/wg/ Write General

[Anonymous No.19771587]

"I don't want to find or pay an agent" Edition
Previous Thread >>19762126

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.19771612]

How come some Royal Road stories are actually good, unlike /wg/'s truth that only published books are decent?

[Anonymous No.19771677]

>>19771612
bullshit, post 'em

[Anonymous No.19771686]

Is RoyalRoad good or is it full of bad stories?

[Anonymous No.19771691]

>>19771587
Bird by Bird is also a good resource for trying to overcome perfectionism and laziness if you can accept its author has a vagina.

[Anonymous No.19771697]

>>19771691
Second.

[Anonymous No.19771699]

>>19771612
really? I read the first 5 chapters of the chicken story and lost interest in it very quickly. The writing felt disjointed and the reddit spacing irritated me.

[Anonymous No.19771705]

>>19771612
Which RoyalRoad stories are good? I read Mother Of Learning but I can't really find anything of comparable quality on there.

[Anonymous No.19771721]

>>19771691
some of it was alright but the style and sense of "humor" of the author was irritating. it's clear she thinks she's such an eccentric weirdo with such a unique life and viewpoint and a wealth of wisdom, but she's literally the r-site. i like the bird by bird analogy but otherwise didnt get much from it

[Anonymous No.19771735]

>>19771612
i think they drag on too long. Which works well for a serial book. But if I were to actually compile it into one book at once, somme of these stories are huge monsters where you can cut out at least 30 chapters.

[Anonymous No.19771930]

Is burgerpunk really about boats? I just want to be on a boat. Lord help me I want to be a fisherman

[Anonymous No.19771939]

Wrote 1600 words tonight. Finished a small but crucial section of my big story. Feels really good.

[Anonymous No.19771950]

>>19771735
They have it now so that you can arrange chapters into proper volumes to denote one book ending and another one in the series starting. It's just cosmetic, but it's a feature that's nice for those that present their fiction as such.

[Anonymous No.19771962]

>>19771587
You know you have to read to post here, right?

[Anonymous No.19771966]

>>19771962
no, this is the writing general

[Anonymous No.19772012]

What's the point of traditional publishing when places like Barnes and noble are going out of business? Bookstores are dying and people tend to buy books on Amazon now.
If anything the next phase of books will be similar to video content making. You write for sponsorships from companies. For example you write a story involving coca cola because coca cola pays you.

[Anonymous No.19772019]

>roadblock
>managed to write 1500 words
>another roadblock
>put in notes and said i'd come back to it
>read next section, dissatisfied. decide to invent something to replace it
>somehow note out a section that is going to be absolutely excellent
feels very good
>>19771962
I've read roughly 35 academic texts, most ranking around 500 pages, just as research base for my novel. I assure you I read more than you do, you jealous, hateful animal.

[Anonymous No.19772031]

Somebody read 35 pages of my work today. Earned about 15 cents.

[Anonymous No.19772038]

>>19772031
How ? Please tell me your secret

[Anonymous No.19772057]

>>19772038
self publish on Kindle Unlimited

[Anonymous No.19772065]

>>19772031
>15 cents.
enough to purchase half of a banana. incredible.

[Anonymous No.19772067]

>>19772057
I thought kindle was a one time purchase. I didn't know it was a per page read thing

[Anonymous No.19772074]

>>19772019
>I've read roughly 35 academic texts, most ranking around 500 pages, just as research base for my novel. I assure you I read more than you do, you jealous, hateful animal.
I've read at least 5 entire books for a 10 line poem, so get on my level. I bet your writing is overweight, bloated, and shit.

[Anonymous No.19772078]

>>19772065
You're not going to be the next JK Rowling

[Anonymous No.19772091]

What are the best books on literary criticism so that I can actually see the craft of the books that I am reading?

[Anonymous No.19772100]

>>19772074
seething

[Anonymous No.19772101]

How much worldbuilding should I do before I write a fantasy or scifi story? If "a lot", what is enough? If "a little", how do I worldbuild on the fly? What are the basic points I should keep in mind while I expand on it in the story?

[Anonymous No.19772102]

>>19772091
Don't bother. It's better for you to read good books of all genres and take what works.

[Anonymous No.19772104]

How do I start writing? How do I turn my ideas into a narrative?

[Anonymous No.19772110]

>>19772100
This anon is unable to write a response without resorting to memes.

[Anonymous No.19772115]

>>19772110
>continuing to seethe because I stated that I have read several books
incredible what you can get yourself angry about

[Anonymous No.19772135]

>>19772104
Outline

[Anonymous No.19772156]

>>19772101
I'm writing a sci-fi space opera and I more or less worldbuild on the fly. Keep it as consistent as you can, basically try not to spend more time on lore than the actual writing. Personally I interwove just about all of it into the writing, ie, drips of it in dialogue or a character's monologue.

[Anonymous No.19772277]

>>19771677
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/26534/vainqueur-the-dragon is a fairly good one. Good humoristic twist on the classic adventurer and dragon rider story.

[Anonymous No.19772280]

Teach me the ways of poetry.

[Anonymous No.19772303]

>>19772280
go on the poetry thread

[Anonymous No.19772327]

>>19772277
>start reading
>okay, it's not offensively bad, I guess...
>suddenly status screens out of nowhere
NOPE NOPE NOPE FUCK YOU

[Anonymous No.19772529]

There's a police helicopter circling around my neighborhood (at 1:30 am). They keep announcing that someone is under arrest and they will release police dogs to search for them and they should come out now or they will get bit. Write about the person they're looking for.

[Anonymous No.19772733]

Horror is weird. Every horror story is divided into two parts: the mundane part and the supernatural part. The story begins mundane, evolves into a hermaphroditic tale of the mundane and the supernatural, and culminates in the purely supernatural. The middle part is characterized by the gradual accumulation of supernatural evidence. Oddly enough, the monster, which must appear in every horror story and which forms, at first glance, the heart of the whole thing, is for long stretches of the story - almost throughout the entire beginning and middle section - interchangeable. The supernatural evidence is, in a sense, neutral. Very curious.

[Anonymous No.19772757]

[Anonymous No.19772780]

>>19772101
Don't fall for the worldbuilding trap. Best make that shit up as you go. Don't bother solidifying the details until after you've got a good chunk of your story written. Consistency is important, but if you worry about it too much you'll end up with a 100 page long worldbuilding document but not a single word on your manuscript.

[Anonymous No.19772796]

>>19772012
Just because something is digital doesn't mean a DIY approach works. Large youtubers/twitch streamers hire people to do the bits of their job that they can't do. They have people to manage their brands, do their editing etc. etc. They are just the face of the content. Do you not think it's the same for books? You write it, someone else edits, someone else markets, someone else does the cover. Why is publishing not still the prefered option? In fact, when we have so many self-published books it matters more than ever to stand out. The market is saturated, having a publisher helps you stand out.

[Anonymous No.19772805]

>>19772019
What "academic texts" are 500 pages? Are you talking about textbooks?

[Anonymous No.19772850]

I have long wondered why it is that stories told with the pen sound so different from stories told with the voice. Brooding over this question has pulled the rug quite honestly out from under my art. But now I at last understand the gap between written and spoken word, or at least now possess a comparison that calms my brooding brain: Written language compares to spoken language as spoken words compare to words sang... and mine is the clown's song.

[Anonymous No.19772902]

>>19772091
I found How Fiction Works by James Wood to be insightful. Don’t read those how to write books by two bit money grubbers ain’t put out a quality novel their whole lives. Wood’s book isn’t a how to write book, it’s more for readers, which is what you want, and what he’s qualified to write.

[Anonymous No.19772911]

I am 15k our of 50k words into my historical novel

do you recommend building a habit of writing to a word count or for a set amount of time?

If I am struggling with what comes next, should i go super in depth plotting character arcs and scenes down to every 100 word increments, or should I just keep on writing whatever i can come up with in my head, and then do all that plotting in my second draft?

[Anonymous No.19772925]

>>19772911
Whatever works best, I'm afraid. Also: Try acting out your characters in your room. It's fun and it helps.

[Anonymous No.19772965]

>>19772277
Started reading this and it was amusing until the levels part. Fuck litrpg, this could’ve been good.

[Anonymous No.19773021]

Why do you fuckers never release these as ePUBs?

[Anonymous No.19773033]

>>19772911
Where do you get primary sources? Google doesn't have all the newspaper print articles

[Anonymous No.19773198]

>>19773033
wdym? Im just making it up

[Anonymous No.19773235]

>>19771930
No no, that's sailorpunk
>>19772019
The best feeling is not finishing a section because you don't know where to take it, redrafting a section before it, and suddenly the pieces fall right into place.
>>19772911
For the "next" steps, do what other anon said and act out characters ad lib. The unconscious brain will fill in proper responses and you can tailor them through editing. On rare occasions do I do conscious "cause and effect" plotting and planning; it's usually when I'm dissatisfied with a throughline or a theme is conveyed weakly.
I recommend trying to spend a little bit every day on it. If you need the rigidity of word count or time, do that too. I prefer to go to my writing to relax. It's peak me time, so whether I get half an hour or three hours is merely an effect of the day before it and what my other priorities were. I made a resolution this New Year to spend more time dedicated to my writing and I've found I'm writing now in place of aimless YouTube surfing and video games I only played so much because I had FOMO.

[Anonymous No.19773356]

>>19773021
Scroll down, idiot.

[Anonymous No.19773441]

Controversial statement: Litrpg is the ground breaking genre of our time.

[Anonymous No.19773473]

>>19773441
Yes, on a frozen lake.

[Anonymous No.19773546]

Should you start looking for an agent only after your book is finished, or at least your first draft?

[Anonymous No.19773638]

>>19772805
"nonfiction books" but specifically for people outside the general public. most are intended for researchers or phd students.
>textbooks
who the fuck reads textbooks?

[Anonymous No.19773645]

>>19773546
why do people use /wg/ as google?

[Anonymous No.19773679]

>>19773546
If it's your first book, wait until youve edited the book. If youve published, you can discuss your outlines and you might even get a contract.

[Anonymous No.19773898]

>>19773645
Because retards are happy to spoonfeed you, no matter how many times you ask

[Anonymous No.19773912]

>>19773441
If you want to write a game, then why not write a game people can play too, instead of a bad book that pretends to be a game?

[Anonymous No.19773925]

>>19773912
Books have more complicated stories than what a game allows for. So, a game written as a book can have a far better plot than what Bethesda can shit out quarterly.

[Anonymous No.19773939]

>>19773925
On the other hand, games give you the advantage of living and experiencing the story as it happens to you

[Anonymous No.19773946]

>>19773939
Why even read fiction if you cannot create brilliant scenes in your head from mere words?

[Anonymous No.19773975]

>>19773925
>a game written as a book can have a far better plot than what Bethesda can shit out quarterly
obviously, but it will be a book and competing for my attention with other books and not with games, and it will be worse than other books because rather than being written by a writer who likes writing it will be written by a failed game designer who wishes he was making games but doesn't know how.

i understand why people write litrpgs (they can't make games and typing is easy) but i can't understand why i would want to read that.

[Anonymous No.19773981]

I wrote the single greatest thing I have ever written yesterday.
The surrounding book now seems pedestrian and lackluster in comparison.
Being that I have peaked too early and its all downhill from here, I think I should hang out here for the rest of my days and throw out writing thought bubbles like a grade six teacher?

[Anonymous No.19773985]

How do I lower my expectations for my work? I'll be enjoying what I'm doing and then I'll think "actually, this isn't very impressive at all." and then I'll get demotivated immediately.

[Anonymous No.19773993]

>>19773981
>I wrote the single greatest thing I have ever written yesterday.
it sucks actually. no i don't need to see it.

[Anonymous No.19774004]

>>19773981
Sorry buddy, but we're all at Joyce's level now. Come back when you can decipher what he meant by "Et unam sacntam catholicam scatimus ingestium fetishiam"

[Anonymous No.19774011]

>>19773981
i do that sometimes. just rewrite the rest at your new level.

[Anonymous No.19774032]

>>19773985
Think of it as a sculptor. They don't get their work perfect in the first session, they'll have a rough work that shows where they should take their work further.

[Anonymous No.19774036]

>>19773441
What is worse? That someone would write litrpg? Or that someone would read it?

[Anonymous No.19774043]

>>19773985
I get that sometimes and the motivation loss sucks. I'll even audibly yell out "God that is fucking baaad/tryhard/cringe" and want to die. Then I push on. When I get that way I always remember some wise words: "Great works are not written, they are distilled."

[Anonymous No.19774071]

>>19773993
Haha, like I'd be dumb enough to post anything i have written here to be devalued and plagiarized. That's even before taking into account the 4chan association factor.

[Anonymous No.19774101]

>>19774071
that wasn't reverse psychology to get you to post it, there's just no chance that anything that inspired a post like that is actually good. sorry.

[Anonymous No.19774214]

>>19773912
I don't read litRPGs but having it in written form means you can engage more senses, control the passage of time, etc. in a way that would suck as a game player (or just make the game insanely text heavy). So I think there are valid reasons even though I can't say any have interested me yet.

[Anonymous No.19774281]

>>19773638
>specifically for people outside the general public
>who the fuck reads X
Your hypocrisy is showing.
What kind of books? What's the topic?

[Anonymous No.19774295]

>>19774281
this guy is still seething that i had the audacity to read books
protip: no one outside of gradeschool reads 'textbooks'.

[Anonymous No.19774388]

>>19774214
>you can engage more senses, control the passage of time
>you can engage more senses in text than in a medium including text, color, movement and sound
>you can't control passage of time in games
Are you sure you want to lock this answer?

[Anonymous No.19774392]

>>19773925
>a game written as a book can have a far better plot
Yeah, except they never do

[Anonymous No.19774484]

>>19773638
I buy History textbooks but I havent been in school for 5 years now. Never was a History major either. They are nice source material to understand things that I might allude to or set a story in. The only textbooks I kept from college are Chemistry and Astronomy, both are great references for scifi.

[Anonymous No.19774514]

>>19774484
textbooks are mostly for entry level 101 level studies, anon. that is their connotation.

[Anonymous No.19774673]

>>19774514
Sure, but texts are still good way to get a wide scope and then drill down with academic journals. I dont have time to "read" the whole thing though. Some textbooks arent ridiculous doorstoppers too. One older text I have is about the wordcount of a novel because so little was known on ancient Persia even on the 20th century, but it still had a vivid depiction of the lives and culture, enough to begin to write stories with.

[Anonymous No.19774688]

>>19771691
>if you can accept its author has a vagina.
I can't :(

[Anonymous No.19774693]

>>19772012
>You write for sponsorships from companies. For example you write a story involving coca cola because coca cola pays you.
It's already mostly like that now.

[Anonymous No.19774844]

>>19774693
aw, are they gonna make me put a giant Amazon logo on my blimps

[Anonymous No.19774861]

[Anonymous No.19775181]

Slow day today in /wg/, you guys must be working hard. Remember to take a break and keep your workspace tidy, and return your dishes to the kitchen :)

[Anonymous No.19775298]

>>19775181
Battlestations thread? Posting mine when I get home.

[Anonymous No.19775311]

>>19774844
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5SKCBNpAlM

[Anonymous No.19775314]

>>19775181
I had to stare at something all day to prevent it from exploding, but now I can read and ultimately write. Finishing reading Sound and the Fury today, and it's helped me be more critical of how I portray the suffering of my characters. If you havent read it, at least read Act 2 which is incredibly tense with guilt.

[Anonymous No.19775339]

>>19773441
What are the best LitRPG stories?

[Anonymous No.19775352]

>>19775311
most distressing

[Anonymous No.19775363]

>>19774101
The fact that you called it bad only reinforces my point about declining quality, that or you lack basic comprehension skills.

[Anonymous No.19775376]

>>19775181
here's my writing setup.

[Anonymous No.19775566]

>>19772091
reading like a writer - francine prose

[Anonymous No.19775699]

>>19775181
My desk reflects my mood. There are long stretches where everything is tidy and organized.

These last few months have been a gauntlet of work and home drama, it’s all i can do to keep my head above water.

[Anonymous No.19775739]

>>19772031
zero reads today. Disappointing but not unexpected.

[Anonymous No.19775766]

How do I get over my crippling impostor syndrome (other than offing myself)?

[Anonymous No.19775777]

>>19775181
>Tfw lapdesklet
This is the ultimate form of imposter syndrome

[Anonymous No.19775785]

>>19775181
>>19775298
Here we go. Comfy station btw.
When it gets dark, I use the lamp light reflecting against the wall for a more subtle mood. It's simply too bright for my desk otherwise. I've thought about moving my files on to my gaming computer, but so far the urge hasn't won me over yet.
>>19775376
Name your waifu
>>19775699
You stream games or something?

[Anonymous No.19775793]

>>19775739
>>19772031
had about 430 pageviews on the 16th and 224 on the 17th. No idea about yesterday or today so far though.

[Anonymous No.19775825]

I see a lit of thoughts on Royal Road but not a whole lot on Wattpad. Anyone have experience with it?

[Anonymous No.19775873]

>>19773441
I'd agree, granted I'm biased. It allows for a sort of amalgamation of technology and nature that speaks to people who have grown up grounded in games and online interactions - I am not saying this is good or bad, it simply is. People may say that the vast majority is schlock - and it is - but its the same with romance and whatever other genre that is traditionally published. Further, its nearly 100% self published, which is the future. It may even be the present.

Anyway, chapter 66 released.
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/40361/erased
Hope you're all making progress on your projects

[Anonymous No.19775904]

>>19775825
the problem with wattpad is discoverability, or the lack thereof

[Anonymous No.19775912]

>>19775181
Giving a real reply now that I'm home. Desk couldn't be more tidy. I've removed a lot of clutter from the house this weekend, a lot of junk I simply don't need. Since it's a bit blurry, book stack is my current reading:
>A Stone, A Leaf, A Door - Thomas Wolfe
>Wise Blood - Flannery O'Connor
>Collected Stories - William Faulkner

Also now that I'm thinking about it some anon weeks ago mentioned there's a better margin space and other settings I ought to use in word processors but I already forgot. Mine is default right now.

[Anonymous No.19775938]

Hope your projects are all going well, lads. Would appreciate some feedback on this exchange, if anyone could spare the time.

[Anonymous No.19775952]

>>19775938
do all bongoids reverse their apostrophes and quotation marks or just anime writers? we can tell you have a hispanic fetish and it's cringe because there are none even in your country. go write about gyppos or something.

[Anonymous No.19775962]

>>19775938
replace ' with ". Lots of 'he/she said' and no indicators of who's talking.

[Anonymous No.19775994]

>>19775904
Can you elaborate on that?

[Anonymous No.19776002]

>>19775785
>You stream games or something?
Im a consultant, 70% of my day is Zoom calls.

The part of my desk you can see in the first pic (the part i look at) is trash, the part behind me stays clean and has all the diplomas/books etc.

[Anonymous No.19776013]

WHERE THE FUCK IS THE /FFA/ POSTER

[Anonymous No.19776017]

>>19775952
>>19775962
My publisher prefers me to use ' instead of " :(

Thanks for the catch about he said/she said. It is situated within a larger chapter which sets them both up quite thoroughly, but I'll insert a couple of namedrops to make sure it's evident. Cheers.

[Anonymous No.19776023]

>>19775912
You can try my favorite.
>6x9 page size
>1" margins
>Single space, no extra space between paragraphs
>Size 10ish font

[Anonymous No.19776027]

>>19775938
I like this, it was a smooth read and that last paragraph about the window felt tense. I could sense there was frustration with an underlying conflict.
>You're too like him in that way.
The "in that way" sounds a bit odd to me because of how formal it sounds. I usually only hear that phrase when a scientist is making a careful argument, or is that all on purpose?

[Anonymous No.19776029]

>>19776013
He's lurking, do you just need the list or what

[Anonymous No.19776043]

>>19776027
Thanks, anon. She's pretty well educated, and doesn't like their heritage, choosing instead to lean into her English identity. It's going really well, but this second chapter niggles at me and I keep going back to it, changing a word, then changing it to something else an hour later.

[Anonymous No.19776048]

I just write everything in Obsidian

Captcha: KRYST

[Anonymous No.19776052]

>>19776029
ya, im kind of tempted to write something for one of the prompts just so i can practice my writing, but im too lazy to look for the list in the archives

[Anonymous No.19776058]

>>19776052
Here's a screenshot from last thread. I put a green mark by one I did already

[Anonymous No.19776063]

>>19775994
sure. go to wattpad and search for something, select a genre, you have 2 choices hot or new and then try and search for tags. what tags are even there?

now go to royalroad. search. there are multiple choices, trending, latest updates, new releases, etc. there is an advanced search feature. there is a listing of tags.

[Anonymous No.19776070]

I tried describing this painting by George Inness as an exercise. What to you guys think? Is it too fluffy?
>The burning sky sinks behind black shapes of skeletal trees; a snowy hilltop clinging still to that ember glow oversees a dale drowning in shadow. Stalks of golden grass do break through the snow. Atop the hill stands a family: a man watching his two children walk towards a wooden house at the foot of the hill. The house, about two stories high, breathes the smoke of a hearth.

[Anonymous No.19776073]

>>19776013
Wow, calm down….I literally posted 2 min before you did.

> Unused prompts
A closet full of skin suits
A dating app with extraordinary risks and rewards
The academy of Paranormal Life Coaching
This will be India in 5 minutes
>What? I can’t hear you! [completed]
A first responder who summons tornadoes
A grizzled detective goes undercover on 4chan
You reap what you sow
"Please don't forget what I told you"
The location the GPS took them to seems to be a little off
A tapestry constantly being added to
Murder in the Cathedral's sanctuary
The cellar houses wine and... bodies?
Finding a one-of-a-kind book in the library stacks
A co-worker has a hidden talent
A shut-in decides to go trick-or-treating
The best way to die on a dessert island
Horrible timing for a pregnancy announcement
A game of twister at a nursing home
There is a ship museum in Utah
A librarian goes blind every Thursday
Someone crashes a child’s birthday party
POV of an alley cat in Istanbul
An unusual item at the bottom of the sea
Pina coladas and long walks in the rain
A gateway opens between hell and earth
a slasher villain's first date
An elevator that doesn't work
>A flooded castle, sinking into the mud [In progress]
Why robot teachers were discontinued
A very lost succubus
Gender Selection Day
The whales save themselves
Elevators have been portals this entire time
Seven-year-old serial killer
>A minor god trying to prove its existence [in progress]
Japanese ghost fish
The hitman hired to kill himself
What lives beneath the moss
An embarrassing phobia

[Anonymous No.19776074]

>>19776043
>>19775938
Really like this a lot. Great flow and evocative descriptions. Keep it up.

[Anonymous No.19776098]

I like to think of writing some times as a logical equation. To solve it, you simplify it through a series of operations. There is beauty in simplification. You reduce the terms until there is nothing left to reduce. Once everything chimes you're done.

It's a bit hackneyed but it's that whole saying "perfection is not when there's nothing more to add but nothing more to take away."

Here I disagree with Flaubert who said, to paraphrase, "No mind worthy of the name thinks in terms of conclusions. A sure sign of incompetence is to seek conclusions."

His point being that in writing as with many activities there is always the possibility for improvement. The perception of perfection is always subjective. The be creatively productive therefore you must always be open to possibilities and let that funnel into your brain. To seek conclusions, it to deceive yourself into the belief that there is objective perfection which blinds you and cuts off the flow of fruitful possibilities.

Maybe this is true for the ideation process but in terms of the mechanics of writing it is an objective simplification process. I could go back over this post and find all kinds of ways to narrow down what I say to the minimalist form of expression by clearing out all redundant words or those with low semantic value. Or I could rearrange them to achieve a more cleaner expression. Language can be used and abused any which way, but there are Laws of Clarity which must be respected. Clear writing is always the same in essential respects while unclear writing is always different.

[Anonymous No.19776148]

is there anything more pleasurable to write than the interactions of two characters who hate each other's guts

[Anonymous No.19776157]

>>19776148
Writing the interaction of two characters who hate each others guts, and knowing that over the next few books__ they become close, true friends

[Anonymous No.19776166]

>>19776058
Thanks for doing that one, I was going to do it but chickened out because the theme meant a lot and I was uncertain of publish-ability after putting it into an anonymous collection. Ended up finding my story was kinda similar to one I found write 90 years ago albeit with different theme.

[Anonymous No.19776210]

>>19776166
I had a good time with it. I'm thinking about doing another soon in a very different style.

[Anonymous No.19776227]

>>19776148
Writing two female main characters who have unresolved sexual tension and lots of PTSD and emotional trauma, one of which is an utterly damaged ice queen with co-dependency issues but who slowly warms up and they interlock fingers and have very intense locking of eyes whenever they're alone

[Anonymous No.19776236]

>>19776227
Are you the space opera nigga working on making your MC's main villain the endgame love interest

[Anonymous No.19776240]

>use word i dont know while writing
>look it up
>used it correctly, even spelled it correctly
what the fuck

[Anonymous No.19776260]

>>19776070
>Stalks of golden grass do break through the snow.
This is a weird sentence that really throws off the rhythm of the whole thing.
>Atop the hill stands a family: a man watching his two children walk towards a wooden house at the foot of the hill.
I see the style you're going for, but the colon in this instance is awkward, as well as the use of present continuous. Try this:

"Atop the hill, a man watches his two children walk towards a wooden house at the foot of the hill."

Don't sacrifice simplicity for style if it makes your writing a stilted read.

First and last sentence are very nice.

[Anonymous No.19776265]

>>19776227
that sounds like a fucking shnoozefest
zzz i am sleepink

[Anonymous No.19776288]

>>19776236
yes but she's not a villain, just a tragic heroine. I kinda envisioned her early on as Lu Bu but not a backstabbing short-sighted mess, just a plain old traumatic mess. I'd say the only villains are the politicians and maybe the redhead at best and redhead def does not get with the blonde despite the not-gay interactions between the two in vol3-4

[Anonymous No.19776316]

>>19775938

I found it all very confusing, anon. I think you have writing skill but the sample is all very confusing. Maybe there's just not enough context.

At least in 3 different points it's confusing: the bi about the mom's blood (what does that have to do with a tour), the bit about deciding on something after the month, and the bit about the papa and what he has to do with anything.

Also found the use of hermanita and papa kind of annoying.

[Anonymous No.19776327]

>>19776070
very purple, anon. ember glows and burning skies are what they call cliche

[Anonymous No.19776329]

>>19776288
why are these babes wearing ningen clothes...

[Anonymous No.19776333]

>>19776329
Why aren't you... baby...

[Anonymous No.19776353]

>>19776260
>>19776327
Thank you friends, I just got into writing as a hobby so I'm still working on my general prose.

[Anonymous No.19776664]

What's your guys author social media up to now?

[Anonymous No.19776746]

I got it... I THINK I GOT IT!!!

I GOT AN IDEA FOR MY NEXT NOVEL!!!!!

[Anonymous No.19776756]

>>19776746
doesn't matter you're not going to finish it anyways

[Anonymous No.19776777]

>>19776664
>What's your guys author social media up to now?
If you can’t string nine words together coherently, you have no business in /wg/

[Anonymous No.19776789]

>>19776664
>social media
>looks at taskbar
Is it 2014?

[Anonymous No.19776799]

how do you come up with stuff to write about every day. i default to just basic journal entry type shit but I wanna do something more fun

[Anonymous No.19776839]

How do I write a charismatic character when I am a sperg?

[Anonymous No.19776865]

>>19776839
write yourself

[Anonymous No.19776883]

>>19776063
Why would anyone post their work to wattpad vs royal road, then?

[Anonymous No.19776890]

>>19776839
Base it on a charismatic person you know

[Anonymous No.19776960]

>>19776883
they probably post it on both

[Anonymous No.19776961]

We did it. 81,000 words and 180 pages, ready for beta reader reviews. I start preparing material to hook them tomorrow. Year of hope.
>>19776799
Flash fiction prompts always help me. So does having multiple projects or emulating writing styles that I'm obsessed with for the day/night/week.

[Anonymous No.19777185]

>>19775339
Probably the legendary mechanic and warlock of the magus world.

[Anonymous No.19777206]

>>19773441
Also, what about interactive stories? Live streaming of our day allows people to directly tell D&D campaigns in front of a life audience. Is this not storytelling making use of the latest formats, the way writers of old "rediscovered" epistolary form?

[Anonymous No.19777275]

Struggling today. Can't help but feel like I suck and my plot and characters are irredeemable clichés. Not going to do anything hasty, but some changes might be in order.

[Anonymous No.19777301]

4300 words today. very pleased with myself. haven't written less than 1500 a day for a while now, other than one or two days where I was busy.

[Anonymous No.19777315]

>>19777275
cliche's are good. Cliche's are logical, relatable, and grounded. Nobody wants a man that's secretly a woman, trying to become a man, all the while lusting after women.

[Anonymous No.19777322]

>>19776070
>As I crested the hill, the valley below looked like a bonfire. The setting sun projecting nothing but a dim orange glow over the frozen forests below, already dark enough to swallow a man whole. In the middle of it wall was his cabin standing like a funerary home, churning out thick black smoke. A fitting metaphor, by the end of the night it would contain a dead man.

[Anonymous No.19777330]

>>19776664
I just started a tumblr. Literally today. No followers so far.

[Anonymous No.19777372]

>>19777315
enh? this doesn't make any sense.

[Anonymous No.19777433]

What's more interesting?
>story about a chinese immigrant int he 1800's?
>the cola wars?
>dark fantasy with sexy princesses?

[Anonymous No.19777448]

>>19777433
Cola wars.

[Anonymous No.19777474]

>>19777433
a story about the cola wars but it's set in the 1800s between two rival soda shop owners, one of them obviously a chinese immigrant caricature, both trying to win the affection of the town hottie

[Anonymous No.19777481]

>>19777433
Like Big Trouble in Little China, but it's actually a dark fantasy of sexy chinese immigrant princesses wuo immigrate in the 1800s and set up Pepsi and Coca-cola but are the really the secret power behind the thrones.

If you don't write that I will.

[Anonymous No.19777485]

>>19777474
>>19777481
Needs more Fu Manchu

[Anonymous No.19777495]

>>19777485
obviously the chinese immigrant soda shop owner knows kung fu, which he will use when the bumbling protagonist tries to resort to violence out of desperation to destroy the chinese man's soda shop. a possible resolution here is to go karate kid and have the bumbling protagonist convince one of his regulars, an old timey chinese karate master, to teach him karate. at the end the 2 soda shop owners have a soda-themed kung fu duel that ends in the protagonist getting the girl

[Anonymous No.19777501]

>>19777481
It's all yours now.

[Anonymous No.19777508]

>>19777433
Two sexy Chinese princesses that become Coke and Pepsi respectively. Waging their century long battle that continues today

[Anonymous No.19777519]

>>19777495
Okay but where's Fu Manchu?

[Anonymous No.19777522]

>>19777519
that would be an interesting time travel angle, have them get sucked back in time and save the soda shop through the power of psychadelic rock

[Anonymous No.19777534]

>>19777519
He's one of those three lightning dude henchmen. Another's Raiden, another's chinese Thor.

[Anonymous No.19777842]

Orang eats the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, but not before eating Fruit from the Tree of Life.
There is now an intelligent, immortal orangutan in the Garden of Eden.
And this time... it's personal.

[Anonymous No.19777885]

What's a good name for mid 40s New Zealand blond haired male investment banker?

[Anonymous No.19777896]

>>19777885
Harry

[Anonymous No.19777898]

>>19777885
gronko

[Anonymous No.19777913]

[Anonymous No.19777918]

>>19777913
Would appreciate any critiques, slander, insults

I know it's purple and somehow boring at the same time - I'm just starting back into writing so its just a memoir to get words flowing

[Anonymous No.19778140]

I've started to find writing much more enjoyable when I remove the pressure of something being good as soon as it lands on the page. I had been paralyzed by trying to craft my writing as I go, when in reality - as someone knew to writing - I should just be spewing out stories and editing them later; at this stage I simply do not have the tools and experience to do any sort of crafting or editing as I write. This might be really, really common knowledge but to me it has been liberating.

[Anonymous No.19778162]

>>19778140
In the same situation as you, anon. I still find it difficult to do in practice, however - just vomiting stuff out.

I find plot structure most difficult - prose tends to come out fine if I know where I'm headed

[Anonymous No.19778168]

>>19778140
I find writing to be more enjoyable if I think less about it. I can muse about immediate developments, or write down a future scene, but otherwise I don't outline.

[Anonymous No.19778178]

I couldn't seem to care. A dead nigger laying in his own blood stared up at me with an icy stare, piercing the space between us with the last thought that went through his head. I bet he was thinking about stealing a little white girl's virginity. Fucking nigger.
I looked down at the gun I used to dome the fucker, soaked in the moment, let the realization of my heinous crime sink in. Act of heroism? Hate crime? Fucked if I know. Either way the brute wasn't going to make any more racket with his shucking and jiving at the ass crack of dawn. I have to go to work in the morning. Did the unemployed dreg ever think of that? How the fuck did he even afford rent? I never saw the scumfuck bastard ever doing anything. No good layabout nigger.
It was probably time to leave. Someone probably heard the shot and I wouldn't have much time to get out of there before the glorified clean up crew incompetent fat pigs showed up. Don't need any trouble from those assholes. They'll never catch me, though. I'm the perfect picture of sanity and respectability. A real clean nosed son of a bitch. I help old ladies with their groceries. Don't even need to be asked. An old bat in need, I'm there. I'm your johnny on the spot, Betty. Now you don't even have to worry about niggers stealing your groceries to feed their horde of hellspawn. Population control. A true climate activist.

[Anonymous No.19778279]

>>19778162
Yeah I definitely had a good day of it today. I'm considering writing by hand instead of on the computer, so that way it's harder to go back and edit as I write.

>>19778168
Any time I write an outline it gets adapted as I write anyway.

[Anonymous No.19778683]

>>19778178
Rent free

[Anonymous No.19778688]

>>19777913
>>19777918

Purple, boring…but you beat me to that. Also let’s just get the obligatory complains about first person out of the way.

They raise cattle here…no, it’s sheep. Actually, they switched back to cattle a while back. Wait, but this place is an exception, it’s still sheep! What was this paragraph trying to do, besides make me mad?


‘I could see’ reads much clumsier than ‘I saw’…many instances throughout. In general, you seem to write yourself more passively than the farmer.

>a paranoid who carried keys on a lanyard
Best description in the whole piece
The sentence it’s in, though, leaves it kind of ambiguous whether the man or wife is the paranoid. I guess it’s clear if you look hard, but it could be phrased cleaner.

Punctuating /hays/?

If the lamb is the sick one, you may want to mention it’s age/size when it’s first spotted. I also don’t understand why they thoroughly inspected each, it it was clear (visually) which was ill.

There is nothing reptilian about sheep eyes. They could not be more different. Vacant, trusting, unsettling? Yes. Predatory, alert? Hardly.

The whole point of first person is to better understand your thoughts/reaction. Even as you peeled away the rot, you seem to have none. Only once did some thought come into your head until ‘whipped into silence’…though you never shared it. First person tends to draw you closer (sometimes uncomfortably close) to a story’s characters…somehow you managed to make this more remote than most 3rd person descriptions. You describe the visuals and actions, but never get deeper.

(Sigh…yeah, I’m actually saying this) The bit about moving the anus aside was great writing. It showed me that you actually know your subject, and it demonstrated the farmer’s instinctive knowledge. Try to fit as many small details like this into your stories as you can, and they will seem so much more real.

Is the lamb dead? What happens next? It’s like you gave up early and just reflected on the setting sun…this story never concludes. What’s the point?

>caught in the sun which lingered
Could not have ended on a clumsier construction. I’m not a ‘passive voice’ nazi, but you seem to drift into it unawares so i would encourage you to at least be more intentional about it. Especially when writing more poetically, passive adds to the complexity of a line, without adding much substance.

Overall, it’s good writing.
You. can. write.
But the whole thing lacked structure/purpose. You need something to write about, or it’s just half-poetic blather. You drift in and out of styles, the purple is strongest at the start and end, but is toned town toward the middle. It seems like when you don’t have anything worthwhile to say, you just wax poetic about clouds and hills and shit. Find a purpose, find a style, and stick to them.

[Anonymous No.19778737]

>>19778178
>I couldn't seem to care. A white sissy laying in his own blood stared up at me with an icy stare, piercing the space between us with the last thought that went through his head. I bet he was thinking about my BBC stealing his little white ass' virginity through a font of blood before I pulled the trigger. Fucking cracker.
>I looked down at the gun I used to cap the fucker, soaked in the moment, let the realization of my heinous crime sink in. Act of heroism? Hate crime? Fucked if I know. Either way the sissy wasn't going to make any more racket with his prancing and discord ruining antics until the crack of dawn. I have to go to my cracker house in the morning. Did the unemployed NEET ever think of that? How the fuck did he even afford rent? I never saw the programming sock wearing sissy ever doing anything. No good layabout faggot.
>It was probably time to leave. Someone probably heard the shot and I wouldn't have much time to get out of there before the glorified clean up crew incompetent fat pigs showed up to choke me out. Don't need any trouble from those assholes. They'll never catch me, though. I'm the perfect picture of sanity and respectability. A real clean nosed nigga. I always check for cameras before I steal my banana and swishas. Don't even need to be asked. An old banana and stoagie up for grabs, I'm there. I'm your johnny on the spot, bitch. Now we don't even have to worry about faggots seducing straight niggas with their seductive supple asses stealing your mans. Population protection. A true future Republican voter to Build Black Better.

[Anonymous No.19778751]

>>19777885
Legolas

[Anonymous No.19778768]

>>19778168
Writing is more enjoyable when I think less, too. But I'm unable to write stream of consciousness in a certain style of prose. It only comes out from my unconscious mind as dialogue and action.

[Anonymous No.19778806]

You DO have a pulpy fantasy novel as a fun side project, don't you /wg/?

[Anonymous No.19778809]

>>19778806
>side project

[Anonymous No.19778884]

>>19778806
I have one that I draft and edit while drunk. It's about a one-armed wizard and his journey across the continent to claim a bounty placed on the head of his master (whom he accidentally murdered) by the god-emperor of the civilized world.

[Anonymous No.19778977]

:^)

[Anonymous No.19779201]

>>19778977
Actually not bad writing…

The sentence about being force-fed by flies like a buzzard makes absolutely no sense.

[Anonymous No.19779272]

>was thinking about becoming a writer
>too shy to post anything online
>"Fuck it, I am going to write something trashy, who cares if it's shit."
>"Incest? Yeah, good enough."
>suddenly incredible concept pops into my head while I was outlining the plot
>"I guess it's incest flavored mystery now!'
>now my head hurts, and the whole project seems unfeasible
Do I push through, or do I give up like a bitch? I am not looking for fame, but rather for fun.

[Anonymous No.19779278]

>>19779272
>but rather for fun.
Then do it

[Anonymous No.19779422]

I'm free of editing, at long last. I don't have to scrutinize every tiny word. I can go back to writing!

For like two weeks while I build more backlog on my webnovel anyways

[Anonymous No.19779517]

>>19776316
Feels like a bot wrote this.

[Anonymous No.19779541]

>>19779272
its your time to waste dude. but if you write a shitty book, just remember no one is obligated to waste THEIR time reading it.

[Anonymous No.19779562]

>>19779541
Actually, anons from /qst/ enjoyed my writing, but I still think it sucked ass.

[Anonymous No.19779671]

>>19775311
music is such a pastiche of original williams score but yet lacks so much in taste and execution. Feels good that no amount of imitation can hide the mediocre copycat from the original genius.

[Anonymous No.19779763]

>>19778806
No, it's a sci fi romance.

[Anonymous No.19779793]

How do I stop second-guessing myself before I've written something?

I keep trying to make these perfect outlines where all I have to do is fill in the blank and it totally cripples my progress.

[Anonymous No.19779829]

>be me
>try to write seriously for the first time
>'it's going to be easy, i have everything clear in my head'
>it's easy like passing stones
fuck you, god

[Anonymous No.19779848]

>>19779829
Dont worry how dumb it sounds on first draft. Get ideas on the page first, refine them in a second draft and you may have new and improved insight on your second pass.

[Anonymous No.19779866]

>>19779829
That’s anyone trying anything for the first time. Welcome to the human experience!

[Anonymous No.19779873]

>>19779793
You sound paralyzed by fear of making mistakes. I have this problem at my IRL technical job but to get over it in writing was pretty easy. Check out Rad Bradbury's brainstorming process for starters. You want to break the rigidity of pre-planning so your brain can unconsciously connect the dots using your experiences as a foundation for what works and what doesn't. Then, later, you can come back and begin to tweak things. This is a poor analogy but think of it like cooking a meal. It'll take you all day if you precisely measure every spoonful, cut, and slice. Guidelines/Recipes can and do help, especially early on. But you don't have to make a dish with 30 ingredients when you first start out, either. Play around and have fun with just a few things at a time. A lot of the joy in cooking and writing is getting to the point where you know what works with your ingredients/skills and your tastes. At that point you no longer worry about making mistakes, you just go with it. You have the "chair time" to let yourself write what shows up, knowing you can tweak it later. I've said this before: great writing is distilled, not written. And avoiding the pitfall of "everything must be perfectly drawn out before I put a single word to page" will let you enjoy writing a lot more in the long run.

[Anonymous No.19779879]

>>19779829
>be me
>spend 20 minutes thinking of what to write, what needs to be accomplished, and how i can accomplish it meaningfully and stylistically to improve ms
>sit down to write
>flows like milk and honey

[Anonymous No.19779963]

>>19778806
I do, and I upload a new chapter every monday

[Anonymous No.19779973]

>>19779866
What if you're rusty and out of shape and feel embarrassed about having to jump through the same hoops?

[Anonymous No.19780006]

>>19779973
You can be embarrassed and NEVER IMPROVE, or embarrassed and try to improve nonetheless

[Anonymous No.19780034]

I'm writing a visceral horror story for my mom who claims to be squeamish about things like that.

[Anonymous No.19780165]

>>19779848
>>19779866
it's just frustrating that the parts that i expected to be easy are the hardest, and the other way around

[Anonymous No.19780517]

>>19780165
Tell me about it. Golfing and Trading are both the same. It's mostly mental experience, just dont overthink it. Be diligent and patient and you'll do fine.

[Anonymous No.19780569]

>>19776073
>Horrible timing for a pregnancy announcement
I think I am going to try this one

[Anonymous No.19780698]

>>19778688
>you write yourself more passively than the farmer
This is devastating lol.

Thank you very much. Really, very useful comments. So I need a stronger, singular perspective/purpose? Quite agree - I never noticed this.

Something I don't understand is how to include the descriptions of things (e.g. sun, hills) without it being sickly "half-poetic blather." Is there too much of it, does it need to be straighter prose, or is there just no place for it at all?

>nothing reptilian about sheep eyes
these sheep quite literally had eyes like crocodiles. perhaps not a universal trait

Thanks again Anon

[Anonymous No.19781103]

>>19776070
>The house, about two stories high …
Saying a house is "about two stories high" makes no sense. In any case it doesn't add anything to include the amount of stories. But you said it's "about" two stories. "About"? How can a house look "about two stories high". It could possibly look "about 12 stories," but a two storied house looks like a two storied house.
>… breathes the smoke of a hearth
So the chimney of the house which is "about two stories" "breathes" smoke? of a hearth? Smoke is either "of a fire" or "out of a hearth." And how does the house "breathe" the smoke? Is it inhaling it????? Is the house respirating????? NO. It releases smoke! it exhales smoke. gosh almighty. A hearth doesn't burn, the wood in the hearth burns. A house doesn't breathe smoke.

>:(

[Anonymous No.19781113]

>>19777913

anon, it's purple. too descriptive, trying too hard. you have to cut, cut, cut. cut to the essence of the story. what are you trying to say? what is going on here?

[Anonymous No.19781141]

>>19777913
Anothr thing is you hav to stop saying 'i saw' this and that. just describe the damn thing, not the fact that you saw it!

If you're writing about it you obviously saw it! You obviously heard it! You obviously thought it!

Just say it!

Go read some literature and see if you can ever find a writer saying i saw this, and i heard this...

[Anonymous No.19781170]

writing this for someone

The promised day for blood began the year
Of ten and one, the second millennium,
Wherein the men and women came to steer
Their fate instead, that noble throats be cut:
For gold and blood be drawn by their steel,
And thus their heads are owed as standing debt.
Despite the poor and their complaints and weeps,
Their efforts chastened; roads then filled with men

[Anonymous No.19781282]

>>19781113
>>19781141
Roger. Thanks.

[Anonymous No.19781498]

>>19781170
Refreshing to see a poem that focuses on meter (rather than rhyme).

[Anonymous No.19781513]

>>19781170
>the year
>Of ten and one, the second millennium
1011 AD?

[Anonymous No.19781624]

Some days I can’t shake the bad feelings, some days the little turtle on my monitor who watches me write makes it all okay

[Anonymous No.19781707]

>>19781513
>second millennium
2011?

[Anonymous No.19781715]

>>19781624
very cute anon

just don't pet your turtle too much

[Anonymous No.19781716]

>>19781707
So is 50AD the zero-th millenium?
Are we still living in the 20th century?

[Anonymous No.19782293]

Have you guys advertised your book recently?

[Anonymous No.19782310]

>>19782293
yeah yeah uh sure i could give it a try
hey you guys should. read my book.

[Anonymous No.19782334]

>>19782293
I haven't promoted it in my usual places. It's been a half year since I last made a thread for it on some reddits. I should do that eventually. been lazy.

[Anonymous No.19782385]

Should I use Anki to improve my vocabulary?

[Anonymous No.19782403]

>>19779963
How many words~ per chapter?

[Anonymous No.19782432]

>>19778806
Dunno about pulpy, but it's been weighing on my mind for quite a while, even moreso after I admittedly landed into a terrible writing slump. It's something I'd read, but I know it wouldn't be up /wg/'s ally at all since it'd just be another mindless head-empty light hearted fantasy kinda deal.

[Anonymous No.19782464]

>>19771587
No prose writer worth their salt used any of these books. No one knew about ''the hero's journey'' and stuff, and even if they did, it was only as an anthropological concept, never as a guidebook. Stop reading this bullshit

[Anonymous No.19782522]

Is posting your story on here a bad idea?

[Anonymous No.19782568]

>>19782522
A few of us post our chapters here. Either a) you might get ignored entirely or b) a anon will seemingly read 97 chapters of your series only to make one single complaint about a very tiny issue, leading to a snowball effect of killing your will to write for some reason.

[Anonymous No.19782570]

>>19782464
>no one who built a house ever studied how to build a house

[Anonymous No.19782672]

>>19782568
>a anon

[Anonymous No.19782700]

>>19782672
>t. faggot

[Anonymous No.19782815]

>>19782293
Nah, I just posted about it in a subreddit.

[Anonymous No.19782829]

Should we all post our story so we have safety in numbers?

[Anonymous No.19782836]

>>19782829
What is this gay shit?

[Anonymous No.19782878]

>>19777206
/tg/ here. Most of the people who do stream are tryharding in their attempt to become the next Critical Role, rather than tell an actual engaging story or truly interacting with chat. And even if it's one of those situations where you let chat control one character while you narrate everything else, there's still a massive lag and roadblock where you either make decisions for chat or limit them to a handful of options like a CYOA. Which in turn leads to awkward pauses and forced filling of silence. The best you're going to get is quests, but those were banished to a board no one goes to and to websites that are somehow worse than 4chan.

[Anonymous No.19782904]

>>19782878
Quests were cool but jesus christ it took up every thread on every board.

Really neat that it could have really been the future of internet writing, And for a time it was.

[Anonymous No.19783070]

>>19782403
about 2k, don't always make it that long because I like to jump between perspective characters so sometimes it's 1600

[Anonymous No.19783083]

I told a girl that I like to write so now I actually have to do it ugggh

[Anonymous No.19783103]

>>19782464
Christ, calm down your raging ego.

Yes, some writers are geniuses…but writing itself is a craft. There’s no shame in trying to learn and study your craft with intention.

Would be interested on hearing from /int/ anons, is it a uniquely US thing to over-value anything that seeming comes naturally, and disparage anything that requires work and study? I see so much of that attitude, but idk if it’s universal or just an amerifag thing.

[Anonymous No.19783129]

>>19782522
If you want to trad publish, or you plan to submit to any competition/publication then yes, it’s a bad idea. Anything posted here is archived, and may come up if someone searches for your work.

If you’re compelled to post, best to post as an image or as a link to pastebin/ghostbin (which can expire eventually).

If you’re looking for feedback on something you don’t plan to publish, go right ahead.

[Anonymous No.19783146]

>>19783083
If not for this exact scenario, there would be far fewer authors, chefs and guitar players in this world.

Guess you better give it a shot…suggest starting with the flash fiction (/ffa/) stuff.

[Anonymous No.19783191]

Is just increasing my vocabulary enough to be able to spill brilliant word bullshit all over a page? I want to have fun writing (or at least make it look like I do) but I always wind up noticing repetition in my vocabulary.

[Anonymous No.19783224]

>>19782829
Post your story so I can add it to the /wg/ author list. I'm reading through undying emperor right now and it's interesting so far. Although I'm not the biggest fan of fantasy novels

[Anonymous No.19783233]

>>19783146
Yeah you know it as well as I do. I still have nightmares about that time in high school when I told my then-girlfriend that I don't write love songs.
Never going to make that mistake again.

[Anonymous No.19783238]

>>19782570
retard you obviously know nothing about carpentry lol. Correct: not a single house builder ever read "How To Build A House," let alone "How Builders Build Houses"

And not a single great author read "How To Write A Book"

They just read books

[Anonymous No.19783243]

“Wake up, fuzzypants!” Kevin said this as he poked my tummy.

Don’t call me fuzzypants. That’s what I want to tell him, but due to the fact that we have no actual line of communication, I simply give him a grumpy “meow”.

“Penelope is getting your breakfast ready. Let’s go downstairs!”

Ugh. Penelope.

Kevin’s vile, feminazi wife. She’s the worst of the worst. Can I really blame society for her entitled, ruthless, misandrist attitude? She was coddled her entire life by parents who gave her everything, but somehow she just was not satisfied. She became a listicle-making journalist buzzfeed critic who does nothing but whine about how media caters to misogynist tropes.

If only she saw what I saw.

I’ve seen women who are fighting Martians which resemble rats. If I could help them, I would. But alas, I am stuck here.

With Kevin. With Penelope. And with their son, Neptune.

That’s right. Neptune. They just had to name their son Neptune. It couldn’t be anything normal like Matthew or Alexander. They wanted to really stick it to the kid. Why? I haven’t the faintest idea. They’re just doing what hipster-millennials-who-agree-with-the-tasteless-booty-shaking-music-videos-made-by-Beyonce-Katy-Perry-Ed-Sheeran-whatever do.

Penelope opened the bedroom door and picked me up, hoisting me over her shoulder like a sweater. I immediately wanted to scratch the bitch, but alas, I have no claws with which to do so.

“Mishter Kishter gotta come downstairs with mama!” Penelope said this in a falsetto, ventriloquist-like voice. She really creeps me out with that. Why do all crazy women talk to their cats with a creepy voice? It makes us wonder when they’re gonna go batshit.

What’s on the agenda for today? Hm. It’s Wednesday, so that means Penelope has yoga and a normal work day for Kevin. Neptune goes to school and comes home at 4 P.M.

When Penelope is at her yoga appointment, that’s when I’ll be able to make my move.

For now, I must bide my time in the kitchen where the family is eating breakfast. Looks like Kevin made some toast and is serving it with vegan sausages. If I were human, I’d pick something with a little more flavor. I can tell that’s what Neptune wants, but the poor kid has no say in the matter.

Neptune at least talks to me with some respect. He voices some very radical opinions which I do not approve of, but I admire his spirit. These “alt right” kids are a product of a secular feminazi society which worships women for simply getting out of bed and putting their hair in a nasty bun. Blech.

If Cleopatra were still here, she’d cut those bitches’ heads off. Pyramids don’t make themselves.

(1/2)

[Anonymous No.19783245]

>>19783224
Based. Thanks anon. Next chapter will be like 1am Saturday, to see what kind of visibility that gets me.

[Anonymous No.19783261]

(2/2)
Penelope’s TikTok account is aptly named “Women’s Feminism by Penelope Grader”. I shit you not. This is feminism exclusively reserved for women, apparently! I make note of this because she sits on the couch in sweatpants, giant bifocals, a messy bun, and the latest Apple technology her husband’s salary can afford, uploading a video which I will now describe to you . . .

“Hi! Welcome to Women’s Feminism. Today we are discussing the issue of pornography. I caught my husband masturbating to something called ‘hentai’ and it featured the depiction of GIRLS, not women but literally GIRLS in school uniforms performing oral sex! When I asked my husband how old those girls in the cartoon porn he was watching were, he literally started mansplaining about how Japan has a different age of consent and that cartoon girls have no age!

“Cartoon girls do literally have age. They are real. They represent us. I take this very seriously. This is so toxic, literally. I can’t believe it . . .”

Kevin enters the scene, with his gelled mustache and extra-large hipster glasses. He’s looking ashamed already. He says to the camera, “This is a problem with society! We need to ban this toxic hentai. It has literally had an effect on our children. I grew up very messed up because of hentai, and now I need to apologize to my wife. She is amazing and has done great things, like giving birth to my child. Obviously, women don’t need men, but we’re here for the long haul so we should make ourselves useful and stop these perversions!”

Penelope nodded, then said, “So you can see the toxic effect of porn on our society. On. Our. SOCIETY!! Men literally have it so good in this world, yet they insist on being toxic and problematic. What do we need to do? CENSOR. CENSOR the internet. POLICE the internet. CENSOR the television, NO MORE PORNOGRAPHY! No more hentai. There literally needs to be a women’s police force which holds down every single man’s penis worldwide! From China to U.S. to Africa to Mexico. No penis goes unchecked! Your bookmarks will be monitored! Your porn videos will be removed and replaced with OnlyFans, which is a dignified service. Speaking of which you can find the link to my OnlyFans in the description . . .”

I strolled into the bedroom where Neptune sat on his bed, watching a re-run of Full House on a big-back TV in front of him. This was something he did every morning before school. He could hear everything his mother was saying in the other room, her ranting and raving; but he kept silent. I wonder why.

“Your mom is a real bitch, huh?”

Neptune rolled his eyes at me and replied, “You took the words right out of my mouth.”

[Anonymous No.19783274]

(Final)

“Try to have a good day at school. Okay, bud?”

He rolled his eyes. “Don’t count on it. There’s this kid in class who keeps taking my stuff and stepping on my shoes.”

“We’ll see what we can do about that.”

There are plans to be made, but I do not have an optimistic outlook given the state of affairs which we find ourselves.

Nevertheless, I refuse to give in. I press forward, and hopefully when the pendulum swings the other way and karma comes back around, young Neptune may see a day where he can have his Full House and not this.

TO BE CONTINUED... THE NIPCAT SAGA.

[Anonymous No.19783280]

>>19783224
W-will you add Burgerpunk?

[Anonymous No.19783329]

O burgerpunk anon, what is your wisdom?

[Anonymous No.19783340]

>>19783329
blimps are just flying carsr

[Anonymous No.19783350]

>>19783329
My wisdom is:
>for we all will perish, and the wheels of society will be the death cult we all join that will end it all, thus if you wish to be autistic about blimps, go for it dude who fuckin cares I hope it makes feel something because I can’t anymore

[Anonymous No.19783355]

>>19783350
Cheer up, burger anon. maybe one day you'll get to see that McDonalds in Arizona with the blue arches.

[Anonymous No.19783385]

>>19783355
I don’t even eat hamburgers, Anon. Even my critique is fundamentally a lie. I guess give me a writing promp. Gotta shit something out.

[Anonymous No.19783395]

>>19783385
"The day has finally come to tear down the Eiffel Tower."

[Anonymous No.19783410]

>>19783280
added

[Anonymous No.19783421]

>>19775739
1 page read today.

Don't know what that's about. Maybe they'll come back to it later.

[Anonymous No.19783440]

>>19783340

[Anonymous No.19783550]

>>19783395
Thank you, Porko Rosso.

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/36209/burgerpunk-pizza-time/chapter/828901/a-great-pylon

[Anonymous No.19783753]

How do I make characters actual characters?
They're so fucking bland and passive that calling them cardboard cutouts is an insult to cardboard. It feels like I'm forcing them along solely because of the plot and I can't get invested at all.

[Anonymous No.19783760]

>>19783550
the bit about the commemorative coin is something special, for something you just wrote in passing. The idea of destroying something you didn't need to destroy, and then making commemorative coins out of the pieces, is wonderfully ludicrous. nice work.

[Anonymous No.19783803]

>>19783753
This absolutely kills me to say…but have you tried fanfic?

It’s a chance to play around with writing distinct characters you know well without having to do the work of creating them from scratch. Once you get better at character interactions etc, start to improvise and add your own.

This is an issue I have, as I’m very focused on the plot and think about character last…

[Anonymous No.19783939]

>>19775376
How do you maintain that kinda word count? I can't get over 40k words usually...

[Anonymous No.19783941]

>>19776017
Why are you posting your work here if you have a publisher?

[Anonymous No.19783987]

>>19783753
Don't write yourself, write people you personal feel are interesting

[Anonymous No.19784031]

>>19783753
The only crime in writing is to bore your reader.

[Anonymous No.19784294]

how would you describe a satisfied "ahh" exhaled after a drink? would something like
> She popped the lid off and took a few chugs right out of the bottle, topping it off with a contented sigh.
work?

[Anonymous No.19784354]

>>19783987
Yeah well, I'm pretty interesting.

[Anonymous No.19784437]

Just sent off some submission I was labouring over for nearly a week straight. Deleted a good half of it before though. It feels good, like letting off a huge fart and sitting in the sweet delight of it. I'm not sure if they'll get accepted again because

[Anonymous No.19784480]

>>19783941
Duh, he can't share his "smiling over a dead nigger corpse" manifesto with his New York liberal publisher's office no matter how brilliant it is.

[Anonymous No.19784581]

>>19783550
This hurt my soul but in a good way. Overcomplex bureaucracy is funny as hell.

[Anonymous No.19784726]

Howdy, I snipped this excerpt from a larger short story that was part of a collection I was doing, similar to Asimov's books of connected shorts. Anyway, I felt that this story was mostly contained, and also brushed against some genres that may be interesting. Any feedback appreciated
Genre: PAranoid conspiracy thriller, horror
https://ghostbin.com/8Sqlp

[Anonymous No.19784767]

>>19783753
Real people are fluid and dynamic. Try to avoid making them too static and rigidly defined. People are organic, so keep it organic.

[Anonymous No.19784967]

>>19784581
>>19783760
I think if it was set in the US I’d have been able to make it more detailed and in depth regarding the bureaucracy aspect, I don’t know French law or government so I just had to make assumptions which leads to inaccuracies which leads to ironic parody and magical realism instead of something hard and finite and brutal. I’d like to get to a point where it’s a mix of DFW and Kafka in the modern age, but I know that will take some real work I just don’t have the time for. It’s so easy to slip into parody and black humor instead of maintaining a painful reality. The amount of restraint to make a character only be able to jump a foot instead of ten kinda thing.


What does /wg/ think?

[Anonymous No.19785041]

>>19784967
If you're aiming for wry humor with commentary like Kafka and DFW then you'd be on the right track to keep it as real to the world as possible, avoiding inconsistencies and whatnot. You can still have the humor those two did without falling into parody or black humor. FWIW I did think the piece was a good reflection of bureaucracy in any nation.

[Anonymous No.19785048]

>>19784967
From my (admittedly limited) experience in France…there’s a very interesting cultural difference you could have drawn out.

In modern US, and moreso in Burgerpunk US, the customer is always right. If I want a taco at 3am, how dare they not deliver me one! The exceptions like government offices and comcast are notable and frustrating because they’re exceptions to everything we know about corporate pandering and instant gratification.

In France, Italy, and to a lesser extent Spain, there’s an attitude of ‘take it or leave it’. Shops aren’t afraid to close because it’s a holiday. You want onions milk in your coffee? Great for you, kid, but why ask me? Go find a cafe that sells that?
Citizens are more resigned/fatalistic, and have less of an expectant/petulant/Karen attitude toward these things. While the commemorative coin aspect sounds like burgerpunk leaking into the EU, the part about the phones hanging up because lunch is pure France. The least French part about the story was that the main character kept trying/caring after the first roadblock.

[Anonymous No.19785054]

>>19785048
*onions milk?!
Autocorrect did something strange. ‘Oat Milk’ was the phrase I was looking for.

[Anonymous No.19785090]

>>19785048
Tangentially related, but I want to point out that the difference between the fatalistic European and the demanding American can be linked to the difference between Catholic and Protestant foundations in the respective continents. Catholics (the European base) are more fatalistic and Americans (the Protestant base) are more "free will" and "make your own destiny". It's even reflected in their humor where the European man is the butt of the joke and the American man creates or joins in on the joke; Steven Fry explains it well here https://youtube.com/watch?v=8k2AbqTBxao.. I've always thought that was interesting and worth exploring in a novel, but I haven't figured out how.

[Anonymous No.19785317]

>>19782829
Sounds like a good idea. You first.

[Anonymous No.19785548]

>>19782829
Do you even have evidence of anything bad happening for posting on here?

[Anonymous No.19785570]

>>19771587
Does anyone have any experience writing romance? I'm taking a crack at a romantic subplot and my stuff so far has been incredibly rough and stilted. Truth be told, I haven't even read that much romance so my question is more like:
1) What are some examples of good romance for context
2) How do I go about incorporating romance into my writing?

[Anonymous No.19785999]

>>19785548
You'll be forever known as a sperg, to be avoided at all costs.

[Anonymous No.19786029]

>>19785999
Good. I hate people.

[Anonymous No.19786149]

>>19785548
There are a few things. Getting doxxed isn't fun, but some people like Jason Bryan don't seem to mind at all, and if you're an author there's a large chance you're a public figure with social medias or places to market the book anyways. Getting involved with 4chan from an optics standpoint can be bad for clear reasons. And if you foster the wrong kind of personage about yourself, you can easily become vilified on here. I think doing anonymous flash fictions is a happy medium. Maybe someday someone will do a short story collection too like &amp.

[Anonymous No.19786249]

>>19786149
He asked for evidence, not "why" you wound want to dox yourself

>>19785548
It's just paranoid delusions of some anons here. Obviously don't post your entire novel, but I think you're safe posting some exerpts, especially using a link that will expire or via jpeg

[Anonymous No.19786265]

>>19786249
I've essentially given up on getting feedback. The questions that linger with me can't be explored in a mere exerpt so I have to trust my own judgement for questions like "It takes 9 chapters before the first mutiny occurs. Am I going to lose people's attention?"

But I am planning to buy some 4chan ads once I launch my first novel here. Among other advertising strategies.

[Anonymous No.19786297]

>>19784726
Felt bogged down in the description, particularly facial descriptions, especially inter-dialogue. Por ejemplo her face shifting 3 times in a single line - it was just too much and felt like people were speed acting.

I liked the plot, could be nice to see inside our viewpoints head more while he's talking to the shop woman - better see him grappling to come up with a good lie since that would be a great source of tension for the scene.

[Anonymous No.19786371]

>>19778977
:^))

[Anonymous No.19786566]

>>19784726
>https://ghostbin.com/8Sqlp
lots of things but i'll just mention that it's best to just stick with english. no need to use any spanish which is just a distraction.

[Anonymous No.19786801]

just found out royalroad is based in israel what the fuck

[Anonymous No.19786921]

>>19786371
Sauce? If this is part of a 100k word book I'll be buying it immediately. Very relatable protag

[Anonymous No.19787120]

Writing is talking to a blind person.

[Anonymous No.19787129]

>>19787120
who is also retarded. but beautiful

[Anonymous No.19787152]

>>19778977
>in a sea of depravity and decay
Don't you realise that's you?

The "nigger" is you. How embarrassing.

[qui No.19787175]

>>19786801
You have a PROBLEM with Jews there, Writer Boy?

[Anonymous No.19787183]

>>19771587
>start writing dialogue scene
>end with with three pages of interrupted back and forth dialogue
Am I retarded? I feel like I fundamentally don't understand how to be economical with conversations. It's like I start writing and then I'm stuck in dialogue mode forever.

[Anonymous No.19787291]

>>19787183
It doesn't matter when you write TOO much. It does matter if you don't EDIT

[Anonymous No.19787348]

>>19787183
you need to pick and choose what's important and discard most of the rest. Just ask yourself, "what is this conversation accomplishing? what does it do to drive the plot?" And edit it down to only what it needs to be to do that.

[Anonymous No.19787399]

My name is Silenius and I was Doctor Schuback's assistant, until he took his own life. When I returned from Svodny, I was arrested at the train station and thrown into this cell. Yesterday they read me my death sentence, and in a few hours the cock will crow. They will take me to the gravel yard and shoot me in front of the lime wall, but it is still half a lifetime until then.

[Anonymous No.19787435]

>>19787183
Transitions are tricky. Once you start looking for them, you’ll see how cleverly many authors move between scenes. Its hard to notice for most new writers because (if done well) the transitions don’t draw attention.

[Anonymous No.19787476]

>>19787348
Just ask yourself, DO YOU FEEL SAFE? HAHAHAHAHAHA

[Anonymous No.19787485]

>>19787120
I almost did it last night but I'm strongly considering using STT to help write because my old keyboard sucks and I'm just not as fast at typing as my RP friends. Plus, being so shut-in right now, I'm barely talking anymore, and I think I need to exercise my voice, but I also still want to put words on the page...

[Anonymous No.19787488]

Does anyone have the native EPUB for What Editors Do? There's a PDF on libgen, but wondering if anyone's got the original EPUB. Not on zlib, either

[Anonymous No.19787503]

>>19787476
anon I'll have you know that even though it's true that early 20th century zeppelins were essentially fiery deathtraps, modern dirigibles are very safe due to using helium rather than hydrogen as their lifting gas, and furthermore, th

[Anonymous No.19787542]

Are there any decent writing themed podcasts? I was listening to Writing Excuses even though I don't respect Sandersnoy as a writer it was enjoyable background listening but now I'm at the season where that insufferable woman joins the cast and I cant do it.

The others I've tried listening to are either pure wank of authors for their own materials or the host is a completely insufferable cunt.

[Anonymous No.19787662]

>>19787542
I'm not sure if this is exactly what you're looking for but Robert Olen Butler has a series on Youtube where he talks through his ideas as he writes them. It's just called Creative Writing.

[Anonymous No.19787941]

i want to write a short story about some based ex dictator guy running away from the international community
any ideas?

[Anonymous No.19787980]

>>19787183
The dialogue has to have a point. it has to accomlish something. Once that's been accomplished you move on.

[Anonymous No.19788083]

>>19787941
I like the premise?
Will he be canny, or rich and out-of-touch?
Dark humor or drama?
Does he want to return to power, or just escape with his head?
Who does he trust, and who does he abandon?
How does he react to the government which replaces him?

[Anonymous No.19788092]

>>19788083
It should be the story of a real Nigerian prince desperate to move his assets and incredulous that no one believes him regardless of how generous his offers become.

[Anonymous No.19788100]

>>19788092
I swear someone has done this but I can't for the life of me remember the book or short story.

[Anonymous No.19788253]

>>19787662
I appreciate the suggestion. Just checked it out, pretty damn kino (those interner pop ups) but very video reliant so doesn't quite fill my void for listening while holding a sleeping baby or something

[Anonymous No.19788291]

>>19785090
>calvinism

[Anonymous No.19788418]

>Try to write the bag guy as the protaganist of his own story
>Ends up the more sympathetic of the two characters on an emotional level
>The protaganist hunting him down is starting to feel like a bit of a cunt

I mean, the dude glassed another kid and nearly killed him, and is on the run, and the protaganist is the cop hunting him down to bring him to justice. I guess I just have a soft spot for kids making mistakes.

Would you read a tragic crime story like that?

[Anonymous No.19788448]

>>19783803
I have, but I got scared off of it after reading how some people despised it and people who wrote it over a decade ago, and now I get pain and anxiety when I think about writing fanfics.

[Anonymous No.19788449]

>>19783987
Sorry, but I can't name anyone like that.

[Anonymous No.19788705]

Will upgrading from a 10 year old rubber-dome keyboard to a mechanical one make it more comfortable to write?

[Anonymous No.19788740]

brot gebacken >>19788716

[Anonymous No.19788801]

>>19786921
I'm writing it now. I'm a lazy piece of shit so I don't know if I'll ever finish or how long it will be.
I'll post it here if it ever does get finished.