/wg/ Writing General

[Anonymous No.20587513]

The "cloudosaurus" edition

Previous thread: >>20577536

For General Writing
>The Rhetoric of Fiction, Booth
>Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft, Burroway
>Steering the Craft, Le Guin
>The Anatomy of Story, Truby
>How Fiction Works, Wood

YouTube Playlists for Writing
>https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTCv6n1whoI23GmdBZienRW0Q0nFCU_ay Robert Butler
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6HOdHEeosc

Technical Aspects of Writing
>Garner's Modern English Usage, Garner
>What Editors Do: The Art, Craft, and Business of Book Editing, Ginna
>Artful Sentences: Syntax as Style, Tufte

Books Analyzing Literature
>Poetics, Aristotle
>Hero With a Thousand Faces, Campbell
>The Art Of Dramatic Writing: Its Basis in the Creative Interpretation of Human Motives, Egri
>The Weekend Novelist, Ray

Note to anyone posting a sample of your writing for critique:
>IF YOU HAVE NOT PERFORMED A CURSORY PROOFREAD, DO NOT EXPECT TO BE TREATED KINDLY. EDIT YOUR WORK FOR SPELLING AND GRAMMAR BEFORE POSTING.

Traditional Publishing
Pros:
>you get to focus mostly on writing
>you must write a proposal to the publishers and sell your story to them
>you make 10-15% profit max, but they also eat all the risk and the costs
>self publishing is basically like running your own company
>you only need to do some simple marketing and reach out to readers
Cons:
>you make 10-15% profit max
>self publishing you make 70%+
>they’ll still require you to do all the leg work of a self published author anyways

Self Publishing Options
>https://archiveofourown.org/
>https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/
>https://www.kobo.com/us/en/p/writinglife
>https://www.royalroad.com/
>https://www.scribblehub.com/
>https://www.wattpad.com/

Self Publishing How-To
>risky, but much more profitable
>you must pay for everything yourself
>if you do, you will spend more time on running a business than writing, but can be worth it
>https://selfpublishingwithdale.com/

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

Anime Writing (^･o･^)
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4on26mKakgs
>https://www.wikihow.com/Create-an-Anime-Story

For advertising
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQygKqJVFXg

[Anonymous No.20587522]

"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.
Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
The slogan 'Press On!' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race."
-Calvin Coolidge

[Anonymous No.20587581]

What’s your plan to become the next Brandon Sanderson or Daniel Greene?
All fags throwing their book into the void will be ignored.

[Anonymous No.20587595]

>>20587451
You should start writing again before Fitzgerald anon shoots you. If you really have a story to tell it will keep coming back to you, if so then circle back and keep at it. I endured many years of humiliation thinking I was a nobody trying to get educated and get a decent career and all that time believing I'd never write, never read that much or understand anything new.
>>20587505
Stop getting filtered by her mind games. A lot of signed writers had to wait years to get success or have publishable work you're going to have to put up with it too unless you work at it. Having a professional demeanor, your own website, making connections and all the rest are in your reach but have you really made a concerted effort and plan to tackle this daily? Break your goal into actionable tasks every week and day. Stop comparing yourself to others and go for what you're after already

[Anonymous No.20587599]

Sometimes I write prose and think it's clumsy. Then I read some "greats" and realise theirs is just as.

[Anonymous No.20587749]

>writes book
>releases it
>doesn’t help it along in any way besides telling family and friends
>expects it to do well
Before something passes by word of mouth to any noticeable degree, it has to sell upper 4 digits in copies.
For a book to spread by word of mouth to a large degree, it has to sell at least in the lower 6 digits in copies.
Get real about your book release if you want to make a living from this, because over 1,000 books a day are published to Amazon, and nobody knows you dog.

[Anonymous No.20587779]

>He is noted for being a successful self-published author, winning the Stabby Award for Best Self-Published/Independent Novel of 2013 on Reddit's r/Fantasy for his first book House of Blades...
>Due to his number of wins, Wight was retired from eligibility for the awards in 2020.
You ever win so many awards you get disqualified because it isn't fair to your competitors?

[Anonymous No.20587802]

>>20587620
On the plus side, "[Will Wight] has stated his coursework during his degree was integral to helping him form the structure that he uses to write his books." Fair enough.
On the minus side, "[he] is noted for taking inspiration from xianxia literature". Ugh!

[Anonymous No.20587863]

>>20587534
>Check out Chris fox on YouTube
He has books too. I'll start with those.
I'd rather spend my time reading than watching instructional videos.

[Anonymous No.20587869]

>>20587749
I was hoping my "family and friends" would write reviews for Amazon and/or GoodReads.
That didn't exactly pan out.
When I ask if they still plan to write a review, I get silence.
Pretty humiliating.

[Anonymous No.20587928]

>>20587863
Lifelong Writing Habit and 5k Words per Hour helped me the most
Waiting until I get more titles out to read the rest of his books but he's incredibly helpful
Not gonna lie some of his humor writing is a little cringe but he has found an audience and knows how to market
I struggle with numbers and the math side of things personally so seeing it in plain English is refreshing
Do check out his yearly income report videos for inspiration, the 2016 one he pocketed net 70k/year (and shows the math on how much he spent on expenses, his gross was like 170k) with just 18 book

[Anonymous No.20587971]

>>20587928
I'm perfectly capable of cranking out high volumes, assuming I have enough ideas to feed the writing.
I'm starting with Plot Gardening, even though I think I already do what he's talking about.
In any case...I'll be reading books like these for a while, instead of focusing on writing another novel.

[Anonymous No.20588011]

Wrote another thizzle today.

[Anonymous No.20588018]

>Stars shimmer like jewels floating in a deep blue sea. Through this vast field of the first celestial sphere above Earth, appearing like a tiny speck within the majesty of creation, a lone gray ship travels onwards.
>Inside, on his way to his quarters after a long shift in the engine room, Nick wonders what awaits them beyond in the higher spheres. The journey thus far has been peaceful, but the sages and philosophers on Earth warn that there are creatures beyond human comprehension in the unexplored spheres, creatures so fierce they make the dragons of Earth look like a small nusiance. How they know these things, Nick does not entirely understand, but he knows better than to doubt their wisdom.

[Anonymous No.20588053]

>>20587749
Speak for yourself
I launched my book for free and had some success with it but my problem is that I'm only just now getting back into the game and I didn't keep the momentum going after this first book
I spent money to get my book on some lists, less than $300, and people liked it
Even got top 10 in two categories and some reviews
Experimented with ads shortly after and made about $40 but again I lost momentum because I was retarded
This is just volume 1 of a series btw, maybe 35k words
You can't just launch a book and not promote it unless you get lucky enough to win the lottery but if you can't afford at least a freebooksy idk what to tell you

[Anonymous No.20588148]

How to develop religions in a fictional world? Rn I'm struggling to create some and the ones I do make sound ehhhh
Exhibit A:
Aravigianism is the belief of everyone literally has goodness in their body. If one were slain this would cause said goodness to go to someone else. If they accumulate enough goodness they enter another stage of life that is way better.

[Anonymous No.20588156]

>>20588148
Religions start with mysteries, i.e why does the rain fall, why did my child die, and so on.
The oldest religions in our world, not surprisingly, focused on the sun.
Then along came monotheism, as a sort of monopolistic acquisition spree of the polytheists.
So start with your world's mysteries.

[Anonymous No.20588180]

>>20588018
bump

[Anonymous No.20588191]

>>20588180
Sounds like a Lovecraftian universe.
What do you intend to add to that idea, to make your story able to hold its own?

[Anonymous No.20588206]

>>20588191
Thanks
I just thought that I would post a little bit of an excerpt to see what anons think about my prose and so on

[Anonymous No.20588289]

>>20588206
Your prose seemed like a condensed lore dump.
Show, don't tell.

[Anonymous No.20588398]

I'm trying to find a philosophical question to answer in my story. I want something either about the nature of violence and peace, or something about the value of a human life. Once I find a question, I'll try to work out the answer to it myself and use my writing to challenge and support the idea.

So far these are some ideas I've got:
>What is the value of a human life?
>How is the value of a human life determined?
>When is it justified to kill someone?
>Is peace an attainable goal?
>What is the cost of killing someone?
>What is the cost of violence?
>What is the cost of peace?

[Anonymous No.20588586]

>>20588053
>speak for yourself
>You can't just launch a book and not promote it unless you get lucky enough to win the lottery
>proceeds to agree
?

[Anonymous No.20588621]

>>20588018
It's shit. Start over.

[Anonymous No.20588632]

I won an award for a short story contest. The thing is I'm more of a filmmaker and screenwriter than a prose writer. Has anyone else here been in a similar position to me? Does anyone have advice on how I can progress my writing/filmmaking career?

[Anonymous No.20588693]

The chilling fang of frozen slabs of slate gnaws at the porcelain paws under my legs. The heat from blood dissipates as it is completely swallowed by the wintery outdoors. The once rubbery bounce to my cadence devolves into a deadened thud made inelastic and stiff by the numbing frost. Yet forward, I march, drudging deeper into nature's freezer: imagining the gentle tickle of moistened grass from a summer’s simple leisure.

[Anonymous No.20588766]

Hello I'm retarded and having a big juicy brainfart.
When do you capitalize king? Always? If someone says the King's council is it capitalized?

[Anonymous No.20588789]

>>20588766
When king is used as a job, no. When it's used as a specific person's title, yes. THE King's council. But if it were just a customary meeting every week that every king does, you might refer to it as just king's council, I believe.

[Anonymous No.20588796]

Day 15 editing.
You silly ESL sausages thought I was finished.
Will be going for at least a month if not longer.
I hope you all write at least 1k words today

[Anonymous No.20588817]

>>20588789
Perfect, thank you.

[Anonymous No.20588983]

>>20588018
I don't think that this is shit. Or that you should start over. But barely a paragraph's worth of prose is not enough for someone to make an opinionated judgement worth anything. From the little that's here, it just reads... fine. Maybe a little pedestrian for my tastes, but that might not be an issue in the larger context of your story. But I don't know what follows. It's really too hard to tell what your tone feels like in a developmental sense.

Unfortunately, anon, you're going to have to brave the storm of severely mentally-ill online people, and throw a slightly more substantial body of work into the arena before you can receive a reply that isn't so low quality that it leaves you wondering why the effort was made to type it at all.

[Anonymous No.20589028]

>>20587581
I don't think either of those people will be remember 100 years after they die.

[Anonymous No.20589047]

>>20588289
That was actually a very well disguised lore dump and good worldbuilding. "The journey thus far had been peaceful" is telling, not showing, but why in god's name would you want to show a peaceful (and presumably boring) ordinary travelogue? Is this Manos: Hands of Fate, where we start with 20 minutes of a car driving to get to the anything actually happening?

>>20588018
>The journey thus far has been peaceful, but the sages and philosophers on Earth warn that there are creatures beyond human comprehension in the unexplored spheres, creatures so fierce they make the dragons of Earth look like a small nuisance.
That is some masterful worldbuilding. Not only is a twist (I thought it was sci-fi, turns out its spelljammer), that is painting a whole world with a sentence. Chef's kiss.

The whole thing is a bit purple, but it kind of fits. I'd like it a bit more if it were closer to Nick and not so distancing, i.e.:
>After a long shift in the engine room, Nick made his way to his quarters, wondering what awaited them in the higher spheres...He didn't entirely understand how they knew those things but knew better than to doubt their wisdom.

[Anonymous No.20589230]

I've seen so much writing progress this month in words written and also the degree of intertextuality. Feel like I'm gmi.

[Anonymous No.20589287]

have these threads gotten slower? i hope that means youre all working diligently on your stories

[Anonymous No.20589291]

>>20588398
Any of those sound good enough to write a story around. And they all can write themselves clear enough.
>>What is the value of a human life?
Story where MC is forced to make a single hard choice about human life's value
>>How is the value of a human life determined?
Story where MC deliberates deeply on human life's value in the context of many scenarios, possibly as a cop or medical professional
>>When is it justified to kill someone?
Story where MC deals with death but has yet to inflict one personally
>>Is peace an attainable goal?
MC is in a position of power, negotiating with difficult enemies
>>What is the cost of killing someone?
Fallout from a plot critical death. Court drama? Personal narrative works too
>>What is the cost of violence?
Long term exposition on what too much violence leads to after a long peace (MC is a retired spy, warmonger general itching for the return of The Good Old War Days, etc.)
>>What is the cost of peace?
Long term exposition on what too much peace brings after endless conflict

[Anonymous No.20589364]

>>20588398
>When is it justified to kill someone?
The moment they in any way shape or form make an attempt on your life, they forfeit their own.

[Anonymous No.20589430]

Is naming a farmer in my fantasy story "Sneed" based or cringe?

[Anonymous No.20589436]

>>20589430
That depends. Does Sneed have a dog that tries to warn him of an impending alien invasion?

[Anonymous No.20589445]

How do you guys put your hobbies/job into you're stories

What do you put in there? how do you write it?

[Anonymous No.20589449]

Woo hoo! 1039 words added to my actual novel! If I keep this up, I'll be done in 31 days. So maybe six months.

[Anonymous No.20589453]

>>20589436
Writing him as an offscreen character, much like farmer maggot in lotr. Its mostly just to give a name to a field that the characters experience an event in

[Anonymous No.20589519]

>>20589449
Well don't waste time telling these losers. Keep going.

[Anonymous No.20589535]

>>20589519
I've been writing for the last four hours. I need a break. So I'm going to...write something else.

[Anonymous No.20589558]

>>20589445
I give my hobbies to side characters but some previous jobs I use as settings. Learning about various other hobbies and side hustles has helped me round out characters from trading to farming to forum lurking to baking. I even include a bit of taste in women but not often.

[Anonymous No.20589584]

>>20589445
I like giving characters traits of things I like. One of my characters loves opera, for example. And another I gave a fondness for bowling. But for things I've never done, like hunting or fishing, I rely mostly on imagination.

[Anonymous No.20589587]

>>20589535
On ya.

[Anonymous No.20589592]

>>20589287
>have these threads gotten slower? i hope that means youre all working diligently on your stories
Yes they have, thankfully. And yes I have but I'm pretty sure the most active posters have just given up writing - notice how few mentions litRPG, stinkyPirateBussy, and patreon get than they did even a week or two back.

[Anonymous No.20589685]

I also had to make this stupidily complex thing so I could figure out what the fuck is happening in the sky throughout the day in my book. Don't set your story on a moon that is orbiting a gas giant. It's a fucking headache.

[Anonymous No.20589734]

oh jesus I'm writing an honest to God ripoff of A song of ice and fire, aren't I. It's not even different in any significant way

[Anonymous No.20589733]

>>20589453
But farmer Maggot wasn't offscreen, they went into his house and talked with him for a good bit. He reminisced about how Frodo used to steal from him.

[Anonymous No.20589764]

>>20589685
That is ridiculously absurd, but amazing in its detail. very cool anon, in my opinion its well worth it

[Anonymous No.20589772]

Only one of my three test readers has bothered to read the last four chapters I spent them. He gave me a rating of 8- (scale of 1-10)
How should I feel about this?

[Anonymous No.20589776]

>>20589685
This just shows you're actually doing it right

[Anonymous No.20589778]

>>20589685
Can u post a snippet

[Anonymous No.20589780]

>>20589772
Too good for plebs. Either dumb it down or make up a separate marketable story if sales is what you want.

[Anonymous No.20589786]

>>20589772
>>20589780
Oh, is that a minus eight? Maybe it could find "So bad it's good" success then.

[Anonymous No.20589787]

>>20589778
Here's the first chapter:
>https://drive.google.com/file/d/1edQ_HLIxD7ukPR8X_0sglfP0VwCfTIzm/view?usp=sharing

[Anonymous No.20589788]

>>20589786
No, it's a minus eight, it's eight minus. A minus eight would -8

[Anonymous No.20589793]

>>20589788
>it's a minus eight
it's not a *
Fuck
I'm dehydrated, tired and cranky

[Anonymous No.20589818]

>>20589787
>Mia was slender, fit, and lean, and with a 75C chest
made me laugh

[Anonymous No.20589822]

>>20589818
That's centimeters of course. But if you forget to correct for the metric system the image is pretty hilarious.

[Anonymous No.20589845]

>>20589818
This is my character sheet for Mia and what I was attempting to describe. How'd I do?

[Anonymous No.20589854]

>>20589028
sanderson will for sure he is getting more and more popular. he is the next orson scott card eventually he will be releasing folios and leather bounds

[Anonymous No.20589866]

>>20589854
popularity doesn't convert into longevity. Most people who are sanderson fans aren't gonna even reproduce

[Anonymous No.20589887]

Splash! Ostra fell through the blinding light into a pool of liquid metal. Constant explosions of vivid color would shoot like arrows from the ripples. Ostra swam in this place for an undeterminable amount of time. So long in fact he began to assume this sea of silver had always been his reality.
In the next moment, unaware of how, Ostra flitted into a realm of strange forms, purple and green platforms connected by translucent ramps. In this world, he felt like a mere presence suspended in the spaces between the platforms. The experience seemed like he was seeing the world through the eyes of a bird or better yet a fish because he unconsciously moved through this place until he reached an opening in a purple cube.
Now Ostra stood in the middle of an dirt path which extended to eternity in either direction. To his left and right were endless expanses of choppy ocean waves. The sky looked as if it were on the precipice of a tempest. Gales battered Ostra but he did not feel them in fact he could not tell the wind was blowing at all. “These places seem so familiar.”
Staring from disembodied eyes, Ostra moved quickly through a mandala of fiery orange embers and golden stabs of lightning until he passed through into his actual body.
Ostra bolted up sucking in air then floundering about in hot water. The water was deep and swirled about. A small hand grabbed his and with surprising strength pulled him to a rock embankment. Once on the gravel Ostra coughed and sputtered. Why did it feel like his skin was on fire?
A chilling sensation shot through his body causing him to spasm. A cool gelatinous material was being rubbed on his skin. He moaned and wheezed for air. For the first time, he could see something other than the sun. Now he saw a massive bird holding up the mountain above. It glowed a rich amber that did not strain his eyes.
He tried to get up to look around but screamed. His eyes watered; Tsiqui held him gently and whispered in his ear.
“You must stay still you have been burned. You are safe. Wakipam has a shell around us. Let me apply this salve to your wounds. You are safe, let me help you.”
Ostra wept.

[Anonymous No.20589898]

>>20589845
Honestly I don't give a fuck about character descriptions. Also are you bilingual?

[Anonymous No.20589904]

>>20589734
my current project is pretty similar to Paradise Lost from a thematic standpoint but my characters are all rearranged so I'm not as concerned about being called out. The Adam character has both shades of Satan and Abdiel, the Eve character is more reserved and less apparent that she's a seething narcissist, but the Michael character is Frankenstein's monster meets Zapffe if he was a butler, and a few others. Year of hope, bros we are gonna finish these books.

[Anonymous No.20589906]

>>20589845
honestly character descriptions should be limited to allow the reader to create their own image

[Anonymous No.20589918]

>>20589845
Mia commanded presence with her lean form and cropped pixie hair. She wore a loose-fitting blouse that accented her modest breasts

[Anonymous No.20589927]

>>20589904
paradise lost is a very weird story. I think the themes are extremely outdated because in the context of postmodern society it reads like eldritch escapism and not man's pursuit of spiritual transcendence.
These old stories really don't understand that paradise is hell and is not a thing that we should ever strive towards. Paradise is the great satan. We already created it

[Anonymous No.20589972]

>>20589927
>paradise is the great satan
that is my opinion as well, that our ideals on what we should strive for are in error. I have other themes and intertextuality and it first began as a thought experiment on Ray Kurzweil's (and other secularist or elites) hopes for our future so I am trying to jump past Post-modernism into a world that isn't cynical about its successes or traditions.

[Anonymous No.20590059]

>>20589787
Don't dislike it as surprisingly found myself reading the entire thing. How far through are you?

[Anonymous No.20590112]

Kinda want to write erotica spinoffs for my main series because my fetishes are showing there anyway and I'm already writing fanfic of my own stuff

[Anonymous No.20590114]

>>20589898
I do sometimes wonder how necessary they really are. And no, I'm not bilingual.

>>20590059
About 20k words so far. Here's chapters 2 & 3 if you'd like to read more:
>https://drive.google.com/file/d/1R-2rmBbI6mGdMHaY18b9U_Y3Wr51ttsL/view?usp=sharing
>https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KIxNHS0H77WmfIdAoL34rMdZVo6TU2aR/view?usp=sharing

[Anonymous No.20590181]

>>20590114
Nice cover, like the unga vibes.

[Anonymous No.20590196]

>>20590114
ngl, if that's your cover you don't even need to mention her bra measurements. Maybe remain somewhat vague or have another character mention it. It feels hella forced to me if you do these static descriptions.

[Anonymous No.20590202]

>>20590196
That's a good point too. Maybe I'll remove it.

(That's not the final cover, but it will be along those lines, so it's a valid point.)

[Anonymous No.20590249]

>Two people read my book I got 340 pages read on KENP when my book is only about 180 pages long
>earned $1.17
YES!!! I made it!!!

[Anonymous No.20590268]

Is Amazon better or Barnes and Nobel for self publishing?

[Anonymous No.20590275]

>>20590114
>woman engineer

[Anonymous No.20590284]

helllo bro's i am learning wnglish here. lets gooooooooo i am legendary my peers say my english is getting really good.

[Anonymous No.20590295]

>>20590249
nice now you can get an entire liter of gasoline with that kind of money
>>20590268
I know someone that published a children's book with the B&N program and said it was pretty easy. No idea on sales or anything.

[Anonymous No.20590370]

>>20589772
just a number?
did he tell you if he got bored in spots or if he didn't like a character? Or something like that?

[Anonymous No.20590497]

>>20590370
No.

[Anonymous No.20590626]

>>20590275
fiction

[Anonymous No.20590640]

Why do you bother?

[Anonymous No.20590661]

>>20589772
>>20590497
You need to get more context and have the reader describe how certain scenes and characters make them feel, ask them what stood out to them. That can tell you which parts aren't clear and what is strong or even calls too much attention.

[Anonymous No.20590695]

>>20590640
Why not?

[Anonymous No.20590717]

>>20590695
I can think of very little that writing can achieve that is not better had by other pursuits. In this way, it feels futile. Wasteful.

[Anonymous No.20590733]

what are some cool sounding words?

[Anonymous No.20590752]

>>20590733
zany
zap-tubular
fuck-a-snuckle-wowzers
nigger

[Anonymous No.20590762]

>>20590733
Defenestrate

[Anonymous No.20590776]

>>20590640
>>20590717
>Why do you bother?
Because I choose to. Yes, I did just watch Matrix Revolutions again and yes it is still good. What about it feels futile to you, though? And what can be achieved by other pursuits? Being moved? Telling a story?

[Anonymous No.20590778]

So a few weeks ago someone posted some vocal+ challenge about writing an opening to a fantasy saga.
>We are asking the Vocal community to craft the first chapter of a fantasy saga.
https://vocal.media/challenges/the-fantasy-prologue

Seems clear enough. I didn't enter because it requires paying for a vocal+ account (fuck that) but I was curious what kind of story did win because maybe creating a vocal account sometime down the road may be something I want to do.

I know I shouldn't be surprised, but guess what kind of story won. Keep in mind this is supposed to be, and I'll quote again, "the first chapter of a fantasy saga". The story that won, naturally, isn't that at all. It is clearly not the first chapter of a fantasy saga, it's not even a deconstruction of the fantasy genre. Read the story that won, it's short, like 2k words, but you'll see what I mean 5 words in.

So, for anyone wondering about the viability of the vocal platform, or the kinds of people judging submissions, let this be a warning.

[Anonymous No.20590801]

>>20590762
I have stood in the window the Bishop of Prague was pushed out of that lead to the coining of the word "defenestrate." I've also stood in the spot where he landed. Shorter fall than I expected. Dude was a pussy.

[Anonymous No.20590806]

>>20590778
I wasn't following you until I read this sentence and everything else suddenly got put into context: Priya shaded her phone from the sun and squinted to read the small print on the screen. It's definitely a little aggravating. Like going to a shop for gardening tools, asking where the spades are, and being sent to an aisle that only has shovels.

[Anonymous No.20590903]

>>20590776
>What about it feels futile to you, though?
Literature can be a lot of things. If it's to move, why distract with words when music can speak directly? If it's to explore an idea, why do you need plot or any of the other trappings of the medium? A book of ideas written with mediocre prose will be forgotten in today's world. If it's to elaborate a plot, then there's nothing new under the sun. If it's to say something, then why not say it directly? Your message would be lost in the sea of noise regardless.
It also feels like we're collectively stuck. The novel is such a mature medium that it feels like everything has become incestuous. I could hear Miyazaki when I read through >>20568560, and I know I have nothing better, either.
>And what can be achieved by other pursuits?
>And by what other pursuits can we achieve?
That's what I'm trying to figure out, I suppose.

[Anonymous No.20590919]

>reading a chinese bestiary for research
>no mention of the tao wu anywhere
?????????????????????

[Anonymous No.20590929]

>>20589854
>>20589866
I actually agree with Sanderson being remembered into the future just for putting into words the whole magic system meme.
The way things are going with genre literature, it will just keep getting more and more important.

[Anonymous No.20591081]

Looking at things another way, the only enjoyment I seem to get out of media is the aesthetic. How does one carry a work with pure aesthetic?

[Anonymous No.20591173]

>>20591081
elaborate. i'm not sure what you mean

[Anonymous No.20591190]

>>20591081
You can go ahead and write all the descriptive prose you'd like about nature but with writing it is only a part of it.

Poems may be up your ally but not books them selves

[Anonymous No.20591255]

>>20590929
>The way things are going with genre literature, it will just keep getting more and more important.
I know this isn't exactly what you meant but I wanted to share thoughts on the importance, now, of commercial books and their formulas. I think this trend toward mass ebooks, serialization on RR, etc., is an indicator of society. People nowadays have so much richness in their life that they can afford time to spend simply on entertainment. We're still reading as much as we have in the past, but now most of it is online forums, text posts, social media, etc. Having a lot of free content, high literacy rates, and time to spend on entertainment should lead to a growth in the commercial/genre book sales industry, which is an entertainment bloc, and that's what I'm seeing. But to make it in the commercial industry, having those solid rules by a high selling commercial author will become more important as time goes on. And then eventually you will have someone who breaks the formula and rises above the dime a dozen Sandersonesque novels that people have published for 35 years or so.

[Anonymous No.20591284]

What is a good program for keeping track of my writing?

Google docs is a nightmare to organize on

What are good programs that allow peak organizion?

(My writing process is weird and I need something to hold my notes, outlines, and drafts while writing)

[Anonymous No.20591297]

>>20591190
well if it isn't a fellow deltabro

[Anonymous No.20591328]

>>20591173
I'm not sure how better to express it. I've never really understood the appeal of "plot" beyond the immediate utility in stringing events together. Characters are interesting more for their circumstances than themselves. Ideas are cheap. Yet underlying all of these is something more essential that I latch onto. The Three Body Problem was utter garbage, but the romance of the radio antenna listening to the night sky moves me. I got into writing because I wanted to explore my fantasy worlds, but I have no interest in plot, or characters, and really the ideas are nothing to me. Hence my question: how does one carry a work with pure aesthetic? Or whatever it is that I'm trying to get at?

>>20591190
>but with writing it is only a part of it.
That's what I've been grappling with for a while now. Is there a better medium for me? Even if I had the patience to learn art, I would not do it because the amount of work needed to convey time is ridiculous.
>Poems may be up your ally
I guess I've never taken them seriously because the economy of words makes it hard for me to imagine how they could describe the things I want to, the way I want to --- even having read a few good poems. I can't imagine a poem about the conflict between how we want to love and how we truly love being written without cringe-inducing levels of pretentious implication. I guess I should still look into it, if only for the more concrete things.

[Anonymous No.20591335]

>>20591328
Read good ol "aspect of the novel". It goes over exactly why story and plot is necessary.

Perhaps you might want to do poetry or art.

[Anonymous No.20591336]

>>20591284
Paper.

[Anonymous No.20591339]

>>20591328
>how does one carry a work with pure aesthetic?
Inadequetly.

[Anonymous No.20591355]

It is weird when you ask someone to review your writing and they say all notes you made point out every problem?

What am I doing right anons?

[Anonymous No.20591372]

>>20590752
cringe
>>20590762
cringe

[Anonymous No.20591380]

>>20590733
Egregious
Milieu
Plateaux
Joie de vivre
Mirth
Matriculate

[Anonymous No.20591382]

>>20591328
>Is there a better medium for me?
You may want to try painting, since it more explores the abstract. When I read your sentence about the Three Body Problem and the radio antenna, I could picture a very distinct painting. It's clear you don't want to write and don't find enjoyment or fulfillment in it, so might as well try that.
>Even if I had the patience to learn art, I would not do it because the amount of work needed to convey time is ridiculous.
I'm not quite sure what you mean. Do you mean depicting the passage of time? Two pieces of art can depict a passage of time just like two paragraphs in a book. If you mean it takes too much time to convey ideas, you're in the wrong hobby space entirely and should try "hard" art forms, like clay or marble.

[Anonymous No.20591434]

>>20591328
>but the romance of the radio antenna listening to the night sky moves me
what about it moved you? is it just the imagery? if you had just read a paragraph describing someone doing this, would that have moved you the same way? i'm asking because i had a similar question once and a writing teacher told me that moments like this have to be earned. for example if you had read the thing about the radio antenna listening to the night sky--- totally out of context of the book, maybe it wouldn't have felt the way it did when you read it in the context of character, plot, etc. idk if that's bullshit or not so i'm just kinda spitballing here.

i guess i would ask, what works of literature, or what works of art are your favorites? would filmmaking be a better medium for you? is there a reason you're drawn to writing rather than more visual mediums?

[Anonymous No.20591570]

>>20591335
>Read good ol "aspect of the novel".
Reading it now.

>>20591382
>Do you mean depicting the passage of time?
Yes. There's lots of ways to go about it, but there's no getting over the fact that there's a geometric increase in effort needed for serial methods, and an exponential increase for proper animation - to say nothing of 3D CGI! Everyone says they want to make a webcomic or an animated short, but few realize how much work that really is. That said, it's not like I'm doing anything better with my time. Maybe it's time to try learning to draw (again).
>you're in the wrong hobby space entirely and should try "hard" art forms, like clay or marble.
Maybe I'm uncultured, but most everything I've seen in that space is very minimal. The classics from Greece and Rome feel like the visual equivalent of Hemingway's shortest story. That said, making dioramas wouldn't be too bad. Just seems like a really expensive hobby. I would also need to sell or destroy my work for lack of space.

>>20591434
It would move me still if it were out of context - many of my favorite pictures are along similar lines. That said, for more complex stuff, I agree there's a need for things to be contextualized. "Earned", however, strikes an odd chord. I guess I don't want to write anything where something needs to be earned because I don't care about the earning and payoff, if that makes sense.
>what works of literature
I'm too embarrassed to name names because almost everything proper I've read filtered me. That said, my favorite is one in which nothing really happens. The protagonist simply travels. Sure, they fight a monster, and later saves a village, but soon enough that would be in the rearview mirror. It spoke to me in ways that are hard to convey. The need for movement. The quiet emptiness of the wilderness. Freedom and solitude. The hollowness of depression. Their last act being a futile gesture. Despite having a template, I'm lost for how I could recreate the magic without merely copying.
>what works of art are your favorites?
Basic bitch artstation shit. I'll post some. Usually without humans or fantastic, but in a muted way.
>would filmmaking be a better medium for you?
Filmmaking is where dreams go to die.
>is there a reason you're drawn to writing rather than more visual mediums?
Writing has an ultimate freedom and ease that can't be found in visual media. I look forward to the day AI can help me with the tedious aspects, but until then I am leery of it. And admittedly too lazy and undisciplined to learn a completely new skill.

[Anonymous No.20591673]

>>20591570
>Their last act being a futile gesture
Apologies for double posting, but I realized this might be interpreted as heroic or Sisyphean. That was not the case. It was more like suicide by monster.

[Anonymous No.20591988]

>reader posts passive-aggressive womanlike comment on chapter complaining about things that are explained in later chapters, calling main character retarded for not making perfect decisions
>complains about a foreshadowed plot element and calls it plot armor
>most likely drops the story
>doesn't realize that the next 10 chapters provide a huge amount of context for what happened
>won't see that not only was the "plot armor" not plot armor, but that there are other characters that have said "plot armor" even thicker than the main character did, and basically make sport of bullying him because of it
>doesn't understand that the MC's character flaws, and overcoming them, are part of the plot
Genuinely, the RR audience is pretty low IQ. I guess it's the risk you take with serial publishing though.

[Anonymous No.20592160]

>>20591988
>long-time reader whines like a fucking child over chapters focusing on the MC's protegé, in the arc specifically meant to introduce and focus on said protegé, incessantly asking when we'll go back to the MC's PoV
I like my readers, swer on me mum

[Anonymous No.20592169]

>>20592160
See the solution to that is to do single PoV so autistically that it actually damages the reader's comprehension of the story, like what I'm doing. The thing I'm bitching about is from a guy who only got 20 chapters into 49 released chapters though, so it's not even like he had an excuse to stop and whine. Had he gone on a little while longer he would have probably realized that half of his complaints were retarded.

[Anonymous No.20592181]

>>20590778
2 sentences in and I see the problem.

[Anonymous No.20592206]

>>20592160
>tell a scene and readers say oh hey that sounds cool why didn't you show it?
>show the scene and readers upset why the rest of the story isn't a thriller

[Anonymous No.20592223]

What is the best text to speech website ? I'd like to covert my story into an mp3

[Anonymous No.20592287]

>>20592223
You mentioning this reminds me how much it costs to make an audiobook. I might be better off reading it myself if I had the voice for it.

[Anonymous No.20592332]

>>20592169
>have four main POV characters
>one will be a gladiator, another will go to fantasy college, another will be put to work as an accountant in a brothel, and the fourth will be touring with a circus troupe
>plan to have them get together after having a long arc of development each
>will try to abuse free indirect speech to have them come in and out of the main POV
>this will go to royal road once it's ready to be written in auto-pilot
I'm fucked, aren't I?

[Anonymous No.20592339]

>>20592332
You are 100% fucked unless you're releasing 5+ chapters a week. 4 PoVs will slow the pace to a crawl.

[Anonymous No.20592353]

>>20592339
can't it be four the uneven number is tingling my autism haha oh no

[Anonymous No.20592363]

>>20592287
Chances are high you do unless you have a castrato voice. It's a matter of equipment and a little voice training.

[Anonymous No.20592385]

>>20592353
do two. fantasy college person moonlights as the brothel accountant. circuses are for fags

[Anonymous No.20592436]

>>20592385
I'm kind of attached to having these four characters as a reference to the Four Perils but if Royal Road can't take it then I'll have to consider changing it to two.

>circuses are for fags
That's the reason that guy is sent there. To be forced to do goofy shit and gain the favor of the natives to keep himself alive for enough time to plan for a way out.

[Anonymous No.20592454]

>>20592436
>forced to do goofy shit and gain the favor of the natives to keep himself alive for enough time to plan for a way out
it sounds very similar to the gladiator, desu

[Anonymous No.20592472]

>>20592454
Yeah, somewhat, but the gladiatorial games here are all about fighting rather than fighting and doing funny wrasslin' things for variety.

[Anonymous No.20592487]

>>20592472
Listen, presumably there are going to be more characters than your POV ones. Four POV characters plus all the people surrounding them is messy, messy, messy. There is no reason why gladiators wouldn't be forced to do "variety" type acts. Historically that did happen.

[Anonymous No.20592541]

>>20592487
I see.
Now, I only said circus because I wanted to be brief but rather than an actual circus it's more of a sort of minstrel show where the other world's dominant species humiliate the people they summon; but I know that isn't really the point here.

Shit. What are my options then? I want to keep the four if possible.

[Anonymous No.20592569]

Thoughts? Trying to channel some of Lovecraft but going to focus more on polishing it up a bit otherwise I think it is okay

[Anonymous No.20592572]

>>20592541
You have the two pov characters, and your other two are their two close friends. The fantasy college person is upper class but financially dependent on their family. They want money and one thing leads to another and they end up doing the books for the brothel. Maybe they cook the books and steal money while doing this, and get caught. The other one is lower class. Sold to the minstrel show while young - or maybe taken as an indentured servant - and his friend is the gladiator.

[Anonymous No.20592584]

>>20592541
This might not be an option depending on your pacing, but you could do one or two chapters for each character. If you just focus on one at a time without jumping between perspectives it should be fine.

[Anonymous No.20592597]

>>20592584
Not him but
>me, a reader
>oh great, now I've finished the two chapters about a character I do give a shit about, time to drop this story for 2 weeks while the chapters I'm going to skim or ignore come out
Yes people actually do this. Multi-POV is very hard to pull off well on RR. It's enough of a pain in the ass to get readers to care about one character, every extra character is that process again plus it detracts from what they already like even if they like character #2.
I'd honestly tell anon to consider writing 4 small volumes instead of one big one, and releasing each volume serially. That could draw people in with the uniqueness.

[Anonymous No.20592712]

>>20592569
Reminds me of pic rel and other "humanity fuck yeah" stories

[Anonymous No.20592720]

>>20591284
use paper fore notes, outlines
drafts can be stores in docs or word

[Anonymous No.20592738]

help me brainstorm this idea
after LOTR is over, what happens to the orcs?
I'm thinking they integrated into Minas Tirath society.
We need an antagonist and some characters.

[Anonymous No.20592765]

>>20592738
>what happened to the orcs
genocide. but with orcs it's an act of mercy

[Anonymous No.20592803]

>>20592572
>>20592584
>>20592597
Thanks, anons.
I'll think over these and see what I can do.

>I'd honestly tell anon to consider writing 4 small volumes instead of one big one, and releasing each volume serially.
How would that work? As four different story entries on RR?

[Anonymous No.20592808]

>>20592712

It's not ending well for humanity I'm pretty much going reverse I Am Legend ending

[Anonymous No.20592835]

>hey anon you should look into this indie publisher that supports our region
okay
>sorry sir we don't publish scifi
wait just because it's set in the future and has holograms doesn't mean this isn't...
>try submitting a different story next year
I will

[Anonymous No.20592846]

>>20589772
>friend asks to read what i'm writing
>send him first chapter
>has been procrastinating on it for over a month now even though it would only take 10 minutes to read
>texted me the other day "sitting in backyard reading your chapter"
>spoiler alert: he didn't read it
>tell him nevermind
>he gets upset and keeps saying he will
>keeps not having read it whenever i see him and ask

I just don't fucking know. I wish I never gave it to him.

[Anonymous No.20592864]

>>20592846
Some people are just so bad at reading. Unless you can pin them down on what they've read recently I wouldn't even consider them candidate for alpha/beta reading

[Anonymous No.20592895]

>>20588621
>>20589519
post your writing, seether

[Anonymous No.20593008]

>>20592864
He "reads" reddit all day.

[Anonymous No.20593013]

>>20591284
I use a free, open-source outline editor called TreeLine.
So far, it's done everything I want it to.

[Anonymous No.20593159]

>>20591328
maybe you should write short stories. there are less plot oriented novels too though. people in here are into fantasy stuff mostly it seems but maybe check out William Burroughs, Joyce or Celine even might be the kind of thing you'd like.

[Anonymous No.20593172]

I wanted to make my "Lore" somewhat weird or interesting. Strap yourself in, because this is a fucking doozy and is also kinda sad. Wanted to go for a "Mythical" vibe.
>Basically, before most of civilization, during the age of dinosaurs, there was a civilization of what amounted to giant merfolk. They were prosperous indeed for a number of reasons. One of which being the fact that each and every individual was powerful. All of them possessed a myriad of special abilities that varied depending on the individual, as well as a host of other special biological and mental properties. With this power and intellect, they built a beautiful civilization that was gorgeous and wonderful beyond measure.

>That is, until he arrived. He was like the dinosaurs that they lived alongside, except he was more like them. Giant, intelligent, and very, very powerful. Intrigued by this creature, they sent an emissary to invite him to enjoy living with them so he didn't have to be so lonely.
>The head of the emissary was later discovered right on the foot of their ruler's palace. Before anyone knew what to do, he crashed onto the ocean floor, moving as if it was air. Right into their capital city. And he proceeded to viciously kill thousands of them in the span of mere hours with his bare hands. Their special abilities weren't strong enough to beat him, as he countered and withstood everything they threw at him. He continued killing them, driving them out of the capital.
>They tried to mount counteroffensives and defenses with their military force, but he still broke through each and every one with his bare hands. The oceans were literally stained red with their blood, to the point that the iron started to form deposits in the earth.
>Their numbers dropped day by day to this absolute monster, and they tried everything they could in their attempts to kill it. Eventually, their cities lay in ruins and around 99% of their population had been killed off. The king ordered every last one to flee, including his daughters, while he stayed behind to buy time against the beast. He was the strongest member of their race, he could not fail now.
>And when it came, they fought with the might of gods. He gave it his all, but eventually fell to the beast. Who, instead of killing him, just dropped him into the place now referred to as the Marianas trench for some reason. As if out of respect
>Cont in next post

[Anonymous No.20593173]

>>20591328
>Three Body Problem was utter garbage
As much of a pseud as you are, this is true. More specifically, the sequels are complete fucking shit and the first novel is only given such high praise because it's Chinese.

[Anonymous No.20593174]

>>20592223
just read it yourself, it couldn't take more than a few hours

[Anonymous No.20593184]

>>20593172

>However, one of the daughters of the ruler refused to let the destruction of her world go unpunished, and wanted to avenge her civilization, even though those who were left wanted her to not throw her life away. Tearfully, she ran off to fight him out of rage, but wore herself out chasing him, and was almost devoured by a swarm of sharks. That is until a pair of mighty arms reached in and swept the sharks off of her. This strange creature was similar the one who had destroyed her life, being a giant, mighty being that was LIKE her species but was not OF her species. He was kind and courageous, and so he offered his help in avenging her people.
>They both tracked down the killer of her people and, together, managed to overwhelm the surprised and somewhat tired monster, who they sealed away in a salt formation deep underwater
>Our story begins millions of years later.

[Anonymous No.20593417]

>>20593173
>>20591328
I was still years away putting off reading 3body Problem, what is wrong it? Was it just an interesting plotline without any more substance? That was really the fascination I heard about it from genre fiction authors.

[Anonymous No.20593430]

>>20593417
Chink tripe, read Dune.

[Anonymous No.20593541]

>>20593417
First book is okay, but not as amazing as people say. Sequels are retarded and the third book basically turns into a xianxia-tier magic technology retard fest. Also the characters only get dumber with time.

[Anonymous No.20593558]

Haven't been able to write much in a month or so but cranked this out earlier, quite rough but would appreciate any thoughts regardless

[Anonymous No.20593565]

>>20593558
>Haven't been able to write much in a month or so
It's for the best. I wouldn't even post that on/x/. Embarassing desu.

[Anonymous No.20593572]

>>20593565

Thx

[Anonymous No.20593636]

You guys open up your youtube channel yet and post your first video? Greatness awaits.

[Anonymous No.20593672]

I drew the cover for my book.

[Anonymous No.20593706]

I sat and watched a talking dog on the moving painting the locals call a television set. It was odd. The talking blue dog spoke differently than those that I was most accustomed with. Their voice had a slight tinge, and each character spoke slightly differently. The character perspectives switched constantly. It was a confusing show, with may talking dogs referring each other has dad, mom, grandma, and Wendy.

I opened my bag of M&M's, poured the contents onto the floor. I counted eighty blue ones, thirty red ones, ninety yellow ones, ten orange ones, and fifty brown ones. This was certainly strange. Talking dogs and missing orange M&M's. There was only one solution to this predicament. I was to browse the internet, and partake in written fisticuffs with complete strangers with unknown faces, voices, or even smells. Just words plastered onto the screen with unimportant opinions based on misinformation. It was my sanctuary.

I popped into my mouth, an orange M&M first. It was always best practice to eat the color with the least amount. A person that went by the name, BidGickChick said so. The oxymoronic irony of their name was most amusing. I entered the arena of words and met my first opponent, LoveFlowersGurl22.

The topic she started was complete drivel. The user wrote down, "I think I'm pregnant with my one night stand's baby, but I'm not sure. What if it's not my boyfriends? Help!" Another user by the name of "SoilentIsDelicious" replied, "How do you know it's not your boyfriends?". To which, the original user wrote "because he's black and my boyfriend's white. What if the baby comes out black?" SoilentIsDelicious response provided me with a hearty chuckle. The person wrote, "Don't worry about it, if your boyfriend was a real man, he wouldn't care. Besides it's his child anyways. Blood doesn't make a father."

SoilentIsDelicious's response was given plenty of approval, as indicated by a small "Thumb's Up" icon that the people on this planet use. There were over ten-thousand approval marks for this very comment.

I was ready to engage in this battle, but thought better of it. It was a losing endeavor. A solo individual could not possibly rise up and break through and win a battle with such odds stacked against themselves. I left the arena, for there were no other battles worth engaging in. There was only one thing left to do.

I posted my experience on /wg/.

[Anonymous No.20593725]

>>20593672
No, God no.
Please pay someone on fivrr for a cheap cover or acrually be good.
This quality is extremely unprofessional and a major turn off. I wouldn’t buy this book.
Everyone in this thread will have something similar to say about the quality.

[Anonymous No.20593738]

>>20593672
I can feel your autism through this image. Also there's too much blank space

[Anonymous No.20593746]

how do you extend a dungeon chapter without repeated encounters?

[Anonymous No.20593777]

>>20593746
>find a treasure
>fight over who would best be suited for the treasure
>girl character, a knight just because, offers sex for the mage's staff
>mage agrees to give said staff without sex because he is a supreme gentleman
>giant blob/slime enemy
>spits gunk on girl knight and entraps her
>tells mage to cast spell
>cannot because he gave away the staff to the knight
>knight proceeds to get raped via hentai like consequences
>the mage is defeated by watching and fapping to said knight take in slime cocks like no other
>Slime monster mocks mage shoving his face into her pussy as his cock enters her
>mage licks slime cocks and pussy at the same time
>they are finally saved when the slime nuts on both of them leaving them defenseless
>but the slime monster made a mistake
>leaving markings on the walls and ground, he indirectly lead them to where they needed to go
>they found their next party member!
>it's a big dog, and you just know what's going to happen next.

[Anonymous No.20593824]

>>20593777
checked and thanks anon

[Anonymous No.20593906]

[Anonymous No.20594010]

>>20593672
holy fucking art

[Anonymous No.20594089]

>have a seed of an idea for a book. maybe a scene or a theme
>spend a lot of time and effort brainstorming, developing, and outlining. Feel really excited about it
>lose all interest
>repeat

How the fuck do I stop doing this

[Anonymous No.20594091]

>>20594089
type it down

[Anonymous No.20594183]

>>20594089
>outlining
if your outline is longer than one page and you haven't even typed word one of the actual text, you're doing it very wrong

[Anonymous No.20594305]

day 16 editing
my word count keeps growing
thank god im not a trad pub cuck

[Anonymous No.20594474]

Test

[Anonymous No.20594648]

I might be retarded, but because of my long habit of writing spontaneously based off of an idea in my head, then expanding on said idea as I continue to write, I don’t think I’ve ever outlined before. Even when I look it up, the concept seems alien to me and whenever I try to outline, I end up feeling too trapped by it, leading to me writing by flying by the seat of my pants, seeing where the words take me. How do I outline?

[Anonymous No.20594893]

are there any places novice writers can go to discuss story ideas without them being stolen?

sometimes I'll get a neat idea I'd like to write about but feel like I need to talk to others to figure out good execution

like say, a fire breaks out in a steampunk city, well first of all, it's steampunk so there aren't combustibles like gasoline present. second, there are water pipes everywhere, rather they melt or explode, the steam is going to exhaust the fire real quick, and third without any accelerants how would the fire even spread in a stone and metal environment

So the idea of a fire breaking out in a steampunk city sounds neat, but even brainstorming with others, I can't even begin to figure out how to explain it.

[Anonymous No.20594925]

There are like 3-4 stories I want to write RIGHT NOW, how the fuck can I stay committed to just one? It's so frustrating. Why didn't god give me more hands? Or just super speed?

[Anonymous No.20594943]

>>20594925
Have you tried writing sprint videos?

[Anonymous No.20594946]

>>20594893
Maybe a local writing circle. Also get into the mindset that you will create something again and that your voice is unique. Even if someone had done something similar to you or actually takes your idea, you can tell it in a different and potentially better way than anyone else.

As for your story, fires can still break out but maybe not the way you think. Steam engines do have combustibles but they are external. If the firebox gets out of control high temperature, some metal can begin to melt. There are a number of scenarios you could imagine a fire breaking out such as flashback fires via alcohol or ether vapors. Perhaps read some literature from safety organizations like OSHA that document plenty of ways fires have started.

[Anonymous No.20594973]

>>20594925
Write more flash fiction. You'd be surprised at how many stories are really just one or two scenes that want to be set free.

[Anonymous No.20594996]

>>20594973
Well, I have a lot more than one or two scenes drafted in my head. About 5 sequel novels' worth

[Anonymous No.20595009]

I want to write one YA book and be financially set for life from it. How do I achieve such things?

[Anonymous No.20595013]

>>20595009
>one YA book
>financially set for life
bruh

[Anonymous No.20595059]

>>20593672
You may want to come up with a less-cliche title.

[Anonymous No.20595081]

>>20594996
You better get on the BrandoSando train of 6k words a day. That's a 180k novel per month.

[Anonymous No.20595100]

>>20593672
Looks like a lot of the book covers I see on web-novel sites.
Not sure what the seethers are going on about.

[Anonymous No.20595124]

>>20594925
Let time pass until you’re fully devoted to one.

[Anonymous No.20595132]

>>20588632
If it's a short story, shouldn't it be fairly easy to adapt into a short film or even a screenplay for a feature?

[Anonymous No.20595153]

After reading and listening multiple times to 'The Fall of Gondolin' book, I've had the desire to properly write a complete version of the story; based of Tolkien's Final (and incomplete) Version.
I do fear I may not be good enough at mimicking Tolkien's way of writing.
Pic is my very early progress/proof of concept.

[Anonymous No.20595161]

>>20595009
I was recently looking at a small publisher near me and saw one of their authors, some woman over 60 did a first novel and hit #1 best seller and she didnt even have an MFA, she was a PhD in a science. Sometimes these things happen. I'm definitely not getting any formal writing education but I do want to look at more contemporaries to see what the quality really is.

[Anonymous No.20595178]

>>20595161
MFA is for those who don't have it in them to write naturally and want to simulate it artificially.

[Anonymous No.20595191]

What makes a good story, /wg/?

[Anonymous No.20595202]

>“Shadilay,” cackled the wispy-haired sorcerer within his stony spire, the belltower of which resembled a frog’s head. “O Kek, grant me powers dark and magic supreme. Ride the tiger!”
He ran his long fingernails across the grand knell before him; it sang a shrill note. Then he pulled on a rope, tolling three times.
>“What timbrels and bells may clamour and clang when the libtards are owned once again? Ding-dong knell, with this I cast my magic spell!”
Lightning zapped out of his hands and created a frog-shaped cloud in the darkening welkin, until finally descended thunderbolts that killed all those who voted for Biden.
>“You cannot trump what cannot be dumped, chump,” bellowed the 30-year-old wizard. “All liberals will find that Kekistanis are as pungent as pastrami. Our memes are grand, we’ll swallow you like sand; timeless we live and a hundredfold damage we give!”

[Anonymous No.20595238]

Some neurotic bisexual manchild makes more money than you ever will writing shite books.
How do you cope?

[Anonymous No.20595242]

>>20595238
It's always a hustlegrind, I gotta give it to him... I wish I was as prolific a writer, because I'm already a neurotic bisexual manchild. But I'm only human, after all.

[Anonymous No.20595296]

>>20595242
Hustle by writing two short poorly written books?
Yeah I’d agree with that, he hustled his readers.

[Anonymous No.20595311]

>>20595178
That seems to be the case, same with travel memoirs. Writers that actually have to suffer like most people, and I imagine even some academics do too (lately they have ivory-tower syndrome), and thankfully I have plenty of suffering and struggle to write about. I've wasted years of my life, experienced tragedy, been all over the place, believed all sorts of things.

[Anonymous No.20595319]

>>20595311
If you can't handle hard times and the bad moments, and if you are a product of the nurturing industrial society, then writing travel memoirs is not for you.

[Anonymous No.20595340]

>>20595319
Maybe for a real adventure, but there's a ton of travel memoirs by women both autobiographical or thinly veiled autobiographies and I can't imagine they are too wild, just "I went to all these places, yep". A real story would be like this one sociologist I read about who had someone hide her in a suitcase so African criminals wouldnt kill her. Forgot who it was, read an excerpt a long time ago.

[Anonymous No.20595343]

>>20594893
The good news is your ideas are not worth stealing so feel free to share. Even better news is that fires were a common and deadly occurrence in the steam age so you can just look to history for a lot of inspiration (mill and Triangle Waistcoat factory examples).

Bad news is that ideas are a diamond dozen and fleeting as a fart, until you write at best you'll end up with a shit slick on your undies called an outline.

>>20594183
True for me, I've accidentally aborted perfectly good stories of mine by over outlining them.

>>20594925
Same issue here, my approach has just been force one to be my primary project 90% of the time but brainstorm the others/occasionally take an "off week" to work on them for a change of pace.

[Anonymous No.20595351]

>Emilyanon here
>Posted advertisement
>Anon said he'll help make it better
>He never did

[Anonymous No.20595369]

Any good guides on how to write scientific reports? I want my prologue to be a case study reporting unusual properties of something they've found

[Anonymous No.20595379]

>>20595369
Just read a bunch of them and read style guides for STEM. What field are they working in anyway? I can't tell if you mean a sci fi or if it's contemporary science in fiction.

[Anonymous No.20595398]

>>20595351
That's what you get for talking to the meerkater.

[Anonymous No.20595450]

>>20595343
there are some ideas worth protecting
"harry potter"
"jurassic park"
but most ideas aren't

[Anonymous No.20595457]

>>20590903 el oh el try to engage with the age you're in as it is. it's okay to obsess over your own cucky subsumption but don't expect others to come along

[Anonymous No.20595468]

>>20595009
read all the books
analyze the books
write every day

[Anonymous No.20595469]

>>20595081
More like carpal tunnel and burnout per month

[Anonymous No.20595493]

>>20595450
"Harry potter" wasn't the idea, "boy destined for greatness goes to wizard school" was and had been done before and after. The execution (and popularity bandwagoning effects) made it worthwhile.

"Real Dinosaur theme park" is pretty unique, but again in the hands of the guy who wrote Gor would have been shite.

>>20595081
>>20595469
More like an assistant and editors to effectively ghost write for you.

[Anonymous No.20595496]

>>20595296
The grind don't stop.

[Anonymous No.20595539]

>>20595398
But he showed me he was selling thousands of copies

[Anonymous No.20595540]

>>20595493
so, you're saying "harry potter" wasn't an idea worth protecting?

[Anonymous No.20595601]

>>20595340
Really vivid and not to sound insensitive or anything, but I am curious as to how someone can hide from murderers for weeks or months.

Especially if it was in the jungle somewhere where they can't ask for directions to where she is located. I hope not my neighbor that moved.

My poor cat... today I couldn't resist her tiny meow when she spotted one of our cats at the gate.

[Anonymous No.20595630]

>>20595493
>worthwhile
It was a part of what kept me going.

I started writing, something that I was doing anyway, because I knew it would help a whole bunch of people I loved in the lead up to public screening (thousands of DVDs of unscreened versions selling quickly).

It only wasn't enjoyable because when she looked at the bare scrap of paper, she didn't see a book.

She saw a list of things that needed to be done.

She didn't see a book.

She saw a list of things that needed to be done. She didn't see a book.

[Anonymous No.20595673]

>>20595540
Again, "Harry Potter" is the brand and a finished series of well executed books - not an idea. The idea is "poor boy is actually destined for greatness and must go to wizard school"

And no the vague idea was not "worth protecting" because forms on that exact story had been in modern print for decades prior. Do you think if the unknown Rowling had mailed every writer alive with a paragraph or two summarizing her idea 5 years before she published that anything would be different?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2000/08/05/harry-potters-magical-precursors-cousins-and-possible-influences/cc498ca0-0d9e-4402-ad41-1a256cb76e8d/

[Anonymous No.20595679]

>>20587513
Got a substack now

https://adolfstalin.substack.com/

[Anonymous No.20595687]

>>20595673
>different
Someone with a business sense would have jumped on this long before anyone even knew the name "J.K. Rowling."

When you want something done right, do it yourself, your way.

The point is, most of us are dying to tell you that the secret to world domination is what we did to try to catch the person who stole our idea. I spent weeks on this particular blurb, including an interview with the original author. I would like to share those steps with you. This is what I did:

Find the person who stole your idea. I got the first name from my contacts in the Mormon community. Pick the best answer to the motive question. If you know more than one line of one paragraph from a previously unknown submission, it's probably a huge mistake and they aren't the ones stealing your idea. People in both styles of letter are sharing ideas. Think likely novel length. Consider making the story African American focused and partially fictionalized like Gone with the Wind or Noah's Ark to lighten the blow of imagined slavery and cannibalism. Pick a general structure, but leave lots of twists and changes.

[Anonymous No.20595690]

yesterday's draft
https://pastebin.com/KLYJygm7

I think my scene sucks but I liked the babushka

[Anonymous No.20595704]

>>20595690
Leaves*
Concocting*
It was interesting overall, but you might want to draw out the characterisation a bit more. I still don't know what the young man really wants here. Remember to make your characters have an arc. The babushka was interesting, though. I think you're good at making her idiosyncratic.

[Anonymous No.20595712]

>>20595690
Gave it a quick read, then enjoyed it so much I ran through it again, slower and If genius is a mystery of consciousness, a visit to your wordworld felt like sitting shoeless and crosslegged in the Hagia Sophia and humbly you accepted a plate of my cottondew review hardtack and linguistic jelly.

I can feel the thunder of your lighteninglike thoughts—through your words—suddenly I was somewhere else—it was like having been goaded, but I’d never seen any teratoid paragraphs sending me to well I remember it so well, the shapes and forms of the sensations, the impressions so deeply ingrained that they’d become tactile, so much so that far off places despite the cause of such intense fantasies being a black and twisted tunneling through my visual cortex barking and yapping away.

Post more.

[Anonymous No.20595721]

>>20595673
dude, how many billions has the "harry potter" idea made?
that kind of money is worth protecting

[Anonymous No.20595734]

>>20595630
>>20595679
>>20595687
>>20595712
I'm sorry nobody gives you attention but please keep this garbage on your substack.

[Anonymous No.20595742]

>>20595734
>I'm sorry nobody gives you attention but please keep this garbage on your substack.
I have been married with a kid, polyracial, and because of my husband's culture, we have a different last name, one that I don't share with people I work with and he doesn't share with people he knows.

I have a ton of my own issues with the actual marriage (which you know if you read all the time) but the fact that this isn't an issue with his family and I am still one of the only ones willing to stand up and be honest in...

[Anonymous No.20595747]

>>20595734
lol policing the writing thread on /lit/ you're hitting bottom i hope? this is the bottom?

[Anonymous No.20595760]

>>20595539
No he didn't. He was pointing out how ecelebs are selling a ton copies and speculating as to why. The guy is an absolute retard. He's not going to make it and neither are you if you even consider listening to him.

[Anonymous No.20595798]

>>20595379

I'm going to say botany since they find a weird flower that hasn't been seen before. Maybe more contemporary science to give it that bit of realism

[Anonymous No.20595830]

>>20595760
Maybe he should try proving he's right before setting his mind on such things. I don't know where these two live, but I'm not some stupid moron who thinks every day is about him. People have lives, and at the end of the day if people are a little bit more interested in doing something productive, they can and will find a way to do so.I can't let go of the fact that someone can be proven correct only to switch to another opinion =\

[Anonymous No.20595852]

>>20595798
Alright, try to read a bit of the earlier stuff that influenced modern ideas around the origin of plants, such as Nikolai Vavilov. He wasn't completely right about the genetic and geographical origins of plants, but it was influential and inspiring for other generations of agronomists and botanists, especially since he had so much data, a lot of ambition, and plenty of energy. It would also be cool to see if you have a botanist who is inspired by a hero scientist like N. Vavilov or someone similar, as I have actually read books and monographs like that in the history of science.

[Anonymous No.20595891]

>>20595704
Thank you. I did not think of the young man, that's true. It was just my placeholder to keep the conversation going.
>>20595712
I'm glad you enjoyed it!
are you all right?

[Anonymous No.20595918]

>>20595742
>polyracial
I'm sorry.

[Anonymous No.20595932]

>>20587513
Is it bad to write multi-clause sentences that stretch in for 5 or more clauses? I've noticed that most people here, along with most modern writers, tend to gravitate towards short, brisk sentences that tap out at 2-3 clauses. To me, this doesn't feel right. The rhythm of my prose feels off if I'm not stringing together these multi-clause sentences back to back. Is this a mistake? Would this style tire out the reader?

[Anonymous No.20595950]

>>20595932
I generally hate them, but you can post an example from your work if you think you can change my mind.

[Anonymous No.20596043]

>>20595932
Depends on how often. I wouldnt do it on a regular basis because the breathlessness starts to pile up. Complex sentences give the most opportunity for creativity in your statement but do go for simple, compound and shorter complex sentences.

[Anonymous No.20596051]

>>20595932
To provide variety here and there? Great. Every sentence? A horrible, awful slog.

[Anonymous No.20596085]

>>20595891
>are you all right?
just some plactile nonsense

[Anonymous No.20596172]

>>20595153
I'm certainly no Christopher Tolkien.
And I do fear that the texts used, even after editing them, may still seem too archaic or not archaic enough.

[Anonymous No.20596200]

my short story got accepted and is going to be published soon

[Anonymous No.20596209]

>>20596200
what medium

[Anonymous No.20596213]

>>20593558
not bad but the ending is really unclear about what is happening/who he is talking to

[Anonymous No.20596239]

>>20595932
posting a roughly translated from a book im reading:

"across the street, rummages the catholic high school "saint-jozef de l'aparision", showed up brown-haired girlies, of ten, twelve years old, dressed in blue-white peppita dresses over their blue wide pants, and a aging nun driving them. they passed upon-us pairs-pairs, stuck to the wall, careful not to lean from the lean sidewalk, and while doing so sent stolen glances to the wizen corpse, tolling and wrapped on the steel poles"

it can be a chore to read, but unique in how it drags me. I reckon you better give me something good if you're going to use those long sentences because it's hard to wrap the brain around them.

[Anonymous No.20596243]

>>20596209
online literary journal

[Anonymous No.20596248]

>>20596085
oh good!
I don't have anything else to post rn, but i'll tag you as brainscan-anon if I do.

[Anonymous No.20596253]

>>20596243
cool gj

how long is the story + how long did you work on it?

[Anonymous No.20596254]

Is there a smut publisher that will publish pulp fantasy monster rape short stories? Think Conan the barbarian but it's various girls getting hard non-con'd and snuffed by monsters.

[Anonymous No.20596275]

>>20596254
>Is there a smut publisher that will publish pulp fantasy monster rape short stories? Think Conan the barbarian but it's various girls getting hard non-con'd and snuffed by monsters.
be the thing you want to see

[Anonymous No.20596284]

>>20596254
https://splatterpunkzine.bigcartel.com/
Get into contact with them

[Anonymous No.20596287]

>>20596253
thanks anon. two and a half thousand words. 5 months. 2 weeks writing the first draft, 4 months wallowing and writing down my dreams, 2 weeks writing the second and final drafts.
we're all going to make it even if it kills us. be careful in selecting which critique to listen to especially in here. some are just looking to bring others down to pass time. some are doing that while also giving valid criticism. same goes with praise. there's really no knowing whether anyone really means or knows what they're saying here, so all we can do is be smart. it comes with time and work.

[Anonymous No.20596310]

>>20596287
>4 months wallowing and writing down my dreams
Is this part of the writing process? Never heard anyone doing this before

>be careful in selecting which critique to listen to especially in here
i wouldn't listen to anyone on /lit/ lol

>same goes with praise
i praise random things and praise them so highly that it should make ppl question it but they never do... and i dont bother reading the things i praise

[Anonymous No.20596316]

>>20596284
>https://splatterpunkzine.bigcartel.com/
this is very cool but it doesn't look active

[Anonymous No.20596329]

>>20596316
Maybe see if their socials are responsive. I saw they posted this recently.

[Anonymous No.20596357]

>>20596310
Yeah. Clive Barker did it and Mary Robinette Kowal did it too. Many people doubt themselves at some point, thinking they dont have talent anymore or were always subpar and got lucky. But they push through it.

[Anonymous No.20596388]

>>20596357
I don't think it's any useful except to gather imaginary suffering points.

[Anonymous No.20596397]

anyone can rec good action scenes?

[Anonymous No.20596403]

>>20596397
The Broken Sword is something I base mine on.

[Anonymous No.20596421]

>>20596403
thanks!

[Anonymous No.20596443]

Is it possible for me anonymously self-publish my work? If so, how difficult might that be?

[Anonymous No.20596588]

>>20596443
very easy
you need a "pen name"

[Anonymous No.20596614]

>>20596588
>>20596443
or a pseudoname, which is greet for footpersona, meaning it will allow you to foot it when the thought police come chasing you down

[Anonymous No.20596640]

>>20595687
>Someone with a business sense would have jumped on this long before anyone even knew the name "J.K. Rowling."
people with that level of foresight never existed and the the ones who you think did just got lucky

[Anonymous No.20596674]

>>20596588
A pseudonym is not anonymous.

>>20596614
>or a pseudoname, which is greet for footpersona, meaning it will allow you to foot it when the thought police come chasing you down
Why the fuck are you even here?

[Anonymous No.20596798]

Call me Pinecone, hoo-hoo, ha-ha, r ye ready for dis? Years ago—never mind you how long p—I would laff at ye, dear reader if ye had any ballz at all—yet ye, having little or no money in yr pursie, and nothing particular to interest me, I thought I should tell ye about me sail around the wirey watery part of the world, the big bluegreen slurpee slurp of th' Earth's sur-face. Plankton is my surname. It is a way I have of driving off the pale-of-heart-and-mind and regulating the circulation of my prose. So if yr still reading, let's a-go-go—

[Anonymous No.20596801]

>>20596674
>A pseudonym is not anonymous.
Well, if you want, you could give me your book and I'll publish it under my name. To assuage your paranoia.

[Anonymous No.20596802]

>>20596798
Whenever I find meself glowing erect about the mouth—whenever it is a damp, drizzly Oktobrrr in me soul—whenever I find myself pausing before coffee warehouses, pack'd in w/hipsterz and brimming w/poppy's money, up and out their rear pockets and pocketbooks, I meet her, Her, in my mind—and especially whenever me visionz get an upper hand on my mind, that it requires a strong magnet and electrical shock to prevent me from deliberately stepping in front of a train, I methodically knock people's butts—then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for tube sites and clickbait. With a philosophical flourish Wallace throws himself upon his belt—I quietly take to ship. There is nothing surprising about this, ha-ha. If they knew it, almost all men among their mind-maps, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean as I do. U do, don't u?

[Anonymous No.20596804]

>>20588398
Full metal alchemist answered all those dude.

[Anonymous No.20596812]

>>20596802
There now is your insular city of the University, belted, nailed round by wharves or whatever as sunny sun sun Australia by coral reefs—nihilism surrounds it with Her surf. Right and left, the streets take you waterwhichwayward. Its extreme downtown is the battery, where that noble shippy-poo is washed by waves, and cooled by breezes, which a few hours previous were out of sight of land. Look at the crowds of azn tourists there. This is the brownstone town of boss-town Boston.

[Anonymous No.20596818]

>>20596812
Circumambulate the city of a rainy sábado afternoon. Go from Government Center to Quincy Market, and from there, by F-Hall, East to Long Wharf. What do you see?—Parked like drooling seniles all around the town, stand thousands upon thousands of mortal men fixed to iPhone screens. Some looking up at me as I pass, some seated upon benches, shivrrrin' in th' cold rain—some looking over the bulwarks of their isolation to the brick-layer'd garbage ground—some high aloft w/burnt pine pipes, as if striving to get a still better seaweed peep of real life. But these are all landwimpz of weak daze pent up in lath and classes—tied to computers, nailed to cellphones, clinched to desks and sofaz. How then is this? Are the green fields of adventure gone? What do they do here?

[Anonymous No.20596824]

>>20596818
But looky! Here zey come more crowds of azns, waddlin str8 for the dock, and seemingly bound for a dive. Strange! Nothing will content them but the most extreme haggling—loitering under the white orb of cloud cover. No. They must get just as many pictures in front of the water as they possibly can without falling in. And there they stand—millionz of them—leagues of squinty faces. Inlanders them, they come from lanes and alleys, streets and avenues, out of th' crax, Never, Eat, Sour, Waddermelonz. Yet here they all unite. Tell me, does the magnetic virtue of the needles of the compasses of all them whale-watching ships attract them thither? Squint, flash, giggle, so fashionable.

[Anonymous No.20596829]

>>20596824
Once more, again, now. Say you are in the country—in some high land of lakes, beautiful buttery Indian Woman, oo looky here, w/ a few adjustments—her knees are now her ta-tas, add some BDSM and ye got a new meaning for Wound'd Knee, he-he. Take almost any buttery path you please, and ten to one, one to ten, it carries you down into a swale, and leaves you there by a glittering stream. There is magic in it's hands—see how it carries the sun reflected? Let the most absent-minded of men be plunged into the deepest reveries, revelations—stand that man on his head, set his feet a-tickled, and he will infallibly lead you to watery fun, if water there be in all that region of relaxation. Should you ever be a thirsty boy in the great Murk'n desert, try this expr'ment, if your caravan can happ'n to be supplied with a meta-material-physics professor. Yeeeeee, as every one temporal 4D body trapp'd being knows, meditation and water are wedded and weeded from us all forever as long as Orwell's Boot-y aphorism holdz.

[Anonymous No.20596840]

>>20596614
I didn't realize writing lovecraftian sci fi is a thought crime.

[Anonymous No.20596878]

>>20596674
>A pseudonym is not anonymous.
Even if your pseudonym is "Anonymous"?

[Anonymous No.20596922]

>>20596878
just dont sign it, ok

[Anonymous No.20596961]

>>20596829
is this the story with the big tiddy jew gf?

[Anonymous No.20597021]

>>20596961
wat

[Anonymous No.20597185]

"Spiraling rivers of bark grew from roots up into branches buried deep in leaves, its thick foil of green shimmering yellow in the warm summer sun."

What sort of tree am I describing?

[Anonymous No.20597197]

>>20597185
huh

a parody of purple prose?

[Anonymous No.20597220]

>>20597197
Why is that purple prose

[Anonymous No.20597248]

>>20597220
bark doesn't grow in rivers
unless the tree branches have fallen on the ground they're not buried in leaves
deciduous trees don't have thick amounts of leaves. leaves exist to aid in photosynthesis. if it were a pine tree I could see the description, but pine trees don't have leaves

[Anonymous No.20597254]

>>20597185
It's a mangrove?

[Anonymous No.20597300]

>>20597220
Why are you poo brown?

[Anonymous No.20597307]

>>20597254
Interesting anon, thanks for that.
>>20597248
>bark doesn't grow in rivers
So you can't have rivers of bark?

[Anonymous No.20597316]

>>20597254
based on that description I wouldn't say so. a mangrove description would emphasize more the roots spreading out like tendrils or worms or fingers

[Anonymous No.20597322]

>>20597307
>So you can't have rivers of bark?
No, river implies movement.
>but it's a frozen river
go back to the description drawing board

[Anonymous No.20597338]

>>20597322
>No, river implies movement.
That was the idea.

[Anonymous No.20597342]

>>20597338
Are you describing the Whomping Willow?

[Anonymous No.20597487]

>>20597316
One could describe appendage-like roots such as those as seeming to move as a result of their potentially twisting, contorted positions and possibly the motion of water around them.

[Anonymous No.20597515]

>>20597185
The Subwit Faggot also called the (You) Tree.

[Anonymous No.20597787]

>>20597220
>"Spiraling rivers of bark
Purple ass

>grew from roots up into branches
Deep purple

>buried deep in leaves,
Big purple feather quill

>its thick foil of green shimmering yellow in the warm summer sun."
Shitfuck purple prose

Problem 1: it does not engage the imagination. Have you seen bark? Go look at some bark. Let the barkness come to you. Spiraling rivers bark is not.

I get the sense of what you want to do with guiding us through the form of the tree but fuck.

Green shimmering yellow? Green trees don't shimmer yellow. And it's foliage not foil. Its vibrating verdure.

"Warm summer sun" is hack. Come up with something fresh.

[Anonymous No.20597900]

Thinking about making another pen name just for writing erotica and adding this "new person" to my "team" on my website
This author I used to follow (but not read) showed how she made thousands in just four months writing "sweet romance" but my problem is I can't just write about ordinary people so I'll be dipping into a monster or fantasy genre
Her stories were just 5-10k words too, so plenty doable
Anyone else doing this or have advice?
I'll be doing this in addition to my normal work

[Anonymous No.20598033]

"I tell you Doc, it's hell. What that madman did to me, almost as if he knew every alchemical path through my body. He used this knowledge to undo me, my past, my essence."
...
"But if you could replicate just one single bacteria cell, just one single bacteria carrying the exact same data as the bacterium in your gut from before..from before you "died".. I am sympathetic to your plight but it's a long shot."
"I'll try anything Doc, just pull the lever."
Doc gave me a stern nod and did as instructed, eagerly watching the screen displaying my gut vitals in anticipation.
It felt funny, at first, watching myself die in reverse. And then it got really funny, and I started laughing, and I started laughing so hard I couldn't stop laughing. Then Doc started laughing too, even though he wasn't hooked up to thing, or feeling his guts getting scrambled, just getting high off the contagion of my laugh and laughing in sympathy. Then the machine started laughing, I heard cats and dogs laughing in the distance and Doc gave me the "oh, shit" face and turned the thing off. I just laid there for while in repose while Doc stood there, stunned, before he spoke up. "Well, the machine definitely works! Now let's see what else we can

[Anonymous No.20598050]

>>20595351
First lets calm down anon.
Second, no you didn’t, you posted your dashboard for your ad and not the ad itself. Notice how there is nothing in the preview.
Third, consider that I’m not in an American timezone and work for a living, so I’m slow to reply.
I’ll help you once you post your actual ad.

[Anonymous No.20598268]

>>20596840
It is if you hit too closely to the nature of the true demons that lord over our world.

[Anonymous No.20598326]

>>20598268
reported
https://www.adl.org/report-incident

[Anonymous No.20598340]

>>20598050
If you can read it's auto generated.
I can't help that Amazon didn't auto generate it. Not my fault there. And since it's auto generated the ad is just the book cover. That's all I can do.

[Anonymous No.20598367]

>>20598326
Good fucking luck, my entire country is antisemitic

[Anonymous No.20598380]

>>20598367
horrible =(

[Anonymous No.20598608]

New thread >>20598606
for when the time comes...

[Anonymous No.20598676]

>>20587513
What are some good resources for making magic systems in the stories that you write? I've found a couple videos, are they worth watching, and do you have any non-video resources that are actually useful for writers? I found one, but I distrust World Anvil on principle.
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCkR4X6Faz0
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUU81xm1oqg
>https://crrowenson.com/magic/types-of-magic/types-of-magic/
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMJQb5bGu_g
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH1ezrVyBT4
>https://blog.worldanvil.com/2020/01/11/magic-systems-getting-started-worldbuilding/

[Anonymous No.20598737]

>>20598676
a good magic system should be simple to describe, i.e. they contract with spirits or it's elemental magic or magic is learned through study with books, while at the same time being exponentially expandable, spirits have different requirements/demands, the elements are combinable but certain ones work better with others or oppose others or book learning is the sort of top level of magic and it gets spookier the further down you go.

[Anonymous No.20598779]

>>20598737
So, physics?

[Anonymous No.20598805]

>>20598779
physics is more complex to describe, take a single aspect of physics. from what I've heard sanderson does something physics-like in mistborn for that magic system.

dune, for instance, has a simple to describe magic system: the spice is magic, while also allowing a lot more complexity

[Anonymous No.20598874]

I like getting steadily more terrifying and abstract as the story goes on. Does that sound interesting?

[Anonymous No.20598987]

>>20598874
Sure, if you can actually pull it off.

[Anonymous No.20599464]

>>20595469
Carpal tunnel is a maybe, depending on finger strength and whether or not you can take means to mitigate the eventual effects of carpal tunnel like exercises and treatments. To get burnout, however, at least in someone like Sanderson's case, assumes one has put in enough effort to be burned out. I've read some of Sanderson's novels. The Mistborn trilogy was a masterclass in well-executed pedestrianism at its strongest points. Stormlight archives was actually very decent, but only that: very decent. It gives what it gives, and no more. And even then, it's only because it's a bigger volume of content than mistborn. As for his other works, I'm not sure. It's not as if Sanderson poured his soul and psyche into his authorial voice and artistry. The man literally admits he just grinds, and teaches students how to be dedicated word-machines. He certainly knows his stuff. In a technical sense. He's a good technician. A very good technician. But I'm not comfortable calling him an artist at all. You can certainly grind out content and avoid burnout by riding on technical ability as such. But you would most definitely burn yourself out trying to go shoulder to shoulder with Sanderson's pace while writing In Search of Lost Time, or Moby Dick, or any other "great" which is your persona favourite. Only Pynchon came close, in vomiting out Gravity's Rainbow in the time he did, but his sails were billowing with the winds of amphetamines to get from start to finish that fast anyways. This isn't even taking into account the fact of our daily experience as wageys, which annihilates a significant chunk of expendable life force that could otherwise be used in pursuing writing. So, >>20594996 , do you really want to *say* something? Or do you want to be a good entertainer? One burns you out faster than the other, imo. You have to be realistic with yourself.

[Anonymous No.20599719]

Please read and critique my short story (2400 words).
>https://drive.google.com/file/d/1x3U50z0GM4TTqQ3PBQvXZztjgrwn0WV0/view?usp=sharing
All feedback is appreciated.

[Anonymous No.20599757]

>>20599464
It's far more draining to be entertaining.
How many Ethan Ralph impersonators have you seen come and go throughout the lifetime of this general? Retards who can 'say' all day with their rants on humanity's inhumanity, but will flounder the second they need to convince someone to read their drivel.
Those of us who write in a way that isn't purely masturbatory will understand that while themes are important, just as important is having someone actually take your themes in; achieving this is something that the vast majority of your time writing will be dedicated to.

[Anonymous No.20600117]

I know what I'm going to write for my first arc, I've already thought about the characters and their particularities, I know my premise, the world I'm going to write about is pretty much defined, however after 2,000 words for my chapter 1, I realize my syntax sucks. Anything that isn't dialogue sucks.

I'm only talking about my syntax, I pretty much know the rules for writing a story.


I plan to analyze the structure of the books I find best written. Any opinions?

[Anonymous No.20600139]

>>20598033
>just one single bacteria
There's a word for that. "Bacterium."

[Anonymous No.20600169]

>>20600117
Yes, read the books you want to write like. If you're especially interested in selling, read contemporary best sellers.

[Anonymous No.20600530]

https://docs.google.com/file/d/1YZ2VhS-8wIiKG-PXkprBpPnGv1J7fRRr/

writing a guide to life just based on what i know and can compile
i’ve heard the usual criticisms about these kinds of books and i’m trying to offer something cohesive

read through the skeleton, offer what you’d like to see
thanks, the goal is to offer this for free and make money in pennies and sell lessons etc on a wide scale
help every low conscientious ignoramus out there
like me

[Anonymous No.20600655]

>>20600530
It seems far too muddled. I understand it's just a skeleton, but even if each piece were expanded upon it would still be too erratic.
It seems as though this is not suited for a book format. A blog would be a better fit. A place where it's easy to jump between some clearly defined topics.
I would also point out that it seems a little arrogant to be offering this advice, especially advice such as how to sleep in your car safely, or that laundromats are cheap. One of the reasons people resonated with, and subsequently stopped resonating with, Jordan Peterson is because he gave off an aura of success. He was willing to help because he had time to help. He had time to help because he didn't need help. He was sorted, and therefore someone worth listening to.

[Anonymous No.20600702]

>>20600655
thanks

[Anonymous No.20600720]

>>20599719
Bump.

[Anonymous No.20601162]

What's the ideal word count for chapters meant to be read in one sitting?

[Anonymous No.20601169]

>>20601162
1-5000 words. A bit more and your readers might find they need to do something else. 3000 words is a ten minute read even for someone who is slower to read. It really depends on how much you grip the reader though.

[Anonymous No.20601189]

>>20601169
Thanks.