/wg/-Writing General

[Anonymous No.17762075]

Any progress on your novels?

previous thread:>>17751104

For Prose:
>The Art of Fiction
>Story Genius: How to Use Brain Science to Go Beyond Outlining and Write a Riveting Novel (Before You Waste Three Years Writing 327 Pages That Go Nowhere)
>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.17762087]

>have an idea for an introspective novel mainly set in the thoughts of the protagonist
>know it probably will be cheesy shit

[Anonymous No.17762091]

I want to put my story on royal road but. Well. Do I need to worry about politics? Must I be careful when writing not white characters? (I say that cause the book I'm working on has humor that involves races (black; asian; hispanic; white; alien; anime based life forms, etc...) Secret societies involving race supremacy groups, kkk, black panthers (will team up a quite lot) two of the main once, there are more. Most racial supremacy groups are anti-trans. Aliens will always refer to them as their birth gender. Jews will also be involved, there'll be nazis, jupiter nazis. Ancient gods. Mainstream Gods. Modern gods. Obscure religion groups.

The mc isn't part of any group, he's just half korean half white kid, named Timmy (also called "The White Boi" by one of black supremacists).

There's more, but that's the gist of it. I want to publish something like that. That's why I'm not sure where I could out a story like this. Amazon will nuke me no doubt. Patreon, heh, no chance.

It's not encouraging any extremist view of any kind, or political view. Just making fun of today's era.

Is there a site where I can put the story and not worry about getting banned? Can I trust Royal Road?

[Anonymous No.17762106]

>>17762095
>wordpress
I've heard wordpress isn't exactly safe either.

[Anonymous No.17762629]

>>17762087
Follow though with it and don't be ashamed about it. Whether you like it or not, we all have to start somewhere. Even at its worst, it still a creative writing exercise that will help you improve.

[Anonymous No.17762862]

>>17762629
End is weak

[Anonymous No.17762913]

>>17762087
>novel
kek you will completely run out of steam with this concept around page 20

[Anonymous No.17762987]

I was born in the wrong time period. My calling would've been in writing pulp fiction in the early days of the 20th century.

[Anonymous No.17763007]

>>17762087
Make sure you end it with "You will always be a faggot."

[Anonymous No.17763013]

>>17762987
>I was in the wrong period
there's ways to get out of this period.

[Anonymous No.17763028]

>>17763013
You can only travel forwards, never back.

[Anonymous No.17763055]

>>17762862
>End is weak
That wasn't the ending. I'm sorry, I misclick and picked an earlier draft. I'm sorry for the inconvenience. Here's the true ending of the story. Hope you like it.

[Anonymous No.17763079]

>>17763055
Maybe I’m retard, I don’t understand what Amelia is doing? She is poisoning him and has also been stalking him?

[Anonymous No.17763376]

>>17762913
How? Think of how many pages of words and concepts you think in just 1 hour

[Anonymous No.17763626]

>>17762987
>tfw born in perfect time period to write erotica.

[Anonymous No.17763823]

justpaste it /3b7x6
any thoughts at all? I had a feel I wanted to dish out with this one, but I'm never sure if I hit my mark.

[Anonymous No.17763847]

>>17762075
hey, can someone judge my writing? thank you in advancement

>A man came into my office today. A slightly tall man with round protruding cheeks. Between them, a mouth that is no longer than my thumb was sandwiched between thin cracked lips. His Eyes had brown pupils which were covered in a certain type of sparkle. The kind you see in the eyes of a kid. Above he had Messy black hair which bounced up and down each time he steps closer to the chair I ordered him to sit. When he sat down his belly began to show though more underneath his white Captain American t-shirt. He crossed his pale twig like arms, showing a scar he got when he was only ten years old. his outie pointed at me.

[Anonymous No.17763861]

>>17763847
I feel repulsed by the character, also can't not imagine him as a standard looking reddit man but with anime sugoi eyes. Is this what you went for?

[Anonymous No.17763878]

>>17763847
Fix your tenses and maybe vary your sentence length a little more? It’s like I’m reading a bulleted list.

[Anonymous No.17764254]

>watching Brandon Sanderson lectures
Am I ngmi?

[Anonymous No.17764297]

>>17764254
there are nuggets of wisdom in there. I listened to them during my commute for a bit and that was useful. Sitting at home on your computer listening to them? you may be giving them more attention than they deserve

[Anonymous No.17764416]

>>17764297
Any sources you'd recommend? Either way best I just read and write.

[Anonymous No.17764439]

>>17764416
Not him, but I found a set of lectures by Chicago university about Writing Effectively. Had helpful bits..

[Anonymous No.17764449]

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECHUBBA

[Anonymous No.17764564]

>>17764439
So far, he seems pretty red-pilled.

[Anonymous No.17764651]

what's the best writing advice you've been given to date?
mine was probably a screenplay class that taught me what a tight fuckable plot was
>everything needs to be necessary for the story moving forward
>if it isn't but you still want it, just make it a gun that fires off later and you'll seem super clever
>action character good, reactive character bad
>some stories just don't work, and you need to have the balls to either rehash them into working full muscle or have the balls to drawer them until further notice

[Anonymous No.17764666]

hey guys, how's my writing site? i've recently updated it with new content.

>https://liamhuntwrites.com/

[Anonymous No.17764717]

>>17764651
You write what you find interesting and worth spending time on, because if even you don't treat your story like that, the reader wont either. Don't worry about how for the first version if you are not sure how to do that, just tell a good story first.

Try to keep your writing in positive and active tone, don't treat your characters as objects but as agents, and ask yourself, what actions does this paragraph/scene actually show. Fridge logic usually helps.

[Anonymous No.17764722]

>>17762075
behead vtubers and their simpathizers

[Anonymous No.17764746]

>>17764717
>Fridge logic
?

[Anonymous No.17764748]

>>17764722
based

[Anonymous No.17764779]

>>17764746
Well, you know when you finish a movie, go to a fridge and suddenly think of how some of the scenes would've made more sense, even if they create plotholes?

[Anonymous No.17764916]

>>17763861
I don't know, I just made it for a "describe your self" thread and I just put my brain on auto drive and this came out. I guess it's like a twisted version of a caricature of me.
>>17763878
how about now?

> A man came into my office today. A slightly tall man with round protruding cheeks. Between them, he owned a mouth no longer than my thumb. And it was sandwiched between thin cracked lips. His Eyes had brown pupils which were covered in a certain type of sparkle. The kind you see in the eyes of a kid. Above them he had Messy black hair which bounced up and down each time he stepped closer to the chair I ordered him to sit. When he sat down his belly began to show though more underneath his white Captain American t-shirt. He crossed his pale twig like arms. It showed a scar he got when he was only ten years old. his outie pointed at me.

[Anonymous No.17765169]

>>17764916
Somehow worse

[Anonymous No.17765256]

>>17765169
how?

[C.E. !!QfF9fgr0uaM No.17765273]

>>17761801
I've made a little over a grand from one story I dropped without finishing.

I am wary of people who write and mock other mediums or writing styles. They probably just mock them because they cannot succeed even at writing they deem below them.

[Anonymous No.17765286]

>>17762075
Why are there no books pertaining specific genres in the OP?

[Anonymous No.17765308]

>>17765273
>I am wary of people who write and mock other mediums or writing styles.
What if you write fanfic

[Anonymous No.17765317]

>>17765273
im sorry did you say you earned money. you earned money from royal road. i did not know this was possible.

[Anonymous No.17765339]

>>17765317
you can put begging links in your royal road, either paypal or patreon or whatever. its integrated off to the side so its not in their face. people then give you money because they're drunk or who knows why

[C.E. !!QfF9fgr0uaM No.17765399]

>>17765317
You put out advanced chapters for your fans. The top royalroad fics make ~100k a year in patreon income while medium ones can make between 1000 and 2000 a month.

Writing speed will net you more patrons.

Its not "begging", you give them the advanced unedited chapters in return. You will make much less if you dont offer anything.

Normally the patreon income is the side income. The real money comes from audio books and amazon books, which I haven't even dabbled in yet. Once you finish putting a book up on royalroad, you can edit it, pull it, and put it on kindle unlimited or publish it without pulling it.

>>17765308
Doesn't matter what you write as long as you write it well. I think there are complications to making money off fanfic but I don't know what they are because I don't write/read it.

Most fanfic writers I know make their money off of short story commissions.

[Anonymous No.17765407]

>>17765399
shit I'm gonna get to work right now. I know I'm good enough, just got to get something out there and some eyes on me. Finally my parents will have something to be proud of.

[C.E. !!QfF9fgr0uaM No.17765411]

>>17765407
Good luck Anon

[Anonymous No.17765416]

>>17765308
In a sense every story is a fanfiction since characters and events are alwsys based off of something else you read.

[C.E. !!QfF9fgr0uaM No.17765438]

>>17765416

[Anonymous No.17765485]

>>17765399
In that case I'll probably start posting WIPs for input/advice from other anons here then. Always figured it was a no-go since /lit/ tends to be so high brow they'd just blast it on account of it being fanfic, but in the end...who cares lol

[Anonymous No.17765567]

>>17765416
>In a sense, I'm African because all people originated from Africa.
You aren't John Green, right, Anon?

[C.E. !!QfF9fgr0uaM No.17765571]

>>17765485
I haven't met anyone who is both pretentious and good. I don't worry about literary or "high brow" snobs.

I know someone who wrote a 200k first book, published to royalroad, and refused to read anything that wasnt a decades old literary classic.

Dude was talking about picking a publishing house like someone was going to buy his 200k first novel..... lmao

[Anonymous No.17765589]

>>17765567
I don't even know who that is.

[Anonymous No.17765759]

>>17765286
Anyone?

[Anonymous No.17765803]

>>17765759
If you wanna write sci-fi read a fucking sci-fi book, I dunno man, figure it out yourself

[Anonymous No.17765836]

>>17765803
And here I was thinking this thread could be useful to discuss and review these types of books.

[Anonymous No.17765876]

>>17764916
I have some ideas of how to re-work your sentences;
>A slightly tall man with round protruding cheeks. Between them, he owned a mouth no longer than my thumb. And it was sandwiched between thin cracked lips.
He was a tall man with round protruding cheeks. Between them, a mouth no longer than my thumb with thin cracked lips.
Try not to get too fancy with your phrases. Something like, "he owned a mouth" sounds pretty awkward.
Keep at it anon, sans the Captain American t-shirt I kind of like this guy.
>>17765286
No idea anon, but if you like there's a Science Fiction and Fantasy thread.
>>17762629
I didn't get the chance to read the whole thing, but I thought it was pretty well written anon. Especially for second person. The only thing I didn't care for were certain phrases like, "You've always been...well, forgetful." That may just be a personal choice, though.

[Anonymous No.17765922]

>>17765876
>No idea anon, but if you like there's a Science Fiction and Fantasy thread
Correct but they are more focused in actual books than discussing the process of writing such books. I think this thread is more relevant to it. If no one here is involved directly with the themes maybe I will do reviews and analysis myself. Speaking of which who maintains the OP?

[Anonymous No.17765975]

I know it's a bit longer, but if anyone has any feedback on the start of this short story I'm writing I'd appreciate it.

[Anonymous No.17765991]

>>17765975
>shoveling brown sand out with a shovel
Um


Complete the story. Then post.

[Anonymous No.17766032]

>>17765975
You are 'telling' way too much, baby. Start 'showing' more.
Take your first line for example; 'Two men stood in the swallowing heat of the desert, and one dug.', it's too dry and flat. It doesn't evoke anything.

Keep trying though, you are getting there.

[Anonymous No.17766038]

>>17765975
Read Blood Meridian

[Anonymous No.17766044]

https://pastebin.com/Avqz1w4x

Excerpt from a fanfic I'm writing, would greatly appreciate feedback. First time trying third-person omniscient
For context's sake it's a mock-battle between three classes in a fantasy-type setting, thing it's based off of is Fire Emblem so there's the Eagles, the Lions and the Deer

[Anonymous No.17766110]

>>17765975
Best in thread and I don't even have to read the thread to know that. Has a nice sense of rhythm, layered description (i.e does more than set the scene) but obviously not much can be said about structure until you post the rest of the story.

[Anonymous No.17766249]

>>17766044
I liked it, but I've also played the game. There isn't much setting or character description/development, but I guess the intended audience is other people who've also played the Three Houses, so they'd all know who Marianne, Claude, Catherine, etc are.

Some of the actions and perspective shifts were confusing. Who did Jeritza hit so hard - Manuela? Would he not be on the same side as Manuela or is Manuela on the side of the Lions in the scenario?

[Anonymous No.17766292]

>>17766110
>nice sense of rhythm
...I take the opposite view

[Anonymous No.17766332]

>>17766249
>Who did Jeritza hit so hard - Manuela? Would he not be on the same side as Manuela or is Manuela on the side of the Lions in the scenario?
The idea in this fic is that Byleth is the combat instructor and Jeritza is the Eagles professor, so he is fighting opposite of Manuela in this scenario. This is technically the opening of the second chapter, the first establishes the setting and what's different

Were there other areas where the perspective shift was jarring or confusing? Thanks for reading by the way

[Anonymous No.17766491]

>>17766332
I also didn't like the shift to future tense at the point where Claude wakes up, but that's just nitpicking from me.

Where will you be posting the rest?

[Anonymous No.17766568]

>>17764916

Okay, anon, allow me to deconstruct your stuff for a minute.
First of all, it seems like you're trying to be a little fancy with it, but you're going about it the wrong way. Using pharses like
>he owned a mouth
Just feels awkward because you generally wouldn't say that anyone "owns" their body parts. This can be used effectively if you WANT to make the reader feel uneasy about something, like if the person speaking is some kind of sociopath or whatever, but here, it's a bit at odds with the rest of your stuff. Making things "fancy", isn't just about the words you use, but also about the sentance structure and punctuation. Variety in these 3 places is what makes things sound great, but you have to becareful not to overdo it.
Secondly, by using varied sentance structure you can call attention to certain things and de-emphesize others. For example, you gave two sentances to describe the character's eyes, but you also give the same amount of time to his other features.
Thirdly, some of the words you use are unnecessary, like
>more
In the sentance with his belly. Also the sentance right before this one is too long, incomplete(it needs "in" at the end), and desperately needs punctuation to break it up.
Fourthly, it seems like you're too married to how it is already. When I read the revision you made, I noticed almost nothing different except for the tenses being proper and some words switched around. Don't be afraid to completely tear your own stuff apart and reorganize and restructure it(using more varied sentance structure and whatnot).
Lastly, the last line is a fantastic closer for this paragraph. Brilliant way to end.
As a writing exercise, I'd recommens this: find a section of prose you really like and memorize it. Write it word for word just from memory, over and over again, until you've got it down. Then rip it apart and change it. Use your own words to say what it's saying. See how YOU would write it(this is helpful in developing a style, but you shouldn't do it too much because then you run the risk of copycatting the original author).
Allow me, in another post, to rewrite your excerpt in my own words, to try and give you an example of all of the advice I've given.

[Anonymous No.17766604]

>>17765975
all descriptions and no point
>>17766044
fanfics are for the scum of the earth kys

[Anonymous No.17766669]

Descriptions are a meme

[Anonymous No.17766681]

cross posting from stg, sorry if this thread is only for creative writing
does attaching something herewith make me sound retarded? can i say "...and attached it herewith" or do i need to rework it to remove the "it" as in "i have attached herewith..."?

[Anonymous No.17766703]

>>17766681
>and attached it herewith
It makes one sound pretentious as fuck, but if that's the aim, yes, you can say that

>I have completed the requested demographic survey of red-headed gentlemen above the age of 21 domiciled in London, compiled a brief summary of findings and attached it herewith.

[Anonymous No.17766720]

>>17764916
>>17766568

How I would write it
>A tallish man with puffy cheeks came into my office today. His thin-lipped mouth was no longer than my thumb and was in desperate need of some chapstick. His brown eyes held some certain kind of sparkle; The same type of glisten a kid might have. His hair was messy, black, and distracting as it bounced up and down with each step he took. As he sat down, he crossed his pale, twiggy arms, revealing a large scar he must have gotten when he was young. His white, Captain America t-shirt hugged his belly a little too tightly as he slouched forward. His outie was pointing at me.

I hope this helped, anon. Let me continue for a moment, and make fun of you in good fun, as you said that this character is a caracature of you earlier in the thread.

>For a moment, this offended me, and I had forgotten why I'd called him into my office to begin with. I shuffled around some papers needlessly while trying to remember why I'd summoned this creature. I remembered that my parents had told me once that I had an outie when I was a baby. They said they taped a quarter on my bellybutton for a week until I was fixed. I wondered if it was too late for this man to- I remembered-
"Right." I said outloud, by mistake. I paused for another second after realizing that I had revealed that I had forgotten why I had ordered this man into my office. Before this train could get away from me I went on, "Anon, you need to stop going on 4chan while you're at work. It's inappropriate"
"Reply to this post or your mother dies in her sleep tonight." he squeeked. His protruding belly button went from irritating to downright hostile. I fired him on the spot. May God have mercy on this foul beast.

[Anonymous No.17766757]

threadly reminder that royal road retards are inherently anti-/lit/ and courting their mental illness is dangerous to the health of the board at large. A cursory examination of royal road's "best rated" stories is sufficient to condemn the material as officially NOT /lit/ and should be treated as such hence and forthwith.

[Anonymous No.17766808]

>>17766757
>and should be treated as such hence and forthwith
>not herewith as well
ngmi

[C.E. !!QfF9fgr0uaM No.17766818]

>>17766757
>Anon is mad he got sub 10 followers on royalroad then deleted his fic

[Anonymous No.17766894]

>>17766032
>Dry and flat
Kek, thanks anon. I was trying to make it sound bare and cool but I guess that might not've come across. Appreciate the feedback.
>>17766038
My favorite novel anon, I guess that's obvious from my writing. I should re-read some more McCarthy before continuing, though. Thanks for reading.
>>17766110
Appreciate that anon, though, I think there are a few other writers in these threads better than me. Thanks for reading either way.
>>17766604
Thanks for reading anon. I tend to frontload my descriptions but that may be a bad habit for me to break out of.

[Anonymous No.17766904]

Let's be honests here and I hope you can be honest with yourselves: do you really want to be literary writers? And by that I mean, if you could be a comic writer, or a screenwriter or even a game scriptwriter, what would you be? And why would you/did you choose that instead of the others?

[Anonymous No.17767034]

>>17766904
I think screenwriting sounds fun, but not enough for me to move to it entirely. I love writing lit

[Anonymous No.17767040]

>>17767034
Why do you love?

[Anonymous No.17767091]

>>17766904
I'm afraid that I'm doomed to visual mediums because of my "upbringing".
My climatic scenes are what Scorsese would call cinema, quiet and emotional moments between characters, but everything that leads to them is this special effects-addled fluff I can't divorce myself from. Now, they aren't actually fluff, I have my reasons to make things this way, but I doubt any of them would reach their full potential through prose. I need the drawings.

[Anonymous No.17767148]

>>17767040
I love having control of every element of a story, I guess. I love writing what I love to read, getting the reader to see the story through the words, I think that's something a visual medium can't reproduce

[Anonymous No.17767229]

>>17766669
how?

[Anonymous No.17767398]

>>17765975
Space these descriptions out a little bit, wait for the right action or movement to serve as cues for them instead of having them succeeding each other like that. And try to describe things in motion more, like how they're reacting to the character's movement, to the environment, to external forces like wind or the light, etc. instead of just writing "he wore a blue suit" like it's isolated from the other elements of the environment. And I think the first paragraph would flow a lot better if you merged all the three sentences about the shadow into one.

Unless you're being deliberately dry and blunt for effect and you think this will pay off later in the story, in that case I'm gay and ignore everything I said

[Anonymous No.17767425]

Do you follow any sort of story structure?

[Anonymous No.17767495]

>>17767229
ignore it

[Anonymous No.17767521]

>>17767091
What upbringing?

I think that everyone nowadays (mostly zoomers) have grown with watching/visual media culture more than reading. You can see that as a lot of writers are actually people who really wanted to make films or draw things, but for lack of resources they opted for the most accessible, that is, to write a book. They are "frustrated filmmakers", so to speak. Writing is a way to be content with little.

[Anonymous No.17767585]

I keep rewriting the beginning of my book. Help.

[Anonymous No.17767616]

>>17767585
based on feedback or based on your own autism? the first is fine, the second is much less helpful

[Anonymous No.17767619]

>>17767585
same
you have to realize that in the second draft, the beginning is going to get overhauled the most since you don't have a clear picture of where the story is going to end up yet.
So the solution is to just write.

[Anonymous No.17767629]

>>17767521
>What upbringing?
Pretty much what you said. I grew up watching anime and reading comics, barely read any books despite having regional above average reading comprehension.

I read more nowadays but my imagination is way too visual for writing. I feel like I'll end up piling description after description on whatever I write, and not just of things I've designed.
I tried writing a short story for an assignment a long time ago, I never actually finished it, and I ended up describing inane shit like the exact layout of a room where a fight was about to take place or how a street where the protagonist is kicked into looked like. I trimmed it on later drafts but these days I think that the only way I could've thought that was acceptable was because I didn't really trust the reader to have the same visuals of I had in my head and for whatever reason I was worried about that when that's not really part of what the process of reading is about.

[Anonymous No.17767708]

>>17767629
There's better ways to evoke vivid imagery in the reader's head than just long description. Mostly consist of metaphors, but real good metaphors. You can also describe action, I think actions are better imagined than static things, specially if these actions are about the characters dealing with the environment you want to describe. Read actual scripts. They are solely about the action in the scene, but with just a few words the screenwriter can evoke the image efficiently, thanks to the lack of fillers and easiness of imagination.

[Anonymous No.17767761]

How can we breath new life into the "mass appeal hero's journey nerdshit fictional expansive universe with endless oc self insert potential and fanwankery" genre? Seems like all possible great speculative fiction settings have already been explored from this approach.

[Anonymous No.17767781]

>>17767761
i know how to do it but im not sharing my idea
not because im afraid you'll steal it but because i don't want to reveal anything until i have something to show for it

[Anonymous No.17767835]

>>17767629
I don't think your problems come from the audio-visual medium. I grew up on anime and games too and I hate having to put what I visualise into words. I'll overlook descriptions in my drafts every time.

[Anonymous No.17767871]

>>17767761
I think its simple; the protag a villain. Think of the meanest son of a bitch you know but make him charming & somewhat relatable but not enough to be a sympathetic character.
Make him have a downright evil goal in mind. Example: make him want to be like Kubrick when it comes to making snuff movies, treating it like a work of art rather than a film reel showing a poor bastard getting murked to brutality.

[Anonymous No.17767881]

>>17765308
She has recessed chin.

Writing fanfic is okay if its a gateway drug to writing in general. If you enjoy it, who cares - just do it.

[Anonymous No.17767915]

Have hundreds of stories in my head due to maladaptive daydreaming. Try to blot them down onto paper, fail. Try again a few years later, manage to write a few dozen thousand words. Realize it is all shit. Take another plot and start writing again, write a few dozen k. Realize it is shit. Drop and start another project.

What to do to avoid this?

[Anonymous No.17767929]

>>17767761
Hard/near-future scifi is missing from that list, just sayin

[Anonymous No.17767939]

>>17765308
There's fuck-all wrong with that. There are at least 3-4 big names who started off with fanfiction.

[Anonymous No.17768011]

>>17767915
Writing has a lot of mass appeal, but is much harder than it looks. Maybe you're not suited for it. Most anything is 1% idea and 99% effort; just because you have ideas doesn't mean you're cut out to execute, any more than drawing pic related as a 5yo kid automatically qualifies you to work at NASA JPL.

[Anonymous No.17768058]

>>17768011
I mean I can write. I have several 100ks worth of words. I just start a project and then subsequently get appalled with my writing and thereby drop it. Only to start another one. No matter how much time I spend polishing a specific segment I never get content with its contents. I keep comparing it, finding it lacking compared to what I have read elsewhere. Now I am not talking about mainstream work just webnovels and so forth. And whether I am suited or not has no significance in the face of sheer autistic will.

[C.E. !!QfF9fgr0uaM No.17768090]

>>17767915
your first million words are practice. they will be bad. they are supposed to be. you have 960000 to go. get to it.

[Anonymous No.17768092]

>>17768058
You should study how to write better (at least in a style you like) before putting words on paper. You should first have a "vision" of how you want to write, then make effort to achive that vision.

[Anonymous No.17768116]

>>17767398
Thanks anon this is all super helpful. Coincidentally, I actually did have them all as one sentence but changed it before submitting.

[Anonymous No.17768122]

>>17766720
>>17766568
>>17765876
Thank you anons! I will definitely practice that piece of information you gave me

[Anonymous No.17768128]

>>17768058
>I have several 100ks worth of words
Yes, and my kid has stacks of sketchbooks full of stick-tanks blowing each other up, yet a budding Picasso, he ain't.

>I can write
So you claim. Post examples.

>I never get content
While this is a legitimate problem with many perfectionists, I doubt it's yours.

>whether I am suited or not has no significance in the face of sheer autistic will
Something something madness is doing the same thing over and over expecting results bla bla yadda.

[C.E. !!QfF9fgr0uaM No.17768130]

>>17768058
a few hundred k to go. finish ur projects anon i believe in you

[Anonymous No.17768137]

>>17768128
Jesus fucking Christ, stop taking the fucking bait, he does this shit every fucking time. Just filter him out.

[Anonymous No.17768178]

>>17768128
I don't care about being a Picasso. I just want to build a world that I am proud of.

>So you claim. Post examples.
Literally writing now, Anon :)

>I never get content
100%, Anon. Just lying to a random stranger and thereby demeaning my eternal soul for no reason. You caught me. Didn't recognize you, Sherlock, without your hat.

>whether I am suited or not has no significance in the face of sheer autistic will
Clearly, me visiting this thread for the first time is me doing the same over and over again expecting different results. You see, this is why the advice of "Just write, Anon." Is an absolute farce that people who can write and feel content about what they write say because they have no idea personally what makes their content good. Because the advise of just writing more falls in the same dogma as "Something something madness is doing the same thing over and over expecting results bla bla yadda."

>>17768130
I will finish a project even if NASA announces a meteor will impact Earth next month. Thanks, Anon. Hope you get many subscribers on Pateron. Although Royalroad really should support Kofi since they don't take a 20% cut like Pateron does.

[Anonymous No.17768192]

>>17767871
lol no. first mistake is defining the story by the protagonist. it's all about the world you dumb nigger

[Anonymous No.17768194]

>>17768137
??? This is literally my first time in this general.

[C.E. !!QfF9fgr0uaM No.17768207]

>>17768178
You can link to Kofi in your authors notes. Some people drop an image and hyperlink it like a button to do things like subscribe star as well.

[Anonymous No.17768222]

>>17768207
Clever. Haven't come across a story that does that yet though.

[C.E. !!QfF9fgr0uaM No.17768235]

>>17768222
my specific example is the guy who wrote the iron teeth before he switched to a xianxia without getting beta readers and then dropped it. Sad... I loved the iron teeth series and its what got me back into reading and writing in general.

[Anonymous No.17768252]

>>17768235
>the iron teeth
Oh shit... I have read both this and Though the Heavens Should Fall but never connected the fact that it is from the same author.

[Anonymous No.17768394]

>>17767915
Start writing really short things that you can finish in a few days, I'm talking about ten pages or less, and start polishing them again and again until you're satisfied with the final result. Every time you go over it you'll pick up a new flaw in your writing that you can correct or improve, and once you finally have something you're proud of it will get you motivated to write more.

Write dozens of little stories like this, and always try to shift the parameters between them. Approach one like an exercise in dialogue, the other as an experiment with structure, the other as pastiche of an author you enjoy, use a few of them to see if your creative process works better with or without outlining, etc. Eventually you will develop a decent toolbox to write your 'real' ideas.

[Anonymous No.17768416]

>>17767835
I'm the kind of retard that if pressured will try to get as soon as possible to the final version so that's why I rushed to add descriptions everywhere.
When I'm writing without pressure I still struggle because I still want to leave room for descriptions as well. I feel like things happen in a void more often than I reasonably should.

[Anonymous No.17768540]

>>17768394
Thanks, Anon. I have done pastiches but have not thought to write short stories that focus on one specific aspect of writing as a focal point. Appreciate your help. I hope you have a nice day and an even better life.

[Anonymous No.17768822]

Hello! Does anyone feel like reading this? I started it for the flash fiction thing but had a bunch of other ideas that I started to do. I'd like for someone to cave my head in or something. I understand I have an issue with context, so this might just be meaningless to whoever reads it.

Gymbro
https://pastebin.com/Lxmbg6Xc

[Anonymous No.17769136]

>past few chapters have been easy, just the protagonist dicking aorund (mostly by himself) and whatnot (exposition)
>next chapter is essential to the plot
>a handful of characters
>lots of dialogue
>changing settings
>emotions

Fuck...

[Anonymous No.17769188]

Are the philosophical questions I want the audience to think about a good starting point to figure out my story or do you find out what the theme should be later on?

[Anonymous No.17769192]

>>17769136
I'm being directly attacked and I do not like it.

[Anonymous No.17769256]

>>17762075
I posted this and then deleted it on accidental after double posting in the wrong thread. all around embarrassing. anyway, if anyone feels like reading this and giving me their thoughts or telling me ngmi, feel free!

https://pastebin.com/Lxmbg6Xc

[Anonymous No.17769378]

>>17769188
I’d suggest introducing the questions/ideas subtly (through the narrative) and expanding upon them as the story progresses.

[Anonymous No.17769461]

>>17769136
The good news is that you should eventually delete the past few chapters, but this one should stay in the second draft.

>>17769188
I think the theme in general should be your opinion on the question, not the question itself. If they were interested in the raw material of the question they would read philosophy. Your goal should be to present a compelling body of evidence in the course of your story such that the reader is forced to independently conceptualize your opinion and in the climax and denouement give it serious consideration against and perhaps as part of their own worldview and lifestyle.

[Anonymous No.17769501]

>>17769256
I liked it. Keep working and you'll make it.

[Anonymous No.17769619]

Wish Mountain reached 20 followers.

[Anonymous No.17769666]

What do you think are the core traits of a fully fledged character?

[Anonymous No.17769798]

Applications closed.
You will work for zero pay,
Obese malcontent.

[Anonymous No.17769810]

>>17769666
the best kind of character is going to have

[C.E. !!QfF9fgr0uaM No.17769899]

>>17769619
nice job anon

[Anonymous No.17770034]

>read short story of famous author
>it's really good
>read mine
>it's really bad

what is the point.

[Anonymous No.17770073]

>>17770034
Motherfucker you know how many fucking people come through here saying fucking shite like that? fucking look man, it's getting really fucking tiresome to say this over and fucking over again but just fucking write. it's called a fucking rough draft for a fucking reason. you're not going to fucking get it right on your first fucking attempt. you're seeing the fucking famous author's fucking final product but not all the fucking bullshit he put out before he fucking got to that fucking point. writing is a lot of fucking work. there's more to it than just fucking putting your fucking ideas on the fucking page and fucking hoping that you make something fucking good.
So get to fucking work.

[Anonymous No.17770233]

>>17770034
Post it, you mong.

[Anonymous No.17770267]

/wg/, I'm reaching a point of avoidance where I'm struggling to even think about about my novel. I'm thinking about thinking about it

is this the end?

[Anonymous No.17770275]

>>17770267
I THINK YOU KNOW WHAT IM GOING TO SAY NEXT

[Anonymous No.17770307]

>>17770275
who the fuck do you think I am, Joseph Joestar?

I assume you mean "Just write"

[Anonymous No.17770308]

Welp, Windows 10 updated and deleted all of my personal files. My last backup for my writing was from a couple days ago so that's not a huge loss but it's still awful.

[Anonymous No.17770417]

>>17770308
Just write.

[Anonymous No.17770439]

>>17770417
I will. It's just 400 words I lost. I hope those 400 words weren't the best I'll ever write...

[Anonymous No.17770483]

>>17767761
my novel series is all about how the hero's journey narrative inflates children's expectations of themselves to the point of self-destruction and disguises the fact that civilization was built by the collaboration of and steady progress of normal people, rather than the personal achievements of great men

The MC had a supernatural origin story that screams chosen one, but it also crippled him for life and was just mundane enough that he spent most of his childhood trying to remind himself bitterly that magical fantasy journeys aren't a real thing and that even if they were he's a useless fucking cripple who would be dead in a week.

When the magical fantasy journey does happen, the world he goes to is a savage darwinian place where the only humans are a band of isekai survivors like him who struggle to feed themselves with hunting and gathering. Magic exists in this world, but the magic you're stuck with is built on stuff you already understand, and all he knows how to do is cook, making him borderline useless in a fight a he feels drawn to. the bitter irony is that his powers and knowledge are the key to keeping himself and his friends alive, but his need to be a hero and prove himself drives him to spearhead a hopeless quest to return home.

The first book ends with the MC actually surviving his quest and killing a classic Dark Lord figure, proving himself, but only a few months later the thrill of his achievement has already faded. He feels he has to prove himself again, but when the opportunity arises because the daughter and allies of the tyrant he killed have started a world war, he finds himself fucking up and doing stupid shit trying to reaffirm himself and solve problems with heroic quests when in fact what he needs to be doing is using his cooking skills to break bread with potential allies for the upcoming endgame war

[Anonymous No.17770504]

>>17770483
you will never be a real writer. kill yourself and spare us the trouble

[Anonymous No.17770517]

>>17770483
> rather than the personal achievements of great men
Low T take on history.

[Anonymous No.17770523]

>>17770483
This doesn’t pique my interest

[Anonymous No.17770535]

>>17770483
I like to read but I wouldn't read your book, pic related is mfw I read your post.

[Anonymous No.17770553]

>>17770504
>>17770517
imagine unironically thinking that you are one of history's "great men"

>>17770523
>>17770535
to be fair, I only really posted the thematic structure without explaining anything else besides it's an iskeai, which /wg/ hates, and that it has a thematic structure that 4chan fundamentally disagrees with

[Anonymous No.17770559]

>>17770553
>imagine unironically thinking that you are one of history's "great men"
What an odd deflection.

[Anonymous No.17770567]

>>17770559
dude, no level to testosterone-level dick measuring is going to get you laid, loved or recognized. You stink of conceit and desperation

[Anonymous No.17770569]

Let's start this fucking writing session /wg/, see you on the other side.

[Anonymous No.17770583]

>>17770567
I can't fathom why you'd behave in this manner.

[Anonymous No.17770605]

>>17767761
>Seems like all possible great speculative fiction settings have already been explored from this approach.
There is more under heaven and earth etc. etc. etc.

[Anonymous No.17770611]

Why do so many people choose dramas or tragedies as their first, or early works? What kind of life they live to have a reference for those?

[Anonymous No.17770616]

>>17770567
And you reek of the social Darwinism you imply yourself to loathe.

[Anonymous No.17770617]

>>17770569
Good luck anon

[Anonymous No.17770631]

>>17770616
did I strike a nerve virgin boy?

[Anonymous No.17770642]

What fucking namefag pseudo-discord did these threads turn into? How much worse can it get?

[Anonymous No.17770651]

>>17770631
Yes. Such antagonism is antithetical to ideas like "collaboration" and "breaking bread", I should note. As Gogol wrote: "I am your brother."

[Anonymous No.17770656]

>>17770642
>How much worse can it get?
Much worse if anons keep letting the weebs make the threads. It's the OP image. Always has been.

[Anonymous No.17770661]

>>17770642
>How much worse can it get?
Senpai rate my furfiction kawaii luv

[Anonymous No.17770674]

>>17770651
>*insults people*
>"waaahhh, why are you bring mean to me?"

retard

[Anonymous No.17770715]

>>17770674
I'm not one of the people who insulted you, although now that I look at it, responding in kind to ye old kys isn't exactly worthy of condemnation.
At the same time, such cruelty as yours, even when justified, doesn't seem like it'd produce the uplifting fiction I assume you've set out to make. In light of this, your synopsis seems more similar to those meanspirited "here's my isekai idea: a total loser gets reincarnated in another world, but he's a total loser there too, and then he dies" posts you can find on /a/ than anything intended to instill optimism in the reader regarding themselves.
I might be misreading things, though.

[Anonymous No.17770725]

>>17770483
>isekai survivors like him
Don't want to sound cynic, but everything modern western fantasy + isekai is 99% trash, and the plot didn't seem interesting enough.
Maybe play with the starting concept and build something original, instead of doing isekai/litpg shit.

[Anonymous No.17770729]

>>17765286
Romance the beat is technically genre.

[smoker !HOZlQYR1MY No.17770748]

>>17770642
I haven’t even posted all thread.

[Anonymous No.17770753]

>>17770642
>What fucking namefag pseudo-discord did these threads turn into?
shitposting, blogposting, bitching about muh anime, etc. Animefags are the only ones even writing in these threads anyways.

Looks like there hasn't been any writing, which isn't a surprised to me, so I'm just going to drop this here.

[Anonymous No.17770762]

>>17770715
the point isn't to shit on the main character or the genre in general, just give him a path of development that leads him in some wrong directions. In all honesty, he still is a self-insert power fantasy. I actually based his character arc and problems on my own life as well as my own growth as a person.

>>17770725
99% of everything is shit, and as I said, you don't really know anything about the plot, the setting or the execution, just the thematics and some tiny details. the actual bulk of it is what makes it shine to me.

>>17770642
I see literally one name in the entire thread

[Anonymous No.17770780]

>>17770762
>the actual bulk of it is what makes it shine to me.
At least tell me is not going to be a litrpg/system/level/cheat novel.

[Anonymous No.17770800]

>>17766757
Cope. Your story is just boring.

>>17767585
If the rest is done, then it's good

>>17770483
Sounds really interesting! Don't listen to other anons, they're talentless hacks who over describe shit no one cares about.

>>17767761
Here's a good premise:
>mc is vlogger with 10000 subscribers
>his house is teleported to 1950 new York
>house and phone are still connected to the modern world (including wi fi)
>he keeps doing what he always has for the views

>>17767915
Check with others how excited they feel about your premise first?

>>17769136
You're a hack

>>17769188
Premise and point is 80%

>>17769256
The part with the pitbull was confusing. I thought you would pull an isekai, but thank god you didn't. That intro was good, although I still believe it can be improved somewhat. Keep it up, it was great!

>>17770034
Surpassing him is the point

>>17770267
Whenever you are thinking about it, go for it.

>>17770642
Ironic. You keep contributing to the drama and nothing about writing

[Anonymous No.17770802]

>>17770753
>2nd person
Well aren't you a brave one

[Anonymous No.17770812]

>>17770800
Well done, quoting half the population just for epic one-liners.
And talking about writing here is like going to a J-pop concert to talk about Jesus at this point

[Anonymous No.17770813]

>>17770762
>the point isn't to shit on the main character or the genre in general, just give him a path of development that leads him in some wrong directions. In all honesty, he still is a self-insert power fantasy. I actually based his character arc and problems on my own life as well as my own growth as a person.
Ah, understood.
My own insecurities caused me to make some assumptions regarding your story that were incorrect. Even though I disagree with your theming, the way you're developing it, along with the standpoint you're approaching it from, seems rather interesting.

[Anonymous No.17770817]

>>17770812
>you mean J-pop isn't short for Jesus-pop?
MY LIFE IS A LIE!!

[Anonymous No.17770827]

If these threads are getting too stinky, we should make a /tpwg/ - Traditionally Published Writing General, which would only be for people striving to become actual authors.

[Anonymous No.17770850]

>>17770827
I count myself among such megalomaniacs!

[Anonymous No.17770900]

>>17770827
this, no weebs allowed in that one. since "weebs are the only ones contributing" in these threads. traditional > rr pseuds.

[Anonymous No.17770933]

1.2k tonight, it's not much but it's honest work.

[Anonymous No.17771169]

>>17762629
>space + indent
but why

[Anonymous No.17771206]

>first chapter done

I know it won't last, but let me have this moment of pride.

[Anonymous No.17771406]

>>17771206
great work anon

[Anonymous No.17771485]

>>17771206
Fumino is the goddess of /wg/.

[Anonymous No.17771589]

Don't ever delete shit. Just archive it in a separate folder.

[Anonymous No.17771657]

>>17770483
I don't disagree with your overall idea but that sounds like a stereotypical bad undergrad idea. Read more a find a more unique and interesting arsenal of paradigms and templates to work with.

[Anonymous No.17771667]

>>17771589
Nah.

[Anonymous No.17771683]

>>17770483
I'd read it if it was executed properly. Sounds like some good exploration.

[WishMountain !c1TjLrVNNA No.17771688]

Reached 20 followers today. Pretty chuffed.

Sidenote: Van Helsing (2005) is one of my favourite movies, and has the best vampire depiction. Followed up by Interview with the Vampire (1994)

Chapter two of Wish Mountain has my take on vampires:

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/37998/wish-mountain/chapter/612839/chapter-two

It involves an overweight woman who gets bitten and she drastically loses weight and becomes a classically sexy vampire (with big booba implied).

[Anonymous No.17771726]

>>17762087
Description of a conscious coma

She began to drift and wander. In her motionless body, her mind had now the possibility to travel untravelled distances. As her consciousness solidified, she felt her weight and her position in the now physically palpable void. More than still, she was petrified. Her greatest fear had always been that of being stuck in a tight, dark place with no escape, and despite finding herself exactly in that situation, she didn't feel scared. She immediately accepted this as what her life was now. Her life now consisted of constant darkness, silence, numbness, and emptiness, an endless state of immobility for everything but her thoughts. Her existence was in her mind, and with no sky there was no limit.
This horrible imprisonment hid total freedom.

[Anonymous No.17771763]

>>17770800
(You)

[Anonymous No.17772044]

>buy nice keyboard to try to start writing novel
>can't bear to stare at blank word processor for more than 30 seconds before tabbing away and doing something else
>buy nice pen and paper to try the old fashioned way
>find out am complete garbage at penmanship and will have to drill at joining letters for 10,000 hours before can get anywhere
bitch I need addy

[Anonymous No.17772070]

>>17772044
No you need to just fill the blank page with anything at all

[Anonymous No.17772079]

>>17772070
>write sentence
>kind of sucked
>ctrl+backspace
>page is blank again
help

[Anonymous No.17772085]

>>17772079
Let it suck. Write more. Let them all suck for now.

[Anonymous No.17772502]

>>17771726
You write "her ____" too often.

[Anonymous No.17772820]

>>17772044
>>buy nice keyboard to try to start writing novel
Why?

[Anonymous No.17772879]

>>17772820
gotta go fast

vrooom

[Anonymous No.17773229]

This is an interesting and in some areas a different take on writing, by Anthony Horowitz. I found it insightful, thought I'd share:

http://www.shortlist.com/news/anthony-horowitzs-guide-to-writing-a-novel

[Anonymous No.17773412]

>tfw haven't fleshed out all five out of my evil power rangers villains because i haven't found a kamen rider insert song i like enough to imagine their misadventures to
Feeling more stupid that usual, bros. How do I fix this?

[Anonymous No.17773474]

>>17773412
*than usual

Damn.

[Anonymous No.17773477]

>>17773412
I can relate to this. Some types of scenes I can only write with the right music in the background.

[Anonymous No.17773609]

>first you write a fuckload and then you spend three times as long as it took to actually write it in editing, cutting and pasting till it becomes somewhat pallatable
is this the normal way?

[Anonymous No.17773690]

I'm seeking feedback on this excerpt from my epic fantasy novel. The frame story is that a virtuous man, disgruntled with the current fallen state of the world, is recounting tales of the valor of certain noble souls to his young son, so that he may grow up righteous and bring morality back into the world.
Having often seen complaints regarding clunky exposition in novels of this genre, I attempted to subtly weave worldbuilding into the narrative course of events. In my opinion, I succeeded in doing so.
What do you think, everybody?

[Anonymous No.17773741]

>>17773609
if you're a beginner, yes

[Anonymous No.17773749]

>>17773609
It's the only way.

[Anonymous No.17773775]

>>17773749
>>17773609
It's the only way unless you are delusional like this guy >>17773741

[Anonymous No.17773820]

>>17773775
ngmi

[Anonymous No.17773875]

>>17773690
>I attempted to subtly weave worldbuilding into the narrative course of events. In my opinion, I succeeded in doing so.
Ah yes, you have definitely succeeded in subtly weaving infodump into the infodump.

[Anonymous No.17773919]

>>17773875
I take offense to your verbiage. Please explain how that which I wrote was an "infodump", and how I may improve it.

[Anonymous No.17773943]

>>17773690
It's pretty bad. The prose is awkward and it feels like you're trying to emulate some old history book you read, and the constant dump of information, terms and names reads like random babbling for someone who is not familiar with your universe.

[Anonymous No.17773947]

>>17773919
stop writing like some kind of pseudo intellectual it's like I'm reading a fedora tip

[Anonymous No.17773951]

>>17773820
post text

[Anonymous No.17774000]

>>17773943
>The prose is awkward
Please explain how this is the case.
>it feels like you're trying to emulate some old history book you read
I am trying -- and succeeding.
>and the constant dump of information, terms and names reads like random babbling for someone who is not familiar with your universe.
I believe that any reader worthy of my text will be able to use the context surrounding these words to obtain their meaning.
>>17773947
I have never once written like some kind of "pseudo"-intellectual -- although remove that quoted word, and the truth value of that statement changes.

[Anonymous No.17774049]

>>17774000
be more subtle

[Anonymous No.17774053]

>>17773690
Very funny but I think you should have used more proper nouns because the red squigglies are what really send this post

[Anonymous No.17774160]

>>17774049
The last thing that the literary landscape of today needs is subtlety. I will engage in terrorism against this degenerate milieu with unabashed bombast and panache.
>>17774053
Please explain what you mean by this post.

[Anonymous No.17774174]

I really don't know what is and isn't parody in this fucking thread

[Anonymous No.17774188]

>>17774174
>parody
generous term for these shit posts

[Anonymous No.17774234]

>>17774174
That epic fantasy excerpt guy is definitely some assblasted anon taking the piss over how genre fiction writers are beneath him or whatever

[Anonymous No.17774254]

>>17774234
I resent those remarks. Genre-fiction is the last bastion of virtue. (I say this as sincerely as possible.)

Also, while we're at it, a post-scriptum to >>17774160 is in order, by the way.
>I will engage in terrorism against this degenerate milieu with unabashed bombast and panache.
It should be noted that with this statement I was referring to LITERARY terrorism, rather than LITERAL terrorism, which runs contrary to the principles of virtue which I expound.

[Anonymous No.17774314]

>>17774234
Gorgeous

Who's the modern day Audrey Hepburn?

[Anonymous No.17774332]

>>17762075
>birthday soon
which of the "for prose" books do you like the best, /wg/? my mom asked me what i want and i need to give her a few books

[Anonymous No.17774358]

>>17774332
Story Genius

[Anonymous No.17774438]

Hello!
About to start checking the books on the OP, thanks for the resources btw but would like a conversation or personal insight into it, currently wanting to write a comic or if I decide that I like writing a bit too much, a novel, fiction for the time being, I have some issues regarding translating ideas into actual scenes, how can you do that? Too ethereal right now.
How would you begin to polish an idea into a structured narrative? I've been trying to think more about the stories I like, the way they're structured but any extra insight would be great
Oh and if you want to get into writing lyrics, you get into poetry, right? Even the most basic (in theme) lyrics about certain songs are so complex once you get into the meat of the writing

[Anonymous No.17774475]

The sun breaks through blimpy clouds and warms my bedroom. Some meager tree branches nod in the wind. There are no birds peeping in the garden, nor stray cats loafing in the garden chairs. The snows mostly cleared up at this point, just some blotches lag behind on the lawns. Scratches of moss lay on the garage roof. I don’t hear any cars passing, but there are planes soaring like vacuum cleaners in the sky. And in my room there are laundry bags, gourds of stale rags. And they pile up like depressive thoughts on empty nights. Listless nights.

[Anonymous No.17774486]

>>17774475
Jeez how many airplanes are there above your house... Sounds like pretty crowded airspace

[Anonymous No.17774552]

>>17774475
>lay
>blimpy
>blotches lag
>scratches
>soaring like vacuum cleaners
>gourds
Definitely ngmi

[Anonymous No.17774673]

>>17770802
>Well aren't you a brave one
I feel as one of the few writers in these threads, I have to trailblaze a bit. That and I'm seriously thinking of writing a story in third-person limited present tense and this helps me with that.

[Anonymous No.17774790]

>>17771726
>her mind had now the possibility to travel untravelled distances.
I think I see what you were going for: the use of paradox to establish the dreamlike state of unconsciousness, but the immediate repetition of the word "travel" gives the impression of an amateurish mistake.

[Anonymous No.17774835]

>>17770753
I enjoyed it. I'm guessing the wife is supposed to be an idol of sorts. Is this fanfiction based on a certain manga?

[Anonymous No.17774843]

>>17763079
>Maybe I’m retard, I don’t understand what Amelia is doing? She is poisoning him and has also been stalking him?
Was it not clear enough? She's going back in time and altering his memories. So, in a way, she is stalking him.

[Anonymous No.17774851]

>>17774438
>I have some issues regarding translating ideas into actual scenes, how can you do that?
When you find out let everyone else know

[Anonymous No.17774899]

Lads, I'm thinking - how would a formation on the top of a flying animal even work realistically? Say you had a flying horse, or even a Wyvern, do you think it'd just be Javelineers? I figure you could use a bow and arrow because you'd want to have your hand ready to grab the reins at all times. Lunging might be good to break an enemy formation, maybe hit them from behind or the side, but is probably a waste.

[Anonymous No.17774920]

>>17774899
Have you ever seen bird mate

[Anonymous No.17774950]

>>17774899
Read Novik's "His Majesty's Dragon"
>but only the first one, the rest are steaming shit

You want long range projectiles but only superb riders like the Mongols and Parthians acquired the skill of training horses so that they could shoot bows from horseback. To me that says atlatls like the Amerindians and Vikings (and probably a bunch of others I don't know) used, they might be easier to use than javelins.

Depending on the ride, lances and swords might be handy. But your real problem is developing 3-dimensional tactics.

[Anonymous No.17774981]

>>17774851
Let me explain, there is an idea of a scene, do you write starting with the result in mind or process first? So I already know what I want, the vague sensation but I really have no experience with writing
I'll shut up and read something on OP, my bad, apologies

[Anonymous No.17775003]

>>17774920
Yes, I know a bird can swoop down and pick something off, and I think that (logically) would have been the way in a sort of Homeric style Brythanno-Celtic style 1 vs 1s single combat age, where warriors are scattered about and dueling but not when you have a formation of guys in armour who can (and will) skewer anything that lands on them. I can see a society where the Wyvern reigned supreme, but they're big, expensive to maintain (so only the top brass ride them, especially in a world that doesn't have strong institutions) and they're decaying in value. Sort of like the chariot.
>>17774950
I will, thank you. 3D tactics are a problem, I agree. Even if there are small numbers of flying enemies involved I think it's logical for an army to be able to combat them. I'm trying to think of novel ways in which an army can fight against this while also fighting a conventional battle, without crippling themselves. I could also see a flying mount being used like the British used chariots against Caesar when he invaded Birtian, i.e. harrassing formations of marching soldiers but not engaging in pitched battles but that would depend on who they were fighting.

[Anonymous No.17775097]

>>17775003
>novel ways in which an army can fight against this while also fighting a conventional battle, without crippling themselves
Flyers of their own, huge fuck off ballistae, and shit-tons of spears. Romans tried poison against Hannibal's elephants too.

Remember it's more fun to show thrust, party, feint and riposte - you want to have both sides acting and reacting with new tactics and counters, and the war going this way and that consequently.

[Anonymous No.17775107]

>>17774843
Oh no, I’d say that wasn’t clear

[Anonymous No.17775158]

>>17775097
Thanks, I'll take that into consideration. I agree that having close combat is probably also a lot more exciting than harrying a (relatively) defenseless army with your guys who have bows and throwing weapons. I think showing an escelation of tactics could be fun as well, and it does give me an opportunity to show off how well a group can fight in one battle, and be smashed in another.

[Anonymous No.17775276]

>>17774314
Rooney Mara

[Anonymous No.17775305]

>>17770780
it's not, nor is it a generic sword and sorcery setting.

The magical world resembles what you would see if you took a bunch of hallucinagens and walked through a post-apocalyptic new york. An urban environment that's strange and surreal as wonderland but overtaken by nature and inhabited only by animals and plants of varying sapience who are just as trippy as the city is. This is worse than it sound though. The strangeness means that animals you might hunt for food may be made out of metal and oily rags, or contain poisons that fill your veins with brambles.

The early part of the book revolves around the main character trying to discover new ways to extract food from the environment using a mix of historical techniques and modern chemistry

[Anonymous No.17775315]

>>17766904
I'm actually a storyboard artist for animation and live action films in my full time job.

its fun brining other peoples scripts to life and give them visuals, but since I work in visual mediums all the time its more relaxing to have a hobby where the visual aspect is turned off

[Anonymous No.17775342]

>>17774438
Anyone or is this a bad question?

[Anonymous No.17775366]

>>17775342
You started your post with "Hello!" so you should go back

[Anonymous No.17775400]

>>17762075
My deepest dream is to become a writer
and just write one book
I've some vague ideas on it.. but I've been mentally thinking and projecting about it the past 5 years
the problem is that I...I've always had bad grades in literature
despite I can recognize what's well written and what's not
despite having read a lot
the problem is the people
im... almost a social outcast and .. i think at this point I would never learn to write well things... Like Proust, Joyce, or Wallace, etc.

I'm studying engineering tho.
what should I do?

[Anonymous No.17775471]

I have some sort of autism/depression when it comes to writing characters, every character, development, dialogue, interaction I write feels forced, fake, contrived, formulaic, I don't feel like I'm entitled to create and direct fictional people

[Anonymous No.17775474]

>>17775471
We don't care, we ain't your blog, so fuck off.

[Anonymous No.17775484]

>>17775474
I'm looking for potential methods to fix that or do you need that spelled out

[Anonymous No.17775486]

>>17775400
Write everything you can, and write the people in an autistic robotic way, and then go back and rewrite them at a later date.

[Anonymous No.17775488]

>>17775484
Just write.

[Anonymous No.17775505]

>>17775315
What've you worked on?

>more relaxing to have a hobby where the visual aspect is turned off
I hear that

[Anonymous No.17775513]

>>17775276
She looks weird tho. Kate has nicer tits.

[Anonymous No.17775540]

>>17764651
Don't gender your dialogue, it will always sound shit. Write for women like you're writing for men.

[Anonymous No.17775557]

>>17773690
This fails if it's meant to be a story told to a kid. I'm imagining a 5 year old with barely the basic grasp of English having to interrupt the storytelling because he got lost. This reads like something an upper-class 19th century adult would write for adults. And I can't imagine adults writing like this outside the most formal settings.

If this was truly meant to be told to kids, then you should be writing in a way kids understand.

[Anonymous No.17775573]

>>17775471
Write porn until you're good at it and then you will know what to do.

[Anonymous No.17775579]

>>17766904
No, I want to write something for pleasure. I'm an Accountant and don't get to be creative (inb4 creative accounting) so I just do what I can to keep my mind healthy.

[Anonymous No.17775620]

>>17764916
In my opinion, it's decent, but too condensed.

>The man who walked into my office wasn't much taller than me.

>His cheeks stuck out like he was storing his mouth for winter. His sparkling brown eyes and sandpaper lips were like a rough picnic.

>The oily sheen of his hair made me want to rub my eyes. When he finally took my instruction to sit down, his Captain America shirt rode up over his gut. His outie winked at me.

>I coughed, unable to take my eyes off it. It was like a deformed balloon, like something you'd see blown up at a charity auction.

>He gave a blustering apology, pulling the shirt down over his gut. A scar down the back of his skeletal left arm drew my eye.

>"Is that recent?" I asked.

>"Hmm?" He followed my eyeline. "Oh, no I've had that since I was ten."

[Anonymous No.17775652]

Give me a hand, animechads.
Do you think it's bad if the powers/abilities of the protagonist are significantly less interesting than those of everyone else?

I'm still working on the abilities of my team of not-power rangers and I'm starting to feel that giving the red ranger just super strength is pretty underwhelming. Like the others have powers like basically being an all terrain tank (black) or teleportation plus fusing with machinery(yellow) but red is just that, being strong.

[Anonymous No.17775680]

>considering submitting a short story for lit quarterly
>it's doomer, suicide shit

Am I basically a 21st century NPC?

[C.E. !!QfF9fgr0uaM No.17775702]

>>17775652
Weaknesses are what make powers interesting, not the abilities themselves. For example, dekus super strength is interesting because his limitation in its usage and tension is added to fights with how he slowly disables himself while using it.

[Anonymous No.17775703]

>>17775652
Isn't the point of power rangers / sentaishit the spectacle? Can you get something like that across visually?

[Anonymous No.17775717]

>>17775702
I know but I want to have a baseline to work with first.

>>17775703
It's for a comic.

[C.E. !!QfF9fgr0uaM No.17775726]

>>17775717
The baseline power doesnt matter. The baseline weakness matters. Deku is literally that.

[Anonymous No.17775736]

>>17775652
Reading Shield Hero made me resent any type of power. Naofumi had a decent foundation for an interesting character, then he turned into a Gary Stu who flings his "intricately story-woven" shield powers to save the day.

Deku is far more interesting. He has super strength he can barely control and he gets tasked with saving the day. His limitations are what keeps readers engaged.

[Anonymous No.17775742]

>>17775471
>>17775484
Maybe you could try short and easy writing exercises. Like simple vignettes of people interacting. For example: protagonist/narrator buys cigarettes at a convenience store (just a short dry dialog between the person and the cashier, the person pays and leaves), the protagonist/narrator sees how someone’s wallet falls out of their pocket and he hurries to pick it up to return it, someone asks the protagonist/narrator for directions on the street, two old friends casually encounter each other and have some small talk, etc.
Once you feel more confident you can try more complicated scenarios.

[Anonymous No.17775786]

>>17775703
>Can you get something like that across visually?
No, wait. I'm dumb.
I think so. He could lift really heavy things or move really fast because he still has super strength on his legs.

>>17775736
Shield Hero made me start writing off all "smart" applications of powers, those that came from light novels in particular.
His weapon is a shield but that somehow translates into having a built in pharmacy, shooting dark magic, shooting chains, doing magic, dispelling curses. Fucking stupid.

>>17775726
Ah, okay.
I've been having trouble integrating them into the rest of the magic system of my setting. I guess I should go back there and ask once I have all the drawbacks for every "class".

[Anonymous No.17775842]

/wg/, I have to write this scene to set up final battle, but I'm still trying to figure out the details

>After a disastrous assassination attempt that left the MC's GF and the Wimp's older brother missing and presumed dead and the Veteran murdered right in front of them, the MC and the Wimp are taken to a POW camp where the Dictator attempts to torture them for intel and use them as hostages
>the MC and the Wimp manage to escape and find themselves in a fortunate position: the objective is in sight, the enemy can't reach them where they are, and if they hurry they can slip past enemy lines and get home safely
>there's just one problem: the objective they were seeking turned out to be useless meaning the MC lost most of his squad for no reason, causing him to break down until the wimp snaps him out of it
>while the mission was a dud they still got useful intel. it will only be a waste if they die here
>just then, they get a radio from the Bro who reveals he and the GF survived and are in a safe location, but the minute they step outside they will be captured
>also, the GF is having a mental breakdown because she blames herself for the failed mission
>the MC tries to calm her down and assures her that he'll get her out of there
>the Bro interjects and tells the MC to take the Wimp and run. He'll keep the GF safe
>the MC, torn between obligation to the people he cares about and terror of the trauma behind them decides to trust the Bro and flee, but the Wimp objects and calls him out on his cowardice, insisting that they go back for them.

This is where I'm at a loss. I know I want the final showdown to involve the MC and the Wimp rescuing The Bro and the GF by crashing the Tyrant's event, but they need prep time and I'm not sure how to give it to them. The Tyrant wants as many of them alive as possible to torture for info and use as hostages, but he's not going to give them any leeway to fuck up his plans again

[Anonymous No.17775901]

>>17775842
I don't care

[Anonymous No.17775921]

>>17775842
What's the genre

[Anonymous No.17776105]

>>17775486
in both cases I will probably be too ashamed of myself for even reading what I've wrote..
but that could be a nice start, thank you, anon

[Anonymous No.17776345]

Apparently, there's this thing called the mythic four that is seen on myths, religions, and stories and I have a group of four that kind of fits but one of them dies in the middle of the story before being replaced by a similar, but different, character.
Is it alright to do that?

[Anonymous No.17776367]

>>17776345
Could you elaborate? Im having trouble grasping what you're getting at

[Anonymous No.17776389]

>>17776345
>Is it alright to do that?
be careful, you do something like that and they may throw you in jail

[Anonymous No.17776483]

>>17762075
Why do do many people fear or look down upon the semicolon? I always hear people say inane shit such as: "only pseuds use it", "there's no reason to use it over a period or comma or em dash", or "it's pretentious".
Why? The semicolon is easily one of the best tools in a writers toolbox.

[Anonymous No.17776601]

>>17775680
Depends on how it is written. Venting depression and angst into prose is easy.

[Anonymous No.17776615]

>>17772820
Clicky blue switches make me feel good

[Anonymous No.17776626]

>>17776483
People don't know how to use it.

[Anonymous No.17776630]

>>17776615
I bought a nice keyboard with very tactile switches, but I find myself using this piece of a shit and my ipad more than anything else.

https://www.amazon.com/OMOTON-Ultra-Slim-Bluetooth-Keyboard-Enabled/dp/B00GD1BGYO/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=bluetooth+keyboard+for+ipad&qid=1615688540&sr=8-3

[Anonymous No.17776636]

>>17773609
>>17773775
as the tiger leaps; and if he missed his aim, there was no retrieving the failure

[Anonymous No.17776640]

>>17771726
Yet, she started thinking about matters from before the void. Did she need to? No, those thoughts belonged to another world and not to this bare, undetermined blackness. Did she want to think about them in her previous life? Again, no. She realized how much time got wasted on things she didn't want to think about. She couldn't even manage her own mind. To think that one's mind is meant to be a place of total indipendence, and instead it was constantly occupied by an army of immaterial intrusions. Panic got to her when she noticed those intrusions didn't disappear at all since she got in there. Now they just had a lot more time to parasitise her inner self rent free. With no sweat to feel running on her face, and no pupils to frantically bounce around her field of vision, panic felt a lot more oppressive and overpowering than usual. Eventually she gave up figuring this out and fell into a dreamless sleep.

[Anonymous No.17776663]

>>17776636
See: >>17773951

[Anonymous No.17776672]

>>17776663
which would prove nothing. the text could have been heavily edited. the only way to know is if they post from a writing prompt within a time window.

[Anonymous No.17776705]

>>17776672
>Non-animefag can't write
A tale as old as time.

[Anonymous No.17776715]

>>17776672
Excuses. I’m not trying to prove a specific point. I’m pointing out that talk is cheap. If you’re going to give such authoritative advice, do you have the proficiency to back it up?

[Anonymous No.17776729]

>>17776367
I was watching this video by this muh pop culture guy, that actually teaches a course on archetypes and pop culture irl, about how many cartoons and series have a group of four main characters that are similar to attributes associated to the four elements.
An example that he gave was the Fantastic Four; Mister Fantastic is the ideas guy who comes up with plans and innovations that help the team so he represents air, the Thing is passionate and emotional so he represents water, the Invisible Woman is the mediator and the one that calms the team down so she represents ground, and the Human Torch obviously represents fire since he is brash and honest.
I think I have that setup on a group I'm writing currently but I had already established that my air guy dies halfway into the story, and I think it's pretty much ideal to let him go at that point.

>>17776389
oh no
better burn my pc

[Anonymous No.17776731]

>>17776715
pearls before swine
i really don't care what you believe

[Anonymous No.17776762]

>>17776705
>second person point of view

[Anonymous No.17776802]

>>17772044
Buying things won't make you write or a writer. Writing will make you write and a writer. You don't need drugs, you're just realizing that writing takes work and maybe you're just not cut out for it.

[Anonymous No.17776820]

>>17776731
This is sad, even as bait.

[Anonymous No.17776828]

>>17776820
Only animefags write in these threads. Remember that.

[Anonymous No.17776847]

>>17776802
Fuck off, projecting bitch, and go back to not working on your story idea, not half as good as any of the four spinning through my head at any given time.

[Anonymous No.17776878]

How do you describe fancy hairstyles?
Should you even bother?

[Anonymous No.17776881]

>>17774174
it wasn't this bad about a week ago or two. you'll get used to it

[Anonymous No.17776886]

>>17763626
Where should I find and publish my erotica?

[Anonymous No.17776910]

Should I bother looking for a publisher for a novel if I haven't published any short stories first?

[Anonymous No.17776918]

>>17776910
post an excerpt

[Anonymous No.17776935]

>>17776910
Why would you sign the rights of your own intellectual property away to some corporation when they're not going to do any more for you than what you can do yourself?

[Anonymous No.17776945]

>>17776828
>Only animefags write in these threads.
It's sad that the weebs need to constantly post this in this general. It's as if thy need to feel some sort of importance to hide their shame that they're addicted to eastern cartoons and as a result, they've become pathetic excuses for human beans.

[Anonymous No.17776954]

>>17776945
stop replying to bait

[Anonymous No.17776956]

>>17776945
you know im not an animefag but i also dont write as often as i should. maybe he has a point.

[Anonymous No.17776980]

The way that ass
Stared back at me
Wide as four hand-spans
Easily

So many years ago
I saw
And did not grab
And fuck it raw

Still to this day
Within my heart
It pains and tears
Me all apart

Fat ass wherever
You may be
A fetish you
Awoke in me

[Anonymous No.17777002]

I'm not cut out for writing. I'm crap and it's annoying. Any other empty headed anons here?
Horrah

[Anonymous No.17777024]

>>17762075
Where can I share my poetry or see the latest and best poetry? Fiction/short stories have a good place in the royal road and other similar sites while philosophy has had a rise in twitter but what about poetry? I hardly see anything on twitter about it at least not as much as I see philosophy/politic accounts. Most poets that get published also seem to have a decent following on social media

[Anonymous No.17777028]

>>17776945
>>17776954
>Second and ninth post are stories made by a animefag, followed by a shit ton of shitpost, trollposts, and people asking inane questions. With only one anon posting an excerpt for feedback and another in a pastebin link looking for feedback. Followed by the Same Animefag returning and dropping a second short story. With the shitpost, trollposts, and people asking inane questions returning once more. Until he dropped a third story.

>I-its bait and not true.

How much longer can you guys be delusional?

[Anonymous No.17777066]

>try to solve the blank word processor problem by transcribing what little jotted down during break
>forgot about the penmanship problem and how it's completely illegible
anything I can do besides addy that makes handwriting drilling anything but completely excruciating?

[Anonymous No.17777155]

>>17775366
I'm so sorry, I've been here before but my usual boards (/cgl/ /mu/ /fa/ /ic/) are not really alligned with my newfound interest in narrative or the community here.
Still, if you could please help me, that'd be great

[Anonymous No.17777166]

>>17777155
I think its better if you start your own thread. It merits its own thread to begin with.

[Anonymous No.17777176]

>>17777166
I thought about it but I think some might find it bothersome when there's a writing thread up, wouldn't want to clog the catalog with something redundant, you know what, fine, let's leave it at that, still thanks for the reply.

[Anonymous No.17777184]

>>17777176
Don’t worry about it.

[Anonymous No.17777187]

>>17777066
Put some music you like and just do it?

[Anonymous No.17777192]

>>17777002
No, just leave.

[Anonymous No.17777200]

>>17777024
I think there's a poetry posted every now and again, check up with them.

[Anonymous No.17777208]

>>17776762
What's wrong with second person? I think its good for telling flash fiction.

[Anonymous No.17777212]

>>17776483
There’s a thread up with this exact question and picture.

[Anonymous No.17777217]

>>17775107
I must have overlooked that. Sorry

[Anonymous No.17777224]

>>17775842
Isn’t this something for you to decided? I don’t think people here are all that keen in helping.

[Anonymous No.17777225]

>>17777208
It means that you are mostly used to reading stories in the form of video games and have gotten so bad that you probably didn't realize that japanese 「visual novel」are also video games.

[Anonymous No.17777227]

>>17762087
Go for it.

[Anonymous No.17777234]

New thread.

>>17777230

[Anonymous No.17777246]

>>17777225
Would you believe it or not, but I don't play visual novels. And if I'm being honest, the only reason why I'm writing in the second person, is if to see If I can write in the present tense in a decent manner. .

[Anonymous No.17777249]

>>17777234
A little soon, don't you think? /lit/ isn't that fast of a board that you you have to make a new thread as soon as bump limit hits, lest the old one sinks off the board before you manage to finish writing out your post.

[Anonymous No.17777260]

>>17777225
You do know some western novels do utilize third person. The recent one getting its own tv series.

[Anonymous No.17777266]

>>17777260
>third person.
Second-person.

[Anonymous No.17777278]

>>17777246
Don't. Ever. Please god no. If your waifu tells you that she reads books that are written in present tense, dump her before she infects your progeny with her shit genes.
>>17777260
This is surprising or meritorious how?

[Anonymous No.17777283]

>>17777224
fair point, though I have to wonder what the point of a writing general is if the only thing it's there for is free insults

[Anonymous No.17777313]

>>17777283
>I have to wonder what the point of a writing general
Is to give people here the illusion of them actually writing. You can scan the thread but only very few people here are even posting their writing. In fact, the majority of it are from animefags. Most are just shitposting, blogposting about how they possess a meagre talent for the craft, trolling the thread, or asking basic questions they can search up

Your question is one of the few legitimate ones here. So its why I bother answering in the first place.

[Anonymous No.17777416]

>>17777187
shit how did I not see that not working

[Anonymous No.17777438]

>>17762087
might be alright, just remember that they have to want something intensely, fight against obstacles to get it, and run into reversals. Otherwise you dont have a story.

[Anonymous No.17777461]

>>17777212
It seems someone copied my post. It's quite ironic how my imitator got 20 more people to reply to discussion, when I the creator failed to muster up even 5 to discuss it

[Anonymous No.17777462]

>>17777313
oh well, I think I figured out an idea anyway.

the place MC and the Wimp are hiding is basically a vault with tinted windows the Tyrant is trying to get into, with two doors, one of of which he's built his base around and the other of which leads to escape tunnels under the city.

The MC expects the Tyrant will force the Bro and the GF to give him the password to the vault, so his plan is to ambush the Tyrant and take him hostage, allowing them to negotiate the release of their companions and escape. However the Tyrant never shows, and through the windows the MC and the Wimp notice that food is being brought in and tables are being set up as if for a private event of some sort. The MC realizes that the event will be a perfect distraction and the tyrant would never expect them to double back into his own base when they could have just fled, so he changes the plan to sneak in and spring their companions. However once they're there they learn that now the tyrant has the info he needs, the companions are going to be publically executed, leading to the final conflict

[Anonymous No.17777491]

>>17777462
Congrats, I hope everything works out for you, anon. And remember, to just write. You can edit later

[Anonymous No.17777528]

>>17763847
>A man came into my office today. A slightly tall man with round protruding cheeks. Between them, a mouth that is no longer than my thumb was sandwiched between thin cracked lips. His Eyes had brown pupils which were covered in a certain type of sparkle. The kind you see in the eyes of a kid. Above he had Messy black hair which bounced up and down each time he steps closer to the chair I ordered him to sit. When he sat down his belly began to show though more underneath his white Captain American t-shirt. He crossed his pale twig like arms, showing a scar he got when he was only ten years old. his outie pointed at me.

A slightly tall man with round protruding cheeks came into my office today, and between them, dry-lipped mouth no longer than my thumb. After I invited him to sit, the brown pupils of his eyes sparkled with child-like wonder and his messy black hair bounced as he stepped closer to the chair, his white Captain America t-shirt parting from his pants slightly as he sat, exposing his onions-colored flesh. He crossed his rail-thin arms and pointed to a scar. "I was ten when they took my soul from here. It was ouchy," he whispered.

[Anonymous No.17777543]

>>17777528
*a* dry lipped mouth

whoopsies

[Anonymous No.17777567]

>>17777528
>A slightly tall man with round protruding cheeks

This should be ' A slightly tall man with round, protruding cheeks

[Anonymous No.17777575]

>>17770034
the first draft of anything is shit

[Anonymous No.17777604]

>>17777283
the only thing this whole site is good for is getting anonymous advice on trivial things like consumer goods, stories and books etc. In theory, anons are more likely to be honest because they don't have their identities tied up in what they post.

[Anonymous No.17778121]

>>17777604
/lit/ may be honest, but the advice is just plain bad unless you're specifically cater to people like them

anything that gets approval here is likely to get a writer blacklisted by traditional publishers

[Anonymous No.17778636]

Do you ever sit down and write without a plan, letting the spirits take hold, like your body is possessed?