/wg/ - Writing General

[Anonymous No.19021929]

>Applying for jannie edition

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
>Links: https://pastebin.com/i4RLYJEx

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

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 Dickens and write serially
https://www.royalroad.com/
> Basic overview of the Screenplay format
https://screenwriting.info/

>Previously on /wg/
>>19002106

[バイポラーたん !Gh99z/1SzU No.19021998]

>10 minutes
>no posts in the writing general
/lit/ deserves to be overrun by trash

[Anonymous No.19022022]

any good place to get resources for writing pulp-noir fiction? Like containing expressions, slangs of the time... 1940-1950 would be the time period. I found some books on amazon but im broke

[Anonymous No.19022042]

>>19021929
>start writing a thing last winter
>forget about it for over six months
>start rewriting the same idea from the beginning
>forget about it again
>now about to start a third attempt at the same idea
Third time's the charm, right? Looking at the first two attempts, there's a very clear difference in approach. I'm going to combine elements from both for a daring synthesis.

[ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐶ !!XsIoGsgaPud No.19022188]

>>19021929
The first rough draft of my novel is 1/6 of the way done. I've been writing every morning for a few hours this month, and sticking to that routine is helping tremendously. I'm trying to figure out how to write short fiction on the side, but the novel is taking all of my focus as of now.

[Anonymous No.19022205]

>>19003896
ok, enjoy double dipping caricatures and calling it writing

[Anonymous No.19022587]

Give me the most pretentious shit you're able to write. I need to have a laugh today.

[Anonymous No.19022673]

reposting my short story from the other thread but with a different ending this time, second draft and i think it's done. feel free to r8, h8, appreci8, whatever, etc

[ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐶ !!XsIoGsgaPud No.19022917]

>>19022673
This seems pointless. People already fight forest fires all the time without being branded according to unoriginal superpowers, why not just tell a story about the real world? Why waste time publicly world-building with yourself on the page when real life is where it's at.

[Anonymous No.19022979]

>>19021998
We used to have writers back in the day, but a bunch of pseuds drove them away since they wrote "anime". Now, no one writes in these threads anymore

[Anonymous No.19023069]

>>19022587
I want to write historical fiction about the book of Ezra. So Achaemenid Persians, Jews and Samaritans. Wanted to tell the story comprehensively with the full context of previous centuries to feel the full weight of the revelation Ezra had at the end.

[Anonymous No.19023091]

Do you guys feel like you are trying to do too much with the first book you are writing? It feels like I should focus on a few specific themes rather than trying to write about the big questions, which I've been doing so far. I guess I'm mainly just afraid of trying to jump too high and falling on my ass.

[Anonymous No.19023115]

>>19023091
Just write and stop looking for excuse on not to write

[Anonymous No.19023153]

>>19023091
Constructing themes, big questions, etc is likely wishful thinking. Write about what resonates with you, be it plot or people, then you can analyse your draft and write the next.

[Anonymous No.19023155]

Another Friday, another 10k chapper done.

[Anonymous No.19023179]

>>19023153
I am working on the second draft (which is honestly a 95% rewrite) and I wrote exactly about the things that are of interest and relevance to me, but most of those relate to big questions in some way and I feel a bit out of my depth when it comes to perhaps finding answers or even proposing them. Guess maybe I shouldn't try to answer them?

[Anonymous No.19023218]

>>19023179
You can answer them for yourself, but how interesting it is when comes to the lives of your characters? Because your book will be asking others to spend at least several hours on it.

[Anonymous No.19023369]

>>19023218
If they have similar questions and fears, or at least they see why they can be important for some, I think their situations will be interesting (or at least hope I can achieve that) on their own without me trying to find some definite truths and answers. This isn't my issue, it just feels like my book is hard to narrow down to one or two easy to comprehend themes and something tells me that for a first work, I should try to write something like that instead of reaching too high.

[Anonymous No.19023374]

>>19023369
>This isn't my issue, it just feels like my book is hard to narrow down to one or two easy to comprehend themes and something tells me that for a first work, I should try to write something like that instead of reaching too high.
Jesus Christ, either write or don't.

[Anonymous No.19023400]

>>19023374
I am for fucks sake, should I just never think about it from a wider perspective or what?

[Anonymous No.19023418]

>>19022587
Upon what doth thine inner peace rest upon? Does one not look deep inside themselves only to find the shadow staring back? This tale may seem to many to be naught but a merger thrill, but for those of us who know, who vacate the minds and embrace the cosmological underpinnings of reality will know the truth when it is seen and grip the facts as if the bosom of a woman. I speak of course of the tale of Charlie. It had been previously a quite dark and stormy night. The winds blew with rage and the rains fell with piercing intent. The fireplace alit and the lights dimmed low, the master of the house sat reading a book, listening to the pitter patter of the windows and the creeks of the wood. Not so little Charlie at his feet playing with toys without a care in the world. His hair that day had beautiful curls for he had yet to go out in the rain that night. When Charlie looked about the window he saw big black almond shaped eyes lurking in the shadows, just past the glass.

[バイポラーたん !Gh99z/1SzU No.19023428]

>>19023400
Ignore the just write idiots, something tells me they've never actually written anything

Try incorporating secondary themes through subtext, like the B plot, atmosphere or metaphor. Also you can never incorporate all thematic variations into your work so narrow down the ones you think you can execute well

[Anonymous No.19023437]

>>19023400
You just make it sound like a thesis, with how focused you are on themes and larger question. Or a psychological retrospection.

[Anonymous No.19023442]

>>19023437
I mean, learn to walk before you run and all that.

[Anonymous No.19023502]

>>19023442
Yes, so learn to write

[Anonymous No.19023638]

>>19023369
What I did is revolve the story around a main premise, and themes come up to illustrate the premise. There's completely right way to do it, but you must convince yourself to say it.
>premise to explore post-singularity humanity to see what doest change
>theme of salvation/justification, perfection, weakness, sincerity, but also moral irony and ambiguity because those are just things that always come to mind
>themes manifest in characters in different ways like how they lie, imcompetence, illness, faith or lack thereof
If you want to be sure just draw out a tree like that and you can neatly categorize themes that support the world you are exploring to support a case you are making. The themes can branch and blend as much as you have room to write it.

[Anonymous No.19023655]

>>19023638
I meant there's no* right way to do it. Just relax and imagine yourself making the case to a close friend, dont even tell a story just the ideas.

[Anonymous No.19023688]

>>19023638
Thanks. I never wrote things out like that or made a tree, but might do that if I get tangled up. Imagining a conversation about it sounds good actually.
>>19023428
Thanks for the tip.
>>19023437
This is the first time I posted here about it or really tried looking at it like this. As I'm halfway through making a second draft, I feel like it's warranted to think about it like this.

[Anonymous No.19023921]

>>19023418

[Anonymous No.19024029]

>>19023069
This sounds fascinating anon any way I could take a look at what you’ve got so far?

>>19023091
Honestly I’ve been sitting on a completed rough draft for a horrific fantasy novel I wrote in 6 months and I’ve been too afraid to touch it since I finished

[Anonymous No.19024096]

>tfw my character motivations and plot barely makes sense

but how important is this really

[Anonymous No.19024130]

>>19024096
depends
It usually is important but if you have some other angle you're going for then maybe that will give it more weight. Tell us more about the story.

[Anonymous No.19024138]

What person are you writing in? Why?

[Anonymous No.19024175]

>>19024138
1. dunno lol
2. cuz

[Anonymous No.19024277]

>>19024138
People write here? Feels like people keep asking the same asinine and trite questions as a way to not write.

[Anonymous No.19024295]

>>19024138
third person > second person >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> first person

[Anonymous No.19024417]

>>19024138
Third person ominicent. I tried first person in my first attempt at novel I suck at it went to third om way easier to work with

[Anonymous No.19024447]

>>19024138
>What person are you writing in? Why?
1st and because I like to read about peoples thoughts while shit happens. It allows much more characterisation as you write.

[Anonymous No.19024489]

>>19024138
third person limited

[Anonymous No.19024491]

Writing is 90% about thinking about writing and the the rest is just writiting. Am i not wrong?

[Anonymous No.19024515]

>>19024138
Third because it puts distance between the reader and my protagonist. It's important that she seem isolated, and this way I can also vary the level of distance as the story develops--at the most intense moments the reader can hear her thoughts, but in other moments of distance the reader cannot.

[Anonymous No.19024541]

>>19024295
Why?

[Anonymous No.19024554]

> just write
Seems to me worthless advice. You can “just write” a lot of garbage for years and never improve at all and then ultimately, it will get pinned on a lack of talent but in reality, you never actually did anything to improve. You just wrote.

[Anonymous No.19024607]

>>19024554
Stop looking for excuses and just write. Christ, or come to terms you’re a shit writer.

[Anonymous No.19024657]

>>19022587
>Hark! The gamer's plaintive cry!
>Tears stream his face, He's want to die.
>"Ye gods who made Final Fantasy gay
>Who banned the N-word, Nigger, say
>Whom do you serve? Who is your master?
>Is Sonic or your shekels faster?
>Does Mario crown your piaster?
>You've played no old JRPG
>Or you'd have morals, philosophy
>Tis true that Pan abandoned us,
>And so the God of Boethius!?"

[Anonymous No.19024659]

>>19024138
I write chapters in first and third-limited person depending on the POV but there is an explicit rule of 1 PoV in a chapter.

[Anonymous No.19024676]

>>19022979
Stop repeating this tired meme. There’s plenty of us who have been here since /wg/ started. I give my two cents when I can be bothered and I have publications.

[Anonymous No.19024715]

>>19024676
Where can I read what you’ve done?

[Anonymous No.19024727]

>>19024659
I have changed to third person for a few paragraphs in an out of body sequence

[Anonymous No.19024744]

>>19024029
The premise for the story occurred to me as I wanted to think about the end of one civilization with the restoration of a group of people under the wing of a new civilization. One historic example of that is after Babylon you had Persia.
While there's some political theater with the way King Cyrus presented his freeing of the nations, I really wonder how he felt about the Babylonians, and the Neo Assyrians before them. If you study the 200 years of history before that event, it's rife with the most insane hypocrisy where each civilization falls to the same corruption that they destroyed other nations for.
Enter Ezra, a Jew born in exile and a scribe trying to translate the scripture into Aramaic so the Jews could read it. He also has to work with other historians and sources to recover the lost history of Judah and Israel, and writes down all the wrongs of their past in Chronicles and Kings. But still he imagined they had made up for these sins.
However when Ezra was doing this, he also helped drive a wedge to further separate Samaritans from the Jews by making language in the Aramaic that alienated the Samaritans, who used to be what Israel was. The Persians later inform Ezra that many of the political struggles they faced was actually a conspiracy that for decades people within the Empire specifically were trying to destroy Jewish tradition and bloodline and it was succeeding (there can be a cool subplot to show historically how they foiled this 60+ year long conspiracy to undermine Cyrus). This revelation that he had fought his entire life believing God was on their side and trying to free them for being righteous, he realized it was all a lie and that God was helping them despite them being irredeemably against them since the days of Moses. Ezra immediately had a a total mental breakdown, and in my opinion one of the most dramatic moments of the Old Testament.

[Anonymous No.19024755]

>crit
>>19022673
>three jarring similes by second paragraph
You need to make these line up better if you repeat a technique like the simile.
>third paragraph has weird add-ons
Try to carve and shape this down to something that reads more clearly. The last “yet” is a bit out of place.
>third paragraph
Pretty good now, I like that this builds up the scene with visuals. It reminds me slightly of how it was done in Fahrenheit 451.
>reusing the ant imagery from before in paragraph 8
I get you’re building off the previous image but it’s not a good contrast and barely feels put together.
>firemen and watermen
Why are they like elemental benders from The Last Airbender? It’s a little strange. There’s almost no reason or context given. You need to draw in a reader and make clear what the world is for.

>writing
https://pastebin.com/s0PquJfi

[Anonymous No.19024762]

>>19024715
Would you rather email or discord?

[Anonymous No.19024799]

>>19024762
Just posted here, like the gold old days, if it’s not a meme.

[Anonymous No.19024844]

>>19024138
Third, because I don't quite understand how to effectively write in first person.

Good evening everyone.

I posted this in the other thread but it was pretty much dead. Looking to finish this tonight or tomorrow, but can anyone tell me how it reads or what they think. I want to learn harder into the boxing shit, but I can't tell if I'm crowbarring it.

Thanks

https://pastebin.com/x72NF7Uh

[Anonymous No.19024853]

>>19024744
I like it but it needs more aliens or dogs.

[Anonymous No.19024863]

>>19024799
Here’s a rejected manuscript that got good feedback, the editors said it just didn’t seem to fit their upcoming issue too well. It would help greatly if anons could point out where it sucked or what needed work, or if it needs scrapping. Thanks in advance for reading.
https://pastebin.com/YySwTMMU

[Anonymous No.19024876]

I want to write anime shit, where do I start?

[Anonymous No.19024918]

>>19024863
>Although the path over sea was long and arduous, Ulfrik feared not the dangers he faced.
Stopped reading.

[Anonymous No.19024923]

>>19024918
Do you do this every thread for a laugh or are you just unable to get past the first sentence? Thanks though.

[Anonymous No.19024949]

>>19024876
Just start. Anime shit is easy.

[Anonymous No.19024964]

>know tons of words
>only about 50 come to mind when writing

[Anonymous No.19024973]

>know tons of words
>only about 50 come to mind when writing

how do I fix this.

[Anonymous No.19024988]

>>19024964
>>19024973
Just write

[Anonymous No.19025000]

>>19024973
read more.

[Anonymous No.19025004]

>>19024876
Make an outline and a story. Then edit the outline with anime tropes to exaggerate it to the extent that you want.

I prefer to stay on more subtle and normal side of stories even in scifi, but I'm tempted to later have stories with just a couple exaggerated parts because I do still think it's cool. I like to keep fights short no matter how crazy they are, gotta focus on the motivation and emotion more than the fighting technique to hook the reader.

[Anonymous No.19025041]

>>19024973
Unironically use a thesaurus until you can generate more words yourself

[Anonymous No.19025074]

>>19024657
Not the guy you're replying to but lol

[Anonymous No.19025142]

>>19024973
same problem except half of mine are synonyms for 'dog' and 'alien'

[Anonymous No.19025194]

How do u write in a fancy style, but at the same time something a kid will enjoy?

[Anonymous No.19025199]

>>19025194
By writing.

[Anonymous No.19025223]

>>19025142
>>19024876
"Shiba Inu-san! Shiba Inu-san! There were sightings of UFO's yesterday! Can you believe it? I saw it when I was about to confess to my crush, Poodle-chan." I knew Shiba Inu-san was the only one in school who would believe me. We had been best friends since I moved into this neighborhood. Shiba Inu-san took me under his wing. He would know what to do now that the aliens had arived!

[Anonymous No.19025228]

>>19025194
By reading and writing.

[Anonymous No.19025268]

>>19022188
I'm trying to find a good routine but work is such a drain at times

[Anonymous No.19025342]

>>19024973
Like other anon, I have a online thesaurus on basically one-hundred percent of the time. That really helps with word variety

[Anonymous No.19025343]

Can someone direct me to resources for writing science. I love creating analogies to explain complex biological topics. Are people successful at this due to "clout" from their academic position or due to their skills as a writer?

[Anonymous No.19025406]

>>19025343
https://www.allthingsdogs.com/dog-anatomy/
https://alien-ufo-research.com/the-greys/

[Anonymous No.19025441]

>>19025343
You can write Hard SF without being a scientist, but you will need to be close friends with several scientists who are willing to alpha read to make sure you are getting your story correctly. If your story doesn't heavily depend on the science being write, reading on your own will work most of the time. You still need to gain trust with the reader. One technique is to be detailed about a little fact so that you build trust with the reader. Then give them a "big lie" to swallow and don't even explain how it works. They will usually accept it especially if its concerning a fictional concept. You need to be careful about hand-waving real facts though, because if your story gets into economics and your economics are totally wrong you won't fool an economist. There are lots of educated readers out there, so be aware of what kinds of education your story depends on.

[Anonymous No.19025451]

I just finished the first draft of my first-ever short story (7k, but I'm going to edit the hell out of it)
Baby steps, maybe, but it feels good anons

[Anonymous No.19025545]

>>19024876
Write slice of life, or choose a cool science idea to form a story around but keep it character centric and add mechs. Or write a Dragon Quest inspired story about Hero vs Demon king.
Or just write whatever you thought of and keep it fun.

[Anonymous No.19025551]

>>19025343
Do you want to write fiction, or popularized scientific articles?

[Anonymous No.19025560]

>>19025343
>analogies
>science
This isn’t a good way of going about it.

[Anonymous No.19025613]

>>19023091
small things can often be taken as a microcosm of larger things whilst also feeling more personal to the reader and having a deeper impact. every writer probably has a grand dream of writing a great novel that explores the meaning of life, but you would have more success on that path if you just wrote about the woman down the street who walks dogs for a living and talks to all the neighbours on her way.

[Anonymous No.19025625]

>>19024923
not him but most readers will mercilessly drop you at the first thing that rubs them wrong. in his case it's your first sentence which is archaic, and archaic sentence formulations are often used by writers who haven't actually read much and so they have in their head a strange antiquated author's voice who says things like verily and on the morrow.

[Anonymous No.19025642]

>>19025613
Or even just about the dog she walks who knows about the alie

[Anonymous No.19025759]

>>19025625
I'd rather call them attempts at poetic, or theatrical.

[Anonymous No.19025796]

>>19025441
>You still need to gain trust with the reader. One technique is to be detailed about a little fact so that you build trust with the reader. Then give them a "big lie" to swallow and don't even explain how it works.
i feel the same way but in writing magical realism

>>19025451
aight lad, go get em

[Anonymous No.19025861]

What word processor makes me write better?

[Anonymous No.19025889]

>>19025861
Obsidian or DoggieDashboard on an Alienware laptop.

[DR. GONZO !!JUfMKYBLVi9 No.19026161]

The cask wine would do. I had $8 left and it cost $7.99. Fair deal, at that price. I’d lost my wallet a week prior at the bottle-o. Damn weasels at the store couldn’t be fucked finding it. It was a Che Guevara wallet from Cuba, made from good leather. I missed it.
The GOON was Chardy, a terrible womanish drink; it would do for the purposes of getting me 20 standards drunk, though. Indeed, it was equivalent to 2.67 bottles of wine, and that’s about all I can manage in a night without jumping off a bridge.
Of course, the dousing of alcohol on my already schizophrenic psyche was a bad idea… but the world was already so cold. A bonfire would do me good.

[Anonymous No.19026396]

>>19025551
I want to write stuff like the Emperor of All Maladies or The Selfish Gene. Obviously not comparing myself to Dawkins with The Selfish Gene, but a guy like Sidharttha Mukerjee with his "biography" type books. Did someone just approach him with a book deal because of his degrees/institutions (clout)?

>>19025441
I wish I had the mind to create science fiction, but I am a researcher, so I'm talking about writing nonfiction. This is great advice though for SF.

[Anonymous No.19026400]

>>19026396
>Did someone just approach him with a book deal because of his degrees/institutions (clout)?
No, he wrote.

[Anonymous No.19026690]

>>19021929
Man, that tension between that lady and that shota cock is so thick you could cut it with a knife.

[Anonymous No.19026700]

Who are the best romance writers (not necessarily the genre, but anyone that's written on romance in their works)?

[DR. GONZO !!JUfMKYBLVi9 No.19026703]

>>19026700
D.H. Lawrence is supposed to be great, even risqué. Depends on what you want though.

[Anonymous No.19026707]

Say my fantasy story is around 60k words, as a debut novel in YA does that seem too short?

I looked at one of the links in the OP and it said that they are supposed to be longer because of world building and the like.

Also is self-publishing viable for getting your foot in the door? I'm finding trouble learning how to market effectively.

[DR. GONZO !!JUfMKYBLVi9 No.19026726]

>>19026707
>around 60k words, as a debut novel in YA does that seem too short?
That's a short novel, but it's fine for a standalone, in my opinion. My favourite novels are that short, or shorter novellas.
>I looked at one of the links in the OP and it said that they are supposed to be longer because of world building and the like.
But try to remember it is your work, anon. If you don't have unnecessary info-dumping, it should remain short and sweet. Do you have much world-building anyway?
>Also is self-publishing viable for getting your foot in the door? I'm finding trouble learning how to market effectively.
Depends on what you want. If you can't market yourself and get buzz going on your lonesome, then that's what a publishing house is for. Self-publishing allows for higher royalties, but you're going to be the main person trying to sell it to people. Think about going to book clubs, book fairs, literary festivals, writing communities, Goodreads, Booktube, etc. I personally think it's too much work, so I prefer traditional publishing; it's just hard to find an agent and a publisher that fits. May I suggest you use these guys? I heard they target YA Fantasy audiences; they also focus on novellas or short novels.
>YA is encouraged, but we are not primarily a YA market, and publish for all ages.
https://thefantasistmag.com/submissions-guidelines/

[Anonymous No.19026857]

>>19026707
Why are people here so obsessed with word count? Unless you're writing some 200k+ word doorstopper, or something even more absurd, you have zero reason to care

[Anonymous No.19027311]

>>19026726
Thank you! That's actually fantastic advice.

There's a fair amount of world building within the story, but I sort of felt a need to not overly explain things. I suppose I could try and find some alpha or beta readers to give it a glance to see if anything is poorly explained.

The work of self publishing doesn't sound too daunting to me, I just lack a following of my own atm and would prefer it if I had a set out path that I could look into.

[Anonymous No.19027329]

poem 1/2

[Anonymous No.19027333]

>>19027329

poem 2/2

[DR. GONZO !!JUfMKYBLVi9 No.19027369]

>>19027329
The last line of the first stanza seems out of place to me, like a run-on sentence after some punchy lines. Not sure what you were going for, but maybe that was the intention. Second stanza is nice, reminds me a bit of Raoul Duke. And the ambiguity of voice and subject is pleasant to read.
>There is slime on the water
Very good line; it gives off a change of pace and scene. I don’t see how that figures into the next three lines, which seem disjointed. The fourth stanza is humorous, if that was what you’re going for. It has a weird, warped, and psychedelic feel to it, like a Butthole Surfers song.
>>19027333
Again, your pace and flow are a bit off. Try to learn some meter first to see how to break the hexameter or pentameter. At the moment it’s wild without being compelling.

[Anonymous No.19027396]

>>19026161
This prose has hunter Thompson rolling in his grave.

[DR. GONZO !!JUfMKYBLVi9 No.19027397]

>>19027396
Why?

[Anonymous No.19027418]

Is writing a novel easier than making a game?

[Anonymous No.19027420]

Can I write a novel if I dobt read books at all?

[Anonymous No.19027425]

>>19027420
will be shit.

[DR. GONZO !!JUfMKYBLVi9 No.19027452]

>>19027418
Depends on what you mean by either. Anyone can program some shitty pong game in Game Studio or a JRPG in RPG Maker, though not many people can develop something as vast as Red Dead Redemption without heaps of time and money. Most novels are written by one person and it takes a large degree of flair, erudition, taste, and balls to pull it off. Many novels go unread or never even leave someone’s figurative drawer. It’s wholly dependent on circumstances and what you want to do in either medium. What novel do you have in mind?

[Anonymous No.19027461]

>>19027452
dunno, I just want to become a writer after realizing videogames are too hard to make something that can compete with big AAA titles.

[DR. GONZO !!JUfMKYBLVi9 No.19027475]

>>19027461
>big AAA titles.
If you want to be a bestseller in novelism, I suggest you stick to some easy-reading genre that will garner you fame and fortune. Bad news is that everyone else and their mother is trying to do this. If you want to try the hard path, be a literary author like McCarthy and nearly starve to death until you write the next big novel for the canon. He refused working to write. It takes all of your day reading and writing to do that. I suggest getting a library card either way, or an e-reader so you can pirate whatever book you want to read. Read all day and write at least 2000 words a day as a goal, for the sake of getting used to it.

[Anonymous No.19027482]

>>19027369
definitely going for humorous. I used to write a lot of very lyrical and dreamy poetry when I was younger but it was never really funny. Now I just like cracking myself up half the time

Pic related, wrote earlier this morning

[Anonymous No.19027493]

>>19027475
well, from my expectations, best sellers usually are popular because of a few reasons, which boils down to having a satisfactory story with a proper resolutions, a few twists, and clifhangers on every chapter to keep reading.

I think best sellers deserve credit for being books that appeal to most people and are entertaining and easy to read.

Most literary fiction is up smelling their own farts to be worth something to most people.

It's a lot why a single manga BTFO the entire american industry, because it appealed to people.
You can appeal with an interesting premise, some casual sex, action scenes, good mistery to solve, interesting characters, wacky stuff, etc.

[Anonymous No.19027502]

>>19027482

another one that cracked me up hard to write

>>19027369

ty for all feedback btw. I started writing poetry again just recently and was surprised how rusty I was - it used to be much more natural and fluid to me (which is how I feel about writing prose now)

[DR. GONZO !!JUfMKYBLVi9 No.19027527]

>>19027493
>well, from my expectations, best sellers usually are popular because of a few reasons, which boils down to having a satisfactory story with a proper resolutions, a few twists, and clifhangers on every chapter to keep reading.
Fair enough. I’m no one to bag fiction that sells and I’m over my wild goose chase for pure literature, because the truth is a lot of “literary” stuff is rife with red herrings or dead ends themselves, even if they promise to be better forms of art.
>I think best sellers deserve credit for being books that appeal to most people and are entertaining and easy to read
Isn’t that also an issue of art taking a while to be accepted by the consensus of critics? Even now Genre fiction is being taught in universities and we’ll soon study fanfiction and whatnot in a generation or two.
>Most literary fiction is up smelling their own farts to be worth something to most people.
I beg to differ, there’s a lot going on in literary fiction, such as concepts and thematic undertones and overtones, which are the lifeblood of good critical reading.
>It's a lot why a single manga BTFO the entire american industry, because it appealed to people.
You can appeal with an interesting premise, some casual sex, action scenes, good mistery to solve, interesting characters, wacky stuff, etc.
That stuff isn’t new. It came out of Ming Dynasty novels like Romance of the Three Kingdoms or Journey to the West.

[Anonymous No.19027551]

>>19027527
yeah, I think in any case, a worthy goal should be the combination of a genre fiction novel, but also having elements from literary fiction.

[Anonymous No.19027634]

>>19027461
>Implying videogames need to be big to compete with AAA
Amogus, minecraft, a ton of mobile games, etc, were made by one or few people and smashed most of the so called AAA. What you need is an interesting execution of a decent idea that is promoted out of obscurity by being in the right place at the right time.

[Anonymous No.19027640]

>>19027634
they're luckier games.

like winning the lottery.

[Anonymous No.19027650]

>>19027640
Same as novels getting popular enough to get paid subscribers, or whatever other method you prefer. Although, arguably, web serials stand a better chance at getting out of obscurity because your new chapters regularly remind potential readers that your work exists.

[Anonymous No.19027657]

>>19027650
yeah, but you can finish a novel in a month and have it compete with the best works in a century.

you can't make a game in a month that is worth a damn.

[Anonymous No.19027665]

>>19027657
>one month for a novel
And you'll still have to edit it into shape.

[Anonymous No.19027676]

>>19027665
yeah, but still is possible to compete with the big writers.

You can't compete with the big boys in videogames.

[Anonymous No.19027683]

>>19027676
You mean that a big vg company will take your idea and make it better?

[Anonymous No.19027689]

>>19027683
What I mean is more like a sport.

You can do alone a novel that can compete with the best works of all time.
But you can't create along a game that can do the same.

Simply because It's impossible to master in a realistic time frame all the skills to make a game.

It's more a matter of it being like the olympics.

>But you dont need to master all
Again, if I'm going to make crappy games, I rather focus on something easier.

[Anonymous No.19027846]

>>19024607
Do you people not realize how worthless and actually very ironic your comments are? Are they jokes?

[Anonymous No.19027892]

>>19026396
As far as science non-fiction goes, I would recommend you read The Logic of Scientific Discovery by Karl Popper. Get a better understanding of how scientific arguments are made and the shortcomings of science. Also in your arguments try to use a "mathematical" language such as in math, language and logic where you are using words in a particular way to be as clear as possible what you are saying. Being less vague with your word usage will help your arguments since science can get awfully complicated.
A lot of science non-fiction has hundreds of facts, and sources to back it up. For the scifi I was writing, I'm always informed by at least some science non-fiction so I can get general knowledge fast and drill in with sources if I have to. I think Ray Kurzweil has some nice writing because he throws in things that are personal and humorous. Some of Ray's pages are charts and data table illustration that are helpful for evidence, but your interpretation of the chart is what people really want to read.

[Anonymous No.19027972]

>>19027689
Hypothetically, yes, but I think you underestimate the time it takes to master the craft of writing. Most people who write never achieve mastery.
Still worth trying though

[Anonymous No.19028148]

>>19027972
Right. It could take 2 years to really click and master something you are doing 40 hours a week. Sometimes it takes 20 years. If you deliberately look at your weaknesses for each book you write, you can get better. You have to write a lot to have writing to improve upon. I think if you are humble and avoid purple prose and make an effort to edit mistakes, focus on telling a good story first and people will appreciate it. You don't have to be brilliant.

[Anonymous No.19028237]

>>19021929
Didn't know they already finished the restoration.

[Anonymous No.19028684]

>tfw made my hacky writing a part of the story

[Anonymous No.19028740]

>>19023069
I am the anon you replied to and unirocally think it's great.

[Anonymous No.19028758]

>mfw just can't write anything without hating it afterwards

How do I just FUCKING WRITE AND NOT HATE IT FOR ONCE? Everything I write sounds to me as if I'm (badly) copying someone else's style, my best attempts are cheap pastiche. How do I find an authentic voice?

[Anonymous No.19028768]

>>19028758
Should be fine if you’re copying the style of someone who is actually good, right? I think it always fees a bit like copying at first. The key then is to be careful who you copy.

[Anonymous No.19028776]

Just realized my prose is purple. What do?

[Anonymous No.19028795]

>>19028768
>I think it always fees a bit like copying at first

Maybe, but I feel the same way forever. It doesn't help that I don't read literature in my own mother tongue as much as I read in english/spanish either. I wish I had some powerful prose in my native language that I could emmulate as an exercise.

t. native portuguese speaker

[Anonymous No.19028850]

>>19028795
Make yourself cut an eighth of the words, or a quarter, or half.
While I'm writing, I have to constantly remind myself to go after accuracy and economy, not prettiness. Then I still go back and cut a lot.

[Anonymous No.19028932]

>>19023400
it's more that the "perspective" you're looking for is some sort of rule about what first novels are "supposed" to be about, which doesn't exist. other people can't decide for you what your novel should be like and asking them for it is just a useless expression of your anxiety. write it then read it then decide if you like it.

[Anonymous No.19029056]

Are any of you guys writing web serials or web novels?

[Anonymous No.19029067]

>>19028795
I’m a native English speaker, but I read mostly translations. There are downsides to that so I can sympathize, but at least you’re reading in your second language. I don’t even do that. Still, it just is what it is. I think it’s normal to feel as though you’re just copying for years at least.

[Anonymous No.19029083]

How do you guys organize your notebooks? I have volumes of schizobabble that are completely disorganized and I need to adopt a more conducive strategy.

Is it better to keep multiple notebooks, I.e., one for fiction, another for notes/research, and a third for - idk - dreams or some shit? Or, keep one with multiple subjects. Maybe, not overthink the whole thing too much.

[Anonymous No.19029095]

>>19029083
I'd use separate notebooks, but you also could leave the first few pages blank as a table of contents and fill it in as you write in the notebook so you can easily find the thing. Your writing style may want you to keep them all together and in that case I'd use a toc.

[Anonymous No.19029128]

>>19029056
Yes

[Anonymous No.19029150]

>>19029128
I know this is a very vague question, but can I get some general advice, or even pointing in the direction of where I can learn about the medium? I know nothing about web serialization or that audience but I’ve recently developed an interest in it (alongside the light novel medium but as I understand it, that’s not much of a thing in English in yet and I can’t illustrate anyway).

[Anonymous No.19029216]

>>19029150
What's there to learn? You think of a lengthy story, post chapters regularly to attract the audience. If you are in the west, you try to get a patreon or whatever, in asia you might get a contract for manga/LN adaptation, which later can move to anime.

As for LNs in the west, a ton of light novel inspired webnovels are made in the west. I assume it's because comics and cartoons are in decline, so manga/anime replaced them as a source of inspiration. As for books, the west doesn't have the aforementioned webnovel > LN talent search and good tradpub books are rare.

[Anonymous No.19029276]

>>19029216
Yeah, I would prefer to go with traditional publishing and simply try to publish a serialized light novel, or some non-illustrative serial equivalent I guess. But like I said, it seems that’s not really developed here yet. So that’s why I’m interested in web novels and web serials.

The serialization writing is new to me though. How much actually gets planned out before writing typically? Obviously, you need a beginning at minimum. You should probably have an ending in mind at least. As for the middle, is it just shot from the hip? If you’ve got advice on these things, that would be great. If not that’s fine too. I understand it’s a process of trial and error.

Is Royal Road the best platform for English serialization?

[Anonymous No.19029326]

>>19028758
I've heard even Clive Barker feels this way about almost every thing he writes halfway through. Not that he hasn't written a bad story before, but he's pretty successful. I heard his editor on a podcast once explaining how most writers feel this way, and it's because we become so familiar with that "shiny new idea" that it's no longer compelling. It's just boring, played out. You have to keep working on it though, editing and developing the prose until its done and eventually you will have said what you have to say, people will read it and some of them will want to read more.

Your voice will come out naturally in a way that you may never totally notice. Has anyone ever told you how your accent was different, or your word choice? It's the most valuable thing a writer has, and no one can completely imitate your experiences, feelings and words you use to describe it. So spill them out onto the page. You may still have to control the words you use to stay consistent with genre or characters, but be careful on stifling your voice too much.

[Anonymous No.19029390]

>>19027846
Just write.

[Anonymous No.19029407]

>>19029276
Well, planning needed depends on your approach to the structure.
Episodic webnovels don't end, they just stop when the readers get bored, a lot of these fall under gamelike progression or *cultivation* powercreep.
LN inspired stuff usually focus on characters, their interactions and their daily lives, the so called *slice of life*, to create a long running story. Or they go power fantasy in any of its flavours and the ending is whatever made sense at the moment, given the state of characters.
Then there are webnovels that plug episodic story arcs, usually with at least some lasting consequences, into an overarching plot.

As for the best platform, RR might be the best for english language. There's Scribblehub for more niche works and Tapas that I know little about, but both have smaller readerbases.

[Anonymous No.19029470]

What do you guys do when you have to write a story that relies a lot on the past of the main character? I'm writing a novella about a guy who's trying to uncover his dad's suicide, but this story relies a lot on scenes that happened long before the suicide taking place. I usually don't do flashbacks but now I feel this is really necessary for this story to advance. While I was planning it, I was able to organize the present and past scenes very consistently, but now that I'm actually writing them, I'm trying to balance the story's pacing and realized this will be a long ride.

Some references I'm using are Bernhard's The Loser and Ishiguro's Remains of the Day, in which both narrators are recalling events from the past. I realized that using some indexes such as prepositional groups like "on that evening", "on that day my dad did something" and so on helps a lot. Using those help me transition between present and past smoothly. I'm also not just summarizing past events. All of them are scenes in which action takes place so that I can intensify the narrator's motives and conflict through all of that. However, sometimes I feel like I'm over-explaining things. Then I sit down and read Remains of the Day and realize Ishiguro is over-explaining everything almost pleonastically. Am I relying too much on those "dos and don'ts of creative writing"?

Anyway, any books you guys could recommend to help me out or any advice? Thank you!

[Anonymous No.19029508]

>>19028776
Trim unnecessary words out of the sentence. You can condense all of the feelings you have in an entire paragraph into one or two short sentences, poets regularly do this. So focus on eliciting the feeling that you want, not on finding a place to use $5 words.
Maybe try reading good poetry every now and then and see how they do it. Maybe try Robert Frost.

[Anonymous No.19029550]

>>19029470
Maybe you can try an epistolary style story where part of it is from the main character's POV, and others are from a written perspective. That way you can have the feeling that you are discovering relics from the past with your protagonist, but you also get to experience the past like its really happening, rather than have a character just tell you that it happened. A good epistle can have all the feeling that a writer could describe a scene with. I don't have many examples of epistolary stories to recommend, but I think it could work for you.

[Anonymous No.19029608]

>>19026726
>>19027311
That magazine appears to be defunct.

>This is all going to take some time of course, so The Fantasist will be going on a roughly year-long hiatus while we work things out behind the scenes. Expect to hear from us again in late November of 2020, if you know what I mean. If you want to learn more about our upcoming projects, or how you can get involved, please reach out to us by email.

[Anonymous No.19029792]

>>19029407
What you described isn’t exactly what I’m going for. Maybe I need to reassess the medium and just go for the conventional fantasy series or something…

[DR. GONZO !!JUfMKYBLVi9 No.19029815]

>>19029608
My bad, I must have see them last year and didn’t think about checking if they were running still.
Try these out. Pic related is strict as but you might like them. Bear in mind they don’t do simultaneous submissions, and you’d have to cut it down to 40k words.
https://deepmagic.co/submissions/
This other one does YA fantasy, I think, at the size you want.
http://ink-smith.com/submissions/

[Anonymous No.19029895]

>>19029792
Well, it's a pretty open medium. You might succeed outside of trends if its done well.

[Anonymous No.19029950]

Today I reached 50k words in my current project. Between that, my previous novel, and a few side projects, I have written 150k words in the last two months. That's three NaNoWriMos

And I still haven't published anything even to Amazon

God I need to edit one of these and buy cover art.

[Anonymous No.19029988]

>>19029950
what does edit mean

[Anonymous No.19030036]

>>19029950
>God I need to edit one of these and buy cover art.
Do you need help? I can see if I know anyone up to your taste or you could make some ads on social media…

[Anonymous No.19030051]

>>19030036
For the art? What I want is someone who can draw in the style of BLAME!

Though to be honest, I haven't given an honest try to find such an artist.

>>19029988
Read it back aloud to myself and fix the clunky lines to flow better. It's not like any other ammy is going to read my book.

[Anonymous No.19030272]

When publishing houses say they don't take unsolicited submissions, does that mean you need an agent?

[Anonymous No.19030308]

>>19027461
Lol, that's some stupid logic.

[Anonymous No.19030354]

>>19030272
yeah

[Anonymous No.19030369]

>write and re-write a novel for 5 months
>don’t want to spend another minute on it until my beta readers provide feedback within 1-2 weeks
>feel useless because I’m not writing every day like I was and feel bored with the novel

[Anonymous No.19030382]

>>19030369
Start writing something else, even just an outline if you're an outliner. Put it to the side in a couple weeks when the responses come back.

[Anonymous No.19030444]

I know this is kind of a silly question, but do you enjoy the stories you write?

[Anonymous No.19030489]

>>19030369
If you've been writing a novel for 5 months now you should have an idea where your plot holes and weaknesses in writing are. Create a list of every problem you can spot and use that as a reference when you get your feedback. I don't know how you're getting your beta readers but if you have contact with them you should provide them your list afterwards and ask them how they feel about each issue, whether they spotted them and whether they agree with your belief that they are issues.
I always found that I was my own worst critic when writing but each issue needs to be weighed and judged on its own and can't be discarded in a bundle with the same label. Some issues were just me overthinking a small petty little thing but others when pointed out showed the readers flaws in my core themes. In a world where if you somehow manage to get a sizable following the last thing you want is some neckbeard on YouTube making four figures over the course of a weekend by pointing out your flaws into a webcam microphone, especially flaws that you wrote off as too small to cause any harm.

[Anonymous No.19030492]

>>19030444
i definitely enjoy writing them, and to me that's all that matters.
what abou you ?

[Anonymous No.19030525]

>>19030444
I like to have fun with some of the scenes, but in general no. Since I want to write with some degree of literary merit, it's forced me to be critical of my beliefs and give sympathetic POV time to views opposing my own. Part of what I'm writing is on a collision course with pessimism so it's uncomfortable sometimes.

[Anonymous No.19030611]

>>19030492
Not really. I like writing, but I’ve not been excited to write specifically the things I’m writing, if that makes any sense.

[Anonymous No.19030775]

What are some good examples of books or short stories with only one main character? No ambiguity bullshit like in Wittgenstein's Mistress or introducing people into the story like I Am Legend.

[Anonymous No.19030818]

>>19030775
I would say the Purple Cloud by MP Shiel, it's a "last man in the world" story. The main character does meet another character later in the story but for the most part it's him alone going insane.

[Anonymous No.19030884]

>>19030775
I finished reading The Tidings of the Trees earlier by Wolfgang Hilbig. That has one character. There are other people mentioned, but they don't have names, they are more like vague entities, like people from the state, or the garbagemen.

[Anonymous No.19030904]

>>19030444
>but do you enjoy the stories you write?
People write here?

[Anonymous No.19030979]

>>19029083
i used to just pour out shit into a single document, mixing fiction, poetry, things i'd heard or read, and diary.

now i keep my diary seperate and use a program called standard notes for that. i put dreams in there too and add a #dreams tag so i can find them easily. i also write a lot about books in there but i don't tag that as i think it would make too many tags. idk. useful program though.

[Anonymous No.19031030]

>>19030904
I do, but I'm a discord tranny so do I even count?

[Anonymous No.19031182]

>>19030444
Yes

>>19030904
I do.

[Anonymous No.19031348]

>>19030904
i only started browsing /lit/ once i actually started writing

[Anonymous No.19031363]

>>19030904
Yes if that's problem you can go back the same way you came in stranger.

[Anonymous No.19031397]

>>19029095
>>19030979
I'll keep those in mind. Trying some new things out. I've been 'pouring stuff out' for awhile, and as fun as it is to flip between short story, poem, dream, etc., need something a little more collated and navigable. It was fun while it lasted, though.

[Anonymous No.19031436]

>>19029083
I have a notepad for writing when I'm away from home if I come up with something that will go into the outline or manuscript. It also has a simple task list of writing goals I have every day.

I use two monitor setup at home. I have a manuscript on the monitor in front of me, and also have an outline for the manuscript on a monitor to the right. I use the outline to help me hit the beats for each scene when I'm writing, and remind me of where I intended on dropping themes, foreshadowing and the key emotions I wanted to bring up.

[Anonymous No.19031780]

I'll stop shit posting this, but I worked it out to a length I'm comfortable with. Thanks to whoever gets through the whole thing. Let me know any thoughts on pacing or whatever.

https://pastebin.com/x72NF7Uh

[Anonymous No.19031786]

>>19031436
B urself

[バイポラーたん !Gh99z/1SzU No.19031950]

Don't know where to post this, just tell me if you would keep reading

Deacon Salz wakes everyone at the still hour before dawn. As a child, I had adored the dreamlike glow of the sunrise, when the hazy intermingling of day and night rendered either distinction meaningless. Now, the group stirs slowly, hardly registering each other in the sparse moonlight. Just this once, I will concede that camping off the main road has its merits. I hate the prospect of living like refugees in our own land, but the Holy Church has gained some powerful enemies... and not altogether without reason. Although, I was pleased to learn the statists pegged me worth a week's rations. Everyone knows collecting our marks is a fool's errand, unless the statists merely wish to delay the inevitable; in which case, they had better run instead of hoarding meat.

[バイポラーたん !Gh99z/1SzU No.19032352]

>>19031950
this was kind of a random throwaway paragraph and i want to stay with the idea, but upon re-reading i'd definitely rewrite everything

[Anonymous No.19032464]

>>19030444
Enjoying writing isn’t conducive to good writing, so I tend to find it awfully painful for the sake of making something better than just me indulging in fantasies or narcissistic self fellatio.

[Anonymous No.19032487]

>>19031950
Shifting tenses too much and within a short space of time.
> Everyone knows collecting our marks is a fool's errand, unless the statists merely wish to delay the inevitable; in which case, they had better run instead of hoarding meat.
Incorrect use of semi colon. It should be a comma.

[Anonymous No.19032836]

>>19030444
Yes, I write what I want to read.

[Anonymous No.19032894]

Everybody wanna be a writer, ain’t nobody wanna write no long ass word counts.

[Anonymous No.19032913]

Is there any good Android app for me to write a novel?

[Anonymous No.19032931]

>>19032913
Grindr

[Anonymous No.19032940]

>>19032913
Why would you not just type in a notepad and then email the doc to yourself. What on gods earth do you think you’ll get out of an app beyond the ability to type? An AI that writes the story for you?

[Anonymous No.19032973]

>>19032940
I don't have a laptop

[Anonymous No.19032977]

>>19032931
Ewww

[Anonymous No.19032980]

>>19032464
Why do you think enjoyment can only be found in personal wish-fulfilment?

[Anonymous No.19033003]

>>19032980
Enjoyment has the connotation of base pleasure or entertainment, in my eyes. If you mean there is a longer-lasting pleasure of wisdom or craft, as in Platonic philosophy (arete, excellence), then I’d agree. But enjoyment isn’t the word for that. It would be closer to the phrase “virtue is an end in itself”.

[Anonymous No.19033024]

>>19033003
So because of crippling autism, yeah, okay, got it

[Anonymous No.19033031]

>>19033024
You need to stop memeing and start reading. If you enjoy writing, you’re likely shit. This is just common knowledge among established writers. Writing for excellence isn’t fun.

[Anonymous No.19033070]

>>19033031
You require to stop memeing and commence reading. If you relish inditing, you’re likely shit. This is just prevalent cognizance among established writers. Inditing for excellence isn’t fun.

[Anonymous No.19033074]

>>19033070
https://youtu.be/AFWKcv6Ztgg
8:00
A small anecdote for you.

[Anonymous No.19033172]

>>19024491

Mfw me

[Anonymous No.19033186]

>>19024491
It’s 25% public image, 25% connections, and then %50 writing. That’s if you want to be an actual writer and not some nobody who dabbles here and there.

[Anonymous No.19033209]

>>19024863

>He himself was not a tall or imposing man, having been rather malnourished as a young lad, standing smaller than average

You're saying he's not tall and that he's small, one of the statements are excessive.

Read some more and cba to crit line by line cus am shitting and on phone. The general issue with the text is that it's all telling. Literally telling your way through the opening which makes it soulless and unintriguing. I don't care for the protag, it feels like reading some lax entry in a history book, and the prose comes off as simple, sort of ESL'y.

Work on structure, give me something to intrigue me, to make me wanna keep reading. Never start off a work with world-descriptions.

[Anonymous No.19033249]

>>19033209
>The general issue with the text is that it's all telling. Literally telling your way through the opening which makes it soulless and unintriguing.
Okay, I’ll try to show on the next piece I do. I think I was writing my way into the story instead of making something compelling.
>Literally telling your way through the opening which makes it soulless and unintriguing. I don't care for the protag, it feels like reading some lax entry in a history book, and the prose comes off as simple, sort of ESL'y.
Maybe I’ll use less worldbuilding and focus on the nitty-gritty of writing.
>Work on structure, give me something to intrigue me, to make me wanna keep reading. Never start off a work with world-descriptions.
Alright. I feel like the story picks up later but that’s because I waited too long to have some proper action. And I’ll take your advice about abstaining from such descriptions.

[Anonymous No.19033314]

>>19032940
Like Samsung Notes?

[Anonymous No.19033334]

>>19032913
Scrivener. It’s easy to submit from your phone even.

[Anonymous No.19033448]

Do any of you guys send your works to agents or publishing houses instead of going to Amazon or that weeb site?

[Anonymous No.19033464]

how to do you structure scenes? What is the quickest way to write scenes? Is there a template you follow?

[Anonymous No.19033499]

>>19033464
just

[Anonymous No.19033510]

>>19033464
Searching for a formula leads to formulaic novels.

[Anonymous No.19033566]

>>19033448
Yes but agents never get back to me. I find it’s easier to test out journals. I have a 9% success rate compared to 0% with the several agents I tried.

[Anonymous No.19033576]

>>19033566
I thought journals were dead in this day and age

[Anonymous No.19033602]

>>19033334
But it's not available for Android

[Anonymous No.19033611]

>>19031950
Stick to present tense for this paragraph, the second sentence just takes me out of it in particular

[Anonymous No.19033637]

>>19033602
My bad. Pick up Joplin or yWriter

[Anonymous No.19033643]

>>19033576
>I thought journals were dead in this day and age
Barely. So many people post their essays, stories, and poems from online lit journals to social media and plenty of people seem to react to it.

[Anonymous No.19033890]

>>19031780
humiliating. pastebin has a filter now? I didn't realize this wasn't a good link.

Same spiel though.
https://johndicewrites.blogspot.com/2021/09/a-cocked-and-loaded-pistol-pointed-at.html

[Anonymous No.19034122]

Thoughts on this section?

[Anonymous No.19034131]

>>19021929
What's the difference between Royal Road and Wattpad?

[Anonymous No.19034135]

>>19034122
*tips fedora* excellent word choices there good sir, a sign of a gentleman and a scholar, very reddit indeed

[バイポラーたん !Gh99z/1SzU No.19034151]

>>19034122
I feel like I'm getting slapped with a thesaurus desu

[Anonymous No.19034159]

Anyone been here long enough to remember that story from probably a decade ago about the giant iguana in a tower surrounded by the ocean, and there was something about black lightning. That was so funny. That guy fucking lost it.

[Anonymous No.19034217]

>>19030444
If I didn't. Why I would I even write?

[Anonymous No.19034232]

>>19034122
Pretty nice, not sure if the person who felt they were slapped by a thesaurus actually reads all that much, it had okay flow.

[Anonymous No.19034283]

>>19021929
how do i write

[Anonymous No.19034329]

>>19034283
Try to read a bit every day, like one article or book chapter or story or poem. Write down what you like and try to emulate that. Most of it will come as second nature once you hit your stride.

[Anonymous No.19034362]

bros... ive just started a twitter account for my haikus and ive already got 3 likes, feelsgoodman. but more importantly, it's prompting me to write again after a several-month-long writer's block

[Anonymous No.19034386]

>>19034362
Don’t write for others, but for excellence’s sake.

[バイポラーたん !Gh99z/1SzU No.19034427]

>>19034232
This is /lit/ bitch, I can give my opinion

[Anonymous No.19034435]

>>19034427
tripfag

[Anonymous No.19034440]

>>19034427
Why the fuck are you tripfagging though

[Anonymous No.19034450]

>>19034283
Write about a truck stop hooker

[Anonymous No.19034543]

>>19033510
fuck off you have never published anything and never will with that thinking

[Anonymous No.19034727]

Did 1511 words today. It's okay to stop here and just jerk off for the rest of the day, right?

[Anonymous No.19034759]

>>19034283
You don't. No one here writes and just pretends to do so, to make themselves better.

[Anonymous No.19034918]

I am not college educated on all the classic books, nor the theories and formulas of good writing. I have an idea for a fiction, but a lot of what I'm seeing on /lit/ is intimidating. Should I even bother with writing if I haven't done my years of "homework?" It sounds like a lot. I don't know whether I'm committed enough to "write for excellence."

[Anonymous No.19034943]

>>19034918
Just write. A first book will be amateurish anyway, so might as well learn as you write.

[Anonymous No.19034980]

>>19034918
Did you know there are books that aren't classics?

[Anonymous No.19035105]

>>19034980
I don't plan to write the next classic or anything. I would just like to write something that is generally considered good. At the very least I want to write something that is not the laughing stock of anyone that is even somewhat educated.

[Anonymous No.19035139]

>>19035105
Just be genuine, don't try to impress people.

[Anonymous No.19035338]

>>19034918
Just listen to writers talk every day, do writing prompts, and ask yourself the things you care about, questions you have and then explore it. I recommend binging Writing Excuses. It's mainly for genre fiction, but the difference if you want to write literature is this: in lit you are writing to an audience that wants to be challenged, enlightened or edified with your insights and you need to show it with a high standard of prose.
You don't have to start out with good writing, you don't even have to have original ideas because many people love to read the same story over again. What you need is to discover your voice and tell your stories and it will improve with time. You can read "the classics" if you want but it's more important to read the background behind the things you are actually writing about.

[Anonymous No.19035387]

>>19034151
>>19034122
I have no idea what words got your brainlets in a twist, but it really does feel like reddit prose, though not because of the word choices.

[Anonymous No.19035400]

>>19034918
No. The only tool you need for writing is a good imagination. People who theorywank waste more time ruminating on the craft than crafting and usually suck shit anyhow.

[Anonymous No.19035794]

>>19021929
Does anyone have any recommendations for how to present the text of a letter in a story? One of my characters reads a printed letter out loud. It is convention to present such text in a different format from the rest of the story's prose, isn't it? (E.g. with smaller line spacing and different font.)

[Anonymous No.19035985]

>>19034918
Being familiar with literature and writing will likely make things a bit easier. It's like anything else really—the more exposure you've had to it, the more readily you'll be able to engage in it. Imagine two painters with a similar vision for a work they wish to create. Even if their mental picture and inspiration of what to create is identical, the one who has spent more time with the brush or studying other painters and other paintings may enjoy a more natural creative process as a result.

In terms of your idea for fiction, I would say the necessity for technical proficiency in your writing would depend on what you're planning to write. For instance, a lot of science fiction is poorly written from a technical standpoint, but the ideas presented are nonetheless interesting. You don't really need to have great technical ability as a writer to write decent science fiction, though the people who are able to do this tend to stand out (Ray Bradbury; Orson Scott Card's earlier work, etc.).

[Anonymous No.19035999]

>>19035794
Look at some epistolary novels which heavily lean on letter format and see what they do. There are a few tips:
>the letter sections will have offset margins, extra whitespace before and after the letter, and the font will be different or italicized
>you don't have to include letter intros
>you should avoid filler letters and keep them plot relevant
>only use epistolary format if it lets you do something a standard point of view wouldn't allow, where the slow, distant, limited and even late communication is key to how the story plays out, works especially well with 1st person POV
>there's a period of time between each letter, people aren't writing multiple letters a day
>letters are addressed to people (even if they aren't sure who will receive it), not diary entries
>you may be forced to tell more and show less, slowing down the story significantly, unless the letter is clearly written hastily every time

[Anonymous No.19036050]

It's so hard to let go of a first draft.
My recent short story was shit in the following ways:
>Shallow characterization that hardly met even "cardboard cutout" standards
>Poor pacing that somehow made an interesting conceit dull and forgettable
>Preachy dialogue that was basically just me stuffing my beliefs into the mouths of my characters
>With regards to plotting: stupid bullshit scaffolded by even stupider bullshit
Yet, writing a new draft feels like petting a cat backwards. It's so hard to throw away what already took considerable effort just to redo it again. Maybe it's the fear that the new effort will also suck, and therefore be wasted. I keep feeling tempted to retread the same cruddy path again, as if the first draft is the actual reality constructed by my mind (and to discard it would be to engage in fantasy). Bizarre.

Thank you for reading my blog.

[Anonymous No.19036117]

My story is giving me very mixed feelings. The only competent person left alive at this point in the novel is the main character, and he's trying to rescue his allies from a riot with less skill than a BLM mob.

Nobody has a real weapon, they have pipes and monkey wrenches and steak knives, because they're trapped on a derelict spaceship waiting for rescue. Except MC has a revolver (which only has 3 bullets left)

The immediate scene is MC coming upon some people using a power saw to break into the engine compartment where the AI technician is hiding. Upon telling them to drop everything and leave, the startled idiot with the saw breaks his saw blade. It sounds like a gunshot, and they immediately assume he shot at them and they attack. (half of them run away)

MC then dismantles them because he's a trained fighter in power armor and they're just desperate and hungry.

It's giving me a taste of like... gritty despair, which I guess is a good thing?

[Anonymous No.19036176]

>>19036117
This whole thing gives me mixed feelings. Are you looking for direction, or are you just putting your thoughts out there?

[Anonymous No.19036194]

>>19036050
It's okay, first drafts can be messy. Maybe have characters be more subtle, and give POV time to different views to build sympathy and show that you care and understand about how others feel. If you allow readers different views to take it won't come off as being so didactic.

What made you feel like there was poor pacing? Any examples? What I do for pacing is look at my outline by chapter and scene, and then see which scenes are scene and which are sequels. Scenes get shorter words, sentences, paragraphs and total word count overall, sequels get more. And I try to spread them out with variety, though a few scenes in a row is okay.
As for characters, do they have weaknesses, quirks, different goals, speech, action, thoughts (show what a character looks at in a scene and don't even explain why), appearance. You can start filling in those details and your characters will start to feel different from each other. I find the speech to be difficult, but I usually see a big difference in speech pattern by 3rd draft when I do a full character analysis and can give females a feminine voice with passive language.

[Anonymous No.19036313]

>>19029470
Any more insights about this?

[Anonymous No.19036395]

>>19036176
I guess I was just venting the thought out there since I neglected to ask if anyone has read other stories that basically go Lord of the Flies (other than Lord of the Flies obviously) and if the contrast would work between a space marine and a bunch of civilians gone riotous

[Anonymous No.19037036]

>>19024657
This sounds eerily similar to something I've written a while ago.

>See the janny at his chore!
>He'll clean the board, to mods he swore.
>Post by post and thread by thread,
>Saged, marked for deletion, dead!

>Though he fits not in his britches,
>Though his stomach often itches,
>Though hot pockets fill his cheeks,
>Though his gut fold stenches, reeks,

>Though his face is greased and dirty,
>And his age is pushing thirty,
>Tireless, he perseveres
>In spite of Anons' mocking jeers.

>And yet, to make things truly sting:
>He can't delete a single thing.

[Anonymous No.19037310]

When did you start to like the stories you came up with?

[Anonymous No.19037319]

>>19037310
From the very beginning, because I write what I want to read.

[Anonymous No.19037705]

>>19037310
I didn't want to write at first, but I kept obsessing over a certain potential future and themes for almost two year until I started losing sleep over it. Not that it make's it good, but rather that I had such a well of themes to draw from that it made me excited to learn how writing was actually done. A lot of that excitement is gone now but I'm still working on it.

[Anonymous No.19037796]

>>19037310
I never have. But other people do, apparently very much. And I like that very much, so I keep doing it.

I have no sense of self worth or critique or value. It's like a huge blind spot. It makes revisions very difficult.

[Anonymous No.19038095]

>>19037310
I'm a narcissist so I like everything that I make.

[Anonymous No.19038111]

>>19038095
>I’m a narcissist

Are you that guy who spams he’s jealous of F Gardner?

[Anonymous No.19038134]

>>19033031
Now this is the 4chan I know and love.

[Anonymous No.19038178]

>>19037796
do you share your writing online?

[Anonymous No.19038185]

>>19029470
>>19036313
abrupt flashbacks that are simple and straight to the point.

[Anonymous No.19038350]

I'm aware that 'just writing' is almost assuredly the answer, but is there a certain way you guys like to lay out arcs and such? It isn't too hard to come up with ideas, but then connecting them in a way that feels natural seems troublesome. I suppose the best thing to do would be to write the scene(s) out, and then see what comes to me. Unless there is an another way.

[Anonymous No.19038595]

>>19038350
I figure out what developments make sense for the characters, use them as directions and improvise.

[Anonymous No.19039356]

>>19030051
Eh, BLAME! is not well drawn actually. Sure the dry and lifeless drawings may fit the setting but once you read a bit more of comics you'll get easily over it. I like how straightforward the story is though and I'm looking to something like it.

I could draw like it but it's too much hassle with inking and all when there's no point sticking to manga guidelines unless you're in Japan.

[Anonymous No.19039370]

>>19039356
>I could draw just as well as this well-respected and renowned artist but I just don't feel like it
I bet you also have a girlfriend but she goes to another school so we don't know her.

[Anonymous No.19039375]

>>19029988
Editing is the process of polishing a turd until a passerby might mistake it for something else

[Anonymous No.19039389]

>>19039356
BLAME! is based on a Ballard short story "The Concentration City" - Recommend it

[Anonymous No.19039657]

>>19038350
Story arcs are based on goals. What are the characters trying to achieve and why. The next arc often comes organically in reaction to the resolution of the previous one. Was the goal reached and what were the consequences. People often approach this in unnecessarily convoluted ways.

Of course, if you WANT to do something specific and it has no way to fit what else is going on, you're fucked. Like, your first arc is about character finding the courage to confess his feelings to the girl of his dreams. Then, the next part is about him becoming a space marine in Neptune, because your personal interests are all over the place. Then no one can help you with that

[Anonymous No.19039740]

>>19038350
I think of it it in terms of how much does a character fail and succeed, how much are they challenged in their arc. That will suggest how many different beats you will need, and I can have different emotions and struggles to go through. I look at the nature of the problem and just brainstorm what can go wrong and how one conflict in that character's goals can get more complicated at the point that he fails/succeeds. In the sequels to scenes, a character will face a dilemma and make a decision, and sometimes that decision will change how we see them as a character, especially once we see them act on that decision and see its consequences.

[Anonymous No.19039876]

People always see me and think I'm wise, intelligent and witty and they ask me things, and then act surprised when I'm legitimately a bumbling retard.

[Anonymous No.19040046]

>>19039356
You might be able to reproduce the paneling in BLAME!, but I highly doubt you have the background and the practice at generating the corrupted architecture

[Anonymous No.19040122]

Trying to flesh out my supernatural horror but I'm finding it a bit awkward. Essentially the protagonist gets stuck in a room for some years when suddenly, like one of those Japanese pornos, a fuckable ass appears in the wall after waking up.

He kinda inspects the ass, smells it to make sure it's clean etc. Toys for months what to do with this ass. The intention is there's a whole Dostoyevsky monologue where he argues for the perspective of fucking the ass. He repeats both sides of the argument to himself, and finally weighs in favour of fucking it.

The wall ass clenches around his dick etc, and as he's stroking he hears faint moans and groans from presumably the ass itself. As he's about to climax he hears a glimpse of his mother's voice, but he's already past the point of no return. The ass goes entirely silent. The protagonist is left cumming and punching the ass trying to get it to produce a noise, to confirm to himself that it's his mother. There is no noise.

Idk seems like I'm going in the wrong direction.

[Anonymous No.19040152]

>>19040122

[Anonymous No.19040561]

>>19031950
it's too many brief, cryptic mentions of things we lack the context to understand in a row, they could be spaced in a better way that would have more impact, and some of these sentences flow poorly from the one before, as if the dude wrote down one thought or remark at a time and gradually lost the sense of continuity. 9.5/10

[Anonymous No.19040813]

I’ve recently realized that my most favorite and inspirational story is a manga. So now I’m considering putting down the novel and picking up the comic. It would be considered fantasy I guess, but I don’t even have interest in fantasy novels. I might’ve shared this here before. I don’t even need advice. I’m not sure why I’m sharing this, but this is a general so there it is.

[Anonymous No.19040823]

Would you avoid writing a novel about a relatively obscure historical figure if that figure had once been appropriated by a controversial political movement? I just find their story fascinating and think it deserves a novel.

It’s not Hitler btw.

[Anonymous No.19040837]

>>19040823
Of course not. Steal it back and make it your own.

[Anonymous No.19040863]

>>19040823
Interesting people are interesting.

[Anonymous No.19040866]

Why is royal road only for anime shit?
Why can't other genres be successful there?

[Anonymous No.19040908]

>>19040866
It’s unironically because of anime (and video games).

[Anonymous No.19040985]

Where are the best communities to post. Do you guys have an account on all platforms and post to like 5 places?

[Anonymous No.19041025]

>>19040866
Honestly going to skip the royalroad and small publishers. I'd rather hire an agent because spending time to figure out advertising is bullshit, I basically work two fulltime jobs since I write after work. If I lost my job I could still sustain myself for 4 years, but I just dont wanna shoot myself in the foot.

[Anonymous No.19041074]

>>19040985
Only my close friends and family see my work until I send it to a publisher.

[Anonymous No.19041101]

>>19040985
I used to post on 2-3, then I got lazy.

[Mason Dixson !!JYF9Pqdm9S7 No.19041170]

I know the general is about to die but I wanted to share my autism with you all. Recently I got an Olivetti Lettera mechanical typewriter. I was curious, and wanted to see on average, if I were to type out a novel, how many pages it would be (pic related is not the page I used, but serves as a good visual representation of what a single typewritten page would look like).

First. I typed out a pretty basic passage, with a good mix of shorter and slightly longer but still average words, with 1-inch margins on a standard 8x11 inch piece of printer paper; With 1.5 spacing, I got about 35 lines, with a range of 9–14 words per line, for a total of about 400 words per page. I found the word-counts of a couple novels and calculated how many typewritten pages they would require:

>Invisible Man: 176,559 words (578 pages in the Vintage International paperback edition), would require about 441 typewritten pages
>Blood Meridian: 116,322 words (334 pages in the black cover Vintage International paperback edition), would require about 291 typewritten pages
>Lolita: 110,951 words (314 pages in the Vintage International paperback edition), would require about 277 typewritten pages
>A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: 84,840 words (288 pages in the Vintage International paperback edition), would require about 212 typewritten pages

If you wrote a page a day, in 28 days you would have written 28 pages (11,200 words); in about 3 months you would have written 84 pages (33,600 words). If you wrote a mere two pages a day, you would have 56 pages (22,400 words) in 28 days, and 168 pages (about 67,200 words) in 3 months! At two pages a day, in half a year, you would have written a respectable 336 pages (134,400 words), a book a bit longer than Blood Meridian, a good healthy sized novel. Of course, who knows how much of that will be lost in a second draft, but its nice to put things in perspective

[Anonymous No.19041188]

I know the general is about to die but I wanted to share my autism with you all. Recently I got an Olivetti Lettera mechanical typewriter. I was curious, and wanted to see on average, if I were to type out a novel, how many pages it would be (pic related is not the page I used, but serves as a good visual representation of what a single typewritten page would look like).

First. I typed out a pretty basic passage, with a good mix of shorter and slightly longer but still average words, with 1-inch margins on a standard 8x11 inch piece of printer paper; With 1.5 spacing, I got about 35 lines, with a range of 9–14 words per line, for a total of about 400 words per page. I found the word-counts of a couple novels and calculated how many typewritten pages they would require:

>Invisible Man: 176,559 words (578 pages in the Vintage International paperback edition), would require about 441 typewritten pages
>Blood Meridian: 116,322 words (334 pages in the black cover Vintage International paperback edition), would require about 291 typewritten pages
>Lolita: 110,951 words (314 pages in the Vintage International paperback edition), would require about 277 typewritten pages
>A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: 84,840 words (288 pages in the Vintage International paperback edition), would require about 212 typewritten pages

If you wrote a page a day, in 28 days you would have written 28 pages (11,200 words); in about 3 months you would have written 84 pages (33,600 words). If you wrote a mere two pages a day, you would have 56 pages (22,400 words) in 28 days, and 168 pages (about 67,200 words) in 3 months! At two pages a day, in half a year, you would have written a respectable 336 pages (134,400 words), a book a bit longer than Blood Meridian, a good healthy sized novel. Of course, who knows how much of that will be lost in a second draft, but its nice to put things in perspective

[Anonymous No.19041348]

>>19041188
It took me a little over 7 months to write 140,000 words so this seems about right.

[Anonymous No.19041698]

>>19040866
Success is subjective.

>>19040985
I post the same story in 3 places, and plug new chapter releases in a few discords and my twitter.

[Anonymous No.19041759]

Hi /lit/, can anyone suggest me a solid book about writing essays? I'm especially interested about planning and writing around a structure: thesis/antithesis/synthesis and other frameworks. I can speak and read English without issues but my writing is lacking.

[Anonymous No.19041805]

You weren't kidding about discord being for trannies?

[Anonymous No.19042087]

>>19041805
I joined one and it's mostly children. I don't feel comfortable posting it to them.

[Anonymous No.19042247]

>>19041188
Man I guess Invisible Man did drag on, I had no idea. Also these numbers reinforce my decision to cut out time wasting habits so I can write more. I've been horribly inefficient and need to get in true 40 h/wk work. Good thing is I now enjoy wasting time less when I'm at home, I look at a game or chatroom and then instictively close it now. Writing really is more rewarding.

[Anonymous No.19042795]

How do I write fight scenes?

[Anonymous No.19042825]

>>19042795
Just write.

[Anonymous No.19042844]

>>19042795
Lots of witty banter.

[バイポラーたん !Gh99z/1SzU No.19042846]

>>19041805
The mods are trannies too
>>19042795
Fight scenes can become repetitive if it's just a list of actions. Try using something forgotten from earlier in order to add an element of surprise. After all, it's more exciting for the character to be both clever and brave rather than just very strong

[Anonymous No.19042849]

>>19042795
See
>>19025004
Avoid blow-by-blow fight scenes as much as you can. It has no impact and just slows the scene down.

[Anonymous No.19042964]

>>19042795
Characters should mind the environment and don't forget about their goals and their personality.

[Anonymous No.19043063]

>>19021998
Am a writer. I just lurk.
I'm sure there are others.

[Anonymous No.19043076]

>>19022979
What does it mean to write "anime"?

[Anonymous No.19043166]

>>19043076
Isekai

[Anonymous No.19043546]

>>19042849
Blow by blow is only bad if you dont know how fights actually happen.

You can do a blow by blow if you realize its only one good hit and you win

[Anonymous No.19043987]

>>19039657
Worked for Starship Troopers, didnt it?

[Anonymous No.19044548]

>chapter I'm writing tomorrow is one scene chopped up into many smaller ones in outline
>first is a murder
>after that most are failed (not because of incompetence) suicide attempts
>last one is an autonomic storm of existential torment and guilt
This will either be really fun or difficult to write, but it has to happen. Anyone else struggle emotionally when writing tragic scenes?

[Anonymous No.19044655]

does this feel like i'm trying too hard
My uncle is a funny guy. Daniel is the brother of my late father, and other than the alcoholism that ran in the whole family, they shared nothing in common. Drinking liquors caught up to my father and he was dead with cirrhosis before he turned forty-five. Danny, as everyone called him, managed to quit after totaling two cars in the same intersection. Both times he was unharmed despite rolling the cars. Even more impressive, no other vehicles were involved. And even queerer yet, he still goes to bars, only now he brings Crystal Light packets with him and orders water. My uncle also kept a baseball bat in his car with a pair of field binoculars that no one seemed to notice but me. Where Dan was more of a social drinker, my father preferred to drink alone in the garage. Every house we lived at never had cars in the garages, instead, there was always some cigarette burned, ratty couch that would follow us wherever we moved. Gun to my head, I couldn’t tell you what color it was. Maybe some sort of cigarette-smoke yellowed grey, but it always changed colors depending on which lights were on. When the garage door was drawn open and the Florida sun would shine in, it looked like some sort of stale shade of brown. But when the door was drawn closed, which was more frequently the case, it blended into the garage. All of the burns and torn scrappy bits and stains seemed to vanish.

[Anonymous No.19044761]

>>19042795
there was this good fight scene in a jack london boxing story

[Anonymous No.19044796]

>>19033890
i'm going to read this when i'm not busy, which may be in the next thread. also nice to see some relics from the good old /ffa/ days. the scooby doo story was one of my favorites.

[Anonymous No.19044914]

>>19044796
Ay, hype. In March those FFA got me writing. I did my 5 stories then abruptly stopped for some reason. Back at it again though. Not that it should matter, but my intention is to turn this into maybe a 20 page thing, so it might read a little funny in parts? Anyway, thanks.

[Anonymous No.19045280]

How long did it take you to think your writing is decent?

Do you think you’ve developed a unique voice and style? Niche?

[バイポラーたん !Gh99z/1SzU No.19045443]

>>19045280
Never. I'm a hack with no talent. Sometimes I can eke out a pseudo-authentic voice through stream-of-consciousness descriptions of feelings and internal chaos, then juxtapose that with confinement in domestic life. Today's people possess material comfort but feel that something spiritual has been robbed from them. It's not hard to imagine a middle class family full of malcontents because that's a common American experience, and also my own. I happen to think the embrace of globalism boils down to the fact that people love the society that enslaves them, and prefer to delude themselves to preserve the status quo. It's a global society of slaves upon slaves, where the first world tech slaves are subsidized by the outsourced bureaucratic workers and the sweatshop workers who make all our cheap shit. I'm sure David Graeber has restated this more eloquently. The relinquishing of soul for materialism is what defines our age in general, and perhaps burgerpunk in particular, although as a genre it's less literary more camp horror. I tap into the average person's latent rage and cause it to boil over through marginally awkward and unpleasant conversations. It's a style that's been done to death but personally I enjoy reading and writing it

[Anonymous No.19045814]

>>19025625
So Lovecraft and McCarthy didn’t read that much? I know for a fact they spent all day every day reading. Your argument falls flat if you compare what you say to a bunch of writers.

[Anonymous No.19045842]

>>19045280
People started liking what I write like 40 chapters in. Before that it was called confusing, prose was compared to crutches the good ideas had to walk on, and pacing was complained about.

[Anonymous No.19045851]

>>19045842
Or maybe it's just the case of growing used to how I write.

[Anonymous No.19045852]

>>19045842
Do you just cut out the first 40 chapters then?

[Anonymous No.19045863]

>>19045280
I couldn't read my writing without disgust for about a decade. I just kept pushing forwards, tinkering, modifying, improving. Now I actually love what I write.

[Anonymous No.19045864]

>>19045852
You spend months on editing them. Or, once you complete the first book, you set it aside as a draft and write a new book.

[Anonymous No.19045882]

>>19045864
>You spend months on editing them.
Sounds boring and arduous. How do you do it? I only ever write novellas and I don’t write in chapters, so I go through with an edit in about a week or two.

[Anonymous No.19045919]

>>19045882
Well, it's called the power of hindsight. As you write, the new developments show the characters from a new perspective and allows deeper understanding of their characterization. So then I go to earlier chapters and add a paragraph or two. And fix the prose while I'm at it.

[Anonymous No.19046059]

>oh nice i got a new critique on my work!
>too many adverbs
>purple prose
>plot was lacking
>characters are thin
Been a while since I encountered this outlook honestly. Maybe I've spent too long sniffing my own farts, but it still bothers me how doctrinal many people are towards writing. It's as if they think they're referencing some kind of cosmic truth when they talk about how writing should be simple and concise.

[Anonymous No.19046087]

>>19046059
>writing should be simple and concise.
It’s because they don’t read. Any meaning beyond spoon feeding alienates them.

[Anonymous No.19046095]

>>19046059
>too many adverbs
Ask them what adverbs are just in case.
>purple prose
Ask them to define purple prose.
>plot was lacking
Lacking what?
>characters are thin
Ask them to elaborate.

[Anonymous No.19046139]

>>19046095
There's no point in it, I just wanted to blogpost about it before moving on. It's annoying to be talked down to by someone pushing a "by-the-book" approach, but what can you do?
>>19046087
I'm sure they've read books on writing. This guy cited these "books on writing" multiple times in the critique so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt on that one at least.
> In fiction, adverbs are discouraged by most books on the subject. Adverbs tend to prop up verbs with resulting weak forward movement of the plot. Fiction is about action communicated through strong verbs. I use Google to try to find stronger verbs and avoid the need for adverbs.
>just use a thesaurus bro

[Anonymous No.19046162]

>>19046139
>There's no point in it
That should be "There's no point to it", anon.

[Anonymous No.19046169]

>>19046139
>Fiction is about action communicated through strong verbs.
Wrong. This is already a bad view of literature that it is about plot or action. Only retards believe it is because they haven’t read anything outside of genre.

[Anonymous No.19046192]

>>19046162
Say both out loud and see which one you like more.
>>19046169
You won't catch me disagreeing.

[Anonymous No.19046195]

>>19046192
It's not about what you like, it's about what's correct.

[Anonymous No.19046210]

>>19046195
I see what you're doing and I'm not taking the bait.

[Anonymous No.19046221]

>>19046210
I see you've played knifey-spoony before.

[Anonymous No.19046329]

>>19046059
I can vividly picture your "work" already based on those comments. The cosmic truth is, it's horrible bro

[Anonymous No.19046451]

>>19046329
Catty!

[Anonymous No.19046734]

>>19046059
Don't put too much thought into the whole adverbs thing. People like to say that strong verbs are better, but I like to think that most people are just tired of reading the same words that past popular works used a lot. They want to see evolution in the craft of writing, not stale bread.

The purple prose is probably legit feedback. An average person would rather read a Facebook post which summarises Hitler over Mein Kampf. Nobody has time to smell the flowers when they can giggle at 30 second TikTok clips. The people of today want something simple and easy to read, otherwise they'd just read the classics.

[Anonymous No.19046801]

>>19046734
>The purple prose is probably legit feedback.
It's legit in a sense, for sure. When it comes down to it though, I really just don't agree with it personally. It's not the kind of writing I enjoy reading. If I have to write it I will get really fucking bored really fucking quickly. When it comes down to it, I really don't care about writing for the average person who doesn't know what a balustrade is or has to look up sprezzatura. My only rule with respect to more """complex""" vocabulary is that I'll never use a thesaurus to discover it. If it's a word in my natural lexicon and it finds its way onto the page, if it works it stays. Maybe this makes me an elitist, but the mythical "average person" can go fuck himself, as far as I'm concerned. I think modern literature goes way too far out of its way to pander to him. If I could meet Average Person I'd kick the shit out of him.