I make no effort to find new authors and anons aren't constantly spoonfeeding me authors of the late 20th/early 21st century, therefore everything past 1970 is shit, by the way the most recent book I've read was published in 1980
>Let me also cry about my cowardly unwillingness to pursue my own interests because anons on a Vietnamese breadbaking forum might not read my book
Shit thread, by all standards. You have options: A) continue to be blinded by your own laziness and idiocy and cry forever, B) accept that you have no genuine interest in modern literature and continue enjoying classic literature, or C) take the blinders off and put some actual effort into finding recent work and authors (which do get discussed on /lit/ and which you would know if you stopped wallowing in self-pity for five minutes). Stop making excuses to not do the things you supposedly want to do. You're as bad as those stupid fucks who go around saying they want to be a writer but they don't have the time.

You're a spineless little bitch faggot. Go blog somewhere else.