/wg/ Write General

[Anonymous No.19658976]

End of the Year Edition
Previous Thread >>19646751

For Prose:
>The Art of Fiction, Gardner
>The Anatomy of Story, Truby
>Story Genius: How to Use Brain Science to Go Beyond Outlining and Write a Riveting Novel (Before You Waste Three Years Writing 327 Pages That Go Nowhere)
>On Becoming A Novelist
>Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft
>How Fiction Works
>The Rhetoric of Fiction
>Steering the Craft
>On Writing, Borges

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

Related Material:
>What Editors Do
>A Student's Introduction to English Grammar
>Garner's Modern English Usage

Suggested books on storytelling:
>The Weekend Novelist
>Aristotle's Poetics
>Hero With a Thousand Faces
>Romance the Beat

Traditional publishing
> Formatting manuscript
https://blog.reedsy.com/manuscript-form

[Anonymous No.19658989]

>list of /wg/ authors pastebin and anonymous flash fiction anthology
https://pastebin.com/ruwQj7xQ
If you want to be on this list then reply to this post with the site you posted your novel on and your pen name.

[Anonymous No.19658994]

Please God don't let me get fired from my job for spending all day writing and researching how to market my book using the company computers

[Anonymous No.19658995]

Can anyone post past excerpts from /wg/ anons that were generally well received? I'm trying to analyze what appeals to 4channers

[Anonymous No.19658997]

Come across multiple recommendations in the "For Prose" books on the style book by Strunk and McGill. Anyone here actually read Elements of Style?

[Anonymous No.19659037]

Wow, wasn't expecting nearly so many responses to my question last thread, thanks. I think I'll stick with the varied magic to try and ollow some of my favorite authors. Worst case scenario, it means that no one reads it, which is kind of what I was expecting anyway.

[Anonymous No.19659038]

>>19658997
i think i read part of it about 5 years ago and it was mostly elementary level grammar.

[Anonymous No.19659390]

Fuck, I want to take a nap but I need to hit my quota

[Anonymous No.19659465]

>>19659390
This but fap and I do it anyways and come back to writing with a clear head

[Anonymous No.19659520]

>>19659465
On the bright side for me, my quota for today is only 1k words, and I'm well on my way to it.

Also, I actually am getting traction on Undying Emperor. Seems like 3:45 has been my best release time so far.

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/49395/the-undying-emperor

Finally hit 200 views on the first chapter.

[Anonymous No.19659676]

>>19659520
How's serialization working out for you? You like it more than self pub all at once?

[Anonymous No.19659689]

>>19659676
I kind of don't like it, but that's just cus I'm not getting reader engagement.

I look at serialization as an augment to self-publishing. Still working to get my cyberpunk released in like, a week from now. Hopefully the two endeavors can enrich one another.

And once I get my first book out, I'm going to start a youtube channel, and that'll be a third prong to this attack on the industry

[Anonymous No.19659717]

anyone want to read my short story

[Anonymous No.19659724]

>>19659717
yeah. i'll give some crit too if you want.

[Anonymous No.19659783]

>>19659717
I was gonna work on one myself tonight so sure

[Anonymous No.19659841]

I was retarded and brought my notecards to a coffee shop to work on.

Now I think I left them there. I'm going to die of humiliation.

[Anonymous No.19659854]

>>19659724
wolf by nite.sh33p by the bayt.

[Anonymous No.19659954]

>>19659841
were you anime-writing about rape with an elf waifu harem? See, this is why we tell you to cease your haram ways and find God.

[Anonymous No.19659986]

Wannabe writer here, I wanna make a story of a Cameroonian-German immigrant in Hamburg falling in love with a local florist.

Thing is, today the idea crossed my mind that instead of a vanilla modern day romance, I make it a 1930s forbidden romance. Which one should I go for?

[Anonymous No.19660039]

>>19659986
>Cameroonian-German immigrant
I see you are writing for the British Broadcasting Network. Please depart the thread and go to reddit.

[Anonymous No.19660204]

>>19658857
reposted from the dead thread, for the fantasy anon:
I've read a decent amount of fantasy and yeah most things I've come across don't detail their magic, and when they do they don't differentiate it.
I have a fantasy setting I wrote up that I was going to use for somevideo gamesthat defines all magic into types such as physical, thermal, electric, magnetic, emotional, mental, maybe elemental, etc. I haven't decided on a casting method, but I have decided I want the dominant cultures to be monotheistic to break with the usual for fantasy, and I want God to be female.
More relevant to your question, I had intended to have different cultures use different subsets of magic (at least until the age of exploration) and view them differently. Maybe Europeans believe manipulating someone's emotions or thought process is wrong but in east Asia it's accepted and used by doctors and priests (and scammers). Maybe people in the Old World discovered thermal magic long ago but Native Americans never did before they were conquered.
Do what you feel, have fun. Just don't focus on the fluff to the point you lose the plot. (Or maybe do. Sci-fi authors get away with it time to time, writing autistic diatribes on how their fake FTL drive works and how this alien society is, I don't see why fantasy authors shouldn't be able to get away with it too.)

[Anonymous No.19660268]

How long can you write before you get burned out?
I wrote for an hour, and now I'm too tired to write anything more.

[Anonymous No.19660287]

>>19660268
Write until you're tired, whether that's 5 minutes or 5 hours. Usually I can clock about an hour or two of consistent work before needing a break or hitting a stalling point. In very good sessions it can be several hours. My longest was in high school where I emptied 9000 words over an entire Saturday

[Anonymous No.19660382]

So I'm writing this rough draft of a story, and I'm only a bit into what I would consider the second act, and I've already noticed a ton of shit in the previous chapters that I want to change. I have a good idea of where the plot's gonna go, but I'm wondering if I should just power through the first draft despite all the shit I'm the early bits or just go back and change it now. Anyone else had something similar? If so, what do you recommend?

[Anonymous No.19660400]

>>19660382
just make yourself a note and keep going as if you'd made all the changes already.

[Anonymous No.19660457]

>>19660400
Will do, thanks.

[Anonymous No.19660532]

Where would I be able to post my kaiju vs mecha story? Royal Road? Should I hire an artist or just make a shitty cover myself?

[Anonymous No.19660666]

>>19659954
What the fuck is wrong with you?

[Anonymous No.19660689]

>>19660666
>satan is mad that I told anon to find God

[Anonymous No.19660892]

I need some help building suspense in a scene. Right now I'm following some of Hitchcock's general rules for screenwriting, but I'm having trouble adapting it for scenes. Do I narrate something none of the characters are aware of? Or just one, or everyone but one character?

[Anonymous No.19660935]

Do you write for yourself or write for others?

[Anonymous No.19661030]

>>19658995
Uhh Mr fbi agent, sir, you should know that nobody on /wg/ writes...

But when they do it's generally degenerate rape/sodomy fantasy if that's of any use to you, sirs?

[Anonymous No.19661043]

>>19660935
I write to maybe attract a gf one day

[Anonymous No.19661087]

>>19658997
Like the other anon said, it focuses on grammar, sentence structure, choice of words etc.

Yes, it isn't exactly advanced stylistic theory, but I would guess every single anon posting on this board falls well below the standard of this book. So they can knock it, but it's only because they're too retarded to implement it themselves. Nobody is above a refresher on good grammar.

[Anonymous No.19661268]

>>19660935
I'd like to think it's for myself

[Anonymous No.19661270]

Rene Decartes meets Confucius

"What is the role of women in society you ask? Simple, familial piety. Women exist to serve the family and not bring dishonor. For a man's role is to honor and bring prestige to his family, the woman is an extension of that. Women in this case, must marry a good man, serve her immediate and extended family, so that there will be harmony with the state and society."
"You reason that women have reason. Women are loyal to only themselves. Through individual thought, they do not care about loyalty the same way as men. Gaining loyalty is simple to the woman, Confucius. All you need to do is Give her the dick."
"Hmmm..." Confucius hummed as he pondered Descartes' reasoning.

[Anonymous No.19661277]

>>19660892
Either one will work. This is called dramatic irony btw, when a character (or the audience) knows more than another character. It's just one way of building suspense though. The general principle of suspense is to raise a question whose answer is delayed or uncertain. The higher you raise it (by increasing stakes, or by complications) the greater the suspense. The most common question in fiction is will character overcome the obstacle to get what they want or not?

As an example suppose the scene is about the character confronting his dying father about a murder that was committed thirty years ago. Seemingly innocuous scene, but let's see how we can add suspense. First, dramatic irony. Author reveals (through narration, previous dialogue, inner monologue, whatever) that the son suspects his father was involved. Notice that dramatic irony is just another form of the "delayed question", the question being "what's going to happen when the secret is revealed?". Next the author reveals (again, through a method of his choice) that the son wants information from his father without arousing his suspicions, he's the only lead he's got. Now the questions are set: is he going to get the information or not? Is he going arouse suspicions? Is the father guilty? Author now needs to raise the questions higher. Father's at-home nurse meets him at the door and tells him his condition is worsening. Doesn't want to let him in. Says, getting him too excited could set off his heart and kill him. But son knows father could die at any time and he'd lose his lead. Let's say he gets in, maybe he lies, maybe he bribes, maybe he strong-arms his way in--whatever fits the character.

Now we have father and son together. Author might now describe father's pitiful condition vs. some fond memory of the son's when father was young and strong. Author reveals that son really loves his father--raises the questions even higher. Now there's some dialogue between father and son. The key here is to use the dramatic irony. We know what the son knows, what he wants, and what the father doesn't know, so almost everything they say will be ironic. Father insists he's going to get better. Son agrees. Father asks son if he has any regrets. Son admits he has a few. Father claims he has no regrets. Son gets annoyed but tries to hide it. And so on. By the end of the scene, some of the questions will have been answered and others raised in their place. Maybe the father admits he witnessed the murder but doesn't say who it was. Maybe it was him but he had an accomplice. Or maybe he figures out his son's game and warns him not to pry further. Or he figures it out and gives his son a false lead--more dramatic irony, the reader knows the lead is false but the son doesn't know. Or he dies without revealing anything. However it ends, the unanswered questions set up future scenes, up until the story ends.

[Anonymous No.19661282]

How do you usually come up with plot? I find that determining what will happen next is always difficult for me

[Anonymous No.19661288]

hey /wg/
when you write, or in stuff you've read, is it long, contiguous scenes, or disconnected passages?

[Anonymous No.19661307]

>>19661282
Push a character through a conflict. Out comes a plot.

[Anonymous No.19661312]

>>19661282
I write a bunch of words and throw them into a box. Then pick up a few words and form a story around those words.

I just did it, and these are the words I picked up.

Medical, Pirates, Turkey, Tundra, and Astronauts

So my plot is now about Pirates heading toward the frozen Tundra to rob Tundra turkeys that are found to have some medicinal properties.

Yes I threw out Astronaut. you can then change the animals, words, and ideas around. But that's a plot.

[Anonymous No.19661341]

>>19661312
Very Surrealist of you - great idea. Tristan Tzara would do the same for poems.

[Anonymous No.19661387]

>>19661341
It helps me because I'm writing a bunch of interlinked short stories featuring a character. I found people really like episodic stories that slowly reveal a larger plot.

Comic books, tv shows, anime, light novels etc, all use it, and those are the most consumed media of all. So it's only logical that modern day books should start utilizing this format.

[Anonymous No.19661433]

>>19661277
Thanks for the tips. This is new for me so it's pretty hard. I keep second guessing if my questions are good enough to be delayed or uncertain, with the biggest problem being wanting to rush to answer it. You have to draw it out.

[Anonymous No.19661496]

How do I avoid the trap of writing too much dialogue? It's just so easy and natural to write even though I know it's a slog to read.

[Anonymous No.19661602]

>>19660268
it really depends on the day, but I set my goals by word count not time spent
it takes me honestly kind of an embarrassing amount of time to get my 500 words in
sometimes I get into it and go for longer too though

[Anonymous No.19661616]

>>19661387
Couldn't agree more. I do a lot of interconnected short fiction, more in line with pulp stuff, and I kinda have to trick my brain to not overthink things by using little games like that.

[Anonymous No.19661643]

>>19661312
I've come across authors that would argue this is actually story, the movement of characters through time and change. Plot for them has more to do with twists and turns in the story itself rather than the premise that you outlined.

[Anonymous No.19661696]

A rough night tonight bros. Barely hit 500 words strung across three different stories, one of which is a short story I'm not even sure I'll keep. For some reason I just couldn't get the engine started. Comedy, tension, and drama all just didn't click with me tonight. Maybe I spent too much time focusing on stuff on the computer today and just got gassed out. Anyone else like working on several projects so you can switch when you get stuck?

[Anonymous No.19661742]

>wrote 1k words to finish the last blank spot in a previous chapter
>struggling, have another chapter to finish before i can work on the final chapter of volume i
>know what needs to happen but not how it can happen
>had to strike out what i had before, wasn't any good, but nothing to replace it
>spend all day getitng frustrated and drawing a blank
>throw around a few ideas, none worked
>get drunk
>finally put down an outline for the chapter that will work and write the first section out
>finally good

The moral of the story -- get drunk
i also ripped off mishima though (spring snow, the dead dog in the waterfall). thank you, bro, very kino. just throw a dead dog at the manuscript and everything pulls together.

[Anonymous No.19661746]

>>19661742
Tell me about it.

[Anonymous No.19661780]

>>19661696
nope i never switch. I get my stories jumbled and I find i will abandon and never finish stories unless i stick with one. that said, i have a few more chapters for my story, yet can't seem to find the motivation to finish it

[Anonymous No.19661922]

>>19660532
I posted mine there. And found a thread on their forum that made me a cover.

[Anonymous No.19662069]

I am writing a short story. It is intended to be irreverent. I got into Jung a few months ago, especially the Shadow. Inspired by that I am writing a quasi-autobiography that is meant to read like a projection of the Shadow. I am at 18 pages, dunno how long it will be. I just write what comes to mind so the length is indeterminate. I'll post an extract, and would love some criticism. I am a very average writer, so I'll keep the extract to one paragraph. My main audience are my irl friends so I can't expect anons to find it very interesting, would still like commentary though. It would be nice to get a bit better at writing.

[Anonymous No.19662295]

>>19662069
>but drunk he was
stopped reading there.

[Anonymous No.19662803]

>>19661282
>>19661307
If there’s a formula for this here’s my take. There is a Character. Character has a desire. Desire yields a Purpose. Purpose has an Obstacle (this can be another character with opposing Desire or a hurricane or approaching asteroid). Purpose vs. Obstacle equals Conflict. Stakes get higher and there is a timer running down to zero. These make a Conflict a Rising Conflict. Now we’re in a zone where we can utilize different stock plot points and twists and turns and what have we. Just in the nick of time there’s a Climax. After the Climax, a Resolution.

[Anonymous No.19663202]

Shit guys, I might finally be snowballing, got like 100 views from yesterday's chapter instead of 50

[Anonymous No.19663275]

How do I come up with names that are both appealing and not too cliched or obvious? Like I'm literally on the verge of naming my MC Patrick O'Connor or something like that.

[Anonymous No.19663326]

>>19663202
Bots.

[Anonymous No.19663453]

>>19659986
Why cameroon? Are you part cameroonian or something?

[Anonymous No.19663459]

All main character ideas I have end up being either too provocative or too houellebecqian. All of my ideas are about young men who are losers, either the incel type or cucks. I have some themes and motives I want to write about but I can't think of a way to write the main character in a way it's not Houellebecq fanfiction.

[Anonymous No.19663473]

>>19663459
The Divine Comedy is literally self-insert fanfiction so why should you be ashamed?

[Anonymous No.19663481]

How do I come up with a ‘high concept’ plot?

Some shit like a cupid and psyche retelling in space and they’re vampires… but it actually sounds good and not goofy?

[Anonymous No.19663494]

>>19663473
>The Divine Comedy is literally self-insert fanfiction
sure, just like the mcu is the modern iliad. please actually kill yourself

[Anonymous No.19663509]

>>19663481
A combination of subplot and intuition to connect them to the high concept

[Anonymous No.19663511]

>>19663494
No but it literally is. Like unironically.

[Anonymous No.19663649]

Since the year is ending I worked extra hard and did 3k words today.
Everyone make a strong finish.

[Anonymous No.19663866]

>>19663275
You're overthinking it

[Anonymous No.19664190]

Does anyone else type in public? The local Panera bread is the only place I seem to be able to significantly type at

[Anonymous No.19664205]

>>19664190
I write primarily in late evening/night while drunk so that wont work too well. I've read books while drunk in late night speakeasy-style bars though, very kino. also expensive. it's best to just write at home.

[Anonymous No.19664283]

Do you really need a concrete plot for a Man vs Self plot, or can a story be compelling enough with the protagonist just depressingly falling deeper into alcoholism as they go about their daily life?

[Anonymous No.19664346]

Is there any website where you can look up story ideas just to see if they've been written before? I have a bad feeling each time I come up with a plot that its already in a famous book that I haven't heard of.

[Anonymous No.19664384]

>>19664346
the answer is yes so don't bother thinking about it

[Anonymous No.19664407]

>>19664283
The plot is actually what you described as
> protagonist just depressingly falling ... as they go about their daily life
If you're asking if it's okay to have a plot — actions that happen — but no real reason for them to happen or they just don't really affect anything, then I would probably just skip on reading such a story. Even if it's some episodic comedy, I don't want to read "And then the guy said this and then did that and it resulted in this pile of shit", I want to know why the events that transpired resulted in a pile of shit.
If that is what you're asking then better ask yourself a different question:
What is it in their internal constitution that makes the character go down the path of alcoholism?

[Anonymous No.19664445]

>>19664407
Oh, wait, I think I'm retarded.
Yeah, I guess "falling deeper into alcoholism as they go about their daily life" could still be a good plot in and of itself. As long as you make it interesting to read.

[Anonymous No.19664481]

>>19658995
Theres that guy from the other day who larped or actually did get published.

It was very, very British. Winding passages, lots of commas. Strong style but a little long-winded. Lots of anons liked it, but lots of anons like henry james so....

[Anonymous No.19664488]

>>19660935
Writing is for yourself. Editing is for others. They are two completely different tasks.

[Anonymous No.19664494]

>>19663649
Year end pushes are the best. Finished my first manuscript after coming down from 10g of psilo.

Hammered out 12k garbage words in around 10 hours, but hey, the book was done.

[Anonymous No.19664569]

>>19664384
This. There are no new ideas, so focus on making the best iteration of it.

[Anonymous No.19664693]

>>19664445
I hope it's an interesting read. I'm trying to develop a particular style of prose based on some notes I made in a dissociative state at the end of a several months long bender when I felt I was dead and my spirit was puppeteering the corpse, ready to collapse any moment if either part realized it wasn't supposed to still be moving. There also is action for some appeal to general audiences, but it's treated as very mundane and not an actual conflict because the protagonist deals with it every day. For example a firefight with a terrorist cell is presented with about as much gravitas as filing a quarterly earnings report.

[Anonymous No.19664772]

>>19664693
As long as such a story doesn't make think the author is trying to tell me "Yeah, I'm sick of life how could you tell. Pity me... please."

> firefight with a terrorist cell is presented with about as much gravitas as filing a quarterly earnings report
I remember, long ago, I watched One Punch Man, and I believe it also had a similar style of treating matters of great importance like it was nothing, he killed everyone with one punch after all. Story was still interesting to watch. I think it was about the events that happened in-between the "epic" fights that made it interesting, but I dunno, can barely remember the show... think it could be a story you might find beneficial to analyze.

[Anonymous No.19664823]

How is it for introduction, bros?

I should’ve know better, but I was so broken up inside that risks seemed like they didn’t matter at all. Being a psychopathologist for 9 years would’ve been enough at that moment, at least that’s what I repeated and repeated inside my head for so much time. I had heard a couple of weeks before how this new hallucinogenic drug was getting popular among the students at the college I worked. Supposedly it was a mix of some hard stuff, it was giving people some real trips. The head of the department was skeptical about it all, and naturally my coworkers shared his enthusiasm.
What aroused my curiosity? The NDA, the near-death experience that its users reported, a connection between the living and the dead that the drug was creating. You see, I was very interested in that. As a matter of fact, since Tommy died a couple of years ago, I became some sort of aficionado in all of those mind-experience-altering occurrences, focusing my research deeply into that. Once a respected college professor, now a joke with a broken personal life and laughable papers. But somehow I convinced Earl to synthesize that new drug at the lab for me, faking the legal documents so all of it would appear legit. There was this old human test chamber made for sensory depravation experiences during the 60s inside one of the storage facilities. I planned to take it to one of the unused sites of the lab, late at night so I would be alone there. I would fill the chamber with water, turn out the lights, get inside of it and take the drug intravenously. And so I did it.

[Anonymous No.19664899]

>>19664772
I was actually going to make the OPM comparison but decided not to because of some differences in presentation, mainly the action being part of the slice of life rather than something that interrupts it and the show being more slapstick than I'm going for.
I can say I'm not doing woe is me stuff, it was really just a perfect storm of various ideas that couldn't stand on their own but fit together into something I'm happy with. One of those aspects was nostalgia from watching procedurals, mainly NCIS, with my dad when I was a kid and wanting to make something that was a deconstruction but also a pulpy love letter to that sort of storytelling.

[Anonymous No.19664947]

>>19664823
>I should’ve know better, but I was so broken up inside

Two cliches right off the bat. Is your intended audience middle grade through to YA? This is a serious question.

[Anonymous No.19664980]

>>19664947
Yes, that’s where the big money is at.

[Anonymous No.19664986]

>>19664980
Then cliche' away anon. This reads like an introduction to an Altered States Novelization.

[Anonymous No.19665009]

>>19663202
where?

[Anonymous No.19665015]

>>19664823
Sound like one of those ironic stories they read aloud in cartoons when the characters sit around the tv and the movie starts paying

> since Tommy died
"after the death of my dear wife I..."

> I convinced Earl
Oh, another name, it will surely be mention in the future, at least one more sentence, at it will be said that Earl is you friend from school, right?

> I repeated and repeated
no

> for so much time
sound stupid to me, personally would replace with "for such a long time"

I'd just say read more of other authors and make note of the paragraphs you liked.

even if you write for YA (>>19664980), the shit sounds silly, but ay, maybe you stick to it so eventually you could say "you see, that's the point"

[Anonymous No.19665027]

>>19665015
>"after the death of my dear wife I..."

Lmao, way to just obliterate the tone.

[Anonymous No.19665034]

>>19665027
Not sure exactly what you've meant, but I've meant that not as a replacement but a comparison.

[Anonymous No.19665056]

>>19665034
I'm editing and posting, realized I'm retarded, deleted my post.

[Anonymous No.19665086]

Since I started writing, I've struggled to tolerate reading anything that isn't bizarro. The amount of reused, stock imagery in books is disgusting. Genre is the worst.

[Anonymous No.19665096]

>>19658995
I got some positive feedback for pic related.

[Anonymous No.19665138]

>>19665056
thank god, after I saw that the post was deleted and that I'm on 4chins, I thought I'd become reason for someone's suicide.
You've already went further than 9ty-something% of not just this board, but probably people in general by putting pen to paper. Even if you forget about any and all notion of style and maybe even competency, I believe you'll get there just by putting in hour.
near-death experience - sound like a nice theme. I can see the story where he goes into the chamber, injects the shit intravenously, and then the story starts by him seamlessly living a life that he doesn't even realize is a dream(has no knowledge of injecting the shit in his veins and all that), but it slowly turns more and more absurd. Kinda like in Kafka's works, or as in Ubik, but I can barely remember the latter. And maybe then he wakes up and is sent to a mental asylum, but "haha, ya see", he is still a dream

[Anonymous No.19665144]

>>19665096
I already read this one, it's great and I saved it

[Anonymous No.19665149]

>>19665138
fucking love forgetting the s's
places them were you see fit

[Anonymous No.19665161]

>>19665086
Not sure if this is related, but I started doing the same for humor. The amount of snark and sassiness I see nowadays drove me to write absurd and ridiculous humor instead just to break away.

[Anonymous No.19665225]

You will add one (1) new sentence to your book manuscript before the new year

[Anonymous No.19665246]

How do I let go of the need to be successful and make money and just write what makes me happy?

[Anonymous No.19665251]

>>19665246
Write genre that isn't marketable but brings you joy.

[Anonymous No.19665252]

>>19664986
>>19665015
Thanks!

[Anonymous No.19665263]

>writing
>constant anxiety whether my grammar is correct
>native speaker
what the fuck

[Anonymous No.19665268]

>>19665225
I have finished my manuscript and am checking it for errors. Tonight I will stream myself on social media doing a fiction challenge, just for fun

[Anonymous No.19665277]

>>19665263
I just make up my own grammar

[Anonymous No.19665290]

>>19665268
That sounds really gay. Writing is a solitary thing. But you do you, anon.

[Anonymous No.19665306]

I have two sentences in a row where each has 12 commas. None of them is a comma splice, either. I hope the line editor commits suicide.

[Anonymous No.19665339]

>>19665009
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/49395/the-undying-emperor

pulled from the /wg/ author pastebin thing

[Anonymous No.19665389]

am I an absolute tard for having the irrational fear that my book project is so good that if I post any part of it anywhere before it's published that people are just going to straight up start plagiarizing it?

[Anonymous No.19665398]

>>19665389
None of us here write so it's safe to post.

[Anonymous No.19665425]

>>19665389
No, it's not irrational. This is the perfect place to plagiarize good writing because normies wouldn't think to come here.

[Anonymous No.19665441]

>>19665425
>plagiarize good writing
oh nothing like that. I'm half a hack. I'm more worried people will steal my plot and setting

[Anonymous No.19665453]

>>19665441
>I'm more worried people will steal my plot and setting
99% of the people here are only passionate about their own ideas, and even that passion isn't enough to get most of us past the 15k words mark. No one is going to steal your idea and even if they did they wouldn't do enough with it for you to ever know.
Just post the plot and setting.

[Anonymous No.19665472]

>write story
>end up with cliches after cliches
How do I stop being such a tard?

[Anonymous No.19665509]

>>19665096
Aaaahhhhh what happens next?! The beginning is a bit sloppy for me, and didn't really grab my attention, but after the villa it picks up very nicely.

[Anonymous No.19665510]

My first time was with a busted up 52 years old crack addict whore by the name of Peaches. I was a late boomer, had 31 years of age and a whole bunch of wasted time staring at screens, countless hours doing meaningless stuff. Peaches was the one who introduced me to the Zodiac Signs, as she kept on babbling about how this guy she knew could turn my life around using this ancient Babylonian astrology techniques. His name was Gypsy, a fella who used to hang around an abandoned parking lot near the outskirts mall. I took an Uber to reach that forgotten place. It was a cold foggy night and you could hear the sounds of the street rats fucking and of the junkies screaming and moaning. Far away in the corner I saw Gypsy, a caucasian dark skinned man with a ponytail.
“Hey there sweet thing. Wanna a fix?”
“No sir, Peachie sent me. Something about giving my life meaning.”
He grinned.
“Hmmm.” He licked his dark red lips. “And what would you trade for that, pretty guy?” And as soon as he finished he touched me on the shoulders and started pressing his fingers around them.
“Just about anything, sir.”
“Then follow me.”
Gypsy led me through the dark night, walking like a king, making each step as if he was graciously dancing. He was effeminate, but of the dangerous type, similar to those femme fatales who could cut your cock off after a night long fuck. We entered an abandoned house, went down the stairs to a smelly basement. There were lit candles besides a wooden chair and a pentagram made with something alike red paint on the wall. Gypsy then sat on the chair and made me kneel in front of him.
“What is your sign, handsome man?”
“I think it is Cancer, sir”
A cold whiff of wind suddenly entered the room and blew out the candles. There was total darkness. Inside that darkness I gradually lost my senses. Later I learned that Gypsy was Satan.

[Anonymous No.19665582]

>>19665510
If this is some memejoke 3/10
If this is serious then kino/10

[Anonymous No.19665625]

>>19665472
Observe your writing with a distant lens and think around the cliches. Alternatively, realize cliches come from weak characters

[Anonymous No.19665660]

>>19665510
Only thing I would change is
>Later I learned that Gypsy was Satan.
seems like a really deflated sentence. Needs to be more punchy if what you're going for is a "awooga" moment

[Anonymous No.19665681]

How do I have fun with my writing again? How do I stop looking at a blank word document or, heaven forbid, a document with a spelling or grammar error, with anticipation instead of dread?

[Anonymous No.19665687]

How to write short stories?

[Anonymous No.19665695]

>>19665687
1) write a story
2) shorten it
>>19665681
ask yourself why you're even writing in the first place. Think about your life and why it's shit

[Anonymous No.19665717]

>>19665687
Start with characters in the middle of their arcs instead of building an arc from start to end in a novel

[Anonymous No.19665720]

Well, it's 2022 for me in here. Sitting alone by myself, I suddenly hear fireworks outside. For a few seconds I wonder if I should rush for the window, I wonder if I could still make it in time. Another second passes, I head for the window, must be a sort of mental reflex, to see gleaming lights in the sky, a search for wonder in the otherwise mundane life. Missed it. Then I remember fireworks being de jure banned as they remind veterans of the sounds of war, triggering their PTSD, those poor people won't ever think these frivolous glimmering light the same way. You never think about it, but the sound of a firework really does sound like a shell exploding in a distance, and it really looks like an explosion if you can only see their glow behind the silhouette of a building. But how shall I know, I've never been to the frontline, I've only seen war footage. Well, It couldn't be my decision anyway, I didn't pass the medical exam, my eyesight is worse than that of a mole. I shame considering my age, but I guess it's only a result of our time. Maybe I could volunteer? No, they would probably deny me even still, or is it something I tell myself because secretly I'm a coward.
Another burst of fireworks, — I am still standing by the window, — It a nice sight, someone is having fun. The glow of the fireworks hightlights the lonely figures walking on the street, heading for their home, I guess. Who are these people, unfortunate enough to not make it home for such an occasion. Even if there is no one waiting for them, is the company of the street really better than that of your own home? Or maybe people at home rather not see them, maybe they don't have a home. There are also cars still passing by, cab drivers must feel extraordinary lonely at this moment. They can't even hide by turning off all their clocks. Fireworks will eventually remind them of the acute feeling of loneliness that will, if not enter their heart, will at least knock on its door — a knocking that will get louder with each year. This night won't be an easy one for many people for many reasons. Yet, we wish a "happy" new year nonetheless. I think, in the end, fireworks bring more loneliness and pain than they do of joy.
Happy new year /lit/, make it prodigious.

[Anonymous No.19665738]

>>19665720
must be my shitty sight that makes me notice the shitty typos only once I post the thing

[Anonymous No.19665739]

I barely wrote anything this year.
How do I turn things around and write more than I did this year?

[Anonymous No.19665745]

>>19665720
very few writers can make "I am depressed" writing work

[Anonymous No.19665752]

>>19665745
I'll take that as a compliment

[Anonymous No.19665757]

>>19665752
I didn't say you were one of them
but don't take my word as gospel maybe I'm just shitposting

[Anonymous No.19665810]

>>19665757
anon, you just killed a man in two posts

[Anonymous No.19665820]

>write a novel
>don't exactly make a self insert, but use a lot of my anxieties/insecurities to try and make the characters more realistic
>the main male character is kind of spineless, can't stand up for himself even when he's being shit on, can't talk to women at all, holds on to a crush for 5+ years and only gains the confidence to ask her out at the end of the story
>send it to a beta reader on fiverr for critique
>she totally rips it apart, tells me the main guy is unrealistically pathetic, also a creepy/obsessive weirdo for harboring a crush for years
>get so enraged I send her a mini-rant telling her she bruised my ego and made me feel like shit
>she blocked me afterwards
Not my proudest moment, though I regret not leaving her a shitty review as I am also spineless.

[Anonymous No.19665827]

>>19665820
you posted this same exact greentext story before.

[Anonymous No.19665829]

Is it possible to write something when you're not in the mood for it? For example, a romantic comedy when you're depressed/miserable, or a dark, macabre fantasy when you're happy in a bubbly kind of way. How do you get in the mindset to write literature that has a totally different mood to your own? Have bizarre fluctuating plot twists that depend entirely on your mood and destroy the tone of the work?

[Anonymous No.19665835]

>>19665829
Honestly, I'm inclined to say a mix of no and maybe. I stumbled into this segment where the MC is sad and mopey and I couldn't bring myself to write it for a month straight, and my series slipped into hiatus as a result. You won't get a solid answer because it's honestly just going to depend. You either write it or don't.

[Anonymous No.19665837]

>>19665810
nah, anon, it'll take more than that. I'll at least first finish the damn story I've been slowly bringing about for the last half a year. It's coming along neatly. 'is a real nice tragedy, with beginning, hamartia, and a fitting end. Was revealed to me in a dream and shit.

[Anonymous No.19665916]

>>19665829
rom-coms with underlying misery are the best though

[Anonymous No.19665924]

Gimme some feedback on this intro. For context this is the opening to the prologue and the only thing it needs to do well is to be a good hook. I don't feature any major part of the setting or story this early for a very good reason.


The king was dead.
The news had come with the morning, as the war camp was slowly waking. Lords, commanders, freelances, and sellswords woke to the claim that the enemy they were marching to fight had already been defeated. Some said that the Thalen king had fallen in battle, others – that he had ended his own life in fear of defeat, and others still, that he died by the hand of his own traitorous son.
It made no matter, thought Cedril, the king was dead, the rest was of little importance. 'A shame it wasn’t me who ended him', the maiestor insisted in his mind as he signaled to his three rider-companions behind him to hasten their pace.
His mare made her way in long heavy strides as they passed among the clanging of armor, the whinny of horses, and hundreds upon hundreds of Calemorian soldiers japing in high spirits. 'Perhaps they think the war is over'. He could almost laugh.
Cedril took a drink of dragonlasp. They were approaching the pavilion now. The hollow taste of earthy piss washed over his mouth and he spat.
“Bhandrac and Thewodros, remain with the horses,” he ordered as his companions dismounted. Bheiadril followed after Cedril through the figures gathered around the vast structure of cloth.
He stopped himself for one instant to inspect himself, and the armour most of all – a set of leather sewn with magnificent heavy metal scales of golden honey that shimmered in the midday sun. It ought to be all in order – the shirt, the gauntlets, the boots, the helmet.
'No helmet', the maiestor recalled. He polished the scales on his hip with his under-sleeve and made for the flaps of the great war pavilion as he muttered a plea to the Eldenseer under his breath. The sounds of the quarrel inside had reached him first, followed closely by the change of the air – a heavy and dry atmosphere, enough to dizzy an ox.

[Anonymous No.19665952]

>any major part of the setting or story
*any major details on

[Anonymous No.19665975]

>no actual plot
>non-chronological story
Is this a good idea? I have an exceptionally good idea for main character, themes, motives and what I want to write about

[Anonymous No.19665981]

>>19665720
>cab drivers must feel extraordinary lonely at this moment
cab drivers are making BANK at this moment
I'd remove that line.

[Anonymous No.19666031]

>>19665975
That sounds like nonsense, but we only live 1 life anon, and a pretty decent way to spend it is to be a pioneer and make something new. It might turn out to be a mess, but nobody will know until you do that work. Express yourself, make the art you want to make!
But also keep in mind that you MIGHT need to give the reader some sort of storyline to invest some emotion into. Otherwise it could just be "pretty word soup".

[Anonymous No.19666032]

>>19665924
> The king was dead.(full-stop-next-paragraph)
I'd say it feels to bold. Maybe it's 'cause we're on a literature forum, but I think even if I was a reader I'd still see the intention.
Maybe "King hadn't survived the night" or "It was a much awaited dawn by many of his foes, some still ignorant of the fact, others rejoicing in the news: the king was dead(or slain)," Just my musings.
I like the language, words used and all. Upon the first reading I thought it looked rather condensed and I wanted to recommend you sprinkle a sentence here and there to slow down the pace, but then I re-read and it seems ok, make of that what you will.

[Anonymous No.19666037]

>>19665924
sounds fine to me

[Anonymous No.19666052]

>>19666032
>I'd say it feels to bold.
I did it for multiple reasons. I want the book to start with a slap to the face. I want that first statement to raise more questions then it gives actual information. Most of all this opening sentence is paid off in a major way in the end of the book in an even bigger shock moment.
>I thought it looked rather condensed
This opening part is supposed to convey urgency or sorts. It slows down immediately after but the point is to get to the first story piece as fast as possible while establishing several dozen details half of which are core throughout the rest of the book and half of which are completely irrelevant but make the story turn like mad

[Anonymous No.19666057]

>>19666031
It's basically about a dude who loses it over time but there is no exact moment when it happens. Maybe I'll just write it in chronological order but place time between events and try to make the change as subtle as possible

[Anonymous No.19666063]

>>19666037
just fine? My career is over

[Anonymous No.19666064]

>>19666052
i think its fine anon
>>19666063
oh lmao yeah though, not him btw

[Anonymous No.19666072]

>>19665981
Appreciate the feedback, but I think materialism had hogged enough spotlight in the realm of philosophy and psychology, I'd rather not give up the idealistic nature of fiction and my hope for humanity.

>>19666052
Ya, as I said, it's rather dandy

[Anonymous No.19666077]

>>19666072
> fiction
Should've probably said 'creative writing'

[Anonymous No.19666088]

>book finally fully completed, no more text to add
>have to do section edits for one more chapter before I'm "done"
Fuck fuck fuck I need to make it before New Year's

[Anonymous No.19666091]

>>19666088
>before new years
nobody tell him

[Anonymous No.19666095]

>>19666088
>I need to make it before New Year's

[Anonymous No.19666117]

Can I write a really short story before the year ends?

What should I write about? What's the best way to do flash fiction?

[Anonymous No.19666119]

>>19666088
Anon, I...

[Anonymous No.19666124]

>>19666117
Here is a story of a man,
Who lived his life as told the plan.
And so, adhering to this guide,
He lived, he suffered
'nthen he died.

[Anonymous No.19666133]

I want to establish a daily writing habit but I can’t keep up with it. Any tricks on how to stick with it?

[Anonymous No.19666135]

>'nthen

[Anonymous No.19666139]

>>19666133
write every day

[Anonymous No.19666140]

>>19666133
Discipline. You need to actually sit down and start writing.

[Anonymous No.19666149]

Is it possible to increase how much I write over time like one lifts weights?

[Anonymous No.19666150]

>>19666133
make some really retarded low goal
I have a daily goal to do 50 pushups and one (1) duolingo lessons a day. Haven't missed a day in 10 months despite having the big depress

[Anonymous No.19666159]

>>19666091
>>19666095
>>19666119
Listen, Europoors

[Anonymous No.19666161]

>>19666159
Contract's up boyo, you're work is now forfeit.

[Anonymous No.19666170]

>>19666161
usually people mistake your for you're, but me I'm...

[Anonymous No.19666174]

>>19666150
forgot to mention that usually means that you decide to do more than the minimum but because the goal stays at the minimum you never feel like it's too much to start
here's proof

[Anonymous No.19666175]

>>19666139
>>19666140
>>19666150
Thanks guys

[Anonymous No.19666186]

>>19666161
You won't stop me, Big Publisher. I have 300 Twitter followers

[Anonymous No.19666196]

>>19666186

[Anonymous No.19666201]

Do I need to learn how to edit before I learn how to write?

[Anonymous No.19666205]

>edit

[Anonymous No.19666209]

>>19666201
how'd you learn to edit the shit's that's not yet written?

[Anonymous No.19666213]

>thought i'd have to go to a party tonight
>party is canceled
>already got 2k words for the day
>can continue writing as long as I please
noice.

[Anonymous No.19666251]

What's a good point to saying you're "done" with a story or scene and feel ready to send it to a beta reader?
No/minimal grammatical errors, everything is explained(or set up) and makes sense?

[Anonymous No.19666257]

>>19666251
when it is edited and clean to the best of your ability you lazy negroid.

[Anonymous No.19666265]

>>19666257
I understand that part, but I'm looking to break it into its components so I make sure I fully get what "edited and clean to the best of your ability" actually means.

[Anonymous No.19666302]

>>19666265
nigga don't be pulling a münchhausen trilemma in here

[Anonymous No.19666376]

>>19666265
All plot holes filled
Dialogue is tight, not extraneous or too threadbare
Prose is consistent and meaningful
Idea is clearly conveyed and not murky in any way

[Anonymous No.19666500]

How do I identify when I'm overthinking problems with my story? How do I break the loop, at least as it begins, if not before, instead of letting it hang over me like a dark cloud?

[Anonymous No.19666683]

new years rejection

[Anonymous No.19666731]

>>19666683
that one is a pretty polite form rejection at least. almost feels sincere.

[Anonymous No.19666745]

>>19666683
also, mind telling me who that agent is? I want to see who is working on NYE.

[Anonymous No.19666764]

How do this sound guys? First time writing in long time

The list of titles overwhelms me with great emotion. I am swept off my feet by the great wave which Hokusai once saw off Kanagawa, it’s tiringly travelled through time and has finally decided to make its landfall. The force of impact, equally as great as the wave itself, throws me into a chasm. I find myself at the bottom before I had the time to blind from the wave’s spray yet the chasm is so deep that the daylight at the top looks like a constellation in the night sky. The chasm is host to no life nor was it home to any diversity of sedimentaries. In fact, there were no stray stones to be found, the floor was completely clean. All alone in the deep darkness, I realize that this chasm is in my heart.

[Anonymous No.19666766]

>>19666745

https://www.publishersmarketplace.com/members/HCasey/

[Anonymous No.19666789]

>>19666766

cause there arent enough YA books about STRONG FEMALES

[Anonymous No.19666879]

R8

[Anonymous No.19666933]

Is it possible to write a protagonist who doesn't share your values?

[Anonymous No.19666987]

>>19666766
I dont know why agents do this shit. it looks like she might have just ctrl+a and form rejected everything that came in during this timeperiod. i dont understand why the fuck they can't just tend to the queries once they get back, or why they think they're entitled to a 3 week vacation for New Year's anyway. do they understand the rest of the country doesn't get to take month-long breaks whenever they want? do they understand authors have other lives?

Just, all of my fucking disgust.

[Anonymous No.19666991]

>>19666933
Yes, though it is a conscious and focused type of writing entirely different from the unconscious I'm used to

[Anonymous No.19666998]

>>19666879
kinda trite and improperly formatted. most of that dialogue isn't necessary and doesnt accomplish anything. you've heard the term 'kill your darlings'? just tighten the shit up

[Anonymous No.19667007]

How do I find a redpilled agent who's into loli and rape?

[Anonymous No.19667012]

>>19666789

I got bored and did a little goodreads research

I catalogued the top 27 YA books of 2021 (no sequels), 27 cause i got bored after that

24 out of 27 had female MCs
24 out of 27 had female authors
2 of the 3 male MC books were written by women
the one book with male mc by a male author is a romance book that talked extensively about how the love interest is "not like other girls" and how she's super average, but also clumsy. Basic female self-insert stuff.

5 out of 27 were genderlit
4 out of the 5 genderlit were dykelit
the last one was faglit

6 out of 27 were ethniclit
1 afrolit, 1 redskinlit, 2 beanerlit, 2 allahlit

9 out of 27 were some flavor of fantasy

Hope you guys find this information helpful if you decide to tradpub in the future

[Anonymous No.19667017]

>>19667007
Just self pub

[Anonymous No.19667027]

>>19667012
yeah, YA should just, the agents, the readers, the writers, all of them should be lined against a wall and shot.
>>19667007
thing is even if they are non-pozzed they have to be in the closet with it so the hyper liberal industry doesn't throw them under the bus. been a lot of drama about just that happening in the past few years, actually. and many of the remaining male agents are beign #metoo'd by false rape accusations from misandrist femicunts.

[Anonymous No.19667054]

>>19667027
>been a lot of drama about just that happening in the past few years, actually. and many of the remaining male agents are beign #metoo'd by false rape accusations from misandrist femicunts.
Where can I learn about this? I'm not surprised that stupid phenomena hit the publishing community.

[Anonymous No.19667087]

>>19667012

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-10313431/Childrens-books-dominated-male-characters-analysis-reveals.html

umm ur wrong chud :^)

but srsly
>counts all children's books (this includes YA) from 1960 to today
>women and girls are STILL underrepresented!!!

how intellectually dishonest can you be?

[Anonymous No.19667147]

>>19667054
>look at bookmarks seeing if i saved anything
>find this
https://absolutewrite.com/forums/index.php
>subforums for both CRT and PoC
how fucking pozzed up can you get
anyway i cant find the links, i just stumble on them now and again because i generally avoid interaction with other writers outside of /lit/, because they're all mega-far-leftist insane people now. hopefully the clot shot clears their ranks out, God willing. tired of every fucking thing being subverted by political agendas.

[Anonymous No.19667162]

>>19667147
Sorry anon, the whole point of the vaxx is to crush dissent. Only the most unthinking woke people with the most robust immune systems(to resist the vax) will be allowed in polite society.

[Anonymous No.19667185]

>>19667087
These statistics would be very relevant if we were trying to get published in the 20th century.

[Anonymous No.19667209]

Emily walked past the crowd and handed the receipt to the worker. He looked back at her, and gave her the two corn dogs, along with the large lemonade. Emily grasped the items to what she observed before. Holding the drink in one hand and the tray of corn dogs from the bottom, Emily positioned herself under the same containers of ketchup and mustard she saw earlier.

Globs of sweet, spicy, and sour condiments filled up her paper tray. An abstract painting of red and yellow layered on top of each other, slowly blending a color of orange in the areas the two sauces touched. The two ooze of paint covered a majority of the browned batter. The robot moved to the side and placed her creation on the counter like she observed earlier. She opened three containers, and similarly, taking the same spoon the man in the red shirt used, Emily dug into the respective boxes of relish, onions, and pickles. Spoonfuls of relish, onions, and pickles engulfed and shielded the layers of red and yellow. Piles and piles of pickled vegetables accessorized Emily’s meal, spilling over the tray that held her two corn dogs. She placed lemonade on the counter and positioned her hand on the edge. Copying the red shirted man, she pushed the tray toward her open palm and easily received her first ever oeuvre. Drops of pickled vegetables fell to the side of her hand, smearing drips of red and yellow against the tips of her fingers. She took her first step toward the exit, not noticing the shocked face of the old lady that helped her earlier, or the giggling boy pointing at her masterpiece as he pulled on his mother’s dress. The pretty blonde marched, with her back straight, away from the staring crowd as bits of pickles, onions, and relish dropped from the vibrations of her steps, leaving a trail for the ants to clean. There is only one thing left on her mission; to find Caleb and deliver her magnum opus.

I must give GRRM credit, writing about food is harder than I thought.

[Anonymous No.19667349]

>>19667209
You're just not describing the food adequately enough, that's all. You're only using one of the five senses. But Emily is a robot, so I'm assuming she can't smell, and therefore the description loses 80% of its possible strength.

[Anonymous No.19667354]

>>19665975
Write it anon! I'm rooting for you.

Though I think that you will see why every story in history has had a "plot" if you ever finish it. Just like every story has had a character, a setting etc.

[Anonymous No.19667366]

>>19666135
>a'wards

[Anonymous No.19667370]

>>19666149
Obviously

[Anonymous No.19667396]

Been working on a short interactive story on and off for a few years, it's 8.3k words. Where do you guys think are good places to solicit feedback on it?

[Anonymous No.19667397]

>>19666251
I could not imagine sharing my work if it had even minor structural errors, let alone grammatical errors. Just finish it, anon, and then send it off. What's the point of getting advice on half finished material?

[Anonymous No.19667420]

>>19667396
Why, the chan, of course? Sounds gay though

[Anonymous No.19667431]

>>19667349
thanks! And i'm surprised anons remember part of my story i posted here and there. Means a lot to me. Really pushes me finding out that other people are actually reading my story.

[Anonymous No.19667456]

Here's a short interactive story I've been working on, would love to get feedback if any anons have the time:

Paralyzed from head to toe, a famous painter finds themselves humbled by their new reality. Unable to communicate with the outside world, they see their strained relationship in a new light.

Link to story: https://lockedinstory.github.io/

[Anonymous No.19667459]

>>19667431
It's probably because the girl who stole my heart the hardest was very robotic because her brains were complete scrambled eggs, but at heart she was a huge sweetie so it reminded me of her a lot and coincidentally is the type of woman I go nuts over now. Anyways, my life story out of the way, I hope it helped a little. Almost all the fun in writing food for me is the smell and taste.

[Anonymous No.19667462]

Bad slump this month. For the sake of getting something out on time I did a special chapter for new years though. Still 10pm atm but happy new years nonetheless.

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/31062/saga-of-the-cosmic-heroes/chapter/816380/omake-new-years-2022

[Anonymous No.19667487]

>>19667209
>writing about food is harder than I thought.
tfw. i'm writing something set in a foreign country and go out of my way to try and include food descriptions, but i just dont give a fuck. i'd be fine eating plain rice for the rest of my life if i wouldnt die of malnutrition. grrm is just a fatfuck who never stops eating.
there is nothing worse than trying to authentically describe food you've never tasted. i think in the entire novel i mention food all of five times.

[Anonymous No.19667573]

>>19667462
How much did you plan your story out before you started writing? How much worldbuilding did you do before you got into the story proper?

[Anonymous No.19667588]

>finished the other chapter, that I had to completely strike out and populate with new content to fulfill certain goals, which I call the hell chapter, that I only saved by throwing a dead dog at it
>decided I need another chapter between 2 events to space them out and keep the pacing level
>literally nothing
>wrote 3 paragraphs and some notes on possibilities
>made a character seem like even more of a cunt than she already was
>lost track of what I did today versus yesterday, either wrote 2500 or 4000 words
Thus ends my year with a slog through hell trying to pull gold up out of a river by hand. but this scene has pretty visuals so it's okay i guess.

[Anonymous No.19667611]

/wg/, have you ever tried giving your characters theme songs

>My MC's theme is Eat It by Weird Al Yankovich, befitting a belligerent cook with a sarcastic sense of humor who nonetheless would die for the people he cares about. It's also a parody of Beat It, a song about aggressive young men taking stupid risks to prove something, which fits in his personality perfectly

>His Mentor's theme is Zombie by The Bad Wolves, a song about the horrors of war berating those who are just follow orders. It befits a veteran who defected rather than kill civilians and who gets turned into a literal zombie

>His best friend's theme is Peanut Butter Jelly Time by the Buckwheat Boyz, which seems like a troll answer at first, but gets even more ridiculous when someone tells you that the guy who sang it it died in an eleven-hour police stand-off while his brother in law, snoop dog tried to talk him down. You look it up only to learn it's all true, and you have no idea what do do with your life now

>His crush's theme is Strawberry Fields Forever by the Beatles, a song that captures both her yearning for a simpler time where she didn't feel out of place in the world, and her struggle to reconcile her reputation as a genius with her history as a special ed student

>No idea about the best friend's little sister's theme song. She was someone who grew up wanting to be a hero in people's live, but lacking faith in herself she settled for drawing heroes in comic books

[Anonymous No.19667629]

>>19667611
terrible taste

[Anonymous No.19667637]

>>19667611
My sci fi romance novel has a love theme.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyuY0GWqVKE

[Anonymous No.19667639]

>>19667459
It certainly put more fuel into the fire. I'm now writing a bully scene where two girls are bullying the robot.

After 42k words, I see the end of the tunnel. Thanks anons, you won't believe how much help I get from all your snide comments, tips, and brutal honesty.

[Anonymous No.19667641]

>>19667611
Of course.
I've written a short motif for each of my main characters and some of those motifs I've worked into songs. I intend to publish some of them on my upcoming epic indie rock album and hold the rest until the day I'm rich and famous and can use them for movie and video game adaptations.

[Anonymous No.19667650]

As a kid, I never got into a fight. By all accounts I was a shrimpy little thing. Stuck with me as I got older, but not for lack of trying. There’s a critical learning period for languages, you know. Real easy to pick up any language at all when you’re little, but once you hit nine or ten then you’re washed. I know it. Tried learning Spanish when I was 20 and made a real ass out of myself, gave up after por and para. Couldn’t make it happen. It’s a mystery of the human brain. There’s gotta be the same thing that happens with fighting. Can’t get into a first fight when you’re 20. You’ll get hot in the face and tear up. Fuck you, you’ll snivel out, and he’ll laugh. Won’t even give you a chance to take a beating, which I’m real good at.
Never got into a real fight, but I took a lot of beatings. Which is not always a bad thing. It can help you grow closer to the people you love, and who you would like to love you. Daddy gave me kisses with his hairy knuckles and belt buckle, then sat down next to me to share some dinner. Eat and get strong, he said, which I did so I could beat his ass back. The trick is looking forward to the dinner while you’re beat. It’ll end at some point, you just gotta wait it out. This is not unique.
But first time I ever had a girl I loved beat on me it was for the better for sure, and she loved me more for it. We’d shack up, and I’d do my very best but couldn’t deliver. All the poking and scooping and sweating just couldn’t satisfy, until she proposed trying something new and then beat on my slobbering dog face while I right hook dodge left flung myself around and waited for dinner until my eye was swole shut and she loved me more. We grew closer for it, I think.

[Anonymous No.19667688]

>>19667017
Where am I supposed to self publish my story where the adult male protagonist rapes a female kid to correct her seductive behavior?

[Anonymous No.19667703]

>>19667611
I have. The anime music video theme for my first series is March of Mephisto by Kamelot. I can clearly see all the different intros for the characters and villains to at least when the vocals begin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdwYUwuItsI
For my new books, I haven't landed on any yet. But I keep coming back to old time big band/crooner/swing music for a few characters in one of my working series.

[Anonymous No.19667732]

>>19667688
AO3

[Anonymous No.19667734]

Welp. My first book is in review on KDP. Hoping it goes live tomorrow for the new year.

Here goes nothing.

[Anonymous No.19667747]

>>19667688
Repent

[Anonymous No.19667776]

> Want to write mystery
> Characters
> No plot
How do I into plots?

[Anonymous No.19667787]

what's the difference between publishing with a publisher and self-publishing?

[Anonymous No.19667794]

>>19667787
One is a legitimate means of doing business, the other is a small, pathetic vanity project that will make you look like a schizophrenic or a communist.
t. NOT a publisher

[Anonymous No.19667795]

>>19667794
yea but aren't publishers arrogant pricks who refuse to publish 90% of stuff if it doesn't fit their agenda?

[Anonymous No.19667805]

>>19667795
>if it doesn't fit their agenda
Fun fact: they refuse to publish 90% of stuff due to said stuff's extremely low quality.

[Anonymous No.19667831]

>>19667805
About 90% of the charm of my book is the twisted grammar. If I one day hand it over to ANY publisher they are immediately going to insist that it goes through grammar fixes. Should I kill my book just to get published? What's the point at that point?

[Anonymous No.19667845]

If what you're writing isn't a vanity project written by a self destructive schizo then you've already failed.
Go get a job in the service industry if you want to work for below minimum wage.

[Anonymous No.19667859]

>>19667831
Write a normal book first, then you can break form.

[Anonymous No.19667861]

>>19667573
A skeleton 0.5 draft repurposed into an outline that was 28k words long altogether, first 3 volumes (361k words) adapt the first 6k-8k chapters, the current 3rd volume wasn't something I originally envisioned and was something I discovered in the 2nd volume, so it's a fog of war navigating through.

>How much worldbuilding did you do before you got into the story proper
Very little. I weave it into the story as I write. I do it in a way so it's consistent in my eyes.

>>19667611
I'm been loving the Star Blazers/Space Yamato ost lately for my protag. I think it captures her melodramatic struggle balancing carrying her dead mentor's idealism and her own sense of duty.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMt_yiw5BUI

For my tritagonist who wants to tear down the system and create a better world(society? galaxy?) for spacenoids.
https://youtu.be/A0A_cXOY0JY
https://youtu.be/CUf-8aXt9Hw


For my deuteragonist, who's the broken bird of the series and can't get a happy ending to save her life
https://youtu.be/HnemtJz2sks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjCRGgP7E-g

[Anonymous No.19667871]

>>19667859
>just be a cuck bro. It's only for a while

[Anonymous No.19667884]

I wonder how much money f Gardner made

[Anonymous No.19667887]

>>19667871
>so afraid of failure he won't even try
Oh woe is me, my genius will only be known when I'm dead!

[Anonymous No.19667902]

>>19667887
You want me to somehow gain enough clout and success by publishing books that are generic and are the opposite of what I do good. It doesn't work that way chico

[Anonymous No.19667927]

>>19667902
Vanity of vanities, all is vanity

[Anonymous No.19667987]

>>19667794
ok but how difficult is self-publishing really?

[Anonymous No.19667989]

>>19667987
Oh it's easy, nothing to it especially in this day and age.
Making money or finding an audience by self-publishing? There's like two people I know of that managed to pull it off and they were both comic book creators.

[Anonymous No.19668015]

>>19667989
You don't make money traditionally publishing either

[Anonymous No.19668031]

Holy shit I just looked up self-publishing and it's stupid simple. Now I have an actual reason to write

[Anonymous No.19668060]

How does one get into audio drama and audio fiction? I’m not that good at acting so should I just cast some people who I think are good for the role? Pic related is my inspiration to get into audio drama

[Anonymous No.19668067]

>>19668031
wait until you get to self-shilling part

[Anonymous No.19668098]

>>19668067
isn't that one just about having an online presence? Having a youtube channel or some shit? I know marketing is over half the battle

[Anonymous No.19668132]

>>19667776
I think I figured out a plan to resolve this. I'm going to read 100 of the greatest crime novels. This make any sense? Or I am just wasting time.

[Anonymous No.19668321]

>>19667611
One of my readers said that this would fit as a story theme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iTdIjKMbhs
I prefer something like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGpJHvKXIZU
As for characters, maybe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeUUNHtvquE

[Anonymous No.19668394]

>>19658976
>For Prose:
>The Art of Fiction, Gardner

F Gardner writes non fiction now?

[Anonymous No.19668458]

traditional publishing is literally a meme

[Anonymous No.19668468]

>>19668458
Why's that? I have a short story I want to publish and I could get 200 USD tops from a magazine, or just post it on Amazon in a collection. What would I gain with the latter?

[Anonymous No.19668475]

>>19668468
Ask the other anons in this thread hording short stories that are totally going to get published.
You should be aiming for readers, not sucking Jewish cock for pocket change.

[Anonymous No.19668490]

>>19668468
traditional publishing is just code for "get fucked over in every way possible". Never trust an industry monkey

[Anonymous No.19668542]

>>19668475
The magazine's editor is very Indo-European, but I guess you can think the evil boogeymen control publishing and that's why you got rejected.
>>19668490
No it isn't. Even GRRM and King were trad published and they're rich af.

[Anonymous No.19668545]

Let's be honest here. Is making it as a writer extremely difficult bordering on impossible or is everyone that isn't me just a mega doodoo brain. Let's be honest and just wait until I finish my book

[Anonymous No.19668548]

how much have you written, /wg/?

[Anonymous No.19668555]

>>19668542
>Even GRRM and King were trad published and they're rich af.
I was going to call you a retard for the first reply but I don't think I need to.
Go for it bro. You're totally going to get that movie deal. I believe in you.

[Anonymous No.19668663]

Comma splices get brought up a lot here and so I've finally looked up what the term actually means. Can someone let me know if I'm understanding this correctly?
If I have two independent clauses (I'm a bit shaky on the definition of a clause as is) I should separate them with a full stop or a semi-colon:
>Today I went on a long walk. I happened to see a squirrel.
>Today I went on a long walk; I happened to see a squirrel.
So the above two are correct, whereas the following is incorrect:
>Today I went on a long walk, I happened to see a squirrel.
And kind of tangentially, this would be a run-on sentence:
>Today I went on a long walk and I happened to see a squirrel.
Have I misunderstood any of this? And can anyone maybe give me a basic understanding of what a 'clause' actually would be? What specifics makes clauses independent?

[Anonymous No.19668712]

>>19668548
My current texts in progress are, from shortest to longest:
>6153 words
>7820 words
>10271 words
>13157 words
>17193 words
This doesn't include anything I've finished.

[Anonymous No.19668720]

>>19668548
Total?
Around 120k words in novellas, 95k in current novel and a couple thousand in first chapters starts for future works.

[Anonymous No.19668738]

my goal is life is to make a book so influential that this entire board devolves into shitposting about it 24/7 while everyone screams at the top of their lungs that it's me doing the shitposting (but it's not)

[Anonymous No.19668743]

What's your creative process like? I've seen some people go through self-doubt and self-hatred a lot, which is what I'm kinda feeling at the moment.

[Anonymous No.19668774]

>>19668743
Both of those are procrastination. You get an idea for a scene, you write it down. Or write spur of the moment developments, for example, I have a temple of martial artists, it's New Year, so I made one of the plot devices into a prayer paper slip that served as a hidden message.

[Anonymous No.19668795]

"lol," he said, "lmao."

[Anonymous No.19668805]

>>19668774
>Both of those are procrastination.
Just writing for the sake of it is so bugman-tier. You ought to reflect on it.

[Anonymous No.19668810]

>>19668805
I usually reflect on how fucking great my writing is

[Anonymous No.19668818]

>>19668810
>I usually reflect on how fucking great my writing is
Post it then.

[Anonymous No.19668858]

"Post it then," anon's glistening lisps uttered as his knees trembled in one heartbeat of weakness. It was all he could do to to stop his knees from meeting their destiny on the semen-stained floor.
I was not surprised. Anon was an ordinary man with an ordinary fragility that I had learned to recognize in plebs and a long string of whose entire existence betrayed their tragic childhoods.
"I am gay, yes," I said in a strangely comforting way. I was not a cruel man. "But I would never stoop so low to have homos like you suck my johnson".

[Anonymous No.19668860]

>>19667611
Mystery Burns' theme:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u8DjbYt-SA
This character replaced his left eye with a doll's eye years ago, which led to him being hospitalized and forgotten by everyone. He uses art (visual, musical, performative, photographic, etc.) in an attempt to rewrite his traumatic past. The first part of the song fits with his current situation of living alone in a huge, abandoned hospital. Later, it's a glimpse on his feelings when the hospital was shutting down, and then, when he had the mental breakdown that led him to replace his eye. Plus, it has a carnival-esque feel to it, while Mystery loves circus aesthetics.

Polly's theme:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARPFXyLGAvw
I chose this not so much because of the lyrics. It's bouncy, upbeat with a melancholic undertone. Polly herself tries to keep up a good mood---she lives with Mystery now, and will for quite a long time. No harm in making it a bearable time, but it still takes a toll on her at times. I discovered this song at the start of my obsession for her, so that's mostly why I chose this. I like to think she's singing it, while all the Fist of the North Star samples are Mystery interrupting her.

I have a shit ton of other characters in this universe, but I haven't developed them enough to choose a theme.

[Anonymous No.19668886]

>>19668858
I hope you catch HIV, rapist.

[Anonymous No.19668909]

I pierced it on my fishing hook, cast over my shoulder—back across the dunes. Then like a good fisherman I stood and patiently waited, salt air in my hair, the line between my legs. After a minute, a trembling in the grass as of some rapidly advancing army. The game had begun.

Their ape faces sickened me as they all gathered on the sandy rise and began to chase the slimy thing at the end of my hook. And always it evaded their grasp, wriggled hideously upon the white sand, slipperier than the slipperiest eel.

Up on the grey dunes and down to the yellows, then further onward to the foredunes I led them, reeling, always reeling. They fell in slacks and tripped on the dune grass tufts, the mass of them roiling like a primordial ooze. Their starving eyes and mouths desiring of what they’d found, they’d run until they couldn’t. If they caught it, they’d kiss it until their lips cracked.

But I never let them bite, not once, never.

Before the sea the embryo dunes, after the embryo dunes, a drop. That was where I stood, on the lip above, coil tightening. In a moment, if I wasn’t careful, they’d be on top of me. I walked down to the beach’s level sands. As my catch gathered behind me, ravenous and vital, I threw rod and line and lure to the sea.

They couldn’t scramble fast enough. A group of them cried to it, called it their baby and their beloved, but those voices quickly died.

I might’ve taken them to a sea cliff, but I preferred to watch them drown.

Gametes are excellent bait for humans.

[Anonymous No.19668966]

I hate purple prose. I write pretty simple but people treat simple as amateur, not as great as those who write complex metaphors. Why?

[Anonymous No.19668979]

>>19667012
Im happy im outlining a YA contemporary fantasy with a bicurious Black girl protagonist

srs
White people sell but usually midlist

[Anonymous No.19669086]

>>19665096
Saw this posted a few times before, but never got more than a few para in before giving up. The positive response (in a /wg/ thread) finally convinced me to give it a full read.

This is legit good, anon.

The first few paragraphs are slow, and the least well written. Suggest starting the story with ‘You’ve got your shirt on backward’ and slow drip the ww2, the glove compartment, etc to break up the dialog later.

Idk exactly why, but when you to ‘his wife’ rather than Susan or she/her it kind of takes me out of the action. It’s just a bit more distanced, maybe that’s even what turned me off of the writing in the first couple paras.

Would Dale be a ‘glove compartment’ or ‘glove box’ guy?

You do a great job of earning the twists, laying down situations like the squirrel to show the characters. Dale seems a bit too sad in that scene, though, if he were harder it would emphasize the difference to the turn later. It may also be interesting to make Dale the driver, so the parallels/expectations aren’t as straightforward.

Overall, (perhaps with some tighter writing) this thing could do well in a short story contest.

[Anonymous No.19669328]

>>19668663
People here only pretend to know what comma splicing is

[Anonymous No.19669359]

>>19668663
Yes, your examples are correct. You can look up independent clauses the same way you looked up comma splices and run-on sentences.

[Anonymous No.19669365]

>>19667734
Good luck bro!
>>19667776
>>19668132
The characters make the plot. Their conflicting goals and values will generate one for you.
t. Hasn't drafted a plot in 7 years
>>19667987
>>19667989
>>19668098
>>19668067
Check out this article. It helped me reframe my thinking about self publishing. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/279385
>>19668548
>81k in my current finished story, pending edits
>78k in my backburner story, half finished
>440k in self published texts
There's a lot of work to be done still. I learned that some authors can crank out a book every 6 months and get it up and published. I average one every year and a half at best.
>>19668663
If a clause can stand by itself as a "normal" sentence then it's independent. It must express a complete thought.
>I picked up the gun (independent)
>As I picked up the gun (dependent)
Comma splices link two independent clauses together. Personally, I think they're permissible in dialogue where a pause is implied but a stop would be too sudden or choppy.
>"I don't think that's a good idea, we talked about this before."
>"I don't think that's a good idea. We talked about this before."
>>19668966
Complex metaphor shows proficiency. Even Artistotle said in Rhetoric book 3 section 2 that metaphor gives prose clearness, charm, and distinction since our other resources for achieving that are scantier than the resources of poets. There's some question about the prevalence of simple, clear prose in today's society being a function of competition for audience attention, since drawn out metaphors will incline a reader to drop the book and seek out more immediate entertainment, but I think short metaphors are very much in good form and do what Aristotle suggested they do when they hit correctly.

[Anonymous No.19669378]

>>19669359
Yeah the independent clauses seemed a bit more self-explanatory. It's when it came to what a clause actually is I started to get a bit lost in terminology.

[Anonymous No.19669405]

>>19668663
>Today I went on a long walk.
Def an independent clause

>I happened to see a squirrel.
I fee like this one can’t quite stand on it’s own. The ‘happened to’ makes me feel there needs to be a where/when somewhere.

Just me?

[Anonymous No.19669426]

>>19668663
I use the "and" connection so god damned much.
when i use 'comma splice' i mean in the general sense of i put a comma where one doesnt belong because that is how the text came out as i was THINKING it, but in written form it doesnt need to be there. i am always finding these excess commas all over the place.
>>19668548
i have one finished at 90k, one nearly finished at 80k goal of 90k-100k, one partially drafted at 60k goal of 90-100k, and one more fractional around 40k that will be 100-120k.

[Anonymous No.19669455]

>>19669405
Yeah I do see what you mean here.
>>19669426
I guess that's what editing's for.

[Anonymous No.19669482]

>>19669365
Yet you’ve sold how many copies collectively?…

[Anonymous No.19669485]

>>19668663
>Today I went on a long walk, I happened to see a squirrel.
This is correct

[Anonymous No.19669494]

>>19669482
NTA but the reason you don't succeed isn't what you think - it's actually because you think small scale and try to sell your readers on a book and fail to hook your readers on a brand

[Anonymous No.19669509]

>>19669485
Why?

[Anonymous No.19669511]

>>19669509
just is

[Anonymous No.19669530]

>>19669511
Pretender

[Anonymous No.19669670]

>>19669482
Is this the equivalent of /fit/'s 1RM?

[Anonymous No.19669760]

>>19667861
>Very little. I weave it into the story as I write. I do it in a way so it's consistent in my eyes.
Could you explain more? I've had scifi ideas and I get bogged down by the worldbuilding process and I get the feeling I have all my priorities out of order.

[Anonymous No.19669766]

I had a dream about /wg/ last night.
>crab poster arrived
>other users told him to gtfo and wagmi
2022: our year. wagmi.

[Anonymous No.19669772]

>>19667987
it's about as easy as posting on 4chan.

[Anonymous No.19669781]

>>19668548
Written and published?

My first book just went live on KU this morning, 66k. I've got about another 20k on my next one publishing serially on KV.

[Anonymous No.19669785]

>>19669772
that's why you need to put some effort in. When anyone can be a writer the industry gets oversaturated with shit

[Anonymous No.19669789]

>>19669766
YOU SHALL NEVER MAKE IT
YOU HAVE NO TWITTER FOLLOWERS
WOOBWOOBWOOB

[Anonymous No.19669823]

>>19658989
What a grift! Also, how very against the rules.

[Anonymous No.19669829]

>>19669789
>meerkat posting

[Anonymous No.19669830]

I'm losing followers on Twitter now. I think I got shadow banned from following people.

[Anonymous No.19669834]

>>19669823
what rules?

[Anonymous No.19669925]

I want to write a screenplay, but I have never done so. Could some anon with experience on this medium give me some pointers so that I start on the right foot?

[Anonymous No.19670045]

>>19669925
no one wants them. you can make up whatever you want for a file to sit on your harddrive forever.

there is literally no market for screenplays.

[Anonymous No.19670053]

How do i make a magical boarding school book not derivative?

[Anonymous No.19670062]

>>19670053
Make it fantasy or sci-fi instead of pop-fiction like Harry Potter and such

[Anonymous No.19670068]

>>19670045
I just want to write it, I don't care if it doesn't get published.

[Anonymous No.19670094]

>>19669823
Against the rules in what way?

[Anonymous No.19670100]

>>19670068
then write whatever the fuck you want.

[Anonymous No.19670109]

>>19670045
Yes there is. You write screenplays to build a portfolio and that's how you get a job in screenplay underwriting. It doesn't have to be The Godfather in length; small commercials, short films, etc. are enough.
>>19669925
Final Draft is industry standard, but Word works well if you know how to format.

[Anonymous No.19670254]

>>19670053
Don’t.

There’s Harry Potter (Hogwarts) and Name of the Wind (the University), X-Men, and a dozen others already.

Grossman’s The Magicians (Brakebills) had this concept as well, though the characters joked about how it was like a real-life Hogwart’s, which was kinda funny and meta (so that avenue is closed to you, too).

Be original. What about a correspondence school, or a school for normals (in an otherwise magic world), or a master-apprentice system or commune?

[Anonymous No.19670273]

>>19670254
>asking shit for brains zoomers to be original

[Anonymous No.19670306]

>>19670053
Make it a military school for gunwizards

[Anonymous No.19670341]

>>19670053
One word: rape.

[Anonymous No.19670419]

>>19670254
and they are all pop-fiction. This subgenre has a lot of untapped material to work with

[Anonymous No.19670433]

>>19670254
I can’t think of a dozen other YA magic schools.

[Anonymous No.19670477]

How do I rip off of something I like without getting sued for plagiarism?

[Anonymous No.19670505]

>>19670477

If someone wants to sue you for plagiarism, they're going to regardless of how original your work is, so you might as well lean into it

[Anonymous No.19670511]

>>19670477
By changing the words.

[Anonymous No.19670517]

>>19670477
if anyone asks, you don't know what they're talking about

[Anonymous No.19670559]

>>19670555
Bread baked
Digits secured

[Anonymous No.19670563]

How do I write depressive realism without coming off as Houellebecq fanfiction? If I leave the sex parodies out and don't predict future but just focus on the present and loser type young men, will people see it as Houellebecq fanfiction?

[Anonymous No.19671017]

>>19666879
A lot of us tend to writ too much tags. If you read the pros like Hemingway you'll see that the do without the he said, she said. bit and if the dialogue is strong enough it's fine.

You dont have to tell us you're looking into her eyes, for example. All the tags just make it annoying. Eyes here and there, smiling, giggling all that stuff you will never ever see that in the greats...

[Anonymous No.19671047]

>>19671017
>the pros like Hemingway
Huh? No need to go that far. The fun Asian WNs I read rely exclusively on speech patterns to differentiate the characters. The West could learn a lot from them if they're unwilling to embrace their own past.