/wg/ writing general

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/wg/ writing general Anonymous Sat Oct 24 09:33:32 2020 No.16643332 [Reply] [Original]

Comedy edition
How to get started in comedy https://b-ok.lat/book/5677619/98ad59
Good comedy book: https://b-ok.lat/book/4787108/0d6163
Last thread (over 316 posts):
>>16620782 #

Suggested books on storytelling:
>The Weekend Novelist
>Aristotle's Poetics
>Hero With a Thousand Faces
>Save the Cat
>Romance the Beat

Suggested books on getting your fucking work done you lazy piece of shit:
>Deep Work
>Atomic Habits

Other Resources
>General grammar/syntax/editing help
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/purdue_owl.html
> When/where/how should I write?
https://jamesclear.com/daily-routines-writers
> What software should I write with?
https://self-publishingschool.com/book-writing-software-best/
> Amazon Publishing to make that KDP monie
https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G200635650
> Be like Charles Dickens and write serially
https://www.royalroad.com/
> Basic overview of the Screenplay format
https://screenwriting.info/

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 09:35:23 2020 No.16643338 Any styles y'all find particularly interesting or needed to supplant the pomo crap? What's some good comedy books y'all find interesting?

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 09:55:38 2020 No.16643414 https://pastebin.com/JnPaCQzx Honest thoughts? I want to write weaboo litrpg stuff for Royal Road. Can I get a critique. Pretty please

Anonymous Sat Oct 24 10:13:51 2020 No.16643488
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Why am I so weak? Why am I so frail? I can't contain myself. I can't restrain myself. Nothing I do ever works out. People achieve stull all around and I'm still stuck at the start. It would be better if I were to abandon all ambition. I have no talent to materialize any of them. None at all. I write with a restricted, repeating vocabulary, with truncated sentences and bland, boring motives. I'm sickened by my lack of talent. And I have to deal with it since it is the only thing I can do — and I can't even do it. You imagine your life if you could do nothing. Imagine if you had no talent, or no skills to compensate for your lack of it. Imagine if you had nothing, and were nothing, and there were no hopes for you in the future and the present held none.
I keep no resentment towards the ones who have done it, either by talent, luck, or skills. I look up to them to forget the wasted potential I have in me. I've come to accept my lot in life. i seek entertainment but entertainment begins to grow dull, and fade. My desires and wills diminish and I figure it'd just be best if I were to be left alone, so that those who can keep building life for them and others.
I could seek refuge from the real outside of escapism but as I have told you, I lack talent. I lack the tools to realize anything, or even to persevere. I can't do religion; I can't dedicate myself to a cause, only admire the causes many men of valor have taken up themselves. I struggle even to write this. My prose isn't seamless; nor does it flow freely from my mind. In speech I gag and stutter and in thought my reasonings are flawed. I'm a husk of a human, a shell. Why should I bother to open? There is no pearl inside of me. It could be, there could've been, but I was never meant to go anywhere in life. If I take up defeatism it's because I know I won't be going anywhere.

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 10:25:49 2020 No.16643530 >>16643414 I read the first paragraph and I will not read any more until you edit it

Anonymous Sat Oct 24 10:35:39 2020 No.16643555

>>16643414
It's funny and the writing style is almost d&dish in how it's a bunch of to-the-point indicative sentences.
At least at the start it seemed to have trouble figuring out what to emphasize as a conflict or engaging moment. For instance I was wondering why climbing the tree was more of an adventure and getting caught by goblins was non-chalant in the writing style (it was quick but just less responsive). After they got caught by goblins it picked up so easily and dialogue works well for you so maybe non-dialogue moments need some work.
Also the grammar is more than just a bit here or there that can be capitalized or we. There was a line or two that threw me off and I just skipped it.
So your dialogue is good, your writing style is good but I'd love to see your magic system or we.
9/10 would read as is.

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 10:36:42 2020 No.16643559 >>16643530 It actually gets better it threw me off too

Anonymous Sat Oct 24 10:43:17 2020 No.16643591

>>16643530
>>16643559
Thanks for the feedback. What threw you off? I'm sort of an ESL but I have lived my entire life in a former brit-colonized country so I'm in that weird space where my language is just okay and I can never tell the mistakes I'm making. But I appreciate your feedback and advice bros.

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 10:44:20 2020 No.16643595 >>16643555 Thanks. And noted my friend.

Anonymous Sat Oct 24 11:05:47 2020 No.16643679

>>16643591
I would pay someone or ask someone to proofread it.
First paragraph says at end "then it him" I assume hit him but I'm native speaker and I have to do some work to assume that. I'll never completely miss that but that's not really egregious it's just similar mistake made in multiple places.
This threw me off "He laboured down. Making sure his instincts wouldn’t tell him I told you so."
It's bad grammar, word choice, bad punctuation and I have no idea what instincts have to do w this whatsoever.

I'm >>16643555
The grammar is bad but thankfully the things I mentioned really bring it home. If you had bad dialogue but great grammar I'd rate it less enjoyable only because it's a smaller mountain to climb for you.

Anonymous Sat Oct 24 11:44:09 2020 No.16643840

The terrible luminescent choir
above the muddy globe,
sprinkles its seed
on you.

The fattened brown bull
under a pine tree,
watches the stars
beside you.

The lame black dog
at your tired feet,
hops faithfully
behind you.

The old dirty shoes
on worn out streets,
clank into eternity
with you.

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 12:07:14 2020 No.16643960 >start writing >developing a scene >new character shows up >draw a blank when coming up with a name >get frustrated, lose my flow and quit for the rest of the day Why does this keep happening?

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 12:16:10 2020 No.16644005 File: 25 KB, 638x296, 1597018608302.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] Getting back into it after quitting for a year after getting almost nowhere. This is the opening paragraph after starting over. I don't know what the fuck I'm doing.

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 12:18:49 2020 No.16644023 >>16644005 It's not bad, are you trying to write a novel or work on dialogue?

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 12:20:07 2020 No.16644031 >>16643960 I usually leave them unnamed until I edit for the day. Once I get better at characterization I'll be fine

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 12:24:41 2020 No.16644052 >>16643960 Because if everyone was named philip and jerry the world would be a better place and a book without conflict would suck.

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 12:30:55 2020 No.16644084 >Used to be able to write long papers and stories in highschool >Now I can't even finish a paragraph I'm more wellread and have life experience now, why can't I commit anymore? My imagination is for shit.

Anonymous Sat Oct 24 12:31:13 2020 No.16644087

>>16643488
Better written than most 4chan posts. Sounds like severe self-loathing and perfectionism. I hope you find peace anon, and i know this is well worn advice, but don’t give up. How often do you read? Could help you with your vocab and syntax problems. Keeping a journal to jot down observations/ideas could help w inspiration

Anonymous Sat Oct 24 12:37:39 2020 No.16644123

>>16643488
I've been there. You are clinging to a form for which you have no talent: in this case writing. Just because you failed at a lot of other things, doesn't mean you don't have talent for something. You should look at your past failures and try to decipher what you did do at least decent in those endeavours (even if everything else was awful) and try to find new forms that fit your talent better. You're an OK writer based on your post but you sound more analytical than imaginative. Perhaps something like philosophy or law would be more your thing.

Anonymous Sat Oct 24 12:48:00 2020 No.16644169

>>16644123
It's extremely painful to try something only to realize you have no talent for it. Especially if you are somewhat generally talented, this creates the false impression that you are immediately at least better than average at whatever you pick up, but as time goes on, you realize you are far from getting to the place you need to be in order to be successful or comparable with the very good output for that field. It's extremely painful to cut your losses but if you don't do it, you will simply repeat a cycle of delusion based in megalomania (some "idea" will appear as brilliant to you which will make your ego say HA, I knew I am supremely talented!) devolving into self-hatred ("wow this fucking sucks, i fucking suck" when you let your idea sit for a day or two or try to work on it further and it goes nowhere or appears as simply being shit). You have to cut your losses and find something that fits your skills/talents better. I'm not saying great artists don't go through that cycle, but they usually find a way to push through relatively easily. If you are constantly stuck in that loop of delusion and self-hatred with no real quality output, then the reality is you simply have to find a different calling.

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 12:50:27 2020 No.16644179 >>16644023 Novel, don't really have a plan here, but trying to plan ahead would likely kill any writing effort completely for me.

Anonymous Sat Oct 24 13:13:31 2020 No.16644316

How many tragedies can you deal upon a character before it becomes either comical or edgy? I want to write a protagonist whose life has been lidden with misfortune and pain, but I don't want to compromise the reader's suspension of disbelief. Any advice on this front?

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 13:16:29 2020 No.16644330 >>16644316 A comedy has the tone the whole time plus it has a gaudy spin on tragedy

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 13:18:26 2020 No.16644339 >>16644330 But I want to write something dramatic.

Anonymous Sat Oct 24 13:20:04 2020 No.16644349

>>16644005
Language evolves and shifts constantly, perhaps you should consider evolving with it.
That's probably the number one issue I see in these threads, tittering dipshits apparently think they need to copy the exact tone and word choice as the authors who were famous before the 1920's if they want to be taken seriously.
The actual idea you're trying to present here would be creepy if you wrote in a style which could be more easily absorbed.

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 13:23:15 2020 No.16644373 >>16643960 Use a placeholder name Maximilien

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 13:31:35 2020 No.16644426 >>16644316 It depends on the presentation. As long as they're subject to reasonable events and you convey it in a sober manner, you can subject them to as much pain as you'd like without the story becoming comical.

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 13:31:52 2020 No.16644429 >>16644339 So just make sure it's not gaudy and light-hearted consequences

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 13:33:07 2020 No.16644434 File: 22 KB, 389x310, vito.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] I want to write crime fiction

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 13:39:17 2020 No.16644462 >>16644434 During what time period? Like John Grisham or 50's style?

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 13:41:18 2020 No.16644473 >>16644462 Modern

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 13:45:29 2020 No.16644497 >>16644316 make the character taste relief or have something to hope for, then take it away you need contrast in order to showcase proper tragedy

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 13:46:17 2020 No.16644503 >>16644426 The general idea involves parental neglct, the death of two close family members to disease and an accident, a violent bully/stalker and a murderer in the family. Does this sound too ludicrous?

Anonymous Sat Oct 24 13:53:09 2020 No.16644537

>>16643414
I'm sure the opener felt good in your head, but the kind of "It was x. EXCEPT IT WASN'T" switch is pretty damn annoying in reality. Then you spend several paragraphs telling us how the MC climbs up and down a tree, and you do it the dullest way possible. And that's why I'm out.

Anonymous Sat Oct 24 13:59:38 2020 No.16644581

>>16644005
Nonsensical imagery. How can laughter be like a "cold needle dragged across senses". What senses? Taste and touch too? "Crude mimicry", "eerie imitation", it's just saying the same thing in different words. How can moonlight be waxing and waning at the same time? Think about it a little more.

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 14:03:53 2020 No.16644606 >>16644503 It's perfectly believable. Those are all things that can happen to people, especially those born into less privileged circumstances. Just try to avoid milking their suffering for too much melodrama.

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 14:40:53 2020 No.16644798 >>16644606 Thank you both for your assurance and your advice; I'll be sure to keep it in mind.

Anonymous Sat Oct 24 14:58:50 2020 No.16644913

I have characters, themes, a location and a general sense of the aesthetic I'm trying to achieve.
The idea, which is very loosely, came to me I think three or four months ago. I started three drafts but none of them surpassed the 7Kwords mark, as soon they degenerated into gibberish and side plots that weren't going nowhere.
I started again now and I write maybe a chapter a week. Let me say, a "chapter" is a way of saying, for as their average length is of 300 words. The thing is, I'm paralyzed before every line as I'm afraid I'll mess it up.
Still, I have circa1500 words in the current draft and is the first time I think I have something of value in my hands. I want it to be a novel, but won't force it. I feel it like a little precious creature that has been left at my care and I must nurtur it the best I can. Sometimes I feel I'm not prepared, and want it to be free, for it will be better than at my side. But then it looks my into my eyes and I can't help but writing, and expanding its world.
It really is a wonderful thing to create, but it is so tiresome ffs.
I need discipline.

I usually just lurk, this threads often help me to gather my shit, for my head is always in the clouds and people here are so honest, and put things so clearly. Thanks to all of you.
A hug to everyone here. Don't forget the magic of all of this, and don't let me forget it neither.

Anonymous Sat Oct 24 15:04:08 2020 No.16644937

How is it possible to write about modern relationships without including excruciatingly boring and monotonous scenes of texting and online interactions? All of these scenes are the same for everyone in any circumstance. It's reduced everything to a one dimensional interaction.

Anonymous Sat Oct 24 15:06:43 2020 No.16644947

>>16644581
>How can laughter be like a "cold needle dragged across senses".
There's this escalator near me that used to creak in a way that made it feel like the base of my skull/brain was trembling. Awful sensation, genuinely got cold sweats after hearing it a few times before it got fixed.

Can't speak for that anon, but I'd probably describe that sound as an assault on the senses.

Anonymous Sat Oct 24 15:14:50 2020 No.16644987

I have a tendency to start ambitious projects that become untenably rhizomatic and complicated. The effort of structuring earlier drafts into more organized and followable drafts becomes a problem over and above the primary problem of expressing what I have to say adequately.
I have to untangle and straighten out my own thought process if anyone else is going to understand it. It's a struggle.

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 15:20:02 2020 No.16645009 >>16644937 there are no boring interactions in 1913?

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 15:25:04 2020 No.16645032 >>16645009 People had to go outside and mingle to meet each other. They weren't swiping on tinder and saying >hey >what's up >hey how are you all day

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 15:41:35 2020 No.16645111 >>16643488 i've read your plea and will compliment you that your post was good to read and understand. perhaps what you lack is ideas? if you feel like youre not enough, find an ideas guy and work together. him the concept and you the writing.

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 15:42:36 2020 No.16645118 >>16645032 Yes they all spoke different dialects of circa Pax Romana era Latin based on the ones their families grew up speaking.

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 15:43:41 2020 No.16645123 >>16644084 you got a jumble of information that you need to compress into words, it will come in due time

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 15:44:44 2020 No.16645128 >>16644316 if you want ideas, i recommend checking out the story of Turin Turambar

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 15:46:13 2020 No.16645137 >>16645118 My thesis stands that there is something particularly colorless about contemporary courtship rituals broadly construed. Is anything lamer than breaking up with someone via texting? Where's the drama and pathos in that?

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 15:52:06 2020 No.16645169 some light fiction for halloween https://pastebin.com/9MsqyaM0 im satisfied how the 5th paragraph came out. i think its nice to the tongue.

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 16:06:28 2020 No.16645256 >>16645137 I'm not really a big ppl person anyways can't wait till we're ai

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 16:17:37 2020 No.16645326 >>16645137 try larping

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 16:18:25 2020 No.16645331 >>16645137 Can confirm that being broken up with via text is exceptionally lame

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 16:30:28 2020 No.16645428 >>16645331 There's lamer shit. I almost got jumped a few times irl cause I didn't fug a girl at work who liked me

Anonymous Sat Oct 24 17:27:23 2020 No.16645829

>Have ideas for novels, short stories etc.
>Writing it seems nice, raw because I don't edit constantly but a nice nucleus to build on.
>Look over it and I think it's pseud tryhard shit
I have spent years studying and analysing Joyce I literally can't even attempt in any other way and now I'm constantly comparing myself to him and end up in this cycle of self-critique woooooooo.

Anonymous Sat Oct 24 17:45:21 2020 No.16645942

>>16644005
I agree with the anon that said the imagery is strange, especially "cold needle being dragged across my sense". It just doesn't make sense. A lot of it is oddly phrased and overwrought, perhaps in an effort to seem literary.
You've also used the word cold twice in the last line, would recommend removing or changing one of them.

Anonymous Sat Oct 24 18:08:56 2020 No.16646101

>>16644005
You are trying way too hard, anon. Even I had to look up the word exudate. An average reader would have tuned out after the first line. You're using a lot of words that don't really say much of anything. I don't need three lines describing the sound of odd laughter to me. You should read that essay from Orwell that an anon posted in the last thread

>>16643414
Almost all of your sentences have the exact same structure. You seem almost afraid to use commas. I got bored pretty quickly while reading, because the writing just didn't have any soul to it. I will say that it's better than what I expected from an ESL, though. You have a few awkward phrasings, but for the most part it read alright. You just need to do a lot of work on style, because it is very bland as is

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 20:31:41 2020 No.16646874 This thread has been a little dead the past few days. You guys better still be writing

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 20:34:17 2020 No.16646893 >>16643332 [X] JUMP IN THE LAKE

Anonymous Sat Oct 24 21:07:21 2020 No.16647082
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>>16646874
I got a lot done with doing my minimum word counts on Wednesday and Thursday. I just wasn't able to keep it up cus of wagie Friday and today. The new chapter is far from finished though. This week ended up being underwhelming because I hoped to achieve over 18k words as I did in a single week month ago, but I only managed about ~11k words, which sucks but I'm a chapter away from a scene I've been looking forward to for a long time. At least I got some cute new character art of some of my characters.

Anonymous Sat Oct 24 21:08:29 2020 No.16647089

>>16646874
I am. Studying logic comes first then writing second but I usually have an hour each day for studying writing. Tried writing a lot and I got better at writing but need to focus on some particular things I'm trying to learn. After logic and math it should be main priority again

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 21:22:20 2020 No.16647178 How do I make my writing style less choppy and flow better? I'm feeling it's difficult to focus for long on my own writing.

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 21:24:18 2020 No.16647190 >>16646874 Still in the planning stage

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 21:25:16 2020 No.16647192 >>16646874 Patiently reading through the linked opening threads now.

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 23:00:44 2020 No.16647638 Shame that American K-12 schools are failing to teach students to properly write. A whole generation of literature is going to be lost or greatly reduced because of this.

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 23:03:33 2020 No.16647651 File: 232 KB, 1533x744, mattcry.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] How to induce emotion on a reader? Not referring to the whole emotional range like tension and stuff, I mean actual tugging of heartstrings - sheer emotion, be it happy or sad.

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 23:04:07 2020 No.16647654 >>16643414 >Then it him oh nonononono....

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 23:06:58 2020 No.16647665 >>16647651 It sounds cheesy, but get them invested in the characters.

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 23:09:33 2020 No.16647675 >>16647651 - death - birth - separation - reunion probably the most emotion inducing scenarios.

Anonymous Sat Oct 24 23:13:15 2020 No.16647694
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How do you guys write your dialogue? Just simple back and forth with a ton of exchanges? Or do you add a paragraph of descriptions and thoughts along with the lines? Maybe conversations are a page or two? Maybe they're only a few actual lines of dialogue?

Anonymous Sat Oct 24 23:14:05 2020 No.16647696
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I wrote a romance novel. It's obviously a power fantasy starring a self insert and the only person I've shown it to is my therapist. I've thought about sharing it with a few friends, but I'm afraid it'll further reveal to them how much of a loser I am.

Anonymous Sat Oct 24 23:17:44 2020 No.16647723

How do I write dialogue for a character that speaks too fast, often getting his words all tangled up therefore making it so that the other characters occasionally have trouble understanding him

Having other characters call him out on it, is reasonable and something I plan to do, but I'm more interested in how that "problem" could be expressed through the characters dialogue without it becoming a mess

Anonymous Sat Oct 24 23:45:38 2020 No.16647869

>>16647723
>At times she endeavoured to stop, but after a slight pause the words would come bubbling out, in remarks that were not always perfectly coherent.

>‘Your brother – my brother, since he is yours, and I love him dearly’ – Sophie, when moved, had a way of talking very quick, her words tumbling over one another – ‘I mean dear Philip of course has run away from school and he declares he will go to sea with you.’

>He plucked her out, kissed her most heartily, and began to explain what they were at – everything shipshape tomorrow – paint dry – flags laid – they had found a disused well in the passage – how were the children? while at the same time in a rapid voice, the words bubbling over one another, she told him of her excellent crossing – nothing at all: slept all the way – obliging, civil people at the inns – kind post-boys – children and Mama all well – Frankie and her baby too – a boy – Mr Clotworthy delighted – how lovely to be home.

That’s how Patrick O’Brian dealt with it. Sort of disconnected ideas and a verb like “tumbling” or “bubbling”

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 23:48:04 2020 No.16647877 >>16647696 why is the h in He capitalised in the second sentence. why do you write in such short paragraphs? are you reddit? >fire razors and salt pretty cringey bro

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 23:51:55 2020 No.16647898 >>16647877 Maybe this is the salt he was speaking of

>>	Anonymous Sat Oct 24 23:53:38 2020 No.16647909 /wg/, how do I into a mutti-pov story? I think I'm in way over my head.

Anonymous Sun Oct 25 00:26:13 2020 No.16648077

>>16647696
Don't listen to
>>16647877
So harshly.

I think it's nice. I think you do tell a bit more than you show, but a lot of people have that issue. It can use some improvement like most things, but the fire, razors and salt bit I didn't think too much on.

Keep writing anon.

Anonymous Sun Oct 25 00:52:02 2020 No.16648213

How do you formulate your chapters? Do you build them around of a specific plot point? Do you make it them mini-stories(like tv episodes) part of a bigger whole? Do you just write the whole book without considering the structure and pick the breaks should be afterwards?

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 02:20:37 2020 No.16648524 >>16648213 I just copy what my favorite author does

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 02:33:16 2020 No.16648544 >>16648524 what does your favorite author do?

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 02:39:29 2020 No.16648567 >>16648544 He just ends the chapter and titles the next one with the next POV’s name (“Arya”, etc)

Anonymous Sun Oct 25 02:43:45 2020 No.16648587

>>16647694

I tend to write what the characters are saying and observable gestures. For the novel i’m writing i’ve made the conscious choice to not use valued adjectives like ”good” or ”ugly” etc.
But then again inlike the iceberg model.
I also write out silences.

”So, you’re not coming?” said the man and looked at Anon with his one good eye.
Anon was silent for a while.
”No.” he said then, looking down at the bag before his feet. ”I...”
The man with the crooked eye raised an eyebrow.
Anon sighed.
”It’s just that every time i tag along on these things something...” he trailed off again, eyes once more fixed on the bag before him.

Something like that maybe?

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 02:46:10 2020 No.16648592 >>16648587 Eeh, switch out all of the ”before” to ”in front of”. Sry ESL and a fever on here.

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 02:46:41 2020 No.16648594 >>16648567 Get back to work George

Anonymous Sun Oct 25 02:49:19 2020 No.16648605

What's your standard practice on reversing a POV? I've tried establishing a counter balance which sort of hinges on a middle person viewpoint at the junction, but I'm wondering if that's too subtle. Would it better to have an abrupt past-to-present/present-to-past tense change as well, to kind of drag the reader back up to the surface of the text, which would ideally make the reimmersion register a little more crisply?

Anonymous Sun Oct 25 02:56:42 2020 No.16648634

>>16648213
They're structured as a scene, usually in one area or more if it involves a scene break. It might end and transition into another scene with the same characters, or switch PoV to some other characters that are either unfolding approximately the same time (but never concurrently) or a scene that happens after it to propel the plot forward.

>>16647909
I'm doing one with multiple perspectives and I say just go with the flow. It can be kinda hard since what discussions I read say most readers dislike multiple PoVs, but maybe avoid PoVs of the same events/concurrently, and more as I mentioned in the top reply. As an example, like the protagonist planning on some military tactics, and the next chapter might flip to the deuteragonist trying to deal with the protagonist's plans when they're put into motion.

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 03:07:50 2020 No.16648659 >>16645169 Neat, but I think the last sentence can be trimmed free of "as is its host". The suit was consumed, we can assume what happened to the astronaut.

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 03:11:37 2020 No.16648669 >>16648634 I've done that. the problem is I'm planning a situation now where the PoV characters aren't together and are each on separate quests

Anonymous Sun Oct 25 04:24:24 2020 No.16648869
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>50% of the time I think my writing is the greatest achievement in human history and will be remembered for generations
>50% of the time I think it's garbage and I should burn everything to save myself from the embarrassment of anyone actually reading it
Help

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 04:29:55 2020 No.16648887 >>16648869 Both are wrong but the second is more likely. Keep working at it.

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 04:53:40 2020 No.16648976 >>16648869 Just write twice as much, easy

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 05:34:54 2020 No.16649081 >>16644947 But did it resemble laughter?

Anonymous Sun Oct 25 05:51:00 2020 No.16649140

>>16647696
>"I wouldn't even know how to answer that," he answered

lol. Otherwise, seems ok. Hard to say anything by such a short passage, but at least you've avoided the most common /wg/ sins: beating around the bush with unnecessary verbal wankery, and building sentences based on the meaning of the words and not just how they sound.

Anonymous Sun Oct 25 06:02:29 2020 No.16649179

>>16643414
If you want to write litrpg cashgrabs, quality of writing really doesn't matter. At all. As long as the writing is "correct," people will never notice what words you use because their focus is elsewhere -- they don't read because they enjoy good writing. The words are just something they have to get past to engage with what they're interested in. If you want to write litRPG, I'd suggest keeping this in mind. Go over every sentence with the explicit goal of cutting out everything that lacks not just a purpose, but a FUNCTION in the context of drama, action, plot, etc. Pare down your language and try not to use words people might not understand. Clarity of language, clarity of purpose. For commercially-minded fiction like yours there's a huge variety of how-to books which will likely answer every question you have, and you can follow those answers more or less thoughtlessly. The only questions these books can't answer are the ones you'll ask when you starts getting into more high-minded (some might say pretentious) literature.

In terms of direct feedback, you do well at expressing the mood through your writing style. There's a terseness to the prose that feels intentional and purposeful. I can't offer any feedback on story of characters or anything like that because I really don't know.

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 06:06:48 2020 No.16649193 File: 3.00 MB, 400x400, 1591677013470.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>16647696 >There weren't enough words in the language or hours in the day to describe how much he liked Caitlyn

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 07:37:51 2020 No.16649465 File: 1.33 MB, 868x653, monkey on pillow.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] Is it better to write something I'd like to read or something other people might like to read?

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 07:40:09 2020 No.16649475 >>16649465 True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written, in writing what deserves to be read

Anonymous Sun Oct 25 07:46:42 2020 No.16649497
File: 104 KB, 542x467, 1603570167717.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

>>16649465
I write things which appeal to the least possible amount of people, which I can confirm is just one person. I'm really good at it -- absolutely everyone hates what I write.

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 07:47:37 2020 No.16649499 >>16649497 Dangerously based

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 08:13:15 2020 No.16649573 >>16648659 well, i wanted to describe the crystal too so i added that at the end so reader wouldnt think the crystal is transparent. the suit wasnt consumed though, it was engulfed.

Anonymous Sun Oct 25 08:16:02 2020 No.16649580
File: 32 KB, 421x422, 1588958442307.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

>>16644349
Beside "exudate" (which felt wrong even when I wrote it) I didn't find anything in there particularly archaic. Problem is, being an ESL (ETL, actually) and having learned English mainly via books, my perception of the language is probably quite skewed as a lot of it was indeed learned via stuff written by people before 1950.

If you mean prose, I'm gonna slim it down some.
>>16644581
>>16645942
>What senses? Taste and touch too?
>How can moonlight be waxing and waning at the same time?
Point taken, it is supposed to be a dream but I guess it just comes off as confusing and contradictory, especially since you don't know it is until the start of the next paragraph.
>"Crude mimicry", "eerie imitation", it's just saying the same thing in different words.
In my mind that was to reinforce the point, but I'll probably slim it down.
>cold
Yeah no idea why I didn't catch that.
>>16646101
>You should read that essay from Orwell that an anon posted in the last thread
Missed that, will do.

In short I guess I'll slim down the prose, fix the imagery, and be a bit more stingy with archaic words.

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 08:17:57 2020 No.16649585 >>16649580 Exudate is my new favorite word. I say exude a lot

Anonymous Sun Oct 25 08:51:56 2020 No.16649680

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>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 09:15:50 2020 No.16649750 >>16648869 >>50% of the time I think my writing is the greatest achievement in human history and will be remembered for generations >actually thinking this please be underaged or joking >>16648976 kek

Anonymous Sun Oct 25 09:30:02 2020 No.16649782

>>16647696
this reminds me of a brief exchange in disco elysium between a detective looking for a researcher and the wife of that researcher, something along the lines of:
>D: can you describe your husband for us, maam?
>W: well, his hands aren't as rough as they look. his voice is deep but you wouldn't notice it, the way he talks. he gets so nervous sometimes and he'd never show it, but you can always tell.
>D: i mean the way he looks, maam. something that could help us identify him on the streets.
>W: oh, of course, i'm sorry.
>[thought] after all, it can be difficult describing someone whom you are so close to.
not the best example, but there are much better ways for *showing* love, or anything in that matter, than tired and cliched imagery.

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 09:39:26 2020 No.16649813 Is it worth looking into books people have written on writing e.g characters etc? I kind of don't want to but if it will genuinely improve my work it might be worth it

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 09:46:01 2020 No.16649838 How do I cope with the fact that Joyce already had the closest I've ever come to independent thought, and that he did it better than I ever could if I had ten lifetimes to execute it?

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 09:51:14 2020 No.16649858 >>16649813 Not really. Especially if you don't want to. You'd be better served actually writing.

Anonymous Sun Oct 25 09:52:38 2020 No.16649864

>>16649813
Always. Just don't read anything as gospel. Writing is one of those things that just unfolds. You write some, you edit, you have a question. You find someone who answers it, you evaluate the answer as well as you're capable of, then you go back and write some more. You rinse, you repeat, and every cycle you go through the questions get more specific, more nuanced, until you reach the point where you realize that the only person who can truly answer your specific question with your specific context is actually just you. Any interaction you have with pretty much anything new can always be an opportunity to learn something important if you just actively engage with it.

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 10:15:59 2020 No.16649947 File: 87 KB, 1280x720, jl.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >one typo slips through in a story of 140k words >a reader points it out with a grammar lecture thanks

Anonymous Sun Oct 25 10:19:27 2020 No.16649957

>>16647696
kek I remember you. Hang in there brother. Have you finished this thing? I remember you posted three or four sections from it (when they cuddle for warmth, when Cat sees the knight shirtless and this one). You should finish it and post it somewhere, the anime crowd will eat it up.

Anonymous Sun Oct 25 10:27:07 2020 No.16649985

>>16649947
>that one pretentious cunt that has to write a condescending essay like he was some English teacher in high school because you made a typo
Hate those retards, ah yes thank you one typo in a few tens of thousands of words really means I don't know the basics of the English language and need you to enlighten me.

Anonymous Sun Oct 25 10:30:46 2020 No.16650001

>>16649947
The solution is to purposefully play with "incorrect" grammar to spite the joyless engineers who do their levelheaded (always so carefully levelheaded) best to reduce everything to nothing more than the sum of its composite parts. This approach doesn't actually fix anything, but at least you can have that small victory of manipulating a particularly unpleasant kind of person's reaction.

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 10:31:05 2020 No.16650002 >>16643338 Either of PG Wodehouse's two main series' are great in the poetic and witty early 20th century British style

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 10:39:00 2020 No.16650028 >>16650001 The hardest part is preserving the fragile illusion that I'm not an ungrateful, prideful asshole, which I totally am.

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 10:43:14 2020 No.16650048 >>16650028 Aren't we all

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 10:49:56 2020 No.16650078 >>16650048 True enough, I think every writer has to be a bit of an asshole. You need to believe in what you do, have confidence in yourself, even if it were entirely baseless. Deny reality, if you have to. It's the only way to make it.

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 11:10:25 2020 No.16650172 >>16648869 Seems like a productive dynamic. Half the time you will have confidence to push forward and the other half of the time you will evenhandedly critically reevaluate and improve on it.

Anonymous Sun Oct 25 11:28:50 2020 No.16650256

>>16650172
This. Both perspectives are valuable. Without that sense of enthusiasm-bordering-grandiosity, you'll probably never write anything great. Without that relentless, punishing cock and ball torture level of scathing self-criticism, you'll never develop the taste required to write anything great either. People who fall exclusively into either category and never even pass through a phase of one or the other will never write anything good, and if they do we'll be lucky if it ever sees the light of day e.g. Kafka. I think every writer needs to have a fundamental, genuine courage to believe in their vision enough to actually bring it into the world from nothing, as well as the courage to criticize your vision, refine it. A writer needs to balance these two madnesses simultaneously and to give them both voices, allowing both their equal place while denying either a pedestal.

Anonymous Sun Oct 25 12:17:12 2020 No.16650465

Blackula guy here. A week ago, I made the mistake of GOING OUTSIDE. I must've become allergic to the sun or grass or trees over the years of being a shut-in, because my arms were covered in hives and blisters. This is the first day I have been able to type at a keyboard without excruciating pain.

Fuck normies and fuck nature. Never taking their advice again

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 12:21:41 2020 No.16650487 It is in the dark recesses of the mind during those dark and lonely nights in which the scorned man plots his dangerous vengeance against the world.

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 12:24:15 2020 No.16650501 >>16650465 I go outside every day and meet rabbits, deer, elk and other friendly creatures.

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 12:26:37 2020 No.16650517 >>16650501 I envy people who can do that

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 12:29:06 2020 No.16650538 >>16650517 Having squirrels climb on you as you feed them is a great feeling.

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 12:31:25 2020 No.16650552 File: 322 KB, 1080x1175, 33d664d.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >chips >energy drinks >focuswriter on >not giving a fuck about mistakes and my garbage writing, just fucking writing yeah I'm thinking it's a flow time

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 13:40:18 2020 No.16650867 File: 56 KB, 1068x601, gigachad.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>16650552 Based let it flow chad

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 13:52:02 2020 No.16650940 >>16650552 >>16650867 >decide to try this >get some tea >now writing about a guy who made a fantasy comic for 15 years and eventually turned it into a tabletop RPG I have no idea where this shit is coming from the flow is scary

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 14:17:44 2020 No.16651086 How do I get out of this analysis paralysis? I don't know whether to write a short story, flash fiction or a novel; and further, I do not know how long my writing should be!

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 14:28:29 2020 No.16651141 File: 25 KB, 428x560, Borges.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>16651086 Short story.

Anonymous Sun Oct 25 15:02:38 2020 No.16651285

The story I've let on hiatus is about to resurface again. I hit a hard stop a few years ago but I can do it now that I loathe myself enough to write about a self-loathing main character. It's funny how words flows out when a character you were not related to in any way suddenly becomes a reflection of your state of mind, so fucking intimate you could become paranoid if someone you knew stumbled upon it, even though it's not even a self-insert.

Anonymous Sun Oct 25 15:06:58 2020 No.16651304

I'm not sure if this is the right general for this query, but I'm currently on my third year of college and I still find that writing academic texts is a chore I struggle with constantly. I'm never satisfied with my writings, it's hardly ever a pleasant experience, and while I get by okay, I feel like an absolute buffoon who has learnt mostly nothing. Do you have any advice on how to write compelling and worth reading school papers? I feel about writing a non-fiction book related with what I'm studying and I feel immensely overwhelmed, much more so than at the prospect of writing a novel. I don't know how I'm going to handle my thesis next year.

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 15:10:10 2020 No.16651329 >>16649985 The funny thing is that those people always have the blandest writing. They know enough to write a ten page essay on one grammar mistake, but apparently not enough to write a decent story

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 15:14:43 2020 No.16651353 >>16643414 >then it him Wtf

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 15:18:22 2020 No.16651365 >>16651329 Pointing out other people's mistakes is their only way to feel relevant.

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 15:28:00 2020 No.16651435 >>16651329 People put too much weight on prose and grammar, too little on what the reader actually wants from the book. If it's a novel especially, people want a good story, good characters, and good plot.

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 15:34:49 2020 No.16651477 >>16651435 If the novel has bad prose, it can't have a good story. Of course you should write correct language. That and playing grammar nazi online are different matters entirely.

Anonymous Sun Oct 25 15:40:46 2020 No.16651510

>english is not your native language
>write every day in your language just for fun, don't publish it anywhere
>even if you want to post your stories for people to read, all you can do is sending them to publishing houses because there is no such thing like wattpad or royalroad or whatever in your country
Feels bad bros

Anonymous Sun Oct 25 15:59:58 2020 No.16651631

>>16651304
Unironically get help from professors that you have a good relationship with. If you don't know any then ask anyone you know who has already written a thesis for some help. If you're a hermit then you're gonna get about as much help here as googling it.

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 16:07:16 2020 No.16651674 >>16651510 Nabokov wrote in English perfectly well despite being from Russia. Just keep practicing, anon

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 16:31:55 2020 No.16651810 All my life I thought my writing is shit. Is it bad I suddenly think it's pretty decent? I'm afraid of being shit and not knowing about it

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 16:40:04 2020 No.16651859 >>16651810 you could try getting the opinion of an editor

Anonymous Sun Oct 25 16:43:14 2020 No.16651869

>>16651304
What part of writing is giving you trouble? What parts of your classes do you feel you haven't learned from? There is a possibility that you have had bad classes/professors, but if it is essay writing specifically that is giving you a hard time you can post the parts that you find most challenging. I don't think anything written at my college is 'worth reading', but I don't read essays for fun either. If you are getting low grades on your papers though, I can help you sort out bad composition practices.

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 16:44:36 2020 No.16651878 how am I supposed to write comedy if my life is tragedy?

Anonymous Sun Oct 25 16:45:32 2020 No.16651882

>>16651810
Post something in the thread. If you are afraid of having it recognized you can change character names, plot points, or something. This thread is partially for critique anyway. I'm willing to help you with it if your willing to share anon. Eyes on the page is one of the best ways to improve.

Anonymous Sun Oct 25 17:16:09 2020 No.16652079

>>16651869
It never flows, if that makes sense. I always feel like I'm putting together a Frankenstein monster out of different sources, but one with no life of its own. I never get the sensation that I'm writing something that's worth reading. I could instead list off my sources and the reader would get more out of that than by reading my paper.
I have been passing with fairly good grades so far, but I don't know whether that is because my major is incredibly lenient or if it's something else.
I feel like I lack confidence; I read over different texts, and then keep on looking at them as I type. Is it not reading them, storing ideas in my head and then writing about those ideas what I should be doing? The fact that I can so rarely attempt that makes me wonder if the academic world is for me.

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 17:20:14 2020 No.16652110 >>16651631 I do know some people and there are some professors who seem to like me. I am fairly sure that we're supposed to be in touch with a professor to write our thesis, so that was never much of an option. I still need to think of something.

Anonymous Sun Oct 25 17:43:49 2020 No.16652248

>>16652079
It does make sense, but knowing whether or not that feeling is justified depends on the work itself. Maybe you need to practice synthesizing the works you source more in your paper? Your job when writing an essay in college is usually to show 'mastery' of the elements of writing (Can you structure an essay well enough, essentially) and the ability to select and synthesize sources effectively (Are the sources valid, vetted, and do they gel with one another in the context you provide). If you do both then you have an essay that is probably in B to A range depending on the professor. At this point what you feel you are missing may be the initial idea/validity or draw of your thesis, since this is the idea or argument that threads your sources together.
The reader will always get more out of reading the source material (whole articles, monographs, and collections compiled by Doctorate holding professionals) than out of your essay. The idea is that your thesis will help them view the sources or the subject of your thesis in a new way. In part, you are to assume that the reader is someone in that field and that they have an already read the sources (unless it is a research paper or a general survey [know your audience is part of rhetoric]). This is what professionals do, they argue over the material they have and produce more to argue about.
Lots of people lack confidence. Having some kind of scholarly imposter syndrome is good, it means you aren't dumb enough to think you know it all. What matters is that you actually go about improving.
Even the best writers and readers look back at the source material. That is the reason people take notes. Never trust something you 'store in your head' completely. Imagine if you were 100% confident in that and got it wrong. Having a stack of books open and a heap of tabs up while you write is normal. Artists often look at source material to conduct their craft and construction workers follow blueprints, how would the end result of either of those things end up if they didn't? Badly.
If you worry about academics being for you or not because you don't like it, then maybe it isn't, but if you enjoy it, or part of it, don't worry so much. Not everyone in academia is actually smart. Some of the dumbest people in your classes will spend enough time and money to get a PhD and not be any wiser for it. I recently read an essay in a collection about pedagogy composition that was a flagrant straw-man fallacy and made no point. Being aware, and caring about that means you are already ahead.

Anonymous Sun Oct 25 18:55:25 2020 No.16652651
File: 772 KB, 2048x1365, 02xp-whale-superJumbo.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

Getting into the habit of writing, via short stories this is the first one that has been finished, edited and checked over.

I like my short horrors, and this is the shortest out of the bunch.

https://pastebin.com/mgHk4MUk

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 18:57:19 2020 No.16652660 What is a good modern book you've read? By modern I mean 2000's and beyond.

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 19:12:36 2020 No.16652746 >>16652660 The Road- Cormac McCarthy

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 19:15:57 2020 No.16652766 >>16652660 Generation Kill

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 19:18:02 2020 No.16652775 >>16652660 Maybe I'm just retarded but modern western books bore me to death while I can read dumb korean, chink and japanese novels literally all day. This shit is just so fun, literally ignited my love for literature again

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 19:26:17 2020 No.16652820 >>16652775 Got any names to drop? I have nothing but old /lit/ reccs on my list, I need something newer or my brain's gonna go dust.

Anonymous Sun Oct 25 19:44:33 2020 No.16652926

>>16652651
I want you to know that the plan is not to abandon you, and that we will be one again. During our courtship it was made apparent that my mental health was prone to an occasional lapse, resulting in sleepless nights, the days afterwhich the light seems to have vanished from myself. Worry not though, for it is still your one true love merely departed for a while inside hiself. And I know at times, it must have been a frustration to accommodate my reluctance to visit the coast, this reluctance that bordered on psychosomatic phobia. Especially during such beautiful summers, like the ones we’ve had these last few years. I told you that reluctance was due to some trauma at the sea. Having felt the tug of guilt upon my soul, for these false truths that have been dolled out, I shall now reveal the reality that is the origin of my fears.

i didnt like it, it was quite droll and boring on the whole

Anonymous Sun Oct 25 19:53:16 2020 No.16652969

>>16652248
>scholarly imposter syndrome
I knew what that was but never considered that I had it.
As for the rest of your post, that was honestly really encouraging. Encouraging enough to make me save it so that I can read it any time I feel down about my academic life. Thanks a lot for the pick-me-up, anon.

Anonymous Sun Oct 25 22:21:15 2020 No.16653868

Doing a fantasy-ish thing where the main villain doesn't really show up until the end of the first book and is then kind of defeated but escapes in a way that makes it look like he might have died. How cheap is this? I'm mainly doing it because I don't think I can fit much of his stuff in the first book (I intend to 3-4 though I don't know how appealing that would be to publishers), so it probably doesn't feel as bad to me since I know he'll show up a lot later
Plenty of other stuff happens in the first one, just not much with who will eventually be the big bad later on except the stuff at the end

Anonymous Sun Oct 25 22:29:27 2020 No.16653919

>>16653868
Pretty cheap. Could it work? Sure. Are publishers willing to invest in a book that is just a setup for a series when it could flop? Not particularly. I would look at Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone as a rough idea of what you should aim for, since the main villain also doesn't really show up until the end in that one

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 23:06:42 2020 No.16654136 >>16646874 I wrote 600 words yesterday and 1300 words today.

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 23:15:36 2020 No.16654189 I want to write but I have no idea what I'm doing Should I take a course or something?

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 23:17:03 2020 No.16654198 >>16654189 Read book

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 23:17:34 2020 No.16654200 >>16654189 In my own person experience my uni writing course taught me absolutely nothing.

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 23:24:24 2020 No.16654236 >>16654198 i read lots of books it doesn't translate into writing them

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 23:25:45 2020 No.16654240 >>16654236 >>16654198 Read book and pay attention to how it's written. How does the author structure the plot, and what techniques do they make use of? The books listed in the OP are also all great for learning about how to write a novel

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 23:26:44 2020 No.16654244 >>16654240 i think my problem has more to do with structuring a story everything i come up with is nonsense

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 23:28:06 2020 No.16654253 >>16653919 You're probably right, it just means I have to make things longer I think.

Anonymous Sun Oct 25 23:30:19 2020 No.16654266

>>16654189
Just keep writing, vomit out as much garbage as possible. It might not seem like it initially, you'll improve over time. If you're truly stunted, play some TTRPGs by text. Being forced to describe things and trying to get into character is a good experience.

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 23:34:28 2020 No.16654286 >>16654266 huh thanks i never thought of playing games that way

Anonymous Sun Oct 25 23:37:13 2020 No.16654296
File: 197 KB, 440x440, F4A395BE-FB90-41F0-B7BC-6BE36D5D571B.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

How long should you expect a close friend or family member to read your work? I wrote a novella and gave it to my family three weeks ago and none of them have even started it

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 23:55:12 2020 No.16654375 >>16648213 I like the idea of short chapters that form a short story, which form an arc, which form a book.

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 23:57:41 2020 No.16654386 >>16653868 It would suck unless the big had wanted to stop being a big bad and eventually in the last book the protagonist finds them and he's living a peaceful life alone and may have the key the protagonist needs.

>>	Anonymous Sun Oct 25 23:57:47 2020 No.16654388 >>16654296 I gave my newly laid off brother a draft of the first few chapters of my novel at the beginning of the pandemic. He still hasn't started reading it

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 00:05:53 2020 No.16654416 >>16654388 That's why he was laid off.

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 00:10:23 2020 No.16654439 >>16654296 they probably won't read it if they aren't a reader, my friend sent me a chapter of a horror thing he was writing and i read the whole thing immediately and made a short critique

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 00:11:43 2020 No.16654445 >>16654296 I don't expect them to read it, even if they ask for it. The truth is that most people just don't read. If I want my friends to actually read my writing, I just write a poem

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 00:47:22 2020 No.16654605 Oh god /wg/, I just realized a massive plot hole in my story and I don't know how to fix it

Anonymous Mon Oct 26 00:50:13 2020 No.16654616

>spent all night trying to rewrite
>can't come up with anything, can't connect anything coherently
>sleep and wake up feeling like shit
>today, everything started to make sense
feels great bros, can't wait to write again tonight.

>>16651510
>english is not your native language
didn't stop plenty of writers who made it.

>>16651810
confidence is necessary, but blind overconfidence is just as bad as any blind opinion. get critiqued.

>>16654189
getting critiqued is the best way to learn. write your shit, show it to people who know what they're doing and would speak honestly. it hurts, but that's how you learn a lot quick.

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 00:54:15 2020 No.16654637 >>16654605 post it man

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 00:55:54 2020 No.16654644 >>16654605 If you're comfortable with sharing, could you give some details? And, have you tried going back and looking for some buried guns?

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 01:09:34 2020 No.16654689 File: 756 KB, 241x182, indian.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>16649475

Anonymous Mon Oct 26 01:09:36 2020 No.16654691

>>16654637
>>16654644

long story short, my MC gets taken captive by one country's government while carrying what he does't realize (but they do) is a game-changing superweapon. Instead of confiscating it from him, they let him bring it into enemy territory.

I could hypothetically make it so the character doesn't get the superweapon until after he's taken captive and then sent into enemy territory, but that screws up multiple scenes and potentially forces me to cut a major character's entire arc

Anonymous Mon Oct 26 01:20:35 2020 No.16654728

>>16654691
>they let him bring it into enemy territory
as a red herring? like how the allied let the soviets get some intel leaks so they won't know they're being intercepted. or how they let the nazis win some naval battles so they won't realize the enigma encryption has been broken.
or you can spin it so that the government is way incompetent, somehow. like how the pakistanis never realized there was an operation going on in their soil until it's over and they're told about it (the killing of bin laden).
or, a traitor.

>doesn't get the superweapon until after he's taken captive
why would he be taken captive then if he hasn't been carrying the superweapon in the first place?

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 01:26:41 2020 No.16654742 >>16654691 There's not much context so I'm spitballing here. Would it be feasible to spin it as someone corrupt bailing him out?

Anonymous Mon Oct 26 01:36:36 2020 No.16654786

>>16654728
>why would he be taken captive then if he hasn't been carrying the superweapon in the first place?

he's taken captive because he committed crimes in their borders. One of his captors realizes there's political gains to be had in sending him into enemy territory.

The problem is, the weapon in question isn't just a gun or a bomb. it's more like something that can be used to create an army, and the captors can't use the weapon on their own, only the MC or the enemy can use the weapon. Logically, it makes infinitely more sense to keep the MC captive and put him to work making them an army

>>16654742
that was originally sort of the plan, but the problem is that there's literally no way the corrupt individual could do that without anyone else stopping him

Anonymous Mon Oct 26 01:59:40 2020 No.16654873
File: 48 KB, 1200x667, enola-holmes-1200.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

Serialized detective stories set in a forgotten realmsish fantasy world. Tonally, hopefully smiliar to Discworld.

Stil trying to work out the details. The first story will probably be some adaptation of A Study in Scarlet(for ease of learning the characters and ive never written ymstery before).

SHould the detective be some especially keen race of creature, or just a paticurally observant human?

And the narrator/assistant/Watson? I was thinking something like a dwarf, with a rigid view of what the world should be like. maybe something unintelligent like a goblin, a reason to explain the detective's thinking. Maybe a human for relatability.

Any thoughts?

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 02:35:56 2020 No.16654981 File: 101 KB, 785x757, 1602952105963.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>16654873 STOP STEALING MY IDEAS!!!

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 04:06:38 2020 No.16655207 >>16649680 Not sure if pasta but this is great.

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 04:31:21 2020 No.16655253 File: 39 KB, 400x400, 1603148566004.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>16655207 Thanks, anon.

Anonymous Mon Oct 26 05:38:52 2020 No.16655383

While I know there's no "magic technique" or whatever the fuck how much planning do you guys do? I've been planning for ages but only really started to do actual outlines recently, and I do think they will help when I start actual writing stuff (because otherwise I only have a very rough idea of what to do) it seems like it's just kind of delaying the actual writing as well

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 05:51:56 2020 No.16655402 >>16655383 The point of planning is to help finish the story. Plan as much as it needs. How much that is depends on you and the story.

Anonymous Mon Oct 26 07:42:53 2020 No.16655625

>>16654439
>>16654445
My brother doesn’t read much but my mother has literally read a book while my novella sits unopened in her possession. My dad doesn’t read many books but he spends all his day reading articles on his iPad about Drumpf bad. I’m pretty sure they’re capable of reading what I wrote

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 07:50:27 2020 No.16655637 >>16646874 I-I am I swear. The last cheapter will be done in a w-week(month)

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 09:30:27 2020 No.16655988 >>16655625 I can't imagine wanting anyone but perfect strangers to read what I write, even if most of it weren't garbled nonsense that devolves from nonsense into antisense.

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 09:41:04 2020 No.16656048 >only ever feel like writing at night How do I cure this

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 10:07:21 2020 No.16656143 >>16656048 Maybe you should write more at night. I don't see how that's a problem.

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 10:29:32 2020 No.16656243 >>16643332 Any of you actually ever made a monstergirl story?

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 10:32:05 2020 No.16656253 >>16656243 I wrote like 300-400 pages total of Monster Girl stuff in my day, AMA

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 10:35:11 2020 No.16656266 >>16656143 I just only really get the urge late at night, in the 60-30 minutes before I go to bed and after that time I either have give up partway if I want to go to bed on time, or stay up late to finish off what I'm writing.

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 10:45:19 2020 No.16656316 Do I actually want to write?

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 10:51:28 2020 No.16656340 >>16656316 I don’t know, do you?

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 10:58:32 2020 No.16656374 Book came out a week ago and two good reviews already. Feeling good.

Anonymous Mon Oct 26 11:02:10 2020 No.16656387

In the past, I have been told that I "have a way with words", but I have never thought to write in any form of meaningful way outside of online conversation. I think it feels too forced if that makes sense.
How do you gain the confidence in yourself to write as if your words matter?

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 11:04:01 2020 No.16656394 >>16656387 By accepting that they don't. Reject meaning. Embrace enjoyment.

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 11:04:55 2020 No.16656399 >>16656340 Well, I was thinking if the labor of putting my words and experiences on a piece of paper would result in any enjoyment for myself.

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 11:10:39 2020 No.16656419 >>16656399 Maybe try to get a handle on proper sentence construction first. You were thinking if.

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 11:12:11 2020 No.16656426 >>16656419 That's what I'm talking about.

Anonymous Mon Oct 26 11:14:04 2020 No.16656433

>>16656394
I don't feel as if I enjoy writing, personally. I enjoy reading. I come from a musician background so I don't think writing has ever been in my interests. The only thing that has pointed me towards writing has been compliments about my use of words in conversation. Sorry about this weird spiel.

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 11:15:58 2020 No.16656443 >>16656433 The write witty song-lyrics

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 12:15:44 2020 No.16656779 File: 103 KB, 1125x1338, 14812e1.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >publisher wants you to start writing fantasy short stories >your face when you don't know anything about fantasy and have no ideas at all

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 12:20:01 2020 No.16656798 >>16656779 You don't "know" things about fantasy, you literally make it up. Read The Hobbit, the Lord of the Rings and Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea books and you'll know everything you need to know about fantasy.

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 12:36:35 2020 No.16656879 >>16643332 Anyone got advice on nonfiction?

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 13:03:16 2020 No.16657071 >>16656779 Why? For an anthology? Sounds like a waste of time.

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 13:21:20 2020 No.16657168 What music do you listen to while writing?

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 13:22:51 2020 No.16657182 >>16657168 Silence while drafting (ambient cafe noise is OK), sometimes instrumentals while editing.

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 13:26:09 2020 No.16657203 >>16657168 Mike Oldfield

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 13:37:49 2020 No.16657264 >>16657168 Chopin, Schumann Bach Schubert Beethoven Debussy, Ravel, Satie Puccini Vivaldi Random gregorian chants

Anonymous Mon Oct 26 13:43:56 2020 No.16657291

>>16656779
>you don't know anything about fantasy
literally the only question when it comes to fantasy is how strong is the magic. subtle or like can totally set a guy on fire in an instant. anything more powerful I wouldn't recommend because then you have to deal with walking nuclear explosions, which makes characterization difficult. monsters can always be stronger so you need groups of people.
then what you do is you write a different type of novel in your fantasy setting. romance or thriller or murder mystery or slice of life or whatever.
>fantasy short stories
maybe there's an untapped market for vignettes? maybe make your protag like sherlock holmes and he goes around solving mysteries (sort of been done with discworld samuel vimes), or a insurance adjuster investigating claims or somebody who wanders around for whatever reason, spy being sent to different places, wandering wizard, wandering wizard killer, sellsword

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 14:26:01 2020 No.16657538 >>16656399 Can’t speak for you but writing is the only time I can get my head out of its perpetual anxiety. Immersing myself in another world while creating it is an excellent distraction

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 15:22:06 2020 No.16657856 File: 42 KB, 1600x807, marie.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] How do I turn my dream journal into a surrealist novel?

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 15:30:27 2020 No.16657922 >>16657168 I can't listen to music while writing, because then I can't hear what the characters are saying. I'm not the only one am I?

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 15:52:19 2020 No.16658059 >>16657168 anime music mostly

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 16:02:49 2020 No.16658130 When I started out writing, I had a billion ideas. When I became more technical and went to school for CW + 6 years, I became good at writing lines & passages, but lost all of my ideas. How do I get both?

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 16:05:56 2020 No.16658153 >>16657922 I can only listen to instrumentals (usually movie/game soundtracks, like Silent Hill or Nolan's Greatest Hits)

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 16:09:18 2020 No.16658165 >>16657856 Read novels that have just done that, and translate what worked for them, and infuse that into your own work. >>16657922 Yup. it interferes with the internal conversations/world building that goes on in my head while I'm writing.

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 16:21:56 2020 No.16658231 >>16643840 >The lame black dog >at your tired feet, >hops faithfully >behind you. That's cute, I like that.

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 16:25:17 2020 No.16658256 >>16644005 >Waxing and waning moonlight I don't think it can be both right? If it's waxing then it's part of the moon's cycle when it's becoming bigger over time. Between the new moon and the full moon. Where waning would be the opposite.

Anonymous Mon Oct 26 16:29:35 2020 No.16658288

How common do you think "mirroring" in is in fictional writing, for example: I take a Dean Kuuntz novel and follow everything but the literal world, and just create a variation of it. Instead of a tundra, it might be in a desert, instead of a house, it might be in an office, etc. I imagine that this is common with a-lot of procedural books? My Professor (who is a published crime author) admitted that this is exactly what he does.

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 16:30:36 2020 No.16658294 >>16658288 Basically, you'd be following the same structure, the characterization would be at the exact time, the dialogue, the action scenes, but it would just be a variation of it.

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 16:30:45 2020 No.16658298 How much planning should I do? I want to start writing already, but I wonder if I'm not being too rash in not writing an outline and some character profiles first.

Anonymous Mon Oct 26 16:31:53 2020 No.16658308

>>16644913
I'm shit but the resources at the op usually include stuff that says don't be afraid to write badly because you should be expecting the edit it anyway. One of the author's process was described as writing badly for pages and by the time the editing is done they've taken out a large amount of it and refined it down to what they want. Maybe it's ok to write those subplots but then once everything has settled you should go back and edit out isn't captivating or necessary to the whole story. Another option is to go for short stories before going for novels.

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 16:32:50 2020 No.16658310 >>16658298 some authors don't have outlines, some authors do, just start writing and see what suits you best, the best advice for beginning writers is literally just to start writing

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 16:38:10 2020 No.16658347 >>16657922 Nah its the same for me

Anonymous Mon Oct 26 16:43:17 2020 No.16658368

How cringy is it bros?:

Scrape apart the old pallid dawn,
You sons, you band of morbid fools
Cease wallowing in drying beds
For it’s time to fill springs and pools

Break up and the tear the moribund courts
Drive base kings outwards of their hall
Supported by meddlesome rats
Who yet will fester, ere they fall

See you not now Mars overhead?
Speaking not, heed his silent glare
Better to kill these dying things
Than be polluted by their stare

Hear! Your heart still beats so strongly
So now go, take up brush and pen
The time is right for mythic names
To be brightly forged once again

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 16:44:03 2020 No.16658373 >>16658298 Just start writing, don't worry about outlines.

Anonymous Mon Oct 26 16:47:17 2020 No.16658386

>>16658298
From what I've heard, you can be a pantser(no outline) or a plotter(using outlines). I'd imagine there's an in between but a plotter would have to do less editing on average whereas the pantser might have to do a lot more editing after the first draft is finished. Maybe try both and see what's best for you.

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 16:48:54 2020 No.16658395 File: 50 KB, 640x416, 7cHQl_hsr5b12fLDcetJcpzyLTtwL6qeecYTUGYUWL0.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >write absolute shit >send it to your best friend >he says it's really good >not sure if he's lying or genuinely enjoying it

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 17:04:33 2020 No.16658472 >>16658395 Post it here

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 17:05:12 2020 No.16658474 >>16658472 I would but it's not in English.

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 17:05:38 2020 No.16658478 >>16658386 What does editing really involve? Besides looking for typos and rephrasing, I mean.

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 17:06:38 2020 No.16658481 >>16658478 a lot of work is put in for your writing to be understandable to the target audience, making it clear & smooth so people don't have to stop and reset constantly is a big one too

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 17:10:48 2020 No.16658508 >>16658368 Little heavy on the melodrama, and a little light on the whole lyricism thing

Anonymous Mon Oct 26 17:14:05 2020 No.16658524

>>16658288
Good writers borrow, the greats steal. Really, no matter what genre you write, plot should be the component you expend the least amount of effort on. Steal the fuck out of plot lines. Literally everything I write is just a permutation on Conrad, for example. It frees me up a little to pay attention to the things that actually matter to me.

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 17:14:13 2020 No.16658525 File: 106 KB, 900x600, 6583CE72-603C-43F0-B841-5D29DD94261F.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>16658395 At least your best friend read it

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 17:35:52 2020 No.16658646 >>16643960 Use first placeholder name you can think off and then use the find and replace function to replace each instance of that name

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 17:37:36 2020 No.16658653 >>16643488 Goddamn, what you just wrote was compelling, just write that. Find a way to turn it into a 3 act story structure and bam you got yourself an audience

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 18:02:17 2020 No.16658790 File: 40 KB, 800x450, pepefroggie.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >i ever saw >i've ever seen which is correct?

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 18:20:11 2020 No.16658886 >>16658790 'it was the biggest penis I've ever seen." or "She was the biggest girl I ever saw."

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 18:28:08 2020 No.16658945 >>16658790 I’ve ever seen sounds better

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 18:31:04 2020 No.16658968 >>16658790 This is just a stylistic difference

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 18:33:26 2020 No.16658984 out of ideas AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 18:33:30 2020 No.16658985 >>16658478 Editing varies between writers. I catch nearly every typo and grammar mistake as I'm typing it out, so my editing process is mostly rephrasing and tightening up the plot structure

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 18:35:38 2020 No.16658997 File: 2.39 MB, 1530x1132, 1B3FC4E4-B72D-4190-9E81-AFE4CF43E383.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>16658984 >have a good idea for the beginning and end >have no idea for the middle This shit keeps happening to me

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 18:36:13 2020 No.16659001 >>16658984 steal ideas from another book

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 18:57:52 2020 No.16659111 >>16658886 For me, its 'She had the biggest penis I've ever seen'

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 19:01:10 2020 No.16659130 >>16658997 Read Save the Cat Writes a Novel, it helps with that.

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 19:01:23 2020 No.16659132 >>16657922 >not choosing songs that match character dialog and scene tone

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 19:39:42 2020 No.16659355 >>16659132 I usually just listen to ambient music that matches the setting. Stuff like an old house during a storm if I'm writing a spooky story

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 22:03:35 2020 No.16660094 >>16658997 >have idea for middle >rough idea for beginning >no idea for end >keep getting more ideas for middle How do I make it stop

Anonymous Mon Oct 26 23:54:13 2020 No.16660597

>>16657168
I choose music based on the mood of the scene I'm writing. And when I got stuck or have no motivation to continue writing or want to pick up my phone, I blast hardcore music with plenty of bass to get me going like the meatheads raping their dumbbells in the gym

>>	Anonymous Mon Oct 26 23:55:25 2020 No.16660602 >>16656779 Can I get jiggy with your publisher

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 01:15:50 2020 No.16660888 Is it bad that I'm annoyed with how subjective writing is? I wish it was an objective thing I could reach without guessing.

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 01:20:09 2020 No.16660904 File: 509 KB, 580x435, 1581567233317.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] TELL ME YOUR FAVORITE BOOK, WRITERS. NOOOOOOOW.

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 01:30:26 2020 No.16660927 >>16660904 Either Portrait of the Artist, or Ulysses, depending on how I'm feeling

Anonymous Tue Oct 27 01:38:05 2020 No.16660955
File: 985 KB, 1367x760, 1601651710434.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

42k words and an nth draft finished. guess i'll take a step back, read some more lit, then come back and see what else i can add
i want to be at least 60-70k so that it won't be just filtered from the slush pile when i send it to publishers

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 02:55:57 2020 No.16661181 >>16660904 The concept of a "favorite book" is a child's concept, and I no longer think in such terms.

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 03:17:28 2020 No.16661228 >>16661181 I too have ceased to value anything on a subjective level in adulthood.

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 03:24:26 2020 No.16661241 >>16661181 Oh come on you sawdust eater, I never expect anyone to have a top favorite, just a couple that stood out to you. I was simply hooking for recs, that's all.

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 03:28:36 2020 No.16661252 >>16661241 In that case, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and the works of Kurt Vonnegut

Anonymous Tue Oct 27 03:44:57 2020 No.16661304
File: 34 KB, 580x548, ryan3.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

>write a scene as planned
>come back to it
>feel it's not good enough
>change the whole approach to more dynamic
>change the background to something flashier
>rewrite the lines, make them funnier, wittier
Aah, when is it good enough? How do I get over the Marvel syndrome that every new thing has to be bigger and better? I'm so tired bros.

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 03:54:05 2020 No.16661329 Eat The Mask Take the bugs Wear Your Meds

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 04:01:59 2020 No.16661340 NaNoWriMo is starting soon! Do you have your novel ideas ready?

Anonymous Tue Oct 27 04:02:59 2020 No.16661341

>>16661304
Less is more, fren. Cramming imagery and one-liners into a scene won't necessarily make it better, just focus on the feeling you want to evoke or the idea that you want to convey.

Most importantly, be confident in what feels natural to you. If your writing comes across as measured and phlegmatic, for instance, play to that strength instead of gunning for a vibrant and wacky style.

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 04:03:52 2020 No.16661346 >>16656266 Fuck the "urge". Find a time and stick to it

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 04:06:39 2020 No.16661351 >>16656798 Wouldn't it be better to get a handle on what fantasy looks like today? I didn't finish Jemsin's trilogy, but she won the Hugo three times in a row so she's probably writing what publishers want to read

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 04:10:36 2020 No.16661362 >>16658790 >I ever did see

Anonymous Tue Oct 27 04:17:55 2020 No.16661380

>>16661341
>Cramming imagery and one-liners into a scene won't necessarily make it better, just focus on the feeling you want to evoke or the idea that you want to convey.
That's good advice. I'm just worried the readers will start to zone out if things are too plain, and miss the point.

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 04:20:50 2020 No.16661388 >>16661380 If it's okay with you, please post an excerpt.

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 04:48:58 2020 No.16661463 >>16661388 It's not so much a problem with any specific scene, but more a general paranoia that haunts me through all of them. No reader has complained, but I can't help but doubt my work.

Anonymous Tue Oct 27 05:27:07 2020 No.16661521

Old Faces; New places. The nostalgia of the army strikes back yet I encounter oddity and unfamiliarity. Third Person Jet strolls. Tactical Operation whilst wearing red. Transgender NCO. No socks and shoes to chow hall. In fact the dream emphasizes the bizarre of action and behavior. Resentment? Rent free. Pettiness? Pitiful. Mannerless? Rude. Through a series of shame and embarrassment, the one “true” feminine emerges yet I fail to grasp it as the others approach. Counterproductive measures are counterproductive, after all, every step is consequential. Allowing these dark emotions to manifest are precisely what’s gripping ourselves into stagnation. Through acceptance and acknowledgment, one may perceive all as they are thereby liberating their mind, and thus free to take initiative.

I do recognize how poor my punctuation is but how is it so far, anons?

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 06:09:40 2020 No.16661634 >>16661521 do we really need a semicolon two words in? >they are thereby this is wack whole thing reads ESL desu

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 06:23:45 2020 No.16661680 >>16661521 Please repeat that slowly and in English.

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 06:25:34 2020 No.16661688 Anyone know any good youtube playlists to write to. I'm doing an epic fantasy.

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 06:29:35 2020 No.16661701 File: 247 KB, 1024x1296, 188-1.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>16661521 I like this a lot. The style is robotic, janky but with the urgency of real feeling. It's a strange unique vibe, would read more.

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 09:18:32 2020 No.16662234 >>16660904 Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett.

Anonymous Tue Oct 27 10:41:50 2020 No.16662648
File: 127 KB, 600x813, 1603276499141.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

Move and countermove, the unbridled brilliance of the lowly sun seeks that joyous white of the moon. There is a priest, one who stands far up the cliff of moss and hearts. Will there be no justice? Mankind's hatred has surpassed all that came before. Hated in the nation, hated on the family, hated in America, France and the wider world. Some answers unveil themselves in surrounding symphony, where torrents of torments shape the rocks of seeing. There will always be another, there will always be another. Someone is overrated, everyone is known. Garish blonds of summer have given over to the winds of change, the greys like horses, smashing through the blue line of stillness and stagnation. Peace reigns again at night, save those who wander the streets, crisscrossed nylons nagging at their bare arses that have seen a few too many lashings. Women are not us, yet they are something to be discovered and shared. We will all come to understand somethings new about ourselves, should we give ourselves completely to one another, the fifth dimension of love, xyz and time aside. Judith tasted like sour cream, spread so thinly that there was no way to think how or why.

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 11:25:09 2020 No.16662826 I finished my first screenplay a while back and now I want to write another, but how the fuck do I come up with a good idea? I have a lot of little scraps of ideas, or settings I want to do, but can't for the life of me make full stories out of them.

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 11:26:44 2020 No.16662833 >>16662826 Make it an anthology of different things with a framing narrative then

Anonymous Tue Oct 27 12:17:48 2020 No.16663119

Say you're writing a fantasy or sci-fi book, something with a very fantastical world that's different from our own. What are good methods on how to naturally expand on the foundations of how this world works without having your main character be "initiated" into it and having things explained to them by other characters?

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 12:22:29 2020 No.16663143 >>16663119 Show people doing stuff that doesn't happen here. Implications are better than exposition.

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 12:26:45 2020 No.16663172 >>16663143 In my case, I'm trying to explain how a magic system works, but I can't really think of a method to expand on that without exposition.

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 12:28:31 2020 No.16663187 >>16663172 Character does x MC thinks "if he does x, then I must do y" Stuff like that

Anonymous Tue Oct 27 13:50:56 2020 No.16663600

Has anyone published a short story in a magazine here? How long did it take for them to respond?

I recently got a rejection (albeit a higher-tiered one) from One Story only 3 weeks after submission. I read it usually takes 2-6 months. Could this mean they rejected it without reading?

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 13:52:19 2020 No.16663609 >>16663600 You've probably been blacklisted. Sucks to be you I guess.

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 13:53:04 2020 No.16663613 What are your intentions when writing? To develop a theme? To entertain the reader? To evoke a sense of beauty? To vent? Just for the fun of putting your thoughts into words? Why do you do what you do, anons?

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 13:54:07 2020 No.16663620 >>16663613 I like seeing words appear on the page, it's aesthetically pleasant to me.

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 13:57:55 2020 No.16663639 >>16663620 That's a perfect valid reason.

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 13:58:31 2020 No.16663643 >>16663609 Cool, I'm like one of the commie screenwriters from the 50s.

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 13:59:33 2020 No.16663653 >>16663613 To tell a story

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 14:01:04 2020 No.16663663 >>16663643 Don't worry anon you're not really blacklisted. Probably.

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 14:03:16 2020 No.16663677 >>16663663 Thanks, wouldn't really care if I was.

Anonymous Tue Oct 27 14:18:55 2020 No.16663785
File: 34 KB, 1318x220, Screen Shot 2020-10-27 at 3.16.32 PM.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

>>16643332
feels good, man.
Not gonna shill my shitty book on /lit/ but this is a big thing for me. Thank you /wg/ for always being there for me. I've had a shitty day, my cat died this morning, but I'm feeling a little better because of this.

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 14:19:52 2020 No.16663793 >>16663613 for that $$$

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 14:23:33 2020 No.16663823 >>16663785 Sorry about your cat bro. Good luck!

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 14:47:38 2020 No.16663987 >>16663785 Got any tips for shitters like me?

Anonymous Tue Oct 27 15:19:59 2020 No.16664180

>>16663823
Thanks friend! It’s just a shitty little philosophical work. Brings together archaeology, greek aestheticism, and eastern asceticism. Not meant to be self help or anything really. Just some thoughts.

>>16663987
It’s just self-published through amazon. Honestly i don’t even have any social media but this is my 6th finished book and the first I’m comfortable publishing even if no one ever will buy it. Only advice is keep writing :) if publishing yourself makes you happy, do that

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 16:00:59 2020 No.16664478 >crime short stories >horror short stories who the fuck reads this shit i would never write something like this

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 16:16:52 2020 No.16664576 >literacy contest >some shitty theme about "contemporary heroes of our environment", max 1 A4 The fuck am I supposed to write there? It sounds like a high school assignment.

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 16:27:39 2020 No.16664660 >>16662648 >Move and countermove Pretty sure this is from the Hunger Games.

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 16:27:53 2020 No.16664664 >>16664478 >horror short stories >who the fuck reads this shit Me.

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 16:29:54 2020 No.16664679 >>16663785 >Cat died Christ, I hated when mine died. I still think about him. Sorry.

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 16:30:06 2020 No.16664682 >>16652651 >horror I don't get it.

Anonymous Tue Oct 27 17:03:43 2020 No.16664961

>>16663119
I have this exact same problem with a story I'm rewriting. I came up with this elaborate spell system with grades and shit that is explained in the original through the main character attending a college lecture. but you know, that's just not interesting at all.

Even what >>16663187 suggested is just kind of awkward and forced. How do you explain something really theoretical without actually "explaining" it?

Anonymous Tue Oct 27 17:28:27 2020 No.16665168

>>16663119
>What are good methods on how to naturally expand on the foundations of how this world works without
Just don't?

>>16663172
>I'm trying to explain how a magic system works,
Just don't. Magical jargon in particular is distasteful. I was watching a episode of Mahouka yesterday with a friend and we both groaned at the protag explaining some stupid shit for several minutes. Imagine if JK Rowling expaliend how Wingardium Leviosa worked or something, it'd just be more simpler to just describe the effects/actions of the spells instead.

IE: "big boobed bimbo said 'Wingardium Leviosa!', and then the phallic-shaped object started to seemingly float, and with a flick of her wand she propelled it toward her."

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 17:30:55 2020 No.16665185 New, migrate when needed: >>16665182 >>16665182 >>16665182

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 21:00:58 2020 No.16666438 test

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 21:27:03 2020 No.16666628 >>16664180 why dont you publish your other 5 books? and post your book when it gets approved. I'll buy it

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 27 21:42:49 2020 No.16666778 >>16664660 yeah, action and reaction are things that were invented recently

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/lit/ - Literature