/wg/ Write General

[Anonymous No.19689788]

Comfy Edition
Previous Thread >>19681520

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

list of /wg/ authors pastebin and anonymous flash fiction anthology
https://pastebin.com/ruwQj7xQ

[Anonymous No.19689806]

IT'S TOO EARLY AAAAAAUGH HELP ME LIBRARYMAN

[Anonymous No.19689809]

You will all make it
as long as you self-publish

[Anonymous No.19689812]

Where does the baker get so many pretty pictures?

[Anonymous No.19689821]

>>19689812
4chan. i know some came from /trv/ but that board has been dead since 'rona started.

[Anonymous No.19689906]

>>19689788
finally the /wg/ authors pastebin is in the OP so i dont have to keep posting it

[Anonymous No.19690007]

how far into a first draft do you all have people give critique? How many times can you spam the people you know with revised drafts before you just shut down and stop talking about your writing?

[Anonymous No.19690013]

>>19690007
For me, it's twice.
I still haven't finished the draft I started all those years ago, even though it's so close to completion, because I'm afraid...

[Anonymous No.19690022]

>>19690007
when it's as complete as possible, and only once.

[Anonymous No.19690027]

>>19689906
Fyi: >>19687347

[Anonymous No.19690219]

i fucking hate jewish women

[Anonymous No.19690225]

>>19690219
Call yourself BIPOC

[Anonymous No.19690232]

>>19690225
I dont think i can pass in text

[Anonymous No.19690239]

>>19690232
ayo why you saying that teach you gots black twitter to copy and paste from if you's need style i swtg (laughs)

[Anonymous No.19690290]

>>19690219
Can you sue for that? It's clearly discrimination. Imagine if it said "Joe Johnson is only accepting queries from straight, white males and is otherwised closed." People would lose their fucking minds. Every lawyer from Maine to SoCal would be fist-fighting in the street to represent the case.

No, literally actually contact a lawyer and get a pay day on this. This bullshit has to stop. and I'm not even a white male.

[Anonymous No.19690316]

>>19690219
>>19690290
http://maassagency.com/jennifer-jackson/
Here she is if you were wondering her submission standards, and it's real. she's with Donald Maass and takes /sffg/ and YA submissions. Thank god that isn't my genre.

absolutely disgusting. I don't think I will query with Donald Maass agency if this is who they hire. Of course the rest of them are all just as bad, but at least have the professionalism to not publicly drop the mask. I've told you guys about blue haired agents. it's out of control. Nasty loxist vermin.

[Anonymous No.19690475]

>>19690316
I looked at her site, she has quite a lot of clients…and a few names I’ve read. From the looks of it, it’s a pretty white lookin’ crew. My guess is she’s just trying to get a more representative spread of authors (to be quite frank, there are awards, publicity and opportunities available to BIPOC authors in /sffg/ these days, so I don’t blame an agent who wants to find the next N.K.Jesmin or Octavia Butler)

It’s kinda shitty for her to make it so blunt, but imo it’s better than getting turned down and not knowing why.

I’m a libertarian fag, so take it or leave it…but I say if she wants to decide what clients she wants to work with, that’s her right. If you decide not to submit to her agency again, that’s yours.

>>19690219
>i fucking hate jewish women
Also, if you feel that way, why are you trying to work with one. Clearly this was not going to be a productive relationship. Maybe it’s you who needs to discriminate more.

[Anonymous No.19690510]

>>19690475
>Maybe it’s you who needs to discriminate more.
hitler tried that and it didn't end well for a certain tribe.

[Anonymous No.19690541]

I asked out the cute tomboy librarian and she said no bros. Not a big deal, not my blog. I'm writing a story about a card cheater playing politics with a table of neighborhood yahoos who all have beef. I think I need to finally watch 12 Angry Men.

[Anonymous No.19690568]

>>19690541
12 angry men is a fantastic film and a great exercise in cinematography and writing. How to make talking in one room or looking at people in one room interesting. It’s also the least accurate legal film of all time because, unlike the brilliant players in the movie, irl jurors are fucking retarded faggots who can’t think themselves out of a jury box.
>>19689788
Why does the pastebin not have the kungfu guy, the burger guy, or the magic mountain guy? Do none of them post anymore?

[Anonymous No.19690571]

>>19690541
I hope you eventually get to date a cute tomboy librarian anon

[Anonymous No.19690573]

I've written a dialogue scene that flows well and is engaging, but I think all the characters sound a little too much like one another. They don't have sufficiently different voices. What's a good way to approach revising to address this issue?

[Anonymous No.19690583]

>>19690573
I've been giving each of my characters different color text when they speak

[Anonymous No.19690585]

>>19690583

[Anonymous No.19690590]

>>19690583
I'm not sure I get it. How does that help?

[Anonymous No.19690603]

>>19690590
it makes the words feel different
maybe I have autism

[Anonymous No.19690604]

>>19690573
do they all have distinct personalities, backgrounds, and motivations?

[Anonymous No.19690614]

>>19690573
Imagine being them and saying the line. Like an actor. But really, load yourself up as if you were them, and figure out what comes out. If you aren’t autistic enough in that way, try to write the same meaning in different ways.
>I love animals, especially my dog.
>dude my dog rules, pets rule.
>I would die for my pup. I’d take a bullet
>have you met Lance? He’s a good boy. Animals are swell, ain’t they?

[Anonymous No.19690619]

>your prose will never be as kino as song lyrics because the editor would call it purple prose and demand it be removed

[Anonymous No.19690621]

>>19690619
write a poem?

[Anonymous No.19690624]

>>19690619
they can be as kino as song lyrics just not as densely kino

[Anonymous No.19690641]

>>19690614
>the world is a cruel, depressing, and cold place, but at least i got my dog

[Anonymous No.19690660]

>>19690219

I've been rejected by two different people at this agency while being an LGBTQ+ BIPOC so not only do they only want BIPOC, the stories those BIPOC write have to be /about/ BIPOC.
There's something really ironic about being like "amplify BIPOC voices" but also only if they write what they want them to.

[Anonymous No.19690692]

Also -- where do you guys submit your stories? I've been buying single issues of a bunch of different respectable-but-not-elite literary magazines, trying to build up a list of places that might be good targets.

>>19690603
Maybe. I appreciate you taking the time to engage, though.

>>19690604
They have distinct personalities but very similar backgrounds. That's part of the difficulty, I think. It's a brief scene, and they all have similar perspectives and aspirations.

>>19690614
I should probably do something like this. At the same time, I'm afraid of making my dialogue sound affected. It's a delicate balance.

[Anonymous No.19690705]

I need to write a lgbt bicop bbq book.

[Anonymous No.19690706]

Also -- where do you guys submit your blow-out assholes after I'm done bussin it down with my lil stumpy dick whiteboi

[Anonymous No.19690712]

>>19689809
Based and F Gardner pilled

[Anonymous No.19690720]

Someone should start a business allowing you to impersonate a BIPOC. So many avenues from literary agents to college acceptances require or reward it. This agency could provide AI-generated fake photos, a fictional backstory and actors to back you up if the story is questioned. They could even hire someone who talks like a BIPOC to answer phone calls and stuff so people think you sound like one

[Anonymous No.19690722]

>>19690660
>the stories those BIPOC write have to be /about/ BIPOC.
almost like idpol leftoids are massive hypocrites and more racist than a southern old boy

[Anonymous No.19690771]

You guys are marketing your book right?

[Anonymous No.19690784]

>>19690771
No. I’m not a self pubber so I don’t see the point.

[Anonymous No.19690789]

>>19690784
Are you published yet?

[Anonymous No.19690811]

>>19690789
I have 8 poems/stories/essays out. Got a few novellas and novels out in queries but I doubt they’ll be accepted with the state of publishing and me not being a good novelist.

[Anonymous No.19690819]

>>19690771
yep, on gettr, instagram, /lit/ and reddit

[Anonymous No.19690835]

>>19690811
>8 poems
>essays
>stories
I assume all of this is on some website, because no one would publish 8 poems alone, or one short story, or one essay.
No you're not a self pubber, you're not even a trad pubber. You're just unpubbed.

[Anonymous No.19690839]

>>19690619
well that's why you put song lyrics in a song and prose in a book you big dumb numbskull

[Anonymous No.19690847]

>>19690835
I really don’t understand how you don’t know about literary magazines. They publish singular essays and poems all the time. One time they even published three poems at once.

[Anonymous No.19690854]

What's another word for "slut"? I can't think of anything that has the same impact as the word. Whore doesn't work, hoe is okay, but there has to be something else.

[Blarty Hongo !H0lVGXJNm6 No.19690856]

>>19690811
Congrats, both on your publications and your lack of self-aggrandizing delusions.

[Anonymous No.19690857]

>>19690854
Night walker, woman of the night, skank, any chinese woman

[Anonymous No.19690858]

>>19690854
we already went over this, slut it a really good word.

[Blarty Hongo !H0lVGXJNm6 No.19690859]

>>19690854
Cooze.

[Anonymous No.19690876]

>>19690771
Being self-published is as good as being unpublished.

[Anonymous No.19690885]

>>19690876
Lmao, the trad publisher has sunk their marketing into you.

[Anonymous No.19690890]

>>19690876
This is true for a lot of reasons but mainly because you have absolutely no credibility as a self-published author. Even big names like Ezra Pound tried it and found himself ignored, to the point he considered destroying all the copies of “A Lume Spento” by throwing it into a river. The poetry collection was also regarded as his worst by later critics.

[Anonymous No.19690906]

Do you guys like stream of consciousness books and also do you like books about psycho killers?

[Anonymous No.19690907]

>>19690876
if self-published books ive come across in goodwill are any indication, it's worse

[Anonymous No.19690942]

why are editors so goddamn stupid?
>You should change this characters name, anon
>why? I don't like it
>You should change this places name, anon
>why? it sounds too much like this other place, the reader might get confused
>You should be more consistent with your names being real human names and made u fantasy names, anon
>why? Because it makes your tone lurchy and i'm confused as to whether I'm reading a book about a real place or a fantasy world
shut the fuck up Kelly, I made these decisions consciously
>why? Because

[Anonymous No.19690944]

>books have been published for hundreds of years by the author themselves, and written by themselves and put out without a printing press for 2,000+ years
>people suddenly need publishers in the 21st century and beyond because?.....
Explain yourselves and why you've bought into this mindset.

[Anonymous No.19690951]

>>19690942
Just do it so you get published. Suck Kelly's dick as much as possible

[Anonymous No.19690953]

>>19690944
>people suddenly need publishers in the 21st century and beyond because?.....
Quality control.

[Anonymous No.19690965]

>>19690942
If you’re an artist, be an artist and fuck what Kelly says.

If you’re just starting out, listen to those with more experience than you.

If you’re a professional, do what the boss says if you want to get paid.

[Anonymous No.19690974]

>>19690965
but why does she want me to change little retarded things like names while ignoring the important shit like plotholes and pacing?

[Anonymous No.19690978]

>>19690953
>UHHHH PLATO, why do you keep going on and on about this mixing bowl? It's quite tiresome in analogy, can you be more literal? I'm lost in your thoughts.
Lol, your opinions are being discarded as we speak.

[Anonymous No.19690986]

>>19690978
Plato had an academy and worked out these arguments by actually talking to students and people. He didn’t just put his own ideas on a tablet and then market it to people like self-publishers do.

[Anonymous No.19690996]

>>19690906
no and no
>>19690907
>>19690890
this and this
>>19690953
>Quality control.
this. we live in an age where 5 million wannabe writers try to self publish their dreadful garbage, and like it or not a brick and mortar publisher with a literary agent as go-between is the only system of demarcation that a book might not be a complete wad of shit. reading some of the self published work out there makes me feel we should re-open the insane asylums and start throwing people back in. readers only have so much time in their day, they can only read so many books in a year. they dont want to waste 20 hours reading a log of self published shit from some deranged weeaboo.

[Anonymous No.19691006]

>>19690974
Prob b/c she respects you not to fuck with the core of your book, but just wants to make a few cosmetic changes.

Having characters/places with similar names is an easy thing to point out (especially in /sffg/ it can get confusing). My guess is they have a ton of ‘rules of thumb’ to check off.

I don’t have any personal experience with this, but I imagine it’s a career-boost to have a good working relationship with your publisher. Choose your battles.

[Anonymous No.19691022]

>>19690986
>he spoke to people
>he didn't market
Okay buddy, lets slow down for your sake.

[Anonymous No.19691027]

>>19691022
Do you actually think arguing with people is marketing? Pic related is you.

[Anonymous No.19691030]

>tfw you don't have to worry about being published because you only write anime trash

[Anonymous No.19691040]

>>19691027
You realize an author rank of 35,000 means roughly 127 sales a month right?
He's just outright pulling shit out of his ass, and you're eating it. Everything after a lie should be suspected.

[Anonymous No.19691050]

>>19691027
veeresh is a new one to me

[Anonymous No.19691051]

>>19691040
Even seven years ago? Look at the date, sir. I’m doing you the faithful.

[Anonymous No.19691067]

>>19691051
Even seven years ago 12-13 books, even at 100,000 rank with even just ONE book at 35,000 would be well over 50+ books sales a month.
Amazon's book segment has been its largest since the beginning of the company.

[Anonymous No.19691072]

Please, sir. I’m doing the self publishing on Amazon, sirs. India must not be corrupt, Om sai ram. >>19691067

[Anonymous No.19691087]

>>19691072
Oooooh yes Mr. Publisher siiiiir, please accept my writing...... Gatekeep me daaaaddy.
Why yes Mr. Editor, change the artistic vision of my book or else you'll report me to Mr. Publisher and tell me I won't get published
OOOOOOOOH fuuuuuuuuck I think I'm gonna cooooo000000m

[Anonymous No.19691094]

Please if you are doing the goodness today, sirs, please consider buying my books on Amazon. I didn’t have an ISBN but Amazon, Vishnu willing, gave me one for free! Very good sir. >>19691087

[Anonymous No.19691111]

>>19691027
>pajeet marketing styles
this is exactly what i expect. they are always quantity over quality.
>>19691072
the fucked thing is pajeets all learn english to, not only access a wider market with actual monetary flow, but india is such a fucked country that they speak something like 47 different languages. they learn english just to speak to each other.

[Anonymous No.19691112]

>>19691094
Oh
Why yes, I will change my character name.
Why yes, I will censor my political views.
Why yes, I will change my story line.
Why yes, I will put your views into my story.
Why yes, I won't mention x thing in my book.
Cucked. Self publishers actually have artistic visionary control.

[Anonymous No.19691124]

>>19691112
Yes just like my story about the 007 seven of the doggy kingdom, sirs. The trad pubbers aren’t doing the faithful! May Kumara smite them, by Ganesha!

[Anonymous No.19691131]

>>19691124
And where's your trad pub?

[Anonymous No.19691141]

To be traditionally published you either need to have been born into the right family or have exceedingly exponential points in luck and fortitude. Not only do you have to be the one in a million on an agents desk they pick up, but you also have to tailor your work to your audience, because you will never find a publisher who’s the exact audience for you. Not to mention the fact that you have to actually write out a whole book, and as we know, no one in /wg/ writes.

So without being lucky in life or lucky in birth, how does one even try to achieve the state of “making it”? Shilling out $100+ per cover (or spending 9000 hours in ms paint) shilling out your souls to social media gods for a few views and the worst of all, shilling out wads of cash you don’t have into marketing algorithms perpetuated by the four horsemen of the apocalypse, which, incidentally, is the exact same thing a publisher is going to do for you, except they hire some minimum wage dead end contractor millennials to do it for you. No one in any of these departments are actually going to care about your work like you do. They know the bare minimum is going to make them enough money to break even and keep the publishing house owned by a financial firm around long enough to let the public still believe people make things.


And people on here want to be a part of that so they can what? Make 10k over the next four years from a contract that owns all the rights to your intellectual property that has been chopped to pieces by editors and management? For the even more rare chance that the rights get licensed for a movie that will never get made? The lawyer drafting that contract from a template will see more money than you will.


It’s all an absolute joke. I don’t understand the pretension of people in this thread participating in a dichotomous debate. A circle jerk of thesis antithesis with no synthesis. Pride in following a path none of you will ever complete.

The only people in these threads that can hold any semblance of pride are those that purely do it for fun and get it in front of other people so they can feel something in this cold, bleak hellscape. The next Joyce or Kafka is not in this thread.

So, what have you written for FUN recently, /wg/?

[Anonymous No.19691149]

>>19691141
I'm writing some airship nonsense. It's more fun than anything I took seriously and honestly I think it's better too

[Anonymous No.19691152]

>>19691131
I did the self publishing sir. Do not put me with those bastard guys, the trad pubbers!
>>19691141
Writing for fun is stupid. You need to write for passion.

[Anonymous No.19691157]

>>19691152
>Writing for fun is stupid. You need to write for passion.
The two are not mutually exclusive. Do you not enjoy the things you're passionate about?

[Anonymous No.19691158]

>>19691152
And where is your trad pub?
Still being gate kept?

[Anonymous No.19691162]

>>19691124
actually sounds like the more interesting of self published titles. most of it is literal animewriting self-insertion, their personal diaries, thinly veiled revenge porn against someone who screwed them over, unhinged schitzo ranting, bad genrefiction, or blatant fanfiction of some anime or capeshit, or even of a video gayme. but my god you can't tell the fuckers that they suck and ought to either work on improving or quit, oh no, they wont heed a word of advice or critique, won't even edit the fucking thing for basic spelling errors or format it, write on a third grade level, and get assblasted level defensive about the "artistic purity of their vision" or whatever shit. my god some people just have no shame.

and the best thing is a lot of them dont even use pen names. they will publish this unfathomable level of schlock sludge under their real legal name so all their prospective employers can look them up.

they dont even put in any effort but feel entitled to become a millionaire for crapping out 60,000 (or god forbid the other end of writing a 400,000 word tome) words into a document and slapping it online while drunk.

[Anonymous No.19691164]

>>19691141
If you really want to read it...

“Woah!” Lilian sounded out.
Emily found herself sitting on the burning sand covered in ketchup, mustard, onions, pickles, and relish. Her white swimwear became unrecognizable. Smears, drops, and streaks of bright red, yellow, and orange covered and stained the canvas. The sticky sauce drenched the top of her head, clumping her hair and decorating it with chopped vegetables. The condiments slowly oozed down and dripped past her nose, and mouth, but Emily did not make a single stir. She looked around trying to find the two main pieces in her recipe, and found the two corn dogs separated. One laid between her legs, and the other fell to the side of her hip. Both covered with new items not found at Beach Dogs. Clumps of onions, pickles, and relish fell from the top of her head, and onto her legs and surrounding areas. Emily emptied a giant glob of mud from her paper tray. The clump slipped out and generated a big splat on the sand leaving a lump of salty, sour, spicy, and sweet mixture of muck near her feet. Bits of sand remained stuck to the side of the tray as she tried in vain to shake it off. She reached out and picked up half a hot dog, broken pieces of soggy fried batter, a solid piece of fried corn meal, and an intact corn dog that fell apart the minute she lifted it from the sand, leaving only a wooden stick skewering a hot dog covered in sand. She looked up as the mixture of ketchup and mustard covered the lenses in her eyes. The sauce slid down the corner of her eye, past her mouth, and ended with drops dripping from her chin. Emily hunched over trying to salvage whatever remained of her gift, only to hear laughter and mockery emitting from two familiar voices above her.
“Look at yourself!” Sharlene mocked, “That’s for Matthew.”
“That’s what you get for slutting your way to Matthew,” Kate added, “And the new look suits you perfectly. You actually look and smell like the hoochie you are.”
“Emily are you okay?” Lilian said trying to help Emily, “Sharlene! That wasn’t very nice!”
“Why are you on her side? She deserves it,” Sharlene shot back, “We all know your little game Emily. How about you ditch the sweet innocent act, and just admit that you’re a filthy skank. I bet you lay on your back and spread your legs as a hobby. Don’t think we don’t know what you two did.”
“We were looking for corn dogs,” Emily explained.
“Oh yea, I’m sure you found his corn dogs too.” a sarcastic tone emerged from Kate, as she slapped the tray out of Emily’s hand, “Pick it up slut!”

[Anonymous No.19691167]

>>19691157
Enjoying things means you’re not serious about it. I can be self satisfied when I have made a line of poetry sing but not when I’m trying to compose as a whole, because it takes a lot of energy and attention to do it well.
>>19691158
I said, sir, I’m doing the 35000 rank by selling online sir!

[Anonymous No.19691171]

>>19691167
>Enjoying things means you’re not serious about it.
Now that's the 4chan I know and love.

[Anonymous No.19691174]

>>19691152
Fun can be a subset of passion. And passion can be fun. These arbitrary and abstract emotional states are so subjective we could have another 30 post long argument about it. Like, for example, passion can be seen as a mode of being to some end goal, it is means as an emotion, but it is not itself an end. Which subsequently begs the question, what are the ends of your passions? What are the arbitrary and abstract goals you have constructed for yourself with such fervor you define it as a transitive state? What are you actually passionate about, anon?
>>19691149
That sounds fun. I’m glad you’re having fun. What happens on the airships? Are they big airships? Little airships? Pirate airships?

[Anonymous No.19691176]

>>19691167
Yeah, like I thought, you'll never get published. You'll have a backlog of 10+ books with 0 published because you're not half as good as you think you are and you're not a quarter as good as you need to be to be trad pubbed.

[Anonymous No.19691178]

>>19691141
kek'd. nice effortpost
>>19691157
not him but my writing habits are obsessive and masochistic. i write because i would die otherwise.

[Anonymous No.19691190]

>>19691176
Sir, I’m doing the faithful. I do all my writings on google docs and then put it on Amazon kindle direct publishing sirs. I use the cover I made and photographed when at the train museum in India.

[Anonymous No.19691193]

>>19691174
It's a swashbuckler at heart - light hearted and dashing, boy-meets-girl stuff, but it's a world where airships are the dominant method of transportation, so there are all sorts - from small personal ones for getting around town to 1200-foot luxury liners. My favorites so far are the little construction ships that are used to build skyscrapers.
And yes, of course there are pirates. Airships must have pirates, no? :D

[Anonymous No.19691201]

>>19691164
This reads like a pornographic Archie Comic. I love it. That was fun. I’m glad you’re having fun with it. My one critique is that you use lists of items for effect a little too much. It’s hilarious, but I think a time piece allusion/simile would work well too.

[Anonymous No.19691205]

>>19691190
>I use the cover I made and photographed when at the train museum in India.
That is a great idea for a cover. Thanks!

[Anonymous No.19691241]

>>19691193
>”c’mon, Paully, my dear sweet Casandra Molotovkinpovich has been kidnapped by Captain Bristol Belly Slasher, the most cruel and handsome pirate these fourteen wind corridors have seen in nearly seventy years! Not since Admiral Pompritious of the northern alliance captured and hanged his father, the previously most handsome and evil pirate, have the winds been torn asunder! Please Paully, we need to gather a crew, and fast, for I had my great aunt Marmaloon, the wisest witch of the south, cast bones of pidgins and her reading was grim.”

Holy shit that was fun. Anon, I fully support you.

[Anonymous No.19691243]

>editing and 2500 words today
you assholes don't deserve yakusoku fanart, make due with nothing.

[Anonymous No.19691247]

It’s over, animebros…

[Anonymous No.19691258]

>>19691247
damn.
why do those animals get personalized revision guidance and we have to battle out the editing on our own.
feels kinda schadenfreude though, i like it anon. post source.

[Anonymous No.19691261]

>>19691247
>my writing serially for fun in a format that encourages never ending plots and plot holes doesn’t make for an easy transition into a medium that requires a definitive length!
>oh no I’m a publisher and I can’t afford to outright buy the rights to garbage and have a ghostwriter revise third grade level plot novels!
Both parties here seem pretty retarded.

[Anonymous No.19691264]

>>19691247
That's why Kadokawa often heavily edits them before publishing and then uses the LN for anime adaptation instead of webnovel.

[Anonymous No.19691271]

>>19691241
well, since you went to the trouble, I'll post opening paragraphs

It was the break of dawn when the Pride of Kivaara came into view over Ana Visla, parting the towering clouds like curtains. Ross was up early to watch her come into harbor, and she didn’t disappoint.
Twelve hundred and fifty feet long she was, fifteen stories high, and ice white from stem to stern - apart from the gondola. That was as blue as the sky she sailed. Her envelope almost seemed to shine in the sunrise, gleaming like new. In actual fact, she was nearly thirty years old, but she and her sister ships were still the largest airships ever created. She traveled all over the world - she was currently returning from a three-week voyage to the Signal Islands - and she visited Ana Visla two or three times a year. Ross never missed the chance to watch her land. Unfortunately, neither did most of the people in the little harbor town.
As the sun rose and the airship descended further, more shipspotters gathered upon the Belfort Bridge where Ross stood, chattering and gawking and generally being irritating. One bumped him aside to get a better view for himself, and a man in a motorcar nearly ran down the whole crowd of them while rubbernecking. Soon, the whole sidewalk was packed with a noisy mob, and Ross found himself boxed out of view.
“I was here first,” he said crossly, to no one in particular. Just as well, for none of them were listening.
“She’s a Pride Class Luxury Liner,” A portly, mustachioed fellow near Ross said to his equally stout friend. “One of three, built by The Danton Company for the King of Esten Sha.” He peered through his binoculars and sniffed. “I must say, Terrence, she’s taking her time about it.”
“Getting on in years, I expect. And she wasn’t fast when she was new.” Terrence took the binoculars to have a look for himself. “It’s a wonder she hasn’t been taken by pirates yet. A big, slow ship full of some of the richest people in the world. Maybe even Princess Kivaara herself, or some other member of that royal family…that’d be a tidy ransom, eh?”

[Anonymous No.19691298]

>>19691258
https://japantoday.com/category/features/lifestyle/editor-claims-many-of-japan’s-light-novel-authors-can’t-write-aren’t-the-ones-creating-their-books?

[Anonymous No.19691304]

>>19691271
>>19691241
Another Anon here. And yeah... I agree with the editor othat the names are all over the place. Unless they're from different areas of the world that has already been established earlier, the names of characters are rediculous. Ross is modern, belly slasher is from some comedy, kivarra is from some sci fi fantasy , pitipudious sounds like some ancient Roman or high fantasy guy. Makes things very jumbled

[Anonymous No.19691323]

>>19691304
Lol I didn’t write that greentext, that was just anon goofing around. Ross and Kivaara do not exist in the same universe as Captain Belly Slasher
By the way, Kivaara just comes from the finnish word for rifle. It’s not fully made up. But anyway, she’s from a different culture and different part of the world, why can’t her name be a little exotic?

[Anonymous No.19691326]

>>19691201
Thank you. I'll try to diversify the descriptions more

[Anonymous No.19691334]

>>19691323
I don't have the context of other worlds and the background behind the other worlds. Hence why it sounded really silly to me

[Anonymous No.19691339]

>>19691298
i swear to god this happens because otaku, the people who write web novels, dont read actual books. they only read other LN, manga, and watch anime. it's a completely incestuous circle and their products are abortive deformed garbage. similar is afflicting genrefiction in the west but somehow to a lesser degree, as we have more of a culture that stresses classic literature as the holy standard of writing. in japan it's more distanced from their classical scene and translated foreign literature. coomerist vegetarian otaku there will not read any book after graduating high school, if they graduate at all. these people are the scum of their society, the lowest social elements imagineable, and their only market is to other illiterate braindead cooming losers who cant handle reality and lock themselves up in their childhood bedroom hotglueing figures of balloon titted moeblobs.

society needs to collectively slap these people back to scrubbing the floor of mcdonalds and collecting garbage like they should be working. hopefully when their boomer parents who support them financially finally die off and economic recession strangles the welfare program, all these pathetic losers get dumped on their asses in an alleyway, where they will have to work for a fucking living and wont have time to spend 10 hours a day tugging their two inch dick to oreimo watashi kumo musume slime desu ka.

just look at this shit called "isekai". the type of people who write webnovels are lower than even the worst elements on 4chan. you guys are casuals at loserdom compared to these creatures.

[Anonymous No.19691352]

>>19691339
damn

[Anonymous No.19691384]

>>19691334
>>19691323
>>19691304
Kek, the names were the most fun part. This is, after all, the FUN /wg/.

[Anonymous No.19691401]

>>19691339
If you try to cast out the otaku, they'll turn into rapists and murderers just like the otaku murderer, aka, ratman.

[Anonymous No.19691410]

>>19691339
Can you post the most egregious excerpts of poor writing from this internet shit to make /wg/ feel better? Can we have one of those massive /pol/ tier image charts of tiny text but instead of explaining wooden doors and Jews it’s about weebs and neets writing garbage?

[Anonymous No.19691446]

Faustian bargain, does it ever get old?

[Anonymous No.19691452]

What's a good synonym for "give a damn"? I just realized I have this character using the phrase three times in one scene. I'm looking for something perhaps gently profane -- something that might have counted as edgy 60 or 70 years ago.

[Anonymous No.19691453]

>>19691446
No, because at its core it is an exchange and all the parts can be swapped out to keep it fresh.

[Anonymous No.19691460]

>>19691452
A tinker’s cuss.

[Anonymous No.19691468]

>>19691460
You know, I was just looking at the history of that very phrase. I'm worried it might sound too archaic or affected, though.

[Anonymous No.19691477]

>>19691410
can everyone run out and fetch some examples. ask /a/ to contribute. i really need to see this.

[Anonymous No.19691668]

Is first person past tense outdated? A lot of novels I see are first person present and I can’t get into them. I am stupid, okay, but it’s just unnatural to me. Thoughts??

[Anonymous No.19691675]

>>19691668
First person present definitely feels off, go with past tense.

[Anonymous No.19691912]

Where can I send erotica? Are there any publishers or magazines out there doing it? Can I be violent too or is that a no no?

[Anonymous No.19692085]

>>19691410
>>19691477
I'll fetch some Wattpad BTS fanfiction for you.

[Anonymous No.19692094]

>>19692085
Wattpad fanfic is enjoyable. NTA but I used to read wattpad one direction fanfic in high school and one was turned into a published novel/movie.

[Anonymous No.19692508]

>>19691339
Don't these web novels have like tens of thousands of readers? I know they circle jerk but it's still closer to publishing than what we have

[Anonymous No.19692567]

>>19690692
Querytracker
Manuscriptwishlist
Submittable

[Anonymous No.19692647]

>>19691164
Please stop bullying your android waifu, it hurts my heart

[Anonymous No.19692944]

>>19691339
>be D-lister cookie-cutter isekai web novelist
>more successful than anyone in this thread will be ever
>"haha oh wow, imagine having an audience, what a fag, couldn't be us right anons?"

[Anonymous No.19693094]

Why is buying ISBNs such a scam? Jesus fucking christ

[Anonymous No.19693121]

Guys, I thought OP said this was to be the “comfy edition”…nothing so far has made me feel comfy. Last thread was a bit more constructive than this one.

I’ll start with something positive: I just found out that something I submitted a while ago got published! It’s a chapter in an actuarial textbook, so not really /lit/, but it’s still feels nice to see my name and bio in print.

I’ve had a few journal articles published last year as well. Do things like that help when looking to publish fiction, or is it considered irrelevant?

[Anonymous No.19693136]

Reminder to self-publish and not fall for the 'published' meme.

[Anonymous No.19693152]

>>19693094
UNSCANNABLE!

[Anonymous No.19693291]

>>19692085
get stuff from royalroad and scribblehub

[Anonymous No.19693368]

Hey I'm doing world building and its going great so far but my files are starting to become a bit organized and i wish to nip that in the bud.

Any tips?

[Anonymous No.19693381]

>>19693368
disorganized*

Sorry for the typo

[Anonymous No.19693412]

I am new to lit. is there any place I can post a first page of a story?

[Anonymous No.19693430]

>>19693412
This would be the general for it.

[Anonymous No.19693434]

>>19693412
Um... this thread?

Go to pastebin and share your work here

tell us a bit about it if you can

[Anonymous No.19693612]

>>19693430
>>19693434
This is the first page I wrote of a story I want to write about a guy who wants to fuck cars and become an automobile himself.

This is thing I've ever written in 5 years.

[Anonymous No.19693645]

>>19693612
Can't say much about the quality of the plot or prose---the grown-ups come across as cliche, and that's all---but you got me hooked. Keep going.

[Anonymous No.19693774]

Do you guys write in front of people? Most of the time I'm downstairs with my girlfriend but I feel self-conscious writing in front of her. I'm also so pathetic that I haven't told her I want to become a writer.

[Anonymous No.19693872]

>>19691668
I cant read first person at all, except Dazai. It's the cheapest, worst sort of trash, the modern writers dont even know how to utilize it, they use it as a crutch so they can tell you what the character is thinking instead of showing them take actions to demonstrate it. there is literally no point reading anything written in first person pov, past nor present.
>>19693774
i've written in cafes/libraries in the past before, especially as a student. really nbd.

>>19693368
>fantasy toddlers
there is nothing more cringe than "worldbuilding" "lore".

[Anonymous No.19693945]

>>19693872
So by definition your post is not worth reading since you wrote it in the first person

[Anonymous No.19693960]

>>19693872
Genuinely can't tell if this post is bait or not.

[Anonymous No.19694001]

>>19693136
Bruh

[Anonymous No.19694013]

>>19693368
Scrivener for large projects, Scapple for note arrangement

[Anonymous No.19694018]

>>19693872
I don't mean in public, but in front of people who are close to you. Like side by side on the sofa with a loved one, kind of thing.

[Anonymous No.19694022]

>>19694018
No, I can't explain to my mom or dad why I'm writing stories about porn addicts and people who fuck cars

[Anonymous No.19694040]

>>19694022
J G Ballard?

[Anonymous No.19694044]

>>19694018
normalfags cant read so its fine
stop writing cringeshit and it wont be a problem for you. repent, coomer.

[Anonymous No.19694062]

>>19694044
I'm pretty shit because I don't have a lot of writing experience so all my writing is pretty cringe.

[Anonymous No.19694077]

>>19693774
I need total isolation to really write, even someone cooking or reading in the same room breaks my flow. Editing I can do anywhere/anytime.

I think it's your subconscious mind being programmed to track people as a defense and social mechanism, the same mechanism that makes dogs want to shit in corners. But to really get creative and productive I have to enter that sort of waking dream state which demands no impending interruptions.

[Anonymous No.19694110]

What do you think of this excerpt? I'm trying to improve my writing
>Snap! The rope split in two, and the tire went flying out into the lake. The boy went with it, of course, and with great difficulty he managed to paddle out of the water. It seems his uncle's "swimming lessons" which consisted of just throwing him in the water, were a big waste of time. If he had his real parents, it would be different, but his mother died in childbirth and his father took off soon after. The boy looked longingly at the floating tire, wanting to fix it but not having the confidence. He had many memories with that swing, but he was unable to tie a knot. Oh well. His uncle would probably be glad for it, with all his talk about becoming a man.
>The boy went home, dejected, but ready to get over it. The boy went on with his life, helping out his uncle doing odd jobs as usual. The uncle noticed something was wrong, as the boy stopped taking his usual trips by the lake. Nonchalantly, the boy told him about the swing, expecting his uncle to be proud of his coming of age. Surprisingly, this was not his reaction, and he vowed to fix the swing on the Lord's day, his only free day. He was a devout Christian, and always skimped and saved so he could afford that one day's leisure.
>The Lord's Day came, church went, and the uncle went out as promised. The boy decided not to come, as he was proud of the maturity he had gained from the mishap. Instead, he wanted to hang out with the boys in his neighborhood. They never liked hom before, but he was changed now! But try as he might, the other boys still seemed to want nothing to do with him, still calling him names he didn't understand. The boy decided the others weren't worth his time anyway, and decided to go out to the lake to see if his uncle had finished the swing. He admired the lush Alabama landscape as he walked. He went to the swing, but a crowd had formed around it. They all seemed to be chanting and hollering, but the boy was fixated on the tire floating in the lake. Obviously something was on the swing, so had his father gotten a new tire? He went up and to look at the swing, but the tire was shaped like a human. Confused, he looked back at the lake, at the tire and at his own reflection. The boy's black skin was reflected off the water. The crowd still hadn't noticed him. They were shouting the same word the boys had called him: nigger.

[Anonymous No.19694197]

>>19693612
Why am I here? Just to suffer?
To have my prose labled purple by ESL, Henry James worshipping poojeets who have autoautophillia?

It's all so fucking tiring.

[Anonymous No.19694234]

Wanna know /wg/ opinion on people who try to write prose like jack london or inspiration from him. He's one of my favorites. and i love his work.

thoughts /wg/?

[Anonymous No.19694243]

>>19694077
Yeah I get that. For me I need to focus hard on what's playing out in my head. Someone else in the same room really breaks that state.

[Anonymous No.19694262]

>>19694018
>>19694077
I can only do this successfully if I'm left totally uninterrupted. If I'm on the couch with my dad and there's a game on, it's a 1:4 chance of me getting distracted and not getting shit done. If I try to write with a girl friend in the room, she'll invariably want to talk about some shit and I'll get nothing done even if I explicitly tell her I want to be left alone to write.
I think writing by yourself, totally, is the way to go. It doesn't make me uncomfortable to have other people around; it just makes it too hard to focus.

[Anonymous No.19694321]

>>19693368
don't listen to the babbyshitters shitting on worldbuilding
I just use word for everything

[Anonymous No.19694374]

>If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second-greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style. The first-greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they're happy. ~Dorothy Parker
Does writing make you unhappy?

[Anonymous No.19694383]

>>19694110
pretty terrible anon. the prose is clunky all over.
if he succeeded in not drowning, the swimming lessons were good after all. if he cant swim, why was he doing this. then you go off onto a tangent info-dumping about his childhood.
repetitive sentence structure "the boy... The boy..." and a bunch of sentences in a row with two clauses separated by a comma. vary it.
lousy construction all over, constant devolving into commentary that would be needless if the writing was intentional and vivid. it reads like a summary of events happening, not a description of them, not a novel excerpt.

[Anonymous No.19694439]

>>19694374
Everyone wants to be a martyr.

[Anonymous No.19694589]

Going through Western Wind and doing the exercises. I feel sad that I don't have a class to share with or anything though.

[Anonymous No.19694612]

>>19694110
just kinda meandering, to be honest. It doesn't feel focused and as a result it's a little incoherent. just work on that

[Anonymous No.19694732]

>friend knows i have been writing like a madman
>told him a bit about story
>keeps asking to read it
>panic
what do?

[Anonymous No.19694739]

So I have to write a paper on an author for a class. I’ve chosen F Gardner. What can you gents tell me about him? I suspected this would be the best place to ask.

[Anonymous No.19694749]

>>19694589
just got incredibly lucky. as my reward for getting to chapter 2, a micro SD card fell out of the used book. I guess that's a sign I should post my little exercises here.

>Vinegar splashed into cast iron, before shadows snuck in and the scalding smell crept out.
>The dog yawns first. Tik-tik-tik, nails gently clacking on the wood, down the hall he goes.
>Our toothbrushes drag their feet, probing into our mouths where
>each syllable comes out slower, yawning into pillows.

[Anonymous No.19694790]

>>19694739
He’s nuts and can somehow write a lot

[Anonymous No.19694812]

>>19694739
Fuck off Frank, go stroke your ego somewhere else you stupid fuck

[Anonymous No.19694977]

>>19694732
kiss him

[Anonymous No.19694983]

>>19694732
why are you nervous, anon? there isn't anything objectionable in your manuscript, is there?

[Anonymous No.19695006]

>>19694739
This is hilarious. Are you going to give a presentation to your class? I don’t know much about him. Don’t know if anyone here does.

[Anonymous No.19695024]

>>19694739
Dude was a chronic pantshitter. Not even joking.

[Anonymous No.19695036]

>>19689788
>Don't start a sentence with "But"! That's bad prose!
But I like to. But it's a completely respectable function word that serves a clear purpose as a conjunction linking two sentences. But there's literally nothing wrong with it and proscriptions against it are mindlessly parroted without forethought or explanation.

[Anonymous No.19695050]

>>19694739
He’s like the physical manifestation of this board. A Tradcath Flat Earther who memed himself into being an author from his shitty ads. His life is ridiculous.

[Anonymous No.19695108]

>>19693612

some minor quibbles like: "he softly pulled me" I would change to "he pulled me along"

but on the whole it's not bad, anon. keep going and keep improving it.

[Anonymous No.19695136]

>>19694983
it's actually clean and professional writing that i wouldn't be ashamed to publish under my real name if i were assured it was actually good--the subject matter isnt the problem. the problem is i dont know if its good enough or cringe. i keep overthinking it.

[Anonymous No.19695219]

>>19695136
I'm jealous he sounds like a legitimately good friend, just send it over man. If nervous though just make it a sample of ~2k words and ask for impressions and leave door open if he wants the rest.

[Anonymous No.19695288]

>>19695036
>linking two sentences
But that is not its purpose.

[Anonymous No.19695324]

>>19695219
i guess i'll send it, then. i have to clean up a little first.

[Anonymous No.19695352]

How do I become a more ruthless writer?
I hate it when I describe a character going from joy to despair, I feel pain when a lovable character gets gutted like a fish and never gets to realize their dreams or get new ones, I pace around uncomfortably when I imagine bad things happening to my main character, and I toss and turn at night thinking of ways I could have achieved a result without harming my characters so much.

[Anonymous No.19695362]

>>19695352
That's a good thing, anon. If you feel for your characters when bad things happen to them, that's probably what those who read your work will feel too. You shouldn't feel nothing when they die. As long as it doesn't deter you from actually causing them harm as the story requires, it's a positive thing

[Anonymous No.19695371]

>>19695352
>>19695362
and this isn't my advice, this is published and famous author advice

[Anonymous No.19695389]

>>19695362
My problem there, mainly, is hesitation. I feel like I'm never as thorough as what I want to do, what I know has to happen, and sometimes I do hold back even though that's not as satisfying, like the character gets crippled, or I freeze up and stop writing the story. How can I break that source of hesitation?

[Anonymous No.19695390]

I'm pretty good at making creative premises for stories, but I struggle when I actually try to outline a plot. How do I work on developing the actual plots?

[Anonymous No.19695411]

I want to start writing buy I'm a pushy who can't take criticism well. Should I just write privately?

[Anonymous No.19695417]

>>19695389
getting a beta reader might help - they can give you a second opinion on whether or not killing that nice old man was necessary. But I think you would find that that hesitation is something all writers face, that feeling of "is this really the best way to drive the plot forward". I usually break through and make a decisions after about a week, and then I'm back on track. So I dunno what to say other than just "make the decision and move forward"

[Anonymous No.19695427]

>>19695390
Make your characters make decisions that have causes and effects. That will make a natural plot. All you have to do is make sure each decision causes an effect logically or emotionally.
>>19695411
Getting criticized is never easy. But the best thing you can do is post snippets here and take any lumps you get as learning experiences, even if they shatter your ego. Just toughen up and keep going.

[Anonymous No.19695432]

>>19695371
I wouldn't really take advice from a hack like Gaiman.

[Anonymous No.19695442]

>>19695432
then why would you take advice from anyone on this Somali Pirate recruitment forum

[Anonymous No.19695473]

I'm currently trying to write a short story based on a horrible dream I had. I don't have writing experience and English isn't my first language, but I've cobbled together an (albeit pretentious and slightly autistic) one page opening.
Is there a place where I could post it to see if it fits the horror mood?

[Professional Writer, /wg/ Publ(...) No.19695486]

>>19695473
Yes it is this thread

[Anonymous No.19695513]

>>19695486
Alright:
>Superstition. If there is one to boredom discussed hostility arching over the last 3 centuries, its perhaps the clash of the natural sciences with esoteric believes and superstitions. And perhaps, it's more of a fight of the esoteric against itself, whith the technological advancements that alienated us from nature writing a book of rules that demystified the slight-of-hand tricks the generations before us had to fear.
>And who could blame us - those believes do everything to make themselves look unsound. The holy virgin Mary could decide to manifest in the canteen of a tech startup right in the center of San Francisco for once, instead of torturing hysteric women hiking in solitude. The archangels could get some sense into the foolish leaders of our world instead of exclusively talking with absurdly rich televangelist that are more known for their sexual harassment charges and tax fraud cases than helping the overwhelmed in nauseatingly fast world.

>No, the shadows on this world know their days are numbered.

>Or perhaps - they see this millennia as a time to lay dormant?

>Working against the collective technological advancements, drones, sensors, nuclear weapons, cameras and a complete cross-linkage of the world is not only tedious, but may even exceed their own powers by far.

>No, they sit and wait, in the darkest corners of the world where secularized humans don't bother to look, waiting, for the arrogant upright ape to fail and crash under the hubris his own technological powers. Waiting for the days, when they don't sleep with their backs to doors anymore. Waiting, for when they avoid the dark streets and nights, when the forest grow far and fearsome and their unknown sounds send shivers down everyone who dares to cross them. Waiting, for when the people realize their own weakness and insignificance while they watch in horror when the creatures of the night emerge again.

[Anonymous No.19695563]

>>19695432
>Gaiman is a hack
>F Gardner is a hack

Kek. You guys hate everyone

[Anonymous No.19695630]

Chapter 64 released.
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/40361/erased
Hope everyone is making headway with your projects. You're going to make it, but only if you put in the work. There is light is at the end of the tunnel.

[Anonymous No.19695690]

>>19695630
Can you stop making every single one of your sentences fragments?

[Anonymous No.19695704]

[Anonymous No.19695706]

>>19695563
ignore them, they're all pseuds. Neil Gaiman is a great fantasy writer

[Anonymous No.19695720]

>>19695706
>Neil Gaiman is a great fantasy writer
lol

[Anonymous No.19695731]

>>19690854
slag

[Anonymous No.19695732]

>>19695563
Ignore them, they’re all pseuds. F. Gardner is a great horror writer.

[Anonymous No.19695741]

>>19695690
The mc's voice lends itself to making a lot of fragments, but I'll do my best to intersperse more longer flowing sentences. I do have some but they're definitely the exception. The next book with a different mc will have a different style, more longer sentences, more focus on details, but I need to finish this one before getting the new mc voice down.

[Anonymous No.19695841]

>>19695732
You're not fooling anyone, Frank.

[Anonymous No.19695865]

Should I just post all of my fragmented story beginnings under the same royal road page and pretend it’s going to become an interwoven narrative, only for them to all simply fall off when I get bored?


Is “it gets good after chapter 30” a thing on royal road? Do people even read shit on there that isn’t leveling up your Dagon ball z vampire knight?

[Anonymous No.19695885]

New thread new rejection

[Anonymous No.19695892]

>>19695865
>Is “it gets good after chapter 30” a thing on royal road?

People literally won't read your submission until it has 30 chapters so yeah

[Anonymous No.19695940]

>>19695741
You know a sentence being a fragment has nothing to do with length right? You're just skipping verbs.

[Anonymous No.19695953]

>>19695885
>makes you read a wall of text in pretense of being "polite"
wow
You know, in 80 queries over different stories i only ever received 1 rejection that wasn't a form rejection.

[Anonymous No.19695955]

>>19695865
>>Is “it gets good after chapter 30” a thing on royal road?
Never heard of this being a thing on RR, but it's a unspoken rule that readers won't give you a chance until there's at least 20 chapters available. This is why it's important to—if you can help it—have a buffer backlog of some 70-120k words that you can publish daily until you reach the end of your backlog.

>Do people even read shit on there that isn’t leveling up your Dagon ball z vampire knight?
It's literally all luck and rng. I'm a outlier but I'm writing a space opera that's 3 books in and found moderate success with a ample amount of readers. My numbers aren't anything close to the the average litrpg but it's success in my eyes. My advice for this sort of thing is to remember to write for yourself first—unless you're writing hoping for money. That's a whole different story.

[Anonymous No.19695964]

>>19695865
>leveling up your Dagon ball z vampire knight?
i just dont understand why this kind of shit has an audience. i've never, not once, read any fanfiction that was good (except methods of rationality which is more of a scathing parody). why the fuck are there so many people lining up to gobble down trash? they could read anything.

[Anonymous No.19695965]

I'm going to start querying for agents tomorrow. I still have a couple minor things I want to add and change, but at this point I am 99% done with everything, including editing.
Anyone got advice on good ways to actually find agents?

[Anonymous No.19695982]

>>19695841
You’re not fooling anyone, Neil

[Anonymous No.19695986]

>>19695885
Anon please, this is the year of hope not the year of constant rejections

[Anonymous No.19695990]

>>19695986

Sorry bro but misery loves company and I have some to share

[Anonymous No.19696002]

>>19694739

[Anonymous No.19696025]

>>19695964
Escapism. They're stuff that you can read for free too without any currency involved like on Webnovel. People like numbers going up and such. It's a bit more complicated than that, though.

[Anonymous No.19696027]

>>19695965
do not start until you are finished editing 100%. wait 3 months and then do another round of editing.

[Anonymous No.19696032]

>>19696025
>can read for free too without any currency involved
why do they not read all of the public domain works, or anything from a library? all books are free. what the fuck even. would they eat a shit sandwich so long as it was free?

[Anonymous No.19696036]

>>19696027
3 months is fucking ages so no

[Anonymous No.19696048]

>>19696036
k zoomer, enjoy your failure, enjoy wasting your own time. you asked for advice to be successful and i gave it to you, just remember that.

[Anonymous No.19696065]

>>19695706
I hate Gaiman's persona so much I can't even bring myself to pick up one of his books.

>>19695885
That wall of text/libtard hand wringing over "muh dark covid times" is a war crime

[Anonymous No.19696066]

>>19696032
I dunno, maybe they just want to read stuff they're interested in? I think you're overthinking this a little

[Anonymous No.19696076]

>>19696065
>"muh dark covid times"
seriously, tired of companies using this as some kind of excuse for their lazy behavior and half assed effort. literary agents to employers it's all the same note. fucking delusional. the pandemic ends if you shut off the television.

[Anonymous No.19696090]

>>19696048
Your advice is torn verbatim out of every fucking "how to write a novel" book and blog ever written. I doubt you've ever even come as close as I have to finishing a novel, much less editing it.
By the way, I've already gone through three drafts of editing with a several week break between each draft. The only reason I'm not 100% done is because I decided recently to add another small chapter, and I still have to edit that, which I will several times in the coming weeks while looking for agents and beginning the querying process.
Three months is excessive, and it's only commonly used because that's what Stephen King does, and he only does it because he writes an entire different novel in that three month period. But most people are not Stephen King and shouldn't try to copy the way he does things.

[Anonymous No.19696106]

>>19696090
seethe harder, you hasten to your own destruction and harm no one but yourself. not reading

[Anonymous No.19696115]

>>19696002
I fucking love this place. Saved.

[Anonymous No.19696165]

How do I know when I’m not adding enough detail in a scene? Like I just want the character actions and dialogue done and over with but I feel like I’m going through it all too fast.

[Anonymous No.19696181]

>>19696165
'the first five pages' had a section on that

[Anonymous No.19696196]

The sultriness of the air delivered a worse castigation than a straightforward broiling of the blazing sun. Like an oven, the audience and the arena itself were absorbed into a dizzying, migraine-inducing boiling mass of invisible steam, with the heat so cruel it caused undulations on the air. Their bodies dehydrated, mouths dry, light tunics drenched in the relentless perspiration, clothes clinging to their bodies in darkened semi-transparency as if they had come from a heavy rain. All this time the Colosseum erupted into howling thunderous roars and vociferations, the voice of the legion, pulling towards the collectivist baritone of sound that enters your ears as if undulating all the way inside in the ups and downs of voices that come and go in volume and intensity, but retaining the common element of loudness. They echoed and manifested in waves, echoing from each other's litany of their shouts and chants or from the way the sound traveled and responded through the building? It was hard to tell for sure. But they blared and screeched in debauched contortions, rounds and rounds like locusts, which have no leader but still move in ranks as the book of Proverbs alerts, an amalgamam of flailing threshing appendages and unhinged jaws, gaping and releasing noise. They were a body, but belonging to something else, rather a hivemind than a cursed spectre, a psychic incorporeal abomination, yet still akin to demonic possession, one that had no body but still had physical demands, necessities, of the most horrid famine, lusting for nourishment that can afflict a large animal. It was thirsty for blood and for flesh, its clamoring for violent death always hiding behind the perilous delicate shroud, the easily tearable cloak of reality, and once a small group threaded next to each other it was enough to depress the surface of the veil, as their voices started to speak as one and they started to manifest violent desires, eyes glued towards one scapegoat, the pleasure of the physical satisfaction of appetite, the sustenance of this abstract, mystic beast, came in the physical satisfaction that succeeds the physical exertion that men go through, once screaming and flailing and expending the last of their energy in frenzied explosive spasming. The drunken haze of a flood of dopamine into the brain that relieved the body and the mind, with a happy peasant in a conjecture of sitting and laying on his seat, the very image of gratification.

[Anonymous No.19696247]

>>19695940
oh. that's intentional. sorry if you don't like it.

[Anonymous No.19696309]

>>19691141
Got bored and wrote a random scene.

“It doesn’t work in a mirror you retard”.
Fred recoiled at the remark, but his curiosity had piqued. “So what, it’s like Jason and the Argonauts?”
“You’re thinking of Clash of the Titans” I replied. “How do you think I would have made it these last twenty years without accidentally seeing my own reflection?”
I took off my bulky welding glasses and met his gaze in the mirror.
What Fred didn’t know - but would discover by the time I killed him later today - was that you have to look directly into my eyes. Mirrors don’t work. Pictures don’t work. As an aside, I’ve tested it at long distances – as a rule, if you can make out my eye colour it’s pretty much over. And that’s great for any miserable person who I happen to lock eyes with – but it’s a real pain in the sack for me because I’d like to just have a look at myself and be done with it.
“Well if that doesn’t work, what else have you tried?” asked Fred, like he was asking what kind of moisturizer I use.
I sat down and put the glasses back on, pushing them deep into the bridge of my nose. They may make me look like Rue McClanahan in Starship Troopers, but at least no one can see through them.
“What are you talking about, ‘what else’? Nothing else, you fucking dope”.
“Take it easy!” Fred snapped. “You’re the one who wants to neck yourself, I’m just trying to help”.
“I don’t want to die”, I started, but trailed off.
I just want everyone else to stop dying.
But what am I supposed to do? I once even tried to schedule an appointment to have my eyes surgically removed. The weirdest bit about that story isn’t that I accidentally killed a receptionist at the hospital, but the fact that I actually made it all the way to pre-op.
Fred was chewing on his beat-up thumbnail, sitting silently across from me in deep concentration.
“What about gouging your eyes out?”
The truth is, I’ve tried to work out the logistics of gouging my eyes out. But I don’t have the nerve to do it myself, and it’s a big ask for one of your friends.
I shrugged. “Nah. Wouldn’t work”.
“Why not?” Fred asked earnestly.
“Well for starters I don’t really want to be blind”.
“Fair point”, he said going back to his thumbnail.
It was quiet for a while. Fred lit up a cigarette, and I could sense the gears were turning in his head, trying to outdo his last two ideas.
“Well”, he continued, leaning towards me. “What if I pull one of them out and show it to the other one?”
He fell back into his chair, as pleased with his solution as I was bewildered.
“Sorry Pai Mei, I didn’t realise you were such an expert in this kinda shit. First of all, this isn’t Itchy and Scratchy; that’s not how eyes work. Secondly, how the hell are you gonna do it without being able to look at me?”
“I dunno, I’ll just do it by feel. Like scooping out a pumpkin”

[Anonymous No.19696338]

>>19696196
>The sultriness of the air delivered a worse castigation than a straightforward broiling of the blazing sun.
Thesaurus overload, just bee yourself

>>19696165
As a general rule I feel like people dwell waaayyy too much on description so you're probably good. Is there any lack of clarity for the reader? Maybe it's missing something else like character inner thoughts and reactions, but hard to say without seeing it.

>>19696076
Yea somehow it made my plumber overslept. Beyond over it

[Anonymous No.19696368]

Has your own writing ever made you cry?

[Anonymous No.19696376]

>>19696368
yeah cause it's so fuckin terrible that im never going to make it out of this place lmao
just kidding i wrote a spooky scene and it made me piss meself

[Anonymous No.19696389]

>>19696368
I got choked up when I killed my waifu character. She had a great fight, was crippled by a tough disease, and sacrificed herself to save her team from destruction. That book is still hard to read; it was the only death in it I really regretted writing.

[Anonymous No.19696399]

>>19696338
>Thesaurus overload, just bee yourself
Remember to disregard posts like this.

[Anonymous No.19696416]

>>19696368
yeah but that's because i'm a sentimentalist.

[Anonymous No.19696436]

Will the foundation of my writing habits be irrevocably poisoned if I rip off of another writer's introduction?

I can't figure out how to start this story I want to do, but I read this other one that has a really good feel to it...

[Anonymous No.19696439]

>>19689788
>>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)
this has to be the worst title ever produced

[Anonymous No.19696449]

Are you guys marketing? I'm growing my social media presence with incredible speed, soon it is feasible I will surmount other 4chan authors before me.

[Anonymous No.19696454]

>>19696368
yes but they're probably melodramatic as fuck and I haven't actually written them down yet. maybe one day though.

[Anonymous No.19696473]

>>19696416
writing that is too sentimental is better than writing that is barren

[Anonymous No.19696487]

Is the narrative distance all fucked up, or am I retarded? Or both?


Mystery was right: the tailoring room really was comfy. The windows above made the room an accidental greenhouse; Polly basked in its warmth as she watched Mystery work. All it took was one morning for him to turn a lint-covered, tartan fleece blanket into a skirt, with two front pockets and an elastic waistband. And a rather quiet morning it was: Polly wasn't sure on what to say, the memories of last night would swoop in and force her into trains of thought she didn't want. It was easier to get over his past actions and accept her new life, but something still rebelled in her. It was best not to bother him with her confusion---not like he would've been the right person to talk to, anyway.

"Polly."

"Hm?" She snapped out of her trance to look at him; his face showed a tenderness only seen in old people---maybe one of accomplishment.

"Gimme the iron, I finished it." Once it was in his hand, he hurried to press the whole skirt, front then back. "Try it on," he gave her the piece, "I think it's just the right size."

It warmed her as soon as she wore it; clinging to the waist, it draped down to the middle of her thigh. Heavier than she expected, but a tolerable kind of heavy. Pockets had just enough space for a splayed hand. In front of a mirror, she spun around to see it glide up, twice or thrice.

[Anonymous No.19696488]

>>19696399
"Sultry air castigating people" doesn't convey any concrete/immediate feeling that grounds me in the scene. The language in the piece is too focused on being flowery at the expense of making me feel what sounds like a cool scene.

[Anonymous No.19696513]

>>19696439
>>19689788
> genius
> brain
> science
it's like reddit colaborated on a self-help book

[Anonymous No.19696522]

>>19689788
>>19696439
>>19696513
also, append corny joke which makes the title 500 words long.

[Anonymous No.19696527]

>>19696487
>twice or thrice.
specify
otherwise it isn't horrible. narrative distance is fine but people really don't sit around thinking about their past all day long every day, you know? rather than commentary, have her do or say something that shows her character.

[Anonymous No.19696538]

>>19691167
>Enjoying things means you’re not serious about it.
you have literal cuck mentality anon.
if you don't enjoy something you will never succeed at it.

[Anonymous No.19696610]

>>19696488
That's because you don't know what "sultry" means. We understand sultry as being generally hot and humid, or as meaning "sexy woman", but sultry means something like "hot in a steamy suffocating way", as the piece later on explains that the accumulation of hot air burned worse than the sun.

[Anonymous No.19696863]

I drove my sword into his gut. He screamed, and bucked like a pressure hose. I put my heel on his chest and pulled out, and spurt after spurt of glistening fluid followed. I wanted to lick it. I wanted to taste it on my tongue and feel it dripping down my chin.

No time. No time for that now, while the rest still struggled.

His spasms slipped into quiescence. I turned to face the fire coming from our left flank. The last defenders had fortified their positions along the dawnward side of the dome. Dawn was days away. Now we were past the central cluster of buildings, and into the gardens that filled the unused land out to the rim, where geodesic glass arched into the heavens. Looking for the enemy, all I could see were roses and a million years of darkness. Against a backdrop of stars and night, they were readying their final stand.

A stray shot ricocheted off my armour. I barely felt it. My armour reacted, shimmering under the enemy's unkind touch, pricking goosebumps as the energy of the shot was dispersed across the surface. Then it was calm again. Colours flickered and vanished in it as I moved forward - every angle changed it's aspect, like a raven's wing. I wiped my sword across a rosebush until it was the same rainbow black. And then, I waited.

One by one the others slipped into the open. We had left a trail of carnage all the way from here back to the gate, and not one of us had fallen. It was almost disappointing. It had been too long since any of us had known death. My left gauntlet instinctively came up to the curved knife on my belt. When was the last time I had used it to decapitate a fallen comrade and tease his silicon encoded memories from the brainstem? I couldn't remember.

When life runs on too long it starts to lose meaning. The occasional death provides invaluable punctuation. When did I last die? A silent, snow-dusted moon... or asteroid...?

High-calibre weapons fire brought me back into the now. The concussion of supersonic rounds threw a cloud of crimson petals into the air. Beneath my visor, I grinned. I hungered. Soon there would be blood, and in this moment I no longer cared whether it was theirs or mine.

Together, we charged.

Dancing, jinking, bounding through the firestorm, we lithe and slender shadows came. Their weapons couldn't lock onto the shifting surface of our armour so they were aiming by eye. Literally by eye, for some of them were that unaugmented they saw us through the corneas they'd been born with. They didn't stand a chance. I fired off a few shots from my shoulder cannon, which hit without effect; they had armour, at least. My toe-claws dug into the soft, soft soil for purchase, tearing chunks out of the carefully tended lawn. Plasma fire shredded evergreens, leaving them blackened and skeletal. The colony was desperate, trying to burn us out no matter the cost to itself, like a fever gone wild.

And then we were among them.

[Anonymous No.19696870]

>>19696487
This is actually not bad, by far the best Mystery/Polly section you’ve posted (perhaps b/c less rape/cringe).

Only comments:
>both of the colons used in the first para are a bit odd. I could see an argument for a semicolon, period, or comma…but colon is def wrong.
>triple dash?
> not like he would've been -> he wouldn’t be / he wasn’t
>gimme -> give me / hand me / get me / go fetch me the iron
>twice or thrice feels odd. The playfulness matches her mood, but it’s a strange word to end on. What about “She spun around in front of the mirror — twice, thrice — admiring the way the skirt would rise and and gracefully glide to a stop.”

[Anonymous No.19696912]

>>19696863
Visual novel tier.

[Anonymous No.19696918]

>>19696870
>gimme -> give me / hand me / get me / go fetch me the iron
Jesus Christ, this general gives the absolute worst advice. I miss /crit/

[Anonymous No.19696963]

>>19695006
Have you read his completely true autobiography?

In seriousness, anon, don’t do this. It’s not a joke if the only one in on it is you. Your teacher won’t think it’s funny, he’ll just think you’re an idiot.

[Anonymous No.19696973]

>>19695563
You must be new here, welcome to /lit/!

[Anonymous No.19696983]

>>19696309
You know, I kind of like this. I've always liked the myth-meets-modern-day trope, I think you could get some mileage out of a modern-day medusa.

>>19696912
You say that like it's a bad thing.

>>19696610
Whether he knows what sultry means or not, he's right about it being way too flowery.

[Anonymous No.19697058]

>wanted to write a short story about the Hecatoncheires breaking free and coming to earth demanding sacrifice before being dismayed at the state of modern man and the lack of mystery
>read Auden's Shield of Achilles
fuck. i cannot possibly top this. back to the thematic drawing board!

[Anonymous No.19697079]

12 Angry Men was worth studying. The dialogue and portrayal of indirect character traits lessons was well worth the 3 hours I just spent carefully notating.

[Anonymous No.19697160]

>>19696527
I feel like this is an appropriate case for her to commentate because, as she said, it was a pretty mundane and quiet morning. Mind you this is an opening to one of the later chapters.

>>19696870
Why are the colons wrong?
I'm writing in pandoc markdown, so triple dashes result in em dashes.
Fixed.
Wouldn't "gimme" be allowed, since it's dialogue? Any other option sounds too formal.
>In front of a mirror, she spun around---one, two, three times---to watch the skirt rise and glide down with grace.

[Anonymous No.19697263]

>>19695036
>Conjunction
>To connect sentences
You use a conjunction to connect clauses, not independent sentences. A sentence is linked by it's relevance and proximity to another. If you needed a "but" to connect two clauses, you would use a comma, not a period. Elementary grammar. There are surely exceptions where it works, but it's generally not necessary.

[Anonymous No.19697294]

>>19696863
You have a good sense of immediacy but a lot of the philosophizing feels unwarranted.
>Looking for the enemy, all I could see were roses and a million years of darkness.
Anyone this prone to pretentious contemplation in the midst of war would be dead within minutes.
>When life runs on too long it starts to lose meaning. The occasional death provides invaluable punctuation.
It's too cinematic, like you're writing the script to a voiceover that plays during an opening battle scene.

[Anonymous No.19697361]

>>19696918
>>19697160
Wasn’t trying to correct grammar with ‘gimme’, I understand that all’s fair in dialogue. It just seems like a kind of childish/sloppy way for Mystery to be speaking to Polly. Isn’t he essentially her captor? wouldn’t you want his voice to seem a bit more dominant/controlled?
Btw, I fucking hate myself for getting this invested in your loli fanfic garbage.

> Why are the colons wrong?
Idk much about formal grammar, so I may be off here, but to me they just felt off. Also, outside of lists or examples it just seems like colons are a rare piece of punctuation. Seeing two in one para is a bit…distracting.

I feel like you intended to insert a pause, maybe typed in some ellipses and thought ‘no, I should be more formal’ and just grabbed a random punctuation mark out of a hat instead.

I’ll defer to others on /wg/. Personally, I’d have used a semicolon in the first case:
> Mystery was right: the tailoring room really was comfy.

And a period in the second:
>And a rather quiet morning it was: Polly wasn't sure on what to say, the memories of last night would swoop in and force her into trains of thought she didn't want.

So what is it, /wg/? Should I hang up my /crit/ hat, or live to /crit/ another day?

[Anonymous No.19697372]

>>19690585
Underrated post

[Anonymous No.19697504]

>>19693121
I work in STEM and also have some technical journal publications. I am also curious if it matters to a publisher.

[Anonymous No.19697623]

>>19697361
He changed tactics and decided to play up a "regretful, changed man" act to regain her trust. He wasn't expecting her to last more than a few days in his hands, had she never escaped, but he became attached---not in the sense of loving her as a person, however, he sees her as a sentient toy. By regaining her trust and, later on, convincing her that she loves him and has to stay, keeping her around for the long term becomes much less of a chore.
That, and the fact he genuinely loves sewing, are the reasons why he's so casual in this scene.

From what I understood, colons can be used for sentences that explain one another, but are long enough to be sentences on their own. I think it's called a dependent clause, but I'm not so sure now---I haven't studied much English syntax/grammar specifically.
>Mystery was right [about what?]
>: the tailoring room was comfy

>And a rather quiet morning it was [why was it a quiet morning?]
>: Polly wasn't sure on what to say

[Anonymous No.19698089]

>>19697504
I don't think it does, to be honest. I feel that it's such a different form of writing and it's being published for such a different reason that it's not considered a similar skill.

[Anonymous No.19698237]

>>19696368
I once started crying while writing a passage describing light.
It was beautiful light.

[Anonymous No.19698261]

Rewrote this after feedback from some anons here.

[Anonymous No.19698263]

>reader tells me my style isn't suited for horror
>my style is 80% copy of Lovecraft, Stoker, and Poe, 20% McCarthy
>spent years studying horror literature and screenplays

Is there any way to respond without sounding buttblasted?

[Anonymous No.19698303]

>>19698263

No, just say thanks and that you'll take it into consideration

[Anonymous No.19698358]

Let’s say my book needs to be set in NY metropolitan area but i’ve never lived or been there and probably never will. (I don’t even live in the U.S of states. I can use streetview and yt videos to get a grasp but i wonder if this will be enough. Or maybe i can view some movies or tv-shows filmed in there, let the mood sink in and hope for the best?

[Anonymous No.19698382]

>>19698263
Mate Lovecraft, Stoker, and Poe haven't really been in vogue for about 100 years (Poe is very trendy but how many people actually read him?). You're writing for people who read shit like Stephen King, of course your style comes off as a bit stuffy

[Anonymous No.19698435]

>>19698382
That is a fair point, yeah. I feel a lot better thinking I'm judged by someone who reads Stephen King. Somehow, I always have this weird assumption that people might know what they're talking about, until proven otherwise.

[Anonymous No.19698459]

>>19698263
Kinda sad you didn't make your own style and just copied your favorite writers.

inspiration does not mean copy

[Anonymous No.19698476]

Reminder not to listen to people who haven’t put any good work out there. Stop listening to plebs for feedback.

[Anonymous No.19698485]

>>19698459
Yeah, right. When people say "I was inspired by X", what they really mean is "I copy X as much as my untalented ass allows". Why sugarcoat it?

[Anonymous No.19698498]

>>19698459
Are you posting yourself?

[Anonymous No.19698507]

>>19698485
Based and Kino anon

Inspiration is where you think of fresh ideas based off the authors writing

Not copy it

[Anonymous No.19698522]

>>19698498
No,

[Anonymous No.19698525]

>>19698507
Yiff!

[Anonymous No.19698579]

>>19698459
oh yeah let me just "make" my own "style" that does not resemble what i like to read. here we go: gllrhghksdd ddosfodijf jfls kdsjf ldlsfjl. do you like my original style you fucking retard?

[Anonymous No.19698582]

>>19698507
There are no fresh ideas. Everything you have comes from someone else, you just conveniently forgot the source.

[Anonymous No.19698670]

Rate my erotica beginning

When I walked into my boyfriend’s room, I expected him to be with *the other woman*. My suspicions had been sown after I’d seen texts between him and a Cymbeline. They’d been going back and forth, with messages that broke my heart and inspired by rage, all these sweet nothings he hasn’t told me in months. I checked his phone because he’d been getting distant for a while, not even wanting to fuck me or suck my mammaries as he often did. But what I saw as I opened the door shocked me, right before I was going to go into a tirade against this new bitch, this home wrecker, who turned out not to be another woman at all. Shocked, my mouth agape, I stood frozen as my boyfriend dismounted another hulking mass of a man, whose meat had been impaling him like a chicken on a rotisserie.

Was this Cymbeline? I couldn’t believe it. My boyfriend was a *faggot*? As I was about to shut the door and run out the house, with tears in my eyes, my boyfriend stopped me with his remark: “I can explain!”

Explain? That’s when he said it: “I wanted to try it to see if you’d like to get anal as well, I was just testing is all…”

The two men pulled me closer with their big arms and shoved me onto the bed. I was aroused, strangely enough. They began to disrobe me and I noticed that the other man’s dick, bigger than any cock in my experience. Once they tore my clothes off, I was pink-faced and exclaimed, “A hello might have been in order.”

But the two of them laughed and began handling me like a rag doll, squeezing my tits and arse, running their fingers down my legs. Then, suddenly, I felt the other man’s thick cock harden as it brushed against my shoulder.

“Time to prep me,” said the other man.

My boyfriend knelt down and began to shove the thick dick inside his mouth, and the man giggled with glee as the beard of my boyfriend tickled his ball-sack and pubis. Slobber collected on my boyfriend’s pubic-like beard, spindly and brown. By the time he pulled the cock out of his throat and mouth, it seemed even bigger than before. And the two men pulled me closer so that I’d begin to suck the enormous stallion-like member.

It barely fit in my mouth, and my teeth slightly grated against his phallus head, which was heart-shaped and purply. His shaft was very thick too and I had difficulty in inserting it into my mouth and, eventually, my throat. Then once the huge penis head hit the back of my throat, I had to forcefully pull away and the slimy, saliva-covered cock slid out.

Then it came, as soon as I motioned that way, a full jet of vomitus flying towards the well-endowed man whose name I didn’t know. It was coloured like my last meal: red and creamy. There were bits of pasta and meatballs still in there and chunky bile, too. The man seemed furious with me and stormed out, washing himself in the shower. My boyfriend apologised to him on my behalf.

[Anonymous No.19698805]

>>19698670
>suck my mammaries
Chuckled and stopped reading there for a moment. wtf am i reading?
>i was just testing is all…
Funniest moment here
>I was aroused
No way in hell lol. It’s a downward spiral from here though. Only a male would write this, yet the narrator is a she.

[Anonymous No.19698845]

Could a fantasy romance work where the woman is the power hungry one and the guy is good? IDK

[Anonymous No.19698882]

Because I hate being perceived, I've decided I want my entire writing existence (so essentially the only one where I actually make things) to be online. Where can I even do this? It seems all the writing websites only support and promote books that are ongoing with 1k word chapters and daily updates. And I get why, but is there a place where I can just upload the book and build a readership from conversation online instead?

[Anonymous No.19698888]

>>19698882
Depends, anon…what sort of genre are you writing?

[Anonymous No.19698893]

>>19698888
The world is fake so fantasy. But worldbuilding is not the focus. The focus is the characters' journey and the different environments they find themselves in.

[Anonymous No.19698911]

I received an email this week from a quarterly I submitted a few stories to and they're going to publish one of them. The editor said they would have a proof before publication, so I re-read it myself since it had been a while and oh my god I'm cringing at this shit... I can't believe they like it. I was at one point really proud of this story but I'm so embarrassed at the moment. And to think they're going to seriously spend time editing this thing? I feel like they're going to email me again in a few weeks because surely once they really take a closer look at it they're going to gag as well and regret selecting it...

[Anonymous No.19698950]

what should I drink today? was thinking about either whiskey or red wine?

[Anonymous No.19698954]

>>19698911
They’re gonna gag on your faggy prolapsed Anus! But you’re gonna enjoy shitting down their gullets, just letting it slide real nice down their throats, as they chug it down like pelicans swallowing fish. You got this bro.

[Anonymous No.19698961]

>>19698950
Water

[Anonymous No.19698965]

>>19698950
Some of your rancid spunk that you’ve been left festering inside the cum jar by your computer, which houses unmentionable scores of abject pornographic images. And you’ll let it ooze down your fuckable throat like sweet honey.

[Anonymous No.19698999]

>>19698961
water doesn't help me to feel less pain
>>19698965
disgusting

[Anonymous No.19699061]

>>19691030
how do you have fun with it then? where do you go? RR?

[Anonymous No.19699072]

>>19698950
Drink water.

[Anonymous No.19699136]

>>19698845
Why not?

[Anonymous No.19699146]

I'm at a crossroads between two very different places in my writing life. To give context, writing is the only art I've given effort to, and because of both taken time and my lack of energy to do two hobbies at once, I either need to start pissing or get off the pot and start digging somewhere else.

My dilemma is that I don't know whether to follow the breadcrumb trail and try self publishing, or let go of that idea and start publishing online serially somewhere. On one hand, traditionally publishing is a goal, but the way I write may make this impossible. On the other hand, serially publishing is a path I could take and continue to no matter my actual success. I won't be sitting and waiting for the gate to open if I just post online.

I'm fighting to stay in my art, because if I let go, I'll loose it for another few months or years. That's how my lack of motivation works, it's like treading water. So I'm concerned about my decision because I don't think I can last long enough to explore both paths.

My goal with writing is to entertain an audience, and to write beautifully. Do with that information what you will. Sorry if this doesn't entirely make sense, but I'm trying my best.

[Anonymous No.19699173]

>>19698893
Smashwords and Goodreads are the only reputable ones I can think of. Both have active and large communities.
>>19699146
Self publishing is what will work for you. You want an audience, you don't want to have your writing restrained or changed, and you need a motivator to keep going. You can meet all those goals with self publishing, serially or one book at a time.

[Anonymous No.19699246]

>>19697294
I'm not sure whether to take this as a positive or negative review or not. On the one hand your observations are spot on, but on the other hand you clearly didn't get that the narrator is supposed to be slightly insane. A metahuman who's lived and fought so long, and augmented themself so far beyond humanity, that their experience of the world is slightly surreal, like a waking dream; on some level they know something is deeply wrong with them and long for a final death, but the superior technology keeps the body alive long after the mind has checked out. I thought I made it obvious but it apparently didn't come across very well in your case.

>>19698670
Feels a bit stiff (no pun intended). The style puts me in mind of a young German who speaks really good English but hasn't quite learned how to converse in casual settings yet, and when he tries just sounds awkward.

>not even wanting to fuck me or suck my mammaries as he often did
Ah, common beginner problem: you use synonyms to make your writing more interesting, but you don't know the appropriate place to put them yet.

I didn't find it particularly erotic either. Maybe there's a niche for women who want to fuck gay men, but it's probably not a big niche, and there isn't much overlap with the even smaller number who find vomiting erotic.

>stallion-like member.
Not every cliche is boring, but this one is.

[Anonymous No.19699255]

>>19699136
It seems like romance readers prefer it the other way around

[Anonymous No.19699453]

>>19698999
>water doesn't help me to feel less pain
In the long term, it will.

When you stop eating and drinking junk and get in shape, you'll be surprised by how much of your emotional pain was really just you feeling like shit all the time because you're unhealthy. Seriously, healthy body healthy mind is more than just a trite saying.

[Anonymous No.19699468]

I forgot, because I only come here every other month or longer but, what was this place's opinion of fanfiction?
Not that this impacts my decision but, I've been considering writing some greentexts on generals over in /vg/ as warmups before I start writing for the day. And the folks over there seem to really like it when writers put even an ounce of effort into what they do.
Pic related being an example I found recently. I'm very much an advocate of a work mattering less the more you copy from something, making fanfiction really low, but as practice, I'm not really seeing a problem so far.

[Anonymous No.19699526]

>Medical Examination
Once, I was raped by an older man’s cock though I enjoyed it all the same. He pushed his portly phallus inside my anus, which began to burn worse than anything I’ve ever felt. My erection vaulted up like a satyr’s but I screamed out in agony for it to stop. I was loving it, reviling it, protesting it. But I will have to recount the story in full to you, dear pervert. This all happened after my anus was inspected by the GP, a tall and thin Arab man by the name of Abdul Karim, but I called him Cat Stevens as a joke. He was not amused by my choice of moniker so he insisted I undergo medical scrutiny, his favourite way to find new prey. At first, he had me face a wall, lying on my side on an examination table, and to have kept my knees together whilst touching the wall. He took his fingers and roughly examined the outline of my sphincter with a sort of keen interest that only the most seasoned ass-fuckers seem to have. “Yes,” he said. “This will do finely, you seem unbroken and healthy.”
With a gloved finger, he dug deep into my anal cavity, swirling around to estimate the depth. For a moment, I clenched but his bent knuckle stopped me from squeezing out his finger. Then he pulled out his finger from my boy pussy as I heard him lick whatever excrement there was.
“Fresh,” he remarked. “Like fruit straight from a tree.”
He took his hands and parted my butt cheeks, telling me to pucker my anus. I did so. The doctor let out a moan, “Rose bud.”
A moment passed as I heard something unfurl amidst the rustling of clothing. A slapping sound sounded too, which must have been the doctor’s way of preparing himself. And then I felt something shoved inside me, some fleshy, warm instrument entered my arse: it was his girthy phallus! It plunged further in and I felt something burn up in my once untainted, precious rectum. I was being torn apart by this destroyer of innocence. “Stop,” I cried. “It burns, it’s too big!”
It went to no avail, the man continued to skewer me with his schlong, which might have been a medieval bludgeoning weapon, what with its girth, length, and solidity. He only needed a few seconds of pumping my arse. Then he gnashed his teeth and howled, barking out curses: “Oh, gaping cunt of Christ! I’m coming, O warted cock of Satan. I’ll sodomize the great gaping hole of God!”
The warm seed that had been sleeping in his gonads suddenly filled up my boy cunt like the stuffing shoved inside the mangled hole of a plucked fowl before roasting. After, I turned to see the doctor, wanking his flaccid cock. He was unable to summon the erection he so needed. Frustrated, he howled in agony.
“Time to be my piss trough then!” he regaled, grasping my head.
Quickly, a stream of perfectly auric piss came squirting out of his flaccid dick into my mouth; bits of cum came tumbling out that had been stuck in his piss-hole. Rivulets of piss flowed down my face as I couldn’t swallow it all.

[Anonymous No.19699528]

>>19699468
cringe unless it's bible fanfiction in which case it's based

[Anonymous No.19699804]

>>19699528
why

[Anonymous No.19699848]

>>19699526
People already dislike pedophiles, you don't have to smear them as bad writers as well.

[Anonymous No.19699857]

>>19699848
I’ve never pleased a woman. In fact, I don’t want to. Their stinky, slimy cunts make me sick to the point of nausea. I find it hard to put my dick—so short and snubbed it is bordering upon a clitoris—in there. The prospect makes me soft, although one cannot really tell with how small it is. If I were to fuck a woman, I’d retch, especially because it’s so dank, hot, and yeast-ridden. I find it hard to reconcile the fact I used to be in a womb and passed through one of those god awful caverns, which, to an outside observer, resemble a pile of sliced meat. That’s why I prefer cocks: thick ones, slender ones, hooked ones, bent ones, short ones, long ones, or ones with hair growing on the shaft. I can’t tell you how much I love the male sex organ, which I customarily suck like a child devours candies. The best part is the cock-juice. I allow it to drip down my throat, lips, and chin.

[Anonymous No.19699868]

>>19699857
have sex incel.

[Anonymous No.19700003]

Art is dead. No point.

[Anonymous No.19700012]

>>19700003
Here's Brandon Sanderson to inspire you!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zNhFvEi4M0

[Anonymous No.19700027]

>>19700023
Bread is baked

[Anonymous No.19700034]

>>19700012
fat "people" have no business writing

[Anonymous No.19700318]

>>19700012
Sanderson bring up such complex emotions for me. When first really getting into writing I stumbled on his YouTube writing lectures and found them really practical/enjoyable. After watching hours of his material I picked up Way of Kings and was so bummed to find it unreadable trash - literally has 3 false starts/cold open intros followed by a nonsensical world with retarded characters.

I'm now woke that a nepotistic Mormon mafia obviously controls sci-fi/fantasy publishing. And I'm pretty sure he proves that at least half of readers are animals that will slurp up whatever trash is put in the trough in front of them.

And yet I still like his writing lectures as background listening, so I suppose I am no better.

[Anonymous No.19700926]

>>19698950
Water, coffee, non-caffeine tea.