/wg/ - Writing General - /ffa/ - Flash Fiction Anthology - POWERS COMBINE EDITION

[Anonymous No.19453873]

Both generals have been allowed to die off from the catalog in recent days.
Let them be as one, like Nathaniel and Bartholomew.

Flash Fiction OP, drop the links and prompt list in this thread and let's stir it up.

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/

Previous thread
>>19438007

[Anonymous No.19453887]

I'm based.

[Anonymous No.19453914]

first to post bits of nano. color descriptions, i thought they were fun to write and might be fun to read. out of context though, so don't try to connect them

>He began to get himself up slowly as Samuel looked around. All about them was a green cavern, mossy with darkened life that dripped with water and stained with purple dust. Some plants reached so far as to touch the earth with the tips of their tendrils, some creating intricate caverns of webs above among the stalactite pillars, which varied in color, greatly shades of green. Some mightier ones glistened as if made of green blown glass, while smaller ones distantly sparkled as if they were made of pure jade rock.

>The sun was beginning to rise, but instead of covering the horizon in a bath of light, it seemed to only appear as a distant moon. The horizon was black, blacker than pitch to become a canvas for the city ahead. In it he saw drooping trees of green, ornate buildings of glass shaped like bowls. Some seemed like leaning vases, cracked teacups and ornate mugs.

>The floor was a carpeted green, much to the contrast of the outside world, and reached nearly his ankles, along with the tops of the first bricks that served to perimeter the house in an easy halfstep, half shelf area. On this floor shelf there were a number of perfectly clean, due to no doubt being habitually dusted, wooden figures of animals, people, boats and objects that belonged in the sky, such as planets and what Samuel guessed to be the sun. As he reached and began to fiddle with the brightly colored, wooden sun, he began to notice that everything in the room, save for the brick walls and occasional built-in shelves, was made of wood. Even the water basin in the far corner of the house that Samuel could see just down the hall seemed to be made of wood, although oiled with some sort of shiny resin.

>They moved out of the forest as the trees that overtowered them grew fewer and fewer. Finally Samuel could see the sky in this place, and that it glowed in a dark purple hue. It matched the grass in this field, which began to transition from a natural green into a faint purple. Without the sun, he felt as if he were underwater, skating along the sea floor, the horizons blending colors and hues together in a circle of tones. Even the air around him seemed hung in a purple haze, and he felt as if he could blow bubbles to its surface.

and if you DO want context then it would be here. let me know if enjoyable, that would be great if true.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lG1kU46xhbOtBK4cyygybXd74mo8802RZaCkntQPAqs/edit

[Anonymous No.19453918]

>>19453760
>>19453767
>>19453771
>>19453826

For anyone who hasn't yet realised -

The Flash Fiction Anthology is a physical book, made up of fifty different 1000 word short stories, created right here on the /lit/ board by anons.
It's the best thing being produced on 4chan right now.
The 4th volume is now being written and collected by the /ffa/ OP.

[I am not the original /ffa/ OP No.19453928]

>>19453873


The /lit/ Flash Fiction Anthology returns with 50 new stories! Thanks to cover-anon and all the writers for making this happen. Style and theme range greatly from story to story, yet at the heart of each is an artist's sincerity. So take a break with this short anthology; laugh at murder, cry with a condor, then groan about Notre Dame; join the Nevinyrral Production Company's latest escapade, slip into the mind of a painting, an evening in Verona, the beginning of an unlikely friendship.

Which stories surprised you? Do you have a favourite or top three?

>Simian Deluxe
https://archive.org/details/simian-deluxe (epub and pdf)
https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/anonymous-/simian-deluxe/paperback/product-y6z687.html (paperback at the lowest possible price)

>More /lit/ anthologies
Rags and Bones
https://archive.org/details/rags-and-bones
https://www.lulu.com/en/ca/shop/anonymous-/rags-and-bones/paperback/product-9d7gp2.html

Gifts Evil and Good
https://archive.org/details/gifts-good-and-evil
https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/anonymous-/gifts-evil-and-good/paperback/product-mgwkgv.html

[I am not the original /ffa/ OP No.19453942]

>>19453928
>Unused prompts
A closet full of skin suits
A dating app with extraordinary risks and rewards
The academy of Paranormal Life Coaching
A man attempts a world record
This will be India in 5 minutes
>The last sheet of paper in the world < Just been eliminated in the dead thread
What? I can’t hear you!
A first responder who summons tornadoes
A grizzled detective goes undercover on 4chan
You reap what you sow
"Please don't forget what I told you"
The location the GPS took them to seems to be a little off
A tapestry constantly being added to
Murder in the Cathedral's sanctuary
The cellar houses wine and... bodies?
Finding a one-of-a-kind book in the library stacks
A co-worker has a hidden talent
A shut-in decides to go trick-or-treating
The best way to die on a dessert island
Horrible timing for a pregnancy announcement
>Swimming through memories< Just been eliminated in the dead thread
A game of twister at a nursing home
There is a ship museum in Utah
A librarian goes blind every Thursday
Someone crashes a child’s birthday party
POV of an alley cat in Istanbul
An unusual item at the bottom of the sea
Pina coladas and long walks in the rain
A gateway opens between hell and earth
a slasher villain's first date
An elevator that doesn't work
A flooded castle, sinking into the mud < Someone has just claimed this one and is now working on it

The scheme is -
When you write a story, you then replace it with a new prompt of your own

[Anonymous No.19453946]

Nobody here has ever written or readen in their life you are all faggits.

[I am not the original /ffa/ OP No.19453948]

Archived thread with 2 new stories
>>19449534

[I am not the original /ffa/ OP No.19453981]

The ad for Volume 3

[Anonymous No.19454046]

fuck short stories read my long one >>19453914

[Anonymous No.19454406]

>>19453918
>want to write a story capturing autistic idiosyncracies
>trying to think of how to show offensive people while also showing high wit and not come off like a seething, sarcastic asshole
I could put of that story off until I figure it out. I'll write something else for flash.

[Anonymous No.19454617]

saving crits as jpgs so I can keep perspective and found this one funni

[Anonymous No.19454655]

I've lost my sense of imagination. It's gone. No longer can imagine vivid battlefields filled with thousands of soldiers fighting desperately for their lives nor can imagine the thundering blows of rain striking the ground during a fierce storm nor can imagine the sounds of an anguished mother as comes across the corpse of dead son.
As a youth, I read a lot: high fantasy, dark fantasy, scifi, manga, erotica, light novels, fanfiction... everything under the sun, and I could envision every detail as I read them. I actually preference reading to watching at this period in my life.
But now as an adult my imagination has vanished. I struggle to hold even the simplest images in my mind while complex motions and detailed backgrounds are completely impossible for me to imagine. I do not know what brought this on, but even reading is hard nowadays because I hardly envision what I'm reading. It makes aspirations of becoming a writer feel impossible; because how can I be a successful writer if I cannot even envision what my characters look like? How can I paint a picture in my reader's mind when I can't even paint a picture in my own mind.
So, does anyone have any advice for rekindling their imagination?

[Anonymous No.19454701]

>>19454655
Walk every day and stay active to fight depression.

[Anonymous No.19454784]

i wish i could delete my messages here, or at least stop them from being archived

[Anonymous No.19454813]

>>19454784
Nobody will come looking for them. You are not that important or special. Relax.

[Anonymous No.19454829]

debate
this
>All about them was a green cavern, mossy with darkened life that dripped with water and stained with purple dust. Some plants reached so far as to touch the earth with the tips of their tendrils, some creating intricate caverns of webs above among the stalactite pillars, which varied in color, greatly shades of green. Some mightier ones glistened as if made of green blown glass, while smaller ones distantly sparkled as if they were made of pure jade rock.
vs this
>He was in a green cavern. Raw jade mixed with translucid crystals. Dark moss clung to the walls, dripping condensation. Vines reached down to the ground. Overgrown in webs up there in the stalactites. Purple dust filled the place. It stuck to the vegetation, died the water, piled in the corners.
who wins

[Anonymous No.19454864]

>>19454655
My advice is to ask questions and answer them. List out the senses. Remember a vague detail and fill in the blanks.
>there was a hill
>what kinds of things are at the tops of hills? trees, grass, houses...
>a tree, but what kind of tree? how does it feel, how does it move, what else does it remind you of?
>what interacts with the tree? the wind, sun, ground animals
>what happens to the fruit or nuts? oh they'd roll down the hill. What's at the bottom of the hill? Why is it there?
Anon dont be hard on yourself if you dont recall memories. Slowly walk through a scene and draw it piece by piece. You have far more experience with senses in this life than you are letting on.

[Anonymous No.19454870]

>>19454784
Don't worry, you're probably not the most retarded poster he--oh wait, yes, you are HAHAHAHA

[Anonymous No.19454987]

>>19454829
The second one is much better.

[Anonymous No.19455055]

>>19454829
they're both shit. the top is cringe purple, the bottom is fractured sentences and verbal shortcuts.

[Anonymous No.19455083]

>>19455055
>>19454987
how do you guys think top is cringe, doesn't it kind of remind you of tolkien?

[Anonymous No.19455096]

>>19455083
doesnt have the same quality as tolkien. youre writing words for the sake of padding the wordcount. "mightier ones" for fucking real? it's just amateur trying to look pseud. dense writing is great if done WELL but when you're grabbing at the trappings of literary writing without having the foundation it's cringe.

[Anonymous No.19455122]

>>19455096
what does tolkien do then, not use words? not use beautiful language? what does quality even mean? these are all sentences.

[Anonymous No.19455160]

>>19455122
jfc

[Anonymous No.19455174]

>>19455083
It's very purple.

The second one does still need some work.
>>19454829
>He was in a green cavern. Raw jade mixed with translucid crystals. Dark moss clung to the walls, dripping condensation. Vines reached down to the ground. Overgrown in webs up there in the stalactites. Purple dust filled the place. It stuck to the vegetation, died the water, piled in the corners.
He was in a green cavern. Within the rock walls he could see* Raw jade mixed with translucid crystals. Dark moss clung to the walls, dripping condensation. *Long, winding vines had grown into overgrown webs up there in the stalactites, and some of them reached down to the ground with the tips of their tendrils. *Fine purple dust coated every inch of the place, sticking to the vegetation*and piling up in the corners. It even dyed* the pools of water that had collected on the floor of the cavern.

[Anonymous No.19455197]

>>19455174
>*Long, winding vines had grown into overgrown webs up there in the stalactites
grown and then overgrown is too much of a repetition actually.
>had formed* overgrown webs up there

Just my suggestions.
The beats of the scene you put in were good, but they weren't exactly clearly described.

[Anonymous No.19455299]

>>19455174
>Within the rock walls he could see* Raw jade mixed with translucid crystals.
I think that works better without the filtering.

[Anonymous No.19455349]

>>19453918
So it's not another collectively written novel? Why should I bother then?

[Anonymous No.19455356]

What do you guys think of the name Luna for a character? I thought it was fitting for one of my characters but then I realized it's most associated with Harry Potter, pet names, MLP, transgenders, and fad 2010s names for newborns.

[Anonymous No.19455366]

So i see a lot of hate on here for how traditional publishers screw authors over, yet i also see how you also state that amazon/kindle is also virtually impossible to generate profit from.

My question is; What are the percentage numbers of gross published work profit versus what the author gets paid, on one or both mediums?

[Anonymous No.19455403]

>>19455349
>The 4th volume is now being written and collected by the /ffa/ OP.
I should have perhaps phrased it differently.
>The 4th volume is now being written and the /ffa/ OP is going to collect all of the various stories and edit them into a finished book.

All the stories are individually written by different anons. You just pick a prompt and do a 1000 word short story on it.
I did one of the stories in volume 2 and three from volume 3.
There was one anon from the thread who did more than 10, so he told the OP which ones were his and volunteered that some should be taken out so more random anons could have a turn.

[Anonymous No.19455408]

>>19455122
“kill yourself you talentless waste of oxygen” is also a sentence, one of higher quality than anything you will ever write

[Anonymous No.19455432]

>>19455408
nice original statement there retard, great contribution to this dying general

[Anonymous No.19455599]

>>19455432
no u

[Anonymous No.19455640]

Is this too much? Or could it be structured differently?

At the “Maas Home”; on the second floor; water filters, plunging systems, humidifiers, moist-meters, drainage modules. And finally at the “Maas Dorima”; on the third floor; solely dedicated to this — symmetrical, simplistic, high-gloss white, touch sensitive, intricate, technological leap of renaissance-like, beautified mathematical harmony. Ululated from pulpit as harbinger of a new age, this capsuled and pill-shaped, monolithic little device of human ingenuity; lay resting on pedestals; brightly-lit in a snow-blinding white void. With a stern, sensory deprivation contrasted by enormous ads, bursting with phosphorescent colours like an Indian Hindu spice throwing event.

[Anonymous No.19455652]

>>19455640
Yes, that is too much.

[Anonymous No.19455814]

>>19455640
There is something I like about it, a style or rhythm you are reaching for that I think would work with some slight changes.
Yes it is currently too much.
>At the “Maas Home”; on the second floor; water filters, plunging systems, humidifiers, moist-meters, drainage modules.
Are they being manufactured there, or stored there? Who goes in and out of this second floor - workers, or general public customers?
Maybe you described this further in a previous paragraph but we have no idea what you are outlining from just this excerpt.
>And finally at the “Maas Dorima”; on the third floor; solely dedicated to this — symmetrical, simplistic, high-gloss white, touch sensitive, intricate, technological leap of renaissance-like, beautified mathematical harmony.
>Ululated from pulpit as harbinger of a new age, this capsuled and pill-shaped, monolithic little device of human ingenuity; lay resting on pedestals; brightly-lit in a snow-blinding white void.
It takes too long for you to say what it actually is. You say it is capsule/pill like and little, until that arrives I am lost. If it is little then monolithic is not right, because that implies large scale or even gigantic.
Sensory deprivation describes a dark and silent nothingness. The environment you describe is like some kind of gleaming futuristic tech lab, which is not sensory deprivation, but anti human in how vivid and sterile it is.

If the item is touch sensitive then you could perhaps mention that separately from the aesthetic description, when you describe what it does and how it performs.

Also if there is some kind of technological leap of renaissance proportion, you might mention that in a different sentence, because you are branching off into the cultural impact of this device.

[Anonymous No.19455869]

>>19455640
>phosphorescent colours like an Indian Hindu spice throwing event
lmao white people

[Anonymous No.19455896]

>>19455096
hey anon, you know how many words are in a book? like, hundreds of thousands. And do you know how many times I need to describe something as "big"? more than you'd think!
I use words to make it sounds nice, not to come off as some ass farting intellectual or a pseud. So yeah, I use mighty, because I want to fucking use mighty. It's a nice word, and you can suck my mighty dick.

[Anonymous No.19455935]

>>19455403
We should not make assumptions about what the /ffa/ editor-anon is going to do until he weighs in. Compiling/editing one of these volumes is a significant amount of work, and in the last thread he implied the next volume will likely begin in 2022.

Generally, the way /ffa/ works is that all flashes collected within an official thread is added to the volume. Volumes 1 and 2 stayed open until we hit 50, volume 3 was open until a set deadline (and we still ended up with 50). Flashes completed between volumes, or not based on prompts from that thread, may make for great reading/discussion but are not (as a rule) added to the next volume.

That said, we’ve got a pretty decent number of flashes now that have fallen between the cracks, and it may not take many more to get to 50. I’m willing to put the time into compiling them and (worse yet) monitoring /wg/ to see if any new ones were added. There’s no guarantee they’ll ever see the light of day in hard-copy, but I’ll see what’s do-able.

For now, I’ll collect any flashes in this thread which:
>Are tagged with [for FFA] (or similar).
>Are 1,000 words or less
>Are original works written from a unique thread prompt (rare exceptions have been made for ‘unprompted’ flashes and duplicate prompts)

Anyone posting for the /ffa/ accepts that their work is made available online or in print. Feel free to tag with [*Not for FFA*] if you want to participate in-thread only, without being added to any anthology.

There’s only the lightest editing (typos, etc) so garbage-in garbage-out. While there are not quality/content requirements (aside from porn, extreme abuse or gore) that doesn’t mean all submissions get added.

-Cover-Anon (who is surely going to regret this…)

[Anonymous No.19455992]

Chapter 58 released.
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/40361/erased
>>19455366
>yet i also see how you also state that amazon/kindle is also virtually impossible to generate profit from
That is, of course, not true. The best way to make money on something like kindle is by releasing a ton of books and the people who are interested in one will read the others because they're already paying amazon a flat fee for access. That said, the best way to make money indie publishing is to sucker people into paying you monthly via patreon. Substantially less work required to make money, ie a few chapters vs an entire novel, and some people will just start giving you a few bucks and they'll never remember to stop whether you produce content or not. Trad publishing is bad not because of pay structure - its the best they give you a big lump sum up front - but because the content they actually will publish requires mandatory diversity and coloring way, way inside the lines. Which is fair enough, publishers are in business to make money, not set trends.

[Anonymous No.19456017]

>>19455935
Hi cover anon
>We should not make assumptions about what the /ffa/ editor-anon is going to do until he weighs in. Compiling/editing one of these volumes is a significant amount of work, and in the last thread he implied the next volume will likely begin in 2022.
I didn't realise
I thought by starting a thread it was both a release of volume 3, and also beginning the go time for writing volume 4. It seems I have made a mistake.
I only started contributing at the very end of volume 2, and I also didn't catch that volume 3 had returned until the very end.
I have probably missed out on some of the discussion specifics.

If you are going to compile a volume of assorted non anthology flashes then that is great.

[Anonymous No.19456056]

>>19455814
This helps a lot, Thank you. I didn't think about the difference in themes between adjectives. I'll split it up.
>Maybe you described this further in a previous paragraph
Yes!
Question? Monolithic, as in a 2001 Space Odyssey sense, it looks like something sent from god, incomprehensible, an object smooth-surfaced, radiating some sort of power. Is there an other word for that? Because if monolithic means big, like you said, I can't use it in this context.

And with sensory deprivation, I'm trying to envoke the feeling of leaving the sound and visually polluted street into the still, serene quality (sensory deprivation) of church, unconsciously putting you into the mood for contemplation
>>19455869
You fuck, I fuck you bloody, you fuck bastard.

[Anonymous No.19456066]

>>19455935
Do you have a list of the prompts you've requested so far?

[Anonymous No.19456091]

>>19456066
>Do you have a list of the prompts you've requested so far?

See here:
>>19453942

(Going forward, may need to come up with a better way to maintain the list without spamming /wg/ with huge prompt posts…)

[Anonymous No.19456116]

>>19456056
>Question? Monolithic, as in a 2001 Space Odyssey sense, it looks like something sent from god, incomprehensible, an object smooth-surfaced, radiating some sort of power. Is there an other word for that?
Totemic
Would describe the mysterious power

If someone held it up to their eye and thought about how important it is you could say that
>suddenly this tiny little device seemed like a monolithic stone, as if he was holding the weight of the future in his hands

[Anonymous No.19456122]

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/31062/saga-of-the-cosmic-heroes/chapter/793861/chapter-98-embers-of-ishtar-yilan-some-more-50000

ch98 out after 2 weeks of suffering, also an excuse to post cute pic for a new thread

[Anonymous No.19456193]

>>19453942
>What, I can't hear you
That's actually a reoccurring theme in my writing. I think it's valuable to ignore certain things while remaining watchful. If you were to look at the the number of quotes out there about "ignorance bad" or "anti-intellectual bad" you'd find a lot.

[Anonymous No.19456222]

>>19453918
>>19453928
No one here writes.

[Anonymous No.19456253]

>>19456122
how big are your chapters? and how often do you update? thinking about doing this web serial thing
also any advice in general?

[Anonymous No.19456343]

>>19456253
Varies. Earlier ones could hover around 2k and then they usually jump up to 4-6k range. There were some cases where they might be 8k~14k and I'd have to split them into two-parter chapters. My schedule has flip-flopped from releasing them immediately after done (this could be every 4ish days) to going for a uniformal Friday release—which sort of worked for a while with the occasional delay to Sat, Sun, or crunch delay into the next mid-weekday. After my August hiatus ended I decided to try to release whenever I feel like it again. Ch96 and 97 were the more recent two-parter and I think it killed my drive for the last two weeks since it was 14k in total. Had to cut this chapter short as well since it was 4k and my mental outline of the second one would probably mean it'd be just as long.

>also any advice in general?
100% absolutely stockpile. A generous amount of words in chapters term is to have somewhere between 70k to 100k words before you start serializing. If you're not a fast, everyday writer who can easily pump out like 5-10k words a day everyday you're going to be crushed under your deadlines and what freetime you have will probably go up in smokes. Take a haitus if you think you're nearing burnouts—just let your readers know beforehand... but don't let them last too long or too short or you'll get more burnouts. On RR's FAQ it recommended keeping chapters on the smaller size—2-3k if you can help it, so if you have a monster 6-10k something chapter consider splitting it into smaller 2~4k chapters, but my core belief has always been to do this if it makes sense to do so. You're more than free not to do, just don't expect a million views from consistent 9-10k chapters or you might wonder why your rentions are criminally low. I've witnessed firsthand an anon do this with a few of their stories and they drop them every time to my chagrin.

Take advantage of ads either on the platform of your choice or Facebook or even 4chan. Suck up to other authors and read their stuff for review swaps... they help even if they might come off as forced sometimes. Interact with the forums and sell your soul mindlessly plugging your story in your sig. I feel like I might go on but this post is already nearing 2.2k words and my brain is mush right now. Amazing I can write long ass forum posts but I can't write more than 300 words for a chapter lmao.

[Anonymous No.19456364]

>>19456222
The bar for flash is incredibly low compared to novels/short stories.

A good writer can do a lot with the 1,000 word limitation…I’ve seen some truly excellent flash fic. But anyone who can’t shit out 500 words on a random prompt has no business on /lit/.

You don’t need to be a painter to play pictionary.

[Anonymous No.19456383]

>>19456364
Don't reply to him, he's a local shitposter that's been whining on /wg/ since we laughed at his isekai or whatever the fuck.

[Anonymous No.19456469]

Good morning.
I fucking hate literary agents.

[Anonymous No.19456696]

>>19456343
I feel you. The only thing I don't get is what you said about advertising. How? And at what point in your popularity were you thinking it's like, really worth it to start sinking money into?
Oh also, do you patreon stuff? People on here talk about a patreon thing they always do but I'm struggling with even theoretical ideas of how that would work as a writer.

[Anonymous No.19456700]

>>19456469
they sound like they're scams, but care to explain why so I can avoid them more fervently?

[Anonymous No.19456727]

>>19456700
Post "Kyle Rittenhouse did nothing wrong" on a twitter account with your pen name and you won't need to avoid them; they'll avoid you.
I fucking hate blue haired agents.

[Anonymous No.19456746]

>>19456696
I don't advertise myself since it's in line with my principles not to commercialize. I couldn't give you a concrete answer when you should start advertising you: that's really up to you I'd say.

Patreons for web novel writers usually work like this: readers get access to read x amount of chapters ahead and it's a good way as a reader to support their favorite author. That's about the simplicity of it more or less. I don't do patreon myself though, or any form of donations for that matter.

[Anonymous No.19456755]

I've got a list of 4 twitter authors so far, they have between 33k-87k twitter followers and I also catalogued when their books were written and the number of reviews they have on their books.
One book has 65 reviews while another has over 4,300 reviews.
What gives between these four books? What makes a successful Twiiter author? Both published in similar niches.

[Anonymous No.19456791]

>>19456755
holy fuck troons are insane
>why
depends what marketing budget their publisher gave them

[Anonymous No.19456960]

I'm looking for a word processor with dark mode and the ability to have different colors of text displayed at the same time. Can anyone help me out?

[Anonymous No.19457250]

>>19456960
Both Pages and Word should be able to do that.

[Anonymous No.19457285]

Not much was said as Jeff and The Wizard trekked across town. They walked down the main
avenue of the commercial district. Cirele Tower loomed atop a grcat hill in the distance, silhouetted
against the afternoon sun. Enchanted trees lined cvery street, wreathing the hill in a blaze of autumn
fire. Sparse waves of eirrus clouds rippled across the sky, awash in the amber glow of the flames.
Along the avenue, a fiery canopy danced merrily beside imposing brick buildings, delicately
caressing the masonry. Colorful signs and posters hung on the walls, advertising all manner of unusual
wares, from fermented mermaid milk to quantum xylophones. Passersby gawked longingly at
extravagant displays in the windows.
All manner of people wandered the streel, abont half of which were human. Beings from all around
the land would come to Theivre for its festivals, and beings of all shapes and sizes were all equally
disliked by most of the locals. Theivricans were some of the most racist people in all of Koric, much
more so than the rural arcas. The local shopkeepers, however, were in full support of the seasonal
tourism.
Without warning, The Wizard turned and headed down a deserted sidestreet. "I have to make a
quick stop out of the way."

They continued for several blocks, before The Wizard abruptly turned into a shady alleyway between
two dingy buildings.
"Wait here." The Wizard held out his hand. "This is where I do business with an associate of mine."
He winked at Jeff, as though he were being clandestine. "He doesn't like strange faces."
Shrugging, Jeff approached one of the buildings and leaned against the sill of the window. It
belonged to a discount clothing store; there was a display in the window for clip-on pockets. Jeff
watched as The Wizard strolled past an odious pair of dumpsters, leapt over a mysterious, steaming
puddle of sanguine liquid, and approached a rusty, iron aperture in the side of one building. The
Wizard began to rap on the surface repeatedly with his staff.
Taaap, tap, tap. Tap, taaap, tap. Tap, tap, taaap. Taaap, laaap, tap. Tap, tap, tap.
At the behest of the morse code for "drugs", the hatch slid
open.
"I thought I told ya to stop usin' that code," said a gruff, male voice.
A head emerged from the aperture, wearing a dark, woolen hood. Most of the man's face was
covered by a grimy indigo bandana. Ilis eyes narrowed as they wandered down the alleyway.
"Who's 'e?" The man gestured to Jeff, who was skulking around the dumpsters.
"My errand boy," said The Wizard.
"Very well, just keep 'im over there." Leaning forward, the man held open his cloak to reveal a
variety of pouches, potions, and poultices.

[Anonymous No.19457385]

>spent all day thinking about a scene and got nowhere
Should I just give up

[Anonymous No.19457397]

>>19457385
Sometimes you need to think it over again

[Anonymous No.19457402]

anyone here ever write interactive fiction?

[Anonymous No.19457440]

>>19457402
Are you talking about choose your own adventure or RPG?

[Anonymous No.19457459]

>>19457440
both?
i was meaning more in a digital format though. something like this
https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=yutkd9u0oeog4br1

[Anonymous No.19457492]

>>19456746
but you just got done saying you advertised using the platform?

[Anonymous No.19457503]

>>19457492
I think you misread. I was listing it as an option if you wished to pull out any ads.

[Anonymous No.19457538]

>>19457402
I wanted to start a comic like that once, inspired by Prequel. Nobody read it so there was no interaction, and I took it where I wanted it to go. Which probably would have happened anyway. Ended up forgetting about the interactive part.

As a strange coincidence, I'm about to adapt it into my first novel.

[Anonymous No.19457557]

>i spent my time, so should you
>>19457409
Levi had just made a crass joke and it rankled your good mood. Why would he say something so foul about the teacher. Yes he was your uncle, and yes his robe stank of like a sour can of cabbage but your mother said his lessons were important and that was why these sunday classes had so much value.
The hardwood floor creeked as the students shuffled, restricted by black robes into the classroom. Your uncle stood with fierce grimace examining the classroom fill up. Levi once again turned to face you, whispering nonsense. Through the corner of your eye you see your uncles eyes darken. A nervous laugh escapes your lips, whether its to satisfy levi or to placate your uncle is unsure even to yourself.
A harsh slapping sound resounds three times from the teachers cane and the lesson begins. Youre distracted by levi kicking off his shoes, his stinking socks preemtively invading your nose. A hard slap from the front and your name is called "come here right NOW"
Your reluctance to stand is apparant but you make your way to the front.
"Here class we will retrain your attention. This student has forgotten his discipline and sucumbed to instinctual temptation. Lie down boy"
The teacher grabs your shoulder turning you to the class and you end up lying prone staring up at his gray black beard continue with the class.
"He has failed Gods task. Where temptation had overcome his self"
The teacher sways with each word and you see him fiddle with the lace tieing his black robe at the waist.
"Well, i am here to correct you. Show you the depths youll sink, without learning to rise with gods intent"
He untied his belt and threw off the robe, his sagging hairy tits and mutilated penis laid bare, loud gasps coming from the students.
"Here my students is where your temptation leads"
His right leg coming over your stunned face
"An inevitable conclusion"
He squated down onto your chest. His ass cheeks spreading and with the seal breaking, a stench of immesurable torment pierced your eternal soul.

[Anonymous No.19457570]

Anyone here writr with a pen and pad?

My PC is out of wack but I'm finding it hard to write on paper...

[Anonymous No.19457574]

>>19457538
that wasn't what I meant but thanks for namedropping Prequel. interactive as in author-reader interactivity is kind of neat. there was once a phase where i crave for that sort of thing and found it boiled down on /qst/ but it didn't stick long.

what were you writing about?

[Anonymous No.19457605]

>>19457402
Choice of Games has a giant library of these

[Anonymous No.19457758]

>>19457459
So, ‘interactive fiction’ is...a bunch of dead links?

In that case, yes. I’ve written interactive fiction many times.

[Anonymous No.19457771]

>>19457570
then how are you posting here

[Anonymous No.19457790]

>>19457758
What? Just click "play online" on the top right
https://ifarchive.org/if-archive/games/competition2017/Eat%20Me/Eat%20Me/index.html

There's an annual competition still ongoing where people submit their work for awards/recognition. Or if you don't want to go at it that way just search for "Anchorhead" and try it that way.

[Anonymous No.19457799]

>>19457771
Phone

[Anonymous No.19457834]

>>19457574
Space opera romance between a human male and an alien female.

Now that I think about it, she kinda looked like Quillweave.

[Anonymous No.19457939]

https://slimedaughter.com

[Anonymous No.19458260]

[Anonymous No.19458268]

>>19455992
thank you for clarifying that, i generally understood a little bit of it already but you did an awesome rundown, so ill force myself to read a few chapters of ya virtual reality litrpg...i personally hate virtual reality settings but i promise not to one star you out of bias.

[Anonymous No.19458652]

is fluff okay?

[Anonymous No.19458830]

>>19456696
>The only thing I don't get is what you said about advertising. How?
On 4chan, for free, every day, samefagging Q&A

[Anonymous No.19458964]

>>19458652
Most readers have a pretty large tolerance for all kinds of bullshit. Just don't spend too much time on it, because, once the reader realizes they're reading fluff, you've gone too far. It has to be earned. Only keep this advice in mind if you plan on selling the piece mass market. It's completely hands-off if you're writing for yourself, or an audience.

[Anonymous No.19458998]

Could you give me some feedback on the opening paragraph for my short story?

There lay an unremarkable city on a plain. It stood out against the horizon whether you approached it from the North, East or West on foot, car or train, and it would be the first sign of land if you reached it by South. However, nothing but its status as “something” among the nothingness around it made it in any way remarkable. In a midpoint between a town and a city, it had no history anyone could recall, nor sights beyond the large blocks of concrete that made up its landscape, nor a population that paid much mind to their roots. Were you to interject a passerby on their way home from work to ask them about their demonym, their weary eyes -resting on top of heavy bags- would look you back with confusion, indifference or irritation. And if you went ahead and explained what a demonym is, the result would be the same. They held not the slightest attachment to their community whatsoever. That might be an overstatement; it barely was a collection of individuals living in close proximity, inhabiting their common nests of concrete, scuttling under the same white sun in large nameless masses, eyes locked straight ahead, seeing without looking, hearing without listening, ruminating without thought. The rumor of shuffling feet and dragging wheels, of sputtering motors and clicking keyboards filled the days, whereas the nights fell on an eerie and inescapable silence. The streets would rest empty, the streetlamps casting only their own shadows while the dwellers laid in a dreamless sleep.

[Anonymous No.19459010]

>>19456755
From everything I've read it's primarily a luck based system. You can pull from a room of hundreds of similarly talented authors, but only one of them will succeed.

The greatest example of this is in the erotica scene. They write hundreds of stories a year until they finally (hit) big and have their their back-catalogue built. (Literal luck maxxers)

There's probably no significant difference between the books that made them particularly successful. Also, avoid Twitter authors/book YouTubers.They build an audience around dispensing advice, then sell their books to them. The prerequisite fame they have enables them to be successful. Don't try to understand what makes a novel monetarily successful, because you're going to be racking your brain all day. It's not a formula that can be distilled.

Just keep throwing your hat in the ring and pray it's your lucky day.

[Anonymous No.19459362]

It seems like the best way to promote a self-published book is to give out review copies, pay people for reviews, and generally stoke some kind of social media following for it before you release it for Kindle or other ebook platforms.

Naturally, all of this makes me want to die. But it makes sense. There's no reason to assume your book will telepathically make itself known to the people likely to be interested in it. The only books that manage this are the ones in hyper-niche genres that people find by browsing in those categories. So in other words, marketing is necessary to make straight literary fiction discoverable, unless you're willing to bolt on some time travel and aliens.

Sci-fi and fantasy have always had their fan communities. But what about readers of literary fiction? The idea of wanting to read something published yesterday is foreign to me - I have so many classics to work through - so I have no idea where or how these readers get their news, let alone why. I expect most of them have some socio-political axe to grind. Are there famous review blogs? Is there a /lit/ equivalent of Fantano or Half in the Bag?

[Anonymous No.19459546]

>>19458998
>There lay an unremarkable city on a plain.
Strong start.
>It stood out against the horizon whether you approached it from the North, East or West on foot, car or train, and it would be the first sign of land if you reached it by South.
>Ugggh, and momentum killed. The idea that “It stood out against the horizon, at least” is something worth keeping and working in…but don’t hit me with a list of cardinal directions.

However, nothing but its status as “something” among the nothingness around it made it in any way remarkable.
> “there lay an unremarkable city…” [two sentences later] “…and X made it in any way remarkable”
>suggest combining these two lines something like “A passing traveller might make it out as a ‘something’ amidst the nothingness; a small break in the expansive flat horizon, nothing more.”

In a midpoint between a town and a city, it had no history anyone could recall, nor sights beyond the large blocks of concrete that made up its landscape, nor a population that paid much mind to their roots.
>In a midpoint -> midway or “neither a town nor a city”
>”it had no sights worth seeing, no people worth visiting, no history worth remembering.”

Were you to interject a passerby on their way home from work to ask them about their demonym, their weary eyes -resting on top of heavy bags- would look you back with confusion, indifference or irritation. And if you went ahead and explained what a demonym is, the result would be the same.
>get rid of this, it messes up the rhythm.

They held not the slightest attachment to their community whatsoever. That might be an overstatement; it barely was a collection of individuals living in close proximity, inhabiting their common nests of concrete, scuttling under the same white sun in large nameless masses, eyes locked straight ahead, seeing without looking, hearing without listening, ruminating without thought.
>this one too desu…you gotta choose when to unload these ‘list of 3’ lines. By my count this para had 4 of them, the sentence above had two!
>I’m going to change my recommendation on the last line so it goes ‘place, history, people’…ending on people better transitions into talking about them.
>There was no civic pride among it’s denizens; a collection of blank-faced ruminants scuttling from one concrete block to another.

The rumor of shuffling feet and dragging wheels, of sputtering motors and clicking keyboards filled the days, whereas the nights fell on an eerie and inescapable silence.
>I like this line, but you fell into another 3 list (4 this time, actually). Try to find a creative way to rephrase without the list.

The streets would rest empty, the streetlamps casting only their own shadows while the dwellers laid in a dreamless sleep.
>nice conclusion. “laid in a…” is a bit of a mouthful…consider “rested a…” or “…slept dreamlessly” or “…slept (dreamlessly, of course)” if you want to be silly.

[Anonymous No.19459729]

>>19453873
How long do you spend in the brainstorming/planning phase?

[Anonymous No.19459798]

>>19459729
Years and years, it's a constantly ongoing process. I have ideas in my head all the way back from 2003 that I still haven't used. One day...

[Anonymous No.19460024]

>>19456469
They are the scum of the Earth.

Woke bastards.

[Anonymous No.19460052]

>>19459798
How old are you?

[Anonymous No.19460056]

I have to write this essay for my Academic reading & writing course in uni on why critical thinking is important. Does anyone have good sources?

[Anonymous No.19460068]

>>19460052
28

[Anonymous No.19460131]

Is there a method to know if my dialogue is cringe or not? I often feel even more alienated from the context if i try to self-insert into the characters' heads for a moment

[Anonymous No.19460137]

>>19460131
>I often feel even more alienated from the context if i try to self-insert into the characters' heads for a moment
no offense but that’s dumb. You need to understand your characters and how they will react to specific situations otherwise you will be unable to create situations that realistically force characters into the actions you want them to take

[Anonymous No.19460168]

>>19460056
Be a man and argue against critical thinking. That's the only way to actually embody the critical aspect of it.

[Anonymous No.19460184]

>>19460168
Yeah, but how. I need some source material to pick from

[Anonymous No.19460264]

>>19460184
a lack of critical thinking leads to greater social cohesion, and therefore both greater trust and a shared cultural vision to work towards. This creates better results for everybody, even when those in charge mislead, than the confused progress of a high-friction society of critical thinkers.

[Anonymous No.19460439]

>>19460184
If you want to go with the anti-critical criticism, try
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/On_the_Use_and_Abuse_of_History_for_Life

>I am trying to represent something of which the age is rightly proud—its historical culture—as a fault and a defect in our time, believing as I do that we are all suffering from a malignant historical fever and should at least recognise the fact.

[Anonymous No.19460471]

>>19460264
>>19460439
Anons, it was clearly bait (and a funny one at that) re-read it and apply some critical thinking of your own.

[Anonymous No.19460488]

>>19459546
Thanks you so much, you have been immensely thoughtful and helpful. I find myself agreeing with everything. I have rewritten it, hopefully for the better. Before you read it, I'd like you to keep in mind two things, 1. I'm an ESL, and 2. I've deviated a little from your proposals as a way to keep the text my own way of expression. Still, thank you very much. I hope this is better:

>There lay an unremarkable city on a plain. It stood out against the horizon as the only “something” that the eyes of a traveler would linger on -rare as the occurrence was-, a sudden and brief relief of the monotony upon which it stood, nothing more. Midway between a town and a city, it had no history anyone could recall. Its massive blocks massive blocks were not derelict enough to invoke a nostalgic beauty of times long past, nor radiant enough to arouse any strong emotions either. And its people were neither memorable to outsiders, nor mindful of themselves. They held not the slightest attachment to their community whatsoever. Even that word would be an overstatement; they barely were a collection of individuals living in close proximity with no civic conscience, let alone a sentiment of pride. Instead, they were mere inhabitants of the nests of concrete scuttling under the same white sun in large nameless masses, scurrying from one block to another at the chime of the clock. Every morning the procession of shuffling feet and dragging wheels filled the streets, accompanied by an unceasing orchestra of sputtering motors and clicking keyboards, marching all together well past noon, after the evening and into the night. Only there finally be rest, emptiness, the only shadows on the pavement being those of the streetlights themselves, while the dwellers slept dreamlessly.

[Anonymous No.19460505]

>>19459546
Thanks you so much, you have been immensely thoughtful and helpful. I find myself agreeing with everything. I have rewritten it, hopefully for the better. Before you read it, I'd like you to keep in mind two things, 1. I'm an ESL, and 2. I've deviated a little from your proposals as a way to keep the text my own way of expression. Still, thank you very much. I hope this is better:

>There lay an unremarkable city on a plain. It stood out against the horizon as the only “something” that the eyes of a traveler would linger on -rare as the occurrence was-, a sudden and brief relief of the monotony upon which it stood, nothing more. Midway between a town and a city, it had no history anyone could recall. Its massive blocks were not derelict enough to invoke a nostalgic beauty of times long past, nor radiant enough to arouse any strong emotions either. And its people were neither memorable to outsiders, nor mindful of themselves. They held not the slightest attachment to their community whatsoever. Even that word would be an overstatement; they barely were a collection of individuals living in close proximity with no civic conscience, let alone a sentiment of pride. Instead, they were mere inhabitants of the nests of concrete scuttling under the same white sun in large nameless masses, scurrying from one block to another at the chime of the clock. Every morning the procession of shuffling feet and dragging wheels filled the streets, accompanied by an unceasing orchestra of sputtering motors and clicking keyboards, marching all together well past noon, after the evening and into the night. Only then there would finally be rest, emptiness, the only shadows on the pavement being those of the streetlights themselves, while the dwellers slept dreamlessly.

[Anonymous No.19461196]

>>19460505
This reads much better to me. The first line/paragraph/chapter of any work needs the most polish to draw a reader in. For that reason I think you need to keep working on this one to make sure it maintains the pacing/momentum.

The first line, as i said before, is a strong one. Direct, evocative, and a bit unexpected. It makes me want to read on. Over the following lines, though, I feel less drawn in…perhaps too many ‘however’s and ‘neither/nor’s and ‘instead’s it becomes easy to lose the thread.

Here’s my attempt at a more direct style, take what you like…but don’t polish so hard you lose what makes the writing yours.

>There lay an unremarkable city on a plain. Rising from the horizon, a “something” the eyes of a chance traveler might linger on; momentary relief from the surrounding monotony, nothing more. Midway between town and city, and with no history worth recalling, its massive structures neither radiant nor derelict enough to arouse any emotion. The inhabitants of the city - for they would never consider themselves citizens - were as uninteresting as the place they lived. They were simply a loose collection of individuals; sharing the same concrete nests, scurrying from one block to another. Each dawn brought with it a lachrymose chorus of low murmurs and shuffling feet accompanied by an ceaseless orchestra of sputtering motors and dragging wheels. The performance continued well past noon, through the evening rush hour. The city would finally come to rest with the setting of the sun, the dwellers all sleeping dreamlessly and the only shadows cast on the pavement those of the streetlights themselves.

Regarding ESL, I think it can be an advantage. It makes your voice unique. There’s a reason so many memorable characters and comedians have accents…it can make even a simple phrase come out unique or unexpected.

That said, I find ESL writers tend to be more strict about following grammar rules when something more poetic might do.

For example:
>Midway between a town and a city, it had no history anyone could recall.
could be
>Midway between town and city, no history worth recalling

Best of luck, anon! On to paragraph 2!

[Anonymous No.19461405]

How do I properly rip off of something, whether I like it and want to do something similar or hate it and want to fix it by adjusting it according to my own preferences?

[Anonymous No.19461412]

>>19459729
The themes I think about for years first, then over the course of a few months or during the writing process the story synthesizes from it. I may write one story while brainstorming another, but usually focusing on one thing if I can.

[Anonymous No.19461453]

>>19461405
Fanfic

[Anonymous No.19461761]

>>19461405
Define
>properly

[Anonymous No.19462071]

>>19461761
Help establish its independence as its own work.

[Anonymous No.19462112]

>>19461196
Thanks a lot for your support, man. You're entirely correct, this needs a reread and rewrite still, I'm not satisfied with what I've presented you with. I'll give it a few more look overs, but later, after I've advance a little into the story.
I'll attempt to make it more direct, as you recommend; that sounds like a good idea and that's what I'm hoping to achieve.
>That said, I find ESL writers tend to be more strict about following grammar rules when something more poetic might do.
I admit that I fall prey to that mindset; I'm aware of that form you described, but I thought it might sound pretentious of me. Perhaps it was not as misplaced as I feared.
Just reading your revisions it becomes clear just how tenuous my dominion over the English language is; I'm not good enough yet. Practice might get me there. Joseph Conrad's writing is inspiring to me, because of how immediately transfixed I was by his prose, and he was an ESL too. I don't expect to reach that level, but I do want to grant my voice a unique flavor. Thank you once again for all time you've given me and my writing. Once this story is finished I plan on sharing it through /wg/ for anons to comment on, hopefully you'll be there to read it. I already have another one in the oven, waiting out the time to start editing it. Likewise, I'll apply your advice here on the editing of that one too. If it's not too much to ask, I'd like you to comment on the second paragraph too.
>It had been so for many, many years; none of its inhabitants had known anything else. Whatever spirit had fed its growth into its current form had long since been laid to rest. Perhaps it had originally expanded with vigor, pushed on by citizens with a sense of purpose and hope for a now uncertain future. Or maybe it had simply followed the designs of an unthinking, individual, mechanical effort. It might be a stretch to refer to the city as having been once alive, ignorant as we are of the intricacies of its former past, but whether it had been or not, its current undeniable state was death. All that remained was an open carcass, its cleaned ribs at the sky -the only semblance of life were the insects that crawled inside it. They scuttled over the dry bones in orderly disorder, for unlike a colony of ants, there was no queen to serve -everyone was in for themselves. It was not a reprehensible form of living -we cannot refer to those people as unkind or predatory- but it was nothing to be proud of either. The remains of what had once been were now their only source of nourishment, gnawing at the bones, not desperately like a scavenger, but with the kind of numbness that marks an assumed automatized task.

[Anonymous No.19462287]

>Ya, I'm a writer

[Anonymous No.19462300]

>>19459729
My entire life

[Anonymous No.19462801]

Question. Do you pitch your first draft to publishers or your first edit to publishers?

[Anonymous No.19462914]

>>19462801
why do people ask noob questions in /wg/ instead of google

[Anonymous No.19462915]

>>19457570
Get keyboard for phone, or typewriter.

[Anonymous No.19463264]

>>19462287
Well I wasn't about to mistake you for a thinker.

[Anonymous No.19463482]

>rewriting
I suffer

[Anonymous No.19463496]

>>19462801
You do this after you prove you can finish a book. I've heard of some authors do this just thinking out loud and then someone asks for Chapter 1. It's good for more business but can get you in a pinch if you weren't ready to write it yet.

[Anonymous No.19463884]

Did any of you write today? I couldn’t because my thoughts were too weighed down by the knowledge of the horrors that were unleashed on the native Americans as a result of what Thanksgiving symbolizes.

[Anonymous No.19463914]

Pick one fate for your greatest work:
>Fanbase of people who understand its message and the work you put into it, but is incredibly small and doesn't create fan-work
>Fanbase that only understands the story on a superficial level but creates expansive amounts of fan art and fanfiction
>Fanbase of total consoomers who forget about your work after a week but is ridiculously huge and you make a ridiculous amount of money
>A small but impossibly dedicated army of coomers who give you a lot of money but prevents your work from ever being talked about in a respectable setting

[Anonymous No.19463960]

>>19463914
>>Fanbase that only understands the story on a superficial level but creates expansive amounts of fan art and fanfiction
god I can only wish..

[Anonymous No.19463988]

>>19463482
It gets better each time. Unless you really suck.

[Anonymous No.19464008]

Guys... how do I get my imagination back?

[Anonymous No.19464059]

>>19463914
fanfiction one always
i want to see people lose at a game I create

[Anonymous No.19464108]

>>19463914
>Fanbase that only understands the story on a superficial level but creates expansive amounts of fan art and fanfiction
This would be literally heaven for me

[Anonymous No.19464143]

>>19455935
FYI, still working on the ‘flooded castle’ flash. It’s 1700 words and still not finished, so i have quite a bit of editing to do if I am to get it down to <1,000 words.

Wish me luck…

[Anonymous No.19464151]

>>19463914
>>Fanbase of people who understand its message and the work you put into it, but is incredibly small and doesn't create fan-work
This is the only one that survives more than a generation, and that can actually produce something better than what I do.
It's not even a question

[Anonymous No.19464277]

>>19463988
Of course it gets better, but the process is suffering.
I turned the old text a different color so I can keep track of what has been rewritten.

[Anonymous No.19464295]

>>19464277
Why post Neverland? Only the first arc was good btw. The rest was sloppy

[Anonymous No.19464318]

>>19464295
pretty pictures are pretty and i like the aesthetic

[Anonymous No.19464760]

help i keep coming up with ideas for scenes that are not the one I'm writing

[Anonymous No.19464810]

>>19455992
So i read some of your story as promised. Of the 4 chapters i got through, it was decent banter and scene setting. I said before that i'm not a fan of virtual-reality and so was pleasantly surprised to find it absent from the 4 i read.
What i was slightly annoyed by was the complete lack or litrpg/gamelit elements. 4 chaps in and not a stat, percentage or skill box in sight. Shamerfur dispray!

[Anonymous No.19464832]

>>19463914
>Fanbase of total consoomers who forget about your work after a week but is ridiculously huge and you make a ridiculous amount of money.
Im legitimately fine with finding my masterpiece in the bargain bin in five to ten years.

[Anonymous No.19464938]

do people enjoy reading banter between two grumpy middle aged men?

[Anonymous No.19464949]

>>19464938
make it two cute anime girls who are NotLesbians best friends and argue like old men then yes

[Anonymous No.19464971]

>>19464938
yes

[Anonymous No.19464990]

>>19464949
>>19464938
Cute anime girls who are actually old men.

[Anonymous No.19465005]

Alice in Wonderland kind of story except everyone who falls into this bizarre world is a person who's lost passion for everything and is as the living dead.
Eventually they become permanent fixtures in the world, as stuffed animals.

[Anonymous No.19465019]

>>19465005
Play Black Souls 2 before you start to write that because there may be some overlap.

[Anonymous No.19465020]

>>19464810
The first 9 chapters are inside. Chapter 10 is outside and then chapters 11-31 are back inside. The first stat box is in chapter 11. I agree with your distaste of VR.

Basically in my story the real world is horribly awful. They sold themselves into what is basically slavery, or for the later arrivals they were tricked into thinking it was some noble project and then they got blindsided when they got there. It was supposed to be a terraforming project/mining colony offworld, but something awful happened and the big group of scientists that were supposed to do the terraforming died. So corporate just decided to keep sending out people for the mining/refining aspect while the small group of scientists already there continue to try and get things to work. Basically they're slaving away on a doomed world while focusing as much as they can on enjoying life to the best of their ability.

Thank you for giving it a read.

[Anonymous No.19465026]

>>19465019
what about black souls 1
i'm a stickler for order if you can believe it

[Anonymous No.19465032]

>>19465026
Yes, you will need to play that first but 2 is much closer to your idea.
Ending A, B, C and D are all cannon and will be needed for you even begin understanding 2.

[Anonymous No.19465041]

>>19465032
I mean, it doesn't really matter if my thing is similar since I have no idea what that other thing is. Even if I did, world's kind of too old to be caring about crossed paths with ideas, right?
This is the story if you want to judge to see if it's looking like some weird carbon copy: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lG1kU46xhbOtBK4cyygybXd74mo8802RZaCkntQPAqs/edit?usp=sharing

[Anonymous No.19465110]

the night is long
writing is hard
only 800 words into my 1.6 k for the day
it's 2 am

[Anonymous No.19465137]

previously i sent something to agents that wasn't polished enough and now i cringe remembering it.

[Anonymous No.19465155]

>>19465041
Skimming about it, I can see it's not a carbon copy; we both already knew that though. You're never going to get something like that unless you set out with that in mind from the start or you're aping some trendsetter.
I will say though, when someone says to me that pieces of my story are a little similar to something else, I go out of my way to confirm. Worst case scenario, I waste a day experiencing something I hadn't before and it doesn't impact my story.
I obviously cannot sit down and read 81 pages just to tell you if it's distinct enough, that's for you to decide. What I can say is that your initial tagline is quite similar.
>Alice in Wonderland kind of story
First game is an Alice in Wonderland like world based on fairytales, second is literally Wonderland.
>person who's lost passion for everything and is as the living dead.
Exact same character to the point of the MC being a literal undead.
>Eventually they become permanent fixtures in the world, as stuffed animals.
Many residence of the world are there against their will and are forced into their roles, talking stuffed animals included.

[Anonymous No.19465160]

>>19465155
Ah, I can see the concern. At least it isn't a super common thing, lol

[Anonymous No.19465543]

>>19465020
maybe do a chapter hinting at some of that stuff at the start, just a little tease and explanation. Then string them along with the bants and action, while slowly lifting up the real worlds skirt gradually.

[Anonymous No.19465679]

I love this women to death, she really gets my writing process and how to make it better

I am so blessed to learn her words of wisdom.

(Her name is Abbie Emmons by the way)

[Anonymous No.19465905]

>>19453873
Is bad if all your characters are female?

I just can't help giving my characters boobs

[Anonymous No.19465910]

>>19453873
Is it bad if all your characters are female?

I just can't help giving my characters boobs

[Anonymous No.19465942]

>>19465910
If most of them act and talk like women, I don't see why not.

[Anonymous No.19466296]

>>19464143
Wow
You should post the long version first

[Anonymous No.19466901]

I hate Fate (both Stay/Night and Zero) but I love the concept of mages in an urban setting summoning historical or mythological figures to fight eachother in a battle royale. I can't find a way to write around this concept without it feeling like a Fate fanfiction. What should I do about this?

[Anonymous No.19466935]

>>19466901
Who cares? Make your own spin on it and make it fun

[Anonymous No.19466977]

Could you give me some advice on to write a short but striking story? I mean really short, 8500 max, 3000 minimum.

[Anonymous No.19467016]

>>19466977
That's a really open ended question. That's sort of like saying 'Can you teach me to write?'

Join in with the flash fiction writing on here, it's good practice. The prompt list is just random ideas that pop into people's heads, those are enough to generate the plot of a short story.

[Anonymous No.19467300]

>>19467016
Thanks, anon. I appreciate it. I admit it was too broad a question, I was just hoping for a pointer into the right mindset to have. There's a contest in my region of flashfiction and I was thinking of throwing my own bet into the hat and see what came out of it.

[Anonymous No.19467618]

How much importance do you give to the prevalence of a main message in a story? I often see fictions derail the plot from their meta message, only to really get it brought up again in the latter chapters already setting up for the ending, thought not too many readers seem to mind that.

[Anonymous No.19467665]

>>19467300
Write a few very short stories (like the flash fiction <1k words), don’t worry too much about perfection - just get ideas out - until you find one you feel needs more room to grow.

How does an artist decide what to paint? Doodles and sketches.

[Anonymous No.19467882]

Anyone good with their greek? How do I combine Hyper and Notos to make a word?

Notos is the south wind, opposite of Boreas. Those two combine to create "Hyperborean"

Would it be:
>Hypernotian
>Hypernotan
>something else entirely

Basically how do you resolve the -tos ending?

[Anonymous No.19468227]

>>19467882
I don’t know a thing about greek grammar, but ‘Hypernotic’ sounds right to my ear. Weight is baros, sound is sonos, and I def know of ‘hyperbaric’ and ‘hypersonic’.

[Anonymous No.19468250]

>>19468227
Ah that would make sense. I'll stick with that for now. Thanks anon

[Anonymous No.19468281]

>>19467882
>>19468227
Hypernotian is also the exact form the counterparts to Hyperboreans are given in the Geographica

[Anonymous No.19468516]

ive never read a book in my life and im going to write one

[Anonymous No.19468595]

>>19468516
It’ll probably be shit, but at least it’ll be original shit.

[Anonymous No.19468616]

>>19468595
id rather write 100 bad stories than never write anything at all

[Anonymous No.19468674]

>>19468616
Sounds like a solid title for the next /ffa/ book…

[Anonymous No.19468928]

what's your wordcount for books, on average?
want to try to get x drafts out in a year, so I'm working on what my schedule should be.

[Anonymous No.19468982]

What's the point? I'm never gonna make even 10 dollars with whatever crap I manage to shit out with all the effort my retard brain can muster.

[Anonymous No.19469036]

>>19468516
why do you think it makes you special. tens of thousands of retards do that every year.

[Anonymous No.19469045]

>>19468516
A promissing litRPG writer i see

[Anonymous No.19469048]

Just queried some agency and got like 70k words on this mf. Shiet.
>>19468982
Then just become a consoomer. We need readers.

[Anonymous No.19469080]

>>19469048
>Just queried some agency and got like 70k words on this mf. Shiet.
i dont speak urban ape but is this retard saying he sent queries with the manuscript not even finished?

[Anonymous No.19469081]

>>19469048
>Become consoomer
No thanks.

[Anonymous No.19469107]

>>19469048
>got like 70k words on this mf. shiet
Kys you dumb zoomer nigger

[Anonymous No.19469112]

>>19469080
The manuscript is finished, nigga.
>>19469081
Then rob a bank and die honourably, shiet.
>>19469107
Is that because I'm BLACK?

[Anonymous No.19469501]

>>19469112
Why do you talk like a dumb nigger?

[Anonymous No.19469805]

>>19468928
The simple fact is that as a beginner writer you shouldn't compare yourself to those that have been writing for years. Your word count when you start out will be small, pathetic. Only through habit and repetition will your daily writing grow into a sharp and clear mass, one you can look back on after each writing day and smile with joy at.

[Anonymous No.19469928]

"What happens now?"

Hargul, hides drenched in blood, rolls his forehead on his knees then rises to stand with the aid of his axe and looks over the burning village, burning boats, burning land.

He paces then staggers in the direction of a tree and pins his arm to it with his forehead and he slumps down to the ground. The coarse bark tears new reams in his flesh. The women are dead. In two days the hästkämpar will ride through and plant their standards on these hills and demolish cairns to build new huts.

Hargul turns his heavy head to Adisi who is supported by the rocks. A fresh stream of scarlet blood is running from his throat.

[Anonymous No.19469964]

How do you guys give exposition if there is a lot of world building but you don't want to include the POV of a noob character?

[Anonymous No.19469967]

A few weeks ago, I was brought to tears thinking about my main character finally coming to terms with his parents' deaths. Ever since my grandad passed away, I've become more emotional.

[Anonymous No.19469971]

>>19469928
>He paces then staggers in the direction of a tree and pins his arm to it with his forehead and he slumps down to the ground. The coarse bark tears new reams in his flesh.

It took me a bit to unravel what this action looks like, visually. I think the scene a good one…but at least I needed a couple reads to really get it. So…good description, challenging flow.

[Anonymous No.19470007]

>>19469964
Easiest Method: Straight Exposition (“In a world…”) Lazy, boring, cliche.
Basic Method: Noob POV (“You’re a wizard, Harry.”) still cliche, but at least fun for the reader.
Medium difficulty: Mentor POV (“Let me show you around, rookie”) forces you to put exposition entirely in dialog, no internal thoughts, hard to do while keeping things natural
Hard Difficulty: Figure it out yourself, reader (“Me and my three droogs sat in the Milkbar making up our rassoodocks…”) requires either a very fleshed out world, very clever dialog a d plotting or (ideally) both. Often filters casual readers.

Best of luck!

[Anonymous No.19470028]

>>19469964
skim through some of the early aubrey-maturin books. the spy character is a noob to all the naval lingo so the author uses him to immerse you (the reader) and also the character of stephen maturin into the life of a sailor.

[Anonymous No.19470045]

>>19469967
damn this would look really good on a twitter post or tiktok caption

[Anonymous No.19470067]

>>19462112
different anon here but I wanted to say I do find your passage and its concept very interesting. The revised version that the other anon helped you right is a much better read than the original. I think you've done well. I would love to read a completed version when you're done.

[Anonymous No.19470090]

>>19469928
I think the first two lines need to be split into a few more smaller sentences to help a reader understand whats going on without needing to read it more than once.

>Hargul, hides drenched in blood, rolls his forehead on his knees then rises to stand with the aid of his axe and looks over the burning village, burning boats, burning land.

this could be rewritten as: Hargul, his hides now drenched in blood, rolled his forehead on his knees. Then, with the aid of his axe rose up to a standing position. Now he could look out across the burning village, burning boats and burning land.

My example kind of sucks and I think yours is well written but as the other anon said its a little hard to follow on the first read through.

[Anonymous No.19470167]

no but seriously how many words do you guys write every day normally
and is it every day

[Anonymous No.19470211]

>>19470167
Doubt I’m the sort of anon you’re asking about (casual writer, intense full-time job, three year old son) but….

I probably write 2,000 words per week, only 1,000 after editing down. Double if i have a rare two-day weekend, but i’ve def had weeks of zero. Writing comes easy, but writing /well/ takes work, i spend about as much time editing as writing.

[Anonymous No.19470962]

>>19462801
Do not do this. This is the easiest way to get your manuscript thrown into the recycling bin. You want to have at least improved it to the point where you would need someone else eyes on it to spot what's not working.
>>19468516
Stop. You might think you know what you're doing, but you don't. Good writing requires intuitive knowledge learned from reading stories. I've never read anything good from non-readers. This is the equivalent of someone who only knows how to draw stick figures, saying they're going to begin oil painting portraits. It's ridiculous.

Spend the next couple of months reading and you should be in okay shape to tackle a first draft. I'm just trying to save you from the ensuing embarrassment and frustration.

[Anonymous No.19470971]

>>19470962
months? people told me years, at least for a non reader who would accomplish maybe 3 books a year

[Anonymous No.19470986]

>>19470971
Years? It depends what you're writing. For philosophy or literary fiction I might understand. But genre fiction? No. If you read with intent, it doesn't take long to figure out why these stories work. You're mostly going to be gathering pacing/structure/characterization. This shouldn't take years to learn.
Read books on the craft.
>It was the best of sentences, it was the worst of sentences.
>Building Great Sentences
Also, other recommendation in the general header. The reason people say it takes years to write is because those people usually have jobs/social lives that consume their every being. Or they're not as determined as they claim to be. (not to say they're bad writers.)

[Anonymous No.19471002]

>>19470167
Anywhere from 1.5 to 10k depending on what I'm writing and how into I am. I deliberately keep 3 to 4 projects floating so that when I lose steam on one I can move to another that does interest me. But I'm also someone that's written /tg/ & /qst/ stuff for years and self-published a few systems/novellas.

[Anonymous No.19471075]

I feel like this is going to go about as well as asking /mu/ for music recommendations, but I'll try anyway.

Are there websites where good writers publish their work and have a dignified interaction with their audience, maybe through letters rather than comment threads? I'm imagining something more like a subscription-only magazine of the mid 20th century than whatever royal road is.

I say good writers, meaning writers of literary fiction. But doesn't that term just mean writers in favour with publishing houses? It's as though we can't respect anything without money behind it, even ourselves. Considering how politicised publishing is, I really wish we could get past that kind of gatekeeping, without needing to become totally anarchic (i.e. like /lit/)

[Anonymous No.19471076]

>>19454829
They were enveloped in a dark cavern stained with purple dust and patched with dripping moss. Tendriled plants hung low, with every few reaching long enough to graze the cave floor and mingle with the mossy brush. Stalactite pillars in bottle green and fiery red glistened with the earthen moisture, and made intricate patterns of webs when crossing with the hanging vines.

Tried to edit your first one to be less purple. First thing I’ve ever really wrote, is it too simple, too purple?

[Anonymous No.19471111]

>>19471075
Hell no, real writers write books that get actually published and don't need to circlejerk on internet forums. That "publishing has become too politicized" is just a cope by bad writers.

[Anonymous No.19471113]

My concept for an adventure fantasy: some people die, and then they get revived with a specific power no one else can have. They get hunted by lovecraftian monstrosities that they have to hide from even in their dreams and it takes a long while to get strong enough to fight them and live comfortably. They also all share a compulsion to visit a giant ash tree that no one has explored

Is this a decent premise or shit?

[Anonymous No.19471133]

>>19471113
Premises are cheap because answering that question requires telepathy to see the potential story that the author sees.

[Anonymous No.19471141]

>>19471133
I actually disagree. Premises literally make a story. LOTR was entirely new at it's time, Death Note too, and 1984/BNW. At least in so far as things people actually like, it tends to require a revolutionary or at least high possibility premise

[Anonymous No.19471145]

>>19471111
To say it doesn't exist is a cope in itself. James Patterson is case in point. The dude hasn't written a lick of shit in ages, he relies solely on being ghost written. Wildly successful because... oh his publisher and name.

It's possible for both of these claims to be partially true.

[Anonymous No.19471152]

>>19471145
>a famous name sells, therefore publishing is political
I don't quite follow but okay, whatever helps you cope with not being good enough. Me, I accept it and try to improve.

[Anonymous No.19471153]

>>19471141
LOTR had the worldbuilding book written beforehand. And as adaptations have shown, the important part of Death Note is execution, not the premise.

[Anonymous No.19471168]

>>19471153
Neither of those two were writers with any literary pedigree at all though, nor was Isayama. There's a difference between having a modicum of sense for where things should be and just not knowing what the hell you are doing while satisfying ESG investors and juggling a mediocre budget. Sometimes you just draw from some sources and a concept reflects a mix of your emotional state and luck at the time and you just write it.

Mirai Nikki was written abysmally but the premise carried it for some. Platinum End was the same premise made by the same authors as Death Note and it was largely derided as garbage, they aren't really good writers friend. The second half of DN sucked because the premise exhausted itself... I could go on

[Anonymous No.19471172]

>>19471168
I think that there might be a confusion between premise and main character conflict.

[Anonymous No.19471177]

>>19471172
Those premises write themselves though and only go as far as the idea can. A good writer will develop a better sense for using one and if you are absurdly, and I mean absurdly good, you can make a premise work independent of if it's good or not (asoiaf, possibly the iliad for it's time, one piece - well one piece is really fun as a premise but it's also not mindblowing, the characters carry it). In a lot of cases, things fall into place. Trust me, if you figured out an idea like DN first you'd have probably done better than Obata with the writing. You don't think so?

[Anonymous No.19471180]

>>19471177
Not that anon but I'm going to wager no, and neither could you. There's no way you could've made something as good and successful as Death Note. You're just a pseud.

[Anonymous No.19471186]

>>19471180
This thread sucks dick and is only here so people can tear each other's work down, don't kid yourself. Nothing any of you say is any useful and you're all sociopaths, I haven't seen even a bit of good advice here even once. I'm not a good writer, but a good premise CAN carry a bad writer and demonstrably has before.

If any of you have practiced writing A LOT and can't beat some lame mangaka's work (in quality, not popularity, idiot) using the same premise, it's probably time to quit

[Anonymous No.19471191]

>>19471186
>calling people sociopaths for no reason
That's enough internet for you, young man.

[Anonymous No.19471196]

>>19471152
Policy to favor traditionally known authors over debuts is internal politicking no matter how you frame it.

Feel free to let the corporate dick squirm around your ass. Don't complain when you don't get published, you simply didn't have what it took and James Patterson's 500th novel did. :))

[Anonymous No.19471203]

>>19471186
Yeah, it can carry him right to feedback like
>Interesting concept, shows promise. But suffers from anemic language, that is to say, several bits don’t do anything but draw the reader out of the story. Whether it be due to passive voice, beige prose, or stretches of text don’t hit readers in any of the senses save for sight. Combined with the previously mentioned problems, the good ideas are forced to run with two broken legs and a single crutch that’s far too short.

[Anonymous No.19471213]

What's a good piece of offline note-taking software I can use across Linux, Windows, and Android? I use a notebook for noting down ideas, but I find myself in situations where I don't have access to it and end up noting stuff in text documents on my phone. Would be nice to have something universal I can access at all times alongside my notebook for when I have no tech access.

Onenote on Android cant open offline files unforunately, so am looking for an alternative.

[Anonymous No.19471216]

>>19471213
>What's a good piece of offline note-taking software I can use across Linux, Windows, and Android
And I mean something I can use alongside syncthing, I obviously dont need (want) the program to have its own syncing and cloud services.

[Anonymous No.19471233]

>>19470067
Thank you for the encouragement. I hope the introduction is not deceiving, for I intend to make the city as something to be escaped from by its main character, whose tale will take place outside it. It's been a while since I've strained myself so much while writing, hopefully it will pay off.

[Anonymous No.19471255]

>>19471113
Same as other anon, it’s not about the premise but the execution. This premise has plenty of potential that can be explored.

[Anonymous No.19471380]

>>19471255
The thing is, I can read and read and critically dissect character motives and study literary classics and watch a ton of movies, but when someone shares a premise they generally want suggestions (like you'd get from an editor or even a reviewer) about how someone else might use the concept differently/better than them. This isn't always better, but it can be useful to bounce an idea off of someone else.

What potential do you see in it? I don't see much, to be honest, I posted it to bounce shit.

[Anonymous No.19471526]

>>19471213
search something like "note" on fdroid and test a couple
there will be some basically markdown editors in there, so maybe just use whatever text editor with a markdown plugin on desktop and write stuff in markdown?

[Anonymous No.19471600]

>>19471526
Yeah, I keep hearing about markdown. Guess I don't have much of a choice

[Anonymous No.19471676]

>>19453928
Jesus Christ I read some Simean Deluxe stories and... I'm surprised to say /lit/ can actually write well! Keep up the good work anons

[Anonymous No.19471682]

>>19471111
Ah, the sunny self-assurance of someone who has never had a controversial thought in their lives.

Also, I think this is a good opportunity to mention that I have never used the word cope as a noun. That's because my balls have dropped. (Is that "cringe" of me?)

[Anonymous No.19471687]

>>19471682
Oof, yikes. You think writing about your hatred of women, gays and blacks is "controversial"? People like you are a diamond dozen. Touch grass.

[Anonymous No.19471860]

>>19471676
Glad you enjoyed them!

Full PDF here: https://archive.org/download/simian-deluxe/Simian-Deluxe-Print.pdf

Vote for your favorite story here: https://strawpoll.com/7hv4jr6f4/r

[Anonymous No.19471926]

>>19471380
I like the idea of people being haunted by some kind of oppressive celestial force, that they can’t even escape from in their dreams. I think there’s potential to explore that aspect as some kind of psychological horror. I think a lot of anticipation and suspense can be built around the characters getting to the tree, or learning more about it. If you avoid it becoming just another YA novel about special kids fighting giant monsters it could be interesting.

[Anonymous No.19472006]

why are people not posting their work here anymore?
I mean I admit all I have is my oversized nano file but like, this place used to be /crit/ was it not?
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lG1kU46xhbOtBK4cyygybXd74mo8802RZaCkntQPAqs/edit
take from that what you will, no one expects you to read that entire thing, I'm just fishing for perspective and also to answer the simple question of whether it was enjoyable or not

[Anonymous No.19472154]

>>19453873
How do you pull off a kill em all ending without leaving the audience feeling cheated?

[Anonymous No.19472160]

>>19472154
Have all your characters either live in an old folks home or a cancer ward.

[Anonymous No.19472173]

>>19471860
yo where is my oprah's funeral entry?
wtf guy ;(

[Anonymous No.19472193]

>>19472006
My progress is slow because still work full-time and I only share every few months. I'm very much lacking polish and some scenes aren't filled in yet so the narrative lacks a lot of context.
>>19472154
You have to start the story with a tone that makes everyone's death possible in that story. Through the story you also need to establish that something deadly is present several times, even if no one dies or is even threatened until the end. When you come full-circle, the mood will feel appropriate and can have a surprising but inevitable effect if you give the reader some hope to latch on to through the story.
Readers feel cheated when nothing in a story even suggests what will actually happen. This is why "Chekhov's Gun" is important to establish what matters. Surprises in themselves are not satisfying. They must also fit the story.

[Anonymous No.19472211]

>>19472154
Figure out who lives. Maybe it’s just a minor character, or some witness to the events. Place enough breadcrumbs throughout the story where that character significance makes sense at the very end.

[Anonymous No.19472317]

>>19472006
No one posts here anymore because they either realized the criticism is shit or their feelings got hurt when every comment was picking apart their writing at the atomic level. Not saying 4chan should be nicer but sometimes that's what happens

[Anonymous No.19472327]

>>19472006
I hate what i write why would i shill it here.

[Anonymous No.19472502]

>>19472317
would you say the crits here are actually worth it or just meh?

[Anonymous No.19472546]

>>19472502
There are absolutely criticisms that have merit, but I think the problem here is many of the crits are subjective things. And all too often the crits are too harsh, people will shit on your writing just because it doesn't copy the style of their favorite author, and they hold amateur works to the same standards as the greatest literary works of all time. It doesn't help that everyone here is probably autistic and overly obsessive with their work, and the people who post their writing typically aren't extremely confident in their writing, and if you are confident then you're not going to be asking for crits on 4chan. Personally I have a problem where I need to be great at everything I do, even my hobbies like writing. But I actually stopped writing for over a year just because I posted a few things here and got shit on every single time and was simply convinced I couldn't write. Then I posted it to other places and found that some people loved my work. Again, nothing wrong with crits, and I do think a lot of anons here have great advice, but the loudest just shit on people's writing because they don't like it.

[Anonymous No.19472562]

>>19472006
There are plenty of posts to /crit/ a snippet or a synopsis…but no one has time to read a whole book just to effort post back to some anon on /lit/.

I’d say anything over 1,000 words is too much to be asking others for in this medium (it’s not like we can add markup/comments, and greentext is messy)

Anyhow, i gave the first bit of your story a look. Usually on /lit/, writers tend toward long run-on sentences and i encourage a more direct style. In your case it’s just so many short sentences, they become disjoint (and require you to be repetitive because you must re-introduce the same subjects over and over).

In pic related the pronouns are all over the place. First line has no subject at all (who’s walking?), and the next two have so many ‘he’s and ‘him’s i have no idea what’s going on.

Also, in the very first line ‘the color grey’ makes me unclear if you’re writing with US or UK spelling. It’s usually either ‘the color gray’ or ‘the colour grey’…where ya from, anon?

If you want more /crit/ pick a section you want to workshop, don’t just link to the whole damn thing.

[Anonymous No.19472563]

>>19471687
Huff puff golly goo, can you even?

Using cope as a noun is just bad grammar, and indicative of an immature mind. But you could have been memed into that.

Thinking "controversial" is a unilaterally positive term is pretty dim, though. Nobody memed you into that. At one point it was controversial to say that the eucharist was literally the body of Christ, or to say otherwise. Then it stopped being controversial. Controversy is controversy, not whatever you think it means.

[Anonymous No.19472602]

>>19453873
How would you handle power progression in a story? Someone I know is writing a story about a post-apocalypse that's sort of like SCP 001 (When Day Breaks.) Y'know sun turning people into monsters.
>One of the protagonists is a blind kid who, due to his blindness, is capable of fighting the monsters directly because they turn you into one of them if you make direct eye contact, which is their primary form of offense
>These monsters are explicitly superhuman, so our boy has to get really strong and skilled if he wants to stand a chance
>Later they come across a bunch of people who are defended by blind warriors, and they teach the boy to fight better
That's what she told me, at least.

[Anonymous No.19472808]

Any advice for writing longer stories without pointless filler, details I should consider?

[Anonymous No.19472818]

>>19472602
Power is relative and in a story it has to do with your character's abilities to solve conflict. There are plenty of characters with amazing powers, but the conflict is in a different category so problems cannot go away without characters changing somehow.
I think of power progression in terms of an argument. There's a piece of information that your character is missing, or perhaps unable to say, before the argument can proceed to the next level. That's part of rising action. When your character solves conflict, that is their power. When your character is surrounded by increasingly threatening challenges and still manages to get by, that also works. Power and competence go together in power progression, you have to demonstrate what the power allows them to do.

In the example of Bloodborne, you cannot enter the forest until you kill the Vicar. Just before or after you kill the Vicar, it becomes night introducing Snatchers ready to kidnap you to a far more dangerous place. So while your character now has the power to explore more places after demonstrating his power and answering a question (what's the password), the conflict heightens to match the stronger character.

You can and should make characters fail and the conflict rises anyways. If you don't, readers expect a character gets what they aim for in every scene. To give another game example, think when the elevator stops in Metroid Fusion. Samus fails to reach her destination and is now threatened with an unfamiliar place and powerful enemies. Once she gets through it, her power raises by getting the space jump and plasma beam, allowing her to reach new places and destroy things she never could before.

[Anonymous No.19472831]

why the fuck does it take agents months to reply to a query
you lazy shitters answer your fucking email

[Anonymous No.19472870]

>>19472808
B plots

If you have three good ideas for a plot line, don’t write three mediocre books…see if you can weave all into one.

Split characters up, bring them back together, keep it dynamic.

If you (the author) feel that it’s filler, readers def will.

[Anonymous No.19472891]

>>19472006
>>19472317
I just posted my most recent chapter last thread. I've been making it a habit of posting them when they're done

[Anonymous No.19472993]

>>19472870
>If you have three good ideas for a plot line, don’t write three mediocre books…see if you can weave all into one.
Damn that's actually really good advice. Like I have this sci-fi story idea based off the punic wars but it might just work as a lore story in my current book.

[Anonymous No.19473036]

>>19472831
U need to send ur emails with more captivating headlines, like
>reply to this email within 24 hours or your parents will die in their sleep

[Anonymous No.19473228]

>>19472993
Writers, especially those on /lit/, have this tendency to hold onto their good ideas until they ‘level up’ or something and write their magnum opus.

Don’t hold back. Put everything you’ve got into each thing you write. By keeping your best ideas in reserve, you’re acting as if you won’t come up with more and better as you grow as a writer.

Throw all your best themes and characters into one book and you /might/ write something passable. Once you’ve written something strong/successful things get easier and more doors open.

[Anonymous No.19473526]

>>19472602
Easy. Stop treating stories like they're video games.

[Anonymous No.19473538]

>>19472006
I didn't think we could do that. You're promoting your own work. Probably also you'd end up with a big bullseye on your chest. Like the Playtime's Consequences weirdo.

[Anonymous No.19473546]

>>19471111
Yeah it's like when shitty washed up comedians get booed off of college campuses. "Cancel culture' is just an excuse for being unfunny.

[Anonymous No.19473587]

>>19464008
Smoke less, drink less, eat less, cum less

[Anonymous No.19473612]

>>19473538
There’s a difference between promoting one’s work on /lit/ (see F. Gardner, Waldun, etc) and sharing it for critique.

Even a “hey look what I just made” post seems fine to me, as long as you’re not spamming it. Half the anons on /lit/ are trying to write/publish a thing, yet few do. I feel that once someone actually does, they deserve to take a victory lap (acknowledging that getting torn apart by critics is part of the ritual).

I suppose /ffa/ falls somewhere in between, it’s def done some self-promotion (ads even), but the authors are all anons so...*shrug*

[Anonymous No.19473646]

Can I have 3 voices, one 3rd person omnipotent and two 1st person, or is there some unofficial rule about not doing that?

[Anonymous No.19473683]

>>19473646
You decide that, but I assume that two 1st person means switching PoV, which some don't like.

[Anonymous No.19473748]

>>19473646
if you can make it work, sure. it just may come off weird to the reader

[Anonymous No.19473783]

>>19473646
My novel has 3 1st pov and about 8 third limited povs. Do whatever you want friend.>>19473683

[Anonymous No.19473861]

>>19473783
>Do whatever you want friend
Do what serves the story best...each perspective adds a different tone to the work, like choosing if a tune should be played by a piano or a trumpet. Pick the one that tells the story you want.

In my opinion 2nd person is hardest, and can be a turnoff to many. Has a role-playing feel to it.

1st is best when it’s like a story being told (past tense smoother than present). Switching between first person POVs can be disorienting. Imagine setting a book down, when you pick it up you need to look back at the chapter heading to figure out who “I” is.

3rd is the easiest, and clearest when there are multiple POVs.

A good example combining a few is Name of the Wind. The meta story is in 3rd person, though the tale itself is told through the 1st person. The switch actually helps the reader orient between past and present, so it serves the story well. 1st person also allows for you to be less than honest in the telling, if you like.

[Anonymous No.19474393]

How big can I make the breasts of the main female character in my story?
Which literary classic has the biggest boobas I can compare myself to?

[Anonymous No.19474399]

>>19462071
please respond

[Anonymous No.19474426]

>>19474393
Dmitriv Vlostineg's Snow on the Marsh has a character who's breasts are described as being "the size of two cauldrons each fit for a regiment" or something like that

[Anonymous No.19474455]

>>19474393
Did a quick search and there's YA about girls with macromastia that got picked up by a major publisher last year. Nothing wrong with it at all, apparently. Written by a women though.

[Anonymous No.19474510]

Since we’re not supposed to ask questions about writing here AND nobody writes what even is the point of these threads?

[Anonymous No.19474530]

>>19462071
>>19474399
i dunno lol but f at u

[Anonymous No.19474738]

>>19473861
Warning:
Don’t start in 1st person if you plan on killing a character off. I wrote myself into that corner once (main POV made sacrifice to allow another character to live on at the end) and had to go back and re-write the whole thing in 3rd. Just a short story, so not a major project…but not ideal.

[Anonymous No.19474762]

>>19474738
moby-dick did this

[Anonymous No.19474926]

>>19462071
>>19474399
I’m the anon who asked you to define what you meant…and since you did i suppose i owe you a reply.

Okay, anon, here’s the plan:
Find a piece of work that touches on something you’d like to write about (ideally either obscure, not translated into english, or old enough to be in the public domain). Probably easier to do with short stories than long, and you’ll have a huge leg up if you’re bilingual. Keep all the parts that make it resonate to you (structure, setting, theme, characters, whatever) and ditch/change the rest. You could also pull out a single thread/arc from the full story, and put it into a new context.

Change all character names and places, obviously (standard Law&Order rules). Ideally, you should find multiple works and merge them. For example, take the “Luigi Vampa” story arc from Count of Monte Cristo and set it beat-for-beat in The Wire’s Baltimore [wait, don’t do that…it’s too fucking good, I’m taking it!]

In music, we accept that singers are rarely also songwriters…but in writing, it’s expected that an author is both good at outlining an interesting narrative and is capable of writing it well. There are thousands (millions?) of great stories out there dying in obscurity because the author was just a shit writer. Save them!

A word of caution, this works for most situations but if you do end up making it big, it can come back to bite you. Decide early if you want to credit your inspiration, or deny ever reading it and stick to your story.

Srsly, though…don’t fucking touch Crack Vampa, it’s mine!

[Anonymous No.19474965]

>>19473612
Alright, maybe I'll post a link once I've got it up on KDP.

[Roy No.19475021]

I’m bored and got some time to kill. Haven’t been around awhile but some of you may recognize me. Yadda yadda I work in the industry, writing nerd etc etc.

Ask me questions, I’ll give you answers. And no, I don’t read people work here, I get paid to do that elsewhere.

[Anonymous No.19475087]

>>19475021
Are there any good publishing houses for beginning science fiction writers lol

[Roy No.19475102]

>>19475087
Usually smaller publishers are better for that. Depending on where you live of course. I would look around for smaller independents to get some new author sci-fi printed. You can and also should look into getting some smaller works in zines/chapbooks as this will help make you look better to independent publishers. There’s a lot of good zines that do sci-fi

[Anonymous No.19475136]

>>19475021
What are some themes/genres you think are promising/untapped?
What are some that are so oversaturated new writers should steer clear?

[Anonymous No.19475152]

>>19472818
One of the key aspects of him is that he has no other choice but to become more skilled in combat in order to last in the world.

[Anonymous No.19475193]

>>19475152
So it’s learn or die.

Why are his skills needed more now than before? Was he just lucky surviving this long? Did he lose a protector? Does he have someone he needs to protect? Are the baddies getting stronger? Something should be driving the urgency to improve.

[Roy No.19475194]

>>19475136
>What are some themes/genres you think are promising/untapped?
For themes, well written anti capital/anti rich stories are incredibly promising. And as much as 4chan doesn’t want to hear it, cultural stories outside of European/American culture show promise and are on the rise too. As for genres, twin genres are always interesting. Think along the lines of sci-fi. Poetic-prose as an example is real neat, and historical fantasy’s are always fun. And horror is finding a foothold again.

>What are some that are so oversaturated new writers should steer clear?
YA is always bursting at the seems and fantasy is always flooded. Especially now with DnD culture being so prominent as of right now. Dystopians are also being made thanks to the pandemic, though not many are wanting to read them since reality sucks and being reminded of it is worse.


However, none of this really matters. It’s a fools errand to write something in the pursuit of money and you’ll more than likely end up on your ass for it. The only people who make money by trying to predict trends are those who gather a small group of authors to write biopics of famous people, or cover the history of some recent country in crisis. So instead of avoiding a genre you like because it’s over saturated, just go ahead and write. It’s all a gamble anyways and it’s better practice to actually be working on something you love over something you hate. Just because YA is filled, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t write a YA if it makes you happy. Neither should you write an Afro futurism story cause think it would garner cash.

[Anonymous No.19475241]

how do you write your books /wg/?
Typically I take whatever skeleton of an outline I have, write up until the rising action, then start filling character scenes in before writing the crux and the falling action.

[Anonymous No.19475251]

>>19475194
what's twin genres?

[Anonymous No.19475263]

>>19475194
>And as much as 4chan doesn’t want to hear it, cultural stories outside of European/American culture show promise and are on the rise too.

I know /lit/ is down on promoting works just b/c their authors check the right boxes, but i hope they’re not so anti-woke they throw out non-western motifs as well.

I know reviews are mixed on Three Body Problem, but i find the cultural difference between western sci-fi (“Lone wolf saves the world”) and Chinese sci fi (“a committee is formed to come up with ways to save the world, hero sacrifices self to serve greater good”) to be the most interesting part. I loved James Michener’s historical fiction for this as well, diving deep into the history and culture of a place not often explored as deeply.

What are some settings that would make you want to read further if you saw it in a blurb?

[Anonymous No.19475291]

>>19475263
Said another way, how would you complete the following to most likely land on a best seller list:

“It’s like Hamlet, but set in ___”

>[in b4 “middle ages Denmark”]

[Roy No.19475294]

>>19475251
Essentially two genres that go well together, or two genres that normally would never be paired together. And this can be done on both a genre level and medium level. For genre it’s just two genres mashed. When I gave my example I didn’t realize it autocorrected so it should have been science-fantasy. So with science fantasy you mix sci-fi elements into a fantasy’s story. Or vice versa. They naturally clash (sci-fi is more futuristic and fantasy’s is more historic based) but yet they can flow together.

On a medium level, think poetry and plain prose. Poetic prose is a prose format with poetic influence. Think a classic novel but with rhythm, flow, and of course, lots of flowery language for its sentence structure. These types of twin genre can get super messy and weird, but very very fun, very very quickly.

[Roy No.19475321]

>>19475263
You’d be surprised at how many people find non-western narratives/storytelling to be odd/wrong. Same with non-western settings, characters and history.

> What are some settings that would make you want to read further if you saw it in a blurb?
What I like, and what general audiences like is very different. Like >>19475291 what you put here would attract most regular readers. As an editor/author I immediately am going to compare your work to what you presented to me; Hamlet. You’re not going to live up to Hamlet. So when presenting to an editor/author panel avoid the hell out of it. Instead aim for genres and your main narrative to explain what your work is. Normal people will associate you work with that you present too, but the reference point is very much needed for them as it does guide interest. Think: “I liked hamlet, I’ll probably like this”

As for me personally, knowing what the narrative is about gets me interested. As an example “a bastard cook finds out he isn’t an alien after all.” Or “an investigator finds out the local library doesn’t just trade in books.” I also love little snippets from the book itself that shows of the writing and characters. But again, that’s just me.

[Anonymous No.19475327]

>>19475294
I want to work in the industry, got any advice? Right now I'm writing articles for Indeed in a remote job and while that's comfy I've always wanted to help get books together and out there if I never made it publishing wise.

[Anonymous No.19475452]

Any of you guys ever get a postgrad degree in writing/creative writing? Maybe someone could advice me on what I should consider before joining a course?

Im wondering whether I should get one since I have the opportunity to get a scholarship and do it for mostly free.

My overall life goal is to be a writer. I've written a bit and had it published a few places and have even given readings of my work. Right now though, I'm working my STEM job and it's really mentally exhausting. My mind is either thinking about work or trying to recover and rest from work stuff. I just don't have the mental capacity to be creative in the way I once was due to the job. I've had enough though and want to stop dillydallying and try to get my life towards that of a writer. But I'm not sure how to do that though.

So that's why I thought that a writing degree with all the networking, workshops, mentoring, lit festivals, and most importantly, the right environment/mindspace to work on my own personal projects would help put me on the right track. Having a mentor and writing circle to guide and provide feedback to me could be invaluable, I think. I also really feel it'd be really fun.

Any thoughts/advice would help a lot boys
Feeling p lost

[Anonymous No.19475537]

>>19475452
What’s your age and current income from your STEM job?

Hate to pry, but it matters. If you’re young (<30) go for it, especially if you can do it while working. If you’re older, you must really want a change (and be prepared if it goes poorly). If you think you have no time now, just wait til you have a kid (I'm literally typing this while my son’s splashing me from the bath…)

If you’ve got a pretty decent income (>100k or on a trajectory to hit it soon) It’ll be a lot to give up, and postgrad life doesn’t pay nearly as well as STEM (they pay you in ‘prestige’, instead). Again, moonlight if you’re able or live lean for a year while you save up.

If you’re earning <60k, the opportunity cost to quit is a lot lower. Given how many ppl are leaving in 2021, threaten to leave and see if your manager will increase your pay/reduce hours/ work out a way to pursue your degree while on-the-job. You’ve got a lot of leverage.

Pro tip 1: if you can, don’t position this as a career change. Consider it as multi-disciplinary (STEMmers suck at communication, writers suck at technical realism…you want to be someone who can do both)


Pro tip 2: if you dislike your job and want to take up a hobby, just work less. Outside of retail/hospitality, no one gets fired for being a shit worker. If you’re overworked, it’s b/c you’re choosing to make work more important. If you switched careers, you’d be just as stressed, just over different stuff. I say this b/c it me.

[Anonymous No.19475599]

>>19475537
I'm 25 and earning around 70k, but i am on course for a good little salary bump.

Man, those are some real good protips. It's just that I never see my work peers do hobbies. They're all workaholics and that makes me feel that that's what I need to do. So my mind is always there.

How do you not get stressed about work stuff anon? I struggle so much with not thinking about work during work hours. Do you just give less of a shit.

Thanks so much for the advice dadnon

[Anonymous No.19475705]

>>19470045
Kys zoomer

[Anonymous No.19475831]

>>19475599
>How do you not get stressed about work stuff anon?

Lol, oh I do. Constantly.

Late 30s, Actuarial Consultant, 200k
I love writing, painting, coding…but I just have to accept that those are hobbies for now. I dabble and improve here and there (lurk on lit of course) but I don’t think I could make a living from it. I’m also pretty sure if I made writing my job I’d start hating it, the fact that it’s a hobby makes it fun.

Early 20s are about figuring out who you are/want to be. Your late 20s/early 30s are all about the grind. Late 30s are about trying to find some balance (while also maybe adding kids and putting everything on ‘hard mode’). You’ll never have the time/focus like this again, so I’d caution you against giving up an early lead in one career for a late start in another (again, try to hold onto both if you can).

If you’re thinking about work off the clock it’s either because you’re actually interested in what you do or because you’re unable to turn it off. In the first case, do something with that energy…make something cool, leave a mark, make your job something you care about. In the second case, learn self-dicipline. Create ways to separate the ‘work you’ from the ‘home you’. Hobbies and routine are a great way to do that. It’s hard with COVID to separate work spaces from home spaces from creative spaces…but try to do that even if it’s within your home (or even within one room).

There’s likely a great value in learning to become a better writer, but I bet most people who work in writing still see ‘the job’ as a separate distraction from their own passion project. A rare few actually get to write what they want for a living.

A successful non-lit career may open more doors to creative writing than an unsuccessful literary one.

Not sure if it’s the advice you’re looking for, I’m sure others will have different perspectives, but that’s my $0.02.

[Anonymous No.19475942]

>>19472154
by making it clear at the beginning that everyone will die.
>>19472602
stop anime writing
>>19472808
develop your actual plot more
>>19474393
coomer

[Anonymous No.19476504]

Let's say you have a plot that is both good and has no plot holes, and your grammar is on point as well. How badly can an awful prose ruin it?

[Anonymous No.19476567]

>>19471076
pls critique

[Anonymous No.19476637]

>a) Meeting the woman of your dreams
>b) Truly fulfilling your writerly ambitions
choose one (1)

[Anonymous No.19476639]

>>19476637
b) please, meeting a woman is no guarantee of getting her.

[Anonymous No.19476707]

Hello, looking for critique on any portion of this that you are willing to read. 2300~ words.
https://pastebin.com/UZyeWZWP

[Anonymous No.19477343]

>>19476707
Overall, this is fantastic writing! There are a hundred small grammar tweaks, but you’ll find those as you proofread and edit.

Your descriptions are great, if a bit flowery at times. Tone it down as needed to fit the pace of the action (longer at contemplative moments, more brief when the descriptions disrupt the flow). I’d encourage you to add more physical motion, the main character seems to just be a disembodied head floating from scene to scene…show him in the car, describe fingers gripping polished wood at the wake or feet crammed in ill-fitting shoes. These will help transition between scenes and place him better in them. Work on pacing.

The following are some of my suggestions:
Prologue
> It was that morning after a heavy rain.
Repeated twice. Not sure if you were going for poetic, or a mistake.
This is barely worth a prologue, make it longer (with more actions, not more adjectives). He’s running, when does he stop to look? What is she doing in the water? Does she look up, or was she always looking his way?
I like how the reference to a “wish” ties the girl in this scene to the one at the wake.

>"It's starting soon, you'll be late to the wake."
Introduce the MC’s name early here…it takes way too long until we puzzle out gender, age, or that he’s part of a Japanese family. Also recommend orienting the reader on location.

>They kept coming down like the rain. I felt like I was drowning in their words, barely keeping my head up above the water.
Really like this metaphor, would really pack a punch if you said ‘They fell on me like rain.’

>Their words hung in the air with a certain gravity. It was after-all, a grave occasion.
You’re using a lot of words with double-meanings, and you’re not really giving thought to how those connotations are interacting. ‘Hanging in air’ is the opposite of ‘gravity’. ‘Gravity’ and ‘grave’ are a bit too on-the-nose at a funeral.

>I sat in the kitchen of my grandmother's house.
The “my grandmother” phrasing throughout seems very distant/formal. Would he think of her as “my grandmother” or “grandma” or “nana” or “Obaasan”/“Sobo” etc?
Try: It felt strange sitting in Sobo’s kitchen, I had to keep telling my mind my she was not just in the next room.

> "I can have some, right, right? You wouldn't make someone run all that way without leaving with her reward right?"
I literally groaned when i read this, anon. I was trying to figure out what sort of story I was reading and here it is: I’m reading fucking anime.
There’s a way to do this right, but the way it’s laid out here is cliche as hell. “Old man”? Really? Read some Haruki Murakami if you want to see a way to handle writing this kind of scene/character. Or, better still, just don’t.

>Daisuke
Just be aware that many readers will stumble over the silent ‘u’ in this name, reading it as “day-sue-key” or ‘die-sook” rather than “Dice-K”

Keep it up, anon.

[Anonymous No.19477346]

>>19453918
>>19453928
How do I submit for next ff anthology?

[Anonymous No.19477389]

>>19477343
>There’s a way to do this right, but the way it’s laid out here is cliche as hell.

To elaborate:
If you insist on making this girl over-the-top, you have to establish the reality of the main character and his world, first.

Again, Murakami does this as well as possible (not even going to tell you which book, since he does the exact same thing in all of them). Spend multiple chapters making the MC real (read: depressed) give him some struggle to fight or some life decision to make. Then drop Magical Anime Dream Girl™ into his path at an unlikely time, when he’s most likely to push past the strangeness and just go with it.

Also, right after this meet-cute, apologize to the reader by putting in at least some effort to make her character real, too.


Or, again, just don’t.

[Anonymous No.19477405]

>>19477346
>19455935
1. Write a flash based on prompts above.
2. Post in /wg/
3. Clearly mark as [for FFA]

Or wait a few months for the next official /ffa/ thread to open.

See:
>>19455935

Look forward to seeing your flash! Hope this merged thread idea works…

[Anonymous No.19477629]

Is it possible to learn to write and draw?

[Anonymous No.19477732]

>>19477629
No. Choose one.

[Anonymous No.19477743]

I'm still trying to fine tune my prose for the story I'm writing and my fear is that I'll come across as a total tryhard. here's a sample

>The lights in the cabin go out. I notice first the momentary dimming of my tether's retina display, before it adjusts to the newly installed darkness and bombards my rod and cone cells with a torrent of nits. The sensation is deeply unpleasant, and so I turn it off.
>I have found it difficult, as of late, to keep track of the night cycle. There lies in the back of my mind a vague suspicion that the days have been getting shorter by larger increments than they normally do. These approximations of a terran sunset inch ever northward, towards what at the moment feels like a boreal winter, though my tether insists on telling me that this sector is currently in humid continental mode.
>While the fluorescent lights lining the ceiling are now dim, switching off a healthy star is not quite so feasible, and so the Dwarf through two hundred and fifty million kilometers of void and half an armspan of tempered glass graces me with enough light to make out the hunched over shapes of my fellow passengers, who appear to be staring into oblivion. It seems I alone on this section of the train am so sensitive to hard spikes of luminosity delivered right into the cornea. If not that, then the prospect of looking at panels of brushed aluminum and rows of enraptured tramps makes the pain worth bearing to them.
>Perhaps one day I will also fall into the habit, though right now, Value-class transit is another new reality I am having trouble adjusting to.
>The train slides to a stop, and to its credit makes no perturbing noises in the process.

what I'm hoping is that it conveys the protagonist's traits (eg sardonic, detached, under-utilized imagination) correctly. thoughts?

[Anonymous No.19477768]

>>19477629
Why not? As long as you put work and time into each skill you'll be able to do it. You might end up being better at one than the other, but that does not take away being able to do both.

[Anonymous No.19477800]

Which is more popular: proper historical fiction, historical fantasy, or straight fantasy? I'm having a hell of a time deciding.

[Anonymous No.19477825]

>>19477800
That depends on demographics. Older people prefer historical fiction. Historical fantasy seems more like a subgroup within historical fiction, which I'd qualify as more or less equally popular because as long as you say your novel is "historic" you can make up whatever shit you want if it doesn't break the setting for the average reader. Fantasy is a more juvenile thing in terms of tastes, although there are more and more 30 somethings that are still reading it because they liked it when they were younger. I'd say that fantasy is going to get more popular with time whereas historical fiction might see a drop in popularity based on the aging readership.

[Anonymous No.19477840]

>>19477825
Interesting, thanks. I think i was leaning a bit more towards fantasy anyway so that might have helped me finally decide.

[Anonymous No.19477892]

>>19477825
>>19477840
Just bear in mind that, while the readership is larger for fantasy, the number of aspiring authors makes it very competitive. With so many established fantasy writers, it’s hard to break through unless you have a truly unique angle.

Historical fiction is smaller, but there are many niche topics to explore. Avoid WWII and ancient Rome/Greek (done to death), but if you can bring attention to some obscure event/period (Devil in the White City, Pillars of the Earth, Name of the Rose) there may be a clearer path to publication.

Bottom line, though, what do you want to write? Are you someone who likes doing world-building or research as you outline your story?

[Anonymous No.19477980]

>For whoever is OP once this hits bump limit, here’s the details for /ffa/:

While /ffa/ is between official volumes, we’re joining /wg/ for those who want to practice writing and discussing flash fiction!

How it works:
1. Choose a prompt (full list of unused prompts: >>19453942)
2. Write a story 1,000 words or less based on the prompt
3. Post it in /wg/ with the tag [for FFA]
Full details here: >>19455935

Prior three volumes available for free (pdf, epub):
archive.org/details/@_lit_anthology
And print (low cost) here:
www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/anonymous-/gifts-evil-and-good/paperback/product-mgwkgv.html
www.lulu.com/en/ca/shop/anonymous-/rags-and-bones/paperback/product-9d7gp2.html
www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/anonymous-/simian-deluxe/paperback/product-y6z687.html

[Anonymous No.19477999]

>>19477980
Today I learned:
>Links don't work on 4ch unless you begin them with http://

Prior three volumes available for free (pdf, epub):
https://archive.org/details/@_lit_anthology
And print (low cost) here:
https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/anonymous-/gifts-evil-and-good/paperback/product-mgwkgv.html
https://www.lulu.com/en/ca/shop/anonymous-/rags-and-bones/paperback/product-9d7gp2.html
https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/anonymous-/simian-deluxe/paperback/product-y6z687.html

[Anonymous No.19478041]

>>19477892
I want to write about pirates. If I did full historical fiction, the Golden age is just such a narrow time period that it would be hard to tread new ground and there's very little info on any other period, so I was planning on taking some liberties like Patrick O'Brien either way. I was pretty heavily inspired by the Cities of the Red Night trilogy so I was thinking of making my protagonist gay, about to be hanged or flogged around the fleet for sodomy when pirates attack, and he flees with them. Originally just to avoid hanging but he eventually is inspired by Captain James Mission's colony of Libertalia and the pirate Republic in Nassau.

There's tons of area for magic there too,, what with voodoo and kraken and shit. I don't read a ton of fantasy, but I haven't seen much use of magic in an organized military setting, especially historically speaking, so I thought that would be a good angle too.

[Anonymous No.19478106]

>>19477999
I decided to write a flash fiction on the "Not Listening" prompt today. I'll share it this week if I finish. Trying to stay focused.

[Anonymous No.19478119]

>>19478041
Interesting angle. The whole matelotage thing is not written about much in fiction.

Recommend reading “The Invisible Hook” and “Empire of Blue Water” (if you haven’t already)

As for magic and pirates, the second book of Lynch’s Gentleman Bastards series gets into that.

[Anonymous No.19478200]

How much would it realistically cost to hire an escort for a 24-hour GFE? I'm talking euros here. This is important research.

[Anonymous No.19478223]

>>19478200
Why not call one up and ask?

[Anonymous No.19478231]

>>19478223
T-that's okay anon. I'll just write around it.

[Anonymous No.19478580]

I'm working on a short comedy about talking animals. What's a good character from classic literature to use as the basis for a cat who is inept at catching mice? Can't be someone who's comically fat or inexperienced due to youth because I'm already using those for other characters.

[Anonymous No.19478618]

>>19478580
How about a Miles Gloriousus type of character who spends more time bragging about their expertise in catching mice than in actually catching mice?

[Anonymous No.19478668]

>>19478618
The fat one is based on Falstaff, so there's a bit of overlap there. I'm considering a Don Quixote type, but it just doesn't feel right.

[Anonymous No.19478681]

>>19478231
based

[Anonymous No.19478689]

>>19478580
Don Quixote (imagining mice where they’re not, failing to recognize actual mice for what they are)

Shakespeare’s Dogberry (think of a Keystone cop type character who constantly mis-uses words to confuse his meanings)

Melville’s Bartleby (takes laziness to an absurd length, may be too similar to Garfield)

Ignatius J. Reilly (This could be a great one. Convinced that mouse-catching is beneath his dignity, he is finally bullied into trying but each time fails due to some absurd self-sabotage)

[Anonymous No.19478842]

>>19477343
>>19477389
First off- I wanted to thank you for taking the time to write such thoughtful and comprehensive feedback.
I agree with many of your points, especially where my use of words could be more thoughtful or considerate. I was actually given that feedback prior and made a few edits to some of the more esoteric or intellectually masturbatory lines, but I think I need to just cut it out completely and focus less on clever wordplay and more on conveying emotion and sentimentality (which is the goal). Equally agree with the odd phrasing that I need to fix up, usage of the "Old man" which I am trying to find a more appropriate replacement for, grandmother being too distant, etc.

With regards to the over the top character, you were on the nose when you said she was out of an anime. The audience I'm writing for, I imagine, might feel some familiarity with those tropes, but I think it could be toned down or written more realistically, then again, I haven't decided.

She's actually a side character that won't have too much screen time overall, essentially a recurring guest. So I felt the over-the-top nature of her might not be so bad, but maybe this early into the setting actually sets the wrong mood and atmosphere, which is something I was considering as well but clearly I did not do a good job of it.

Thank you SO MUCH for the feedback- I already have a ton of changes that I'll be making from you and others. I hope your own endeavours go well anon!

>>19476707
Bumping this if anyone wants to provide feedback, thanks in advance to all.

[Anonymous No.19478911]

>>19478689
Dogberry is definitely one that I'll have to use, although it'll be for another character who I was planning to depict as a stereotypical drill sargeant.
The others are all solid suggestions and I'll have to do some drafts with each of them to find which works best. Thanks.

[Anonymous No.19479072]

>>19479070
>>19479070
>>19479070
New!