/wg/ - Writing General

[Anonymous No.17237149]

prev: >>17217994

Any progress on your novels?

For Prose:
>The Art of Fiction
>On Becoming A Novelist
>Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft
>How Fiction Works
>The Rhetoric of Fiction
>Steering the Craft

For Poetry:
>The Poetry Home Repair Manual
>Western Wind: An Introduction to Poetry

Related Material:
>What Editors Do
>A Student's Introduction to English Grammar
>Garner's Modern English Usage

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

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

Traditional publishing
> Formatting manuscript
https://blog.reedsy.com/manuscript-format/
> Write a query
https://www.janefriedman.com/query-letters/
> Track your query
https://querytracker.net/


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 No.17237158]

first for zyzz

[Anonymous No.17237262]

>>17237149
I asked in the last thread if popular writers get laid, and I have yet to receive a satisfactory answer.

[Anonymous No.17237273]

Reposting this for greater visibility

https://pastebin.com/hmv64wvx

This is a middle portion from a short story I wrote (hence why it starts from him in transition), I'd appreciate some feedback if anyone has the time

[Anonymous No.17237280]

>>17237273
check my reply last thread, anon

[Anonymous No.17237459]

>>17237262
Hank Moody did.

A lot...

[Anonymous No.17237474]

>>17237280
Replied, thanks anon

[Anonymous No.17237546]

What are your MC's flaws?

[Anonymous No.17237549]

stop making new threads so fucking early

[Anonymous No.17237565]

>>17237549
We haven't even reached 300 replies on the last thread. This nigger is only doing this to get his retarded anime pictures up

[Anonymous No.17237734]

>>17237546
He's bitter, stubborn, and doesn't work.

[Anonymous No.17237827]

>>17237149
Oxfords Modern English Grammar should be added to that list.

[Anonymous No.17237835]

>>17237459
That show was fucking awful.

[Anonymous No.17237844]

>>17237546
He can't accept that personal progress requires the sacrifice of personal freedom, and that a hundred open doors are as good as a hundred closed doors unless you choose one to step through.

Thoughts on this? Are there any books that focus on these themes?

[Anonymous No.17237847]

>>17237835
It wasn't great, but I will forever praise season 4 because it's the only show I've seen that made you feel like "Man, this guy is actually feeling like shit and having a rough time right now," which every other show forgets to do. They might make comments or have one episode where a supporting character has to come in and toss them in the shower to sober them up. But Californication actually made me feel how low a point that was for Hank Moody.

[Anonymous No.17237850]

Books for this feel?

[Anonymous No.17237856]

>>17237850
Dragonology

[Anonymous No.17238035]

Whats the best software for brainstorming and organizing ideas? I need something that lets me drag and drop notes around with ease.

No cloud based online shit, I dont want anyone spying on my notes.

[Anonymous No.17238103]

>>17238035
>I dont want anyone spying on my notes
Then get a cork board, index cards, and push pins, because all software collects your shit, and if they don't the internet connection on your laptop is. If you don't assume everything you do on a computer is being monitored at this point idk what to tell you.

I've understood this since before Obama was elected president.

[Anonymous No.17238111]

>>17238103
im not amurrican. europe has laws in place to prevent that degree of exploitation

[Anonymous No.17238234]

How's my prose?

[Anonymous No.17238245]

>>17238111
It's really funny that you think corporations care about that.

[Anonymous No.17238264]

>>17238234
Feels clumsy, that last sentence for example: "And he tortured himself voluntarily..." has a really awkward rhythm, then it goes on too long for its own good.

[Anonymous No.17238275]

>>17238264
what would you think of it without that part?

[Anonymous No.17238288]

>>17238275
I've read worse, but a little heavy on the adjectives. I'm not much of a writer, so I can't say more than it feels a little clumsy.

[Anonymous No.17238296]

>>17238288
mkay

[Anonymous No.17238347]

Posting one of my favourite bits from my story that's on royal road. Chapter one is up, chapter two is being edited at the moment.

[Anonymous No.17238863]

>>17238347
Weren’t there multiple chapters?

[Anonymous No.17238948]

>>17238347
>lol boobies

whoa...so naughty
much comedy

[Anonymous No.17239090]

Found this post on /an/ >>>/an/3635620 which got me wondering, what are /lit/'s thoughts on xenofiction? Apparently it's a real genre.

[Anonymous No.17239253]

>>17239090
why would this be a surprise that it's a genre? look at Call of the Wild or half of the fucking Disney movies

[Anonymous No.17239274]

>>17237149
Presented without context

Also, how acceptable is it to "zoom out" during a scene, in order to disclose character background in what amounts to pure exposition? I've noticed that my favorite writers do this frequently, flying in the face of "show don't tell," and I generally enjoy their tangents

[Anonymous No.17239408]

>>17239253
>half of the fucking Disney movies
no. fabulistic anthropomorphic funny talking animals are not xenofiction

[Anonymous No.17239523]

>>17237546
Inferiority complex and has internal struggles on whether his actions are truly selfless or he just does it for the recognition

[Anonymous No.17239698]

>>17239274
>wants to do something
>the authors he likes do this
>isn't sure so he asks 4chan, the biggest congregation of idiots on the planet, if it's ok to do this.

well i guess you're one of them too so no wonder.

[Anonymous No.17240067]

>>17239698
I, for one, am honored that that anon thinks so highly of our collective opinion

[Anonymous No.17240111]

>>17237546
he is literally me

[Anonymous No.17240526]

>write 13k words in just a few days, feel really good
>today I just can't be assed to keep going
Twice as bright, half as long. There's always tomorrow, right?

[Anonymous No.17240599]

>>17240526
There IS no tomorrow.
>There IS no tomorrow.
There IS no tomorrow!

[Anonymous No.17240625]

>>17240599
O-oh
Guess I'll just
Well I need to go now

[Anonymous No.17241198]

>>17240526
No.

[Anonymous No.17241199]

THIS IS A TEEEEST

[Anonymous No.17241265]

>>17237149
>Any progress on your novels?
It out with another beta reader. planning to publish this year. Best places to find Fantasy book covers?

[Anonymous No.17241366]

>>17237546
A self-sacrificing glory hound that will do anything just to hear their father say, "I'm proud of you."

[Anonymous No.17241388]

>>17237546
Was raised in violence and solves all her problems with violence. Struggles to find a peaceful solution. Feels guilt and alienation over her aggressive nature.

[Anonymous No.17241428]

>>17238111
lol

[Anonymous No.17241569]

>>17240625
don't listen to him bro
i tell you, i wrote almost 200 words today and you know what? I need a break. It was exhausting Now 13 thousands words? I think you need a break too dude. How about we both take a break and get back to work later. Much later.

[Anonymous No.17241586]

>>17241569
wow 200 words? you're overworking yourself
you know, I'm so tired sometimes that

[Anonymous No.17242063]

>>17237546
>reading this as someone writing in the traditional tragic convention
local man ruins everything for everyone forever.

[Anonymous No.17242075]

>>17237546
He's bitter, stubborn, and works too much.

[Anonymous No.17242144]

>>17237546
Define "flaw". Like, most my main characters are fucking insane, but because they're insane, they get shit done in ways other people couldn't come up with. They're also kinda narcissistic, but because they appreciate themselves when no one else will, they're able to keep going, even in situations where it might be better to just kill yourself.

[Anonymous No.17242214]

>>17241265
If you're self-publishing? Throw an artist a couple hundred dollars.

[Anonymous No.17242298]

What's the lie that your character tells themselves?

[Anonymous No.17242326]

>>17242298
That's a pretty good question anon, and I guess the truth is that I don't know. I thought I did, but I don't. And that's the lie that I've been telling myself.

[Anonymous No.17242336]

>>17237546
he's reductionist to the point of absurd. He even declines to use names because it's a made up concept, that is just covering the fact we're biological organisms with animal like instincts.

[Anonymous No.17242355]

>>17237273
>patrick asked
>he yelled at patrick
>patrick said
>the man responded
you should avoid this shit. If you know who said what, then it's not needed and only drags the dialogue.

[Anonymous No.17242379]

>>17242298
Can a lie be a lie if it's actually true but the character never tests it?

[Anonymous No.17242398]

>>17242298
That they can't go home until they've done enough good to justify their decision to leave. The truth is that they're using it as an excuse to not go home as they're scared that they won't be welcomed back as they left on stressed terms.

[Anonymous No.17242428]

>>17242398
I'm interested in this story, Anon.

[Anonymous No.17242444]

>>17242298
That she no longer sees herself as human and that she no longer cares about her family.

[Anonymous No.17242449]

How would you define good writing? Proust has long, convoluted sentences, Joyce abuses adverbs and adjectives constantly, good contemporary writing tends to be sparse and clear - - what does all good writing have in common?

[Anonymous No.17242471]

>>17242449
>what does all good writing have in common?
That it's good.

[Anonymous No.17242497]

>>17242444
What's your story about anon? Sounds cool

[Anonymous No.17242499]

>>17242449
Define good. Mass appeal? How evocative it is for a specific audience?
If you don't trust your own judgment when odds are that you have shit taste, which should be obvious since you think sparse writing is "good".

[Anonymous No.17242512]

>>17238948
this

[Anonymous No.17242516]

>>17242449
good rhytm. Just see how the sentence sounds and how the paragraphs sounds. Every bad book has no rhytm, every good book has good rhytm.

[Anonymous No.17242529]

>>17242428
Fantasy schlock about a royal that gives up their comfortable life of court to become a knight and live amongst the people. After a decade of training, they're a great knight, but still unfulfilled. They get tangled up in some schemes that put them in between a rock and a hard place that make them start unraveling.

[Anonymous No.17242656]

>>17242499
I'm trying to stimulate good discussion you absolute retard. Ishiguro is one of the best living writers and his prose is sparse and airy, fuck off.

>>17242516
Yeah, I'm more and more inclined to believe rhythm plays a big role.

[Anonymous No.17242827]

>>17242516
>>17242656
rhythm is completely untranslatable, and yet there are great works of literature transcend the language barrier

[Anonymous No.17243225]

>>17242529
are there any windmills

[Anonymous No.17243597]

>>17242355
Okay, so if I've already established the back and forth then I don't really need the extraneous words

[Anonymous No.17243754]

>>17242298
That somethinhg gonna change in his life despite being a fucking lazy schizo without any aspirations, and who can't decide whether he is good or evil.

[Anonymous No.17243801]

>>17243225
There can be, I haven't written it yet.

[Anonymous No.17244060]

>>17242497
A military woman who died on the frontline, but got saved by a scientist who transfered her mind into a flame. That flame powers a android suite with which she has to fight in the war again. While everyone she knew thinks she is dead.

[Anonymous No.17244069]

>>17244060
Robocop?

[Anonymous No.17244145]

>>17237546
She can't accept that sacrifices have to be made in order to achieve a favorable result. She struggles to carry on her deceased commander's noble wish of being a competent officer, and obeying orders vs doing what she feels would be better for the given time, and often feels like she fights battles handcuffed in situations where she could've won if she had her way. For better or for worst she is a firm believer in democracy and that a military organization defending one should not act out of its own interest rather than the interest of the republic it is fighting for.

I think tl;dr "I have to obey these orders even though my superiors are dumb as rocks but they are orders nonetheless" vs "I should do something more rationale to save more lives but I might not win this battle"

[Anonymous No.17244228]

>>17244069
Is it similar? I never watched it.

[Anonymous No.17244247]

How autistic do you need to be with armor descriptions and maintenance schedules? Things like feeding//brushing horses, mending clothing and armor. Is it worth the time and effort to talk about how they're wearing brigandine armor or just "a simple armor with buckles down the center"?

[Anonymous No.17244285]

>>17244247
Depends on your audience

[Anonymous No.17244298]

>>17244228
A cop gets killed in Detroit and a megacorp turns him into a cyborg and mostly erases his memories while telling everyone that he actually died. He is brutally efficient against crime and struggles with the recurring memories from his former life. With the help of his former partner they kill all the bad guys.

[Anonymous No.17244332]

Tried my hand at my first poem in a while. Would really appreciate any impressions.

[Anonymous No.17244363]

>>17237546
He's a nutcase who's trying to be some grand schemer, but he's really just a hurt kid with PTSD. Obsessed with the idea of being a hero but regularly does unheroic things, which ultimately backfire on him.

[Anonymous No.17244403]

>>17244285
Well sure it does. I just mean what's the best use of my time/mileage? Like, if it just needs occasional window dressing mentions and 95% of readers won't care, then all the better. Or is it worth my time for reader authenticity to learn more about medieval armor styles, combat techniques, and animal husbandry?

[Anonymous No.17244497]

>>17244332
Wrong file

[Anonymous No.17244549]

>>17244298
Oh now I see how it might seem similar from the synopsis i gave.

[Anonymous No.17244556]

>>17237149
https://www.bookthrone.com/unique-platform-builder
https://www.bookthrone.com/submit-your-book

For all those anons asking about ads or self-promo if you don't mind some small investments for it. There are other services aimed at things B&H and Amazon as well, which is the 2nd link. I haven't tried it myself, however, I merely heard about this in a writer botnet I'm in.

[Anonymous No.17245086]

>>17244556
stop promoting your shitty website

[Anonymous No.17245808]

>>17237546
He's pedantic, bitter, often paranoid and therefore always assumes the worst in strangers but none the less has a slight superiority complex because of his self-presumed wisdom and experience

[Anonymous No.17245825]

How much effort does /wg/ put into naming their characters? I usually just look up "names that mean x in y language" then choose one that I like.

[Anonymous No.17245902]

>>17245825
Depends. Some characters can go unnamed for months, others I'll know right away.
I tend to just pick regular Anglo names, and only rarely create them. It's just a bit of a hassle to do, and I find it annoying when reading.
I did make a fairy character that I named Bonnetarte, which was a French bastardization of good and tart, so the character was ultimately a force for good but eventually revealed to be a bit of a bitch.
I tend to spend most of my time creating the character, and only naming once I lock in on gender/whatever. The rolein the story comes first.
For locations, I usually look up whatever country I'm emulating and smash two city names together. For instance, Canterbury+Leicester turned into Cantiers.

[Anonymous No.17245928]

>>17245825
Little too on the nose to do that all the time. I just steal names I like from other authors/creators. I try making them up but I'm really bad at it. I try going to popular, maybe meaningless names than names that all mean something. Not everyone's mother is a psychic that saw her son being involved in a story after all. My non-book characters are mostly named after goth references

[Anonymous No.17245970]

>>17237273
Like >>17242355 said, you should try and trim some of the fat off your sentences. For example,
>As they surged forward into Ocean 6, Patrick heard the large metal door clang once again as it shut behind them. Patrick looked around and observed the sea around him.
For this, it's enough to say, "the metal door clang as it shut behind them." and then go straight into explaining the sea. No need to specify Patrick is seeing/hearing all this.
It was also a little difficult to understand what was happening during the whaling scene. This could be because it's starting in the middle of a scene, though.
>>17238234
Like the other anon said, the last sentence is a little clumsy. I think I could give more feedback if I had more to read, though, since it's tough to say what's a metaphor and what's not.
I could understand everything happening in the scene, though, which is good.

[Anonymous No.17246196]

This is a flashback in a short story I'm writing. There's a little more to it, but I think it'd be too long to post here. If anyone has any feedback/suggestions, I'd appreciate it.

[Anonymous No.17246310]

>>17246196
italicize non-english words and use them less frequently

[Anonymous No.17246319]

>>17245970
Thanks for the feedback. I could definitely make some of the sentences more concise. By difficult to understand what was happening, do you mean in a literal sense or was I not doing a great job conveying what was actually happening?

[Anonymous No.17246379]

>>17246196
This could be a personal thing, but I'm not a huge fan of interrupting fast-moving scenes with the thought process behind the actions of the characters. I get that it's flashback so it's sort of trying to go back and explain the thought process at the time but it should still be told presently in my opinion. The tone seems to be that the bandits are escaping and the soldiers are chasing them, so keep the tempo high. I'd cut the part where he recognizes the strategy of the soldiers in his head. The way it is now it sounds like he's trying to run away into the woods as well as do some Beautiful Mind style calculation in his head about the army's strategic style, the position of his friends, etc. It also works better because then it makes him shooting the prostitute more of a surprise. If he shoots her and then we see the army slow down to capture her while letting him go, the audience gets to realize the army's strategy themselves rather than being told by the narrator.

[Anonymous No.17246707]

>>17246310
Thanks anon, appreciate the feedback. I'm trying to show that they're in Mexico without explicitly saying it, but I might need to tone it down.
>>17246379
I think you're absolutely right anon. Thanks for the comment, I think it'll help this section a lot.
>>17246319
Personally, I think you could just be a little clearer at describing what the whalers were doing.
Sounds like a neat premise for a story, by the way. Didn't mention it in my first comment, but I liked it.

[Anonymous No.17246833]

>>17237546
She's ugly

[Anonymous No.17246949]

I've got a couple dozen essays about cooking and other food topics so far. What is the most potentially profitable way to release these? I'm most inclined to try to make a book, but I'm also thinking about making a food blog since it plays into my skills as a dev

[Anonymous No.17246969]

>>17246949
Might be good to workshop them around to different food sites and then publish a collected book or something. Food blogs seem very saturated.

[Anonymous No.17247185]

>5k words of my army story now
>that's 1k words a day
I feel good
Like I knew that I would

[Anonymous No.17247455]

>>17244403
>Or is it worth my time for reader authenticity to learn more about medieval armor styles, combat techniques, and animal husbandry?

Weirdest fucking question I've ever seen in these threads. Is it "worth your time"? "Best use of my time"? How would it be worth your time? How would you begin to measure the investment return for this particular thing? What? Do you WANT to write about that? That's the only question that matters. If you won't care, then you can bet your ass nobody else cares either.

[Anonymous No.17247617]

“I now pronounce you man and wife,” said the Black pastor.

Although my bride wore a simple traveling dress and I lay in a hospital bed, this wedding was perfect in my eyes. Many times this past month, I thought I would surely die – but the Black doctors and Black nurses always brought me back. Throughout the entire ordeal, my dear Moesha was by my side. After the latest health scare, I took her hand in mine.

“My dearest Moesha, my love,” I said. “We were almost taken apart forever. Now that we’ve reunited, I’ve realized that I cannot bear to be without you ever again. Will you marry me?”

And so, we had a wedding in room 314 at the Szent Rokus hospital in Hungary. Abebe Hawkins traveled from England on very short notice to act as a witness to our ceremony.

I am so happy! I feel as if my ordeal with Count Blackula is over, and now I can start a simple, quiet life with my new wife – no longer Moesha Murray, but Moesha Harker.

[Anonymous No.17247624]

>>17244298
>kill all the bad guys.

Fuck yeah, movies were great back then!

[Anonymous No.17247636]

>>17244228
>>17247624
Abridged version for those who haven't seen Robocop
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUnMF7dV86k

[Anonymous No.17247678]

Do you guys ever write in your dreams? Every once in a while I have a dream where I'm writing, and it always feels like I'm writing the most incredible prose, like I've reached the holy grail of the English language. When I wake up I can't remember any of it. Sometimes I wonder if it was actually any good or if it was just a bunch of gibberish that my dreaming mind thought was amazing.

[Anonymous No.17247686]

>>17247678
No but I climb mountains, hide from Godzilla and sometimes fly a few feet off the ground.
My favorite dream was walking hand in hand around a lake with that one girl.
Dreams are weird.

[Anonymous No.17247758]

>>17247678
Not exactly, but I keep thinking about my stories, replaying scenes, planning dialogue, even in my sleep, like a part of my brain just can't turn off, and I wake up feeling like I haven't slept at all. Shit sucks. Can't write before bed at all because of that.

[Anonymous No.17247793]

Is Story by Robert McKee a good book ?

[Anonymous No.17247997]

>>17242827
>rhythm is completely untranslatable
that's not true. So many translations have exactly the same or almost the same rhytm. In fact, it's one of the main things about translating literature.

[Anonymous No.17248002]

>>17247678
>Sometimes I wonder if it was actually any good
it's not. it's just the dream.
once i heard the most wonderful song in a dream, playing from a phone buried under a small pile of dirt on top of a red brick. it sounded like the pinnacle of auditory aesthetics. later i realized it was just some shitty top 40 trash i heard on the radio the other day.

[Anonymous No.17248038]

>BANG!
Are sound effects ever okay in writing?

[Anonymous No.17248045]

>>17248038
Yes but only if they're really funny

[Anonymous No.17248233]

>>17248038
No

[Anonymous No.17248266]

>>17248038
Which sounds more effective?
>He aimed his pistol and squeezed the trigger. The sound of a gunshot rang out and the man fell dead.
vs
>He aimed his pistol and squeezed the trigger. BANG! The man fell dead.

[Anonymous No.17248283]

>>17248266
last night I BANGED your mom

[Anonymous No.17248294]

>>17248266
>>17248283
BANG BANG
That awful sound
BANG BANG

[Anonymous No.17248324]

>>17248266
Effective towards what? The first reads like noir, the second a children's book.

[Anonymous No.17248327]

>>17248266
What if the noise is sudden, and out of nowhere?
Would using 'BANG!' to an abrupt interruption be effective?

>"And I said to him—" BANG!
or
>"And I said to him—" he was interrupted by a loud noise.
Which is better?

[Anonymous No.17248374]

>>17248327
It doesn't really work, if there's nothing to give context to the sound. The reader won't understand what the effect is supposed to mean and it'll disconnect them from the narrative.

[Anonymous No.17248701]

>>17241569
>>17240526
2k min a day. Anything else is just a bonus so don't feel bad.
2k is easily doable in 2-4 hours.

[Anonymous No.17248708]

>>17242355
What's the name for that type of dialouge writing where people go "blah blah" exclaimed Frank or
"byada yada" said Frank with a twirl.
When you state who's saying dialogue with something other than "said", or otherwise add more to it like actions, what is that called?

[Anonymous No.17248717]

>>17237149
>Any progress on your novels?
I'm not close to wanting to kms, but it's difficult to be motivated.
The sequel is being written to tie up loose end, but I guess in the end I can only satisfy my hobby of writing and not the audience.

[Anonymous No.17248806]

>>17248701
2k words a day sounds like way too much, that'd require me to double my efforts
Isn't 2k a day what Stephen King does? I'm not Stephen King

[Anonymous No.17248819]

What do you guys think of Non-Human main characters?
Say for example, a fantasy story followed the journey of a turtle man aboard a pirate ship?

[Anonymous No.17248834]

>>17248819
Sounds cool. I like turtles.

[Anonymous No.17248853]

>>17248819
I need to read more on those, still haven't read Watership Down or Black Beauty

[Anonymous No.17248868]

>>17248806
It is what Steven King does, but fuck him, who cares about him.
2k is very reasonable and very rewarding. It's nanowrimo (or whatever the fuck it's called) pace and some spare change. It also gets you a novel in two months (assuming 120k words). With a month for editing, you can get a full book out 4 times a year.

[Anonymous No.17248874]

>>17248868
Yeah, imagine being able to produce 2000 words of actually worthwhile text like clockwork
You'd be able to make a fucking living like that

[Anonymous No.17248878]

>>17248874
Text is worthwhile in editing. I doubt any anons here only shit out gold they never touch at least a little in editing.

[Anonymous No.17248887]

>>17248878
I write a paragraph, then obsess over it until it gets better. Then I write another paragraph. I don't get 2000 words day like this, no sir.

[Anonymous No.17248908]

>>17248887
This method is the most common intuitively, but results in the most work and most "dead projects", I find.

[Anonymous No.17248914]

>>17248874
Like those YA erotic authors?

[Anonymous No.17248916]

>>17248908
Well fuck you I'll fail on my own terms

[Anonymous No.17248922]

>>17248916
I didn't mean to judge, I was just slyly asking you if those are problems you've run into yourself. Are they?

[Anonymous No.17248933]

>>17248922
I started five days ago and have yet to quit.

[Anonymous No.17248958]

>>17248853
Well my character in question is anthropomorphic, so the only thing separating him from a human is green reptilian skin, a shell, and an inability to make mouth sounds that involve lips.
But he's also based on my first proper DnD character so it feels a little hollow or "fan-fiction" to actually write him into something, as much as I loved what he became story wise in the campaign.

[Anonymous No.17248961]

>>17248908
Nevermind the other guy, that is exactly my problem. I could easily shit out 5000 words a day. I've done it before. But lately man, its like I get stuck writing the same page over and over again every day of my life.

[Anonymous No.17248983]

>>17248958
The first fantasy protagonist I ever created was based off of a joke I created in the character creator of NWN2.
He was a chaotic evil half-orc barbarian called James Archanoix Junior. I wrote many hilarious shorts with him in grade school.
I miss that little guy like you wouldn't believe.

[Anonymous No.17249007]

>>17248983
It's crazy how it grows like that. My Turtle was an ex pirate who indulged in booze. He was meant to be comedic relief in an otherwise dark story and more moody characters, but it didn't take long for him to become much more than that. I'm pretty sad to let him go, honestly.

[Anonymous No.17249015]

>>17247617
>Capitalising black

[Anonymous No.17249075]

>>17249015
Yeah it doesn't make sense that the rules are now capitalize black but not wh*te. I wonder if the writing style overlords will revise that

[Anonymous No.17249162]

>>17247185
>7k words now
I have to say lads, this might actually become a real book one day. I have no idea how much material there would be in the end though. I have a lot of stuff to tell, but how big of a book should a series of vignettes from a 9 month period be? Somewhere around 100 thousand words? At this rate I'd finish this thing around March

[Anonymous No.17249174]

>>17249162
I'm proud of you, Anon.

[Anonymous No.17249192]

>>17249174
Don't be, I'm still running off of the high of just starting it. Reality will kick my teeth in soon enough.

[Anonymous No.17249193]

>>17237149
Short story or book idea that I have 10 pages of so far: Truck driver guy madly in love with gf that he rarely sees gets an opportunity to surprise her on one of her business trips to Paris where he secretly learns she has a relationship with another girl.

Would you read?

[Anonymous No.17249199]

>>17249193
No, cuckoldry and cheating hold no interest to me.

[Anonymous No.17249204]

>>17249199
Alright

[Anonymous No.17249224]

>>17249193
this; >>17249199
Cheating shouldn't be fetishized.
Consensual cuckoldry is fine though.

[Anonymous No.17249236]

>>17237149
How consistent do you guys write? For me I'm very on and off but when I'm on I write a lot and usually do for a whole day. I'm not writing a novel but I write poems, prose, and sometimes self-reflecting biographical stuff(no idea what I'll ever be able to publish have the stuff I have ideas for).

Faulkner was quoted saying somewhere that hes inspired everyday to write. Are you anons the same? What's your schedule like? What do you write?

[Anonymous No.17249255]

>>17249224
It becomes consensual. He eventually develop polyamory and effectively gains two gfs.

[Anonymous No.17249372]

>>17249236
Currently I'm writing about my own life and feel pretty inspired, but this has only been going for a few days and will probably wane soon. I usually write very short pieces of fiction whenever I get ideas for them and then leave them unfinished. Today I copied my writing folder to a flashdrive for safekeeping in case something happens to my PC and it said I had 5442 files in that folder.
I've had this computer for a long time, ten + years, so that seems feasible.

[Anonymous No.17249618]

>Started an art critique blog
>Want to act like an online Kenneth Clark and have a comfy space filled with nice artwork that I critque and share.
>Make it on tumblr
I'm not a fag am I guys?

[Anonymous No.17249637]

>>17249618
Depends. Do you lisp?

[Anonymous No.17249665]

>>17249637
>Do you lisp?
I do not.

[Anonymous No.17249682]

>>17249665
Then you sound straight

[Anonymous No.17249814]

>want to write a story about people with superheroes in the modern day
>everyone is going to think it's a le worm ripoff, especially because a lot of the worldbuilding like a superhero wikipedia kind of thing make a lot of sense
>don't even like worm and it's not an influence for me

The main character's power is to show people their eventual fate in heaven/hell, if he holds eye contact with them for a couple of seconds, so it's not really very useful in combat. Like 99% of people are going to hell and he uses it to send people to hell for a few minutes or hours, then once they come out of it traumatised, tells them he can save them if they do what he says, and that is pretty effective for making an army.

There are hero groups that fight crime and basically have territory over areas of the city, their own mini states, and villain groups who mainly rob banks and stuff, or do the former but more evilly. Thinking MC is more of an antihero.

I'm having trouble imaginging and writing how the people who are sent to hell would react, it's really horrible so I assume most people would be in shock for few minutes and non responsive, but presuambly minutes or an hour or two of extremely horrific torture wouldn't make someone catatonic permanently or anything, and how would different people react to it?

[Anonymous No.17249958]

Some years back, I wrote a scifi fantasy involving magical girls. Now, I'm thinking about rewriting the whole thing from scratch as a proper novel, but with more mass appeal.

The problem is, is the basic premise itself broken? Can the concept of "magical girls" be anything but a major cringe to a western reader, or should I try to rebrand them as something else entirely? Madoka partially circumvented the cultural barrier by just using latin in the English version; the characters are "puella magi". That immediately makes them seem less like children's cartoons and something more mystical.
Or, maybe I should just stick with weebs, call them what they are, and give up trying to reach for a wider audience?

[Anonymous No.17249967]

>>17249814
Don't make is superheroes. Make it fantasy magic, or urban magic, or make the setting in a previous timeframe like 1960s or 1910s, or anything. Marvel has ruined all contemporary superhero shit.

[Anonymous No.17249973]

>>17249958
>mass appeal
>not cringe
Listen, it's hard to make anything "popular" that isn't cringe in some respect, especially these days. Write the story you want to write, and then see what you can do from there.

[Anonymous No.17250025]

>>17249973
It's more about just using such terms that the target audience can understand. If the potential reader's first reaction to the synopsis is "what the fuck am I reading?" then it's not really going to work.

[Anonymous No.17250066]

>>17249967
>Marvel has ruined all contemporary superhero shit.
If by "ruined" you mean, "made more popular than ever before", then yeah.

[Anonymous No.17250104]

I write this weird story, I hope you all like the premise, so here it goes!

its about a guy who is intelligent, sensitive, but cruel and can't relate to other people, about his friend who has a big heart and even bigger potential but is in his shadow, and about a girl who wants more in life, everything that money can buy. three of them inhabit the world of the lower limbo than earth (worlds ascend from hellish to celestial, Earth is neutral middle ground with only humans and without magics) and they're classmates.

when they die in their old age after living different lives not knowing each others, for some reason, they reset their life where they started on the same bench in that school as young people. and they have the opporunity to relive their lives, learn more knowledge, secrets and obtain power, but not all will serve the greater good and solve the problems that plague their world, after all its a big task to ascend their own world. then they die again, and again, and again. what kind of lesson will release them from the cycle?

[Anonymous No.17250126]

>>17250025
desu, all I can really see is "magical girls" and it inevitably being marketed to teenage girls. Maybe that's just the cynic in me, but that's what I'm seeing. Now you could be the rare case and write something with a wider appeal than that and people will slowly catch on to that and you might get a sleeper hit if the stars align right, but I wouldn't bank it.

Unless you write it to feel like something written in the world it's set it. Like, if Jane Austen lived in that world and wrote about those magic girls instead of country estate life, then you might get lucky and have it taken seriously by publishers from the start.

[Anonymous No.17250156]

desu once you crafted the story and the characters and truly know your story inside out which can take years, writing it down is a matter of a month or two. because it kind of writes itself and nuances are discovered on the go

[Anonymous No.17250178]

>>17237149
Update: Anker works fine. I have a mechanical keyboard, but I do have to press onto the screen to fine select things. This cord and keyboard combo is great for raw inputting things. A good investment if you write better with keyboards.

[Anonymous No.17250277]

>>17249814
I don’t think Worm is popular enough that you need to worry about people thinking you copied it.
It might be more effective if the mc only sent people to hell for a second or two and that was enough for them to do his bidding.
>>17249193
From your description alone it doesn’t sound like something I’d read. What sort of tone are you trying to set for the story?

[Anonymous No.17250317]

>>17237546
He's perfect and that's his flaw

[Anonymous No.17250384]

>>17249958
What are you talking about? Normies still think Madoka is for weeks/kids

[Anonymous No.17250435]

>>17250126
Yeah, that's what I'm talking about, the impression the concept gives. You connect "magical girls" to teenage girls and that's probably the natural reaction. Now, if the synopsis said, "the main character wants to be one of the Avengers", you'd probably have other ideas about it. It's not a story for teenage girls, so yeah, the terminology is going to be a problem and I'll have to do something about it. Thanks for the answer.

[Anonymous No.17250443]

>>17250317
he's clumsy and paranoid, but his paranoia is always right

[Anonymous No.17250463]

>>17250384
It became by far more popular abroad than any other magical girl franchise. Which means, it was successful at selling itself to a wider audience than is typical for such a story.

[Anonymous No.17250710]

is there any point in using elevated language for simple things?

stuff like obtained vs got, often vs a lot, got back home vs arrived home

[Anonymous No.17250723]

>>17250463
Among who? Foreign weebs?

[Anonymous No.17250747]

Her mother worked a lot, and usually was at work when Cassie got back from school.

or

Her mother worked a lot, and was usually at work when Cassie got back from school.

[Anonymous No.17250801]

>>17238948

[Anonymous No.17250818]

>>17250747
"Cassie's mother was often still at work whenever she got back from school."

[Anonymous No.17250857]

>>17250747
Her mother was usually at work when Cassie got back from school.

[Anonymous No.17250944]

>>17250818 >>17250857

somewhat unclear, she could be at work in the sense of working, at home.

>>17250857

[Anonymous No.17251056]

>written 600 words today
Not a lot by anybody's measure, I'm sure, but it feels good to be back on the horse. It's taken me nearly a year of false starts to get it into my thick skull that first drafts don't need to be beautiful, so now I just need to focus on actually writing with SPEED.

[Anonymous No.17251080]

>>17250944
You can fill in that detail with further context. If mom works at a factory and you establish that before then we already know what that sentence means. You really don't have to overengineer it.

[Anonymous No.17251108]

>tfw you finally crack the code and you unify the plot's action line with the protagonist's development arc
For too long has my story felt like separate short stories where either one would grow in scope to overshadow the other. I think they're working together now in a way that will strengthen both from here on. Just need to figure out the actual plot points, but the framework is there now.

[Anonymous No.17251839]

>>17237546
He sees the world in black and white and assumes men will honor their agreements.

[Anonymous No.17252541]

ffs how many ads is F Gardner going to run?

[Anonymous No.17252591]

>>17237149
Any advice for 3rd person writing to prevent "head hopping?" How do I denote the perspective has changed to another person? Do I do it in another chapter or how do I do it within the same chapter?

[Anonymous No.17252653]

>>17252591
I stick with the philosophy of one chapter per PoV to avoid jarring readers.

[Anonymous No.17252797]

>>>/r9k/61806844

feels bad to know that a degenerate perv on r9k writes better than me

[Anonymous No.17252874]

>>17252797
>current year
>going to /r9k/
ngmi

[Anonymous No.17252907]

>>17252874
You just know Pessoa would be on /r9k/.

[Anonymous No.17253024]

>>17252797
I don't understand why being a pervert/degenerate is seen as a bad thing. Coomers are the only reason humanity even exists. Why not try writing porn yourself?

[Anonymous No.17253533]

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/37998/wish-mountain

New chapter is up! It's the best yet.

[Anonymous No.17253570]

>>17253533
If that's not porn, I'm not interested.

[Anonymous No.17253824]

>>17252797
>Eventually I felt I couldn't hold on any longer, forced her to her knees, and came thick viscous fluid all over her face.
write better, i guess
seen better smutfics than this on da

[Anonymous No.17254325]

>used to be good at writing, have pretty good prose
>haven't written in a year, start writing
>it's terrible

what happened

[Anonymous No.17254348]

>>17254325
practice makes perfect. Or use it or lose it. Whichever.

[Anonymous No.17254403]

>>17254325
you stopped reading

[Anonymous No.17254460]

How to deal with a chapter not being as good as you've imagined? Keep rewriting it or keep going and leave it for editing? The moment I finish a not-that-good chapter is the only one when I think about giving up and that writing isn't for me.

[Anonymous No.17254568]

>>17248038
Depends on the writing. Without the context it's impossible to say.
>>17250104
Sounds a little complicated anon. I had trouble following just based on that short description.
>>17252797
It wasn't bad at the beginning, but went way too over the top at the end.
>>17253533
Congrats anon! I read some of the first chapter, I'll try and take a look at this one, as well, to see what old Hress is up to.
>>17254460
I'd leave it and come back after finishing a few other chapters. You'll have fresh eyes.

[Anonymous No.17254684]

>>17253024
Chaim pls go

[Anonymous No.17254709]

>>17254403
been reading more actually, might be because I'm trying to write in a less flowery fashion

[Anonymous No.17254890]

>>17254684
Prudes will never create anything meaningful. You will always be a pseud.

[Anonymous No.17254921]

>>17254890
coomer cope

[Anonymous No.17254944]

>good plot
>good world building
>good characters

pick only 2

[Anonymous No.17254975]

>>17254944
World and characters.

[Anonymous No.17255079]

>>17254684
The jews have the strongest cultural heritage on earth. The only reason you are presenting that as a bad thing is that it is not your culture.

>>17254921
Still haven't said why being a coomer is bad.

[Anonymous No.17255212]

Smutposters and their Jewish handlers need to leave /lit/ forever

[Anonymous No.17255236]

>>17255212
The only reason the jews have been kicked out of nearly 200 countries is that they are the only culture that has been around long enough and stayed cohesive enough for that. Every other culture has fallen apart long before then.

[Anonymous No.17255243]

>>17255236
What about the Hindus?

[Anonymous No.17255405]

Is it bad if most of my stories atart in a similar way? In my case I often kill my MC in someway.

[Anonymous No.17255424]

>>17255405
You could make it a running gag, but then it would limit your creativity.

[Anonymous No.17255665]

How do I into action?

[Anonymous No.17255705]

What are your /wg/ plans and hopes for 2021, /wg/?

[Anonymous No.17255718]

>>17255705
I have three things of various degrees of difficulty.
Hard mode: get a story or an essay published in /lit/ Quarterly
European Extreme: participate in a local writing contest and place in the top 5
Dante Must Die: finish my novel and get it published

The odds of success for any of these is so small there is no normal or easy mode for me.

[Anonymous No.17255725]

>>17254944
plot and characters

[Anonymous No.17255728]

>>17254975
>worldbuilding

meme lol, you could literally have a more boring and generic world than the modern one and with great characters OR great plot it could still be a classic

[Anonymous No.17255740]

>>17255728
You're just saying that because you lack imagination and are intimidated by fantasy authors

[Anonymous No.17255755]

>>17255740
it's an objective fact

there are dozens of books with great characters that are classics

there are some books with great plots that if they aren't classic are at least great books

there are no books with amazing worldbuilding but mediocre plot and characters that are even very good

[Anonymous No.17255757]

>>17255728
Of course any character driven story can function without worldbuilding.

[Anonymous No.17255761]

>>17255755
>there are no books with amazing worldbuilding but mediocre plot and characters that are even very good
Lord of the Rings
Rendezvous with Rama

[Anonymous No.17255799]

>>17255761
lord of the rings plot isn't medicore, neither are the characters

[Anonymous No.17255805]

>>17255799
Yes they are. The characters are extremely flat and the plot is rife with holes you could fly an eagle through.

[Anonymous No.17255823]

>>17255805
I don't usually say this... but filtered, there are literally no plot holes if you paid any attention and used common sense.

There's not a ton of character development but there are good characters, it's a retarded redditism that characters need to develop to be good

[Anonymous No.17255832]

>>17255823
Plotholes in Lord of the Rings:
1. Why didn't they fly the eagles to Mordor?
2. How did the orcs know what a menu is?
3. What was Aragorn's tax policy?

[Anonymous No.17255868]

>>17255832
probably a troll post but

R1: Various reasons, the eagles were proud and didn't want to, the ring would corrupt them, Sauron had spies and would see them coming and send the nazgul to kill them or shoot them down with arrows, sorcery or siege engines

R2. that line is only in the films


R3: books end before this can be addressed, might be covered in appendixes and letters etc, his administration and government was, also not a plothole

[Anonymous No.17255902]

>>17254944

The characters are what create the plot. You can't have shit actors somehow create a good narrative.

Conversely, the plot is the tool that sculpts the characters. If the plot is shit, then the characters can only also be shit, because they are limited by the bad choices and events. Either you have both or neither.

Good worldbuilding is likewise done by the characters and the plot, shown by what they see and shaped by what they do. If it's just a history book sandwiched between detached islands of action, then it's shit by default.

[Anonymous No.17255926]

>>17254944
They fear the worlbuilding chad

[Anonymous No.17255944]

>>17255926
>stops your plot and trivializes all of your worldbuilding
Hey dol! merry dol! ring a dong dillo!
Ring a dong! hop along! Fal lal the willow!
Tom Bom, jolly Tom, Tom Bombadillo!

[Anonymous No.17256555]

>do a lot of background research for my fantasy story
>characters use authentic professional vocabulary, slang, and idioms from 100-200 years ago
>all the readers just think I can't into english

any books on how hard work doesn't pay off?

[Anonymous No.17256623]

>>17249162
>10k words
Bros am I in the zone? How long can this last?

[Anonymous No.17256913]

Most of the dawn light was hidden by the clouds as Mike trudged through the mud and slippery grass on the way to feed the pigs. With each step his boots were half engulfed by the sucking mud, each step took considerable effort. It was a long way to the pig pen, especially for a boy of ten, the handle of the heavy bucket he carried dug into his hand, blanching the skin and fading reluctantly. Inside the bucket was a mix of scraps from the last few days both vegetables and meat. It was technically illegal to feed meat to pigs, in order to prevent the outbreak of disease but Mike’s dad didn’t see the point in wasting food, especially in his present financial situation. When Mike would feed the pigs, he would often observe them jostling and fighting for the meat, sometimes even biting each other.

There was a soft breeze in the air that whispered its way through the leaves, as Mike neared the pen the wind swept up into a deafening roar. A branch from a nearby gumtree snapped clean off and spun to the ground. But almost before it had begun the wind settled down, leaving Mike disturbed. He was still thinking on the wind as he reached the pen, looking up at the clouds to ascertain from where it had come.

So it was that he stepped into mud that was mostly water, slipped, and fell forward. The bucket fell from his hands and spread its contents everywhere as he threw his hands out to arrest his fall. His left hand caught one of the bars of the pen, his right shot through a gap between the bars up to his shoulder. His shirt immediately became soaked with the putrid mix of the mud and slop from the bucket. His right arm was stuck between the narrow bars of the pen, he tugged and pushed with his free hand against the bars but to no avail.

It was then that he heard as much as saw the first of the pig's approach, no doubt lured by the smell of the swill, snuffling and grunting they approached. Slowly he begun to comprehend the threat. He redoubled his efforts, squirming and even pushing against the mud with his hips in a hopeless attempt to free himself. One of the pigs brushed against the fingers and he screamed for help. Its eyes met his and he thought he saw the hint of some rudimentary intelligence in those large eyes, but there was also low cunning and a startling malevolence.

The pig bit into his hand, sharp incisors piercing his fingers, its tusk-like canines impaling his palm like hooks. now he screamed in earnest, thrashing and twisting desperately. The other pigs snorted and jostled for position at the banquet.

His father found him hours later, dead, face and neck covered in blood, the pigs still nibbling on remaining morsels and scraps. The muddy water which by now had started to evaporate was dyed red with the blood that had dripped from above. They had eaten up to his shoulder, in many places down to the bone.

[Anonymous No.17257129]

New to writing. It's a love story

[Anonymous No.17257147]

>>17257129
Billy Elliot?

[Anonymous No.17257154]

How do y'all deal with the complications of sitting down for extended periods of time to write?

[Anonymous No.17257190]

>>17257147
Didn't cross my mind when I was writing. But I guess it is if Billy Elliot looked like David Pocock and just wanted to pick up, not dance.

[Anonymous No.17257201]

Why even bother writing erotica? The highest cut of profits that Amazon will give you is 70%, while Only Fans gives you 80%. Oh vey, do you see which career choice is better? :^)

[Anonymous No.17257206]

>>17257190
Well I wish him luck.

[Anonymous No.17257234]

>>17257129
>though, like all his other relationships after my mother passed, didn't last long
'It didn't last long'. You still need the sentence to make sense when the clauses are removed.

Overall, it's fine.
It needs a couple of edit passes to tighten it up, but as something down on paper, it is a great start.
Great job, Anon.

[Anonymous No.17257242]

>>17257234
No, that sentence is totally right
t. English as my third language

[Anonymous No.17257252]

>>17257234
Cheers

>You still need the sentence to make sense when the clauses are removed.
True. I'd have 'though/although it, like all his ... , didn't last long', right?

[Anonymous No.17257541]

What's the craze now on Kindle? A year ago it was Military scifi. Litrpg kinda became a thing but now it's just floundering. What's something new to jump into

[Anonymous No.17257757]

Where do you guys go to post fictions you've written but don't care to make any money on e.g. Wattpad, etc.

[Anonymous No.17257779]

>>17257154
bro im a Gamer
sitting down is what i do best

[Anonymous No.17257938]

>>17237546
His anxiety prevents him from living his life so he lives vicariously through his the fantasies he has about the lives of those around him. These fantasies are based partly on cherry picked information from eavesdropped conversations and partly in the assumption that everyone else lives far greater lives than he does (or ever could)

[Anonymous No.17258510]

>>17238234
what kind of fucking name is Ikummuzish? It hurts my eyes every time i read it

[Anonymous No.17258521]

>>17248283
based

[Anonymous No.17258541]

>>17258510
I cum much-ish?

[Anonymous No.17258766]

>>17258541
I cum muh jizz

[Anonymous No.17258879]

Is this good or just pretentious crap I wrote last night?

[Anonymous No.17258893]

>>17258879
Guess

[Anonymous No.17259013]

>>17257757
Royalroad, Quotev, Scribblehub, Tapas, Webnovel(chink business practices though), and a few others I might be missing. Most of them allow tipping the author too.

[Anonymous No.17259156]

>>17256623
13k words. The actual opening chapters are starting to form, but I'm not sure the first chapter is very interesting.

[Anonymous No.17259165]

Should you bother editing/revising stories you know are shit?

[Anonymous No.17259574]

>>17257252
technically fine but doesn't flow as well as "it didn't last long"

[Anonymous No.17259627]

>>17258879
You will never receive truly valuable advice in these threads. Do what I did and begin building relationships with dedicated beta readers who get kicks from reading new material. I have 3 or 4 solid beta readers, one of whom is a professional editor and the other retired, and between the four of them I get as much critique as I need.

[Anonymous No.17259638]

>>17259627
Well, at least I got one piece of advice that I consider valuable: your post.
Thank you.

[Anonymous No.17259654]

Are Markov chains kino?
Here's three examples, they're txt files, but too big for here
>all the ray bradbury i have
https://www72.zippyshare.com/v/BmvJ7Vdk/file.html
>everything I have in text files
https://www72.zippyshare.com/v/9a5bNHHi/file.html
>didn't really name the sources here
https://www72.zippyshare.com/v/9D1QxxwR/file.html

[Anonymous No.17259753]

>>17259638
No problem. I liked your writing. Gl anon.

[Anonymous No.17259754]

>>17257541
I see Black Voices a lot on my Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Tubi but I don't know if that carries over to Kindle Unlimited

[Anonymous No.17259770]

how do I learn to write bros? I would like to write my stories and ideas but Im so trash at writing it hurts

[Anonymous No.17259788]

>>17258879
It's quite pretentious and that makes it hard to tell what the setting is. The pretentious language is quite jarring alongside words like "vocalist" and "weird" (i'd get rid of the pretentious language and those words personally). The sentence structures need more variety as well as it's coming across quite bland. The second paragraph spends ways too long describing the rings thing and I still can't picture it.
I'd line by line for more feedback if it weren't an image and I thought you cared.
>eyes peeking at him through the gaps of other eyes as they spun in circles
I liked this line a lot though and I wanted to know what happened so that's a good sign

[Anonymous No.17259810]

>>17259770
Practice.
You can't 'learn' how to write, you just keep doing it until you get better.

[Anonymous No.17260449]

>>17257129
Not bad anon. The first sentence runs on a little long. I'd break it up to something like, "My father had taken me to a performance. He was in some kind of relationship with one of the instructors, though, like..."
Second sentence runs on as well so bear that in mind going forward.

[Anonymous No.17260474]

>>17259770
you write
you edit
you write some more
you edit some more
you find where your weaknesses are and try and bring them up to snuff
you exploit your strengths
and then you write more
and edit more
endlessly

[Anonymous No.17260483]

>>17258879
You can cut down on the "pretentiousness" a lot by cutting unnecessary words or phrases.
>the meaning of the words did not escape his mind
would sound a lot better as,
>the meaning did not escape him

[Anonymous No.17260527]

speaking of pretentious
How do you write a remorse riddled guy from the early 1800's living out in the country without it sounding pretentious?

Was bored one night and was overdosing on Edgar Allen Poe inspo and wrote this thing and went to edit it today and just.... The story is good imo, but the prose... I feel like it was written by an edge 16 year old or something.

[Anonymous No.17260544]

Anyone else get an acutely dull pain in the front of your brain while writing a first draft? It kind of makes me feel retarded when it happens.

[Anonymous No.17260653]

>>17260474
>>17259810
Thanks. I just wrote something I think is quite cool. It's only 3 paragraphs but it's something. It came straight out of me. Sadly not in English so can't post it here

[Anonymous No.17260911]

>>17259627
>Do what I did and begin building relationships with dedicated beta readers who get kicks from reading new material
Spoonfeed me, anon. Where can I find people willing to invest time into whatever shlock I spew out?

[Anonymous No.17260923]

>>17260544
That's called frustration because you don't have a process. If you're just writing whatever comes to mind without having planned anything, then yeah your brain is going to overload.

[Anonymous No.17261008]

>>17260911
You can find in-depth critiques on Fiverr, or people willing to critique for free on R*ddit, along with people who want to critique swap. There are also dedicated websites for having your work read in discussed. And once I found a reader in one of these threads that I was impressed with, but haven't used since. I won't spoonfeed you completely anon, this isn't hard stuff. What's silly is expecting strangers in a 4chan thread to give you good advice, when you can see yourself the sort of writing people post here.

[Anonymous No.17261080]

>>17260923
>without having planned anything
Not him, but the way you worded this might through people off. A process and a "plan" are different. By saying he should've planned things out implies he should've some kind of pre-writing. A process is more about finding out what works for you and what doesn't. For example, to really write I need to have a mug of Earl Grey in my system. Maybe that's just Pavlovian at this point, but that's my *process*.

As for OP's dull ache, I do find my head starts getting a little fuzzy after either 4 hours of writing or 4,000 words, and if I keep going I go further into that fog and I'm usually in it for the rest of the day.
Alternatively, the anon I'm replying to might have a point if you have zero clue where the story is heading and you're sitting there staring at the screen trying to think *real* hard about what happens next. Cranking your brain like that for extended periods of time knocks anyone for a loop, especially if you're not used to it.

[Anonymous No.17261088]

I just finished Elements of Style

what next?

[Anonymous No.17261256]

Is introducing plot lines that are to be resolved/built upon in a sequel a bad idea?

[Anonymous No.17261260]

>>17261256
Do you have an end point for the sequels? If not then bad idea.

[Anonymous No.17261321]

>>17257154
If I'm stuck at some point with writing I usually get up and walk around. Short breaks only need to be a few minutes long, as long as you break up the sitting time. I find it gets me unstuck and back to writing as soon as I sit down again.

[Anonymous No.17261395]

How does one learn to make their writing more attractive? I want to make my writing have a better demeanor and come off as charming.

[Anonymous No.17261452]

>>17261395
Unironically try roleplaying. It helps you get into a character's 'head space' to write more believable dialogue and directions and you're getting real time feedback from another person as you go. Not only that, but you can use the other person's writing in real time to see what sorts of actions are useful and what are superfluous by what you focus on in your response.

[Anonymous No.17261613]

I feel like I can't write anything better than my best story. I wrote it over one year ago, got it published, got positive reviews, people liked it... and since then everything is shit. Am I just a one shot hack?

[Anonymous No.17261932]

>>17261088
You know the answer to that anon

[Anonymous No.17262179]

>>17261932
No, I mean, "what's the next book about writing"
Obviously I'm going to go write

[Anonymous No.17262189]

>>17262179
>Obviously I'm going to go write
Are you?

[Anonymous No.17262361]

>>17262189
I've written over 70,000 words in the last month.

[Anonymous No.17262499]

>>17262361
That's great to hear. Good job, anon.

[Anonymous No.17262551]

>853 views on royal road
>1 rating, 1 comment, 2 followers
Am I doing something wrong or am I just shit? Or both?

[Anonymous No.17262558]

>>17262551
Is your story a LitRPG?

Why don't you link it or tell us about it?

[Anonymous No.17262601]

>>17262499
I still want to keep learning tho, so which book should I go to next?

[Anonymous No.17262615]

>>17262601
Well, in my opinion, Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft and Hero With a Thousand Faces

[Anonymous No.17262629]

>>17262601
>>17262615
Of course, to each their own, anon.

[Anonymous No.17262874]

Anyway, here's the new thread when this is archived. >>17262653

[Anonymous No.17262955]

>>17244497
I like it, my only thing would be to keep with the metaphor more and don't reveal so obviously what you're really talking about, but that's just me

[Anonymous No.17263734]

>>17259013
>Quotev
Interesting. I was writing hot garbage on there when I was 16 but got a bunch of people into it. Mostly girls who just pretended because I was somewhat attractive boy.
I'm fat now.

[Anonymous No.17264279]

>>17259654
wtf kind of nigger website is this? A 600 kb file is too big to upload onto regular websites? Go spread your viruses somewhere else

[Anonymous No.17265464]

Why does it seem like so many famous writers insist on working first thing in the morning? Is it an age thing? I'm aware that no advice fits everyone, but it seems fairly ubiquitous in what I've read

[Anonymous No.17265926]

>>17262874
You are the reason these threads are dying early. You complete fucking spaz.

[Anonymous No.17265981]

15k words bros. Just 85 thousand more and it'll be a book, kind of.

[Anonymous No.17266343]

>>17258879
this would benefit from better imagery, e.g. "the ring of dancers tightened around him like a noose". not a good example, that, but right now i the picture you're trying to give is not very clear. it's rather dry.
this is also because you didn't tell us how he felt. he had dancers smothering him, he heard some strange song in a strange tongue, everything is dark, he felt pain. then what? did he feel fear, panic, hopelessness? readers can't relate to being in put in an eerie ballroom, but they can relate very easily to being scared.
the word "weird" is out of place. use "strange".