/wg/ - Writing General #3

[Anonymous No.16023448]

For talking about the craft.
Last one was excellent lads, keep it up.
Previous: >>16013458

[Anonymous No.16023454]

[Anonymous No.16023469]

What's your favorite book on Writing and why anon?

[Anonymous No.16023483]

>>16023448
Lit quarterly is shit everyone

[Anonymous No.16023501]

How do you make a story with no moral lesson and little to no character growth interesting?

[Anonymous No.16023532]

>>16023501
Read a lot of old pulps, episodic stories generally don't have character arcs. Sherlock Holmes is another example.
Like familiar faces on sitcoms, each episode has crazy hijinks (or whatever) but the characters are pretty uniform from episode to episode.

Pulps are great for pure entertainment and little moral lessons.

[Anonymous No.16023560]

Do these books actually help write a better story? Is it worth buying them? I youtube issues I have when writing a story and it seems to work just fine. However, I've severely stagnated and I guess this won't hurt.

[Anonymous No.16023567]

>>16023483
Just read "A Marvellous Punkah-Wallah" and thought it was breddy gud

[Anonymous No.16023646]

>>16023454
Any books on how to write fantasy and improve prose descriptions?

[Anonymous No.16023694]

>>16023560
>Do these books actually help write a better story?

Of course they don't idiot, they're for pieces of repeating shit to read and then recite to one another so they can pretend to be smart for 10 minutes a day.

If you want to write, find out the kind of stuff you like to read and read a bunch of that, then think of the stuff you'd like to write, and then find a way to write that.

[Anonymous No.16023704]

>>16023560
>>16023694
Adding onto what that anon said, don't just write about yourself either no one wants to read your escapist fantasy

[Anonymous No.16023713]

The only thing that keeps me going is playing the lottery.

[Anonymous No.16023723]

I'm ready to start
Doing a less rough outline right now
The past few days dozens of little facets to this story have been racing around my head non stop
We're all gonna make it bros

Also fuck the faggot retard jannie lowlife that banned me for replying to an off topic thread
You will get a cyst the size of a golf ball in your cheek nigger

[Anonymous No.16023739]

>>16023723
If you're a sodomite you deserve far worse.

[Anonymous No.16023768]

writing a historical fantasy picaresque novel
And you??

[Anonymous No.16023787]

Why did we make a new thread when the last one hadn't hit the bump limit?

[Anonymous No.16023866]

>>16023787

[Anonymous No.16024134]

Which book most extensively covers the different archetypes and their journeys in fiction?

[Anonymous No.16024321]

>>16023469
"How Not To Write A Novel" by Mittelmark & Newman. The two authors have a lot of experience in the publishing industry, reading queries and editing manuscripts. The book itself covers characters, plots, intros, dialogue, etc. etc.
What makes it so great that is the authors genuinely understand the thought processes that lead to writing mistakes, why amateur authors make the decisions they do, and then they illustrate why these are bad decisions with humorous excerpts from fake novels.
>“When the reader has stopped to wonder at your delamificatious vocabulary, or, worse, when the reader has stopped because the word you've used has no more meaning to him than a random ptliijnbvc of letters, the reader is not involved in your story. ... Generally, saying 'edifice' instead of 'building' doesn't tell your reader anything about the building; it tells the reader that you know that word edifice.”

[Anonymous No.16024402]

I told my friend that writing out of motivation and inspiration is a fucking meme and that he'll be a pretentious loser forever who will be talking about the same WIP book for the next 30 years, and he called me a word factory, who won?

[Anonymous No.16024497]

>>16024402
I write out of inspiration, but I have a method. I've finished lots of stuff. Word factory is a meme that gets you shitty books with shit endings.

[Anonymous No.16024542]

I'm working on a theory that narrative fiction is composed of two separate and interdependent skillsets: storycraft and wordcraft. I say they are separate because they both have applications outside of narrative fiction, such as film and poetry. I say they are interdependent because the usage of one informs the usage of the other.

Storycraft are the plots, characters, and settings which are used to tell a story. What the story is about, where it takes place, what happens, etc. etc. Each of these concepts is a study unto itself. Take for instance, setting. The aspiring writer may attempt to select a real life setting which best serves their story, or they may create a new setting in which to explore interesting possibilities. Each choice comes with it's own set of advantages and challenges, and may also effect characterization, pacing, and theme.

Wordcraft is the method through which words are chosen and employed to create meaning and impact. This includes concepts such as assonance, alliteration, and pacing. These concepts are fundamental to poetry, but also find usage in prose fiction. Some of the earliest forms of narrative fiction are, in fact, epic poems recited by traveling bards. These poems used concepts such as rhyme and meter because they take advantage of the human tendency to recognize and remember patterns, thus making it easier for stories to be preserved in oral tradition. You can recognize their usage in several common phrases such as "a stitch in time saves nine" or "willy-nilly." You may also recall teachers in kindergarten using simple rhymes as pneumonic devices. These same concepts can be employed in prose fiction to create emphasis or pleasing sentences.

These two skillsets are incredibly diverse and therefore it would be impossible to thoroughly examine either of them in one post, but I've put a lot of thought into them lately and I'd be glad to expand on either if there is any interest. I'm not trying to really develop a comprehensive how-to guide, but more of a guide for self-study, so that aspiring writers can chart a course for themselves to develop strengths and recognize weaknesses. Like you often hear that a given writer is a good storyteller but their prose is weak, or that an author writes beautiful sentences but boring stories. The biggest issue I see in my theory is that certain elements (such as pacing) can't really be split into one category or the other except by arbitrary decision. That being said, I think it would be interesting to hear from others what their favorite example of a given element of storycraft or wordcraft in action, or resources you can use to study elements of these skillsets, or maybe writers who excel in one category or the other, or both.

[Anonymous No.16024553]

>>16023454
Bird by bird is fucking terrible why is that here

[Anonymous No.16024568]

>>16024497
Literally every author tells people that you must make writing a habbit

[Anonymous No.16024606]

Writing and also having depression is fucking ass.
I have zero ideas anymore and zero motivation, I force good literature down my throat constantly, but everything is like a chore. I know I had the motivation, I know all of this is unnatural and won't be me in time, but as it stands now everything to do with writing feels most alien.

[Anonymous No.16024608]

Going to re-write this part. Just looking for honest criticism on idea and flow.

[Anonymous No.16024729]

>>16024608
This is probably the first time I've seen someone both misspell and misuse a word. "Sufferage" is spelled "suffrage" and does not refer to "suffering" but to the right to vote in a political election. There are so many misspellings that I'm beginning to wonder if English is your first language. Consider using a real word processor instead of notepad.

Aside from that, your focus swings so wildly that it is difficult to follow and the ideas presented are not exactly novel. The bizarre conversational tone and frequent grammatical errors, mixed with your high-and-mighty declarations of injustice, create a very jarring and unpleasant reading experience. Like I've been cornered at the bus stop by a lunatic. We get it dude, we're all SALVES to the SYSTEM and if we all just THINKED FOR OURSELFS we could make things all like, better for everyone, dude. Vote Third Party.

[Anonymous No.16024746]

I've been inspired and I hope this is the place to ask, how can I become a better storyteller, an inquisitive and creative crafter of narrative? I'm not a usual face on this board but I remember that there seems to be a dislike of fiction but no matter.
My current doubts would be, how to polish an idea into an interesting set up that you can develop? How to see interesting themes where there are not?

[Anonymous No.16024752]

>>16024746
none*

[Anonymous No.16024783]

>>16024746
Mull over it, don't force it. Eventually you'll habitually think of your things in the back of your brain, until you finally come up with something workable.
Just remember, no diving allowed in that pool. Take it slow if you're the kind to ride on half baked ideas into the mirage sunset.

[Anonymous No.16024791]

>>16024402
>word factory
I kek´d.
Replying to your question, there's no winning. To each their own path, leave your friend alone if that's what he wants

[Anonymous No.16024812]

>>16024542
I ain´t reading all that, isn't the theory of "form and content", from the Formalists? Some guy, a Soviet, did a list with all the possibilities I think, and he even pointed out the number of possible combinations

[Anonymous No.16024813]

>>16024729
I meant Sufferage in the literal sense, not suffrage.
Its a bit hard to explain but in short "new word".
The errors in spelling are not intentional but I was just wanting to put in down rather than focus on spelling. This is, as the file name suggests, an early type up.
English is my first language. I wrote most of this down sleep deprived.
I will sharpen the focus. This is more or less points to expand upon. Each will probably be a chapter and they are out of order I understand that.
The ideas not being novel is mostly incorrect. Again,
>dude, we're all SALVES to the SYSTEM and if we all just THINKED FOR OURSELFS we could make things all like, better for everyone, dude. Vote Third Party.
is absolutely not the point. Nor close to what half of that meant.
>he bizarre conversational tone and frequent grammatical errors, mixed with your high-and-mighty declarations of injustice, create a very jarring and unpleasant reading experience
is actually incredibly complementary. How many other works can say that?
Much thanks.

[Anonymous No.16024822]

>>16024783
>Take it slow if you're the kind to ride on half baked ideas into the mirage sunset
Not at all, I'll hold onto these until I have enough skill, for the time being, practice and only practice.
To add, is there something else, general as it might be that could be useful? From your experience, that is.

[Anonymous No.16024948]

I've been doing 1k words per day for the last week and my prose is worse each day, how do I cope?

[Anonymous No.16025013]

>>16024321
That sounds like advice for plebs. Imagine someone like Joyce or Proust following that advice. "Writers" that don't care about the words should stick to writing screenplays.

[Anonymous No.16026290]

>>16024948
start smoking cigarettes

[Anonymous No.16026545]

>>16023448
Tips for writing romantic/saucy short stories? I want to work the coomer energies out of my system, but I also want to practice writing relationships for my main projects.

[Anonymous No.16026561]

>>16024948
Your prose probably isn't getting worse, it's more likely that your taste is developing faster than your skill can keep up. It's a common phenomenon across pretty much everything. Sit with that feeling and critique the shit out of your own writing, that's part of how you improve.
>>16026545
Try reading a bunch of romantic/saucy stories and try to figure out what makes them appealing to you, or if a particular story doesn't appeal, why it doesn't, and how you would change it so that it does. If you don't enjoy reading that kind of shit, how can you expect to enjoy writing it enough to convince someone else to share in it with you?

[Anonymous No.16026635]

>>16026561
As autistic as it sounds, I enjoy a lot of the romantic elements found in manga. There's a simple innocence to it that I find really appealing, even if I know it leans heavily on escapism. I'm trying to translate that wholesomeness into writing without it coming off as cringy

[Anonymous No.16026666]

>>16024948

Drink. Find a person who you can practically enslave and physically and emotionally punch.

[Anonymous No.16026779]

>>16024746
1. Figure out why you want to tell stories. Entertain people? Money? Explore personal problems? Promote social change? Get pusy?
2. Based on #1 figure out the best medium and genre for your work.
3. Consume as much of the medium and genre as you can and study the techniques that are used in them.
4. Now try making your own using everything you've learned. Take it one step at a time.

[Anonymous No.16026978]

>>16026635
Be glad Romance is a stupidly hot category. I'd say read a bunch of Romance/Smut but holy fuck is most of it dreadful.

To be a successful Romance author, do the following

>strong independant woman who hardly thinks about men or is getting out of a bad relationship
>make them run into a bad boy who they tame like a stallion
>have the girl get kidnapped and raped or something simply because women lap that shit up
>end it on a happy note

Boom, enjoy your milf midlife crisis bucks

[Anonymous No.16027017]

>>16025013
And Joyce was made fun off by his peers for being a try-hard. Proust literally bought his writer career so is even more of a subpar example.

[Anonymous No.16027031]

>>16026978
>strong independant woman who hardly thinks about men
That's for thrillers. A romance lead is supposed to be relatable. More Anastasia or Bella, not a Elsa.

[Anonymous No.16027075]

Would putting a short story online for free disqualify a novel I'm working on with the hopes of getting trad. pubbed if they're set in the same world?

[Anonymous No.16027107]

>>16026635
Disregard shit like cringe and escapism. You enjoy what you enjoy, and writing something you don't personally enjoy is tantamount to hopelessness. Write the story you would want to read, and then worry later about whether other people will enjoy it. That's what editing and rewriting are for. First just try to get in tune with what floats your own individual boat and express it authentically.

[Anonymous No.16027162]

>>16027075
As long it's not the same story, why would it matter? Although if it happens to be HORRIBLE and something like /pol/ bait, yeah, rather not.

[Anonymous No.16027233]

>>16027162
No, just characters in a region not visited during the novel but affected by the aftereffects of its ending.

[Anonymous No.16027248]

>>16027233
As long the aftereffects don't give too much away, it's probably whatever. Besides, hey, if it finds a respectable amounts of readers, it'll be only a pro for you.

[Anonymous No.16027350]

i have a poisonous dick that everything i fuck dies. So i am a lone wolf that can not feel the warmth of care from the person i love without fatally harming her.

So i move from town to town in a spiral that will eventually kill me.

[Anonymous No.16027899]

Does anyone have any good resources on editing? I've mostly just dicked around and written stuff and then buried it in my hard drive. If I wanna actually write properly I gotta edit, any books about the editing process that are good?

[Anonymous No.16028131]

No updated version of this >>16023454 chart?

[Anonymous No.16028236]

>>16024813
What you've written is pure adolescent angst and so is your response.
>I meant Sufferage in the literal sense, not suffrage.
No shit? If you'll re-read my post, you'll see that I realized what you meant by "sufferage." But here's the thing: in a document with this many typos, you can't expect the reader to pick out one intentional misspelling as a new word while also recognizing all of the rest to be conventional words which have been misspelled. The writer does not get to dictate how his work is received by the audience. And your reaction to my statement that you sound like a bus-stop schizo is something that teenagers do: when a teenager is called an asshole, instead of thinking of themselves as a bad person, they instead decide that "asshole" is a positive trait.

But as for the actual ideas presented: it appears to be "work sucks" and "the lifestyle we enjoy now, although comfortable, lacks true meaning" followed by "we are purposely deprived of the means to understand and change this" and then it's all wrapped up with "I don't offer any solutions to the problems listed."
If I have misjudged your thesis and supporting statements, please forgive me, because your text appears for all the world to be the rambling
of a lunatic and it was a tremendous effort to extract any meaning at all. These aren't new ideas and have been discussed by clearer thinkers than you. Men have driven themselves insane attempting to figure out what kind of "meaning" we should pursue in life. In fact, there has been a major philosopher from almost every generation stretching back to pre-Greco-Roman history which has looked at his society and decided that it was preventing humanity from reaching their peak. So far, no one has been able to decide what that peak may be. You don't appear to be any closer.

[Anonymous No.16028258]

About to start a second draft of my novel tomorrow. I've never gotten this far before and frankly I'm terrified.

[Anonymous No.16028267]

>>16024812
>I ain´t reading all that, isn't the theory of "form and content", from the Formalists?
Yeah, pretty much. Guess I shouldn't be surprised this has all been thought of before.

[Anonymous No.16028315]

>>16024948
What do you mean by worse? Less descriptive? More repetitive?

[Anonymous No.16028569]

Would writing ten hours a day of poetry make me master?

[Anonymous No.16029399]

>>16028569
perhaps

[Anonymous No.16029433]

>>16024553
Because these images are made by faggots who want to see their chart posted over and over by other faggots who've only read 1-3 of the titles.

[Anonymous No.16029925]

>>16024746
>how can I become a better storyteller, an inquisitive and creative crafter of narrative?
You should know this without asking, because there's only one real answer, it's old as hell, but never less relevant or effective: practice.

[Anonymous No.16030074]

Self-published anons, how many copies did you manage to sell? How did you promote your writing?

[Anonymous No.16030240]

sometimes i wish it was socially acceptable to cram magical realm into your writing the way it is in anime. some nameless feeling is lost when i sanitize shameful human moments

[Anonymous No.16030264]

>>16024402
>writing out of motivation and inspiration is a fucking meme
You're right insofar "waiting for inspiration" is just a meme excuse to not write and procrastinate. If you already have an idea, even a bad one, you should at the very least play with it and see where it goes.
On the other hand, you shouldn't force yourself to write about something you don't enjoy just for the sake of increasing your daily word quota, you're just wasting your time and mental energies.

>>16026545
Browse porn until you find a cute girl, then instead of cooming to her, write about your fantasies. If you have a boner while you're writing, it's a good sign. After you've coomed, write the relationship part.

[Anonymous No.16030390]

>>16026666
>devilish advice
>Satan quads

[Anonymous No.16030434]

How do you guys improve your prose and vocabulary. Any tips to share

[Anonymous No.16030443]

>>16030434
Read and write

[Anonymous No.16030547]

How should I introduce my magic system in my literary fiction novel about a struggling writer with depression?

[Anonymous No.16030659]

>>16024813
>just looking for honest criticism
>gets criticism
>bro its just my style bro you're wrong
Nigger...

[Anonymous No.16030677]

>>16024813
>complementary
Complimentary

[Anonymous No.16030894]

>>16024608
Horia Belcea pls stop

[Anonymous No.16030909]

>>16026666
Based and drunkpilled quads of truth

[Anonymous No.16031037]

>>16024542
So basically there's the ideal form of the story you want to tell and the concrete words chosen to communicate that ideal.

[Anonymous No.16031076]

do u guys think this can get published.. i worked on this all day

In the days when the earth seemed to be fully explored, there wasn't much left for explorers to
discover. A young couple who have just married two months prior embark in a row boat to a
small island in the indonesian archipelago. Henry Johanson and Milly Johanson: survivalists,
archeologists, and most of all explorers. Why did they go to this island; they are researchers, who
really cares.
“Henry, come on row with me, row with me.”
“Aw man, we’ve been rowing for a whole forty minutes.”
“Well I guess we can take a break.”
“Thank the Lord!” Henry heavily exclaimed. Now Henry began to open a can of tuna and
some crackers. He gently used a spoon to smear it unto a Ritz cracker. “Want some?” he asked
extending his hand towards Milly.
“Would I?” Milly questioned back excitedly.
“Would you?” Henry asked once more.
“Yes, my lovey-wovey.” Biting the cracker straight from his hand and smiling with each
crunch and each bite while proceeding to then kiss him on the cheek.
“Hey, c’mon, you're gonna get me all dirty.”
“That’s the idea, Sweetie.” She pushed him down on his back making him spill the tuna
and crackers.
“Well in that case I guess I’ll,” Henry dipped his finger in one of the grey chunks and
wiped it over her lips “Get you dirty too.” Henry began to kiss off the tuna as Milly grew redder
and hotter.
He was enraptured by her redness, but it made the sudden gray clouds behind her all the
more apparent. “When did those clouds roll in, it was clear a minute ago.” tip tip tip tiptiptiptip!
“We need to get rowing, Henry”
“Gotcha!”
Eventually they had reached the island as the thunder began to rumble. The rain started to
pour sideways and the two adventurers immediately became drenched.
“Help me pull the dinghy over there!” yelled Henry as more rain polluted his glasses.
“I’m way ahead of ya!” Milly mightely yelled in command. They began to pull the boat
furiously to a great rock face not too far from shore. It was there that they began to create a
shelter and attempt to dry their drenched clothes.
Henry began to explain “there’s no use of making a fire; everything’s drenched. So just
help me get some leaves to make the shelter a little dryer.”
“Alright, I’ll get some sticks to create a small frame.” Molly said in response.
“Gotcha” Henry replied.
In about an hour the shelter had been completed. The two were by each other’s side to
trying to keep warm while still in their underwear.
“Nice ain’t it?”
“Still better than Calcutta.”
“Yeah, that was terrible”
Rustle rustle
“What was that?”

[Anonymous No.16031101]

>>16024608
It's hard to say anything about idea and flow when the prose is so painfully unreadable. First rewrite it so the sentences are actually coherent, then come back and ask about flow and ideas.

[Anonymous No.16031123]

>craft
>CRAFT
ON THIS BILLOWING SMEGMA CLOUD OF A WEBSITE?
AAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
You fucking losers! I bet not one in a hundred of your pimply asses have been published. All you do is sit on here, day in, day out, ranting and raging and looking for excuses to get you through one more mediocre second of your insignificant lives.
Holy fucking shit this is just embarrassing. Seriously, if any of you had one ounce of sense you'd never seek help on this festering anus of a website. None of you could write a get well soon card, let alone a fucking story.
As for that wall of text sucker and his gayass 'theory,' the fact it took you 10k words to say form and content just proves my point.
Word smithing? Ahahahaha
Pull your own nose out your asshole you stupid faggot. You're a goddamn nothing. You all are.
Stop wasting your own time and everyone else's and swallow a bullet, pronto.

[Anonymous No.16031239]

I'm starting to plan a new project, a fun sci-fi ish novel with esoteric/occult themes.
How much should I lean into or avoid structures like The Hero's Journey? While I've been trying to come up with plot outlines I tend to naturally fall into many of the cliches from those sorts of story structures. I can't tell if I should lean into this, or avoid it and try be more original.
My goal is not necessarily to write anything particularly profound or literary, but rather to make a fun and readable novel.

[Anonymous No.16031264]

>>16031123
>As for that wall of text sucker and his gayass 'theory,' the fact it took you 10k words to say form and content just proves my point.
>Word smithing? Ahahahaha
>Pull your own nose out your asshole you stupid faggot. You're a goddamn nothing. You all are.
I really needed to read that. It's easy to get lost in the romanticism of writing, to read all the stories of unrecognized genii toiling in obscurity to produce masterpieces, and to feel as though the act of labeling oneself a "writer" makes you a genius in and of itself. You are a metaphorical mirror and we're just gawky teenagers taking shots of pseudointellectualism in the bathroom of public discourse.

[Anonymous No.16031268]

>>16031239
>How much should I lean into or avoid structures like The Hero's Journey?
I would say don't do either unless you're specifically aiming to achieve something with it. Just let your story develop naturally. If it turns out like a Hero's Journey, that's fine, and if it doesn't, that's also fine.

[Anonymous No.16031353]

>>16031268
I wasn't initially planning on using it, but while I was writing my plot outline I noticed it lined up a lot.
I'm worried about being too close to Star Wars, as my work is also scifi and may contain too many similar elements.

[Anonymous No.16031426]

>>16024321
>When the reader has stopped to wonder at your delamificatious vocabulary, or, worse, when the reader has stopped because the word you've used has no more meaning to him than a random ptliijnbvc of letters, the reader is not involved in your story
True
>Generally, saying 'edifice' instead of 'building' doesn't tell your reader anything about the building; it tells the reader that you know that word edifice.
Kinda true but also misses the fact that the decision to use one instead of the other can be made for aesthetic reasons, the most obvious example being to avoid using the same word too often.

[Anonymous No.16031462]

>>16023448
It always comes down to character. Every single time.

If your character is good, your story will be good.

A big pitfall is following "story structure" without really figuring out what you want your character to learn along the journey.

[Anonymous No.16031477]

I wanna make a book about a Jewish girl driving a honda civic around detroit in 1979. She's supposedly finding her mother but gets wrapped up into Scientology instead.

It's going to have elements of magical realism like The Pale King or Against the Day. So not fantasy, I wanna make a comment on the "decline" of Western values jimmy carter talks about in his famous Malaise speech.

[Anonymous No.16031545]

Why the split from crit? I'm not really familiar with crit or this thread so I'm curious

[Anonymous No.16031554]

>>16025013

What kind of retard logic is that? Everyone is a pleb until they sell a bestseller. Your delusions of grandeur are showing, you probably are a pleb, maybe you'd learn something and ascend beyond plebdom.

[Anonymous No.16031556]

>>16031545
Crit is only for posting works to be critiqued. /wg/ is for discussion on the topic of writing, asking questions or advice other than posting your work.

[Anonymous No.16031569]

>>16031554
how many copies sold doesn't dictate the greatness of a work.
You are the real pleb.

[Anonymous No.16031587]

>>16025013
It's advice for getting published which is not the same thing as producing something actually good

[Anonymous No.16031588]

>>16031569

It's advice for people who want to become writers. Assuming you want to become a writer in the CURRENT YEAR, you're going to have to sell books.

[Anonymous No.16031599]

>>16031588
irrelevant. the question was what makes you a pleb.

[Anonymous No.16031642]

Now, this is a very technical question, but what programs do you guys write in?
I've been dabbling around in free software like LibreOffice for eons, but word processors like those aren't author-oriented. I want an efficient (read: all-in-one, possibly) way to delineate characters, chapters, and so on.
I have my eyes on Scrivener 3 which is coming to Windows by the end of the year, and I'd have no problems shelling 50$ out for that even if there's a decent combination of free software I could use.
I'm also interested in a sort of flowcharting - actual ones, not flowcharts as in Twine - aspect too, because I'm interested in writing gamebook/choose-your-own-path/visual novel type of stuff.

>>16031477
Sick concept anon, I'd read that.

t. fresh off of those Scientology documentaries

[Anonymous No.16031745]

>>16031554
>>16031569
You both sound pretty retarded right now.
Firstly audience matters, and you should have them in mind while writing. Using vocabulary that is out of reach for your desired audience is dumb obviously. If you want your book to be enjoyed or to influence or even just be accessible to a wide audience is current year then you shouldn't be using words that are unnecessarily complex. However if you're audience is intended to be people who are very well read, or if you intend your work to be enjoyed over countless generations into the future, even if only by people who are scholarly or delve deep into literature, then of course you shouldn't limit your vocab based on the limits of the masses in 2020.

[Anonymous No.16031926]

I want to write erotica
Where would I find good erotica to study?

[Anonymous No.16031998]

>>16031462
What about a characterless epic focusing on the destructive forces of nature constantly reshaping the land during earth's primeval days?

[Anonymous No.16032004]

>>16031998
Just because they aren't people doesn't mean they aren't characters

[Anonymous No.16032009]

/wg/, i'm conflicted because I want to insert fetishy stuff into my novel but I'm also too embarrassed to go through with it because of what it will do to my reputation, particularly if my mom reads it or if I have to read it to my writing group.

is there a safe way to go about this, because right now i'm worrying I'm going to need an elaborate lie to divest my pen name of responsibility for the fetish stuff (either writing all the smut as short stories that I pass off as fanfiction, or inventing a non-existent co-author that I can blame the fetish shit on)

[Anonymous No.16032020]

>>16032009
Elaborate. As far as subtlety and literary value are concerned, all fetishes are not created equal.

[Anonymous No.16032024]

>>16032009
Separate pen name for fetish stuff. Also don't try to write fetish stuff for a non-fetish audience, everyone will see what it is and it will be offputting

[Anonymous No.16032081]

>>16032020
they're not exactly tolerable ones. Specifically softcore loli and pee

[Anonymous No.16032120]

>>16032081
Pee isn't that big a deal depending on your audience. By softcore loli do you mean "underage but not that young" or softcore sexual acts with little girls?

[Anonymous No.16032167]

>>16032120
when I say "softcore" I mean nudity is as far as I'd go. I'm into some pretty nasty things but for some reason actual sex just kind of grosses me out

[Anonymous No.16032188]

>>16032167
You could try to insert your fetishes into your story but unless it's incredibly justified by the plot/characters and not at all obvious that the author is getting hard thinking about piss and naked kids, people will find it creepy and offputting. It's better to keep fetish and serious work separate unless you can think of a story where it can meaningfully coincide. Even then you probably can't publish anything that smells like pedoshit if you aren't condemning it.

[Anonymous No.16032366]

Could I pretend that what I’m writing is actually a translation of an obscure medieval book?

[Anonymous No.16032375]

>>16032366
No, that is illegal; sorry, Anon.

[Anonymous No.16032412]

>>16032375
I’m going to do it anyway

[Anonymous No.16032428]

>>16032366
You can do anything you want, the question is why?

[Anonymous No.16032432]

>>16032366
>>16032375
>>16032412
Is this flash fiction?

[Anonymous No.16032543]

>>16032188
makes sense. right now I can really think of two opportunities i can justify anything.

i know I'm keeping one at the darkest hour of the story when the main character debates surrendering to the villain but is convinced to stand his ground by the cast's wimpiest member who assertively delivers a motivational speech as she's pissing herself in terror. the scene has too much emotional impact for both their arcs

the tougher decision is whether to keep a scene coming up where the main character(who worries he's exploiting his friends), and his crush(who's terrified that other people see her as an idiot) decide to take an impromptu swim in the lake, only for the former to jump in fully clothed while the latter takes her shirt off, resulting in an awkward moment that screws up their relationship and confirms both of their deepest fears.

>>16032366
>>16032375
isn't that just what Don Quixote and The Princess Bride did?

[Anonymous No.16032561]

>>16032366
Sure, it has already been done before. In the Name of the Rose is exactly that.

[Anonymous No.16032589]

>>16032543
Honestly I think you're overthinking this, neither of your examples sound that bad. Pissing yourself in fear, skinny dipping and kids being sexually awkward with their crushes are things people actually do. As long as you don't overdescribe in a fetish-y way it's unlikely anyone will think that hard about it.

[Anonymous No.16033425]

>>16031926
fanfiction (dot) net

[Anonymous No.16033435]

>>16023454
fix that title

>all those meme books
disgusting

[Anonymous No.16033772]

How do I write epic poetry?
Especially creation myths and so on.
I've been looking at some IRL epic poetry like the völuspà looking for patterns and trying decide on a type of rhyme to use.
Can anyone give pointers or recommend especially elegant epic poetry?

[Anonymous No.16033891]

Anyone else has thousands of great worldbuilding ideas but can't write narratives for shit?

So frustrating. What good is a whole fictional universe if you're unable to translate all of it into a readable story?

[Anonymous No.16033930]

>>16024813
How does one need to "focus on spelling" to not fuck up everything? I don't need to consciously think about it when I write in my own language, it's technically impossible that I'd make mistakes in what I've spoken all my life.

[Anonymous No.16033964]

>>16030074
>Self-published anons, how many copies did you manage to sell? How did you promote your writing?

I've published mostly only ebooks and have sold about 400-500 copies over 5 years. Granted, the first part of the series is available for free, so it's "sold" only in technical terms. But the only marketing I've ever done is post on my website saying "book x is now out".

I made one print edition in all these years and it's sold the total of 0 copies. Probably because of the relatively high price tag.

[Anonymous No.16033979]

>>16033891
Narrative is the explorer you send into the world you've made. Is there anything at all to be seen and experienced down there, or is it just a collection of ambiguous ideas and immaterial concepts?

[Anonymous No.16034001]

>>16033891
Opposite for me. I like coming up with the narrative but actually having to flesh out the world its set in beforehand in some 35-page bible is such a chore.
Any anons here who've tried sort of pantsing their worldbuilding as they write the story? How does that go?

[Anonymous No.16034034]

>>16034001
Making big plans is boring, I just imagine shit as I go. If it gets really big and out of hand, I make some notes to see I don't contradict myself afterwards, but that's all.

[Anonymous No.16034063]

>>16033891
If there's no interesting stories possible in your world then your world is boring

[Anonymous No.16034092]

>>16033979
I get your point, but in the end it all amounts to micro versus macro. One can conceptualize an amazing setting where stories practically tell themselves.

Now the micro is about a different kind of detail - dialogue, descriptions, more or less minucious narration of scenes. They are both completely different things. Much less is left to the readers imagination.

Think how Warhammer 40K has all this anazing lore when you read about the universe, and how shitty and cringey it gets once you read the official story books.

[Anonymous No.16034115]

>>16034063
What a ridiculous argument. A great world begets inspiration and supports as many stories as the limits for said universe allows it.

It doesn't mean the creator of the world must be the writer of those stories.

[Anonymous No.16034128]

>>16034092
What makes one thing so amazing when the other is not? What is lost in the process? Is something changed or left out? Or is there too much something? These are the things you should be thinking about.

[Anonymous No.16034131]

>>16034115
>It doesn't mean the creator of the world must be the writer of those stories.
True, but it's unlikely anyone else is ever going to.

[Anonymous No.16034133]

>>16027899
A few tips on editing that have worked for me.
1. Wait on it if you can. The longer the better. Getting some distance from it before rereading will make you think about it differently.
2. Read it aloud. This is a necessity. If possible, record yourself reading it and play it back later. You'll get a truer feel for it and hearing a recording will make any bad parts easy to notice.
3. Have someone else who is literate read it.
4. Read it out of order. Sometimes reading from beginning to end blinds you to things you would otherwise miss.
5. Have different goals for each editing session. For instance one can be to improve the language, one can be to rearrange certain sections, one can be to trim some fat. It's better to be organized rather than multitask all at once.
6. Don't be afraid to obliterate. This is kind of like that cliche, "kill your darlings" but the point is that sometimes less is more and usually in early drafts a writer puts their extraneous thought process into it that needs to be removed later.

[Anonymous No.16034145]

>>16034133
Excellent advice. I've nothing to add to that.

[Anonymous No.16034154]

>>16034115
Pretty much any world supports an almost unlimited amounts of stories as long the characters are somewhat humane.

[Anonymous No.16034347]

>>16027162
Tor Books will not publish works if you've published anything set in the same world anywhere else.

[Anonymous No.16034773]

I can only write when I'm inebriated in some way. Drunk, high, sleep deprived, you name it.
Is this just the way of things?

[Anonymous No.16034782]

Is it better creatively to write in paper or type on a computer?

[Anonymous No.16035010]

Any tips on how to smoothly weave philosophical themes into your writing without making it too explicit and avoiding ugly jargon?
I don't mean banal musings on stuff but concrete ideas of certain philosophers (the understanding of which taken as given).

[Anonymous No.16035034]

Is a year too long to spend writing a short story? I do include editing in that

[Anonymous No.16035073]

Is this the kind of thread where I say "I need to write an action scene but can't think of literally anything and so far the only thing written is [action scene here] and I can't even conceptualize how to make it work?" and then you maybe say "describe the set-up" and then I do and you say "it'd be cool if X" and I say "Oh, I can see that... but what if it was Y?" and you say "I feel yah, but consider Z." Then I build off the those kernals of ideas?

Like, I don't want to step out of line. This is only Season 3 of Writing Thread.

[Anonymous No.16035260]

>>16035073
IMO that's exactly what it should be instead of people just asking for general critique for their work (since there are threads for that either way)

Although what's with the "I need to write X scene", you don't have to write any scene. You decided action scene has to come now and the decision which lead to that probably includes most elements you already need. But go on.

[Anonymous No.16035459]

>>16035260
I NEED to write this scene because it's a culmination. It's going to be the final push for the character to go back to the start and do the right thing.

Two characters Girl and Boy are walking around in an ancient ruin. It's a big set-piece location. Think of the Bridge of Khazad-dûm if half that set was exposed to tropical sunlight. They are unaware that they are being hunted. While exposed and out in the open, the Assassin makes his first move and attempts to snipe them with an arrow. Straight-forward, right? These two characters panic and run in opposite directions. Neither of them have better than pistols, they're not sharpshooter-marksmen and they're in a giant cavernous open area. The assassin-character will try to capture one of these two and kill the other.

My problem is, aside from aping vague Moria-like descriptions of the location, I can't think of... how to make this scene even happen. I have a few bits and pieces but I've literally written myself in a corner, or into a set-piece.

The bits and pieces:
At some point it should become obvious that the Assassin isn't trying to kill Girl.
About third-way into the scene Boy should be incapacitated. Likely not killed though he's kinda done in the story anyway that's on the table.
The scene will probably end with Girl in some really, really, imperiled position, like hanging off of a ledge and the Assassin offering to "save" her.

And it isn't important but the Assassin will be dispatched by an as yet undisclosed character; In the scene proceeding this one he became aware of the Assassin and rushed off to find Boy and Girl to warn/save them.

It's mostly all there, I just need to "feel" it more. I mean, how many times can I write "she ran and hid behind a rock, then jumped out."

I'm stopping here to wonder aloud, spaghetti-on-the-wall style before I grab a bucket of legos and build the set and play out how it could be "cool."

[Anonymous No.16035485]

>>16031076
>“Thank the Lord!” Henry heavily exclaimed. Now Henry began to open a can of tuna and
>some crackers. He gently used a spoon to smear it unto a Ritz cracker. “Want some?” he asked
>extending his hand towards Milly.
>“Would I?” Milly questioned back excitedly.
>“Would you?” Henry asked once more.
>“Yes, my lovey-wovey.” Biting the cracker straight from his hand and smiling with each
>crunch and each bite while proceeding to then kiss him on the cheek.

You write like a suburban housewife who has taken up literature as distraction from her menopausal depression. Therefore, your chances of getting published are excellent.

[Anonymous No.16035500]

>>16024542
Using jargon like 'storycraft' can be useful if it helps the reader understand and be accurate about techniques. These two categories are too broad, I don't think I'll ever see anyone using them except when they like adding "-craft" at the end of words to sound cool.

The only book I've been thinking about for the past year is John Truby's Anatomy of Storytelling. The way he sections out 'storytelling' as the way the scenes are put in sequence so the viewer can understand the story is useful. It communicates structure I can understand.

[Anonymous No.16035511]

>>16023448
Tell me about your work anons. Who are your strong female characters?

[Anonymous No.16035622]

>>16033930
It happens when you're a brainlet who conceives of the written language as a mode by which you convert something you literally say into a format where many people can "hear" it by reading the text. As opposed to a distinct method of communication. You end up doing dumb shit like writing complementary instead of complimentary because you're not thinking about words as a symbolic representation of a thought by which you're communicating, you think about words as a literal sound-conversion of things you say in your head.

The correct way to think about language is to conceive of a tree and then write "tree" on a page. The incorrect but probably common way is to conceive of a tree, think of the word "tree" and then use letters to convert the thought-sound of "tree" into a format where the reader also experiences the thought-sound "tree", and you get caught because on complicated words or weirder aspects of the English language you have to focus on making sure you're obeying some arbitrary rules instead of just knowing.

I fuck up English because I think of a tree and write "dog" like the absolute retard that I am

[Anonymous No.16035655]

>>16035459
and....how come there's no trans characters? Or minorities? Doesn't that seem a little....problematic?

[Anonymous No.16035717]

>>16035459
> it's a culmination. It's going to be the final push for the character to go back to the start and do the right thing
IDK, mate. None of it requires it to be a fight scene but let's see...

>I have a few bits and pieces but I've literally written myself in a corner, or into a set-piece.
Sounds like that. The first thing that stuck out to me (outside the pretty efficient description of the setting) was that someone trained with the bow, as an assassin should be, should have no trouble to get them from the first shot, unless he is really far away. And if he is that far away, they shouldn't have too much trouble to get away.

>At some point it should become obvious that the Assassin isn't trying to kill Girl.
Is it actually necessary to reveal it? I feel the scene where he offers to "save" her will become a lot more suspenseful if she and the reader assumed he wanted to off her first.
If it is necessary, guess they could notice it by the assassin only aiming at the guy.
>Boy should be incapacitated.
Well, given it's ruins, something falling on him during the chase could do the job. Getting an arrow to the knee is probably painful too, and could keep him busy with that. (Could also give the girl a fun "leave him or keep running" choice)

I like the ending for the scene, so, yeah. Will the assassin be dispatched right away after getting the girl or are they going to spend some time, for her to figure out what drives him and so on?
> I mean, how many times can I write "she ran and hid behind a rock, then jumped out."
You could focus on the emotional turmoil more. I'd generally write the shit out the way you picture it now and then see whether it's even necessary to drag on the conclusion. Say, couldn't one mostly cut the chase and have the assassin get what he wants very fast and very easy? Then give the girl some despair thoughts/dialogue, and wrap it up.

>I grab a bucket of legos and build the set and play out how it could be "cool."
Unironically a good call. Although I'd just sketch it out on paper.

[Anonymous No.16035727]

>>16035511
My main character is a female. But she isn't exactly strong. She is independent though. The whole story is her retreating from the world due to cynicism, self-hatred, ennui and possibly drug addiction.

[Anonymous No.16035837]

>>16035511
>crush (future kinda-sorta-antagonist)
Artist who basically aces everything she does.
Obtains a reality warping power and half-assedly helps MC from the sidelines, while he tries to rescue her (since she staged an event to make him think she's captured)
>government agent who chases after MC but gets captured by the mob
Since her captor also wants to find MC too, she talks her way into becoming his ally while plotting how to get away.
>high ranking member of a secret organization who runs into MC and offers him help because she can
A sort of svengali type who lacks direction and works for the organisation because her boyfriend is the leader.
>kinda useless but nice girl who got recruited to the said organisazion by the woman above
Looks for her daddy and a place to belong. Ends up working with MC but is relegated to the sidelines. She does find her daddy though. He turns out to be a scumbag. Will be a sort of start of her self-discovery arc learning to value herself and all that jazz.
>"princess" of a plutocrat family kidnapped by MC
Appears like a super nice, naive idealists. Actually just plays the part to get her way.

There is also some sort of trickster "girl" with godlike powers and a classically "strong" chick who wants to murder her mom.

>>16035655
B-but two of the women are black. One is Asian. Also shouldn't ace-representation count for something too?

Trolling aside, how does one actually make the race of a character obvious in a futuristic setting where it's not a factor anyone cares about and when names are only mildly helpful?

[Anonymous No.16035868]

>>16035511
There are none desu, the only character is me :).

[Anonymous No.16036037]

>>16035511
My female character is God of some aliens reborn. She's a fucking spoiled bitch. Fuck her.

[Anonymous No.16037042]

bump

[Anonymous No.16037610]

>>16037042
one word poem?

[Anonymous No.16037786]

>>16028258
Pluck away at it like an old women plucking a chicken. Don't make a fuss. It's OK if you make a mess. Just get it done. And then start the next one.

[Anonymous No.16037801]

>>16030074
Not sure because I've published a fair amount over different pen names. Currently earning 3k/month.

[Anonymous No.16037862]

>>16037801
Please don't tell me you write porn. Please...

[Anonymous No.16037955]

>>16037862
I don't write porn.

[Anonymous No.16037957]

>>16035459
I can't tell you how to write this, but I would suggest looking at the scene from a more conceptual point of view. If your impression of the location prevents you from making it seem interesting, then change the terrain. Add levels, holes, stairs, pillars, whatever you think is interesting.

Don't make it just a "setpiece", what did its makers use it for? Like, you can have the characters cross a ruined, narrow walkway between bigger buildings when an arrow drops, Girl trips, falls over the edge, drops to a platform below, isn't moving, Boy can't reach her, doesn't dare to jump down, goes running—why the fuck do they have pistols when someone's trying to kill them with bow and arrow?—Girl wakes up between a huge black hole and a tunnel, goes into the tunnel, shit the place is a maze, where the fuck is the Boy, there's light coming from above, a shadow slips by, who's there, fuck you made it a thriller, and I got carried away with this but whatever.

[Anonymous No.16037976]

>>16035511
>Who are your strong female characters?
All of them. I don't write "weak" characters at all, because why the fuck would I? That's not interesting. Everyone has strengths and everyone has flaws, and life is about making the most of what you have.

[Anonymous No.16037993]

>>16037801
>>16037955
>earning anything with non-porn
Haha, good joke. What else could it be, windows manuals?

[Anonymous No.16037997]

I've been writing an essay on how a particular rapper fundamentally changed the genre

Unfortunately I am doing crazy deep dives into the history of rap, watching documentaries, getting information on what these neighborhoods looked like so i can describe them

I talk about the social contract between black drug dealers and society

I am getting way in over my head and my productivity has halted. I wonder if there will be a breakthrough when I have enough information or if I am bogging myself down into impossibility? I've been at this for several days now. I'm not sure how much work a long-form journalism piece/essay should take to build.

[Anonymous No.16038018]

>>16034773
no you're a stupefied coward. I stay away from drink because what I am writing is too intellectual to lose any bit of sharpness in my mind to write it. I am well aware I am not a genius, so I need every brain cell I can summon.

[Anonymous No.16038151]

>>16037997
iktf
Whenever I start writing on some new topic, I'll spend hours just clicking through articles about it to make sure everything I write is correct, which is fine up to a point, but beyond that it becomes procrastination. Either you spend years researching everything there is to know about a topic, or you accept that you'll never have all the information, refine the scope of your article, carry out only that research that is actually necessary for your essay, and write it out as best you can with what information you have.

[Anonymous No.16038242]

>>16037997
>how a particular rapper fundamentally changed the genre
Who? I'd be really hard pressed to find a single person for whom "changing the genre" would apply, instead of just adding their angle to it.
>I talk about the social contract between black drug dealers and society
Why darkies specifically? At least in Yuroland I don't remember any seriously differences based on the skin color of the dealer.
> I wonder if there will be a breakthrough when I have enough information or if I am bogging myself down into impossibility?
It's a total bitch to get the balance right, and probably just needs experience, and to get that experience, it's better to have multiple projects finished instead of one gigantic one.

Also make a plan. Give yourself like two more days for research max and two/three more days to finish it, then another day for editing; and see whether it's enough or not.

[Anonymous No.16038391]

>>16038242
I don't really have any interest in interacting with you on the first part of your response. But I appreciate your sympathy on the rest.

[Anonymous No.16038450]

>>16038018
>because what I am writing is too intellectual to lose any bit of sharpness in my mind to write it.
All the more reason to drink, then. Ever heard of the saying "in vino veritas"? You're going to write your authentic thoughts, and not inauthentic intellectual ruminations, once you're drunk.

[Anonymous No.16038515]

>>16038450
you immediately assume being an intellectual should be associated with being inauthentic.

i don't fuck with you.

[Anonymous No.16038619]

>>16038450
one more thing--

there is no reason to believe that drunk thoughts are true thoughts just because there's a cool latin phrase that affirms it. drunk thoughts are just that--drunk thoughts. i think if you thought about what people do more you'd realize that drunken actions are garbled misinterpretations

[Anonymous No.16038691]

>>16038619
Not him but alc does lower our impulse control. Specially if the person isn't blackout drunk, it's likely they would say and do something under influence which they would filter otherwise. Now whether less pretense is more true ...

[Anonymous No.16038732]

>>16038691
>>16038691
>le impulse
sure, to one basic monkey degree. but for the thinking man this interpretation is wrong. look up the drinking patterns of the bolivian campa--they'd have quiet private parties and raise their blood alcohol content to .2 because the environment of the party was not "gee i hope i get laid 2nite lol" or "i hope i start typing the things my dumb lizard brain blocks me from typing"

[Anonymous No.16038753]

>>16023723
Is this a poem

[Anonymous No.16038860]

>>16038732
>quoting the same post twice
Watcha drinking, bruv?

[Anonymous No.16038870]

How horribly cliche would it be for a characters pet parrot to reveal their secret in a dramatic scene

[Anonymous No.16038903]

>>16038870
Not sure whether it's cliche but it sounds more funny than dramatic.

[Anonymous No.16039522]

>>16038860
that's... that's specifically what you found important or humorous from what i said? god i need to leave this place

[Anonymous No.16039590]

>>16038870
Make their secret that they revel in some obscene/creepy sexual role playing fetish and it's gold.

[Anonymous No.16039609]

How do I learn grammar I just put things where I feel they should be. I don't know where commas should go I just guess, I guess.

[Anonymous No.16039638]

>>16039609
Just put them wherever, doesn't matter.

[Anonymous No.16039643]

>>16039638
Like, this?

[Anonymous No.16039702]

>>16039522
>that's...that's
Loser, lol

[Anonymous No.16039735]

>>16039702
Nah, probably just young.

[Anonymous No.16039815]

>>16039522
>god i need to leave this place

[Anonymous No.16039820]

>>16039609
Holy fuck just read some fiction and note where they put commas

[Anonymous No.16039920]

>>16035511
All my characters are female. They don't have he-man super strength. They have different personalities and do different things and have different motivations.

[Anonymous No.16039932]

>>16024542
>an author writes beautiful sentences but boring stories
I've been told this before and it hurts. I want to write better

[Anonymous No.16039934]

>>16039920
But do they have a penis?

[Anonymous No.16039954]

>>16039934
Girls don't have penis anon.

[Anonymous No.16039955]

>>16039932
>>16024542
a novel with well written lines and a terrible story is shit, a novel with average lines and a great story has the potential to be a classic

[Anonymous No.16040053]

I have great characters but what do I do with them?
btw this thread sucks
>>16030264
good idea, i'll try it

[Anonymous No.16040100]

>>16040053
Read Egri's book. Especially the chapters on Premise and Orchestration

[Anonymous No.16040123]

>>16037997
the reader will find it crazy boring if you dive recursively deep into every aspect of the topic. create a simple heuristic like programmers do, showing what you need to do to get your point across, and then set out to do that within a set length of words

[Anonymous No.16040324]

>>16023448
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOGru_4z1Vc

[Anonymous No.16040523]

>>16035511
>Protagonist-chan
Comes off as a high school dorky gal at first who gets a bitch slap that war kinda sucks during her first deployment. Following it's conclusion she experiences some good ol' ptsd that I haven't decided on how far I want to go with yet. She gets more mature as time goes on though, but that's more off a offscreen thing since I've decided it wouldn't make sense for her to appear in the succeeding arc until it's conclusion.
>Deuteragonist-chan
Witnessed her family die before her very eyes during a pirate scuffle gone bad when she was a loli, was one step away from getting raped, and gets Stockholm syndrome'd into joining the pirate gang. Later she becomes one of it's top lieutenants when it becomes a impromptu pirate regime. I kinda envision her as cold and ruthless but awkward when it comes to anything casual, but good tactician.
>Tritagonist-chan
I think I can sum her up as fightsexual and DUDEWARLMAO. She's probably the only one who doesn't experience much personal suffering out of the three, but her arc deals with some warcimes and sappy stuff like whats right or wrong in conflict. Out of the three she's probably the only 'strong' one from the get-go.

[Anonymous No.16040668]

How do you write stories where the protagonist doesn't have to overcome some crazy life obstacles that threaten to ruin his life? What if I just want to write a comfy wish fulfillment story?

[Anonymous No.16040722]

>>16040668
>What if I just want to write a comfy wish fulfillment story?
Take inspiration from Iyashikei anime: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Iyashikei
>Iyashikei (癒し系) is Japanese for "healing", a term used for anime and manga created with the specific purpose of having a healing or soothing effect on the audience. Works of this kind often involve alternative realities with little to no conflict, emphasizing nature, the mundane and the little delights in life.
You probably already know, but decent sites are twist.moe, 9anime.to (streaming) or nyaa.si (torrent).

[Anonymous No.16040723]

>>16040668
then just fucking write it? stop needing to project yourself into every single thing you write

[Anonymous No.16040742]

Holy fuck, is it just me or are fans of James Joyce a bunch of pretentious faggots?

[Anonymous No.16040757]

>>16040668
I don't see it working for the length of a novel.

I sketched out a sort of prequel for my characters when most of the obstacles are in the past and they just banter, enjoy getting to know each other and fuck around during their final school year while making big plans – and it might work due the contrast to the main story, but without the extra context, the stuff just doesn't feel too gripping.

[Anonymous No.16040785]

>>16040523
>high school
>females deployed in war
>pirates
What sort of time-period are we talking about, man?

Also the third one sounds rather fun. How comes she didn't experience any suffering?

[Anonymous No.16040889]

does every novel need tension/conflict?

[Anonymous No.16040951]

>>16040722
>>16040757
thank u

[Anonymous No.16040955]

>>16040889
Maybe one could make some sci-fi exploration stuff without. But why would you want to make your job so damn hard?

[Anonymous No.16040971]

>>16040785
It's a sci-fi setting where piracy is increasingly on the rise across a part of the Orion Arm that humanity spent a few centuries colonizing, not to mention growing tensions between colonial systems and central government. The arc begins some time after she graduates from the military academy and gets commissioned as a low-level staff officer aboard one of the fleets sent to colonial systems to "keep an eye on them" because of developments in other systems, whereas the monitored systems are surprisingly obedient to their suzerain. I think it has some plausibility from a historical basis, sometime in the 18/19th century there were 17~19 year olds commissioned as officers in Great Britain, but not necessarily females of course.

>Also the third one sounds rather fun. How comes she didn't experience any suffering?
She'll experiences it in her own way, given that the arc she makes her debut in features stuff like death squads and war crimes. Frankly, I'm not even sure how far I'll even go with that direction because it might come off as pretentious westernshit edgewank if I don't do it right-whatever may even constitute as 'doing it right' in the first place. One of the artists I commissioned for art of her drew a lot of burnt up corpses next to her, which is amusing since I only asked for rubble as a background/pose and she has a bit of a relaxed/chilled expression. But since I'm still knees deep in it's preceding arc it's still in the planning phase.

[Anonymous No.16041062]

>>16040971
I mean, yeah, recruiting kids isn't anything that special, nor would her being female in a somewhat modern setting but then the piracy stood out – but for sci-fi it still sounds plausible again. (Although the pirates sound pretty oldschool with rape and pillage instead of focusing more on smuggling; while the former two seem to fit better to mercs, but I guess the line can be thin)

>Frankly, I'm not even sure how far I'll even go with that direction because it might come off as pretentious westernshit edgewank if I don't do it right-whatever may even constitute as 'doing it right' in the first place.
Yeah, that seemed like one obvious danger with a character like that; but then again it could be a fun challenge to write such a character without taking away from her attitude and without going all the way into caricature territory. Maybe her attitude is something along the lines of "making the best out of being in a crappy world".

[Anonymous No.16042022]

>>16040123
But what if every aspect that I want to dive into is pretty interesting? I’d rather have an editor cut it out. I’m actually including footnotes now so it can be peeled away if needed. It looks like a DFW essay and i don’t care. I know it’s good so far.

[Anonymous No.16042311]

If you can't write when the time comes to write, read
Don't do anything else

[Anonymous No.16042322]

>>16040889
It does if you want a decent shot at getting published, otherwise there's nothing wrong with it inherently although you might not yet have the skill to do the concept well

[Anonymous No.16042350]

Are bildungsroman still worth writing, if you also wish to make money with what you write? I have an idea I've been sketching out, and the boy-to-man angle I could go with it appeals more, but given that shit like Name of the Wind or Harry Potter is popular, and webfiction in general rejects character growth entirely in favour of them getting stronger in a physical/material sense, I worry that if I actually write a story about a child who grows up, makes mistakes, and becomes a man, it'll have no audience.

[Anonymous No.16042637]

How do I into themes?

[Anonymous No.16042811]

I want to strangle whoever anon recommended the book "techniques of a selling writer"
What a shitty book, waste of time

[Anonymous No.16042963]

Would anyone be willing to read a page or few of my chapter and give any advice? It's a sci-fi novel about a scientist trying to take over an underwater base.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/11CLjFtavNGgshxyLKJLQNOvdCsWZqO1OWRKbAQ8G1fI/edit?usp=sharing

If you thought it was shit/boring, at which point did you stop reading? I have a very difficult time judging things I just wrote, it feels like I need a couple of months to really 'see it' and the mistakes I make. Any impressions would be helpful. What do you think is my strong point, what's shit?

This is my second book, first one didn't catch interest of agents.

[Anonymous No.16043011]

>>16037801
Is there any point putting up my works on amazon if I don't plan to market and don't even have twitter? I just hate humans, I can't pretend to smile at them.

[Anonymous No.16043024]

>>16042963
Four of your first five sentences start with "[subject] had". This is not a level where you should be querying.

[Anonymous No.16043045]

>>16043024
I appreciate the advice, I'll make sure to correct that in editing. This is the kind of stuff that's so difficult to notice when reading it directly after writing.

[Anonymous No.16043098]

>>16043045
You should join smaller communities more suited for critique if you're serious about getting traditionally published.

[Anonymous No.16043154]

>>16042350
Do boy to female(male)

[Anonymous No.16043176]

>>16043098
Wouldn't it be better to just write more instead of getting distracted with that kind of stuff? I queried my book to 50 agents and mostly got form rejections, and like three somewhat encouraging form rejections, but also a few encouraging comments like pic related. I feel like I'm 'close-ish' to getting published, but I'm lacking some secret or insight that'd make my books feel more real.

It also doesn't help that I'm an ESL writing in English, so my dialogue skills are really hard to develop as I don't have the opportunity to listen to real people speak. I've been watching Joe Rogan and old reality tv just to hear people talk in English in a way that's not a screenplay simulacrum.

I think it's the characters that are the weakest point in my writing. They just lack soul, they lack something that'd make them feel real. I don't know how to get it, how to reach it. I really struggle with that. When I was 13-15 years old, I was stupid enough to think of my characters as real people, and somehow that made me write them better.

Now that I'm 24, all my technical writing skills are better, but I've lost that spark of real character because I can no longer fool myself that they're anything but a construct.

It's sad. I guess the post-modern way is to just construct, not to intuit. Most people won't tell the difference but to me there's something missing. Sorry to be rambling, it just keeps me up. It's 10am, I haven't slept. I wrote 176 words of my book today, I can't do any more because I get an existential dread feeling that it's all pointless. But I write every single day, so I can crank out a novel in a year despite the low daily wordcount.

[Anonymous No.16043296]

>>16043176
>Wouldn't it be better to just write more instead of getting distracted with that kind of stuff?
No. Read more, write more, and get feedback on your writing from peers. Do beta reader swaps or hire a beta reader.

>I queried my book to 50 agents and mostly got form rejections
You should be getting at least a few requests for the full manuscript out of every 50 you query. Also, that pic you posted is still a form rejection.

[Anonymous No.16043306]

>tfw no deep intellectual or philosophical ideas to write into my novel

[Anonymous No.16043419]

>>16043306
It's a dangerous line to trend because then it just comes off as you shoving political views on the reader if you don't do it right, ie: exploring the pros and cons of political systems and stuff.

[Anonymous No.16043468]

>>16023454
While I'm pretty sure this is a meme chart I hate the idea of reading some book on writing and (even subconsciously) having the lessons seep into my brain and influence how I write. I would much rather write something that is entirely of my own composition, even if it's absolute shit.

[Anonymous No.16043476]

>>16043176
Honestly anon, what you posted was not good. Almost every sentence of more than a single clause feels weirdly proportioned and there are a lot of adjective or verb choices which are understandable but ugly.

[Anonymous No.16043492]

>>16035511
Most of the characters that actually do stuff are male so far, and I can't think of any way to make female characters without bloating the cast or ruining the relationship with people- e.g the MC's two mentors, a younger and older man, could not conceivably be female. It doesn't bother me much but it does make me worry some slight amount that (should anything ever come of it) people will instantly dismiss it because there aren't enough women or some shit. I don't care about that criticism but I do care about people deciding not to try it for that reason.

[Anonymous No.16043541]

>>16043176
Honestly, listening to Joe Rogan isn't going to do you any favors.

[Anonymous No.16043756]

>>16042963
Didn't read it, but your fucking cursed image crashed my browser

[Anonymous No.16043783]

>>16042963
I struggled to get through even the first paragraph. It comes clear English is not your first language, and the text reads like something written by an AI; technically correct, but makes no sense. If you translated it into your own language, I'm sure you'd see right away how awkward the sentences are.

[Anonymous No.16043815]

>>16030547
Slowly. Don't introduce it all at once, it has to be something of a striptease. You could write a scene where the main character is threatened by antagonists and they have to use the magic do defend themselves. Otherwise, if there isn't much conflict in the story, use the magic to do something generic like make a cup of tea or cook food.

[Anonymous No.16043850]

>>16043756
>using trannyfox
you've got no one to blame but yourself m8

[Anonymous No.16043986]

>>16043492
>could not conceivably be female
Is the story set in jail?

Having two female mentors, specially one younger would feel fresh even without knowing a single detail about the story. The usual dickfest that's been common for centuries make the stuff sounds stale on the other hand. Now, I wouldn't dismiss a story because it's a dickfest or lacks active female characters but knowing only these bits about the story, would push the scales towards "pass".

Also bump before a new thread.

[Anonymous No.16044050]

>>16043492
It doesn't matter if your characters are male or female as long as they're how you want and fit the story.

[Anonymous No.16044102]

>>16043850
Well, what is the currently approved meme browser then?

[Anonymous No.16044352]

>>16043986
I just don't think they fit the roles well. I guess they could be female on thinking about it but considering they form something of a role model for the MC I feel like a male would fit much better, and for the younger one especially there might be too much of a sexual/relationship undertone in their interactions (mentor takes an interest in them and relates their own experiences & struggles)... but I will consider it more.

[Anonymous No.16044487]

>>16044352
>I feel like a male would fit much better
It would be definitely more straightforward but I'm not sure whether that's better. Especially in the context of a story. "My dad/uncle/that cool guy who owns a bar is my role model" is, well, pretty basic. One would still be eventually interested into the why and nothing stops them from being compelling role models, but compare it to a guy having some female as the main role model. I'd be instantly curious how the fuck that happened and what effect it had on the character "Is it some sissy boy? Is the woman some generic "stronk female" Why not a man?" And well, making the reader ask questions, increases their involvement. Besides, it offers extra conflict if others give him shit for it.
>for the younger one especially there might be too much of a sexual/relationship undertone in their interactions
It's possible, but hey, more conflict never hurts. Besides again, it makes the whole thing a lot more attention grabbing IMO.

In the end, it's your story and should be only told in the way you want to. Just giving my two cents.

[Anonymous No.16044612]

>>16044487
But women aren't people

[Anonymous No.16044629]

>>16044487
I will think about it, it's crossed my mind before. Thanks.

[Anonymous No.16044658]

>>16042322
I have a tough time writing scenes let alone a story with tension very well. Any advice on how?

[Anonymous No.16044713]

>>16044658
Suspense = prolonged doubtful outcome. Read some trash thrillers and see what techniques they use to do that.

[Anonymous No.16044870]

I'm just gonna write what I want to read myself and put it up weekly on one of those wattpad sites so I don't stop.

[Anonymous No.16044880]

>>16044870
>unironically becoming a wattpad author

[Anonymous No.16044909]

>>16044880
Where else can I regularly and independently submit chapters?
I don't really give a shit if you think it's cool or not, I have never been on that site anyway

[Anonymous No.16044990]

>>16044909
On your own site. I would use wattpad as a springboard to feed visitors to your own site. Post the first few chapters and then post the link to keep reading. There's a couple of reasons for this, you can get better analytics and its easier to sell your shit. Another idea is to link to the full novel on amazon but I'm not sure if wattpad allows you to do that.

[Anonymous No.16045012]

>>16044990
>sell sell sell
I don't really expect anyone to give a shit.

[Anonymous No.16045037]

>>16045012
Then why are you publishing online?

[Anonymous No.16045064]

>>16042311
Thanks.

[Anonymous No.16045075]

>>16045037
So that I'm motivated to keep writing (deadline, potentially higher standards if I put it up to be read) and potentially receive feedback. All literary works should be free, I don't buy books and I don't demand for anyone else to buy mine either.

[Anonymous No.16045170]

>>16045075
Well alright. Just be aware that 99% of serial writers abandon their work within the first few chapters and that any feedback you get (assuming you're not just looking for shameless ego-stroking) isn't going to be all that helpful. I recommend a site like Scribophile or Critiqueciricle if you want useful feedback (even then, it's a hit or miss most of the time, but at least its thorough). As for motivation, the best advice is to start small and keep it consistent. External constraints won't matter much if you don't care or expect anyone to care about what you're writing, you'll end up regressing to the mean.

[Anonymous No.16045218]

How many projects do you work on at once? I've been churning out short stories to try and build up a portfolio of published work (only one published so far), but at the same time I'll sporadically want to work on my novel. My prime writing hours are in the morning, and I sort of alternate between the novel and whatever short I'm working on, but I find my work turns out better when I'm fully committed to one project at a time. Is there a point where I simply stop writing short stories and set aside 6 months for the novel alone?

[Anonymous No.16046057]

>>16045218
Are you writing short stories simply for the sake of being published? I would just focus on the novel.

[Anonymous No.16046086]

I feel like this is the longest story that I'm still interested in writing. I've written for six hours each day the past week. This is the first thing I've written that isn't a short story.

It's just a shitty LitRPG isekai, but I want to see it through and I'm scared that this may just be a manic swing.

[Anonymous No.16046107]

>>16043296
>You should be getting at least a few requests for the full manuscript out of every 50 you query. Also, that pic you posted is still a form rejection.

I don't think a form rejection would praise the pitch. If they did, it'd be kind of dishonest.

Out of the 50 queries I didn't get any requests for the full, that's true. I do struggle in the opening of my books, I feel like the 'setup' and the 'normal world' are extremely boring and the good stuff only comes around the first plot point/midpoint when the action picks up. But no one ever reaches it because the beginning sucks. Just another story craft problem I need to figure out.

>>16043476
I appreciate the honesty. It's kind of encouraging that all the issues seem pretty easy to fix in the edit, after all, this is just the first draft. I guess I shouldn't post unedited work for critique because that just takes too much away from the experience. I'll definitely save your comment and use what you said to guide my edits.

>>16043541
Heh. His guests are a variety of people from all walks of life, so it does help to shape my dialogue skills. Joey Diaz is basically big Pussy from Sopranos and speaks like one. And not because of a screenplay, he... literally speaks like that. I can't even imagine how that's possible. But it's good learning.

>>16043756
Based cat protecting me from harm

>>16043783
I appreciate the honesty. Your post made me sad, I guess, but that's my problem not your fault

>>16044102
I use Opera, very clean and lightweight and cat pictures empower it instead of crashing

>>16044658
Look at Tarantino. He uses very simple devices such as a pointed gun or 'time ticking down to X event' as suspension devices. As the other anon said, as long as you don't know the outcome of the situation and something is at stake, suspense comes in waiting for the situation to happen. Let the 'pointed gun' scene stretch out, let people talk it out, let them wonder, let them cower. Only then shoot.

>>16045170
This is decent advice. Thank you

>>16045218
I usually have my novel, and then a porn fanfic on the side, so two projects but my novel has to be written every single day. Generally I try to think about what to write as I have my morning shower, and then I can come back and immediately write for 30min-1h and get 200-600 words done. Then sometimes I'll write just before bed.

I think Stephen King says you should try to focus down on one project and write it quickly, all together, in a couple months. I don't think I could do that, but he knows his shit, so I'd trust in his advice. Apparently it makes the book tonally consistent.

[Anonymous No.16046218]

Could this turn into a huge virtual conflict between men and women? That's my story idea.

[Anonymous No.16046246]

I wanna write ghost stories despite or perhaps because I've no experience of or believe in them.
Also want to write about bigfoot, kinda for the same reason.

[Anonymous No.16046258]

>>16046246
belief*

[Anonymous No.16046314]

>>16046107
>Your post made me sad, I guess, but that's my problem not your fault
Don't take it personally. I put it harshly, but just to get the point across. You have a lot of work to do, there's no getting around that, but fortunately, it's something work does fix. Read man, read, and think about what the words mean.

[Anonymous No.16046366]

>>16046107
>I don't think a form rejection would praise the pitch. If they did, it'd be kind of dishonest.

Dude, I'm really sorry to say this, but don't ever expect a shred of honesty from people whose job is to make money. The reply letters are all copy-pasted templates, where they just change the names. They ain't got the time or care to answer everyone personally.

[Anonymous No.16046369]

>>16039609
Elements of Style and other grammar reference material

Actually study your favorite writing on your own. Diagram sentences, show clauses and separations, and work to intentionally imitate them and you will learn more about how it all works.

[Anonymous No.16046423]

Anyone else have a real problem coming up with characters and names? I can write plots just fine but when I try to write characters all I can think of is "cringe". When I have to come up with names it gets even worse.

[Anonymous No.16046459]

>>16046423
Look at large aggregated lists of semi-pro sports rankings globally and from other countries for great name suggestions you can pillage.

[Anonymous No.16046478]

>>16046423
I just name them puns that have some relevance to their position. For a tyrannical ruler I named him Dick Tator. or puns in other languages, or I grab a name from an obscure play.

[Anonymous No.16046500]

>>16046423
For characters just try to imagine a person that would do the things in your plot. Focus on stuff in his background. And "write through it" meaning don't list stuff but actually write a scene, just a sketch that you can shape up later.

Anybody know any good books on process that's on libgen? The top amazon one isn't.

[Anonymous No.16046509]

>>16046107
>I feel like the 'setup' and the 'normal world' are extremely boring
Then you know what you need to fix, cuz that's basically unpublishable. At least the first 10 pages have to be top tier.

Did you try going more in media res?

>>16046423
That's the sort of problem that sounds really fascinating to me. Okay, names can be hard, especially last names, but how does one even plot ahead without knowing the characters at least a bit?

[Anonymous No.16046514]

>>16046423
I picture the character's face in my mind, listen to them speak, and then say to myself, "this guy is..." and then the name comes to me, and that's that.

[Anonymous No.16046528]

>>16046423
In Scrivener™, go to tools - writing tools - name generator. Then you can input any heritage for the name you want, and even filter by names beginning with a certain letter.

>but anon, I don't use Scrivener™®©

Nice bait. Saged.

[Anonymous No.16046641]

>>16046500
>>16046514
>>16046459
>>16046528
Coming up with an actual name isn't a problem, I just seem to cringe when I name my characters more than normal, I don't know why. Actually writing characters themselves isn't much of a problem at all, it's just that I feel shame over what I write, I cringe reading it.
>Scrivener
Have been thinking of switching from Word but I ain't paying shit and I can't seem to find it on the usual channels.
>>16046478
This only works in some kinds of writing, can't really name your characters puns if you're going for a more serious tone.
>>16046509
I don't plot ahead so to speak, I rarely plan ahead too much beside a general goal, but I feel like while plot can be done that way, characters would be better off pre-established properly to keep them consistent in how they behave.

[Anonymous No.16046657]

>>16046641
Ok then don't bitch so much if your reply is going to be that you didn't even mean what you initially said and ignore the advice of 4 people. Write more and shut up

[Anonymous No.16046861]

>>16046459
>lists of semi-pro sports rankings
Just make sure they don't sound like pic related.

[Anonymous No.16047371]

>>16046423
>Anyone else have a real problem coming up with characters and names?
>>16046641
>Coming up with an actual name isn't a problem
>Actually writing characters themselves isn't much of a problem at all
what the hell dude

[Anonymous No.16047725]

Opening paragraph, edited a bit according to nice criticism received in the previous writing general. Any thoughts, hombres?

[Anonymous No.16047741]

>>16046641
>I rarely plan ahead too much beside a general goal,
But then you still have someone who wants to accomplish that goal, and can work from that, since it takes a certain person to want a certain thing and solve problems in a certain way.

>>16046528
Aren't there tons of free online generators either way? Just why would anyone want to do shit like that instead of picking something that has at least vibes fitting to the character, and ideally hint more about them. Benjamin, Tyrone or Hrugwindyn are going to steer the readers imagination in different directions.

[Anonymous No.16047787]

>>16047725
>he would like to stay here for the night ... but he cannot
Is where the story started.

Why does the reader need the stuff before to read on? How does the stuff before give an idea who we deal with and what their problem is?

[Anonymous No.16047849]

>>16026290
My writing picked up so much when I smoked. I wish it wasn't so fucking awful for you because it's the best thing.

[Anonymous No.16047874]

>>16047787
Anon thinks he’s Cormac McCarthy.

[Anonymous No.16048013]

>>16047725

F-
Might retake basic education.

[Anonymous No.16048077]

>>16048013
Not him but what's wrong with two timings in one sentence?

Also props for all the work.

[Anonymous No.16048115]

>>16048013
Not him but
>mfw I don't see the issue with a lot of these
I-is "in the night" and "will be noted" that bad?

[Anonymous No.16048124]

Is there any name for people who are aspiring writers, but don't actively write, and think they're just going to wake up one day and write an american classic? And why are they always fanboys of James Joyce?

[Anonymous No.16048138]

>>16048115
Most of it is nitpicking, but to be totally honest I couldn't even make it through the paragraph since it's written so poorly. Feels like a whole lot of description that is going absolutely nowhere.

[Anonymous No.16048140]

>>16048124
/lit/posters

[Anonymous No.16048188]

>>16048077
It's repetitive if not outright contradictory, and unnecessary. You could just say "often in the summer mornings" with less words and make the sentence a lot clearer.
I'm not a teacher, I just did it for quick practice.

>>16048115
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/121858/at-night-or-in-the-night

"Will be noted" in this context sounds like they're keeping record of his absence or something. But it's a casual party. The impression doesn't fit.

[Anonymous No.16048277]

>>16048138
>>16048188
Mostly just worried those expressions might be technically incorrect, not just odd sounding, awkward, or otherwise bad in that context. If something is incorrect on a technical level and I don't see anything wrong with it, it has bad implications for the rest of my grasp on prose.

I feel like that anon was trying to force a lot more words into his writing that were needed. I recognize it from my own writing some time ago when I tried too hard and ended up meandering, losing the plot, and finally just fucking it up completely.

[Anonymous No.16048335]

>>16048277
>Mostly just worried those expressions might be technically incorrect, not just odd sounding, awkward, or otherwise bad in that context

Well, it does imply terrible things about your prose if you can't recognize a writer likely to flunk the Turing test

[Anonymous No.16048361]

>Join Creative Writing Class
>Spend 3 1/2 hours a week, 4 months of listening to students babble and rant about other student's work
>Professor does nothing all class but occasionally comment, and then goes back to working on his own to-be-published novel.
Wew, it's a meme.

[Anonymous No.16048410]

>>16048013
Anon this is very good

I wish you were my editor

[Anonymous No.16048523]

>>16047725
Mostly agree with this guy: >>16048013
Regarding "The sloshes and gurgles of it navigating its way through the rugged formation [...]" I would also add that "its way" is redundant as it immediately follows from "navigating".
But beyond that, the main issue is that it lacks focus. "The sloshes and gurgles [of it navigating its way through the rugged formation] to him sound ..."
You want to say something about how the sloshes and gurgles sound, but you interrupt the thought with unnecessary information regarding the actions of the water. You should focus either on the water, in which case I would suggest something like "Its sloshes and gurgles as it navigates through the rugged formation sound ..."
or else focus on the noises, in which case you could simply write "The sloshes and gurgles sound ..."

[Anonymous No.16048537]

>>16048124
Pseuds, hipsters, wannabes. That’s what I’d think.

>>16048013
Based line edit anon. All of these are correct. And this is why I don’t critique much in these threads, because basically everything needs this amount of basic revision: cases and tenses change for no reason, etc. The work that stands out don’t have these amateur problems.

[Anonymous No.16048594]

I am the anon who posted the opening paragraph earlier and I appreciate all of the responses guys. It obviously stings a bit to get ripped to shreds but I'd much rather get this kind of tough love here, on the first thing I've ever wrote than in ten years after indulging my mistakes over and over. Ty.

[Anonymous No.16048684]

>>16048594
It’s fine and not a bad thing. Just keep working and focusing on craft. Pick some favorite novels and actively try to imitate the passages that you love, this will help you learn. Look into learning simple scansion (analyzing and labeling syllables and stresses in a line) and scan some of your favorite passages, you will learn from visualizing rhythm and see some of the deep care the best writers put into this. Keep going.

[Anonymous No.16048720]

>>16048684
Yeah I absolutely will. As another anon pointed out, I am a bit of a Cormac McCarthy babby at the moment, but I will seek to take the lyricism from his writing and divorce it from the ornate vernacular and stylings, which I obviously can't do and felt was a contrivance from the start anyway.

[Anonymous No.16048927]

>>16048013
Do you have any tips for editing? The corrections are obvious when looking at pic related but I would probably miss half of them if I tried to replicate it

[Anonymous No.16049044]

>>16046218
If you mean what I think you mean that sounds funny but also really stupid

[Anonymous No.16049056]

>>16047849
but there is another way

[Anonymous No.16049082]

>>16048013
The first sentence seems like it's trying to mimic esoteric grammar. It does so badly and he should have just written in in normal english though

[Anonymous No.16049108]

>>16048361
Is everyone's work as terrible as it was in the class I took?

[Anonymous No.16049333]

Writing a survival story. What's the biggest middle finger I can give to my survivors for the first rescue box they find?

[Anonymous No.16049395]

How do I make my characters feel human, feel like real people?

fyi: not writing a book, it's an rpg, but I focus a lot on the story and research writing techniques, and there's a lot of dialogue. So I hang out on /lit/ more than I do on /vrpg/.

[Anonymous No.16049402]

>>16049395
Less thinking more feeling. Let your intuition guide you.

[Anonymous No.16049408]

>>16049333
Something that in a normal situation is valuable, expensive, desired.
But for survival - completely useless

Easy answer is stacks of money

[Anonymous No.16049436]

>>16049402
That sounds right, but what does it mean exactly?
I need to plan things out, write and re-write things, see that there's no contradictions in the plotline, see if nothing contradicts the main themes or betrays character arcs that I want to go through.
If I just wing it by intuition, it'll be all over the place and terrible.

Besides, if I do that I fear characters will just be more like me.
And I'm not an interesting person.

[Anonymous No.16049439]

>>16049408

Money is a great answer. Cheers. Going to use it.

[Anonymous No.16049477]

>>16049439
Make it so one character is excited at all the money, and thinks he's rich now, but then realizes.
Or doesn't realize
Keeps money to himself, hoping to use it when they're saved

oh yeah south park did it in manbearpig when Cartman ate treasure to hide it

[Anonymous No.16049502]

>>16049395

You write how people speak instead of copying what you've read.

[Anonymous No.16049507]

>>16049395
If you have to ask, you're not ready to write it.

[Anonymous No.16049509]

>>16049502
>copy words you hear instead of words you read

[Anonymous No.16049579]

>>16049509

'Yes'

The words you hear are part of your culture and you'll be able to transcribe them in a natural way. The words you read are someone else's attempt at that and you'll end up with a reflection of a reflection which, well, sucks.

[Anonymous No.16049665]

>>16049502
I do a lot more listening of English than reading, that's for sure (I'm an ESL).
Anything else?

[Anonymous No.16049978]

>The shuttle comes to a stop. The hissing of hydraulic machinery fasten their clasp on the craft’s exterior—from mine and Olga’s sides. Looking out the window I notice the endless ocean of stars descends out of view. The ascend gives way to the utilitarian appearance of the mother ship’s hanger bay.
Brain's broken down and gone kaput lads. Is this too wordy? More details on utilitarian appearance I wonder?

[Anonymous No.16050020]

Is reading McCarthy even a good means of learning English? I mean you're learning it still, but for writing specifically it seems strange to learn from a writer who uses the language in unorthodox means

[Anonymous No.16050860]

chapter 1 is complete

[Anonymous No.16050902]

>>16049978
>The hissing of hydraulic machinery fasten their clasp on the craft's exterior

that's awkward af desu. You mess up verb conjugation, and you imply the hissing is the subject.

>Looking out the window I notice the endless ocean of stars descends out of view

that's a pretty big cliche

>the ascend gives way

do you mean ascent? I don't feel like the previous sentences gave me the impression of rising, there seems to be something missing.

>utilitarian
I'm not getting any sort of image from that descriptor, might just be me.

[Anonymous No.16051442]

/wg/, I used to be full of writing ideas and when i wasn't thinking about things to add to my novel i was coming up with new story ideas altogether. about a year ago, around the same time i started working heavily on my current novel those ideas stopped coming and more often if I was thinking about my novel at all, it was to chide myself for failing to write as well or failing to enjoy the process. since then I've only had inspiration strike for a span of hours at a time, and I'm afraid I've lost a part of myself. Taking breaks has done nothing but make me anxious but powering through is proving exceptionally difficult

[Anonymous No.16051732]

>>16051442
A few hours at a time is plenty

[Anonymous No.16051793]

>>16051732
Anon, you misunderstand. The problem isn't that I'm not writing, the problem is that I'm not enjoying

I'm following a plan i laid over a year ago and the entire process is atrociously boring. The fun part of writing for me is coming up with new ideas. I'm not doing that

[Anonymous No.16052010]

>>16051793
Then quit? What do you expect other people to do, astral project pure enjoyment into your veins?

[Anonymous No.16052026]

>>16052010
i'm asking how I can get my passion back

[Anonymous No.16052124]

>>16048927
>Do you have any tips for editing?
Maybe, but you may not love it. Just pick up a good grammar book and study. Something written in this century, preferably. Generally, the more childish and embarrassing the cover looks, the better it's at explaining things. Some have entire sections dedicated to creative writing too. Possessing a solid base of knowledge is the only way anyone can see these things. If anything about your writing feels off to you, just google it and make sure. It's slow, tedious work, yes, but nobody ever built a functional house just "for fun" either.

>>16049082
This is one terrible issue I confess I've fallen guilty of myself when I wrote my first-ever stories. You can't first write like Luther, and then say shit like "the party is in wild swing!" in the same piece. Tonal consistency may be difficult to achieve but absolutely vital.

[Anonymous No.16052145]

>>16052026
Go on a soul-searching journey around the world

[Anonymous No.16052221]

>>16051442
>it was to chide myself for failing to write as well or failing to enjoy the process
Big yikes. Beating yourself up over not doing something only makes you want to do it less.
You can't think of writing as an obligation or else it becomes a chore, and people don't like doing chores. If you're having trouble writing and you start telling yourself that you HAVE to write for X amount of time or at X level of quality, stop writing immediately, go somewhere else, and take a moment to relax. You can go back to writing once you stop feeling bad about not writing.

[Anonymous No.16052709]

>buy typewriter for indie aesthetic and rough drafts
>goes at a snail's pace
i think writing my novella will take a while...

[Anonymous No.16052837]

How do I write like a postmodernist? Should I read more?

[Anonymous No.16053528]

>>16049502
>all the characters speak like Jeff Goldblum now
Good going.

You need to observe both and aim for the middle.