/wg/ - Writing General

[Anonymous No.19313238]

Halloween edition. NaNoWriMo soon.

Previous thread: >>19300752

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/

[Anonymous No.19313267]

Can anyone give me a criique of my draft for our planned webcomic?
>https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vTYXTCND_nQbbRQ5KttQ4ZJ-Jf3E_Z7c40alH8utYtRJO-RrYk07tn-0HEM7-fCtsDBpL6Z9LEU0TtX/pub

[Anonymous No.19313269]

Reply to this post for good luck with NaNoWriMo

[Anonymous No.19313277]

>>19313269
Fuck off

[Anonymous No.19313391]

If you want to get proper help with your writing, don't come to 4chan because nearly everything will be saved on warosu forever, meaning that you will be forever stained with that one typo or grammar error, awkward sentence or run-on sentence, bad character arc or misuse of a word. Go to somewhere like an in real life writing group.

[Anonymous No.19313400]

>>19313391
Not like anyone of us even write to begin with, so I don't know why you even bother to post this.

[Anonymous No.19313466]

>>19313238

>Short story I wrote on a train. English is not my first language.

Had not it been for Vasily, I would’ve felt completely and utterly alone. I’m not talking about breaking with your girlfriend kind of alone, I don’t think it was even about the heat of another human being; being alone in the shuttle would’ve made me think of home more than anything, more than my own survival and the mission. I often see myself in the small window, my reflection impressed like a picture on the vast black ocean of stars. A pair of eyes stares at me, but they’re not mine: the Russian is staring at me, I can feel it.
He had hidden a cassette tape in his suit and had it playing nonstop the first hour we came here. He says it’s about making a good impression and making it hospitable, I just think he really likes his country’s rock songs. A melancholic tune fills the empty halls, giving it a semblance of home, in the meantime I can hear his panting and grunting while exercising. He’s definitely trying to stick to a routine, while I eat the MREs and write down my thoughts on paper with a pencil.
I just heard that the Americans apparently spent a lot of money for a pen to use in space, since ball pens don’t work properly. Russians, he says, just used pencils. Just like me, I add. He really boasts about Russia, calls himself a cosmonaut, remembers the history of his country and the great achievements. Me being only European, I can’t say the same.
I caught Vasily staring at Earth. He said to me that he really misses his wife at home. I can’t say the same, I have no such person waiting for me.
Found the tape hidden under Vasily sheets. While he was under the shower I tried playing the music in the recorder, but I couldn’t quite catch what he said in his tongue. I could only try to sing the same song, in my butchered pronunciation. Vasily complimented me for trying, at least.
After six months in orbit, me and Vasily finally spoke eye to eye after he kept avoiding me. Apparently, his wife left him and he hasn’t been the same since. I keep hearing the same song on repeat, but I fear the tape will only break after so many times listening to it.
It finally broke. Vasily kept singing. I sang along.
I understand enough Russian to get what we’re singing about everytime we go on a walk in space. We don’t dream of the busy spaceports, the blue sky or any great journey, we only dream of our homes and the grass, the grass of our homes.

I’m going to miss Vasily once this mission is over.

[Anonymous No.19313517]

>>19313400
I have posted almost 3k words here just this week, and those were just adlibbed for you guys. There's two people in this very thread who posted something they wrote. Why are you so negative?

[Anonymous No.19313546]

>>19313517
New person? He says this every thread for the sake of stoking your ire. He’s done it since around April.

[Anonymous No.19313587]

>>19313546
I see.

[Anonymous No.19313636]

Overdone or still useful in fantasy genre?

[Anonymous No.19313648]

>>19313636
Descriptive, not proscriptive.

[Anonymous No.19313792]

I went to bed yesterday almost at 4.am after writing 3000 words in a single sitting. I'm kinda proud of myself, /lit/.

[Anonymous No.19313818]

Does reading about writing really help? I'm currently reading Art of Fiction by Lodge and On Writing by King.

[Anonymous No.19313869]

>>19313818
Every once in a while I think it's useful to read what writers and critics think about literature for your own awareness. Reading actual stories is more valuable. I started reading one short story a day and it's helped me a lot with flow and vocabulary.

[Anonymous No.19313887]

>>19313869
Is there anywhere specific you go for your short stories? A local bookshop has some literary magazines, I was thinking of seeing if any were short story focused.

[Anonymous No.19313962]

I am on a sofa, pondering how I might be able to fix my tense issues. What are you guys thinking about regarding your own writing?

[Anonymous No.19313963]

>>19313269
I don't need luck motherfucker.
>>19313636
Still useful, depending on who you're writing to and the kind of story you're telling. If it's a cookie-cutter mass-produced story for those guys on the KPD store that read one book a day, follow it beat by beat.

[Anonymous No.19313969]

>>19313887
I'm not sure yet. I buy short story collections, but I may look online if it gets difficult. Here's my list of who I'm looking at: Ray Bradbury, Flannery O'Connor, Philip K. Dick, Anton Chekhov, Arthur C. Clarke, H.G. Wells, H.P. Lovecraft, Orson Scott Card and Ambrose Bierce.
I've read some of them before, especially the first three. I already have all of O'Connor and Lovecraft's writings, just not done with them. There are a lot of stories to go through.

[Anonymous No.19314203]

Grade 10 ESL here(Im 19, don't ban me mods. And no, I won't be posting birth certificate)
This is my speech writing, maybe it's terrible. Please give me points of criticism as to which parts I need to revise.

1/2
>As the 2022 Philippine election is nearing its commencement, let us look back in history unto when the Philippines was under authoritarian rule of Ferdinand Marcos. Ferdinand Marcos was the 10th president of the Philippines whose regime lasted for two decades in the course of which several severe violations of human rights including torture, killings, salvagings, civilian massacres and other atrocities were committed against Philippines and her people under the 14 year long martial law which Marcos declared on the night of September 21 1972. He began his first term with popularity by pursuing grandacious economic developmental projects, However, when the tax revenues became insufficient to fund these wonderful projects, and with his administration's 70% rise in infrastructure expenditure from 1966 to 1970, Marcos began borrowing enormous amounts of money from international lenders resulting in total external debt rising from US$2.3 billion in 1970 to US$26.2 billion in 1985, making the Philippines one of the most indebted countries in Asia. This resulted to a staggering budget deficit 72 percent greater than the Philippines' yearly deficit from 1961 to 1965. This started a cycle of debt-financed spending that the Marcos government would continue until Ferdinand Marcos’ exile brought forth ultimately by the people power revolution in 1986. Marcos family assets in excess of their statutory income were found and regarded by the Philippine supreme court as illegally acquired. These assets were confiscated for the benefit of the government and human rights victims. The Marcos family and their associates had plundered so much wealth from the Philippines that According to the Presidential commission on good government, investigators are still unable to determine exactly how many billions of dollars were stolen. The agency estimated that during his run, Marcos pocketed about 5-10 billion dollars from the Philippine treasury. Adjusted for inflation, this would be equivalent to about US$22.3 billion or over 1.1 trillion Philippine pesos in 2017.

[Anonymous No.19314205]

>>19314203

2/2

>This and many more should prove his wife and children completely disqualified of any political engagement and governmental positions they hold let alone be a candidate for presidency; Them regaining the power to rule the Philippines would mean a rampant continuation to their ante descent’s embezzlement galore. In the worst case scenario, the heightening of the debt crisis their forefather Marcos produced would further strip the Philippines of its remaining shred of independence from other countries into utmost deterioration as 4th world shithole.
They are certainly not worth voting for because a country in which the masses, with all the historical awareness, will still elect the son of a filthy criminal in a position to rule them is surely nearing its end.

[Anonymous No.19314211]

>>19314203
Post hand

[Anonymous No.19314235]

>>19314211

[Anonymous No.19314264]

>>19313400
Literally not true.
You are contributing nothing to this conversation.

[Anonymous No.19314314]

>>19313962
I'm thinking about all the cutting room floor ideas I've amassed on the chapter I'm writing. There's quite a bit of inconsistencies than normal and it pains me I'm unable to get the flow I wanted to squeeze those ideas in. I'm also still unsure how this chapter will end but I'll figure a way out eventually since I'm like 98% done with the chapter. In any case I'll probably throw it in the authors note the ideas that landed on the cutting room floor. I've also slightly worried about how exposition heavy the chapter is, but I felt it was necessary to establish the stakes

[Anonymous No.19314372]

>>19314203
>>19314205
I just realized I made a grave mistake. This is more like an essay writing. Now I have to revise the entire fucking thing.

[Anonymous No.19314394]

>>19314314
One thing I have done in regards to cutting room floor ideas is to just repurpose them into later arcs and so on. For example, I did have one idea to have a tribal court scene but it never happened. So, instead, I am now using that as a conclusion to a character arc later down the line.

[Anonymous No.19314428]

How do you pull off a false protag twist?

[Anonymous No.19314510]

>>19313238
How fleshed out should your world/characters be before you start working on the first draft?

[Anonymous No.19314524]

>>19314428
Make sure he matters in the story? By having his actions or his death affect the story?

[Anonymous No.19314545]

>>19314235
White enough, you may continue posting kino

[Anonymous No.19314550]

>>19314510
Also, what do I do if two unrelated characters are too similar?

I have two characters who are both heirs to a royal family/village chieftain bloodline. Both ran away as sole survivors after their rival kingdom/British colonisers overthrew them and executed their family.

Only difference is that one is the team cheerleader while one is the team smart guy.

[Anonymous No.19314593]

>>19314510
Also, what do I do if two unrelated characters are too similar?

I have two characters who are both heirs to a royal family/village chieftain bloodline. Both ran away as sole survivors after their rival kingdom/British colonisers overthrew them and executed their family.

Only difference is that one is the team cheerleader while one is the team smart guy. Also there's another character who's the heir to a mega corporation. But since she was not fit for the royal family, she was thrown in the crime ridden streets of (not)Detroit. Where she is adopted by a couple consisting of a detective and a rakshasa hunter

[Anonymous No.19314629]

>>19314510
Know what your character wants and what holds him back from getting what he wants, whether he is aware or not.
Know how your character came to want that thing and why he might not understand why he can't get it. You do not have to tell that story first, but you should know it. This should be enough to start writing I think. Now you have a basis for conflict in the story, as external problems will coincide with your character's internal problems.
As you go along, your imagination can put the character together unless you want to outline it first. Throw in a character quirk or weakness that is relevant to a plot thread, it will help people remember him. Understand his sympathy, pro-activity and competency (or lack thereof). Make sure they have some of at least two of those three or they might become unlikable characters.

[Anonymous No.19314736]

Reposting this poem:


Crisp leaves on rain-beaten bough
Mud dampened to fertile dough

Beads of cold and haze on glass
Signs of death that come and pass

Sweaters, mittens
Sleeping kittens
Orange carvings
For the wiccans

Piles of lime and brown on green
Nature moves from scene to scene

Between dawn to snowbound dusk
Decadence brings rain and rusk


Thoughts?

[Anonymous No.19314753]

>>19314736
>that come and pass
Should that be come to pass?

[Anonymous No.19314930]

https://pastebin.com/smtEgaYs

Give it to me straight, /lit/bros. Am I still trash?

[Anonymous No.19314934]

>>19314510
As much as needed. I started my story without much and built it as I write the story for example. You have to find the right balance because the process isn't going to be the same for everyone. all I will say is at minimum be consistent with it in the writing itself. Try not to prioritize your attention on world building over the writing itself

>>19314593
If you're uncertain you could combine them, I suppose.

[Anonymous No.19314938]

I want to post some recent crazy stream-of-consciousness shit but I don't like being critiqued or laughed at

[Anonymous No.19314955]

>>19314938
>I don't like being critiqued or laughed at
Then how will you improve?

[Anonymous No.19315020]

>>19313238

Post articles you've found on the internet that will aid writers in their journeys. Knowledge for knowledge

I'll go first -

https://firstmanuscript.com/format-dialogue/

[Anonymous No.19315075]

Guys... now that i'm done with the first novel which basically has only 2 characters... ok, maybe 5 tops... I'm heading into a full normal scale novel in which there will be tens of characters that i need to keep track of. I was smart and started out with the easy part, but now i feel like i actually have to keep track of things. Wish me luck.

I've heard there are some programs that will help you keep track of this, but how can they in any way be better than just keeping a register of characters?

[Anonymous No.19315400]

How did you get over your staring-at-the-cursor phase?

[Anonymous No.19315432]

>>19315400
Brute force by writing. If I can put out 10 words that's enough to get the ball rolling.

[Anonymous No.19315433]

>>19314753
I made it come and pass to show the transitional nature, also come to pass felt overused.

[Anonymous No.19315445]

Safety as a Proxy

Let us take for example a rule in my own workplace (a post office) that employees must wear leather shoes for the purposes of safety. Now of course, it's obvious to even the most casual observer that the risk of accident occurence between wearers of leather shoes and non-leather shoes is probably rather similar, maybe even negligible, especially given the context of a post office where there's a lack of heavy equipment, but the dynamic that this rule creates and exemplifies serves a broader, metaphysical purpose in that in reinforces the power structure of the workplace. The rule is of course largely disregarded in the absence of upper management, including among supervisors, but when upper management is present, suddenly shoe inspection day begins. Employees in otherwise good standing are shuffled inside the boss's office and given a good talking-to about their choice of footwear. The offending employee is reminded of his place at the bottom of the hierarchy, but perhaps more importantly, the role of the middle manager as a liaison between worker and headquarters is shored up. Being put in the position of enforcing an unpopular and nonsensical rule makes clear the distance between the foreman and worker, and their loyalty to upper management is reaffirmed in everyone's eys. It's a statement that says to the worker "I am not really on your side", it eliminates solidarity between all parties. This is an example of a dynamic that plays out seemingly everywhere in liberal society, from mask mandates to smoking bans to seatbelt laws, where concern for 'safety' is really a veiled method of reinforcing the power structure that underpins the entire system.

[Anonymous No.19315463]

>>19314203
>>19314205
I'm not gonna say Marcos was based or something, but the EDSA (ppl power!) revolution and rise of the Aquinos is maybe the most textbook CIA gayop of all time and it's amazing that average filipinos have no idea still.

[Anonymous No.19315474]

>>19313792
Is it good when you read it today?

[Anonymous No.19315530]

>ESL
>Want to write in English
Now I have some experience regarding vocabulary but how can I not fuck this up?

[Anonymous No.19315565]

>>19314930
Oh, come on, the least you could do is make fun of my grammar; for old time's sake!

[Anonymous No.19315687]

>>19315530
You will fuck up, a lot. There's no getting around this.

I write only in English these days despite being esl. I always got good grades at school and thought I was hot shit, but my first works were barely intelligible trash. The harsh truth is that school education isn't enough to make anyone an author. It will take years and years of independent work to get anywhere near that level.

Read a lot, write a lot, study grammar, review, google things you're unsure of, and you'll eventually be able to at least express yourself properly. The contents of your stories and their entertainment value is then a different matter altogether.

[Anonymous No.19315704]

>>19315400
If I know what characters want and where they are, the story moves on.

[Anonymous No.19315759]

>>19315530
Not knowing anything about your English, I would just advise you to get the tense in asking questions right, and learn where English speakers put their commas when speaking out loud. Learning how to use commas is something even young native speakers need to learn these days.

[Anonymous No.19315933]

>>19313238
Any thoughts on this thread I made?
>>19315259

[Anonymous No.19315959]

I realised I'm more interested in the world and lore than my characters. What do

[Anonymous No.19315972]

>>19315959
Could always do dnd with them or something. Or nation rps. I heard those were making a resurgence lately.

[Anonymous No.19316090]

>>19315959
don't write fiction. go do videogame or roleplaying stuff

[Anonymous No.19316108]

>>19315959
characters don't have to be humans with a face, and humans with faces don't have to be characters.
Turn the world into your main character. Use the people who live in it as props that influence your world's progression. Simple as that.

[Anonymous No.19316139]

>>19315972
>>19316108
Hmm I suppose the external conflicts I find more interesting than internal conflicts. I feel like without someone to relate to, nobody will care what happens to the world and will drop it quickly.

Maybe I should try using them as props for now and if I don't personally lose interest I could try to properly flesh out a few characters.

I tend to kill them off within 8 chapters of introducing them anyway.

[Anonymous No.19316169]

>>19315959
Write shorter stories that focus more on the setting, events or ideas and less about characters. if you write a novel you may need to flesh out everything, but if it's a short story you focus on one thread. For settings, you tell a story about a character going into that setting, experiencing it and then leaving. Events explore an inciting incident that changes the status quo, then trying to understand how to return the status quo. Ideas explore a question, look for information to help answer that question.

[Anonymous No.19316245]

Seeing Bonnelle be flirty was not a new thing for Ayara. She’s only been working with the dwarf for a few years, but the woman had a voracious appetite for men. Obviously she’d latch on to other dwarfs, pressing against them and teasing their long beards. However she was also fond of muscular elves—she’d certainly caught her boss’s eyes on Kornin every now and then—although elves didn’t grow beards, which threw off her seduction techniques. A band of humans once traveled through Fairleigh and Bonnelle insisted on dragging Ayara along with her as she staled the hulking men as they drank their way across the city. Sadly, the humans tastes were for women of greater height and Bonnelle ended up going home alone and frustrated after Ayara garnered more of their attention.

[Anonymous No.19316417]

>>19315474
I'm going to keep going with the story; I'll go back to it after I've done some more, lest I get utterly discouraged. But I probably will hate it; at the end of that session I was rushing to finish the scene so I could go to bed.

[Anonymous No.19316498]

>>19314930
Ugh. Trans crap?
You'll be rich.

[Anonymous No.19316508]

>>19314934
What anon said.
There are no rules.
Write whatever you want, in whatever order you want.
Heck, make up the characters as you go along!
No one's stopping you.

The most senior rule of writing I know is...
NEVER get in the way of your muse.

[Anonymous No.19316521]

>>19315075
Hierarchical outline editors help with this sort of thing.
>>19314945 is a current thread about such software.

[Anonymous No.19316524]

>>19315400
Write whatever is blocking you from writing what you want.
Get it out of your system.
That'll free up your mind to think about other things.
For instance, what you want to write.
Seriously...mental purging works.

[Anonymous No.19316567]

>>19316498
>third to fourth panel
>cup in right hand disappears

[Anonymous No.19316597]

>>19316567
Well...SOMEONE'S paying attention.
Go tell Berkeley Breathed that you noticed a continuity error in something he drew in the late 1970s.

[Anonymous No.19316607]

>>19315959
Your characters discover the lore for themselves. Maybe as fish out of water, or else as the actual originators of some piece of lore. A little of both would be good, you don't want exposition to be the main part of your story.

[Anonymous No.19316632]

>>19314930
It's not horrible, but not good. I would say that if you want to go stream of consciousness/digression it's better to go all out, and that if you plan to use them frequently throughout the story then there isn't much reason to identify them so explicitly. You also use a few words that aren't wrong but are usually used differently, i.e. "an exacerbated rate" and "the semblance of meaning". Better to say "a rate exacerbated by…" and "a semblance of meaning". If the latter was an intentional play on a typical phrase then it's good, but then the rest of your phrasing should be ironclad or it will just make you sound esl. "the college educated and a convicted criminal" is another awkward line, since one is plural the other singular. If you refer to a specific character who's a specific criminal to be introduced later then you should leave it at the end of a paragraph, or at least sentence, to make it stand out more.

[Anonymous No.19316755]

>>19316607
That makes sense and that drip feed of lore is something that ties me to stories now that I think about it, thanks for the insight

[Anonymous No.19316770]

>>19316169
I like that idea, I'm going for a novel but for now I'll write some separate short stories to flesh out settings and try writing characters I am actually interested in. Hopefully that'll help me develop the other characters better.

[Anonymous No.19316804]

>>19316770
I built a novel out of short stories that I eventually sewed together.
https://reddit.com/r/dystopia/comments/q1k9ps/short_story_series_terms_and_conditions/

[Anonymous No.19316805]

I don't notice any plot problems in my second draft, each part connects and is nested to sustain conflict. After cleaning up some characterization errors, I'm going to the third draft for literary devices. Some of these come out automatically, but I want to be conscious of how they're working in each scene and where I might use some. For example, I may use amplification on several critical points so they won't be glossed over.

I am also using diacope in scenes where a character is overwhelmed with emotion. Here's an example from Ray Bradbury's "The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl" where he repeats "look" and "chandelier". For context, the character Acton is trying to hide his fingerprints after a murder but he doesn't know what all he has touched.
>His mouth slipped open and the tongue moved along his lips and he looked at the chandelier and looked away and looked back at the chandelier and looked at Huxley's body and then at the crystal chandelier with its long pearls of rainbow glass.

[Anonymous No.19316977]

>>19316567
crushed it in his hands because he's angry.

>>19316597
Never knew that Breathed aped Trudeau blatantly. Nice he developed his own style.

[Anonymous No.19317015]

>>19316977
Since you mentioned Doonesbury...

[Anonymous No.19317330]

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/31062/saga-of-the-cosmic-heroes/chapter/775786/chapter-96-embers-of-ishtar-the-little-legionnaire

After some languishing for nearly 2 weeks next chapter is out. This was shaping to be nearly a 10k~13k word chapter so it's technically a two-part chapter. Also in the off-chance any curious anon starts from the beginning, there'll be bunched-up text starting from ch3, no idea why, but hope it might be fixed eventually

[Anonymous No.19317349]

>>19317330
Sagabro !

[Anonymous No.19317360]

Is this good enough to spare 30$ on?
humblebundle/books/ultimate-writing-bundle-adams-media-books?hmb_source=&hmb_medium=product_tile&hmb_campaign=mosaic_section_1_layout_index_1_layout_type_threes_tile_index_2_c_ultimatewritingbundleadamsmedia_bookbundle

[Anonymous No.19317412]

>>19317349
a-anonbro...!

[Anonymous No.19317560]

>>19316508
What's a muse

[Anonymous No.19317600]

>>19317330
Do you do this art yourself?

[Anonymous No.19317622]

>>19317600
All my art is commissioned more or less. That one was done by the artist Vertutame, wasn't one I comm'd but I gave him some money for his effort any case

[Anonymous No.19317640]

>>19317560
Your inner source of artistic inspiration.

[Anonymous No.19317654]

>>19316508
fuck that. the muse is a fickle bitch and basically i want a divorce. better to learn to write without her. treasure the few moments of inspiration you get, but don't forget that she can't be summoned on command.

[Anonymous No.19317683]

I've started writing in a notebook. Best decision I've made so far. It's gratifying seeing pages and not files. The only problem is I can't measure precisely. I don't know how 100 physical pages are going to be in a word file. The the least important, I guess. Let's continue with what's been working.

[Anonymous No.19317728]

>>19317654
I never said she could be.
But she does respond to relaxation and being unstressed.
The point is to not get in her way.
If you feel like writing something, write it.
Don't fret about whether it's the "correct" or "best" thing to write. Just write.

[Anonymous No.19318279]

>>19316521
Thanks, anon!

[Anonymous No.19318319]

/wg/, I'm having a wave of new ideas like I haven't felt in years all fitting into place. I have a story coming together I just need to weave the threads

>a golem and an old shyster con nazi officials with counterfeit art
>a young jewish girl witnesses angels taking part in a pogrom and must make a deal with a folktale demon to survive
>two princes of jerusalem, one jew and one jinn find their brotherhood torn to sunders over a matter of race and love
>for centuries a council of 36 have worked behind the scenes to protect their people from the tyranny of a mad god. now only one survives, and he's decided to take a last stand

[Anonymous No.19318331]

>>19315400
Sometimes writing literal gibberish is better than writing nothing.

[Anonymous No.19318405]

>>19317640
Can my muse be a hot big booby anime girl?

[Anonymous No.19318464]

How do you come up with random quirks or habits for your characters?

[Anonymous No.19318539]

>>19313636
>tfw you realize you ended up writing half of this as an outline for 2/3 parts of a story, and your future plans for part 3 are a variation of the remaining half
Is it still a hero's journey if the hero only transforms from a passionless killing machine into a passionate killing machine?

[Anonymous No.19318561]

>>19314203
Bat ka nandito gago ka walang tuwad nandito. Alis ka

[Anonymous No.19318606]

>>19315530
Building on what >>19315759 said, there are various tools to detect comma splices which you can use to great effect. Missing comma detectors are harder though, at least in my experience.

[Anonymous No.19318628]

How do I analyze what I read and learn from it?
Handcopy it?

[Anonymous No.19318655]

>>19318464
it's multi-step. First, start with people or characters you know that have exaggerated qualities you find amusing. Next, give them interests, skills and weaknesses relevant to the role they serve or a motif you're following (motifs are great because they give you a base skeleton to work with). Then build out their interactions with each other and how they see each other. By this point they should be able to grow organically

fun fact, when I was writing my second novel I wanted to give all the main characters thematically appropriate weird fetishes as a joke, but just by understanding their social dynamics I realized better kinks for almost all of them. Case in point: the guy I wanted to be into vore is now nauseated by anything more than tasteful nudity, and the one whose nipples I intended to be frequently hooked up to a car battery now has and older/younger sibling incest thing and severe anxiety about it at all times

[Anonymous No.19318677]

>>19318655
>but just by understanding their social dynamics I realized better kinks for almost all of them.
I'm afraid I don't understand

[Anonymous No.19318703]

>>19313238
I've been working on a short story, but I'm stuck on making the outline before I've made a draft. I feel like I'm adding too many details and it's going to make the short story too long. How many pages should a short story have?

[Anonymous No.19318708]

>>19313391
How do I find a writing group?

[Anonymous No.19318800]

Whatever story you're writing is now interrupted by a character getting murdered by an elf with a gun. How does this change the rest of the story?

[Anonymous No.19319017]

Do you guys reread any of your work before you start a new session so you know where to pick up where you left off?

[Anonymous No.19319020]

>>19319017
I prefer starting a new session somewhere completely different.

[Anonymous No.19319045]

>>19319020
You don't write the book chapter to chapter?

[Anonymous No.19319051]

>>19319045
Not to start with, that's for sure. I start writing random passages and move on to another one as my fancy takes me. I arrange these in a rough chronological order as I create a proper outline. Writing complete chapters comes once the text is already well underway.

[Anonymous No.19319069]

>>19319051
That interesting. I'm writing mostly for the first time and because I only have a rough plan of the story in my head I'm going chapter-by-chapter.

Maybe at some point I'll try writing your way. Or even writing a few different scenes without really understanding the story and try to fill in the gaps in between.

[Anonymous No.19319113]

>>19319069
> I only have a rough plan of the story in my head I'm going chapter-by-chapter.
Making it up as you go along might turn out poorly. You need to know where you're going, what you're building up to.

[Anonymous No.19319186]

>>19319113
I know what I want the story to be. I'm pretty sure I know how I'd like it to end. But my book is more of an adventure-of-the-week type deal with some reveal of an overarching mystery as it goes. I figured I could plan and plan and plan, but it's my first time writing a book and I figured it would be pretty bad anyway and that I should just write.

[Anonymous No.19319196]

>>19319017
I reread a couple of paragraphs to try and regain the flow I had the day before.

[Anonymous No.19319369]

>>19318464
give them real ones of people you have met

[Anonymous No.19319544]

Are serial killers overplayed? I recently watched the movies The House That Jack Built and Man Bites Dog, they gave me a hankering for a 1st person narrative about a serial killer explaining his exploits.
I don't want to be edgy though. I'd prefer it to be a comedy if possible.

[Anonymous No.19319716]

god i can't for the life of me remember what you call ti when you refer to a character by descriptive factors rather than just their names
for example, "the brown-haired boy" or "the tall girl" vs johnny or jenny.
i hate it when authors overdo that
but what is it called

[Anonymous No.19319742]

> Former city guards and civilians hiding in a cave system.
> City guards still hold some slight loyalty to the order that controls the city even though they did everything possible to shit on them up to this point.
> The order finds out where they hide
> They decide to deploy something that would kill them all.
> Main character intercepts it and realizes how little the order cares for their subjects
I'm thinking poison gas but the main characters are perpetually stuck in the middle ages in a world with steampunk and sci-fi shit. How would he go about finding out what it is without dying or is there something better to smoke out the innocents?

[Anonymous No.19319760]

>>19319742
Perhaps he knows of this gas from previously, as it was what killed his parents. Somehow he survived and is immune? Can always make some backstory out of it.

[Anonymous No.19319871]

>>19318800
My story has a nihilistic machine-elf that kills people in it already.

[Anonymous No.19319875]

/lit/ bros I need your help.

I recently finished the first volume of my fantasy saga and, several days ago, uploaded it to kindle. That felt so good, not gonna lie. I told one friend about it and she got the book. Thing is, she told me it was unreadable hot garbage. No big deal, I’m fine, but I’d really like to know if it is so I can pull the proverbial gun on it. Anyway, the book is free until the 2nd of November. It doesn’t matter if you bros merely read a couple of
paragraphs but do tell me if it is really bad. Please.

www.amazon.com/dp/B09KKYD9K9

[Anonymous No.19319901]

How are you doing today, bros?
I have a day off work tomorrow. I'm going to:
>read some Homer for a few hours (starting now)
>evening -- finish reading a short story
>night -- edit and write at least 500 words

[Anonymous No.19319943]

>>19318800
Oddly enough I did consider a dramatic scene where a disillusioned officer barges into a general staff conference to shoot his superior, bit it didn't frame very well in the overall flow.

[Anonymous No.19319947]

>>19319901
I read another short story, had breakfast and now enjoying coffee. I'm reading through my third draft and dropping chiasmus for an artistic emphasis by inverting phrases. It helps me call attention to differences between the old and new myths in the setting. Also, said short story is the Flying Machine. It's about a Chinese Emperor that loves flying things, but when a man invents a way to fly, he sadly rejects it.

[Anonymous No.19319967]

>>19319901
one hour into shift and groggy, and deathly bored. When I get home I might pass out and then write a few words on chapter will, and probably binge anime this season I've neglected and play super robot wars 30.

[Anonymous No.19319987]

>>19313267
Oh shit i read this when you posted it on an isekai thread on /a/ or /co/ i think. I thought it was pretty entertaining! Fun read anon.

[Anonymous No.19319995]

>>19319901
I wrote some loose fragments for one idea (around 500 words) and started outlining a novel I've been thinking could be interesting.
The basic premise is that there's one character who starts off as an atheist but finds God and another character who starts off as a young-earth creationist but ends up losing their faith, and their stories would be told in parallel.
I thought it'd be neat. But I'm also thinking of doing that thing where the old lady and her granddaughter visit the cave with paintings on the walls, I should finish that before I dedicate myself to a novel.

[Anonymous No.19320006]

>>19319995
i think about religious themes and plots and shit but idk when i see someone else post about it it seems kinda cliche no offense cuz i had similar ideas

[Anonymous No.19320041]

>>19319995
>young earth creationist
Are you familiar with Kent "Dr Dino" Hovind? If you want to talk that kind of creationism, he's inspired most of them. See what kinds of things he talked about and you'll understand more about those kinds of people.
You remind me that I'd like to write a short story involving a flat-earther at one point, not to make fun or to support the belief, but to show that there is utility to suspicion. The adage would go something like "I'd rather be a fool than a sucker."

[Anonymous No.19320061]

>>19320041
I am very well aware of him, yes. Been following his hi-jinks for 15 years now. My major inspiration for wanting to do a deconversion story is this guy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdRCk8l1nxQ
But I also want to do the opposite story of someone finding faith to make it a more balanced book.
Flat-earthers are even more interesting as a phenomenon than creationists are, their world-view requires them to deny so much more direct observation of reality and even wilder conspiracy theories. Very fertile ground for storytelling.

[Anonymous No.19320114]

>>19320061
To give you my personal story, I was a secular agnostic until my mid 20s. My family grew up Christian but they stopped practicing when I was young so I never learned anything about it. The main reason I converted is because of eugenicist conspiracy theories that made me fear Satan, and ultimately fallen human nature, was real. So I believed in evil first and then sought to understand good and redemption, and I came to faith unfettered from the expectations of ritual and dogma one might have growing up in a church. So in that way it felt like loosing a yoke off my neck, the yoke being expectations of mankind to perpetuate evil.
Some people like me might have simple/patristic views, but depending on who they meet early in their life of faith, they may get dragged into a specific dogma or even a cult, especially if they are passionate about doing the right thing. For those people, they might see salvation as a wayward son who becomes a faithful servant. While that view is valid, it is subject to exploitation. I don't know if you already had an idea of what the unbeliever conversion looks like but just giving my two cents.

[Anonymous No.19320133]

>>19320114
My idea was that he'd start sliding towards agnosticism through mostly rational, philosophical reasons (the impossibility of knowing for certain etc.) and would then begin entertaining the idea of deism due to things like the prime mover and the apparent fine-tuning of the universe. To go from there to actual Christianity would require a more powerful, personal experience where his rationality would be superseded by raw emotion, and I haven't decided on that yet.
The deconversion is a lot easier for me to imagine, since a YEC position can be disproven with relative ease, and once that comes into question it isn't that much of a stretch for a person to then go deeper down the rabbit hole and find the foundations of their entire faith are rotten.
This is an idea that will require a lot more planning though, to make their journeys believable. I'll try to focus on some short fiction for the immediate future and let this simmer.

[Anonymous No.19320142]

Is this any good?

Lord Nellick's receiving room is cold.

The parlor fire has been burning for hours, but Jacob's knuckles still ache with the chill. The heavy brocade drapes, the scroll-legged tables, and the many framed landscapes speak of comfort and wealth, but all the money in the world cannot combat the night crouching outside, scrabbling hungrily at the wall. If the Innistrad gentry could have bought themselves out of the darkness, they would have done it already.

[Anonymous No.19320147]

>>19318405
You're missing the point.
The muse is an internal voice.
Either you're able to create or you're not.
The muse is not under our direct control.
But you can do things to encourage your muse to emerge, like relax, get plenty of rest, experience life, etc.

[Anonymous No.19320151]

>>19320142
Remove the comma from "tables, and the many"

[Anonymous No.19320157]

>>19318703
There are no rules on how long a short story "must" be.

Dribbles are 100 words.
Several fiction-oriented sub-reddits limit stories to 500 or 1000 words.
The longest single-theme short story I've ever written was 6000 words.
Just write, and don't stress over the length.

[Anonymous No.19320167]

>>19319045
One of my most senior rules of creative writing is, feel free to write nonlinearly.
There's no reason you have to write anything in its "final" order.
Just write whatever you're feeling at the moment.
Don't get in the way of your muse.

[Anonymous No.19320178]

>>19320133
>would require a more powerful, personal experience where his rationality would be superseded by raw emotion
That was definitely part of my conversion. The culture became sort of appealing but I ignored it until I became deathly afraid of what felt like inevitable dystopia. I would collect food, seeds, basically prepper stuff, and I kept concluding none of it could protect me. Before I visited a local church, I was plagued by disturbing violent nightmares every night for a week and that broke me. I hadn't even dreamed at all for years and the emotions overwhelmed me. I still went in skeptical, so I could only accept an interpretation of faith that asked nothing in return except trust in a promise. Anything else to me that was demanded of me I saw as the devil trying to trick me.

[Anonymous No.19320193]

>>19320178
See, this stuff is interesting. It's a worthwhile subject. Completely different from an army diary. A book like this could be even considered a literary work.

[Anonymous No.19320227]

>>19319875
Your first paragraph is in present tense, then the following few are in past tense, then some of your sentences go back to present tense.
I see a lot of telling, as opposed to showing, e.g. "they were looking for a traitor, one of the most egregious of offenses".
I see a bad word choice, i.e. "The climate at the country had been tense": at->in?
You really need to run this through a computerized grammar checker, like the one in Microsoft Office.
Lots of passive sentences.
You could use more punctuation.

This is what I've noticed, reading up to end of page 8.

So I don't know if it's "hot garbage", but it definitely needs editing and polishing. At best, you released it too soon.

[Anonymous No.19320233]

Anyone writing horror to celebrate spooky season? There's a skeleton on the screen and its walking right at me

[Anonymous No.19320251]

>>19319875
>Friend
>She
>Doesn't like it as ae leverage to get into pants
That's a sad oof from me chief. My condolences

[Anonymous No.19320280]

>>19320233
I have some horror scenes to work on.
>mechanical lizard
>limbless homunculi
>flying scorpion things
>blurring augmented reality with the real

[Anonymous No.19320291]

>>19320280
>limbless homunculi
Doesn't sound very threatening. What's it going to do, bite my legs?

[Anonymous No.19320295]

Tomorrow is a new writing week, lads. Get your keyboards ready, we doing 2k a day to keep the procrastination away!

Anyone who doesn't is a gay boy.

[Anonymous No.19320296]

>>19313238
OP could you tell me who painted this image? I really like it

[Anonymous No.19320311]

>>19320295
but what if I am gay?

[Anonymous No.19320313]

>>19320291
No they can't hurt you. The protagonist begins to realize that if the scorpion catches him, it will forcibly recreate him into one of the homunculi things.

[Anonymous No.19320316]

>>19320295
I've got a job so not going to happen. I'll do 500 words a day at best.

[Anonymous No.19320325]

>>19320313
I see, so it's like that.

[Anonymous No.19320352]

>>19320296
The painting is "Alone" by Edmund Dulac. The image is cropped. It's an illustration for the poem by Edgar Allan Poe:
>From childhood’s hour I have not been
>As others were—I have not seen
>As others saw—I could not bring
>My passions from a common spring—
>From the same source I have not taken
>My sorrow—I could not awaken
>My heart to joy at the same tone—
>And all I lov’d—I lov’d alone—
>Then—in my childhood—in the dawn
>Of a most stormy life—was drawn
>From ev’ry depth of good and ill
>The mystery which binds me still—
>From the torrent, or the fountain—
>From the red cliff of the mountain—
>From the sun that ’round me roll’d
>In its autumn tint of gold—
>From the lightning in the sky
>As it pass’d me flying by—
>From the thunder, and the storm—
>And the cloud that took the form
>(When the rest of Heaven was blue)
>Of a demon in my view—

[Anonymous No.19320437]

>>19320227
Thanks for the comments. And you're right, I might have released it too soon. No point crying about that now. I'll carefully edit all the points you made. And what about the story, do you find it interesting?

>>19320251
kek. It's not like that though.

[Anonymous No.19320482]

>>19320352
thank you :)

[Anonymous No.19320564]

>>19313648

Prescriptive, not proscriptive.

[Anonymous No.19320570]

>>19320564

[Anonymous No.19320685]

>>19320313
Lots of me...lots of me...
https://phineasandferb.fandom.com/wiki/Night_of_the_Living_Pharmacists

[Anonymous No.19320692]

>>19320316
Indeed. My soul-sucking day job keeps me so drained, I can hardly write.
I can sometimes write on weekends, and I get a lot done during my far-too-seldom vacations.
Sigh.

[Anonymous No.19320726]

>>19320437
>do you find it interesting?
It's potentially interesting, but so badly written at this point, I can hardly focus on the story.
Your work is presently before-first-draft quality.

Here's my best advice for fixing it (again, pointing out I only made it to page 8 of the e-book).

Consider what you wrote to be a "tell don't show" sort of summary of the real story.
Rewrite it to show all the stuff you told us about.

Example: instead of telling us about the arriving troops/police/whatever, show some officials on the ground getting awoken in the middle of the night, grumbling about it, expressing their opinions of the arriving troops/police, going out to meet them half-asleep, being treated by them as if they're inferior...stuff like that.

Similarly, instead of telling us about the forest, maybe have some vignette where that gets revealed to us through dialog and action. Maybe a boy on the verge of manhood, being mentored by an elder, and the elder demonstrating the nature of majja to the adolescent. Stuff like that.

Show, don't tell.

[Anonymous No.19321080]

>>19313466
I loved it, anon.

It could be polished around the edges but the work is solid. Congrats.

[Anonymous No.19321223]

>>19313238
I have written this as a short story submission for the combined arms scifi tabletop game DropZone/DropFleet Commander.

I'd like to think it's pretty OK but i'm always looking for feedback and improvement

https://docs.google.com/document/d/19vLnHB3_jPrAw3J-4ta_vz8RRU_a8zRiRCFydnRx2Jc/edit?usp=sharing

[Anonymous No.19321459]

>>19314736
Bump. I know it's far from perfect but I can't see any avenues of improvement right now.

[Anonymous No.19321501]

>>19320233
I can't find books scary, but I tried to write a horror story. There are many spooky and desperate situations in it. I'm curious to see if the readers will find it scary at all, or just tiresome.

[Anonymous No.19321843]

>>19320692
You need to quit your job to become an artist.

[Anonymous No.19321862]

>>19321843
That's stupid advice.

[Anonymous No.19321926]

>>19320726
I get it, crystal clear. I think its my own preference that makes me write like that. Thanks a lot for the time. One more favor, if you can. I rewrote the prologue in that show not tell way.

Am I doing it right?

https://pastebin.com/0xWRvqTB

[Anonymous No.19321943]

>>19318800
that is my story though

[Anonymous No.19321950]

>>19321862
Let's see the art you've done?

I'll be waiting

[Anonymous No.19322027]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09JM3J5GT

Here is my oeuvre, available for free until tomorrow. I made a thread about it here
>>19322021
but tranny janny will probably delete it because my book is too based, so I'm posting it ITT too. All feedback is welcome.

[Anonymous No.19322051]

>>19321950
he doesn't need to show you his art, he can show you the art of anyone who was employed, like kafka or whoever. you seem a bit slow.

[Anonymous No.19322071]

>>19322051
Pseud invasion on /lit/ right meow

[Anonymous No.19322216]

What music do you listen to while writing?

[Anonymous No.19322219]

>>19322027
Based. I try to avoid on-the-nose topics personally and attack underlying issues in a different setting.

[Anonymous No.19322221]

What are your thoughts on writing outside your element

For example I've become jaded and cynical to cope with my life but I don't want to write cynically, however I think trying to force a wholesome or some other approach will come off as disingenuous and, well forced because it's not an expression of how I feel generally. Can people tell when an author believes what he preaches?

[Anonymous No.19322242]

>Why do you write like an old white man from XIX century?
>Why can't you write like fantasy or something?

[Anonymous No.19322329]

>>19321223
pls respond ;_;

[Anonymous No.19322333]

>>19322219
The first few chapters are meant to mirror reality somewhat closely, albeit in a more accelerated fashion(deadlier, faster spreading pandemic, so the consequences are accelerated also), so it is intentionally on-the-nose. The setup is establishing the "world before". Remember, it is alternate history, so around chapter 4 is where my story really diverges from history, roughly the end of the first act, then it becomes more of what you're describing with the underlying issue in a different setting.

[Anonymous No.19322362]

>>19322242
>XIX
>XX
what's the difference

[Anonymous No.19322370]

>>19313466
Very nice, well done. It reminds me a story that was printed in the lit quarterly 3 called "Two Birds in the Earthset". Same tone and similar setting.

[Anonymous No.19322383]

>novel idea pops like a lightbult
>"that's awesome anon, I would def read that, you should write"
>write three chapters in 1 week
>now stuck in the 4th chapter for 2 weeks

why?
I know the story, I just don't feel like writing this scene

[Anonymous No.19322385]

>>19315445
nice little excerpt

[Anonymous No.19322407]

>tfw no one reads your second chapter after reading the first

How do I write an engaging chapter generally?
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/47758/the-plague-of-york/chapter/772193/the-arrival-to-york

[Anonymous No.19322411]

>>19320692
Get a bullshit job in administration. Plenty of time to write.

[Anonymous No.19322457]

>>19313269
>luck
I shiggy diggy

[Anonymous No.19322472]

>>19322216
I listen to nocturnes, especially fond of Chopin.
>>19322221
I've grown jaded in some ways. I let feelings that I've had or currently have split between a lot of characters in my story. There are some other techniques you can do to stay honest. It's not exhaustive but here are things I recommend:
>give POV to other characters to build sympathy for alternate views with the reader, especially when that character is suffering
>Concessions when presenting your feelings
>Enthymeme to nudge reader to make their own conclusion
>Parallelisms to compare and contrast
>Procatalepsis to build trust with the readers
>Verbal Irony so you can show bitterness more indirectly
>use High Wit including conceits, metaphors, and arguments. Gives the appearance of appreciation when you're actually disparaging
>avoid Low Wit: wordplay, oxymoron, pun, paradox
>avoid using negative Parrhesia if you dont want to come off as zealous
Also, remember that writing isn't only sharing your feelings, it's exploring it. Don't think of it as being disingenuous if you use literary devices to not come off as jaded. We are more complex than that and you're free to change how you feel in the course of writing.

[Anonymous No.19322679]

I can't write like my favourite authors. My prose is shit. How do I write like Lermontov, Hesse, Joseph Conrad, how do I do that? I cannot. Bros...

[Anonymous No.19322684]

First time coming around to /lit/. I'm starting a semi-fictional travel book about a burnt out former tech worker who moves to South America. How does it come across? Hopefully more "interested in what he goes on to find" and less "shitty man-child diary entry" but feel free to be honest.
I know I'm shit when it comes to grammar, I need to work on that.


What will I feel when I get there?

I think about how I'm going to start writing. Sitting alone in an apartment on the other side of the world. Some days I think the first night will be pensive, drink a bottle of rum and try to process the last few years. Today I think it will be more energetic, the thought of being finally independent again, able to immerse myself in someplace.

Obviously I'm excited, also bored out of my skull sitting here, so I'm jumping at the bit and writing my travel book before the travel actually happens. And obviously I would be excited. A month out from my 30th birthday. To call my 20s a lost decade is probably a bit kind, considering the amount of failures included in that span. 10 years of false starts, a year in one city, a year in another, and capped off by the slow death of my father. I watched my friends become junkies, sunk a sickening amount of money into rent and student loans, and completely ignored the other sex every at chance I got. I'm alone, and beatdown. I guess I didn't altogether hate it, but yeah, I'm ready for a new start.

I hope I find it there. I've moved before, but it was always half-hearted, phony. There physically, but always with half my mind worrying about the problems back home. This time is different though. The loans are paid, there's enough savings in the bank, Mom is adjusting and she'll be okay. This time, for the first time, I can really, really, be there.

The only thing for me to do is take the opportunity and run with it. I'll let myself have that first night however it winds up being. After that it's about finding people, making connections, and building the world that I want to be a part of.

For now though I still need to wait the painfully slow 9 days left till the flight.

[Anonymous No.19322691]

How do I write a charismatic character if I'm the farthest thing from that IRL?

[Anonymous No.19322831]

>>19322679
Maybe read literary analysis and see what they are doing so you have a practical understanding of how their prose works.
>>19322691
Even writers of average intelligence can write smart characters because you can keep going back and editing in a wittier comment because you have the luxury of time on your side to give the illusion that the character thought of it in an instant. The same holds for charismatic characters. You have time to understand the way charismatic people talk, what motivates them to behave that way, and so on. You don't have to be charismatic but you need to attempt to understand how they are. There are probably habits on several charismatic people you know already, make note of them. Some of the color you can fill in in later drafts, but first you have to understand the motivation of that character.

[Anonymous No.19322837]

>>19322679
Try picking out paragraphs of their work and copy its structure with your own words. An even easier way is to take the first line from some stories and slightly alter its words. It can also be useful to keep a notebook around and write down passages that you enjoy. This allows you to look at it again and again.

[Anonymous No.19322849]

>>19322216
I listen to Love Live songs

[Anonymous No.19322862]

>>19322849
Same. I'm writing for her.

[Anonymous No.19322965]

Why is it so fucking hard to make yourself write? I don't have this problem at all for drawing. I can just sit down, put on some music, and draw for four or five hours -- even if I'm drawing straight trash. However I can only write for maybe 10 or 15 minutes and then I just have this involuntary urge to change the tab and refresh the front page of Youtube. This happens even if I write a great sentence or description. What is the cause behind this resistance? I've read Steven Pressfield's book but he never explains this. Why. People just say "boo hoo work harder" but why is it so hard? Why does Steven King church out a chapter like butter whereas George R.R. Martin takes a million years?

Maybe the highest output writers have story down better -- perhaps they are able to hook themselves into their own writing in a way that I cannot. What do you think guys?

[Anonymous No.19322969]

>>19322965
Words are evil, especially written words, and your soul is telling you to abandon ship

[Anonymous No.19322970]

>>19322965
*stephen
*churn

[Anonymous No.19322979]

>>19322969
Not really, I'm very proud of what I've made so far. I have a clear vision in my head for what I'm making

[Anonymous No.19322987]

I wonder how it feels to have your book on a book shelf in a bookstore. I'd imagine it would feel good.

[Anonymous No.19322995]

>>19322979
I take no pride in my work, autistically meandering from scene to scene for up to 14 hours straight simply because I'm bored and want to enjoy writing rather than live up to my long dead expectations

[Anonymous No.19323001]

>>19322995
Are you able to complete works?

[Anonymous No.19323005]

>>19322995
post an excerpt.

[Anonymous No.19323006]

>>19323001
The ride never ends and neither do my works

[Anonymous No.19323038]

>>19322965
>>19322979
Also one thing I've noticed is that I actually have improved in this over the years. I used to have REAL writers' block where I would be bored and miserable when I wrote. I no longer have this because I have gotten a lot better at planning and note taking. If you just pants a work you are way more likely to get those negative feelings

I'm very serious about the pain of writing. It's really activated my autism. I'm trying to incorporate some of Bill Gaede's ideas into my overarching theory but the answer still eludes me. I think it has something to do with how our brains processes object and concept words

https://youtu.be/f--XOBLtLLs

For those who are unaware, Gaede is this esoteric physicist who argues that action at a distance phenomena is mediated by extended objects. I've been mulling over his foundations of physics and trying to apply them to language and by extension the writing process.

[Anonymous No.19323055]

>>19322216
Anime music lately, and Muv Luv VN stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIuTX6hJICQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzRhsVEy4mk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iseOSKngyUo&t

[Anonymous No.19323066]

>>19322407
Can't help much with advice, but can give some feedback. After reading chapter 1 I can tell you that I didn't really care about what happened to any of the characters. They could've died in chapter 2 and I would feel neither sadness nor joy. Casper was a dick but at least he did things. Adrian just lost his income and then stood there watching a rape/murder scene. Dunstan was good at groveling, I guess?

Some specific parts that didn't make sense:
>When the young man on the horse saw the old man
What old man? I assume it's the one who just left the ceremony, but either mention he's old beforehand or don't call him old when it's ambiguous.

>The four individuals fell into a line, with the mayor in front and the viscount at the back
>the young man stood guard and watched the mayor advance in the cloudy darkness towards his petrified subjects.
>As they made their way down the back streets adjacent to the market, upon the outskirts of the city, Lord Casper watched from behind the panicked movements of the poor woman
The first shows Casper is at the front. The second indicates they've stopped somewhere and Casper has turned back towards the rest of the group. The third suggests that they're still on the move, and Casper is now somehow behind the woman.

>Then he embraced the young lord and kissed him on the cheek, an act that would repel Adrian had it been anybody else and in any other situation
Adrian was clearly uncomfortable with what just happened, so what other situation is this supposed to be referring to?

I looked at the first paragraph of chapter 2 and it was entirely about some historical stuff that I didn't give a shit about. The chapter seems to also be about two new characters, which doesn't inspire much hope that the ones from chapter 1 will be developed any time soon. I figure I'm not the target audience for historical works like this so take it with a grain of salt, but that's my two cents.

[Anonymous No.19323099]

>>19323005
Dominic’s surroundings suddenly changed from the now calm of the lake to somewhere slightly warmer. It was pitch black, but there was the faint sound of water dripping. A woman's voice greeted him "Welcome to my home, I'm sorry about the mess!"

Dominic answered her "What is this place? I can’t see anything."

“Ah, sorry about that, meamo devti ri na.” she said.

Dominic’s vision suddenly filled, it was a large cavern with a body of water next to it. A strange white light appeared above him, revealing the bare surroundings. Home, he thought. What home, there’s nothing here. Not a single furnishing.

She had removed the cloak covering her face, smiling ear to ear with her arms outstretched, the sleeves hanging elegantly as she greeted him “Come come, have a seat. Please make yourself at home! Would you like some tea?”

“Where exactly am I supposed to sit. More importantly, what do you want?” Dominic asked.

The woman’s beaming smile not faltering, an almost imperceptible twitch of her left eyebrow was the only betrayal of her growing irritation. Her calming voice not changing. “Oh dear, oh yes, how could I forget, matarena i madetta, dvela ri ne.

As if morphing from the air, an opulent black dining table appeared, topped with matching gilded mugs, several containers, a kettle, and a platter of treats.

“What kind of magic is this?”

Ignoring his question, she insisted “Please have a seat, how was your journey, have you come far?”

Dominic: “You asked me out here, you know where I’ve come from! What do you want!?”
The woman’s face suddenly dropped from a brimming smile to completely indifferent, “Humour me, human.”
The sudden drop in her voice from charming to malicious gave Dominic pause. “Well, I’ve just come from Sumaran, no problems.” nervously laughing off the end of his sentence.
The woman’s brilliant smile returned.
“Oh well I’m sure you’re very tired, would you like some tea?”

[Anonymous No.19323103]

>>19321950
If my novel counts as "art", here you go.

I mean, why else would I be posting in /wg/ if I wasn't a writer in some capacity?

[Anonymous No.19323132]

>>19322383
Then write some other scene.
There's no rule that says you have to write it in order.
I wrote most of my novel before I could write part of the first chapter -- I needed to know where it was going before I could write the establishing scene.
No big deal. Just write what you feel like.

[Anonymous No.19323137]

>>19322411
I don't hate myself enough to get a bullshit job in administration.

[Anonymous No.19323148]

>>19323006
Then you're writing a serial!
Break it into coherent pieces and publish each separately!
You could be writing the next Stainless Steel Rat!

[Anonymous No.19323180]

>>19323137
I love it. I get a lot of writing and reading done

[Anonymous No.19323194]

Is it bad that I feel more encouraged to write after reading bad stories than good, inspiring ones?
I usually think my writing is shitty with purple prose so when I see a blatantly terrible story with awful grammar errors, obvious plotholes, autistic stilted dialogue, the purplest of prose etc being received really well by people, I think "Well I could definitely do better so maybe I'm not that bad after all". Is this a bad habit/amateur trap?

[Anonymous No.19323249]

How do I make $$$ writing erotica?

[Anonymous No.19323255]

>>19323194
>Is this a bad habit
Yes. You're lowering your standards. Don't aim to be better than a fanfic-tier writer, aim to be as good as the greats

[Anonymous No.19323264]

>>19323255
But I don't want to be one the greats, I want to write genre fiction.

[Anonymous No.19323271]

>>19323255
I understand this but what I'm saying is if a "fanfic-tier" writer can garner so much praise for bad writing then it makes me feel better about myself because if that's the kind of shit people will eat up then my shit would blow their minds.

[Anonymous No.19323305]

>>19323194
Whatever gets you to write.
Nothing happens until you actually complete a work, and have a unit that you can promote and sell.
So do whatever it takes to get to that point, then you can edit it until it's up to your standards.

[Anonymous No.19323412]

>>19320316
I got a job too, Sometimes I barely have two hours to work with before work, I still get it done. Step your game up. 500 words is paltry.

[Anonymous No.19323483]

>>19323249
Pander to furries.

[Anonymous No.19323501]

>>19323483
she cute

[Anonymous No.19323508]

>break
>take a few hours and compose list of potential agents to throw it to
they really make you feel like if you aren't brown or gay they don't want you...

[Anonymous No.19323580]

>>19323508
they don't

[Anonymous No.19323604]

My biggest problem as a writer is I'm never ready to call it done. I'm sitting on two stories both of which are in an advanced state. The pacing is off on one of them and as for the other, a different writer might be satisfied with it, but I can't shake the haunted feeling that it is missing a sprinkle of je ne sais quoi. Is it possible to know by your own lights alone, whether it is good enough? Even if I enlisted the opinion of beta readers and they happened to like the story I wouldn't be satisfied because unless my vision for it equates to the actual product I see failure.

[Anonymous No.19323611]

>>19313238
There's a thread active right now where the OP asks anons to describe a kiss in their best prose. I participated and kind of liked what I had, so I figured I'd post it here for people's thoughts. Hope you guys don't mind:
Bated breath from both sides. His eyes turned down to meet hers. Hands with fingers intertwined. She coyly stepped towards him. He leaned in and, ever so slightly, tilted his head. She stood up on her toes and put her arms around his waist.

Eyes closed. Tender lips touched, then connected, as their bodies were drawn closer. His arms wrapped around her waist. Her hands cupped his cheeks. The tender lips moved, adjusting, thirsting for the sweet taste of the other. The sweetness kindled a desire for closeness the bodies could not attain.

Each second an eternity. Yet too little time for their precocious feelings. Reluctantly, both sides pulled away. He took two steps backwards. She turned her body, but her face refused.

Somewhere in the neighborhood, excited children squealed and broke them out of each other's trance.

He shrugged nervously and she giggled. He cleared his throat.

"I guess I'll see you next week?"

"Sure," she smiled. "I can't wait."

[Anonymous No.19323618]

Should I just write one scene after another and forget about plot? For NaNoWriMo I mean

[Anonymous No.19323624]

>>19313238
There's a thread active right now where the OP asks anons to describe a kiss in their best prose. I participated and kind of liked what I had, so I figured I'd post it here for people's thoughts. Hope you guys don't mind, you've helped me in the past so I felt like this might be useful:


Bated breath from both sides. His eyes turned down to meet hers. Hands with fingers intertwined. She coyly stepped towards him. He leaned in and, ever so slightly, tilted his head. She stood up on her toes and put her arms around his waist.

Eyes closed. Tender lips touched, then connected, as their bodies were drawn closer. His arms wrapped around her waist. Her hands cupped his cheeks. The tender lips moved, adjusting, thirsting for the sweet taste of the other. The sweetness kindled a desire for closeness the bodies could not attain.

Each second an eternity. Yet too little time for their precocious feelings. Reluctantly, both sides pulled away. He took two steps backwards. She turned her body, but her face refused.

Somewhere in the neighborhood, excited children squealed and broke them out of each other's trance.

He shrugged nervously and she giggled. He cleared his throat.

"I guess I'll see you next week?"

"Sure," she smiled. "I can't wait."

[Anonymous No.19323696]

>>19323412
Fuck you, it's not like I write for a living. Stop stressing me out. I've got to go to work soon. Fuck you.

[Anonymous No.19323705]

>>19323618
No. Plan plan plan. At the end of NaNoWriMo you just end up with a mess

[Anonymous No.19323709]

>>19323705
That's right, goy! Always plan, never write, there's always next year.

[Anonymous No.19323725]

>>19323709
It's the total opposite. All the shitlib journals tell you to "discover yourself" and that pantsing is amazing. Total onions argument

[Anonymous No.19323753]

https://marspaste.com/nana-2020

Here's what I wrote last NaNo, read and rate if you'd like

[Anonymous No.19323975]

>>19323618
You might as well write 30 short stories if you're going to go in without a plot outline or even a theme

[Anonymous No.19324069]

>>19323271
>if that's the kind of shit people will eat up then my shit would blow their minds.

I used to think this way, but it doesn't work like that in reality. People read and love bad, shallow, poorly written stories, because they simply have no mental capacity for better. When faced with a book of actual depth and style, most readers don't know how to process it, they just freeze and put it away. They need some authority figure to tell them "this is good, you're allowed to enjoy this", before they dare to form their own opinion

[Anonymous No.19324789]

>>19323696
>I've got to go to work soon.
Same. I monitor /wg/ when I can.

[Anonymous No.19324791]

>Staring at a blank page not knowing how to start my novel
W-We're all going to make it

[Anonymous No.19324869]

I adore the subreddit for writing.
Most threads are like, can I write from a perspective of a bisexual gay black person if I'm white??? How to write a woman?? How do I write action? How do I describe things? Can I write all characters as LGBT? Any tips for writing a non-binary demisexual people of color????
Peak comedy.

[Anonymous No.19324874]

>>19324869
Don't forget the daily
>can I write if I don't read any books?

[Anonymous No.19324947]

>>19324791
>writing section about betrayal involving a push and fall
>dont know whether they should run out alley or climb to the roof
>sit and think
>start listing out options
>none seem to make sense
>write the betrayal starting at the push
>describe the cries of confusion, horrible deathroes that haunt the character the rest of the story and how he denies and rationalizes the murder
>feel good for moving onto the drama instead of getting caught up in a technical detail

[Anonymous No.19325127]

>>19323975
NaShoWriMo?

I’m an anon who really only started writing as a result of the /ffa/ (flash fic anthology) threads. I’ve really been enjoying it, but want to start trying a longer format. My story pacing is so trained on 1000 word arcs, I’d like to learn to slow the story down. Maybe for my personal NaShoWriMo I’ll try to write a couple 5,000-10,000 word stories (or perhaps try to synthesize a few separate flashes into one coherent story arc).

Hope it’s not shit…but if it is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Anonymous No.19325301]

>>19324791
My story starts with an old lady lying in bed, feeling regret over the argument she got into with her son the day before.
She gets up and goes to the kitchen, where her granddaughter is writing creepy poetry by candlelight.
I'm wondering what they would talk about in such a situation.

[Anonymous No.19325519]

>>19321080
>>19322370
Thank you, it took time but I really enjoyed it. Maybe I will post another one for the next general?

[Anonymous No.19325618]

>>19323725
>All the shitlib journals tell you
rent free lol. i write the way writers i like did it, you write the way self help grifters tell you to write. only $39.99 for all the secrets of storytelling!

[Anonymous No.19325626]

I'm currently taking a Coursera creative writing course. Seems good so far for learning the fundamentals of plot, structure etc. The only problem is that you have to review others work to progress and it's mainly low IQ third worlders with terrible English.

Any recommendations for other online writing courses?

[Anonymous No.19325631]

I've read like 6 guidebooks and the only things I remember from any of them is "kill your darlings", "show don't tell", "check your grammar and spelling" and "Hemingway said you have to write just one true sentence, and then another and another".
Guide books are worthless.

[Anonymous No.19325638]

>>19313238
I spent absolutely most part of my life indoors. I don't know dog shit about anything, I think I might become the most stupid writer in history even if I would write some fantasy or just abstract just because of incompetence in pretty much everything in life.

[Anonymous No.19325643]

>>19325638
Look within.

[Anonymous No.19325668]

>>19313238
>tfw haven't written anything substantial in about a year
Really hard to since I'm living with my fiancée now.
Don't think I'll ever finish my book of short stories

[Anonymous No.19325671]

>>19325668
Women are the destroyers of men's dreams.

[Anonymous No.19325703]

>>19325671
In some ways yes. Probably won't ever write a book but my dream of a family may very well be fulfilled

[Anonymous No.19325733]

>>19325668
>I love how ambitious you are I can't wait to read your book, honey
>wait where are you going
>get off the computer please
>put down that book let's go out
Every time.

[Anonymous No.19325739]

>>19323624
Is this just too small to be critiqued?

[Anonymous No.19325844]

>>19323624
>coyly
Maybe try some body language that conveys reluctance as she walks up. Perhaps she looks away or blushes?
>bodies were drawn
This stood out to me since most subjects there used body parts and active voice. Why use passive there when the focus seems to be on bodies?
>an eternity
Maybe to them, for me it didnt. If you write describing actions, or even go into artistic metaphors, abstract, anything about the experience you could convey how each part of the kiss meant a lot to them.
>Relucatantly
Who closed their lips or pulled away first? Did they both stop moving? It is a nice passage anon. If anything I'd write more about the eyes before they kiss. There is a certain half-closed look the last second before a kiss that lets both parties know it's time to smooch. That's the moment that reluctance fades away, at least for me.

[Anonymous No.19325864]

>>19325618
Google "plotting vs pantsing," all of the self help people tell you that it's ok to pants your story

[Anonymous No.19325954]

>>19325864
of course its ok to do that. do people really plan each and every scene before doing them? sounds stultifying. make a skeletal outline, understand the big mile markers for your story, and the general direction its going to move in, and then fill in the gaps however the muse directs you.

[Anonymous No.19326072]

You do actually write for a living, right anon?

[Anonymous No.19326088]

>>19326072
I've been writing every week (except for August/September, and dying of covid in December 2020) since April 2020 so yes. Not for money though, if that's what you mean.

[Anonymous No.19326100]

>>19326072
No, I work for a living. But it's 8 PM and I hit my goal for today. I'll write for half an hour more.

[Anonymous No.19326118]

>>19325954
Not planning is liberal and gay and just leads to bad, boring pomo stuff or dreadful workshop fiction. It's like building a house by starting with the decorations.

[Anonymous No.19326133]

>>19326118
I don't get it

[Anonymous No.19326137]

>>19325844
>Maybe try some body language that conveys reluctance as she walks up.
Good catch.

>This stood out to me since most subjects used body parts and active voice.
I was trying to bring in sentence variation. People in this general have told me my writing can be sterile, so I'm trying to fix that.

>Maybe to them, for me it didnt.
Another good catch. That was bad word choice on my part.

>Did they both stop moving?
Yeah. I thought I was being clever by writing it that way but it seems it didn't have the intended effect.

[Anonymous No.19326148]

>>19326133
What don't you get

[Anonymous No.19326154]

>>19326072
Both luck and skill are part of success in life, and I'm lucky enough to have the job I have now. I can assuredly build assets with this and I'm not gonna take that for granted if other parts of the market shrink. As much as I'd love to quit and write, it's a liability. Prices might skyrocket and I'd have only 2 years to make it or I'd have to movein with my parents. I read in the morning, go to work, then go home and write. No time for anything else and I've gotten used to the lifestyle. We'll see where I'm at after 3 or 5 years and reasses if I'm ngmi or not.

[Anonymous No.19326156]

>>19326148
The image.

[Anonymous No.19326161]

>>19325638
>>19325643
i'll give you some actual advice, but it only takes a certain type of person to achieve this from my experience. isolation can be used as a strength. i was the same and literally didn't my entire life until i was in my 20s. i'm a warehouse worker and i work at UPS in trailers where i just listen to things all day. I sort of evolved into a competent story teller that can hold a conversation with university graduates (doesn't translate online) and something iv learned is you can learn anything from anything if you take the time and effort. being isolated and seperated from culture gives you a better perspective when it comes to experience, rather then culture and social norms "just coming natural to you" you're able to understand why culture and social norms and society operate from the surface down rather then the bottom up. personally iv learned a lot about people based on what they laugh at, and that alone puts you above a lot of people with experiences but don't have the willingness to articulate or understand the why or how.

the biggest hurtle iv ran into although is grammar and learning words. atm i'm doing elementary school shit and trying to learn 5 new big words a day with a friend and me and her are trying to see if we're using them right, grammar is the second biggest one although, i pretty much know grammar from reddit and 4chan post and audiobooks lame enough

[Anonymous No.19326166]

I just want to see if I'm banned.

[Anonymous No.19326169]

>>19326156
Many of these works are plotless meta fiction. Read Murakami or the Naked Lunch. A bunch of stuff happens with little structure or direction.

[Anonymous No.19326190]

>>19326169
To be fair you have to have a very high IQ to understand Naked Lunch

[Anonymous No.19326229]

>>19325954
I'm more of a plotter than a pantser, and I can say a lot of the "just pants bro" comes from survivor bias of writers who made it and dont know how to teach. Outling can save you from massive plot holes. Also even if you mostly pants, outlines help you analyze what youre doing. I have mine open on another screen as I write.
You can write a detailed ourlibe but the important thing is to realize when you've got a better idea. Sometimes those ideas come during the outline, but sometimes it's as you write. That's where pantsing and "the muse" comes in. You need to be open to surprising yourself or reinterpreting your thesis, characters and such. For example I was vehemently natalist and read antinatalist pessimism to understand the view of an antagonist. While I still disagree with it, when I was writing I strayed from my outline and I ended up enjoying the drama it created compared to what I had planned.
>>19326118
Blood Meridian is nice but I prefer McCarthy's Southern. The thing about pantsing they dont tell you is they already have a lot in their head about what a character wants. If you have that, something familiar mixed with unfamiliar, and hopefully an idea for a major beat to work towards, pantsing is okay. It gets unhelpful when people romanticize it and pretend ideas just come to them rather than them going through a question&answer process as they do it.

[Anonymous No.19326235]

Developed another good idea for my story

[Anonymous No.19326237]

>>19326190
The real tell with the plotting vs pantsing argument is to look at the extremes. You would never just write a story with no knowledge of structure or any basic guideposts. So why would you not try to plan every aspect of your work? Contrary to popular belief, planning and plotting is liberating. You can only end up with an excellent story, because you control how everything comes out. Plotting is simply ruined by unhelpful and confusing diagrams that attempt to explain chronology using geometric figures. That gut reaction you have that none of this makes any sense is correct. It's an irrational way to explain what a story is

[Anonymous No.19326256]

>>19326235
great work, anon! what did you come up with?

[Anonymous No.19326297]

>>19323483
I see, they say you should find a niche and pander to it. Is there a way I can do a story with multiple fetishes and have it be popular?

[Anonymous No.19326323]

I didn't write today.

[Anonymous No.19326341]

>>19326229
>a lot of the "just pants bro" comes from survivor bias of writers who made it
In fairness those people actually managed to create something. A trap that someone who obsessively plots falls into is creating a giant world down to the type of food people eat for breakfast and all sorts of irrelevant shit. But planning is not actually writing. They may have an exhaustive list of details about a character but then when it comes to actually breathe life into that character during some dialogue it comes out wooden.
>teaching writing
I mean, is it really possible to be taught how to write? Read a lot of books, develop your own voice, then edit, revise, reconstruct.

[Anonymous No.19326466]

>>19326256
I was trying to determine my villains plan for my sci fi fantasy. And I determined he's trying to turn the universe into a chaotic hellscape so he can be like satan and live lavishly. Sorry if your not into that sort of thing and expected something more kino.

[Anonymous No.19326525]

>>19326323
Day's not over yet homeboy

[Anonymous No.19326540]

>>19326341
Youre right anon. I mean no disrespect to successful authors, and the cons of holding yourself back by becoming the eternal worldbuilder are equally bad as eternal chapter 1er. Writing freeform will give impetus to finish a story, and as I also mentioned it encourages you to consider alternatives in your story if you dont have an outline telling you where to go.

[Anonymous No.19326740]

>>19326166
Why would you be banned, fren?

[Anonymous No.19326772]

>>19319716
epithet

[Anonymous No.19326800]

>>19322987
>Why bla bla bla
Practice.
>Jewtube
Switch of your internet and set a pomodoro timer.
>King, GRRM
Why do you compare yourself to them?

[Anonymous No.19326998]

I don't really care about worldbuilding beyond the necessary minimum. All envisioned cultures/states/religions are obvious stand-ins for their IRL inspiration. I'm more interested in characters and the plot surrounding them. Is this acceptable for a low-fantasy novel?

[Anonymous No.19327093]

>>19326998
Probably preferable.

[Anonymous No.19327755]

I thought really hard about writing today.

[Anonymous No.19327780]

>>19327755
good job you stupid faggot

[Anonymous No.19327782]

>>19327755
I've still got 1000 words to go, wish my luck

[Anonymous No.19327820]

How do i write good villains that aren't capeshit tier

[Anonymous No.19327858]

>>19323696
Neither do I, I work at a shop. If you cared about stress you would not be here. And I just came back from work. God be with you.

>>19326998
>Is this acceptable for a low-fantasy novel?
If it is acceptable or not is up to you, if you want to be lazy, go ahead.

>>19327820
Make them either have an infectious personality, easy to side with or be highly influential on your MC. it doesn't even have to be a man or something, it can just be a monster so long as the influence is shown.

[Anonymous No.19327880]

>>19327820
Let me guess, you wrote something marvel writers shit out their ass every two weeks. Is he he's hunting for hidden power crystals or something.

[Anonymous No.19327889]

>>19327880
Ya you got me

[Anonymous No.19327904]

>>19327889
Not him, but how about you read more before writing. Or is that too much for you.

[Anonymous No.19327919]

Write a short story that begins with "Dr. Pavel, I'm CIA." It can be used in any context you wish.

[Anonymous No.19327952]

The villain in my story is based off power hungry Roman emperors and Satan. His goal is to turn the Universe into a chaotic landscape he rules over to fulfill his megalomaniacal desires. What do you think? What villains does he sound like (Baron Harkonnen comes to my mind a bit?

[Anonymous No.19327988]

OH NO INTERNET TOUGH GUYS ARE MAKING FUN OF ME ON A SHITTY INTERNET CHAT BOARD. HELP ME MODS!!!

[Anonymous No.19328067]

>>19327952
I think some anons are jumping on this b/c it’s kind of predictable ‘big bad’ stuff. Even Marvel wrote Thanos to have a pretty complex motivation.

Characters who crave power usually want it for some reason. Acquiring power is hard work, keeping it is even harder…why would someone who wants a lavish life do that?

[Anonymous No.19328107]

>>19328067
Wow bro you figured all that out based on a couple posts. Thanks. I'll go get my McDonalds applications

[Anonymous No.19328196]

>>19328067
Ya he's not necessarily the primary conflict in the story either which is why I made him blatantly evil. The main characters struggle and growth against evil is more important. I figured SFFG was open to caricature bad guys.
>why would someone who wants a lavish life do that?
The stories background is that God created the "entropic realm" to punish the angels for betraying him. So since the dawn of time they've been fighting this Holy war for billions of years. The angel feels the "big plan" is a lie and would rather serve and benefit himself.

[Anonymous No.19328229]

>>19318331
Worked for William Burroughs. Naked Lunch is a good fucking read, too

[Anonymous No.19328234]

>>19328196
All I have to say is this: you sound too young and/or low-IQ to write a decent book. That’s fine; stick to your vidya and fanfics.

[Anonymous No.19328246]

>>19328234
Genre fiction has a market. Go to your local mall and see how many people know Gene Wolfe or Bakker

[Anonymous No.19328250]

>>19328246
>Bakker
Literally who?

[Anonymous No.19328251]

>>19328246
>Bakker
???

[Anonymous No.19328256]

>>19328246
Why does /sffg/ worship that guy? Is it because he also writes philosophy?

[Anonymous No.19328263]

>>19328256
>Why does /sffg/ worship that guy?
Who? Bakker? They don't. Just fags from reddit shitting up that general.

[Anonymous No.19328347]

>>19328263
Oh okay. I don't know what it is about generals and discord/reddit. They have their own goddamn hangout already. I've made some humorous observations from the schizo behavior at least.

[Anonymous No.19328358]

>>19328347
>I've made some humorous observations from the schizo behavior at least.
Which ones? The part where they samefag hard? Or the part where they just repeat the same questions/posts over and over again?

[Anonymous No.19328369]

>>19328234
why'd you have to go and sperg out on this guy in two separate threads anon

[Anonymous No.19328399]

>>19328196
>le angel…. is FALLEN
sounds pretty fucking trite, generic and overdone anon
unironically read paradise lost

[Anonymous No.19328415]

>>19328399
I got to Chapter 2 last year, ill start chapter 3 tomorrow

[Anonymous No.19328421]

>>19320233
I've been writing a series of haunted house stories, with a framing device of an investigator trying to put all the pieces together.

Putting it up on Kindle Vella. Made a few bucks. Gonna finish a few more and put up a compilation on vanilla Kindle.

[Anonymous No.19328425]

>>19313269
please bless me booba mulatta queen

[Anonymous No.19328426]

>>19328358
>starts with a barely related non-issue
>hysterical back and forth of personal attacks
>screencaps
>manipulating page to change where (You)'s appear
>mentioning people that regulars literally have never heard of as if we know in a dead giveaway
>if unfiltered it goes on for up to 1-2 hours average
>try to make new thread with off-topic bait image and troll links in OP, create thread minutes early and link it with pre-existing replies before post limit while it's still page 1
>always use the same picture to let discordfags know who it is
Makes me want to write a story about some literalwho chatroom taking over the world.

[Anonymous No.19328483]

>>19328426
And all of this is one person?

[Anonymous No.19328487]

>>19328483
Yes doctor. It's all me.

[Anonymous No.19328494]

>>19328483
The people who spam Bakker? More like 3 or 4.

[Anonymous No.19328532]

>>19326118
How is Moby Dick Pomo?

[Anonymous No.19328535]

>>19318708
Put up leaflets at the library or at college. Are you studying?

[Anonymous No.19328536]

New bread?

[Anonymous No.19328565]

>>19318800
He dies, and is reborn in another egg at random severing his connection to the family he had grown to care for and once again thrusting him into meaningless torment. He must learn to survive in a new area as food sources dwindle, and not to give into sweet defeat as well as to rely upon his new family (and seek his old ones) to protect him from the angry god of pain that has come to accompany the punishment of the Earth and destroy the most resilient creatures of all: birds.

[Anonymous No.19328728]

>>19313238
What's a good way to start an academic essay? Specifically a history paper.

[Anonymous No.19328781]

>>19328728
A pithy quote about how those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. They'll never see that coming and will be grateful you justified their chosen occupation.

[Anonymous No.19328919]

Reposting because I'm a retard
Do you have an ongoing book or literary project of your own? Are you writing it with the sprawled hope of one day getting it published, or is it purely a hobby—or both? I want to start writing a novel but it would be purely for my own entertainment

[Anonymous No.19328932]

>>19328781
Do not listen to this poster. This is sarcasm

[Anonymous No.19328934]

>>19328919
>Do you have an ongoing book or literary project of your own?
No, no one here writes. And neither do you.

[Anonymous No.19328936]

>>19328919
I wrote a novel. It sucked. Now I'm writing a bunch of short fiction. Then I'll write two more novels. The average debut novelist is 32 years old. I have a little over 3 years to make it. That's enough time to learn, right?

[Anonymous No.19328938]

>>19328919
I self-publish. So yeah, it's not a problem. The old school publishing industry is basically dead, and even when it was alive it wasn't worth bothering with.

[Anonymous No.19328941]

>>19328919
We don’t write. All of this is just larp.

[Anonymous No.19328952]

>>19328934
I've never written anything in my life other than papers and the stuff I did for newspaper way back in highschool
>>19328936
It's an average. You could be 60 years old and theoretically pump out the most amazing literary work of modern times
>>19328938
>>19328941
I want to start a novel but it would literally just be a hobby thing.

[Anonymous No.19328959]

>>19328952
So then start a novel. When you're done you can upload it to kindle and people will buy it.

What's it about?

[Anonymous No.19328991]

>>19328959
Is that an option? Can you upload to kindle? I'd be too embarrassed lol. I currently have 0 (zero) idea what I want to write about. I know that sounds lame as fuck but I really just want to put a few ideas on paper and see what sticks. My plan is to take some time pumping out short stories for pure entertainment—an exercise in writing and structure and style if you will. The characters and plot won't be as important as the actual act of learning how to tame a style and overall flow of ideas. I want to meld the best concepts from different short stories after a while and then start to create a coherent story. Right now I am thinking of a few genres: fantasy is fun but is easy to come across as a Tolkienfag. Science fiction is, of course, interesting but there are many pitfalls you can fall into. Do you focus on technology or character development? Idk. Point is I have no idea what I am getting into. Creative writing has always been a weird subject but I have been extremely bored as of late.

[Anonymous No.19329008]

>>19328991
I've written a few little things. how I get my ideas is by closing my eyes before I go to bed or whenever and building an interesting world in my head. if you cant make your own world then do a fanfic in your head.

[Anonymous No.19329012]

>>19328941
Larping online is just extremely casual writing

[Anonymous No.19329026]

>>19329008
I lucid dream 4 or 5 times a week on average. This will sound really gay as I try to explain it, especially if you are unfamiliar, but there are multiple levels of lucid dreaming. On one end of the spectrum you have "full control". Every sense is your domain. You control what you see, hear, smell, see, taste. The other end is pure dreaming where you are not lucid whatsoever. Strange things happen and you wake up to your alarm and wonder what the fuck you just dreamed about. Halfway along this spectrum is the sweetspot: you realize you are dreaming, but you let ideas flow in randomly. You think of a general idea or setting or whatever, impregnate your conscious in that world, and let the dream take its own form. It has been an extremely useful tool for escaping the monotony of responsibility and waking life and experiencing some bizarre shit. I think if I get a general story going on paper I could lucid dream in the setting and have ideas come to me in an interesting way

[Anonymous No.19329033]

>>19329026
Any guides for this?

[Anonymous No.19329045]

>>19329026
dude, I feel you. I lucid dream a lot to but I've only been able to take control a few times, I usually just understand I'm dreaming and can sometimes wake myself up but sometimes it gets me into wake up loops where I have like 8 false awakenings.

[Anonymous No.19329049]

>>19329033
Lots of different ways; I took a scientific route to master a method that works for me. I tried different methods every few weeks and kept detailed notes in a journal. Right now I know when I generally fall asleep and set an alarm so I wake up after 3 hours (generally 2 full sleep cycles). I make sure to stay in a drowsy state of mind and fall back asleep and consciously focus on ideas in my head slowly becoming more random and dream-like until I imagine myself in a tight, damp moss-cladded cobblestone hallway with green light emanating from the fog. It's just a predisposed thought that always comes to me. Once I recognize it, I am reminded that I am dreaming and I go from there.

[Anonymous No.19329081]

Lazy cm?mm

[Anonymous No.19329083]

>>19328919
I'm writing this and publishing/serializing it weekly
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/31062/saga-of-the-cosmic-heroes

I guess I'm writing since I have a story I want to tell. I'm the sort of person that drifts between hobby but it's something I can come back to no matter what, unlike most things.

[Anonymous No.19329087]

>>19329049
>tfw you start lucid dreaming realizing that you hate where this dream is going and it "wakes you up" only to realize you're still in another dream
cheeky lil fecker...

[Anonymous No.19329198]

>>19323624
Now that the thread is over the bump limit I'm going to bump my own post.

[Anonymous No.19329200]

>>19329198
Make a new one

[Anonymous No.19329216]

>>19313238
How do I start a blog without really having anything to say? I try to come up with topics like "Why I Prefer X Over Y" or "A Short History of X" but they always seem kinda cheap and shallow to me.

[Anonymous No.19329239]

>>19329216
Develop a taste and opinions about things. Writing without having anything to say is a waste of time, but I’d bet you *do* have something to say, you just haven’t consciously articulated it before. What do you see in the world differently? If you see something happen in public, when does your reaction differ from the standard? Why does it differ? What’s wrong with the present discourse on x topic? Etc.

[Anonymous No.19329356]

>>19313391
No.

[Anonymous No.19329707]

>>19328919
>Do you have an ongoing book or literary project of your own?
Yep, nearing the end of Vol 6 now, might get Vol 7 done before the next year, but I doubt it.

[Anonymous No.19329827]

>>19329083
Don't you ever get tired of shilling your cringe story?

[Anonymous No.19329830]

>>19329828
>>19329828
>>19329828
New thread!