/wg/-Writing General

[Anonymous No.18328166]

Any progress on your novels?

Previous thread:>>18321190

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
>On Writing, Borges

For Poetry:
>The Poetry Home Repair Manual
>Western Wind: An Introduction to Poetry
>This Craft of Verse, Borges

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.18328187]

>>18327879
I like your story. I like your humour. You introduce new elements into your story at the right places and your ideas are inventive. The story has a consistent colouration and develops purposefully from its germ towards a logical conclusion. I have nothing to criticise about your style.

[Anonymous No.18328191]

>>18328154
cancer how?

>>18328149
it's supposed to be a simple story of an unreliable crazy person

>>18328164
it's all intentional

[Anonymous No.18328225]

>Editing one of my chapters
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFBhR4QcBtE

[Anonymous No.18328317]

>prompt anon never came back
Shame. I love doing communal prompts

[Anonymous No.18328324]

>>18328191
A lot of your sentences are unwieldy, and a lot of the way you use language is on the clumsier side. Eg:
>infuriated his choleric disposition
>to exhume arousal
The ideas of infuriating a disposition or exhuming arousal rub me the wrong way, not because of the words you use but the manner in which you use them. I'm having trouble expressing exactly why. It just doesn't feel like fluid, natural writing, and maybe this is at odds with the tone of the writing, which reads like a diary.

[Anonymous No.18328344]

>>18328324
I don't believe in strict adherence to the "say it out loud" meme, but in this case I think there's something to it. Say the following out loud:
>that infuriates my disposition!
>you've exhumed my arousal!

[Anonymous No.18328374]

>figure out a way to improve my writing noticeably
>everything I've written in the story up to this point now seems much worse by comparison

What's the best thing to do? Keep trekking forward with my improved prose? Go back and rewrite the previous prose?

[Anonymous No.18328377]

The cab drops me off more or less precisely according to the coordinates, written in a large and decidedly elegant, flowing script upon the corrugated business card with which I have supplied him. I present to him the standard gratuity of two thousand and fifty percent of the fare itself, with an extra seven atop for services satisfactorily rendered, and exit the vehicle. The cabbie shoots me a dirty look from beneath his prominently Cro-Magnon brow as he drives past. Out the window, I catch something muttered; it could have been in reference to his wage, which I make out to be three and a half cents per hour. I do feel poorly for the man, but I’ve no time to ruminate nor make redress, for I am arrived here with only three hours’ time to spare before an appointment with my prospective boss; a man I’ve never met. I will have to make a mental note for later of a conversation which might be broached with acquaintances, perhaps over cocktails, about the terrible conditions of the modern age, and what we might do to fix it. But there is no time for any of that precisely at this moment.

Before me rises a building of relatively incomparable immensity clad in gleaming steel alloy arabesque punctuating an otherwise unbroken wall of sheer glass of a decidedly superlative quality which extends up into the sky and breaches the cumulonimbuses which meander through crystalline skies like African porcines of the kind which you might find mounted faddishly--though somehow and often surprisingly always in pristine taste--upon the wall or even in taxidermy within the living spaces of men far greater than I. It is pertinent, for purposes of establishing my credibility, to note that I do from time to time find myself brushing briefly elbows with them. I can be confident in the statement that I do run in their circles, however tangentially.

In grand, arching Helvetica rise from two or three stories’ height some letters in statuesque composition of the name of the company at which I will begin shortly to work: Bill’s Shill and Fill (Formerly Art’s). Although my degree is in phrenology, I have been recruited--through rigorous references and at the glowing recommendation of the esteemable men and women with whom I studied at Shartford--to work for this titan of industry despite my admittedly tenuous hold upon the specifics of its day-to-day operation.

I have gathered through my research that the company’s history is one of struggle and triumph; trials and tribulation; and of rising above a murky past into prominence. Although under Art’s ownership the company had drawn some negative attention from the government and press, its transition to Bill’s leadership has seen it grow to frankly astonishing heights as the world’s leading combination advertising and landfill conglomerate. This was, of course, only the beginning.

[Anonymous No.18328398]

>>18328374
I keep a 'story diary' where I note down conclusions or thoughts I had while writing a given chapter. it helps to look through it on the second draft
if I were you I would note down the existence of this fault and what chapter you became aware of it so you can reference it on your editing pass/during rewrite
definitely keep trekking. out of curiosity as well as the for the sake of any lurking shitters, what did you notice to improve?

[Anonymous No.18328403]

>>18328398
I concentrated on the phonetics of my story. Basically creating a consistent assonance with my writing so that it is more engaging and more literary in its appeal to read. Before my prose has been okay but tone-death.

[Anonymous No.18328414]

>>18328403
>phonetics
based
you the autist from the other day? most people have an innate sense of it. next time you see someone post "say it outloud" make use of what you've been practicing to try and make it 'feel right'
read and write some poetry. there's a good chance it'll help your grasp of phonetics

[Anonymous No.18328417]

>>18328414
I must be pretty autistic because writing with phonetics and assonance in mind made me feel like an anime protag levelling up.

Oh no I've become an animefag. These threads have wormed their way into my mind. There is no escape.

[Anonymous No.18328424]

why do you write? fame, money? the self-indulging fulfilment of doing "art"?

[Anonymous No.18328433]

>>18328403
Did you find a quality phonetics resource? I've got a linguistics 101 book but that shit is fucking dry

[Anonymous No.18328440]

>>18328433
I just pulled up a phonetics alphabet. It's all I need really. I looked into books on phonetics, from dry modern ones, to dry old ones. They focus too much on the vocal training aspect for my liking. Just appreciating that concentrating on phonetics can be a means of creating engage literature is what I need.

If I'm writing a scene that is meant to be spooky in a forest, I'll use the 'oo' phonetic which looks like a U symbol. This sets a precedent and a tone for the chapter the same way the opening cord/note of a song effects the rest of the song. I'm annoyed with myself for not concentrating on this sooner, but I suppose I had to get the mileage in my fiction career to reach this place.

[Anonymous No.18328446]

>>18328424
It's fun, and helps clearing my head from ideas to get more ideas. Bet I couldn't even day dream if I didn't write the shit down. If the stuff reaches other people and gives them the same joy reading (which seems given since I'm not that special) ... well even better. If it gains me fame and money? Well, that'd be lovely too. Although as a based NEET I'm in a weird spot where everything below millions wouldn't change my life anyway.

[Anonymous No.18328449]

>>18328440
>using phonetic motifs
damn anon, no kidding you levelled up
I don't even bother with that shit. best of luck man

[Anonymous No.18328451]

I just realised something: when i started writing my first novel 3 years ago i deliberately adapted (tried to, that is) a ”McCarthyesque” style to the prose. Now, having frequented this board more... frequently since the start of my writing process i’ve realised how much i am disgusted by people trying to imitate him in any regard. So in a sense, /wg/ HAS improved my writing. Thanks!

[Anonymous No.18328452]

>>18328451
>people aping McCarthy
Larp?

[Anonymous No.18328462]

>>18328424
The idea is too good to not be made accessible to everyone. Sending to editor within days. If this shit isn’t occasionally posted here within some years i will completely admit to being delusional. So strong is my conviction.

And no, i can’t tell you what it is. Not even remotely. And i will never shill it here either so... anyways, you got my reason.

[Anonymous No.18328466]

>>18328452
no i mean people using endless ”and” instead of commas and similar stylisms. I realised i was overusing that and now i’ve stopped.

[Anonymous No.18328469]

>>18328424
I'm someone who's always spent too much time in his head. Writing is much the same activity but I get to turn that time into something physical

[Anonymous No.18328477]

>>18328191
Have to agree with>>18328324 in that some of the writing feels thesaurus-y. As far as advice is concerned, instead of substituting a mundane word with a fancier synonym, get a bit more creative. Find something which evokes whatever you're going for.
Graceful metaphor > wordy banality.

[Anonymous No.18328483]

>>18328466
of all the things to try to emulate about cormac's prose...

[Anonymous No.18328488]

>>18328477
thanks, I'll do my best. I guess there is some added difficulty since english is not my first language so falling back on synonyms is convenient

[Anonymous No.18328494]

>>18328377
Are you contend with writing American Psycho fanfic or do want to tell your own story? I think when you knock against your text it makes a hollow sound. What do you think? It's written funny enough.

[Anonymous No.18328501]

>>18328377
laffed

[Anonymous No.18328503]

>>18328483
bored at work so i’ll bite
Lol, you think you can emulate his vocabulary? I adapted that part of his writing since i was under the impression that it gave sertain sections a sense of faster pacing. But now when i see authors (even professional) do this i just... yuck. I’d never deliberately try to imitate someone’s style completely. As i do hope no one with any sense of self value does, except for as an exercise or joke.

[Anonymous No.18328510]

>>18328503
I don't read other authors
it would disrupt my style

[Anonymous No.18328522]

>>18328494
yeah that's fine. my goal is to shoot for something of novella length (even though i know novellas are commonly held here and elsewhere to be mostly unpublishable) so i'm kind of just letting things flow for a bit to start off with. i'm taking my time with establishing the character's voice and the way he looks at things so i can start playing with it later.

[Anonymous No.18328528]

>>18328510
This is respectable. I believe people listen too much to King in that you have to read to be good at writing. You need to have read, but there’s nothing indicating that reading actively and regularly will yield anything but perhaps, like you wrote, disrupt someone’s style.

[Anonymous No.18328531]

>>18328522
i've been focusing on short stories for a while now and i really just want to try my hand at writing, and probably more importantly editing, something of a greater length in order to build my competence gradually in pursuit of my eventual goal of a full-length novel.

[Anonymous No.18328534]

>>18328503
Ah, I think, on the contrary, that there is nothing better than finding an author you like and borrowing from him, taking whatever you want and whatever you can use. Imitate his or her style as much as you like. As long as you draw on your own life and tell stories that really interest you, that you are passionate about, you and your style will be suitable enough for each other.

[Anonymous No.18328576]

>>18328534
Nothing wrong with that, i guess. I just get this aversive emotion when i think people will see through me. Or when i think i see through others (regarding imitation). But hey, whatever works, right? I mean, if you conceal it well enough, or do it openly there’s nothing wrong with it. I guess it’s the failed attempts at subtle imitation that rub me the wrong way.

[Anonymous No.18328694]

>>18328576
It's alright, so long as the style isn't all there is to your story. If copying someone else's expression is the whole beef of a work, and everything else is there just an excuse to do so, then obviously the result is grotesque. But if you use a certain style to tell your own original idea in a way that fits, then everyone benefits.

[Anonymous No.18328710]

>>18328510
If your style is disrupted by reading, then it was a fragile and sketchy style to begin with, and better off discarded

[Anonymous No.18328726]

>>18328694
>in what way fits
That’s the key. This guy gmi.

[Anonymous No.18328980]

>>18328424
To push my politcal opinions on others.
Everything is about "power". Writing also.

[Anonymous No.18329358]

>>18328424
writing is something that you can work at for your entire life and keep improving in some way or another. human beings need goals and they need to work towards those goals to reach self-actualization. i have chosen writing because it plays to my strengths and talents, because i love reading, and because looking at a page of prose i wrote and don't intensely hate is emotionally pleasurable.

[Anonymous No.18329391]

How long do you guys spend editing relative to the length of the story? I write a lot of flash and short fiction and if I do any more than a quick read for grammar and conventions I feel like my writing actively gets worse. I dunno, it just seems to lose whatever I had in the moment. Is there anyone that agonizes over sentences the first time rather than in editing?

[Anonymous No.18329392]

Contamination
A sample was got contaminated fifteen minutes ago. Its, rather dark, though hardly unexpected, contents
were found by the side of the table. Near a partially eaten leg; next to whom stood another, a man’s, to be extremely precise about it, this thing was found at two AM, in the mid-afternoon, in one of the developmental experiment chambers, where the scientist in charge, chief of Holdx project was supposed to conduct one of his fuselage charge-injectors into one of the recovered specimens, yet he is nowhere to be found. A non-conclusive thing, indeed; there’s something incredibly wrong about what happened, not just because we have found that the samples we took from the leg confirm that it was not the chief scientist but a relative of his whom, under no circumstance was not supposed to be here, present when this
happened, but, the absence of any records as to confirm or deny his presence to begin with appears to be, solely the cause of a, miscalculation in the hormonal growth that, during the extracting procedure, he appeared to have developed his relative as to be part of his lower leg, which in turn almost depleted him of all his vital source of power and congruity, therefore not only ending his life but also, appeared to be the cause for him dropping the contamination phial which was placed near the extraction point on the table. The charge-injector, which was there, appeared to have blown out, like a chewing gum, a piece of the chief doctor’s wife, whom had been present, in some way, although dead for fourteen years, in a picture, but was materialized in the form of an automaton with metal, eerily iron worms in it, who was
floating on top the table, looking eerily through glassy eyes, since the cast of her was but made out of glass. But, the contamination was succumbed to a much greater force than that of the phial alone, since, by the time the initial inspection was concluded, it was found out that the doctor, or his ‘cousin’ and longdead wife were not created by the pathologically afflicting virus, but it seemed more likely, to itself, just like to others and much closet to himself, that it was actually a conjoined inbred demon hiding inside the doctor, whose taken the likens of his cousin in order to whisper the darkest thoughts inside his head as to, as it’s known by the various hard-scientifically applied neuro-scientific studies, that the brain is in actuality an organism of its own, completely change the entirety structural form it bore, turning it into a wild array-like flock of various put together sea-horse formations clusters of Acadian fetus-like shapes with skull ‘helmet’ exoskeleton bearing, smaller ‘cysts’ that had completely taken over his mind afterwards.

[Anonymous No.18329403]

>>18329392
Kek

[Anonymous No.18329407]

>>18329391
>Is there anyone that agonizes over sentences the first time rather than in editing?
my rough drafts are usually just about as good as they can be in terms of grammar and sentence structure, but that's just the way i like to work on writing. my editing passes are almost always more for pacing, adding detail, removing detail, etc. it's pretty rare for me that i'll find anything that's incredibly poorly written for flow, and i don't think i've ever caught myself in a grammatical error, even on the very first draft. the drawback to my writing style is that because i spend so much time thinking carefully through everything, i can often end up with something that's overwritten, and what i do get takes a lot more time per word than if i'd just vomited everything out. for me, it's easier to cut than to add, because i can't always hone in on the feel again in the way i need to in order to create what i see as my best work. it works for me, for the most part.

[Anonymous No.18329428]

>>18329392
The demon eventually escaped and furiously made it off, breaking a few phials along the way, causing the contamination to occur, while also causing some of the vials to fall off and shattered on the ground, slowly disintegrating the lower half of its body along the way. It was quite obvious by the fact that the room itself was contaminatedly deformed by the bouncing lights of fluid that came out of every tube. The premise of the Fascia Endorum, facility was no longer bleeding, any longer, because the demon, having walked upon its path of damnation, had doomed all that lay beyond the confines of the solid world, and that of man. It had taken all of the contamination with it, leaving naught even close for it to have walked near or upon in the travesty which was the infested realm it had crawled back onto, the dream of venomous gas, filled with many puffy incisors that invited him and all, who lived inside to get bitten and infested with a virus that would completely and utterly change all for the worst:
‘You have return, great Demon Intnrolrek, but you brought disease on your path, and you have almost
damned us all with your most lurid intrusion. What have you to say in your defense?’
‘I have naught, but I sought a way through a labyrinth, and there is gas now, wherever you may look and whenever you may try seeing, through the hoops of quiet making, which had been wrought by I and I alone.’
‘How ill of your concern, how petty, but I suppose it’s better than nothing.’
‘Show us the hoops.’
And he brought them from afar, as if on a whistle-blow, a few dark niggers without legs levitated, with kike-scalped hats on top of them:
‘I have called upon the non-sentient animals of the Earth that I have found in a trash-heap desert coffin I brought from the depths of the soil bowels, and also the Arab-fluttering beams that come out of their backs, those wings, they mean nothing to me.’
‘You’ve enslaved the animals, I see, for what reason?’
‘They’re useful, can’t you see? These are tools for my employ alone, I can do whatever I desire with them, since they’re not men, nor human. They’re born out of my seed, you see? As a testimony to their features, there’s nothing else I have to seethe over.’
‘Indeed, most quirksome. Show us the hoops.’
‘Very well, here you have them.’
The demon handed them the ‘hoops’. They were not hoops, they were half-scythe moon- circles with the top of their ‘heads’ being parchment-deformed into strange. Hardly was there a fitting explanation. A deformation of reality or of vision at the very least, like a ringed key that was forcefully melted to look most curvedly defiled. Sinking in the air, minute by minute; as the others joined.
With a clap, every single ‘human’ exploded, being quickly enough eaten and torn apart, as for lamb-bylamb meat sack swallowed by it, immediately in, by many curved-apart and far-distraught poison-mouths
that fell apart, quickly after.

[Anonymous No.18329433]

>>18329391
I do this and my grammar is immaculate. Unfortunately, the overthinking makes my dialogue very clinical. I usually have to do a second pass where I rewrite all conversations more colloquially.

[Anonymous No.18329436]

This is completely written out of context. I haven’t even decided if I want to put it into anything, but it occurred to me while listening to music at work. Never posted anything here before, but:

There they stood, on an apartment balcony surrounded by vines and potted plants like an ancient imperial townhouse, with him the emperor. The emperor had his back to the railing, and he split his attentions evenly between the bland interior of the building and the girl next to him, who was facing the opposite way, smoking a cigarette with her arms crossed on the railing. Occasionally, he would lean down and kiss her just to taste the smoke, because it reminded him of the poverty of his first kiss, the one of which he was too embarrassed to speak; the one of which he wrote of years ago in his high school journals that were not as well hidden in his closet as he had thought.

The chambers behind the girl, in front of him, were sparse and either white or grey, but if he imagined that the conjoining halls and nearby rooms and spaces were his—or rather hers—too, only he simply could not be bothered to enter them; only, they were just for the servants, after all; then, he could solidify his mind for a moment the idea that he really was an emperor presiding over the well-kept lawn and not that the yard was kept well by a servant of a landlord of his girlfriend’s.

When he looked at his girlfriend when feeling like an emperor, he began to see the cracks in her disguise, the way extra bits of fat tested the seams in her clothes, and the way those clothes were poor facsimiles of designer clothes which were poor facsimiles of the golden robes of people rich enough to inspire the crowds to think of them as designers-on-high, who made, not wore, such things. He saw how the smoke that curled around them was a cloak, not an aesthetic, and he crashed violently out of his delusions of grandeur, since he wanted aesthetics that existed purely because of their beauty and not because of there being something to hide.

[Anonymous No.18329485]

Writing in English:
>My dialogue feels fluid.
>Descriptions are rich, not too long and I can be a lot more subtle.
>Fits perfect for my stories and ideas.
>Easier to get into a flow.
>Writing becomes actual fun.
Writing in Swedish:
>Dialogue is stale, feels unnatural and giving character becomes ten times harder.
>Descriptions become longer, have to be much more detailed.
>Only seems to fit boomer mom romance stories.
>Harder to get into a flow, since zero emotion gets evoked by my writing.
>Writing becomes actual pain.
And yet I want to write in my mother tongue, but my god is this language emotionally dead.

[Anonymous No.18329490]

>>18329485
the reasonable interpretation of this is that due to english not being your native language, your understanding of its nuance is less sophisticated than you think it is, so you perceive your writing to be better. when you write in your native language, you have a much broader familiarity so you are able to pick up on flaws you wouldn't with english.

[Anonymous No.18329495]

>>18329485
What if you write a depressing emotionless novel in your mother tongue?

[Anonymous No.18329498]

>>18329485
Your Spanish is most likely better than you think it is, and your English is likely worse.

[Anonymous No.18329531]

I made myself tear up a little today. I was writing using an emphasis on particular phonetic word choices. Using phonetic sounds like 'oo' and 'ere' and 'oor' to create a motif. The feeling it gives when put together as a whole when in prose is like the various parts of an orchestra coming together. The assonance resonates to a point where the story begs to be read with passion.

I'm still exploring how to really make this work for me as a defined process, but from what I've tried my prose has improved a lot. It's weird because I'm better able to see what it is I like in the prose of actually good authors. There are passages from Tolkien's The Hobbit which stick in my mind, and that makes sense because he's a linguist who would know the power of phonetics better than anyone.

I'm just sort of elated that I've found a meaningful way to improve and wanted to share.

[Anonymous No.18329536]

>>18329531
post a sample so we know what you're talking about

[Anonymous No.18329550]

>>18329490
>>18329498
I've spoken English since I was a little kidlet, so I'll admit to idolizing and ignoring its flaws. Yet I can't shake the feeling of just not enjoying my own language, which is sad. But I'm not giving up, it will take some wordsmithing and struggle but I'll try to shape this language into a better fit for my writing.
>>18329495
It's too bland for the depths of depression even, since it just doesn't reach that certain level of empty sadness.

[Anonymous No.18329593]

>>18329536

>He could feel Red’s growing concern, but he was determined to press onward. If he was going to reach beyond the clouds he would do so on his own terms. The alternative was to let Red carry him, which he was firmly against. Hress climbed and set his mind on the burden he set himself; two months ago he gave up hope of ever leaving his dungeon cell yet now he had done the impossible; he was almost well and truly on Wish Mountain. Everything up till this point had been a mere test. He had no way of knowing for sure the end of the cloudy mist was near, yet the fear that he might lay down and rest gave urgency to his climb. It didn’t matter how much his hands were hurting; nor that Red was urging him to slow down. He could feel it; almost there, almost beyond the clouds, just a little further now. Reach!

>The mist admitted defeat and parted and with it came the light of day in all its glorious warmth.

[Anonymous No.18329669]

>>18329550
Why not just steal words from other languages and give em a little swede makeover and say it's a brand new word

[Anonymous No.18329673]

>>18329669
That's the plan hahaha I'LL BE FAMOUS IN NO TIME

[Anonymous No.18329877]

>>18328166
>Any progress on your novels?
Yes, I'm done now. I was never going to become the next Faulkner, the next Nabokov or the next Joyce, but I hid behind the language barrier to avoid criticism for months, maintaining an illusion that was fun to live in while it lasted. I had thought my country's education system to be topmost in the world, but this turned out to be utter bollocks. A child of 18, a person ten years my junior, has a greater vocabulary than I, who had to look up the word “topiary”, and no one likes the expression theory of art anymore, I am likened to a long lost dinosaur.
This will be my final post on /lit/. I've been humiliated and exposed as a fraud. My writing is pretentious, infantile, banal drivel. My observations are dull, my language grade school level. My tenses are mixed up; I use colloquialisms, ellipses and onomatopoeia. I mix tired and trite idioms together to obfuscate their unoriginality with a veneer of irony; I have continued to recite ornate Jewish chimpanzee parables with diminishing returns. The parable seemed very clearly to me to be asking me whether or not the now-grown-adult can choose. I say yes, of course, but that's not my issue.
I was never cut out for writing. I began writing my "book" on January 6th. Since then I've produced 94 thousand words for it. These words are a tide of garbage without value, without insight, without form. The themes of time, space, infinity, memory and pointless duelling are not present in my work. It was never real writing, it was anime and weebshit!
Story arcs, character arcs, narrative arcs, these are all outdated terms. You say what you hear, and only the anime fandom uses the term “arc” anymore. I am a toad! Look how many words I wrote, because apparently literature is bodybuilding and just aimlessly typing will somehow improve my writing. My appetites grew as I wrote, I set a goal of a 100 thousand words when I began, only for the cancerous growth to demand a 137 thousand words soon enough to be completed, and still I don't even know what genre it is that I'm writing. Is it autofiction? A comedy? A picaresque? Am I merely shitposting edgelord-triggering diarrhea in neo-emo gothic revivalist gestalt?
Regardless, I have failed. I have put down my pen. Never again will my fingers click-clack across the keyboard. No more outlines, no more characters. Goodbye

[Anonymous No.18329984]

>>18329485
i think>>18329490 is right in that you’re failing to see the flaws with your english. I would say post some conversation in english and swedish and i’ll give feedback on both. If you dare. I promise i will be constructive.

[Anonymous No.18330000]

>writing literary fiction

[Anonymous No.18330047]

My book just sold enough copies on Amazon to rake me 7k. 40k words that only took me a month to shit out too. Wew lad

[Anonymous No.18330085]

Give me some examples of first person narrative prose. I usually follow the stream of consciousness sort of flow, the descriptions mostly coming from the fact the protagonist can't help but to describe most things he sees

[Anonymous No.18330097]

>>18330047
Congrats, friend

[Anonymous No.18330115]

>>18330047
Smut?

[Anonymous No.18330120]

>>18330097
Thanks friend

[Anonymous No.18330133]

>>18330115
Damn straight

[Anonymous No.18330152]

>>18329877
tomorrow will be a new day

[Anonymous No.18330222]

>>18330152
Another day, another pasta.

[Anonymous No.18330244]

>>18330133
Damn best I made was about $400 for smut from Amazon. What genre?

[Anonymous No.18330272]

https://pastebin.pl/view/af45ca5e

[Anonymous No.18330283]

>>18330272
Sorry anon, this is practically unreadable. Reformat it somehow and try again.

[Anonymous No.18330323]

>>18330133
B-B-B-BASED

[Anonymous No.18330345]

Thoughts on this opening would be greatly appreciated.

I pulled faces at my brother to make him smile, but all poor Turniphead ever did was flop about like a doll in the trolley seat. I called him that because his head really was twice the size of a normal five-year-old boy’s, and a lot rounder, too. His never-blinking beady eyes only moved when the rest of him did so that sometimes I wasn’t sure if he was alive or dead. There was no difference between his skin and the broken porcelain mum kept in her trolley—except for the forehead where the bruising started. It also helped me laugh, to give my younger brother a silly name. Mum preferred Ephraim.

[Anonymous No.18330349]

>>18330283
https://pastebin.pl/view/fca49791

Better?

[Anonymous No.18330379]

Sekov's notes

Reminder, peculiar note:
Inducing emotional distress on dog.

‘I’ve come to observe this by accident, while I happened to be in the kitchen, and the dog was on the hallway, a few steps away from where I stood.

Whilst being aware of the dog’s presence, I’ve turned towards one of the highest placed shelves which was placed on top of the front wall and began scratching its edges with my fingernails.

The canine was thoroughly displeased as it appeared to be have followed my movements closely, as it began shaking and making wild noises of lower octaves. It was clear enough that the dog did not enjoy this at all.’

In order to see what caused this reaction, I walked around the house and began scratching the wooden doors as well, to no result.

The reason for its reaction, which yield the same result was the fact that this shelf inside the kitchen, despite being made of a similar material, wood, it appeared like it bore various jars on top of it which were placed in a line, three in the front, two in the back, their placement being somewhat similar to a pool table, filled with sugar, coffee and one of unused rice. The dog must’ve simply thought that they stored food, hence the signal to its primitive brain told it to react in such a way as to beg for it.
This was thoroughly displeasing as I often find myself annoyed by its enticing notes, and the way in which the dog reacts is shallow at best. It barks often enough, therefore I must hit the dog.
It’s plain that the dog is often in the wrong, being incapable of controlling itself, especially since its prime instinct drives it to leap at my legs while performing the most disgusting chants a creature like itself could go through. Repelling creature that it is, I have often dreamed, as being spawned by my further annoyance to the way it reacts, of trampling and beating it to death. As I find this occurrence to be too much for me to take.

Oh, how much I enjoy pushing it around. Feeding her less than a bowl a day and taking her for a walk for what seems to be less than ten minutes a day. Those are things that I find as the rightful penitence such a creature ought to receive, since I found myself, as I have said before, often in distress because of the mutt. This little noise-machine gets beaten often enough, sometimes even in public, other times I often proceed to simply pull her leash in such motions that would seem somewhat familiar to Southerners in their old time ordeals with the Negroes. Regardless of it, they’re short-lived and most of the time the damage is barely felt.
It’s the least she ought to have received. But on the list, the next interaction with other similar pets seems to be the felines, as I have found myself, often enough chucking rocks at them outside and around my building.

[Anonymous No.18330409]

Thoughts on this greatly appreciated. Opener to a short story I'm working on.

I stayed behind so I could pull faces at Turniphead and make him smile, but all he ever did was flop about like a doll in the trolley seat. I called my brother that because his head really was twice the size of a normal five-year-old boy’s, and a lot rounder, too. His never-blinking beady eyes only moved when the rest of him did so that sometimes I wasn’t sure if he was alive or dead. And there was no difference between his skin and the broken porcelain mum kept in her trolley—except for the forehead where the bruising started, just below black tufts of hair. It also helped me laugh, to give my younger brother a silly name. Mum preferred Ephraim.

[Anonymous No.18330412]

I didn't even get an honorable mention in the writing contest.
This is the end.

[Anonymous No.18330479]

>>18330349
Unbelievably purple prose. More than half of your descriptions don't even make sense.

[Anonymous No.18330487]

>>18330479
>More than half of your descriptions don't even make sense.
I know.

[Anonymous No.18330499]

>>18330349
there are some nice sections, but overall the prose isn't enough to carry the piece

[Anonymous No.18330553]

>>18330349
>https://pastebin.pl/view/fca49791
I stopped reading after the first sentence. This isn't poetry. Stop trying to do edgy forced shit. Write a story. God, you have no idea how bad this is. I'm not even being spiteful for the fun of it. Some people spend all their time actually critiquing on forums and learning their craft. You just strung a bunch of edgy sentences together because you thought they sounded cool.

"Desolate plain, along the desolate tower, along the desolate throne

Remains thrown around it, all of whom had brought provisions all the way back from home"

That's not... that's not a sentence. Might actually be the worst thing I've ever read here.

[Anonymous No.18330562]

"A wretched lone house stood on top a few nine to six groups of many stacked upon one another hellish hillside formations."
Nah, fuck it. This must be bait.

[Anonymous No.18330570]

I'm going to save this trash for later and post it so everyone can laugh at it. This is by far the worst thing I've ever seen. In fact, not just on this board in my entire life.

"A pilot, whose face is rotten, nakedly is he awaiting release. From where he stands, slowly is the thing below it, readily staring up, as to approach most continently, as if he were to leap from the other end, instead from his darkened bed, which was dragged out of the very front door, on that patch, for a moment now, looking down and he could see a floor. "

You should be ashamed. I'm not even joking. This is beyond bad. I can just imagine your smug face thinking you're the next Joyce.

[Anonymous No.18330581]

>>18330553
What about this one?

https://pastebin.pl/view/4291b070

[Anonymous No.18330590]

>>18330581
Ah, I see. I've been duped. This is just a meme bait thing. Okay. You got me.

[Anonymous No.18330593]

>>18330553
>Desolate plain, along the desolate tower, along the desolate throne
WTF this is backwards. There's a tower on top of a thrown?

[Anonymous No.18330602]

>>18330581
Let these two stories be a reminder to everyone else to never skip out on your goddamn meds.

[Anonymous No.18330629]

>>18330581
if you cut some of the chaff and clean up those horrendous uses of commas, you might have something. i want to stress how unsure i am as to whether or not you actually have something because it's so impossibly difficult to read due to the punctuation that i couldn't make it more than a sentence in per paragraph. there's hard to read and then there's artificially hard to read. yours is artificially hard to read.

[Anonymous No.18330632]

>>18330602
I've got more, fren. And no, I may be schizophrenic but I'll never take my meds!

https://pastebin.pl/view/8b0c44e6

[Anonymous No.18330642]

>>18330629
No. Just no. I detest this. Stop giving this degenerate hope.

[Anonymous No.18330663]

>>18330632
schizoshit needs to be reined in if you want anyone to actually read it.

[Anonymous No.18330829]

>>18328166
The Art of Fiction by whom you faggots?

[Anonymous No.18330836]

>>18330829
>he doesn't know

[pipquo No.18330880]

>>18330602
>se two stories be a woman or some face at the end of the hsall. chineysweep masogniust pig with a whigg an creamed birthday cake gong being called/. 'suppEr edward john playrwin$.
>ib4bigmoneybigprize$.

[Anonymous No.18330902]

>18330880
no

[Anonymous No.18330980]

>>18330829
you know, the one that's like... the one that was written by the guy (or was it the girl) who did the thing and uh... you know, the one which was written. that much is for sure. you're looking for the one that was written at some point in time by someone who was a man or a woman which means that it was at some point within the last 500 million years or so, allowing for some uncertainty at the cambrian explosion for the precise point at which sexual reproduction emerged, although obviously chances are it was written sometime within the last 100 years by someone with a readily identifiable sexual identifier (representing, of course, the sexual organ normally kept hidden in daily life) but that's still uncertain because you could never hope comprehensively to account for hidden castrati since i know i'd play that close to the chest and of course there exists the rare woman or two who grafts upon their cunny-location a fleshy appendage of dubious functionality but like, you know man, it's just a book so just like heh

[Anonymous No.18331043]

Baby's black balloon makes her fly
I almost fell into that hole in your life
You're not thinking about tomorrow
'Cause you were the same as me
But on your knees.
A thousand other boys could never reach you
How could I have been the one?
I saw the world spin beneath you
And scatter like ice from the spoon
That was your womb.
Coming down, the world turned over
And angels fall without you there
And I go on as you get colder
Or are you someone's prayer?
You know the lies they always told you
And the love you never knew
Was it things they never showed you?
That swallowed the light from the sun
Inside your room, yeah.
Coming down, the world turned over
And Angels fall without you there
And I go on as you get colder
Always someone's prayer
And there's no time left for losing
When you stand, they fall, yeah.
Coming down, the world turned over
And angels fall without you there
And I go on as you get colder
All because I'm
Coming down, the years turned over
And Angels fall without you there
And I'll go on and I'll lead you home and
All because I'm
All because I'm
And I'll become what you became to me

[Anonymous No.18331109]

>>18331043
>>18330080

[Anonymous No.18331380]

Why isn't The Elements of Style on the For Prose reading list?

[Anonymous No.18331391]

>>18331109
I'm good, luv, thanks

[Anonymous No.18331402]

>>18331391
This isn't write what's on your mind either. Keep your lyricposts there.

[Anonymous No.18331403]

>>18331391
nah, you're shit. this general is already more than shit enough before you start adding in off topic pottery

[Anonymous No.18331413]

>>18330000
Wrote literary fiction

[Anonymous No.18331548]

I'm on page 98 today. I'm going to try and write two paragraphs in ~40 mins today. That is the goal.

[Anonymous No.18331606]

>>18331403
>>18331402
Take your meds :)

[Anonymous No.18331904]

>tfw finish writing and editing a chapter on time for the second week in a row
Damn it feels liberating not to be overwhelmed by deadlines for once. Just gotta keep at it and write bros, even if you feel extremely miserable and lack the will to even stare at a document. Even 100-500 words for a few consecutive days might seem trivial at first but it adds up. Time for vidya!

[Kumquat No.18331924]

>>18328166
Yea some progress. Around 5k words. Trying to write for 2 hours and read for 2 hours every night. With my weekly job and family the days can be rough. Taking a week of in the beginning of June. Hoping to get a lot down then....

I just want to be home writing...

[Anonymous No.18332044]

>>18328166
Lol kiarafags

[Anonymous No.18332084]

>>18332044
Kiara is the best one from EN.

[Anonymous No.18332095]

>>18332084
Okay White Knight

[Anonymous No.18332177]

>>18332084
Fuck off

[Anonymous No.18332180]

>>18331924
Hang in there man, and remember - as long as you keep on keeping on, the exact word count and hours don’t matter in the long run. You will be done, sooner or later.

[Anonymous No.18332242]

If you appreciate the plots in video games, you are not a true writer. The plots have to be warped to fit the context of gameplay. It's antithetical to storytelling.

Visual novels are fine because they are 99.9% plot. Autism sims are also fine.

[Anonymous No.18332257]

>>18332242
Actually I can derive plot value from anything because I have an artistic mindset. What you are asserting is your own, autistic mindset.

[Anonymous No.18332265]

>>18332257
actually my dad is nintendo and the CIA at the same time and he'd beat your dad up

[Anonymous No.18332268]

>>18332242
>The plots have to be warped to fit the context of gameplay. It's antithetical to storytelling.
How?

[Anonymous No.18332273]

>>18332257
you have a distinctive posting style and i can easily recognize who you are. i'm going to imagine that you're the wish mountain anon from now on

[Anonymous No.18332282]

>>18332095
>>18332177
Anon, you have to be blind or a schizo to not realize that Kiara carries EN. She’s the only hardworking in that group.

[Anonymous No.18332301]

Is this purple prose?

Thick fog wafted between the damp forest floor and the rustling foliage, from which hidden birds sang their autumn songs as if through layers of wool.

[Anonymous No.18332309]

>>18332301
ask five people what purple prose is and you'll get five answers. my bigger problem with that is that pretty much every noun has an adjective attached to it in that sentence.

[Anonymous No.18332311]

>>18332301
Hmmm, I wanna say no. It's leaning very tinily into it though. You can probably make a full stop in the first part of the sentence and have the pov note they hear sounds from hidden fauna if it were me.

[Anonymous No.18332317]

>>18332301
Yes. Just read it out loud.

[Anonymous No.18332325]

>>18332317
>What a change this was to be in a good mood on Wish Mountain. Every night before this one the wind was a menace; cold, something to be ignored and smothered away by walking fast or losing himself in focus.

[Anonymous No.18332343]

>>18332325
You really hate wish mountain anon for writing. You can do it as well, just drop the pseud mindset.

[Anonymous No.18332351]

what's your opinion on words like "unkindly"? useful or stupid?

[Anonymous No.18332354]

>>18332343

[Anonymous No.18332355]

>>18332242
>plots
Why do people care about this shit again? I get it's fun as a writer to make complex plots where all the small details work-together perfectly but outside of a "wow, nice" it doesn't add much to the reading experience.
>>18332257
Total Chad.
>>18332301
It feels more clunky than of any particular color.

[Anonymous No.18332356]

>>18332351
when i come to power you will be executed for using it

[Kumquat No.18332357]

>>18332180
Thanks anon. I'm hoping to be done by fall. Then pass out the manuscript to some folks for critiquing. Then jf thst goes well, the horror that is publishing.

[Anonymous No.18332359]

>>18332301
reduce the number of adjectives and it's fine.

[Anonymous No.18332372]

>>18332084
Aw, they're all a lot of fun but I got filtered by time zones and haven't seen her perform her character in a month now.
I'm really proud of her and am glad I got to cheer her on, especially at the start. She really grew into it well and is having fun.
One million people though. Imagine. Could you imagine having one million fans of your work? That's insane.
She probably doesn't remember Deathauthoranon anymore but I do find I don't envy her in retrospect. The character she is playing is owned by a company and she has a manager. Then you have to pay YouTube a cut and then her company gets money. Then taxes. Then she pays her life bills. Shining in the spotlight for thousands of people every show.
Then there's me. Obscured by shadows and writing what I wish on my own volition. I decide my destiny and I have the money from my prior decisions to take a deep dive into the abyss and test myself and see if I'll survive. Alone. On my own strength.
I got to page 99 btw.
...
God damn I still have a crush on Kiara's voice actor. It ain't going away why did she have to be flirty with the pastel goth girl aaaaaaa.
Actually it's kind of funny. If somehow Kiara found me in the void she could team up with me for an artist visa since authors get those and streamers don't but I wouldn't be keen on being used.
I do like her though. Still.

[Anonymous No.18332396]

>>18332372
Shut the fuck up. Kiara is a last place EN loser who lost the 1mil race to Ina, a vtuber people forget exists half the time.

[Anonymous No.18332402]

>>18332372
>One million people though. Imagine.
>Could you imagine having one million fans of your work?
>That's insane.

[Anonymous No.18332429]

>>18332402
>>18332396
Hey don't you guys have books to write?

[Anonymous No.18332609]

>>18332372
Kiara deserves better.

[Anonymous No.18332666]

What I managed today. It's from a story I'm writing about a dude riding a motorcycle along with his autistic brother. It's not edited yet so my apologies for any stupid mistakes, but do tell me what you think of the general content.
---
They made way through the lot, a schizoid pair in quiet conference like vultures over carrion. One breaks the kit kat in two and hands them wordlessly over to the other who eats it wholly, without chewing.

"Ask for premium, I'll pay."

Kenny says nothing, like he had not heard at all. The gas station's shop is millennial, constructed of steel and composites that were shipped in, it wasn't the kind of place where someone would ever have pumped your gas for you. There are gay-hued advertisements along the windows, for gum, for cigarettes, for lotteries. By the door is a black man, orange hoodie, checking his phone and then checking the road. Phone, road.

When Kenny opens the door to the shop, he swings it wide like a penned ape, the expression on his face hides completely whether its for frustration or for joy. On the outswing, the black man is struck on the arm and he hisses in pain, watching Kenny warily.

"Man, take it easy."

Back at his bike, Jakob watches, exhaling, cranking the throttle impotently.

Kenny looks at him, his eyes are a deep green that make the black at his pupil seem darker. He is a young man, but his face is set for old age, brows bushy, always sternly frowning like all at once the world's continued presence were displeasing him. It was a frown he always wore, perhaps he wore it right out of the womb, for mother said he had not cried at all. Jakob remembers that frown set on food cans stacked perfectly, pieces of a puzzle arranged in rows.

"Sorry, nigger." says Kenny, and then he steps inside.

They are rebuked. Under the heat of the Virginian sun, they walk their bikes along the sidewalks of the city.

[Anonymous No.18332698]

>>18332609
I agree.
You know the protag of my 4th and 5th book has flaming wings (modeled after Valkyrie of myth) but I might make a small yet vague homage to Kiara in my 7th book if I can fit it in.

[Anonymous No.18332794]

>>18332698
Do it, anon.

[Anonymous No.18332796]

I want to write a story about a guy who engages in the genocide of an alien species as retribution for them almost wiping out humanity a couple of generations prior. He feels that humanity letting them surrender once they were able to turn the war in their favor and accepting them as a fellow space faring civilization afterwards was a show of weakness and only allows a potential threat to bide its time.
Is there any way to paint him as the hero?

[Anonymous No.18332824]

>>18332794
I'm on book 6 at the moment so it's not an immediate thing but in book 7 the protag is supposed to audition to be on the royal guard with sister fire Valkyrie. I'll likely name one of the captains Kiara. Unless you're looking for it or know why I did that then the background character should just end up an easter egg since she'll appear with other captains.

[Anonymous No.18332861]

>>18332796
No.

[Anonymous No.18332876]

>>18332861
Well shit. So, at best, villain protagonist? Can he even get to anti-hero?

[Anonymous No.18332880]

>>18332876
>villain protagonist?
Yes
>Can he even get to anti-hero?
No

[Anonymous No.18332935]

>>18332880
Is there no way for genocide to be moral? Not even as a means of keeping the rest of the universe safe?

[Anonymous No.18332952]

>>18332935
Well, it depends. If they're like insects and just consume everything in their path, is it really genocide? Maybe by definition, but it conjures to mind something closer to an extermination.

Also if they're just a normal species, like humans, why does the universe end if humans are destroyed, exactly? In that case, it becomes a different issue altogether.

Otherwise, I don't think there's anyway you can make genocide moral using conventional morality.

[Anonymous No.18332963]

>>18332935
Stop trying to make it work. It ain’t happening.

[Anonymous No.18332975]

>>18332963
>Stop trying to make it work. It ain’t happening.
Well, I'll try to wrap it up in a romantic comedy.

[Anonymous No.18333019]

>>18332952
>Also if they're just a normal species, like humans, why does the universe end if humans are destroyed, exactly? In that case, it becomes a different issue altogether.
It's not that the universe ends if humanity is destroyed. It's just that why leave the aliens around if they're so inclined to wipe out other species? Is it wrong to kill someone if it's to keep everyone else safe?

[Kumquat No.18333097]

>>18332666
>It's not edited yet
First draft? If so post when it is second draft. There are a lot of extra words.

[Anonymous No.18333102]

>>18333019
Unironically, are humans any different? Right now it's only conjecture that we won't wipe out every other species on our planet. Whether it's wrong or not hardly matters, but if humans in your setting are some kind of saviors you need to account as for why, otherwise you might as well just do anything you want.

[Anonymous No.18333111]

>>18332824
Are you published?

[Anonymous No.18333125]

>>18333102
I’d understand if the raccoons rose up to wipe us out and save the world. But it’d probably be dolphins. And they’re faggots.
I don’t get what you mean by saviors though. It’s self preservation. That’s a thing.

[Anonymous No.18333142]

>>18333111
Self-publish.

[Anonymous No.18333292]

>>18333125
Not going to happen. Stop trying to make it into something positive.

[Anonymous No.18333298]

I need adventure/action premises to rip off.

I'm digging the "Die Hard on an X" concept. What are some other setups with lots of potential?

[Anonymous No.18333309]

>>18333298
Well, what's something you'd want to read? Write that.

[Anonymous No.18333324]

>>18333292
Well screw you! I’m going to write my romantic comedy about a genocidal maniac in space and people are going to love it! It’ll be the next Da Vinci code!

[Anonymous No.18333325]

>>18332796
Why would you need to paint him in a certain way? He's got a good reason and he's not wrong.

[Anonymous No.18333418]

>>18333142
Any success?

[Anonymous No.18333511]

>>18333298
>Die Hard on a cruiseliner
I'd read it

[Anonymous No.18333514]

>>18333511
Speed 2: Cruise Control

[Anonymous No.18333533]

>>18333418
Some mild success. Which is something I’m okay with.

[Anonymous No.18333583]

>>18333298
Might as well write fanfics.

[Anonymous No.18333623]

>>18333298
Anything is instantly better if you had a disaster survival scenario

I'm a big fan of volcanic eruptions but man caused disasters tend to have more dramatic effect.

[Anonymous No.18333635]

>>18332796
>Is there any way to paint him as the hero?
Maybe if the aliens are white.

[Anonymous No.18333646]

>>18333635
That could work.

[Anonymous No.18333673]

How to merge genres/settings the right way? Any tips?

[Anonymous No.18333677]

>>18333673
Yeah, it’s called google.

[Anonymous No.18333686]

>>18332666

[Anonymous No.18333706]

>>18332796
Have you never read Ender's Game, even though you're writing in the space warfare genre?

[Anonymous No.18333707]

>>18332796
There's the easy cop-out method, just have your protagonist discover the aliens were rearming. But then you'd just be pandering to people with trust issues, and it would seem pretty transparent to anyone who disagrees with your message. It would probably be considered a hamfisted attempt to justify Trump's policy on Iran.

For a more nuanced story, just remember that people are almost always impressed by heroics and self-sacrifice. Even a character with a really odious code of ethics will seem respectable if a) serving this code requires more from him than he stands to gain (if your protagonist is aware, for instance, that he is about to become one of history's greatest villains if he carries out his plan) and b)he subjects himself to the same code of ethics (genocide is always wrong and people who commit it should be executed, thus triggering his own suicide).

A really bad way of handling this would be to have your protagonist pull off his plan, and then shame the government for their cowardice when they call him to stand trial, followed by having him reluctantly executed by government officials who can't bear to look him in the eye in his final moments, thusly confirming that he was totally right but the government was too scared of the liberal media (and fuck it, have the conservative media turn their back on him too, just so you claim you're being fair) to stand up for him.

[Anonymous No.18333709]

>>18333673
Find the fundamental essence of each genre and then compare and contrast them to see how they might intertwine rather than going for an hodgepodge of the most well established tropes/cliches

[Anonymous No.18333714]

>>18333533
Absolutely. That is my dream man. Other people wanting to read my stuff. And a little supplemental income, ugh. Did you have to do some marketing or just publish?

[Anonymous No.18333719]

>>18333677
elaborate

[Anonymous No.18333732]

>>18333673
Genre is more of a marketing thing as opposed to a creative tool.

[Anonymous No.18333789]

>>18333719
Use it to help you answer your question

[Anonymous No.18333798]

>>18333714
I just publish on royal road and other sites that allow original stories and gather a following. Not that hard if your active in the community.

[Anonymous No.18333858]

>>18333686
I hate this image. It does nothing but give anons an excuse to not critique. Something this General needs more.

[Anonymous No.18333897]

>>18333858
If you can't even be assed to get the absolute basics right, why should some anon bother to critique the work? It's just disrespectful, especially if it gets pointed out to anons with the image and they can fix it afterwards.

[Anonymous No.18333904]

>>18333897
He's right you know, it just seems like an excuse to not give any critique.

[Anonymous No.18333924]

First day writing ever, tried to sketch out a story outline. Criticize please, it's only half done.

Sketch:

Johann is fighting on the German side in WW1. He charges the no-mans-land and winds up knocked out, and accidentally brought to the other side to be saved. The doctor, dresses his wounds and fixes him. Johann quickly realizes that he is in trouble, and does not speak any French.

Jon plays as a mute and observes the opposite side of the front, the enemy’s side. He is cleared by the busy Pierre for duty and is now faced with having to get back and communicate with his other side. He must survive until the night to send morse code signals to his friends to help take this side of the trench.

Jon witnesses the crushing attack on the French front, witnessing deaths as he mutely tries to avoid death. The trenches are charged and Jon is forced during the chaos to choose to hide or to kill a german countryman. He sticks the german from behind, turning him over and recognizing him in the dimming light. Jon realizes the chaos of the front, and hopes to escape all together.

Jon falls asleep from exhaustion in the trench. He wakes up at the sound of popping, the day is grey and overcast. The doctor stoops near him to hand him a canteen of water and some beans. Jon is glad his enemy isn't dead.

[Anonymous No.18333954]

>>18333924
>>18333686

[Anonymous No.18333955]

>>18333954
There is no dialogue. This is just a sketch! Are you retarded, anon?

[Anonymous No.18333969]

>>18333955
NGMI.

[Anonymous No.18333990]

>>18333924
>Johann quickly realizes that he is in trouble, and does not speak any French.
Solid "wow, he's fucked situation". I only miss something about his character to actually care though. Also wouldn't his uniform and equipment kill the ruse pretty fast?
>Jon is forced during the chaos to choose to hide or to kill a german countryman.
Y tho? Couldn't he explain his situation? And why didn't he pick hiding vs killing someone from his side? (Though guess that can be solved by not giving him the chance to hide, which still leaves questions about not trying to communicate … him being/becoming an actual mute could solve that I guess)
Going back to waking up with a doctor again is qt call back but also seems a bit too easy.
>>18333955
Baiters will bait. Probably an anon mad about the thing.

[Anonymous No.18333991]

>>18333924
>>18333955
It's a good premise anon, but the sucssess of your work depends on how well you can write. Start putting together a first draft with what you've got and keep making notes.

[Anonymous No.18334037]

>>18333714
I self publish on Amazon, and it requires you to do your own marketing to really get any traction. Really my challenge is making more than I spend because it's really easy to throw a lot of cash out with little return. It's not just advertising I need to do, it's the right advertising at the right place and the right price.

[Anonymous No.18334081]

[Anonymous No.18334090]

>>18333897
If minor spelling mistakes make it hard for you to read, it might be you with the problem desu desu

[Anonymous No.18334098]

>>18334081
what do you mean i did this? i did none of this. why do you say these things about me??

[Anonymous No.18334113]

>>18334081
Would fatties really feel stimulated by a finger playing with their navel? Overall the writing is decent enough, the scenario is just too disgusting for my sensibilities.

[Anonymous No.18334214]

>>18333798
Thanks anon. Writing my first novel now I'll look into this.

>>18334037
See that's frustrating to me. A good novel can no longer make it on its own merits alone. But maybe it is always been that way? I like to think the gaining a publisher part was easier 20 years ago, but maybe it wasn't. Self-publishing now seems like such a mountain of a task to see good returns. It's hard enough writing a novel with s full time job etc.

[Anonymous No.18334284]

>get home
>check thread before bunkering down to write
>amateur back patting, schizophrenia, pseud crabbing
a little but of publishing talk at least
maybe it's time to try finding a discord again
fuck ya'll niggas, see you in a month or so when I inevitably get sick of them and come back to this sludge box

[Anonymous No.18334308]

>>18334214
The internet isn't that old, and before that there was no self publishing. It was traditional publishing and guilds. Stories are important to preserve for historical reasons, but how much history have we really saved that hasn't been twisted or warped in one way or another?
I believe if I were to make money off my books it absolutely would be full time between writing and putting my name out there.
Have you noticed most prominent people have written a book? They don't introduce their book first. People buy it because of their prominence. I have the book of x. Isn't that cool?
That's why I'm focused on getting my stories on paper and out into the world, and not focused on advertising them right now. Books do not expire. However, we do. Tolkien would not live to see how grand Lord of the Rings has become today. I work knowing I may become lost in shadows before I see the light.
Is it doable? Absolutely. However, there is no straight path from A to B. Every action you take is completely blind. Network, but with whom?
I'm fortunate enough to have had the tenacity to pull myself up several times, but...no.
We're all gonna make it. We have to.

[Anonymous No.18334365]

>>18334308
>We're all gonna make it. We have to.
I truly hope so. I'm not against the hard work. I have always had the desire to create. First it was music, sucked at that but enjoyed the experience. Then art, drawing painting, same story. I've done some other things along the way. Writing has been on my back burner for a couple decades and now I feel I have thr time and skill to write competently. I'm not worried about the time to put in, the edits, the writers block. I am creative enough to get around that. And much like you I want people to enjoy my stories. But to never succeed simply because I wasn't at the right place at the right time. I donno if I can handle that.

So would you say self publishing to get your works out into the world, then if some gain traction taking those with the next novel to a publisher? Showing them thr potential?

[Anonymous No.18334375]

>>18334365
>So would you say self publishing to get your works out into the world, then if some gain traction taking those with the next novel to a publisher? Showing them thr potential?
If you self-publisj, no publishing company will come to you or accept you. Barring a few examples, 50 shades of gray, The martian, and Throne of Glass. The best you can hope for is getting a steady income from patreon.

[Anonymous No.18334388]

>>18334308
>before [the internet] there was no self publishing.
You might want to double-check that one.

[Anonymous No.18334393]

>>18334388
Vanity publishing is something else entirely.

[Anonymous No.18334397]

>>18334365
It really, REALLY tires you out. Every painting I do, every book I've written, every sculpture I've created are all my own.
I'd also like to point out that what are being pointed out to you are the success stories. The people that got picked up. I promise you there are thousands of others that never even get an agent.
Worst still you can get an agent and your agent can be bad...or your publishing house doesn't work out and ties you up in an awful contract. A metric ton can go wrong. Nobody will tell you that of course.
I've only published to Amazon and I don't have a name yet. If I was approached by a publisher I wouldn't mind taking my works down and working with them. People are people. They will work with you. There is no pure black or pure white here.
However, what I plan to do is get as many of my works on paper and self published as I can, and when I'm ready set aside a lot of resources for offline advertising. It's so easy to just do the same thing everyone else does, and get the same results.
In order to overcome the darkness we must become shining stars in the night sky. People like us will have to think outside of the box. It is simply how it is.

[Anonymous No.18334411]

>>18334375
Sorry if this is redundant but I want to make sure I have it straight. If I Joe Blow self publish on Amazon for my first book, then for my second book could I send it to a publisher with a letter saying 'here is my second book and this is my first novel that did well on amazon'?

Or are you saying if you self publish once youre are damned forever? If so why?

[Anonymous No.18334415]

>>18334397
you seem like a fruit but I like your attitude

[Anonymous No.18334432]

>>18334397
Ok thanks. I guess I'll get this first one under my belt and try to go from there. I guess it is saddening that of the process of getting a novel out there, writing the God damned thing is the easiest part.

[Anonymous No.18334441]

>>18334411
Nah, you have it backwards. If your first self-publish novel, or in some instance, web serial novel, gains a massive traction and following, some publishers will come to you with offers to traditionally publish. Examples of this are stories I mention. 50 shades of gray, The martian, and Throne of Glass

But if you come to them with "here is my second book and this is my first novel that did well on amazon" they will ignore you, since as far as they are concern, you're just a nobody with a ego. Remember, They come to YOU, not the other way around.

[Anonymous No.18334456]

>>18334415
Thanks friend. Deathauthoranon has a few imitators answering questions for him but I will do my best to share my (actual) piece when I see it.
I'm just a Straight, balding white male that turned 35 on the 28th (happy birthday me woo) that has a gothic streak. I'm really boring if I'm not embellishing everything.
>>18334411
No you're not damned forever. I had Viking Publishing call me back way back when when I was actively requesting agents. Take it from someone who actually did the walks; if you want to get an agent, email them. If not, they will not seek you. If you want customers to find your books seek them. Advertise. If not, they will not seek you because they do not know you exist.
That's the easiest way to put it. Now the hard part of course...is plotting a course of action.
Oh and knowing the right people obviously helps a lot. An author with an uncle in the Authors Guild is obviously going to have a leg up.
This industry is a fight. So fight.

[Anonymous No.18334462]

>>18334441
Ok. So it's either self publish and hope they come to you or send it to hundreds of them and hope they bite. Which they won't if you have an ego.

[Anonymous No.18334482]

>>18334365
You're already a better writer than the person you're seeking advice from.

[Anonymous No.18334487]

>have written two novels in a series that no agent will ever pick up as a debut novel
>know that my best bet is to write a more conventional story
>love the unpublishable story too much and want to write the last two entries in it
If I write the next two entries, it will probably take over a year to finish it, and I want to get something published as soon as possible. But I just want to bring it to completion so much.

[Anonymous No.18334496]

>>18334456
>This industry is a fight. So fight.
Thank you I plan on it!
>Advertise
Any advice on how to do this? Is it buying slots online?

[Anonymous No.18334502]

>>18334482
Thank you, what makes you day that anon?

[Anonymous No.18334504]

>>18334462
Do both. To make this really really simple take your first book and copyright it with the library of congress, if you're using Amazon they give you a free ISBN, if not buy an ISBN.
https://querytracker.net/
Go there, sort the agents by what specifications you need. Build a professional email and be nice. You only get one shot at it. Email all of them.
More will come, some will leave. You may not get any email replies at all. You may get all of them replying. Nobody knows.
Agents and publishing houses need books and authors to do their job, but to them new blood is always a risk because if it doesn't sell they lose their investment that they paid you. You need to persuade them that you're worth a down payment.
I decided not to do that because I already have money but that down payment could really help you if you're in a bind. You could also opt to get a percent of sales. You don't have to eat the first offer that gets put on your plate, but there might not be a second offer. It's a blind jump.
I guess the bottom line is to be nice. You catch a lot more flies with honey than vinegar.
(Why would I ever want to catch flies? Where did this saying even come from?)

[Anonymous No.18334522]

>>18334496
The best advertising is always going to be word of mouth. Hands down. It's free and you build a personal connection. If you're an extrovert (most writers are introverts ahahaafuck) you have an advantage here.
If you're good with keywords and algorithms Amazon and Google can really help you, but I find them obnoxious and haven't really put a lot of effort into them.
I honestly think once I get enough books set in my series I might buy roadside billboards.
Rent an airplane to fly over a city. Use Nextdayfliers (America) and design a bunch of stuff. Run up behind people and stick advertisements on peoples back with tape and run away really fast. Put bookmarks on people's windshields like an asshole.
There's a lot you CAN do. How effective will it be? Who knows.
Banksy somehow has the world on him all the time despite being an anonymous artist. I'm convinced there are no definite answers.

[Anonymous No.18334526]

>>18334502
Despite the frequent typos, your posts are clear, concise, and honest. The other guy's posts are disjointed, full of cliche metaphors, and he doesn't seem to fully understand what he's talking about. For instance, he seems to think that private publishing services only existed as fraudulent vanity publishing houses prior to the internet.

[Anonymous No.18334532]

>>18334487
Write the unpublishable story. You cannot read everyone's mind. If you like it, someone else might. Never give up.

[Anonymous No.18334540]

>>18334504
Thanks so much anon. A true fren. I do have a stable job so maybe I'll try to be more appealing by way of not asking for money up front I can see myself going for more of a % out the gate.

[Anonymous No.18334549]

>>18334526
You're replying to two different people. I started adding pictures to stand out because of that.
The difference here is that I'm spending time I could be writing trying to help other authors in the making. My advice is guidelines, not gospel.
Your kind words to him will clearly help him more.

[Anonymous No.18334553]

>>18334549
>My advice is guidelines, not gospel.
It's actually neither.

[Anonymous No.18334560]

>>18334540
No problem. I hope I helped at least a little bit.
I think each agency has their own offerings on what they will and won't do. You just have to feel it out. I will say however if you write the next big thing and sell 10million copies a small % of each of those will add up to more than what a lump sum could have ever given you.
Then again if they don't do well, that lump sum is your thanks money.
You have no way of telling which will be which though. Yay life.

[Anonymous No.18334564]

>>18334522
>there are no definite answers.
That's for damn sure. Thanks this has been quiet useful.

>>18334526
>your posts are clear, concise, and honest.
Thank you. That is a nice thing to hear, especially on /lit/. The typos are a product of my phone typing. I started this thread on my phone at work and keep replying here for thr (you)s haha

[Anonymous No.18334596]

How do I become a good writer bros...

[Anonymous No.18334598]

>>18334560
>10million copies
Man I'd be cool with 10,000 lol

[Anonymous No.18334603]

>>18334596
Patience, practice and a lot of persistence.
>>18334553
You can take this one sir, I've gotta do some errands before bed.

[Anonymous No.18334651]

>>18334596
Write

[Anonymous No.18334661]

Stories with evil sacrifices or rituals.

[Anonymous No.18334666]

>>18334661
google it.

[Anonymous No.18334701]

>>18334666
so i can look at results on reddit? if you got nothing to say, then dont say anything faggot.

[Anonymous No.18334706]

>>18334666
kys satan

[Anonymous No.18334720]

I know realize i posted in the wrong thread. sorry anons.

[Anonymous No.18334722]

>>18334661
wrong thread
>>18334666
wrong meme

[Anonymous No.18334739]

>>18330836
>>18330980
Please stop bullying me

[Anonymous No.18334836]

>usually write 1k~ word flashes
>trying to slowly escalate
>aim for 5k
>feel like I've addressed what I want to address in 1k
how do you extend short stories without just adding bloat and diluting it?

[Anonymous No.18334851]

>>18334836
I have this problem too. How the hell do writers manage to extend their story without making it feel bloatedt?

[Anonymous No.18334857]

How did you even tell an entire story in 1k? It's about two scenes.

[Anonymous No.18334885]

>>18334857
I write a lot of flashes. I don't post them here anymore but heres an old one
It's easier than you think. Most ideas are easy to say and easy to convey
How do you tell a story in longer form? All you need is about two scenes

[Anonymous No.18335151]

Wrote this on the fly.

[Anonymous No.18335156]

>>18334885
>>18335151
>vtubers
Why are you writing fanfics for them? You simp.

[Anonymous No.18335159]

>>18334836
I have a similar problem too. I started something that was supposed to become a full novel, but I feel like I kinda blew my load already in the first 15k words. But what would I do with a short story like that? Nobody publishes them

[Anonymous No.18335166]

>>18335156
Don't lump me in with him you fuck

[Anonymous No.18335182]

>>18335156
I actually wrote a ten thousand word story for Kiara but I can't post it here because of the resolution.

[Anonymous No.18335183]

>Literal baby-tier writer
>Try first real outline for a short story
>Show my equally baby-tier writing friends
>They shit on me
>Not for doing a bad outline
>But for doing an outline for a short work at all instead of free writing it
Am I a dumbass? I'm going to write the thing just like they would, I just have a rough path in front of me, right?

[Anonymous No.18335192]

>>18335183
sounds like they care more for their small minded notions of what is right rather than the actual results and merit of the process
pseuds in other words. ignore them, do it how you like
it's good to practice other methods though, if you're interested

[Anonymous No.18335231]

>>18335192
>pseuds in other words. ignore them, do it how you like
I will. I usually like showing them my work, but, fug.

>it's good to practice other methods though, if you're interested
Do you mean something specific?

[Anonymous No.18335251]

>>18335231
outlining or not. the ways you approach design, structure, story telling, drafting
don't feel compelled to do things any specific way but it's my opinion that you should try experiment
some people don't give a fuck and want to maximize their time practicing and making progress. that's fine too

[Anonymous No.18335328]

>>18335156
I like them and I want to write about them? Nothing wrong with that.

[Anonymous No.18335368]

>>18335328
You know, I have to ask, do sex story sell well in self-publish? Or would it be better to write them on some literotica site and get some patreon money?

[Anonymous No.18335407]

>>18334456
Happy b-day, anon.

[Anonymous No.18335420]

With Kiara as the OP pic for this thread, here's a little flash fiction about her being your boss. Hope you all enjoy it.

[Anonymous No.18335447]

>>18335156
What do you have against anon writing?

[Anonymous No.18335488]

>>18335183
Do what you feel is comfortable, anon. Don’t make the same mistake and give in.

[Anonymous No.18335525]

>Main character is an unreliable narrator
>Have three ways to start the story that will influence how the story would be told.
>Thinking of just writing all three to see where it goes.
You guys have any tips?

[Anonymous No.18335538]

>>18334487
Self-publish on Amazon or post it on royal road.

[Anonymous No.18335562]

>>18334393
So those still even exist? I thought they were shit down.

[Anonymous No.18335590]

>>18335525
If my post ends in odd numbers, you will choose option 1
If my post ends in even numbers, you will choose option 2
If my post ends in a 0, you will choose option 3
If dubs, you will do all three
If trips you will instead open your book with "It was a dark and stormy night"

[Anonymous No.18335596]

>>18330487
Then why write it like that? What purpose does it serve?

[Anonymous No.18335600]

>>18335590
How about you actually help him, anon?

[Anonymous No.18335613]

>>18335600
the only thing he needs help with is indecisiveness

[Anonymous No.18335615]

>>18335600
He had three different options and I helped him choose one, how is that not helpful?

[Anonymous No.18335618]

>>18335525
>Main character is an unreliable narrator
serious question, how can a realistically implemented, first person narration NOT be unreliable? to be human is to make mistakes and to get caught up in your own bullshit.

[Anonymous No.18335619]

>>18335562
Why would they be? Desperate people exist.

[Anonymous No.18335623]

>>18335618
Because fiction exist, and unless told otherwise, the narrator is telling the truth.

[Anonymous No.18335625]

>>18335618
I think it's generally meant that the unreliable narrator goes out of their way to deceive the reader. So it's not just a subjective story by someone who attempts to be truthful.

[Anonymous No.18335653]

>>18335625
but to the character there is no reader...

[Anonymous No.18335664]

>>18335653
>not narrating your life as if you're in a novel
NGMI.

[Anonymous No.18335669]

>>18335653
Anon, I don't like it when other anons say this, but holy fuck, read some books.

[Anonymous No.18335671]

>>18335623
brainlet
in first person the narrator is a person with all the biases of one

[Anonymous No.18335732]

>>18335653
You do know that the narrator can sometimes be recalling past events to the reader right?

[Anonymous No.18335748]

I've had an idea floating around for a while now for a YA novel:
It would be a story told by multiple POV characters. The main character would be set up as an (initially) very archetypal YA protagonist as seen everywhere from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games.
The core of the novel would be a simple "power corrupts" message. As the story develops, the reader would witness the many stages of authoritarian behavior as interpreted by the protag and the other POV characters. This way, they'd get to see the thought processes that cause someone to act in such a way while also witnessing the effects these thoughts/actions have on other people.

The setting (no matter how uninspired this sounds) would basically be the Lord of the Flies ported into a more modern setting:
>All over the world, everyone above the age of 16 vanishes without trace
>The story revolves around a small Midwestern city where the kids are left to fend for themselves
>The protag, who most people know because he used to be the school announcer, is (at first against his will) thrust into a leadership position along with two other POV characters
>One is the son of a Doctor, so everyone thinks that he must have some medical knowledge
>At first, he'd have the traits of a more classical YA antagonist/bad guy, and would go through the reverse protag experience.
>The third would be a girl obsessed with antiquity who's constantly trying to draw parallels between history and their current situation while also trying to make sense of what happened
>The fourth, a girl who was on a road trip with her family when it happened, would give a less involved perspective on the events of the story, as she knows neither the city nor its inhabitants
Thoughts?

[Anonymous No.18335749]

how do you go about writing erotica? im trying to write something very short (one page) so i dont know if i can build tension. its very taboo and bad so i dunno if it will ever see the light of day

[Anonymous No.18335757]

>>18335749
Erotica as in romance with sex scenes? Or fetish works?

[Anonymous No.18335759]

>>18335748
Feel like this was done 1:1

[Anonymous No.18335769]

>>18335748
it seems like a pretty standard YA idea.
>what if kids but no adults?
this is not in and of itself a bad thing. no idea is good enough to carry an entire piece.

[Anonymous No.18335771]

>>18335757
ye i meant fetish work. like all the way

[Anonymous No.18335793]

>>18335748
>he used to be the school announcer, is (at first against his will) thrust into a leadership position
Why would anyone put people like that in leadership position? In the "adults disappear" scenario, ghetto kids with real life experience would take over and maybe someone booksmart could get into the adviser role.
>One is the son of a Doctor, so everyone thinks that he must have some medical knowledge
Kids aren't that stupid.

Also I don't really get the feel for the characters and what they want. The general plot and message are decent enough for the genre but kinda lack the factor that makes them unique, so it's down to characters to do the most heavy lifting.

[Anonymous No.18335795]

>>18335769
>no idea is good enough to carry an entire piece.
in corollary, no idea is poor enough to ruin it. it all comes down to execution

[Anonymous No.18335799]

>>18335749
>how do you go about writing erotica?
By writing it.

[Anonymous No.18335821]

>>18335748
To add on to what >>18335793 said, don't put roles on people based on what people think about them because it will look like an idiot plot. Force the characters into circumstances and then let them keep playing that role, so instead of being a doctor's son make the character be the first to act in a situation where someone needs medical help. Instead of being the school announcer make the protagonist competent and someone who likes to order people around, initially a few very agreeable people will listen to him, those who don't will face consequences eventually everyone will listen to him. Don't be afraid of maiming and/or killing off a few characters.

[Anonymous No.18335834]

I'm a big enough retard to shell out 10 USD for a copyeditor to look over my story. The feedback was god awful and they didn't even write any notes on what could be improved, which was why I hired them in the first place. They didn't even know what a longship was in a story about Vikings. Just try to write for an imaginary reader who is competent.

[Anonymous No.18335845]

>>18335834
lmao did you hire him off fiver or something

[Anonymous No.18335846]

>>18335793
>ghetto kids with real life experience would take over and maybe someone booksmart could get into the adviser role.
I figured that, since the setting is a middling city in the Midwest, there wouldn't really be any ghetto kids.
>Also I don't really get the feel for the characters and what they want
Yeah, I'll really have to work on that more, along the lines of what >>18335821 said.

[Anonymous No.18335866]

>>18335845
>fiverr
Yeah. I could have cancelled the order but it's just 10 dollars; I didn't want to be a dick. At least I know to avoid them for now. I've worked with proper editors before and it was a bit better, even if they chopped my short story in half... This new story I sent to the fiverr editor had been rejected once with the note something along the lines of "we liked it a lot and it was on the edge for us, but we can't accept it now." My main worry was that it was too violent or misogynistic (duh, Vikings) but this editor from fiverr didn't even bring up the beheading or prostitution in the story. She just ended it with "I like your absurdist ending! :D" so I have no idea if it was over the top, normal, or not relevant at all, and there's something wrong with my style or writing, etc.

[Anonymous No.18335870]

>>18335866
At the very least, you write a good absurdist ending

[Anonymous No.18335884]

>>18335866
You can get $10 for saying that? I'm gonna start doing that.

[Anonymous No.18335886]

>>18335866
i guess it's cheaper than hiring a prostitute, but a $10 dick rub is still a little lacking

[Anonymous No.18335893]

>>18335834
Did you really expect that anyone with a hint of a clue would sell their services 10x below market rate?

[Anonymous No.18335904]

>>18335866
>I like your absurdist ending! :D
kek
great meta narrative, thanks for the laugh anon

[Anonymous No.18335931]

>>18335904
What does this have to do with Lyotard?

>>18335893
Do I really want to spend 100 dollars on one short story? I know I should edit myself but I'm finding it hard to do so when I'm so close to it as the creator.

>>18335884
Just make sure your profile is filled with pictures of you with BOOKS and explain how much you love BOOKS. Try hit a niche market like YA/genre writers and propound to be an expert in that area.

>>18335870
Probably outweighed by this comment (pic related)

[Anonymous No.18335984]

>>18335931
>Do I really want to spend 100 dollars on one short story? I know I should edit myself but I'm finding it hard to do so when I'm so close to it as the creator.
Looks like you already have your answer to that.

[Anonymous No.18335988]

>>18335931
So you write like George Martin. What’s wrong with that.

[Anonymous No.18335994]

>>18335931
>Do I really want to spend 100 dollars on one short story?
Eh, wouldn't say it makes much sense commercially, since there isn't much of a market for these but at the same time, anything below that is the quality of something you could get on writing forums for free.

[Anonymous No.18336000]

>>18335988
Well, the books aren't called "Game of Thrones" for one. That's only the first of the series. Although I loved the ASoIaF books as a kid, they're not really well-written.

>>18335994
>free forums
Yes, I have used them before and that counts as PUBLISHING ONLINE, hence why I don't do it anymore. Even posting stuff here for critique can mean a publisher wont touch your submission with a foot long stick. It's like reprinting something; it is bad practice for them to do so. The only way I get free feedback is letting my friends or family read it.

[Anonymous No.18336011]

>>18336000
>publishers won't touch something that you posted on 4chinz because it'd be reprinting
what the fuck? are you for real?

[Anonymous No.18336016]

>>18336000
>Yes, I have used them before and that counts as PUBLISHING ONLINE, hence why I don't do it anymore
Yeah, it's why you ask the mods or whatever to see if they can delete your posts. Publishers give leeway to authors who seek critiques in writing forums.

[Anonymous No.18336017]

>>18336011
You didn’t know that?

[Anonymous No.18336018]

>>18335771
You write a normal story and add fetish to it. Like taking a magic system and making some of it lewd just because.

[Anonymous No.18336024]

>>18336017
how the hell would they know you posted something here or on a forum? you trying to tell me they've got interns on pay roll to shit post?

[Anonymous No.18336029]

>>18336024
Are you really this ignorant on how publishers do their thing?

[Anonymous No.18336037]

>>18336011
Look at submission guidelines, nearly always they say "no previous publication, including online"

>>18336024
Have you been to university? There are programs like Turn It In that check the internet for plagiarism/similarity. Publishers have access to that kind of shit too.

[Anonymous No.18336043]

>>18336029
if I weren't I'd be in a comfy apartment fucking my literary gf, not shit posting here and writing trash
come on anon, give me the deets. most people post in self terminating bins

[Anonymous No.18336049]

>>18336043
Jesus Christ. I learned this shit for the one week I actually wanted to be traditionally published. You literally have no excuse to be this ignorant.

[Anonymous No.18336053]

>>18336049
Some people here refused to do the bare minimum and expect others to do it for them.

[Anonymous No.18336056]

>>18336037
assumed online publication had a certain aesthetic associated with it, like RR, amazon or a blog or something, not forums
>plagiarism checkers
do they ping deleted bins and screenshots? I thought that this kind of shit was why these were standard sharing methods
>>18336049
your being vague bro, come on. do you honestly think a post on 4chan will get you rejected from a publisher?
everyone knows you can't publish a work in 90% of cases if you want a publisher to pick it up but sharing on forums and online writing groups is not what I would consider a publication and I'd be surprised if a publisher considered it one

[Anonymous No.18336069]

>>18336056
>do you honestly think a post on 4chan will get you rejected from a publisher?
Yes. Don’t think otherwise.
>everyone knows you can't publish a work in 90% of cases if you want a publisher to pick it up but sharing on forums and online writing groups is not what I would consider a publication and I'd be surprised if a publisher considered it one
Unless you delete the post that pertains to the book that’s about to be publish, publishers will consider that publication. It’s literally on some of publisher’s guidelines. As I stated before, you literally have no reason to be this ignorant unless you haven’t done some basic research.

[Anonymous No.18336072]

>>18336056
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ppnAKOatXY
Watch this, there's proper publishers/writers/agents here and they might have the answer for which you seek.

[Anonymous No.18336077]

>>18336069
>publishers will consider that publication
If the entire work is published here. Bits out of it isn't a huge deal unless it spoils something or the reception was horrible.

[Anonymous No.18336082]

>>18336069
well shit
>you literally have no reason to be this ignorant unless you haven’t done some basic research
probably because all the phrasing has to do exclusivity and publishing. I hardly consider 4chan a publishing platform
thanks though

[Anonymous No.18336090]

>>18336077
>If the entire work is published here. Bits out of it isn't a huge deal unless it spoils something or the reception was horrible.
You ain't listen. They don't care, they want everything to be expunge so they can have sole claim to it. They are literally forums on this shit.

[Anonymous No.18336105]

>>18336090
>no sir, no other publications
>software shows no evidence of online uploads
are you assuming that publishers are divine entities or something

[Anonymous No.18336113]

>>18336105
Alright, anon. Take the risk. But don’t say you weren’t warn beforehand.

[Anonymous No.18336125]

>>18336113
you've spooked me, I won't be posting anything here other than self indulgent excerpts, but I can't help but feel that your paranoia is kind of funny. especially since it's primarily backed up by
>well don't you know!
seems almost superstitious

[Anonymous No.18336128]

>>18336105
Reasons not to post anything on 4chan that may be published later:
>It has a bad reputation that will be a blot on your author profile if it's ever uncovered, anons can say: "Hey, I remember reading X on /wg/" even if you used burn after reading pastebins
>Someone can plagiarise your work without you having any real ownership over it because you posted it on a forum. Anon giveth, anon taketh away.
>The feedback you get is either: (1) insincere; (2) trolling; (3) of poor quality; (4) non-specialist; or, (5) not helpful. It could be a combination of those. Get a writing workshop and beta readers if need be.
>Writing should become a solely solitary task and a good writer can self-analyse his own work, often taking years before a piece is finished, whittling it down to the best it can be. 4chan disrupts that process.

[Anonymous No.18336140]

>>18336125
There are literal guides online about this. Some, by agents and publishing house. How is that superstitious?

[Anonymous No.18336159]

>>18336072
>Women.

[Anonymous No.18336165]

>>18336140
the guides say don't do it
publishing houses say they want exclusivity
you barely manage to effectively parrot these sources, relying on the idea that they're right and that they have finality
the other anon speaks much more coherently and persuasively
>>18336128
>>18336037
he actually makes grounded points and addresses the underlaying issues. your communicative skills are frankly embarrassing, to be so emasculated in so few posts compared to your babbling
im mostly being a dick because I hate the
>what you don't know? well I don't either but fuck you!
mentality. im sure you mean well, in your own little way

[Anonymous No.18336175]

>>18336165
How is no previous publication, including online, not a clear example?

[Anonymous No.18336177]

New thread
>>18336176

[Anonymous No.18336183]

>>18336165
>he actually makes grounded points and addresses the underlaying issues.
He doesn’t. And to state otherwise is ludicrous.

[Anonymous No.18336195]

>>18336165
The guy who didn't even know how publishing houses search check the internet for plagiarism/similarity somehow made some grounded points

[Anonymous No.18336204]

>>18336175
Publication is generally meant as "the work being available online" parts of it don't count the same and it generally gets pretty muddy since no one is going to bother beyond a quick google search.

[Anonymous No.18336267]

>>18336165
See >>18336258

[Anonymous No.18336283]

>>18336165
I'll summarise some publisher's submission requirements here because you're probably too lazy to look it up:
>Overland will not – except in special circumstances – accept submissions that have been previously published elsewhere, including on the internet.
Source: https://overland.org.au/submit/
>We do not accept translations or work that have been previously published in print or online.
Source: 32 Poets Submittable
>We consider only previously unpublished work. Writing that has appeared online for any reason, including social media posts, is considered to have been previously published and should not be submitted.
Source: Poetry Magazine Submittable
>We do not accept work previously published in print or online, including on blogs.
Source: https://islandmag.com/submissions
>We only accept writing that has not been published previously, whether in print or on the web.
Source: https://www.nereview.com/ner-submissions/

[Anonymous No.18336290]

>>18336267
Don’t do that. Don’t derail the new thread with this shit. Settle this here.

[Anonymous No.18336299]

>>18330349
what in the fuck is this? looks like schizo writings

[Anonymous No.18336312]

>>18336267
>all uses the same verbiage
what I was stuck up on was both what qualifies as published and how much work they put into verifying that
none of this verifies whether a shit post on 4chan or not would qualify as being a published author
none of this clarifies the extent to which they verify
>>18336283
you're a babbling nigger who has done little more than repeat themselves without ever comprehending what was being said to them
>>18336290
>Don't derail the writing thread with publishing talk
come on now. if nothing else it's a good resource for the next thread

[Anonymous No.18336323]

>>18336312
>if nothing else it's a good resource for the next thread
I can already see where this is going. I’ll rather this be settled here than in the new thread.

[Anonymous No.18336336]

>>18336312
>t. unpublished retard, for now and for the foreseeable future

Read it again: >>18336283
>We consider only previously unpublished work. Writing that has appeared online for any reason, including social media posts, is considered to have been previously published and should not be submitted.
It says explicitly on one submission guideline not to send anything that has appeared on social media. 4chan is social media. You have zero reading comprehension.

[Anonymous No.18336342]

>>18335151
>>18335328
Needs significant work.

[Anonymous No.18336362]

>>18336267
Yo, if it isn’t much, can you delete that post? The new thread shouldn’t suffer from this potential derail. And I think it’s better if discussion stays in this thread.

[Anonymous No.18336366]

>>18336336
thanks anon, glad you could clue in onto the conversation and finally join in
anyways, if I ever feel like submitting something that I've posted here I will, because I use suicide bins and know the risk of being known as a 4chan user is negligible compared to the chance of being rejected because my writing is shit and doesn't have target market appeal

[Anonymous No.18336373]

>>18336342
Anything you didn’t like? Or what you like about it, if you like it at all.

[Anonymous No.18336407]

>>18336366
You haven't even attempted to get stuff out there, yet you expect us to find your "arguments" compelling? You're not even serious about writing, are you? If you try to get published for the first time, and you're past the age of 21, then please just stop and find some hobby. You will never make it if you wait too long. Only young writers add anything to the literary tradition. Mary Shelley was 19 years old when she wrote Frankenstein.

[Anonymous No.18336422]

>>18336362
Done so, anon. Godspeed.

[Anonymous No.18336443]

>>18336407
>seething this hard
did I poke a soft spot or are you always this insecure?

[Anonymous No.18336452]

>>18336422
Thanks, anon.

[Anonymous No.18336471]

>>18336443
Whatever you say, publishlet.

[Anonymous No.18336487]

>>18336373
Headed out the door if new thread starts ill respond there in a while

[Anonymous No.18336498]

>>18336487
Nah, that’s okay, I’ll most likely start editing these two stories.

[Anonymous No.18336708]

>>18336362
The new thread is already suffering. The new thread could do with some writing discussion.

[Anonymous No.18336719]

>>18336708
>letting a no discussion drone tell you what you can and can't post

[Anonymous No.18336736]

>>18336719
Can't believe he legitimately deleted it considering the state of the new thread.

[Anonymous No.18336868]

>>18336128
>Someone can plagiarise your work without you having any real ownership over it
There's also the difficulty of proving you're the original author and not the one stealing shit from online. No publisher wants to bait a court case