/wg/ Write General

[Anonymous No.19751113]

Everyone on /wg/ Writes Edition
Previous Thread >>19736351

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
>The First Five Pages
>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.19751137]

First for 13 year old gay sex fan fictions

[Anonymous No.19751151]

I literally cannot stop thinking about art hoes whispering in my ear for me to knock them up because they think I write well

[Anonymous No.19751166]

>page read count going up on KU dashboard

feels good, bros

[Anonymous No.19751180]

>>19751166
KU?

[Anonymous No.19751197]

>>19751137
Are the writers of the fanfic thirteen years old, or are the characters frenching each other's buttholes in the fanfiction thirteen years old?
Or was the story written thirteen years ago?

[Anonymous No.19751220]

>>19751151
Everytime the thought comes up just imagine it's your mother saying that instead of an art hoe. you'll stop thinking about it in no time.

[Anonymous No.19751234]

Mansa Musa, the indecently wealthy ruler of Mali offers you your own weight in gold if you write him a story about a humble pilgrim losing his way in the desert and stumbling onto an oasis where he meets a water sprite who fears she will die when he pool dries up and is swallowed by the desert.
What do?

[Anonymous No.19751241]

>>19751234
I write the story. That 's a pretty easy set up to work with

[Anonymous No.19751249]

Book idea:
>Sci-fi about a matrix-esque simulation device that's used to gauge the true personality of people by putting them in dangerous/high-stakes situations and moral dilemmas to see how they act. It starts out as a seemingly disjointed series of short stories each detailing one of the test scenarios, and the protagonist (who is actually participating in a job interview) slowly starts to realize that something is wrong.

[Anonymous No.19751262]

>>19751241
Fuck you, anon, I’ll write this one!
Musa’s gold will be mine (plus, I very likely weigh more than you).

[Anonymous No.19751268]

>>19751151
God I hate that I love women. It makes me so angry that I’ll never be in love again. I’m old and used.
>>19751180
Kindle Amazon thingy. You make fractions of pennies when people read your smut.
>>19751197
Yes.
>>19751234
… write the story?

[Anonymous No.19751281]

>>19751241
>>19751268
Both of you are prostitutes. Write what you want, not what someone else wants.
You have failed Mansa Musa's secret test of character and as punishment you will live a life of hollow success, showered in money from your work but never feeling artistic fulfillment.

[Anonymous No.19751297]

>>19751234
can't even find time to write my own shit what makes you think you're special? fucking scammer.

[Anonymous No.19751305]

>>19751281
I can literally write a story for myself and also write a story for someone willing to pay me gold. The two aren’t mutually exclusive. We are all exploited and I’m too much a coward to kill myself.

[Anonymous No.19751311]

>>19751297
See now, here's a man of integrity.

[Anonymous No.19751313]

>>19751234
>write a flash fiction of this
>collect $6.8 million dollars worth of gold for 20 minutes of work

[Anonymous No.19751315]

>>19751249
Don’t want to discourage you…but there’s an existing novella you should probably be familiar with just to be sure you’re not too close to a prior work. They’re looking at a film adaptation with John Boyega, so it’ll be a pretty well known premise soon.

[Anonymous No.19751318]

>>19751281
>never feeling artistic fulfillment
So everything stays exactly how it would be except now I'm rich?
What's stopping me from writing my hyper-violent hyper-erotic body-horror symbolist fiction in private and for myself, now that I'm wealthy enough to have no need to waste my time working?
Is Musa going to physically restrain me every time I think about writing my Borges influenced oppai loli milk farm story?

[Anonymous No.19751322]

>>19751315
why is there a mugshot beside the cover

[Anonymous No.19751326]

>>19751315
>more death game bullshit
Why is this the zeitgeist? It's so absurd.

[Anonymous No.19751332]

It’s a Saturday. I should do some writing. Anyone think of any good Burgerpunk prompts?

Also the other anon said my cover and first stories are shit, how should I fix that?

[Anonymous No.19751338]

>>19751326
Easy way to make a violent story with an ensemble cast of characters that aren't locked into two factions (like in a war)

[Anonymous No.19751344]

>>19751332
Hamburgler is dead
Krusty the clown must find the whoever did it to clear his name

[Anonymous No.19751379]

>>19751332
You can fix the first stories by rewriting them

[Anonymous No.19751394]

>>19751379
I kinda like the shitty try hard cyberpunk snow crash few chapters. It kinda shows the evolution of the style, but I also completely understand that whole “it doesn’t get good until x chapters in” is a cop out. I am open to redoing the cover, the current one is something I threw together rather quickly.

[Anonymous No.19751445]

>>19751394
I'm with you; I have my first three books up as a sign to show how far I've come as a writer when the fourth comes down. I won't be taking them down even if they're amateur.

[Anonymous No.19751464]

>>19751332
Someone loses his job at the drivethru because he cannot understand the horrible vernacular of the customer. Perhaps themes of alienation from the fast food culture he adored as the protagonist recognizes the food, mascots, slogans, uniforms etc less and less. He can't even seem to order himself anymore when he's off work because if he doesn't know what he will receive after ordering it.

[Anonymous No.19751474]

Can someone show me a real, finished outline? I have no idea what one looks like.

[Anonymous No.19751508]

>>19751318
Now I want to write a story where some supernaturally rich dude pulls a test like this and the writer is perfectly fine with it and growing artistically anyway, so he keeps showing up to bitch and moan about how the writer should be feeling bad while concocting increasingly ridiculous schemes to enforce his point that all backfire comically.

[Anonymous No.19751546]

>>19751474
You want to see some of the autistic level outlines I got from gunners in law school?

[Anonymous No.19751562]

>>19751113
https://worksbrief.blogspot.com/2022/01/metamorphosis.html

[Anonymous No.19751629]

>>19751234
>>19751297

[Anonymous No.19751754]

>>19751474
What kind of fiction are you writing?
My outlines are like this: first I write a general synopsis of the whole story. It's usually around 2k-3k words. Then, based on that, I plan 'arcs', which are the main parts of the story. For these arcs I write chapter-by-chapter outlines. Here I add or remove things from the story and move things around to better fit the structure. These chapter outlines are simple bulletpoints of the things that must happen in the chapter. I plan an arc before I get to that point of the story, but not much before. Sometimes I don't finish all the chapter outlines, but work on them as I progress on the novel.
All of this is left with plenty of room for flexible changes, should I need to patch things up or realize I need to add some things now that will later be relevant.

[Anonymous No.19751771]

>start writing a supernatural villain based on spirit of Babylon
>anon informs me it's le demiurge and tells me to read Blood Meridian
Well I'll be damned. I'm gonna keep writing though.

[Anonymous No.19751901]

>>19751344
>>19751464
Not exactly what y’all suggested but definitely inspired by it. Thank you. Feed back and crit welcome.

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/36209/burgerpunk-pizza-time/chapter/825551/20-watching-the-detectives

[Anonymous No.19751976]

Wow, my previous draft was so damned terrible.

[Anonymous No.19752048]

>>19751562
>brief
>seven chapters

[Anonymous No.19752127]

>>19752048
I think it means he works in his briefs

[Anonymous No.19752380]

Why so you write? What got you into writing?

[Anonymous No.19752440]

>>19752380
I liked reading books and any time I draw the person looks like a distortion of suffering manifest, so I’d rather use words. I also struggle keeping 4/4 time

[Anonymous No.19752451]

>>19752440
>any time I draw the person looks like a distortion of suffering manifest
Same
>I also struggle keeping 4/4 time
Just call it tempo rubato

[Anonymous No.19752472]

>>19752380
ive always been writing. i will continue to write forever. all you need to know. don't bother prying further glowie.

[Anonymous No.19752482]

>>19752380
>What got you into writing?
Thinking too much and losing sleep over something I needed an answer to.

[Anonymous No.19752500]

>>19752380
I was reading creepypasta on /x/ in 2009 and thought I could tell my own spoopy story. So I did and people liked it, saved it, and posted it in the next creepypasta thread.

After that I was hooked. Fell into the fanfiction pit for about a year. But now I'm back and publishing original fiction.

[Anonymous No.19752515]

>>19752500
You know it’s been 13 years since 2009, right Anon? Please wake up.

[Anonymous No.19752564]

It sucks that football is ending. I always write best when a game is on, it helps my ADD to have something going on in the background I can dedicate exactly 5% of my attention to and still be able to follow it. Putting on a movie or podcast just doesn't work.

[Anonymous No.19752573]

>>19752380
>Why so you write?
Haha, of course not. What made you think that?

[Anonymous No.19752596]

>>19751113
R8 my adventure novel ideas.
There's a princess who finds a falling star, it fell in a forest pool.
There's a polymath/DaVinci type locked in a tower, hes trained crows to bring him food.
There's a being/man with blue skin and a mustache who came out of the sea who's looking for the star.

[Anonymous No.19752600]

>>19752515
Yes. You realize the question was "what got you into writing." Right? As in the past?

[Anonymous No.19752608]

>>19752380
>Why so you write?
I used to write to get obsessive ideas out of my head. Now I write to try to recapture strong feelings I used to feel
>What got you into writing?
I started back in grade school with something I wrote for my class, then when I was in middle school my brother showed me a L and Light fanfiction he wrote. That's what really got me started.

[Anonymous No.19752610]

>>19752596
None of these are as good as a dog who discovers aliens.

[Anonymous No.19752618]

>>19752610
Is it a talking dog?

[Anonymous No.19752619]

>>19752596
What's the inciting incident, what ties them together?

[Anonymous No.19752621]

[Anonymous No.19752636]

>>19752618
It can be whatever you want it to be, it’s an idea, not actual writing. /wg/ doesn’t write. They just talk about dogs discovering aliens.

[Anonymous No.19752655]

>>19752619
No idea brother, but somehow these are the three principal elements. I just know I do not want a teenage male chosen one protagonist.

[Anonymous No.19752657]

>>19752655
same that's why i went with a teenage female chosen one instead

[Anonymous No.19752662]

>>19752380
I will die if I do not write.

[Anonymous No.19752676]

>>19752657
niiiice

[Anonymous No.19752747]

>>19752657
hawt

[Anonymous No.19752785]

>>19752596
>There's a princess who finds a falling star, it fell in a forest pool.
Cliche, predictable
>There's a polymath/DaVinci type locked in a tower, hes trained crows to bring him food.
Could be a cool element in a character backstory, or B-plot
>There's a being/man with blue skin and a mustache who came out of the sea who's looking for the star.
Give up anon. Just ‘cause it felt epic in your dream doesn’t mean it’ll translate that way to readers.

[Anonymous No.19752812]

>>19752785
It's more whimsical than epic.

[Anonymous No.19752818]

>>19752380
I think up novel ideas but don't have the will to write them down.

[Anonymous No.19752833]

>>19752818
We’ll give them to me. I’ll use them.

[Anonymous No.19752846]

>>19751771
Don’t worry about that at all, this is the very struggle of the human condition, do it your way.

[Anonymous No.19752852]

>>19751976
You’ve grown.

[Anonymous No.19752856]

>>19751901
Reading your stories. Shit, that one about the car batteries in the ocean. Kekked so hard.

[Anonymous No.19752902]

>>19752856
>it’s perfectly legal
Heh, thanks anon. Glad you liked it. Any crit or feedback is welcome. Don’t really know where any of it’s really going other than a vague idea to write things that make me laugh. Like that bit about boats today, I was cackling. Maybe something will emerge if I just keep writing.

[Anonymous No.19752972]

>>19752636
I am the dog who discovered the aliens

we all are

[Anonymous No.19752996]

>>19752972
We are all dogs discovering the alien called life

[Anonymous No.19753037]

Exercise: if you were going to write a story about dogs discovering alien life, how would you do it?

Keep in mind, Stephen King already kind of did it in Tommyknockers.

[Anonymous No.19753046]

>>19753037
step 1:
call it tommyniggers

[Anonymous No.19753070]

>>19753037
Stream of consciousness dog pov. Various dog characters, main one is the town sheriff's dog, but another important one is a Hobo's dog. Setting is a small town in fuck-knows-where, USA. Throughout the dogs povs we also learn about the different dynamics of their owners lives and the social climate of the town before, during, and after the alien crash landing. As it is a dog's stream of consciousness pov, the narration is a bit jumpy as it emulates dogs' instinct based way of thinking, but each dog also has a lot of characterization and each pov's voice is unique.

[Anonymous No.19753080]

>>19753046
Good job, anon. Your parents must be so proud.

[Anonymous No.19753088]

>>19753037
i would set it in the wild west era and instead of a dog the main character would be an outlaw and he teams up with the local sheriff to fight the aliens, rescue the locals, and ride off into the sunset with a big pile of gold that they stole from the aliens

[Anonymous No.19753099]

>>19753037
A dog happens to stumble upon a scene where a group of aliens are violently probing some humans. He walks away because he is a dog and doesn't understand what an alien is.

[Anonymous No.19753101]

>>19753088
What would you call it? 'Cowboys vs Extraterrestrials'?

[Anonymous No.19753108]

>>19753037
Give me some time. Will post result.

[Anonymous No.19753113]

>>19752902
Must say I enjoy all of them and get chuckle out of them. I think they have a certain style to them that you can call your own. Maybe one day you'll come up with a long story you can set in your zany world. Or maybe even just produce some short stories of similar style. I find them quite entertaining.

[Anonymous No.19753123]

>>19753101
oh shit anon that's good, i might steal it.

[Anonymous No.19753145]

>>19753080
"wee woo wee woo
attention gamers
There is a nigger on the premises
NIGGER ALERT! NIGGER ALERT!
wee woo wee woo
NIGGER ALERT! NIGGER ALERT!"
the dog said.

[Anonymous No.19753153]

Editing 230,000 words is a big job.

[Anonymous No.19753159]

>>19753153
One word at a time, my dude.

[Anonymous No.19753174]

>>19753123
Here, have a hundred and sixty three million dollars and make a blockbuster movie out of it

[Anonymous No.19753181]

So I'm working on a middle grade fantasy book for boys and I have a bit of a dilemma. The MC has to find a specific plant to cure his friend and, after a short journey, happens upon a witch who can help him. My dilemma is this - should the boy outsmart the witch somehow, thus winning the cure, or should he make a deal for the cure and have to perform some task for her later on as payback for her giving him the cure? I like both choices, thus my conundrum. Thoughts?

[Anonymous No.19753193]

>>19753037
Okay, I wrote a story about dogs discovering alien life, but wrote it in such a way that it doesn't give away that it's a dog until the end.

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/36209/burgerpunk-pizza-time/chapter/825674/a-tale-as-old-as-time-or-how-i-learned-to-stop

>>19753113
Yeah, I'm still not actually sure what burgerpunk is. Is it extremely depressing realism of modernity in suburbia? Is it zany parody scifi? Is it somewhere inbetween? I'm not sure, and I guess that's why I'm just doing shorts right now. Hopefully something will stick or there will be a story I want to write more than 700 words about.

[Anonymous No.19753194]

>>19753037
Like Isle of Dogs but I'll call it Meteorite of Dogs

[Anonymous No.19753200]

>>19753181
Depends on what message you wish to send. Thinking that it's a middle grade, you can keep it light hearted with the outsmarting, but it's be nice if I'm some way kids could learn that actions have consequences. Also it's important to know in which light you're painting the witch. Is she against the mc or is she willing to help? Ask yourself about her character and what would fit best, also in regards to the mc.

[Anonymous No.19753223]

>>19753181
In your first idea the witch either falls out of the story or chases after the mc for revenge. In the latter the goals of the main character extend past the original "find a cure," so it depends on what you want the witch to be and where you want your story to end.

[Anonymous No.19753246]

Used to have a dog that would demand we let him out around two or three in the morning. We were young parents at the time, so the process of getting up at that time like a robot was not a problem.

He wouldn't just piss. Sometimes I'd go out to the backyard for a piss with him. He'd spend a good ten minutes patrolling the ground, right along the property line. Constantly sniffing and double checking.

I think it was his way of making sure me, my wife, and our baby were safe. Because he was a good boy.

Anyway, I feel like if he were to have discovered aleums, it would be then. Probably noticing their UFO as it hovered over our backyard on their landing approach. Then he would have borked real loud so the aleums would be scared and run away. Then man and lady and baby would be safe and have good sleep.

[Anonymous No.19753255]

>>19753181
Saw this exact question on /sffg/. Don’t know why you faggots go there to ask questions.

[Anonymous No.19753299]

>>19753153
tfw. i'm doing a 2 volume historical which will clock around 200k and has to be written and edited together. it's a nightmare. before i split the file in 2 it was giving my word processor a headache.
it would take 4 days just to give the entire length a read-through let alone an edit. must be sweet to crank out 70k YAs you can read through in one day.
>>19753181
i like the fair exchange better.

[Anonymous No.19753301]

Working on a middle grade fantasy book for boys and I have a bit of a dilemma. The MC has to find a specific plant to cure his friend and, after a short journey, happens upon a witch who can help him. My dilemma is this - should the boy outsmart the witch somehow, thus winning the cure, or should he make a deal for the cure and have to perform some task for her later on as payback for her giving him the cure? I like both choices, thus my conundrum. Thoughts?

[Anonymous No.19753319]

Working on a middle grade fantasy book for boys and I have a bit of a dilemma. The MC has to find a specific plant to cure his friend and, after a short journey, happens upon a witch who can help him. My dilemma is this - should the boy trick the witch into falling in love with him and putting out of her own accord or should he buttfuck her after she turns into a newt? I like both choices, thus my conundrum. Thoughts?

[Anonymous No.19753365]

>>19753299
I remember my first novel was originally my first and second. It was gonna clock in around 300k before I got wise and split it. Literally nobody has the time or patience to read that much anymore.

[Anonymous No.19753396]

>>19753181
Don’t optimize, anon…this is a perfect devil’s bargain! This is your chance to get goddamn poetic.

For example: The with offers it for a “small token”, a button, a shoelace, an eyebrow. It seems like a silly thing for something of such value, but the lack of the thing becomes a major issue later in the book (the missing button places him at the scene of a crime, the shoe falls off at a critical time, the eyebrow makes him too recognizable when he needs to law low)

If you can’t come up with something good on your own here you’ve got no business writing.

[Anonymous No.19753416]

>>19753319
There’s no way a newt’s penis is going to fuck anyth—
>reads again
>thinks about it
Oh, shit, anon. That’s so fucked.

[Anonymous No.19753443]

>>19753416
>WHO LACKS GIRTH NOW, BRUNHILDA? HUH? HUH?

[Anonymous No.19753459]

>[Ebisu pulling on Konohamaru's scarf]
>NARUTO: Shadow clone jutsu!
>[Pull out shot showing Naruto multiplying]
>KONOHAMARU: Woah! This is, unreal!
>[Ebisu adjust glasses.]
>EBISU: Hm, I'm not impressed I'm a jonin, an elite ninja warrior...
>[Ebisu takes a stance]
>EBISU: I'm ready.
>[Naruto makes a hand sign]
>NARUTO [all at once]: Transform. Transform. Transform.
>[Naruto shadow clones turn into a harem of sexy women, daintily clad in mist. The jonin looks on in stunned awe until the harem grab him and smother him their precious skin and nicely scented bodies. Cut to a shot of Ebisu's blood jetting out of his face, forcing him into the air and flying a good dozen feet backwards. He falls onto the ground and twitches, blood dripping from his face.]

[Anonymous No.19753517]

>>19753459
Back when writing had SOUL...

[Anonymous No.19753535]

>>19752846
You're right anon, and I have a less macabre way I'd like to tell it. One that's more vexing and "end of history" scenario that is at peace, not war. A corruption that you cannot convict. If something like the spirit of Babylon brings established peace instead of war. I point to how Paradise Lost puts it:
>I had hope when violence was ceas’t, and War on Earth,
>All would have then gone well, peace would have crownd
>With length of happy days the race of man;
>But I was far deceiv’d; for now I see
>Peace to corrupt no less then War to waste.

[Anonymous No.19753613]

>>19753153
>reading the Sound and the Fury
>start second act and think the prose will become more normal
>it becomes even more schizophrenic
I can't imagine being an editor for that before it got published but I'd be lying if I said it didn't relate the pain of the characters.

[Anonymous No.19753616]

>>19753613
schizo writing is so pleasurable. i do multiple POV and had a long passage from a legit insane character. that was fun as hell to write.

[Anonymous No.19753944]

Working on a middle grade fantasy book for boys and I have a bit of a dilemma. The MC has to find a specific aphrodisiac to cure his friend and, after a short journey, happens upon a loli witch who can help him. My dilemma is this - should the boy rape her cunny so hard she gives into giving it for free, thus winning the cure, or should he make a deal for the cure and have to bring a flock of Ugly Bastards for her later on as payback for her giving him the cure? I like both choices, thus my conundrum. Thoughts?

[Anonymous No.19753995]

if the overall book is depressing is it okay to have sections that are funny to break up the depressing events or does that break tone too much?

[Anonymous No.19754045]

Is having a prologue a dumb idea if I'm just writing a 7 chapter short story?

[Anonymous No.19754049]

>>19753995
It's completely dependent upon how you pull it off. Everything Kafka wrote was incredibly depressing and some of the funniest shit I've ever read. DFW set out to write a deeply sad book and ended up with a hilarious 1200 page romp with footnotes. Catch 22 is about the military industrial complex and the disassociate murder caused by dropping bombs, but it's funny. Again, it depends on how you do it.


Think about how humor works. You subvert an expectation. The expectation itself can be exceedingly depressing. That's why jokes about the holocaust and 9/11 are funny. It's a way to cope, which is an extraordinarily human thing to do when faced with fear and sorrow.

[Anonymous No.19754066]

>>19754045
>Is having a prologue a dumb idea
Yes.

[Anonymous No.19754113]

>>19754049
The overall tone is melancholic, but I have a section that's humorous, mainly to endear the reader to a certain character who will then be killed. Whereas in Catch-22 the entire tone was humorous consistently.

[Anonymous No.19754142]

>>19754113
That sounds like some "I love my wife and child as I go off to war and I'm totally not going to die" out of the blue vibes.

[Anonymous No.19754207]

>>19754142
i mean. that's a bit unwarranted to say.

[Anonymous No.19754224]

>>19754207
You havent given any context to the meat of what the story is other than generalizations about the tone and how one small particular part has a different tone in order to set up a particular emotional pay off. That sounds exactly like the build up in a war story of the man who's about to go off to die. The tone totally shifts all for the emotional pay off of death.

[Anonymous No.19754227]

>>19754224
i'll think about it. there's something about that scene that bothers me enough to notice, so i might change it, but i think that's a little much to say. i think i can accomplish it a less risky way

[Anonymous No.19754242]

>>19751508
Please write it

[Anonymous No.19754259]

I give up on my robot waifu book. It just doesn't work

[Anonymous No.19754272]

How do I go from writing 0 words a day to 2k words a day without hurting myself and burning out?

[Anonymous No.19754280]

>>19754272
Work up to it and plan more. The actual act of writing doesn't take that long. If I knew exactly what I was typing and I typed at 70 wpm it would take about half an hour to get 2000 words knocked out. The problem is that I can't just sit there for 30 minutes straight typing, there's something else happening in the middle of that. I have to think about what I'm writing, that's what takes the time. How do you make your thinking more efficient? Well, planning.

[Anonymous No.19754351]

>>19753443
I'm Gary Oak. You can't ignore my girth.

[Anonymous No.19754754]

>>19753995
I think emotional temperament is similar to pacing. Don't stay on the same emotion too long or it will annoy your reader. Break it up with some emotional respite, as even the most depressed have moments of clarity.

[Anonymous No.19754823]

I have a story idea but every time I go to write it I find it so difficult to put down more than 200 words at a time. I get incredibly frustrated that I can't seem to figure out what to say. I've got the main beats of the story but I just can't fill in the bits in between. I think it's a combination of me being bad at writing and that it's a story that gives me a level of anxiety. Anyone else had to deal with this kind of thing?

[Anonymous No.19754834]

>>19751113
i think i've been on that road in op pic
but every road in greece looks the same

[Anonymous No.19754862]

I always knew I had the perfect marketable idea for a YA and see it now bc most of the agents I queried asked for fulls…
I could be a big YA writer :o

How do I not be a one hit wonder?

[Anonymous No.19754872]

>>19754862
A bad writer can make a good idea bad and a good writer can make a bad idea good. Don't rest on the fact they like your idea, you still have to write it well.

[Anonymous No.19754878]

>>19754872
I know
I would normally agree with you 100% but I have read a lot of new YA books and the actual writing of these ideas are questionable but they have good premises and great hooks. High concepts. I made sure I had a hook before writing it.
My writing is okay but I outlined it and made it the best I could. We will see what happens!

[Anonymous No.19755458]

>need to write a section where someone is angry
>try to think of what made me angriest in a personal level in the past few years
>write something else instead and go to sleep
>at 3am wake up remembering the name of an ex, which I though I forgot, and remembering what she looked like and how she was
>explosive whirlwind of anger, loathing, regret and love and start jotting furiously onto a notebook at my nightstand

[Anonymous No.19755467]

Trying to get back into descriptive writing

[Anonymous No.19755646]

>>19755467
Long paragraphs.

[Anonymous No.19755867]

How do I outline a three act adventure novel?

[Anonymous No.19755885]

>>19755467
So wordy it broke my immersion. I saw quite a few places you could trim down the word count without sacrificing details just by playing with sentence structure/phrasing.

Also shouldn't the thoughts (the questions he asks himself) be italicized?

[Anonymous No.19755896]

>>19754259
Post more Emily or I'll tell Asimov

[Anonymous No.19755901]

>>19754823
When I get stuck on one chapter or scene, I go to the next. In my second book I had a whole chapter that remained blank until the entirety of the book had been written and edited through twice. I wrote it and it ended up being a disaster of a chapter, but I still wrote it

[Anonymous No.19755916]

>>19755885
>>19755646
I appreciate the feedback. I agree it is wordy and could be trimmed down. I was trying to practice descriptive writing but I went a little over board it seems.

[Anonymous No.19755936]

>>19755458
>try to think of what made me angriest in a personal level in the past few years
>write something else instead and go to sleep

>doesn't exist at a baseline level of barely suppressed homicidal rage
Must be nice.

>>19751234
I literally started writing something close to this, then got bored and left it.

[Anonymous No.19756186]

>>19755867
Act One: Inticing Event and Leaving Home
Act Two: Great Adventures and the Characters' Lowest Point
Act Three: Getting Your Shit Together and Homecoming

[Anonymous No.19756340]

>>19754272
set your goal to 5k a day and do that for a month. then a 2k pace will seem easy and lazy.

[Anonymous No.19756357]

>>19755467
repetitive and unedited. there is useful and useless description. what you have here is padding.

[Anonymous No.19756368]

>>19754227
>>19754224
i thought about it overnight and i'm scrapping everything except the one joke which is quick, in character, and increases tension (part of an ongoing hostility between 2 characters.) everything else gets cut and replaced with something less shitty.

[Anonymous No.19756653]

>>19756357
Fair points. It is unedited. I plan to rewrite it long in the future if I go with my full planned story so this is to cut out bad habits before I continue writing.

[Anonymous No.19756762]

>>19755916
The scene was imaginative, I just found myself lost in seemingly unimportant details (like the specific #of columns). If you're looking for what could be a good exercise - rewrite that scene from scratch (without looking back and forth) but force yourself to stay under half that word count while still describing the scene.

I'd be interested in reading that version if you want to post again.

[Anonymous No.19756838]

>>19756762
I will do this tomorrow and post in the general, good idea. Thank you for taking the time to read it. I know you were just using the columns as an example of a recurring issue but that detail is actually quite important as it’s set in a cult of Mithras temple which have 7 pillars to represent their 7 stages of initiation.

[Anonymous No.19757492]

How do you determine when your book is finished enough to publish if it has a disjointed plot and is more of a fun romp than a thorough story?

[Anonymous No.19757578]

>>19753159
Not sure how to query. Do I query as a two-part fantasy or just query as a book?

[Anonymous No.19757587]

>>19753299
The 230k could be YA. Not sure how to pitch it.

[Anonymous No.19757591]

>>19753365
Two-parter at 125k+ each?

[Anonymous No.19757597]

>>19753616
Did you get it out to the public?

[Anonymous No.19757621]

>>19754878
Classroom of kids that have to kill each other?

[Anonymous No.19757652]

>>19757587
How the hell do you write 230k words of YA? What does that even consist of?

[Anonymous No.19757681]

What is everyone’s opinion on altering history? Nothing major, but planning on tweaking relatively small moments so that i can play around with modern sensibilities, but with a context that allows for big testing moments. E.g Alberta seeking legal independence from Canada leading to repercussions for border communities

[Anonymous No.19757686]

>>19757591
It ended up being book one around 140k and book 2 at 160k

[Anonymous No.19757687]

>>19757681
If IJ could do it, so can you.

[Anonymous No.19757723]

>>19757681
>an independent Alberta
What a goofy idea.

[Anonymous No.19757749]

>>19757723
Kind of the point but that was an idea off the top of my head, I was just trying to say it is a smaller change than something like “what if hitler invaded America?” Type of thing

[Anonymous No.19757852]

>>19757749
What if Manitoba was actually relevant in any conceivable way?

[Anonymous No.19757860]

how do i show trauma of a character without him constantly looking like a bitch?
im playing on how he enjoys simple pleasures in his life but is constantly bogged down by responsibility of oppressors and how they take away those pleasures constantly.
one chapter he will be solemnly enjoying these pleasures and then the next chapter they are either ripped away from him or he is too hurt to continue to enjoy the pleasures.

i feel as though it will come off as him being whiney, so how do i properly show this without it coming off weak and make the reader actually sympathize with the character?

[Anonymous No.19757886]

how do i show trauma of a character without him constantly looking like a bitch?
im playing on how he enjoys simple pleasures in his life but is constantly bogged down by responsibility of oppressors and how they take away those pleasures constantly.
one chapter he will be solemnly enjoying these pleasures and then the next chapter they are either ripped away from him or he is too hurt to continue to enjoy the pleasures.

i feel as though it will come off as him being whiney, so how do i properly show this without it coming off weak and make the reader actually sympathize with the character?

[Anonymous No.19757934]

>>19757749
alt history is slightly less cringy and worthless than /sffg/ i guess

[Anonymous No.19757990]

>>19757621
Huh? Wrong anon.

[Anonymous No.19758148]

>>19757860
>>19757886
I feel like resignation and bearing up comes across better than complaining.

Google nasubi, a guy in a Japanese torture game show (somehow, this is not fictional) that endeared himself to everyone by cherishing his small wins and keeping a chin up despite many setbacks.

[Anonymous No.19758154]

>>19757860
>im playing on how he enjoys simple pleasures in his life but is constantly bogged down by responsibility of oppressors and how they take away those pleasures constantly.
>one chapter he will be solemnly enjoying these pleasures and then the next chapter they are either ripped away from him or he is too hurt to continue to enjoy the pleasures.
>i feel as though it will come off as him being whiney, so how do i properly show this without it coming off weak and make the reader actually sympathize with the character?
It's only whiney if he bemoans his state of affairs and does nothing to show the reader he's struggling against it. Also all people have experienced different levels of suffering, so don't worry about extremity. Worry about the importance it has to the character. You can make something as innocuous as having a poster on the wall taken away be the most devastating thing in a story even though it's just a poster.

[Anonymous No.19758159]

I would like to write a book.

[Anonymous No.19758171]

>>19758159
Never gonna make it.

[Anonymous No.19758187]

>>19758159
Gonna make it.

[Anonymous No.19758203]

>>19758171
>>19758187
Duality of man.

[Anonymous No.19758261]

When you write do you feel like you just use all your personal experiences that end up making the writing interesting and unique to people you don’t know? Like if I wrote a book about being a drunk lawyer it would possibly be interesting to people, but if my friends read it they would know it was me and would feel concerned for my well being. Like, even little things like a paragraph about a beta fish feels like I’m extracting the soul of my life in exchange for content. And even when I try to write from some place of imagination I feel like it’s all just from inside me and not separate. Does this make sense? Like, if I were to write a fantasy setting all I have to go off of is my lived experience in museums and media I’ve consumed. If I were to write realism I’d have to go do research on plumbing except the one time I fixed the sink. So my writing at this point is just me. It’s not like art where the end result is separate from the author.

[Anonymous No.19758266]

hello /wg/ I wrote a lot today

[Anonymous No.19758304]

>>19758154
this helps tremendously, thank you.

[Anonymous No.19758320]

>>19758148
this story alone is interesting enough im going to thank you for telling me about it, and preemptively if it does give me some amount of inspiration or answers for my story.
thank you

[Anonymous No.19758337]

When english authors try to flower their language, using big and complicated words, they tend to choose english words that have a latin origin.

When I write english, I want to flower my language by using english words of germanic origin. This is difficult because germanic words are usually used for everyday things, while latin words see more usage in an academic setting.

Are there any examples of authors doing this?

[Anonymous No.19758361]

>>19758337
Well that’s the fundamental split between common and legal language. You are fighting against hundreds of years of linguistic splits.

[Anonymous No.19758408]

>>19755458
Lol, holy shit, looks like that parrot is on an acid trip.

[Anonymous No.19758430]

If you post your work on places like Wattpad and FictionPress do they legally own the rights to that work?

[Anonymous No.19758433]

>>19758361
I believe its possible, perhaps by taking inspiration from Anglish, a purely germanic english language.

In this list I see several examples where I find germanic origin words that are good choices for flowering my language.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Germanic_and_Latinate_equivalents_in_English

Troth, forsake, beseech, harbinger, ere, behest, behoof, foredeal, tarry, erstwhile are some examples that can add to the language.

[Anonymous No.19758463]

Does anyone else have issues concluding stories? I can't seem to finish anything without an abrupt ending...

[Anonymous No.19758471]

>>19758266
hello, little anon. congrats, me too...

[Anonymous No.19758492]

>>19758433
That’s a neat link, thanks anon. I’ve always been fascinated with legal doublets. Some judges use them to mean the same thing unless they want to get out of something and so they use the two words to mean different things even though they really don’t much.

[Anonymous No.19758514]

>>19757749
I don't see a problem with it. Even the Hitler thing could potentially be pulled off if it was done right i.e. plausible, logical

>Alberta seeking legal independence from Canada leading to repercussions for border communities
Good premise actually.

[Anonymous No.19758521]

>>19757492
nno

[Anonymous No.19758605]

>first volume 85k words
>second volume might end up being 110-120k
>no way to change the break point
kinda triggers my autism that it wont be even.

[Anonymous No.19758731]

>>19758266
Not anymore you didn't, hahahahahahaha... Prepare to face oblivion, fool!

[Anonymous No.19758743]

>>19758521
Explain÷\

[Anonymous No.19758752]

>>19758731
i cannot believe you have posted this

[Anonymous No.19758803]

>>19758731
>>19758752
>an anon has declared war on blimp-anon

[Anonymous No.19758805]

>>19758743
stories need "thorough plots" and there is no way around it if you want anyone to read it (let alone enjoy it)

[Anonymous No.19758846]

>>19758805
Alright let's say there is a plot, generally speaking. When do I know the story is ready for beta reading?

[Anonymous No.19758929]

With the invention of the internet we've been consuming and producing media at such a rate that nothing feels unique or original enough anymore. Has the digital age of mass media killed the magic of storytelling? Is it even possible to write worthwhile fiction anymore? Am I just not creative enough, or am I too hard on myself?

[Anonymous No.19758943]

i need to outline in 50-100 word chunks to be able to finish a story

[Anonymous No.19759029]

>>19758929
Something creative and new just requires a mix of familiar and unfamiliar. Authors have unique voice. You won't tell it the way someone else will, it won't sound the same. Don't limit your potential based on what gets published right now.
In fact, I'd say many people around the world are shocked and perspectives are changing dramatically this very generation. I think capturing that drama, any way you'd like to tell it, is worth it and fiction is due for some upheaval as authors grow frustrated, as you are, as people pretend that the world hasn't changed. Just how the modernists and post-modernists were reacting to the world they were in, you can do that as well.

[Anonymous No.19759111]

>>19758929
we're all just telling the same stories over and over but with different characters in different settings. it's subconscious. don't get hung up on trying to be original

[Anonymous No.19759215]

>>19758261
>showing your writings to friends and family
nobody in their right mind would ever do such a thing.

[Anonymous No.19759223]

>>19758731
Aw, the manlihood!

[Anonymous No.19759263]

>>19759215
>friend begged and begged to read what i'm writing
>finally gave him a copy
>despite having nothing else to do he still hasn't read it, he's probaby shitting around on discord and reddit like a fuckign faggot
>too disgusted with him to even ask
Jesus said something about a prophet being respected everywhere but in his own hometown.

[Anonymous No.19759287]

>I'm at 45k words for my book
>it's 5k short of a novel
>it's now a novella and won't sell
FUCKKKKKKKK

[Anonymous No.19759290]

>>19759287
Put in a bit about a dog discovering aliens as a side story.

[Anonymous No.19759298]

>>19759287
>he thinks 50k words is a novel
>he's a smoothbrain from reddit who bought into nanowrimo's promises
>he thinks a first draft he shat out in 1 month that totally isn't a ripoff of his favorite seriesshit is going to "sell"
yikes

[Anonymous No.19759312]

>>19759290
I can't. A robot waifu is enough science fiction. But I will take it into consideration for my next story.

[Anonymous No.19759315]

>>19759298
>he's a smoothbrain from reddit who bought into nanowrimo's promises
Wait. I thought this was standard!?! Are you telling me Reddit was lying to me the entire time?!

[Anonymous No.19759340]

>>19759215
I share with my friends and family. They like it.

[Anonymous No.19759383]

>already struck out 600 words of crap
>about to strike out 2400 more from complete frustration with this section

[Anonymous No.19759394]

>>19759383
It's okay I deleted entire chapters of 5k+ words because it's complete utter shit.

[Anonymous No.19759403]

>>19751249
jungian archetypes tests came to mind, you could use those in your matrix
Vanilla Sky, but the Spanish version which imo is better it's called Open Your Eyes is worth a watch too

[Anonymous No.19759437]

>>19758929
Are you worried about being unoriginal?
Don't.
All you need is some well read confidante to proof your ideas, maybe your drafts. Or don't even bother. You tell your story, that's all that matters, that's the whole point of writing.
You can't be worried about plagiarism because that has to be done consciously, you should only be worried about getting caught if that were what you are up to.

[Anοnymous No.19759489]

the time is gone
the song is over
thought I'd something more to say

[Anonymous No.19759510]

>>19758261
That's the price of being a writer. Inevitably you draw from your own life, thoughts and experiences, but even when you make it all up, everybody will assume that's what you think or want or feel anyway. So you can't win. Just pay the price for the art.

[Anonymous No.19759516]

>>19758846
when you read the book yourself.

[Anonymous No.19759525]

>>19759340
Of course they do ;)

[Anonymous No.19759536]

>think about flaws in draft
>get so anxious i want to die

[Anonymous No.19759552]

>>19759525
You can't trick me, they like it

[Anonymous No.19759557]

Few hours before I gotta go to bed for work tomorrow. Enough time to write something. Someone please give me a writing prompt.

[Anonymous No.19759579]

>>19759557
beach football and cephalopods being responsible for the disappearance of lone walkers

[Anonymous No.19759585]

>>19759557
A fat piece of shit mixing Coca-Cola with Pepsi

[Anonymous No.19759609]

>>19759557
A man in a cock cage shows up to the emergency room with a grievous genital wound. He is denied life saving surgery because he does not have a written note from his bull allowing the removal of the cage.

[Anonymous No.19759621]

What's your favourite font? Mine is Times New Roman.

[Anonymous No.19759634]

>>19759621
comic sans, you're a faggot btw

[Anonymous No.19759636]

Aimless recent college graduate's phobias keep him from getting a job but he discovers that his incredible memory allows him to B.S. interviews using anecdotes he's read online and get offers. He can't accept the offers because of the anxiety and because he doesn't really have the qualifications but makes a hobby of doing numerous interviews because acing job interviews gives him a simulated experience of competence. The authoritarian government under which he lives discovers him and forces him to use his interviewing skills to interview with and infiltrate this society's rebel group, who are dedicated to proving the earth is not flat, which challenges the system's dogma.

[Anonymous No.19759653]

>>19759621
Sylfaen and Perpetua are my go-tos.

[Anonymous No.19759668]

>>19759621
Isn't Book Basic the correct font?

[Anonymous No.19759669]

>>19759621
Verdanas

[Anonymous No.19759679]

>>19759636
You may as well write a historical fiction of Copernicus

[Anonymous No.19759688]

>>19759634
>>19759653
>>19759668
>>19759669
Plebs. Book Antiqua is the most based of fonts to write in.

[Anonymous No.19759721]

>>19759621
based

[Anonymous No.19759834]

>>19759621
Libre Baskerville

[Anonymous No.19759883]

>read other novels
>Most of them are shitty erotica
>Always rape
>Over use of the word "fuck"
>Men can cum 3-4 times
>Women always lose to the cock

Are writers just a bunch of frustrated virgins? Or is hentai the highest level of pornography?

[Anonymous No.19759893]

How do I become satisfied with the readership I have?

[Anonymous No.19759897]

>>19759893
Remember that someone has less readers than you

[Anonymous No.19759910]

>>19759883
>read other novels
>they all seem to suck but somehow got published
>read my own draft
>nothing but anxiety and frustrations over my last novel going 80 queries without publishment now tinging my mentality with perfectionism and an inferiority complex

[Anonymous No.19759916]

>>19759883
Most books are bad. Most everything is bad. I do agree that the amount of visceral sex scenes in modern literature seems weirdly high these days. I'm not interested in sex pretty much at all, so it tends to take me out of the book most of the time.

[Anonymous No.19759982]

>>19759579
>>19759585
Kek. Thank you both. Crit and feedback welcome.

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/36209/burgerpunk-pizza-time/chapter/826296/the-cola-conspiracy

[Anonymous No.19760006]

>>19759609
Yours made a guest appearance too.

[Anonymous No.19760016]

You do have a mood music playlist for when you're writing scenes with specific emotions don't you?

[Anonymous No.19760028]

>>19760016
I blast the Totoro theme song extremely loud on repeat whenever I'm awake.

[Anonymous No.19760047]

>>19760016
I just listen to Love Live songs all the time. If I ever become a famous author I am definitely going to pretend I listen to Wagner or Mahler or something, though.

[Anonymous No.19760049]

>>19759982
It's very contemporaneous, in a good way.

[Anonymous No.19760051]

I require help with some doubts, what to do when it feels I'm cramming too much into a character? Take out ideas for other times and characters?
The next question is way more common and I'm afraid I have to ask it myself, I want a female main character BECAUSE the character is so unrepentant if they are a male, I accounted for this during the stuff I have so far and approached them as either being a very weird male or a female, female won. Can I just do the swap OR should I do the whole "hmm how does a woman think?"

[Anonymous No.19760074]

>>19760016
https://youtu.be/5j-PDw-BChE
This guy gets it

[Anonymous No.19760077]

>>19760051
>how do I stop cramming so much about a character?
You show who they are through action and how they handle themselves around others.
>How do I deal with a female character?
You aren't a woman, I think you'll be fine with just turning the dude MC into a woman MC and changing minor issues here and there. Don't purposely go out of your way to make them super woman-y. People will call you out on that, but there are some fundamental differences in how they deal with the world and their bodies that you may want to modify.

[Anonymous No.19760082]

>>19759883
Like 50 Shades of Gray?

[Anonymous No.19760092]

>>19760049
Thank you. Maybe one day it'll become a period piece like Friends or Kafka. I feel it pretty cringe to make direct references to products or media, but so much of modern symbolic culture is dealt with in these ways. No one is witty on their own anymore because our daily lives lack actual activity outside of consuming media. It's so surreal that this is our reality. I want to wander cityscapes, not just watch the simulacra of it on youtube. I want to be on a boat, not watch anime about boats. I want to feel real human connection, not just read a book about someone else experiencing it. But all those things require money or going out of your comfort zone. All those things become goals one has to chase instead of just things that are done. It's as if my will or my intent or my motivation are gone. Did they ever exist in the first place?

[Anonymous No.19760093]

>>19760082
Even 50 shades has better sex scenes in it.

[Anonymous No.19760094]

>>19760077
>You show who they are through action and how they handle themselves around others.
Fair, it was about me thinking they do too much coupled with lots of monologues, I just don't want to leave the weirdness unexplored but maybe I need to trim down the fat.
>>19760077
The gender-switch feels awkward which I think works out in my favor here but I'd like for you to expand on that last part, I need another perspective, what should I be focusing on? What to keep in mind?

[Anonymous No.19760099]

>>19759982
The switch to RC cola is very jarring. Sometehing felt missing between paragraphs. Why would he scream about RC cola in the first place? He's pissed he's thrown in jail for mixing pepsi and coke, not for anything RC cola did.

[Anonymous No.19760102]

>>19760051
What do you mean by cramming? Just adding facts and personality traits? I always think that offhandedly mentioning small things about them is a good way to add depth. it's very tough to go excessively, as long as you aren't describing things that don't matter in great detail.
Say a character has a sweet tooth. you can mention that during a dinner scene, but don't spend more than a sentence on it. it's just a fun quirk about her, it gives depth without diverting from the things that are happening that are important.
Your mileage may vary. I write in a somewhat conversational style, so it works well for me.

[Anonymous No.19760115]

>>19760099
I was going for a third party soda the guy screams out in anger because he's been interrogated by both coke and pepsi representatives. He chooses RC Cola as one to get the goat of both at the same time, frustrated about being oppressed by both brands.

[Anonymous No.19760126]

>>19760102
Too much beliefs, too much actions. An odd comment, related to the main flow conversation that's just there to hint at something, that sort of thing, I feel I'm too maximalist with most of my characters, not descriptive but to the point they stop being a real person and more of a talking symbol.

[Anonymous No.19760137]

>>19759557
A man's distaste for Gros Michel banana flavored yogurt leads to a massacre on Main Street.

[Anonymous No.19760146]

>>19760094
I'm not a woman but I've known a few. I think the major perspective shift is that women are objectified in what they are, themselves as objects that are judged, while men are objectified in action, they are judged by what they do. There is always the power distance that men don't really understand until they meet a dude that benches 3 times what they do. Knowing that the powerlifter could pin you down and do whatever they want with you is something us dudes don't think about too much, but most every woman I've met worries in some way about how much stronger almost every man around them is. Other things to think about when it comes to the whole objectification is the whole Madonna–whore complex thing. Men who look to women as objects either see them as their own saintly object or the object of scorn because they are possessed by someone else.

I don't really know beyond that how different they really are. Could go into the whole social focus as opposed to physical object focus, but that's kinda already covered in what I first said. I also really don't want this to derail into a /pol/ thread so I'm going to just say now that all of this is generalizations and every person is different.

[Anonymous No.19760166]

I'm running out of good airship pictures. Might have to start recycling.
>>19760126
Then your problem is more the flow of your writing, isn't it? It's not that your characters are too complex or overdeveloped, you just aren't so good at introducing those parts of them in a way that flows with your writing. There's nothing wrong with characters who have a lot to say about what they believe in, you just have to figure out how to make them say it at a time that feels natural.

[Anonymous No.19760187]

>>19760092
>All those things become goals one has to chase instead of just things that are done. It's as if my will or my intent or my motivation are gone. Did they ever exist in the first place?
The highly efficient modern society leaves very little room for individuals to explore their lives. Things are expensive because people have expenses. I think about the expats from 100 years ago. They just lived in Europe and went around not worrying a damn about retirement or where they'd live or what they'd really eat either. They just would do a little work here and there and would otherwise be living the high life doing whatever the fuck. It's like looking into a different universe.

[Anonymous No.19760194]

>>19760166
I get it now, that was exactly it. Any advice?
>>19760146
Thanks for the help, I was thinking something like that, will go over some things again.

[Anonymous No.19760207]

>>19759557
big tittied goth gf

[Anonymous No.19760211]

>>19760028
Painfully based.

[Anonymous No.19760212]

Wrote 3500 words yesterday of mostly new content.
Edited/rewrote a different 5000 today, most of which was reuseable carry-over from the original with edits. Now facing a section of ~15000 words that will need to be entirely new/redone.

[Anonymous No.19760220]

>>19760207
That would just be a chapter in my very depressing biography. :(

[Anonymous No.19760222]

What's a good way to make a book cover? Should I just go around taking pictures and just use something that looks nice as one?

[Anonymous No.19760235]

>>19760222
You can do it yourself if you have the skills for it, but I would recommend a professional cover by someone who does book cover designs. Shop around thoroughly. After a while you get to know what you like. I'm not satisfied with mine right now; she does stock photo purchasing and photoshop and I want custom art this time around.

[Anonymous No.19760236]

>>19760194
I don't really know if my advice would be useful - more just a thing you have to pick up by listening to people talk. I think if your character has to explain their beliefs, it definitely should be either as the result of someone directly asking, or needing to explain an action they've committed in the name of those beliefs. When you want to do it, think "But who asked?" and if the answer is "no one", it's probably an inappropriate time to insert it.
There's a famous troll Harry Potter fanfic that fails in this regard to its logical extreme. it's called "Harry Potter Becomes A Communist". It's pretty funny.

[Anonymous No.19760281]

>>19759394
>>19759383
i never understood this, i mean yeah you have to rework and edit stuff, but getting that far in and not realizing your headed down the wrong path?
Do you guys do flow of consciousness + dicktation software or some shit?

[Anonymous No.19760288]

>>19751113
I can’t believe you actually post your writing here, let alone your own ideas. You’ll forever be branded a chud.

[Anonymous No.19760295]

>>19760288
I think it's fun.

[Anonymous No.19760299]

>>19760288
Why do you think the only thing I've disclosed about my work is that there's blimps in it lol

[Anonymous No.19760308]

>>19760212
WW3 never sounded so pedophilic.

[Anonymous No.19760315]

I think I spend too much time in front of the laptop typing absolutely nothing.

[Anonymous No.19760338]

>>19760315
just shit out some trite poetry, pat yourself on the back and call it a day?

[Anonymous No.19760370]

>>19760281
It's a manuscript from 3 years ago I'm reworking, dude. The story is good but the writing quality was holding it back. It's not "wrong" just amateur. and now it's much better and i might do another round of this.

[Anonymous No.19760376]

>8400 words to event that sets off the rest of the story
That's fast enough for me

[Anonymous No.19760380]

Happy, Bittersweet, Sad, Tragic, or Evil ends?

[Anonymous No.19760386]

>>19760380
Bittersweet. That longing for something finished that lingers for a few days feels like an artificial hit of meaning and sorrowful pleasure. I love it and wish it would never fade.

[Anonymous No.19760401]

>>19760380
bittersweet downer ending where most characters might've died, there's still drastic civil unrest and war might brew again, but hey, at least the two FMCs can live out the rest of their days in peace, grow old in eachother's arms and most importantly be raging dykes without a care in the world.

[Anonymous No.19760425]

>>19760401
I'm watching The Wind Rises right now and BOY is it bittersweet. Why does every Miyazaki make me cry?

[Anonymous No.19760430]

>>19760380
tragic, always. there is no beauty except in tragedy.

[Anonymous No.19760442]

>>19760430
Interesting thought. That's why none of the action or comedy things I consume really hit me in that way.

[Anonymous No.19760461]

>>19760380
Genre specific, with some having multiple
>Happy
Romance, Fantasy, Historical, Science fiction, Adventure, Western, Magical realism
>Bittersweet
Romance, Fantasy, Historical, Mystery, Western, Magical realism
>Sad
Historical, Science fiction, Horror, Thriller, Mystery, Western
>Tragic
Romance, Historical, Science fiction, Thriller, Western, Magical realism
>Evil
Fantasy, Historical, Science fiction, Horror, Thriller, Western

[Anonymous No.19760466]

>>19760380
I decided to jump on the literary bandwagon of making it so vague that the reader can pretty much decide for themselves

[Anonymous No.19760491]

>>19760380
Ironic endings are the best. Sure it's nigh impossible to pull off but when it does it's great.

Animal farm did it well

[Anonymous No.19760984]

What's your private silly motivation for wanting to publish through a big publisher? For me, money and greater visibility are the up-front motivations, but deep down I want to be published so I can hire some specific cartoon voice actors I grew up on to do the audiobook versions. Not memeing; achieving this dream is what keeps me going.

[Anonymous No.19760986]

>>19760380
I write only happy endings but all readers insist they're tragic wtf

[Anonymous No.19760990]

>>19759621
I can only read Times, everything else looks like shit and makes my eyes bleed in longer paragraphs

[Anonymous No.19760998]

>>19760380
When I was in high school? "Evil wins" or bittersweet where the villain technically dies at the end but he managed to inflict so much permanent damage that he "won" even in defeat.
Now? Happy or happy with a twinge of bittersweetness.
I just got really sick of writing story after story of characters suffering and it all being for nothing. Happy endings might be cliche, but at the rate I was going, the opposite had become even more of a cliche for me.

[Anonymous No.19761000]

>>19759621
I've published books in both Georgia and Minion, depending on what I'm feeling at the time.

[Anonymous No.19761007]

>>19761000
If you’re going to self publish, you may as well use a new font no one has seen.

[Anonymous No.19761017]

>>19761007
Self publish?

[Anonymous No.19761519]

>>19759910
That situation is one of my biggest fears I think and probably why I have insane writers block
>>19760092
Wow reading your comment was a trip. It was almost as if I typed it myself. We gotta soldier on I suppose.

[Anonymous No.19761524]

>>19760984
Mine is just to say I did it. I can take to my grave knowing I left a bit of me in the world

[Anonymous No.19761561]

>>19759910

Sadly, marketability is more important to most agents/publishers than quality. What's the point in them wasting money on something, no matter how masterful, if they make a loss?

[Anonymous No.19761563]

>>19760984

Credibility. Not really anything other than that if I am honest with myself.

[Anonymous No.19761797]

For those of you who journal do you think a physical or digital journal is better? I've tried both and find it difficult to stick to it - I only seem to write when I'm feeling particularly down about something.

[Anonymous No.19761811]

>>19760984
I don't really care who publishes me. I'll probably never actually be published by one of the big guys because what I write isn't commercially viable. I may just end up publishing myself if I can't get a smaller arthouse publisher to take the manuscript when it's done. I really just don't care about anything past striving for perfection with respect to my own personal tastes and standards for what makes good literature. If I actually succeed at that, I'm sure the rest will follow.

[Anonymous No.19761889]

A narrator should never be alone. He should always have with him a person to tell his story to. Unless, of course, he is mentally unstable, in which case a mirror might suffice. If you can't tell me what kind of chair your narrator is sitting on, then I don't want to hear anything else from you.

[Anonymous No.19761903]

>>19761889
Are you saying every narrative needs to be a frame narrative?

[Anonymous No.19761906]

>>19761889

wut? The narrator need not be an actual character. This stance makes no sense for the vast majority of literature

[Anonymous No.19761913]

>>19761889
Dumb-dumb. The narrator is the writer and the other person is the reader.

[Anonymous No.19761915]

>>19761889
The narrator can tell his story to the reader. Always thus

[Anonymous No.19761918]

>>19761889
Either Prose or Le Guin from the recommended books in the OP does tackle this question. For them the problem is when and how is the story being told. Thus, having a framing device is a brilliant way to have the story be told naturally. Allows for the narrator to skip over the uninteresting, for the listeners to question and hurry up the story, or pause to ask questions. All of this can work brilliantly if done by a good writer.

[Anonymous No.19761930]

I bet nobody will write in the next write thread because nobody here writes.

[Anonymous No.19761933]

>>19761889
i guess it's plastic and nylon? i dont fuckin know it's a chair i bought it at office max for 50 bucks who the fuck cares

[Anonymous No.19761943]

There wasn’t nearly enough discussion about rape this time you homos are faggots.

[Anonymous No.19761964]

>>19761906
The vast majority of literature is a hideous mixture of disparate forms – and quite unsavoury in its artificiality.

[Anonymous No.19761970]

>>19761964
Bad troll

[Anonymous No.19761972]

I've sent the same text to two different contests. If I don't win either, it will finally prove I am a hack who is NGMI.

[Anonymous No.19761975]

I have a story idea but it hurts every time I go to write it. How do you power through this? The story makes me feel so sad that I can't make myself write it or else I can't write a lot at once.

[Anonymous No.19761982]

>>19761975
Hurts? How about you stop being a melodramatic little bitch.

[Anonymous No.19761996]

>>19760998
Happy endings are so rare nowadays that they ought to be the new subversion.

[Anonymous No.19762004]

>>19761996
Happy endings are for literal babies.

[Anonymous No.19762005]

>>19761918
>All of this can work brilliantly if done by a good writer.
LITERALLY anything can work brilliantly if done by a good writer. This is why the rest of your post is entirely, 100% bullshit. By corollary, literally nothing can work brilliantly if done by a poor writer. Good writers have no rules, so it stands to logic that you should just focus on writing well and discard the "rules" and "frameworks" by which shitty writers try to drag all the other crabs down into the bucket.

[Anonymous No.19762007]

>>19761970
Far from it, I merely believe that the essence of storytelling lies in the direct communication between two people, one recounting to the other an experience in which he or she has directly or indirectly participated. The field report is the essential form of storytelling, and any deviation from it amounts to a small perversion.

[Anonymous No.19762015]

>>19761996
Happy endings make me cry

[Anonymous No.19762017]

>>19762004
You're just too microbrained to understand a good happy ending. You've been burnt to hell on sadness and bittersweet endings. Take the smilepill.

[Anonymous No.19762021]

>>19762015
Same.

[Anonymous No.19762023]

>>19762017
Go be gay somewhere else homoboy!

[Anonymous No.19762029]

>>19762023
Fine! I'll take my homosex somewhere it's appreciated, like the next thread!

[Anonymous No.19762032]

>>19762007
>storytelling lies in the direct communication between two people, one recounting to the other an experience in which he or she has directly or indirectly participated
No shit, Einstein. It's literally impossible to talk about something you've never thought about. In the talking, you think about what you're talking about. This is an utterly banal idea gussied up in self-important language and the semiotics of profundity. Stop huffing your own fuckin farts, nigger.

[Anonymous No.19762036]

>>19762032
Your pea brain cannot fathom the depth of my ideas, whitey.

[Anonymous No.19762039]

>>19762036
I just did, retard.

[Anonymous No.19762043]

>>19762039
Really, dumbo?

[Anonymous No.19762050]

>dude... storytelling is like... bro hear me out... it's like uh... a CONVERSATION, you see... and, uh... like... you can only HAVE a CONVERSATION with another person... woah...

[Anonymous No.19762051]

>>19762050
You're just another shyster adrift in the wake of my mind.

[Anonymous No.19762053]

>>19761982
You're an idiot.

[Anonymous No.19762062]

>no, man... dude... you just don't UNDERSTAND...

[Anonymous No.19762077]

>>19762051
M-Maybe I can be your shyster tonight...

[Anonymous No.19762128]

>>19762126
baked bread

[Anonymous No.19762598]

>>19752380
1. So my enemies fear and crumble as they hear my name
2. So graduate whores suck my dick in the bathroom during book reads
3. So I look into the mirror in the morning and see something I'm not ashamed of

[Anonymous No.19762682]

>>19761797
>I only seem to write when I'm feeling particularly down about something.
So if you value writing try to be sad about something all the time. I've got into the routine of drinking a little before writing, now I can't do it without and my friends call me an alcoholic. Change your routine or embrace it, no point in dwelling.