/wg/ - Writing General

[Anonymous No.20944982]

(Hey guys, what are your thoughts on trimming down or condensing the OP? Respectful and well-reasoned suggestions will be considered. If it was up to me I'd remove everything besides the previous thread and a little code of conduct, but I'll go with what makes people generally happy)

Previous Thread: >>20937449

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

Finding Agents
>https://querytracker.net/join.php
>https://www.manuscriptwishlist.com/

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
>Manga in Theory and Practice, Araki

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

AI-generated book covers
>https://nightcafe.studio
>https://huggingface.co/spaces/dalle-mini/dalle-mini
>https://app.wombo.art/
>https://penguin.jos.ht/
>https://beta.openai.com/playground

/wg/ Authors and Flash Fiction Pastebin
>https://pastebin.com/ruwQj7xQ

Other forums
>https://reddit.com/r/writing
>https://writing.stackexchange.com/

[Anonymous No.20944987]

No one writes in /wg/

[Anonymous No.20944990]

Nobody here writes also computers will replace authors soon so there’s no point to writing.

[Anonymous No.20945006]

I wrote a 19,333 word first draft about a whore mongering salary man who only gets pleasure from stealing and hookers. It all changes when he meets a women who makes him lose focus at his work.

I wrote it in first person narrative. Does anyone want to read it and give me their first impressions? It is the first thing I have ever wrote, and I have no clue wtf I am doing.

[Anonymous No.20945020]

Fourth for read, r8 and h8 my shit.
>>20944847

>>20945006
Just fucking post it anon.

[Anonymous No.20945023]

>>20944987
lies, plenty of anons write

[Anonymous No.20945028]

>>20944987
>>20944990
This is a self-fulfilling prophecy driven by spammers. If you do write you shouldn't be here. There's nothing of value to be had.

[Anonymous No.20945072]

>>20945020
>>20945006

fine, feel free to tell me how shitty i am, i have no clue what im doing

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zwiQBOubDseS-mDwmBvpOcnfHrdGUnI1MYWycucFLv4/edit?usp=sharing

[Anonymous No.20945112]

>>20945006
Can you do paste bin at least for the first page or so?

[Anonymous No.20945113]

question about transitions. you can have

scene1
***
scene2

where the "***" means a change in scene, right?

then you can also have a transition between scenes with a sentence

They were sitting around the bowling alley when they decided to go to the pizza parlor.
The sun was setting by the time they reached the pizza parlor.
The pizza place was crowded and they had to push their way through to get to a table.

(only better written)

Both are legit?

[Anonymous No.20945140]

https://pastebin.com/WK197b3b

critique please. Is it entertaining? Does it make you want to read more? Why or why not?

[Anonymous No.20945159]

>third of the way through my first novel
>haven't written in about a week
>no real reason aside from feeling like a shit writer
>want to quit and go back to my short stories
Please, convince me not to quit, bros.

[Anonymous No.20945160]

>>20944982
No cruel god should ever exist if anyone in /wg/ wrote.

[Anonymous No.20945170]

>>20945159
You should quit. The short stories, too.

[Anonymous No.20945173]

>>20944987
It's our resident drunk and failure.

[Anonymous No.20945181]

>>20945173
>t. Unpublished
Put your skin in the game then you can make dumb posts.

[Anonymous No.20945195]

>>20944982
Dread. The nothing revealed. I lay pondering my lack of real existence. I am absence manifest. My head is void. Futility of all words, lack of all meaning. No point in trying to express this expressionless state. Emptiness is a fitting word. An aching emptiness. A sharp despair. A dizzying tedium. Vertigo.

[Anonymous No.20945207]

Recs for a dedicated word processor? I want to keep something by my bed for when I can't sleep, and a full laptop seems like overkill

[Anonymous No.20945244]

>>20945072
I identify with a lot of themes and I've seen plenty of people share those sentiments, I guess you could call it a "literally me" story, and that's good.
I think it would improve a lot if you cut out some parts. Personal opinion of course, but I think we don't need that many examples of the same idea (that he didn't care about anything), you can convey the thoughts of the character with less.
I have a hard time caring for the main character as well. Other than the fact that we both share some things in common, I don't see any reason to keep learning more about this man. It feels like "my diary desu", but it's not enough to keep me interested.
It reminds me of Something Happened by Joseph Heller.

[Anonymous No.20945277]

thoughts?

[Anonymous No.20945278]

>>20945244

How far did you get?
I agree, one issue I have, is how do I make it seem convincing that this guy cares about getting his promotion?
Also, how do I make him likeable, and what would be the reason anyone would fall in love with him?

[Anonymous No.20945284]

>>20945140
I feel cheated because your cover has nothing to do with the story so far, and I can't imagine how you'd connect something so grim with the erotic and perverse, but if that's the case then you have my interest.
That said, the wife scene, I think, was really well executed. Maybe the aftermath was not to my taste (the whole denial of reality thing), but I think I could give it a chance if you tell me what's this about.

[Anonymous No.20945286]

>>20944987
>Implying
I'm a shit writer. But I write.
Honestly it's a weird feeling. I know people in real life whom write so much better than I do, but let themselves get caught up in the fact that'll never get published and throw out entire chapters.
Meanwhile I'm fucking 5k deep into a fucking nightmare paced story after finishing another piece and gonna write more tomorrow.

[Anonymous No.20945290]

Let go of your ego and actually listen to constructive criticism. You fools. You damned fools… how will you get any better?

[Anonymous No.20945318]

>>20945278
I got to the end of the first part, and then began skipping until about halfway through when I saw it was all corporate life talk.
It actually reminds me a lot of American Psycho too, those chapters were Bateman just went on and on describing things. Not necessarily bad though.
>how do I make him likeable
I don't know if that's the right word. He's got the potential to be as "likeable" as Holden Caulfield or Meursault. I think you need to focus on making his inner monologues and observations more interesting.
>and what would be the reason anyone would fall in love with him?
You could just make him a handsome dude, attract some random office Stacy.
You could make him charismatic or charming.
If you want your heroine to be "not like the other girls" then that's another story. It really depends of the direction you want the plot to take.

[Anonymous No.20945329]

>>20945284
This feedback warms my heart thank you. It almost makes up for the heartbreak I am going through.

The cover is for my other short story which I published on amazon. I publish my erotica on there.

This story I take inspiration from resident evil as I am going to have them fight zombies in a haunted mansion and the dad and daughter are gonna fuck a lot between the action.

What can I do do you think to make it more tense?

[Anonymous No.20945353]

>>20945277
I enjoy this type of "introspective" stories/characters and all the bitter/whimsical/tragic societal comments this format of stortytelling creates.
I get what the text is going for, I think it accomplishes it, but if this is all there is to it I can only say it's nothing special; if it's the beginning of a larger story, then I would need to know more about the character saying this and his circumstances to know if I would continue reading or not.

[Anonymous No.20945355]

>>20945318
Damn, thats not what I was going for. I didn't want it to come across as dark. I thought it would be funnier, but their arent any jokes.

He does fall in love with a girl, but I guess i find it hard to think of a good reason she would love him back

[Anonymous No.20945356]

Singular 'they'? Come on, you're better than that.

[Anonymous No.20945359]

>>20945286
>I know people in real life whom

[Anonymous No.20945379]

>>20945329
>I am going to have them fight zombies in a haunted mansion and the dad and daughter are gonna fuck a lot between the action
I'm fucking sold kek

>What can I do do you think to make it more tense?
Well it started really fucking dark as is, I think you should give extra focus to the mental anguish of the protagonist as he confronts his wife's suicide, and maybe you could make emphasis on how "sick" it is that he's having sex with his own daughter and also, instead of making it a "fun" zombie apocalypse, you could make it like a death metal cover and focus on the unrelenting, mind-bending violence of people eating each other alive. I don't know how you plan to write the daughter, but you could also make it look like she's not comfortable with it, straight up rape, even.
It could make for a very dreary and bleak pornographic story.

[Anonymous No.20945398]

How many formatted pages will your book have chaps? I’m aiming for 50-60 for my first book.

[Anonymous No.20945410]

>>20945398
My chapbooks already have near 100 but everything I’ve written is way more. I think I even had a book of short stories and novellas somewhere near 80k words.

[Anonymous No.20945415]

>>20945398
That's it? My first book hot 175 pages and I thought it was too short

[Anonymous No.20945416]

>>20945355
There's many reasons why a girl would fall in love with your MC, but it depends on you what kind of "romance" this story will have.
They could be occasional fuck-buddies who understand each other very well because she's also troubled or shares some of his outlook on life or just thinks he's funny... or they could be the only people who truly love and understand each other in that entire company, despite his and her flaws.
It's basically writing another character, the love interest.

[Anonymous No.20945472]

>>20945277
>I look
>I think
>I imagine
>I think
Too much filtering. It's in first person, so you don't have declare the narrator is thinking. Just state it as fact.

[Anonymous No.20945484]

The story had held us, round the fire, sufficiently breathless, but except the obvious remark that it was gruesome, as, on Christmas Eve in an old house, a strange tale should essentially be, I remember no comment uttered till somebody happened to say that it was the only case he had met in which such a visitation had fallen on a child. The case, I may mention, was that of an apparition in just such an old house as had gathered us for the occasion—an appearance, of a dreadful kind, to a little boy sleeping in the room with his mother and waking her up in the terror of it; waking her not to dissipate his dread and soothe him to sleep again, but to encounter also, herself, before she had succeeded in doing so, the same sight that had shaken him. It was this observation that drew from Douglas—not immediately, but later in the evening—a reply that had the interesting consequence to which I call attention. Someone else told a story not particularly effective, which I saw he was not following. This I took for a sign that he had himself something to produce and that we should only have to wait. We waited in fact till two nights later; but that same evening, before we scattered, he brought out what was in his mind.

[Anonymous No.20945500]

>>20945415
Nah 50-60 pages seems fine. Want to get my feet wet.

[Anonymous No.20945557]

>>20945500
How old are you? This your first writing?

[Anonymous No.20945558]

How do I write with a full time job? This also includes redrafting which I need to be at my computer for.

[Anonymous No.20945560]

>>20943586
>what does the first 2k of your narrative include? Is it entertaining?
i've been sort of writing it out of chronological order, and discovery writing, so it will probably change once i start editing it, but the first 2k is like a prologue-ish monologue from the narrator about the sociopathic mindset of criminals, then a scene where a criminal enforcer beats the shit out of some yuppie guy in the showers at a high end racquetball club. i think it's entertaining but i go back and forth between liking and hating everything i write. the prologue part, though, feels pretty interesting to me. i actually like that part

[Anonymous No.20945568]

>>20945558
You don’t. Most writers wrote when they quit to write full time. Just read biographies of writers to know when to get in the ZONE and go balls deep.

[Anonymous No.20945570]

>>20945472
this is helpful. Only one I did with intent was
>I toss my cigarettes to the side and I think that they’re like old friends
because I felt that if I said
>I toss my cigarettes to the side like old friends
it would be bad writing to then correct the metaphor in the next sentence. adding the I think makes it a specific action that he is then criticizing after the fact, not an idea he's actively spouting and then taking back. the latter would be an eyeroller to me
does this make sense or am I wrong?
>>20945353
idk what it is desu, i just wrote it and thought it turned out better than a lot of things I write, but wanted to see where it could improve and if maybe it had legs

[Anonymous No.20945581]

Alright fellas, bike guy here, is this chapter segment too heavy on the description? The novel so far is relatively minimalistic - punchy dialogue following by staccato descriptive pose. Here I let the descriptions flow a bit more freely. Would this bore you?

Here's the full chapter v
>https://pastebin.com/4D3dypWF

[Anonymous No.20945591]

>>20944982
Just dropping in to encourage you all.
I made it and so can you.
Don't stop believing.

[Anonymous No.20945599]

>>20945581
>Would this bore you?
already has m8

[Anonymous No.20945612]

>>20945359
I said I wasn't good at it.

I actually have to work on my grammar.

[Anonymous No.20945616]

>>20945416

Im curious what you think of the part where develops a relationship with her

[Anonymous No.20945618]

>>20945612
This is why I expect all of you to eventually publish because if I beat you there, something went horribly wrong.

[Anonymous No.20945629]

>>20945207
I remember finding a FOSS one in Github a year or so ago. It looked good, but I was not interesting in writing back then. Let me see if I can find it again.

[Anonymous No.20945677]

>>20945278
>how do I make him likeable?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outline_of_self#Virtues

The easiest way would be to add a character who is worse than him, making him good by comparison. The next easiest way is to make him as shitty as anyone else, but not more, as most people are narcissistic fucks.

[Anonymous No.20945684]

>>20945290
This.

[Anonymous No.20945698]

>>20945677
well thats good, because he is certainly more likeable then the other characters, besides the girl he falls in love with

[Anonymous No.20945727]

>>20945207
>>20945629
The word processor is called Manuskript, but here are some other FOSS, check them out!
https://itsfoss.com/open-source-tools-writers/

[Anonymous No.20945753]

>>20945207
>for when I can't sleep
get out of bed if you can't sleep

[Anonymous No.20945772]

>>20945581
It seemed like it was going to be about gaining weight but then that went nowhere.

[Anonymous No.20945786]

>>20945140
You can’t say the wife’s body is hanging there if you tell it from his POV. You have to have him bump into the foot and all that first and then have him realize holy shit it’s my wife.

[Anonymous No.20945805]

>>20945727
Appreciate the suggestion, but I'm more looking for hardware. Something that won't allow me to get distracted by other applications. I could use pen and paper, but I'm much slower that way than typing
>>20945753
Telling myself stories is how I fall asleep usually, I just want a way to get some of them written down

[Anonymous No.20945815]

>>20945290
You’re not deluded enough to think anyone here is capable of providing constructive criticism, are you? This will come as news to /wg/, but insulting someone and belittling their efforts is NOT constructive criticism.

[Anonymous No.20945824]

>>20945815
You don't get any points for effort retard.

[Anonymous No.20945834]

>>20945805
the reason i say get out of bed is because being too active while in bed trains your body that bed isn't a sleeping place and makes it harder to fall asleep, had issues with that myself.
pen and paper is really all you should need, you only need some rough notes to remember it until morning when you can write it out more concretely at your desk.

[Anonymous No.20945894]

>>20945805
Get a chromebook, write in googledocs in focus mode/internet turned off during the writing sessions itself

[Anonymous No.20945895]

Am I gonna make it, bros...?

[Anonymous No.20945909]

>>20945591
I wish I knew as mich about my region as you do about the nullarbor. Honestly the more I look at some of my prompts I feel like I have an alright grasp on it. Here in the US Bible belt a lot of peoples stories revolve around their religious testimony, but there's also a kind of right-to-work burgerpunk, don't-tread-on-me, "high context" mannerisms, and then of course all of the Faulknerian fury.

[Anonymous No.20945914]

>erotic fiction

[Anonymous No.20945916]

>>20945895
more than I will

[Anonymous No.20945931]

>>20945895
You go ten times my stats in RR and still have zero ratings and reviews. Now I see that's normal, I thought it was only happening to me.

[Anonymous No.20945933]

>>20945207

I keep my tablet near my bed since that’s where I write anyway.

My muse pulls double duty as my sleep paralysis demon so the bastard only comes at night anyway…

[Anonymous No.20945966]

>>20945931
Yeah I don't know why people don't bother with that. It would be nice if people actually care enough to talk about my story.

[Anonymous No.20945968]

>>20945966
It would be nice if you cared enough to write a story that wasn't fucking garbage.

[Anonymous No.20946005]

How do you write a flashback in the third person?

Like, how do you transition from the present scene, to the past scene?

[Anonymous No.20946048]

>>20946005
write date

[Anonymous No.20946064]

>>20946048
The scenario is that one character is telling another character a story about something that happened to them years ago, but I don't want it to be all first person "I" dialogue. I want it to be third person like the rest of the story.

[Anonymous No.20946071]

>>20946005
the same way you establish the time and place of any scene. If you really need some connective tissue, a character can see something that reminds them of the past, or you can just use an isolated image and be clear about how you're winding back time.

[Anonymous No.20946082]

>>20946064
then just change the scene to the flashback, at whatever point you wish, the reader will pick up on it from the context.

[Anonymous No.20946123]

>>20946064
just take the sentence and gradually turn it into narration
>The bats were out and eating insects. A dry summer heat lingered, even in the evening.
>"I haven't been back to the farm since I was kid," Tom said.
>He told Joe that he wasn't welcome back, but that was before Ma died. He said he didn't blame her. He was 16 and made a real mess of things that year. Having been driven off his uncle's lot down the road, he spent the week brooding in the barn on Ma's goodwill.
etc. etc.

[Anonymous No.20946130]

>>20946123
Ah, that got my noggin joggin, Thanks.

[Anonymous No.20946186]

>>20945159
>>20945170
>>20945173
No one is quitting. Get your shit together, /wg/. You will be a writer. You will make it. But first you have to write.
>>20945558
Write in the evenings after work or before work in the morning. I prefer the evenings. 7-10 is a perfect stretch for evening writing.

[Anonymous No.20946187]

Can't get into grammar to save my life. Now I'm just taking sentence structure of Robert Jordan / Miya Kazuki / Frank Herbert and cheating.

Will this work?

You would just need to take a sentence from a popular book and reword it.

[Anonymous No.20946216]

>>20946187
this is a round about way of coming to terms with your brain WORKING while you read. unless you're talking about actually constructing some toolbox of reference sentences to pull from

[Anonymous No.20946240]

>>20946187
just bite the bullet and read a book on grammar

[Anonymous No.20946286]

I have returned from my hiatus. In my absence from 4chan, I studied the craft of Romance Novels. I realized something important. I REALLY NEED MONEY. So I decided to get into the Romance market and write something that will sell like hotcakes and make the big bucks. I have decided to become a commercial writer. I will report back when I sell my first successful book.

[Anonymous No.20946313]

>>20946286
you can just get a job... even working at mcdonalds makes you more money than selling books

[Anonymous No.20946317]

Redpill me on Substack
t. Has spent the past 9 months using his own WordPress website as a platform

[Anonymous No.20946340]

>>20945028
What about valuable feedback like calling you a stupid retard?

[Anonymous No.20946362]

>>20944982
> they don't like women here because a shovel you dig the graves with is a feminine noun

[Anonymous No.20946437]

>>20945914
Fucking keked.

[Anonymous No.20946449]

>>20945914
>a biker finds a motorcycle at an old mechanic shop that has a pussy in the seat

[Anonymous No.20946453]

Any day, yes.. any day now.. any moment now this will all pay off..

Just keep going.. keep going..

[Anonymous No.20946500]

>>20946187
Read The Elements of Style. It's less than a 100 pages and it'll teach you the basic grammar you'll need to write properly. It explains things in a very clear and simple way. Some of the stuff in the book is a little dated, but you'll know what that is upon reading it and you can safely ignore it.

[Anonymous No.20946522]

Can someone review some of my game dialogue?

[Anonymous No.20946548]

>>20946522
Bost a little. What's the game about?

[Anonymous No.20946582]

>>20946548
I'll polish it a bit before posting. Neofeudalist sci fi

[Anonymous No.20946614]

>>20944987
I wrote a novel but the first draft was eviscerated to the point where I gave up on writing. It's been a year and a half since quitting. It's bittersweet but I've finally let go.

[Anonymous No.20946713]

>>20946614
i was always wondering if it's better ot just quit half way, or power through it knowing it's complete shit.

Is it possible to turn shit to gold?

[Anonymous No.20946738]

>>20946713
most people hate their rough drafts
a lot of famous authors revise their stories multiple times. six revisions or more are common

[Anonymous No.20946854]

Any advice for reaching out to agents? Should i call them or email? How to I find them?

[Anonymous No.20946859]

>>20946614
isn't that normal though? your first novel HAS to be shit. and the following few. these aren't supposed to be your 'debut' novel.

[Anonymous No.20946928]

Is writing YA fiction for boys a lost cause? Bottom feeding content and prose wise but sometimes you just want to bang out a quick thing to get something done.

[Anonymous No.20946935]

>>20946928
Writing YA and books for kids is probably the most profitable genre, wouldn't you say

[Anonymous No.20946950]

>>20946928
Post your work, I wanna write YA stuff too.

[Anonymous No.20946959]

>>20946935
For boys though? I want to do like a sci-fi capeshit book. Feels marketable but also feels like a waste of time since all you hear about is books for boys not being accepted no matter the agent.

>>20946950
Don’t really have any written at the moment.

[Anonymous No.20946966]

>>20946959
Just make sure to have a quirky trans best friend and your good

[Anonymous No.20946984]

>>20946966
Yeah see absolutely not lol. Which makes the entire idea cancer to any agent.

[Anonymous No.20946994]

>>20946959
Have you written anything at all?

[Anonymous No.20947006]

>>20946984
OK make an alien character who is disguised as a woman which doubles as an analogy for the trans struggle to act their biological gender

[Anonymous No.20947033]

>>20944982
miniMAG issue09

submissions: [e-mail]

full issues: minimag.space

[Anonymous No.20947040]

>>20946994
Just the plot and beats nothing too significant for it. I’ll share some once I get it down.

[Anonymous No.20947060]

>>20947033
>>20945072
there are several good short stories lurking in here. like you said, it's the first thing you've written, learning which details are worth sharing is part of the process

[Anonymous No.20947080]

>>20946186
This. If F Gardner can make it then we all can. Pic rel. Goodreads promotes his books now. Check if you don’t believe me.

[Anonymous No.20947085]

>>20947060
>>20945140
you bust your nut too early in telling the readers it was his wife

[Anonymous No.20947093]

>>20947080
>Every fucking horror title lists Gardner’s books as the top suggestions.

Kek. Amazing.

[Anonymous No.20947099]

>>20947080
I don’t understand how or why this is happening. But this is the single biggest thing this board has ever accomplished.

[Anonymous No.20947101]

>>20946187
Everybody learns grammar when they're toddlers. Don't worry about it. Write what sounds good.
>>20946500
Elements of Style is a style guide. It says nothing about grammar.
https://www.chronicle.com/article/50-years-of-stupid-grammar-advice/

[Anonymous No.20947108]

>>20947080
I heard about this in the meta thread. I still can’t believe it.

[Anonymous No.20947120]

Anime-kino is back on the menu, boys.
https://pastebin.com/i5Z9e4eh

I want to write a romantic, self-insertish story with capeshit/anime elements (superpowers and shit). It aims to be "fast and pretty", as in, nothing that will wrinkle your brain, but will entertain.
Right now I envisioned it as a Madoka fanfiction because I wanted it to get attention faster and because I was feeling really insecure.
But I'm feeling really ambitious now. I could just scrap the fanfiction angle altogether and literally call it "My girlfriend is a magical girl" or something in your face like that and publish it on RoyalRoad, although I'm not sure if it would get the same amount of attention.

What can I do to make this more interesting? Or less shit, at least. One more revision before I let the people over at fanfiction.net decide if it's good or not.

[Anonymous No.20947124]

>>20947085
>>20945581
made me chuckle

the underlying theme that despite this long journey the world continues sliding into depravity (narrator getting fatter, people cheering on a fight, woman pissing in public) came through well

[Anonymous No.20947130]

>>20947124
does anyone here read chinese? this issue is particularly weird because this poem in in Traditional where the later rant/poem is in Simplified

[Anonymous No.20947140]

>>20947130

[Anonymous No.20947143]

>>20947140
back issues @ minimag.space

[Anonymous No.20947154]

>>20947143
submit to [e-mail]

currently working on issues with these themes:
-bleeding out
-absurdity
-tyrants
-lust
-searching

unrelated stuff welcome but it may be a month before it's published

[Anonymous No.20947164]

>>20947154
>>20946614
i basically rewrote my first novel from scratch. less than 10% similarity to the first draft (I ran them both through a plagiarism checker in an autistic waste of money).

what I'm saying is: don't give up yet

[Anonymous No.20947167]

>>20947164

[Anonymous No.20947171]

>>20947167

[Anonymous No.20947195]

>>20947171
[e-mail]
minimag.space

>>20947120
considering how clearly you know what you're going for you're on the right track

those first two-three paragraphs aren't there yet. the narrator sounds like a toddler.

after that it evened out and got into a pleasant rhythm

[Anonymous No.20947214]

>>20945140
>carrying only his M18 side pistol
M18 wasn't adopted yet in 2005. They still used some version of a M9 Baretta.

[Anonymous No.20947294]

>>20946984
It really fucking isn't. I really don't know what it is with you people and saying this shit.
Is it just an excuse you're using not to try? There's plenty of YA even for girls that doesn't have that shit that sells decently.

[Anonymous No.20947356]

>>20947294
I write plenty, just deciding if I should undertake this specific venture. You hear that shit all the time though.

But I suppose if I have the idea and it feels worthwhile I might as well do it, if only to practice writing for a different audience.

[Anonymous No.20947360]

>>20947356
>You hear that shit all the time though.
At this point I genuinely think it's from people here and the loudest voices on Twitter whose book I don't see my younger siblings and their lot reading.

[Anonymous No.20947373]

>>20947360
It’s also from looking at charts and new releases. Books of all reading levels are geared mostly toward women.

[Anonymous No.20947389]

how do I stop losing the will to write every time I notice how shitty my writing is?

[Anonymous No.20947401]

>>20947389
Write shorter things and edit them multiple times until you stop feeling that way.

[Anonymous No.20947403]

>>20946614
Why are you still here?

[Anonymous No.20947410]

I'm looking to write a middle grade boys fantasy series with each book being about as long as a Goosebumps book. I want to portray the protagonist as as boy that learns traditionally manly traits (honesty, self-reliance, selflessness, etc) but am struggling with a initial conflict. Was thinking the protag would need to track down an ingredient for a cure to a venomous snake bite inflicted on his friend during a trip the protagonist set up. Thoughts?

[Anonymous No.20947422]

>>20947410
Good, write it.

[Anonymous No.20947434]

>>20947389
Ignore that feeling and keep writing. Your first draft will always be shit. That's what rewrites are for.
Also remember, you likely write better than I do and I finished an extra 2K words today.

[Anonymous No.20947439]

>>20947410
I’d say it’s a bit of an overly proactive set up for a protag that needs to undergo maturing and growth.

[Anonymous No.20947452]

>>20947389
If you're capable of recognizing it's shitty, you've got a leg up on most starting writers. The first step is done! Now figure out why it's shitty and how to fix it.

[Anonymous No.20947460]

>>20947439
Well it's an impromptu hunt the protag convinces his friend to join him on. Protag is trying impress his father, who is about to leave on a big hunting trip of his own.

[Anonymous No.20947470]

>>20947373
That's far more far, but that has more to do with sheer market share than not wanting to include a gay character which is what I see bitched about here so often.
But I would say the market is there. It's just older and largely moved online.

[Anonymous No.20947479]

Will you use AI to help you write, Anon-kun?

[Anonymous No.20947494]

I gave up trying to write something readable. Writing obtuse schizo word salad with metaphors vaguely resembling a plot is much more fun.

[Anonymous No.20947509]

Does anyone else just do this as a hobby?

[Anonymous No.20947516]

>>20947494
Based, me too. Sometimes I also just make up aphorisms and list them.

[Anonymous No.20947536]

I want to write a book that features internet culture, specifically where it pertains to easy access to irl violence. So Liveleak, /gif/, all the now defunct gore sites, that sort of thing. I'd probably just invent my own versions of these sites but you get what I mean.
How do I do this in a way that isn't cringe, dated and "how do you do fellow kids" tier?

[Anonymous No.20947562]

>>20947536
Could make it be about a cold case murder, or a snuff film. Ever seen 8mm starring Nicolas Cage? Something like that but with a gore site

[Anonymous No.20947564]

>>20947479
Sudo is amazing but super expensive.

Also keep in mind the trial doesn't give you access to the real model.

[Anonymous No.20947587]

>>20947080
Someone explain. How did Gardner do this? Or is this just the result of Call of the Crocodile getting memed so hard? I’m very confused. I checked Goodreads and I’m seeing the same

[Anonymous No.20947591]

>>20947587
Either entirely accidental and retarded meme magic as you said. Or F Gardner really is some kind of a genius and we’ll never know. It can’t be ads because Gardner’s books are appearing under the regular recommendations.

[Anonymous No.20947708]

What's wrong with fantasy stories?

[Anonymous No.20947721]

>>20947708
All those horses and not nearly enough cock.

[Anonymous No.20947747]

What is YA Fantasy? And New Adult Fantasy?

[Anonymous No.20947749]

>editing again instead of finishing the story

[Anonymous No.20947758]

The grandfather clock
needs mending: it's crooked ticking
sets family astray

[Anonymous No.20947870]

>>20945966
>>20945931
If it makes you feel any better nobody actually talks about my story either.

[Anonymous No.20947910]

>>20947721
it's fantasy, you could have the best of both world but you decided to only go with one
>imagine centaurs are also existing in the same world, and they#re just confused when you call them half-horse, because horses don't exist in the setting

[Anonymous No.20947933]

>>20947870
RATIO'D

[Anonymous No.20947953]

>>20947870
Lucky. But also
>Light mode

[Anonymous No.20947957]

>>20947870
is yours the one with all the beastmen?

[Anonymous No.20947984]

>>20947953
Can't see shit in dark mode.
>>20947957
No.

[Anonymous No.20948016]

I'm going to start posting some unfinished fragments of short stories I've written. The ones with good feedback, I'll try to continue.
https://pastebin.com/kSbe0fz1

[Anonymous No.20948101]

1.1k today.
I found the voice i was booking for.
We are all gonna make it!

[Anonymous No.20948109]

>>20947591
>this must be a conspiracy

Not a day goes by where that fucking crocodile book isn’t mentioned here. Is it that hard to conceive that people are reading it? Not everything is a conspiracy with your meme author boogieman pulling the strings. F Gardner wrote a book. It became semi popular. And that’s why Goodreads pushes it. It’s just their algorithm and nobody is “behind” anything.

[Anonymous No.20948140]

>>20948109
Meme author? F. Gardner? Don’t be so flip with the name of the greatest living author who ever lived.

[Anonymous No.20948151]

>>20947870
I haven't uploaded in a while so it's slow going on my side of things.

[Anonymous No.20948162]

/wg/ laws

1. Nobody here writes
2. Every general will eventually devolve into a discussion about F Gardner.
3. We are all gonna make it.

[Anonymous No.20948170]

>>20948162
This but unironically.

[Anonymous No.20948175]

>>20944982
Add me to author pastebin blease.
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/57441/the-elevation-chronicles-grimdanklit-rpgfeels

>Being this gatekept by an anon who likely has already auto-erotically asphyxiated is humiliating.

[Anonymous No.20948177]

>>20948151
isn't it (or when is it) important to pump chapters out for these?

[Anonymous No.20948309]

>>20948177
It's good to be consistent. At least more than me. I'm just sort of sending out a chapter when I feel like it.

[Anonymous No.20948341]

>>20947870
>2,485 pages
What the fuck is with these extreme page and word counts I keep seeing on that website. Shit is absurd.

[Anonymous No.20948347]

One thing video game light novels have super easy is establishing threat. You have a villain pop up and the characters just say, "oh shit this guy is level 8 and we're just 3!" and everyone shits their pants.

In a setting without power levels you have to go through all these indirect hoops like having the villain defeat a bunch of characters who have been established as powerful, or slowly building his reputation through rumors and shit. It takes a lot of time and effort. What other methods do you know to tell the reader that this character is a big deal? You know, so that the protagonist's eventual victory wouldn't seem like just another day in the office

[Anonymous No.20948354]

>>20948341
Can you imagine this, some people, they just write, man

[Anonymous No.20948362]

>>20948354
In multiple books.
Some of the premises, while I can see them being series, are made up of page counts that large and are all of one arc.

[Anonymous No.20948378]

>>20948362
Those who get popular are pressured to churn out chapters where literally nothing happens just to maintain the readerbase and patreon income, and they've been at it for many, many years.

I'm not popular and I didn't mean to write a long series, but the story just developed that way.

[Anonymous No.20948389]

>>20948378
Okay. So think old pulp magazine series but cranked up to the level of daily comic strips.
That actually sounds kind of like a nightmare to maintain. Explains all the ones that seem to go on hiatus.

[Anonymous No.20948425]

>>20948389
Most burn out before long but some authors consistently put out over 200k words per month. I'm sure the whole chink family in three generations is pitching in

[Anonymous No.20948432]

>>20948347

The tried and tested method of slowly escalating the threat.

For instance here’s how my novel is structured.

>(prologue) the characters don’t have any adversary
>(act 1) the characters face just a duo of antagonists and loose one person to them.
>(act 2) the characters fight an army and almost get wiped if not for another army showing up to rescue them.
>(act 3.1) the characters face an enemy that they are no match for, they sneak past.
>(act 3.2) one of the characters receives a power boost after a plot twist, they’re still all barely alive after the fact.

Basically invisible levels, have the adversary demonstrate their power in action and escalate the threat to keep the stakes high.

[Anonymous No.20948448]

>>20946548

Don’t engage with it. This is a weird mold that has grown on /wg/. It might have toxic spores that you’ll take to other boards.

[Anonymous No.20948454]

>>20947479

No. If I can’t say something by myself then I won’t say it at all.

[Anonymous No.20948464]

>>20947479
>You used up all the words for your free trial
Jesus fuck, if I have to PAY to get bullshit, I'd at least pay a person, not a toaster

[Anonymous No.20948535]

>>20948341
https://wanderinginn.neocities.org/statistics.html

[Anonymous No.20948556]

>>20947536
Extreme streaming. In the quest for viewers, people start posting self mutilation and suicides.

I would recommend you watch the movie Man Bites Dog.

[Anonymous No.20948587]

About 40,000 words into my first draft. It's a fantasy novel set in a late medieval/renaissance world where the main character is boy who becomes apprenticed to a wizard. The first third of the story is basically a bildungsroman as he goes from being a boy from essentially the backwater of his country to a studied and learned wizard. The rest of the book is him chasing down the apprentice who killed his master. Does this sound like a good plot for an adult fantasy book?

[Anonymous No.20948593]

>>20947536
Maybe write it like a diary or an modern epistolary novel (using emails or texts instead of letters)

[Anonymous No.20948601]

>>20948587
It sounds like the plot for a thousand other YA fantasy books. I hope you at least had fun writing it because it's unlikely that anyone is going to read it or that it's going to make you money. I honestly find the obsolesce of literature freeing. When you know no one is going to give a shit about your writing, you can write whatever you want.

[Anonymous No.20948639]

>>20948016
>>20948016
Composite bows are held together with glue. One five hundred years old would probably not be safe to use.

Why does a guy named after an Indian chess player use Turkish stuff?

The sample is well written, but the subject, boring guy becomes killer, does not interest me.

[Anonymous No.20948647]

>>20948639
Thanks for the pedantic nitpicking.

[Anonymous No.20948658]

>>20948647
Think of it as fact checking.

[Anonymous No.20948674]

>>20948658
The first one is valid and I'll change it but the rest is just retarded. Why did you even read it (and then comment) if it didn't interest you? Faggot.

[Anonymous No.20948719]

>>20948601
Do you have any suggestions for making it less YA-ish? Tropes to avoid, etc.

[Anonymous No.20948749]

>>20948719
I mean you've already written 40k words. I doubt anything I say is going change the trajectory of what you already have. And adults read YA fantasy anyway, so what does it matter? (look at Rothfuss for Christ's sake). I mean the premise itself is inherently YA right? It's about a main character growing up to avenge his father-figure on his schoolboy rival. Literally Kung-Fu movie tier. To make it adult means using an adult perspective, using irony, or parody or satire. Look at Dickens' bildungsromans (he has like five of them) they're still "adult" novels because he usually wrote them from the perspective of an adult looking retrospectively at his or her past. That loads all of the childhood scenes with irony. Just growing up is YA. Reflection is adult. Note that Rothfuss seemingly tried to do the same thing but ends up going in the complete opposite direction, creating nothing but cringe. It's a delicate game and probably not even worth it.

[Anonymous No.20948813]

>>20948674
You asked for feedback. I gave it.
If you're going to post stuff online, you should prepare yourself for a lot worse than that.

[Anonymous No.20948832]

>>20948749
>adults read YA
Reminds me that I looked on MSWL and under paranormal almost all of it is
>paranorm romcom?
>paranorm YA???
Its nice to know what theyre asking for but I've slightly less nauseating lists of interests from editors and agents on landing pages.

[Anonymous No.20948846]

>>20948813
Yeah, fair enough. I think I'm just sleep deprived. Thanks for reading, mate, even if it didn't interest you.

[Anonymous No.20948857]

I'm writing a fantasy novel. One of the characters ends up on another isle (captured by pirates and they dock) where she discovers something vital to the plot advancing but I can't think how to get her back to where she came from for the story to finish. I thought about her sneaking back onto the boat but how does she know where the pirates are going next? How do I resolve this???

[Anonymous No.20948910]

>>20948601
>>20948749
>this is YA, that is YA!
His plot isn't necessarily YA depending on how it is written - you are ass-uming there is no reflection, the tone, etc. Having a child/teenage POV does not make a storey YA. You really need a writing sample to say any of this, so while you may be right just keep it in your pants.

>>20948719
>>20948587
>Tropes to avoid, etc.
Never use or think of the word 'tropes' again. Plot sounds fine although very classic thematically (reminds me of Wizard of Earthsea), if you are targeting older readers it wouldn't hurt to define what may differentiate it from some of the apprentice wizard books they read before.

[Anonymous No.20948943]

>>20948910
OK, so that would mean that the majority (or even a significant minority) of fantasy novels that have child povs and are about a child growing up are adult fiction right? I'm sure you can name at least three right? Faggot.

[Anonymous No.20948950]

>>20948639
Damn bro, sauce?

[Anonymous No.20948963]

>>20948587
Honestly that's a very generic sounding plot unless it gets more complicated. You gave such a barebones overview it's hard to find the interest in there so hard to say.

[Anonymous No.20948976]

>>20948857
Maybe she becomes friends with the pirates.

[Anonymous No.20948985]

>>20948857
There a million ways to do this. It depends on the constraints set by your story. Maybe she befriends one of the pirates. Maybe there's a talking parrot that knows where the pirates are going. Maybe she overhears where they're planning go next before she leaves. Maybe she steals a map from them and figures out their course using logic. Maybe she planted a magical tracker on the ship. etc. etc.

[Anonymous No.20948991]

>>20948857
She becomes a concubine to the pirates and after bearing them many children, is finally thrown back out into the waves to die after she becomes too old to bear anymore, but is saved by a whale that returns her to safety.

[Anonymous No.20949051]

>>20948963
After he flees the magic academy, he runs into a girl who has been having dreams about him, and who believes he is the reincarnation of their god in mortal form, so she accompanies him as they chase after the rival. They head east, where they are caught in a city during a siege between the Empire (sort of a cross between the Holy Roman Empire, England, and Renaissance Italy). After that, they are captured by a group of soldiers from the opposite side, (based on Medieval France and Arthurian Britain) and held in the dungeons until they are released, becoming friends with the Count and Countess where they are staying. There's a few other things which happen, but that's the basic plot.

[Anonymous No.20949057]

>>20948910
Thanks for the advice. I'll have to check out Earthsea.

[Anonymous No.20949149]

>>20946317
Re:substank
It is a good way to respond to what's already there and a good way to take s shitter-thought and develop it into an essay. People will akshully read your essay on substank. Hold off on the monetize button until you build it up.
You can also do podcasting on there.

Matter of fact, I'm working on my initial substank essays and podcasts today.

[Anonymous No.20949156]

>>20946854
I heard a decent way is to find books or authors you like and try and call their agents. Supposedly there are people whose job it is to find new manuscripts.
GL.

[Anonymous No.20949158]

>>20948943
>OK, so that would mean that the majority (or even a significant minority) of fantasy novels that have child povs and are about a child growing up are adult fiction right?
Not at all my retarded friend. Reread what I wrote very slowly - say it out loud so what I actually said can be retained. Young protagonist does not necessarily mean it is YA (as vague as that marketing term is), but yes most YA does have young protagonists.

>I'm sure you can name at least three right? Faggot.
Cute. Wizard of Earthsea and first Book of the New Sun both have the main character growing up the first third of the book or so just like that anon does. Assassin's Apprentice has a young protagonist.

I look forward to your well reasoned consideration and completely not doubling down retarded response.

[Anonymous No.20949159]

>>20946317
What's your WordPress?

[Anonymous No.20949167]

My fantasy story is about incest.

[Anonymous No.20949168]

>>20945277
Anon, I reckon if you format this sample of yours like the ones linked below you'll get more anons to read it. I simply can't read the sample you shared because I'm fonefagging and most readers will be too.
>>20947143
>>20947140

[Anonymous No.20949173]

>>20949167
George RR Martin?

[Anonymous No.20949181]

>>20947389
Try to add humor to it. The old stuff I wrote used to be cringe, but then I realized it must be fun. Now I have have stuff that makes me laugh. If it makes me laugh upon rereading, then I think it ought to be classified as good.

[Anonymous No.20949221]

>>20949158
lol earthsea is classified under ya fiction on amazon and goodreads. same with assassin's apprentice. and iirc severian is already an adult at the beginning of the book, early twenties or late teens.

[Anonymous No.20949241]

>>20949149
I've got a website where I self publish flash fictions or short stories and an occasional "my thoughts" article or blog. I suppose the blogs could double as essays but they're rarely works I try to structure like my flash fictions. If I monetize, do they go up behind a pay wall?
>>20949159
It's just my name as a website link. I'm using it as a means to share stories and try to build a following. My growth hasn't been good this year, but I'm being consistent with my work.

[Anonymous No.20949257]

>>20949241
>If I monetize, do they go up behind a pay wall?
Yeah, but you need to have a Stripe account. There are a lot of paypigs on substack but you need to make things moderately intellectual. I am not yet aware of any fantasy/fiction niches on there, could be wrong though, I don't go looking for it.
>inb4 anon reeeeeees about "marketing" shitting up the thread.

[Anonymous No.20949267]

>>20949241
>My growth hasn't been good this year, but I'm being consistent with my work.
based. i admire your persistence. i started a wordpress myself today and i already feel like i'm ngmi.

[Anonymous No.20949305]

>>20949241
i feel like ive grown a lot when it comes to awareness of what my story is accomplishing but still kind of inconsistent. Ive had lucid moments with extremely product weekends, but usually it is 500 to 1000 words a day.
My main goal is to bare minimum finish my manuscript this year and move on to the next because I have to learn to finish a story. I think i can realistically finish by November.

[Anonymous No.20949328]

Just finished one of the last chapters of my first draft urban fantasy novel. This chapter was supposed to answer most, but not all, of the questions that had been unanswered up until this point. I had fun writing it, since it expands upon the underlying world building I had done, but when I asked my parents for feedback they said it was too lengthy and didn't add to the story. It was tough feedback to hear, but I know they're probably right.

Now I just need to decide if I want to fix this individual chapter before finishing the first draft, or just write the last couple first draft chapters and come back to this in the second draft.

[Anonymous No.20949380]

>>20949221
The Adventures of Huckleberry Fucking Finn are categorized as YA on goodreads. Novels that predate the "YA" marketing jargon by decades/weren't written to fit it make no sense under that label.

[Anonymous No.20949386]

>>20948976
Entering YA territory here
>>20948985
I mean these all sound like quite a stretch. It's fantasy but it's not about to have magical maps and sapient parrots but thanks for the prompts
>>20948991

[Anonymous No.20949388]

>>20949380
and? what's your point? huck finn IS ya, it's meant for young adults to read. that's why english teachers peddle it in middle school and high school

[Anonymous No.20949432]

>>20948857
She defeats the captain of the ship in a fight to the death and she becomes captain. She sails back home. When she enters the harbor, she's standing on the prow of the ship, the wind in her hair.

[Anonymous No.20949436]

Should I write 3rd person or 1st person for this adventure type book I wanna write

[Anonymous No.20949459]

>>20949436
1st person is not easy to maintain for the length of a novel. i'd go with the tried and true close 3rd person

[Anonymous No.20949461]

>>20949388
Can you please define YA for the class?

[Anonymous No.20949488]

>>20947410
Make sure to add an older female that adores him and teaches him the sexy. I always like me some oneshota.

[Anonymous No.20949500]

>>20947460
>Protag is trying to impress his father
That sounds very clichéd to me. I do not know about others, but I do not remember wanting to impress that retarded bastard I have as procreator, nor do I remember my friends ever mentioning it. I literally see this shit of wanting to impress parents only in media: does it really happen in real life?

[Anonymous No.20949529]

>>20949500
it does if you had a good father.

[Anonymous No.20949533]

>>20949461
it's there in that post
>it's meant for young adults to read
stop pretending to be retarded.

[Anonymous No.20949535]

>>20949461
ages 12 - 18

seems like a pretty broad range. 18 year olds would like to see some sex.

[Anonymous No.20949556]

>>20949535
This. See >>20949488

[Anonymous No.20949565]

>>20949173
Highly influenced, but incest is a good thing this time.

[Anonymous No.20949581]

GETH SNIPER PLATFORMS GOT ME BAD!

I EVIDENTLY DIDN'T LIKE THE MILKSHAKES

NO SPOTTERS I SUPPOSE, ANYWAY

"MAX VAXXED BULGAR CHUD!''!

"Spaghetti action"????

ANY SQUEEZE?!!

AW, I HATE IT WHEN THAT HAPPENS!

IS HE PLAYING METRO?!

"NO FUMBLES"¿!!!?

WHERE WAS THE TRAMPOLINE???

24/7/365.25, PRESUMABLY!

IS HE FUCKING INVISIBLE!?!?

WHAT.T.F. WAS HE LOOKING AT????

"BILLY-RAY PHLEGMATIC"

AUTOMATIC?????!

IS HE USING THE WI-FI??????

A

O...!

[Anonymous No.20949594]

>>20949488
>buxom relatives and friends of relatives constantly shoving tits in my face when I under 10 and talking with the dumb clown voice to me, so often that I dreaded any kind of company because I was practically assaulted once a month
Dont know what you got til it's gone.

[Anonymous No.20949650]

>>20949535
>ages 12 - 18
also 18+ for women

[Anonymous No.20949660]

>>20947460
>>20949529
They are very rare: most people who procreate are nothing but animals acting entirely on instinct. Young boys will most likely not relate.
Besides, having no good role model might motivate the character to be better. I am better than my father, not because he was good and I wanted to impress him, but because I did not want to be anything like that lowly beast; I recognized his vices, I decided to try not to be as vicious and become virtuous to the best of my abilities.

>>20949594
Relate hard. It hurts.

[Anonymous No.20949662]

>>20949581
Congratulations, you're the next F. Gardner.

[Anonymous No.20949668]

I'm going to add a scene with kids going camping in the woods on a winter night and telling each other ghost stories only one of them has had psychic visions and so hells them about The Hunter, The Green Man and Oannes.
Shit's gonna be so cash

[Anonymous No.20949673]

>>20949668
Congratulations, you're the next F. Gardner.

[Anonymous No.20949676]

>>20949660
Obviously you should strive to be better than your parents (that's probably what they want as well, if they're not mentally ill) but don't be so quick to meter judgement. I mean how much do you know of your father's childhood? Maybe it was even more fucked up then your own.

[Anonymous No.20949684]

>>20949673
I doubt it, I'm writing serious literary fiction and will only accept trad pub.

[Anonymous No.20949686]

>>20949533
>>it's meant for young adults to read
Okay so the vast majority of books written since the dawn of man. Very helpful category.

>>20949535
>seems like a pretty broad range. 18 year olds would like to see some sex.
That's my point, it's a retarded marketing bucket that in actuality only applies to a very narrow band of angsty fiction.

The distinction I'm getting at is there is "YA" as the fad since Hunger Games that seems to be slowly dying now, and seperately there is fiction of all genres that can appeal to young adults but not to the exlusion of other groups. And what is next by this logice will we get old adult fiction? Where is my 30-58 year old "Mortgage Adult" fiction category?

[Anonymous No.20949701]

>>20949684
>I'm writing serious literary fiction
I'm sure F. Gardner feels the same way.
>and will only accept trad pub
Well at least no one will have read it.

[Anonymous No.20949712]

>>20949701
My mom will...

[Anonymous No.20949726]

>>20949676
Enough to know he is as much a piece of shit as his father was, yet decided to be even worse. His childhood was better than mine: his father was relatively wealthy, but he squandered all the money, raising me poor and starving; he had a good social life growing up, going out and making friends and spending good time, but he decided to be a controlling motherfucker who kept me locked in a room for years with basically no interactions. And there are other things, too.

>that's probably what they want as well
Narcissism and ignorance is what I see most often: either they want you to be carbon copies of them, or they do not even know what good is and honestly do not really care.
>if they're not mentally ill
Therein lies the rub...

[Anonymous No.20949730]

>>20949712
Poor old bitch. I'm sure she'll tell you how very proud she is of her son in order to mask her deep seated disappointment and concerns about your mental health.

[Anonymous No.20949737]

>>20949726
Yeah having mentally ill parents is an absolute bitch. My condolences and I hope you can escape the cycle with your own kid (if you have one).

[Anonymous No.20949741]

>>20949730
What, because I know about Mesopotamian mythological archetypes?

[Anonymous No.20949748]

>>20949737
Thank you for your sympathy. Antinatalism for the win.

[Anonymous No.20949763]

>>20949741
No, because you're larping like you do.

[Anonymous No.20949764]

NO HELMETS NO INVIS.

[Anonymous No.20949785]

>>20949763

[Anonymous No.20949797]

>>20949785
Bye Felicia.

[Anonymous No.20949802]

These threads are worse than ever.

[Anonymous No.20949819]

>>20949802
How did it get so bad?

[Anonymous No.20949828]

>>20949819
Me.

[Anonymous No.20949839]

Finally a good thread.

[Anonymous No.20949848]

Is there a good spot to set up to write commission porn/fanfiction? I have no shame, and I have to assume there's a market for this.

[Anonymous No.20949856]

>>20949848
Post your work and I'll tell you if you have a shot or not.

[Anonymous No.20949860]

[Anonymous No.20949904]

What defines literature vs just simple fiction. If i write a spy novel, what does it take for it to be considered literature ?

[Anonymous No.20949929]

>>20949904
The threshold for "literature" is that your work contributes positively to the state of the art.

[Anonymous No.20949969]

>>20949904
Good prose. That's literally it.

[Anonymous No.20949976]

test

[Anonymous No.20950062]

So I actually had some success with my writing last year and ended up getting 2 short stories published. The first was just in an online collection, but the second is coming out next month in an actual decent literary journal that features real writers.

However, the combination of that success with starting a new corporate job crippled me a bit creatively. I’m always terrified that what I get on the page will be awful. How do I get over this and just shit out words I can polish later?

[Anonymous No.20950065]

>>20949976
Your new IP isn't banned janny. Is it going to be Gardnerposting or Disco Elysium today?

[Anonymous No.20950066]

>>20950062
Post your work.
I wanna see what a published author writes.

[Anonymous No.20950098]

>>20950066
Won’t be to everyone’s taste. This is from the online one, which I felt was weaker than the other story I wrote - I was going for a southern gothic.

Any advice on overcoming that perfectionism?

[Anonymous No.20950134]

anyone have experience with "kindle vella?"

[Anonymous No.20950135]

>>20950098
Just link to the entire thing bro.
It looks fine, but I need to see how the whole thing develops.

[Anonymous No.20950147]

>>20944982
This is my first time really writing and my first time overall on /lit/. Usually an /out/ and /fit/ lurker. What can I do to improve? Critique me.

[Anonymous No.20950154]

>>20950147
You should read the essay by Palaniuk about "submerging the I"

[Anonymous No.20950155]

>>20950147
Looks good to me. What's it going to be about?

[Anonymous No.20950158]

>>20949785
bassed froggo

[Anonymous No.20950182]

>>20950154
Will do. Thank you.
>>20950155
Really I'm writing it out of nostalgia almost. I lived in a small industrial town as a kid and always found myself escaping my reality in the forest. I want to do something along the lines of that but introduce a character (similar to Glasha from Come and See?) and cause her death at the indirect hands of the main character right as they create a connection. Also want to feature a homeless type as almost like a Greek Fate warning the boy of his path, although the boy will brush it off always as a drunkard's revelations.

[Anonymous No.20950191]

>>20950135
I’m not really here to shill my stuff, just keen to hear of other writers here have struggled with perfectionism-based block and how they’ve dealt with it

[Anonymous No.20950204]

>>20950191
just power through to the end
most authors have 6 revisions or more
just fix it on the next revision

[Anonymous No.20950208]

>>20949904
Don’t worry about it. Everything surrounding that question is just a rehash of the literary fiction vs genre fiction autisms.
I still remember back during the Waldun threads of last year there was this fatty neckbeard who did a review of L’academie. Fatty neckbeard brought up how he really wanted to like Waldun because he had read Ulysses in the exact same way he did. That “correct” way of reading was to never stop to understand each sentence. If you failed to understand the meaning of a sentence, just keep going. Push through. Turn off your brain and absorb what you can. Maybe you’ll get the next one.
That’s when it occurred to me, these people were not there for a story. They were not there to be entertained. They were reading Joyce for the sole purpose of being able to tell others that they’ve read Joyce.
I guess the question you should being asking yourself instead is “100 years from now, will I care if some overweight anglo and a twinky chinky in a twill suit use my book to posture about their literary prowess?”. If the answer is no just write your 007 homage in the most entertaining way possible.

[Anonymous No.20950293]

Anons, I do not use 4chan much, so I have a question: can some 4channers see what country my IP is from? When I see screenshots of 4chan on other websites, the posts often have little flags on them (e.g., USA, Spain, Brasil, etc.), but I have never seen them myself when lurking or posting.

[Anonymous No.20950301]

>>20950293
some believe 4chan is a honeypot ran by governmental entities, and that everything you do is monitored. that they know your ip is a given

[Anonymous No.20950307]

anyone have a mnemonic for "past" versus "passed?"

[Anonymous No.20950313]

It's another "depression makes me question my ability and stops me from writing anything" episode

[Anonymous No.20950315]

>>20950301
That would not surprise me, honestly. But I am asking about other users: can other users know?

[Anonymous No.20950321]

>>20950293
Some boards have flags for board culture reasons; this one does not.

[Anonymous No.20950336]

>>20950293
That’s because you’re likely seeing /pol/ screenshots lol

Only two I know of are /sp/ and /pol/

[Anonymous No.20950395]

>>20950321
>>20950336
Ah I see. Thank you!

[Anonymous No.20950461]

>>20950301
Everything everywhere you do on the internet is monitored by google and Facebook at minimum and of course they share their data with the government

[Anonymous No.20950547]

Trying to write out a very short and concise blurb, what sounds better to convey this idea of MC being poweless?


>He will soon discover what it means to love what you cannot protect
>He will soon discover what it means to love what death can touch.

[Anonymous No.20950652]

Cranking out a short story to submit to an anthology. Unfortunately, the guy running it didn't give me a word count target so my pacing might be screwed up.


The junk yard hound came trotting over to Mike, crooked tail wagging. The big, brown beast plopped his ass down in front of him, sweeping the dirt and panting. Mike pocketed his notebook and bent down to rub the dog’s head, his hands getting slimed up with hose-water drool. The dog didn’t mind his head being used as a towel. The water probably felt good on him, given the August heat. The stacks of recovered cars had a way of reflecting heat such that even weeds struggled to sprout.
“How are you doing, Booey? Any new cars here? Nice and smelly ones, most likely.”
Booey nuzzled his head back and licked the sweat off Mike’s forearms. Then he whimpered and scooted closer.
“What’s up with that?”
The door to the office swung open, and Joe Forrest squeezed out, managing to not rip one of his shirt buttons on the frame. “Mike! I thought that was you. Just the man I need. Booey, stop being a baby. You’re supposed to be protecting this place.”
“Good morning, Mr. Forrest. I was hoping you had gotten a mid-size in recently. The stator in my torque converter has blown out and I need to get my hands on a replacement. That thing’s a bit outside my--”
Mr. Forrest shook his head and whipped out a handkerchief from his pocket. “Sorry, Mike, but you know I’d have called you if an ICE had shown up. All I get are electric husks.”
[...]

[Anonymous No.20950780]

>>20950395
That said, we still know you're a filthy ESL from your shitty writing so don't even bother.

[Anonymous No.20950793]

Our heads will be frozen together on that lake forever, won't they?

[Anonymous No.20950868]

Do you get turned off by too IRL-similar maps? I only later realized that this was basically europe, anatolia, the levant and egypt. I puzzled it together out of several randomly generated maps

[Anonymous No.20950908]

>>20950868
Those river and mountain placements as well as desert to mountain rainshadow placement is ticking my autism.

Never layout a map again if you can’t get the basics correct.

[Anonymous No.20950919]

>>20948857
That man should have his license permanently revoked at the very least

[Anonymous No.20950971]

at what point is it okay to give up on / scrap a project? I am around 67k into my crime thriller and i am genuinely becoming depressed trying to push through this first draft. I hate writing it and I feel a sense of dread before i start each time. After i finish a writing session, I feel depressed and depleted. I have been discovery writing the whole thing. When I first started it I had fun writing individual scenes that were only loosely related. But now that I am trying to make it have somewhat of a narrative I feel extremely discouraged and no longer interested in the project. I've been pushing through with the "shitty first draft" mindset, telling myself i will fix things later, but the idea of trying to do another draft of it, or the average six drafts (probably way more for this) that an average project takes before it's ready for publishing makes me want to blow my brains out. I really want to stop working on it so i can turn my attention to a different project or even other areas of my life... but how do you know if this is just a lack of discipline that I need to overcome or a legitimate sign i should move on from this dead thing i'm masochistically forcing myself to spend time on?

[Anonymous No.20951010]

>>20950971
finish it, then never look at it again. You might have ideas that come to you. Id say start another project but finish this one first.

I ran out of steam on my last idea, but I finished it (not novel length) and it gave me enough motivation to start the next.

[Anonymous No.20951078]

>>20950908
i told you, I was just stitching some generated maps together, Azgaar's to be specific

[Anonymous No.20951080]

>>20950971
KOJIMA-SAN!

(PRESUMABLY)

[Anonymous No.20951087]

kindle vella is like royal road
they pay out monthly bonuses
this month's bonus is $925,000
the bonus is divided up among the participants somehow
not sure what you have to do to qualify for the bonus

[Anonymous No.20951095]

>>20950971
Those other ideas you would be moving on to, would they also be discovery writing ones, or are they projects you have an actual plan for, because if it is the former you might be walking into the trap of continually trying to get something written only to burn out from the lack of a real plan.

[Anonymous No.20951125]

>>20950780
Kek

[Anonymous No.20951129]

>>20951078
Shut the fuck up and leave

[Anonymous No.20951183]

>>20950971
>I feel a sense of dread before i start each time

This is pretty common. I would try to work though it.
Completing a book will be a positive thing.
It doesn't matter as much if you've already completed a book though

[Anonymous No.20951210]

>>20950971
I’ve felt this with nearly every project I’ve ever done in any medium. Albums, comics, scripts, novels, all of it. Fight through. But also, there’s no timeline but the one you’ve imagined. You can move on to a different project and come back with fresh eyes, assuming you aren’t working on a professional deadline.

[Anonymous No.20951449]

>>20951210
>I’ve felt this with nearly every project I’ve ever done in any medium. Albums, comics, scripts, novels, all of it.
They were probably all terrible, that's why you're bouncing around from medium to medium. You're not looking for your niche, you just suck.

captcha: KYS

[Anonymous No.20951497]

Gentlemen, I want to write a trial but have zero experience or background relating to the topic. Where do I start researching on how to do it right? Thank you.

[Anonymous No.20951552]

>>20951497
State of Georgia vs Denver Fenton Allen
To Kill a Mockingbird
12 Angry Men
The Trial
Law & Order

[Anonymous No.20951573]

>>20951497
Your readers don't either. Just make shit up or use wikipedia.

[Anonymous No.20951618]

Announcing the first annual AUTUMNAL FLASH FICTION CHALLENGE.

Write something that evokes that Eternal Autumn Mood.

My effort is below.

---

My uncle limped like one war-wounded, but he'd only played tennis with too much of our family vigour. Plus he exaggerated the loping rhythm for the effect it had, on me for instance, when I stood there for the first time at the edge of the marble floor of the entrance hall.

He approached: smile under the tinted glasses, bristles above the smile, left leg heaved and swung like a broken automaton's, dragging him metre by metre towards me. I must have looked nervous and disoriented, but by then I had already become accustomed to my role as orphan, had even come to enjoy its roster of gloomy pleasures. My seeming unease was, rather, politeness: I had been raised to believe that the adult world expected of its initiates a shrinking intimidation.

My suitcase, up almost to my underdeveloped shoulders, must have looked a tombstone beside me. We (suitcase, me) dripped alpine rain on the marble. My white-knuckled uncle gripped the doorframe and breathed brandy vapours, a sweetness familiar from childhood visits deep into the domestic cores of the houses of others' grandparents. The smile suffered a solemn tightening: 'How unpleasant, their crash. I cannot imagine. But your father always had a maniac's love for those nighttime forest roads.'

(Whenever I imagined the scene I saw a single tire spinning in a high, zany arc out of the wreckage, like in a cartoon.)

Inside he handed me warm towels, looked from my belt to my shoes, and admonished my mismatched leather. Then he took me down to the cellar where the cured meats and a Mussolini portrait hung; he had something he wanted to show me. I unwrapped the hunting rifle, my welcome gift, polished and pristine. His black lenses almost cracked from the glee hidden behind, and as I spoke with appropriate gratitude I saw my pale face reflected like an ashy smudge -- the tiny, ghostly face of a hunter.

That autumn I discovered my passion for piercing the brains of boar; my first passion, and one that still stirred somewhere deep inside me after I had met Liza and swum with her in love's icy, bottomless lakes. Unless, of course, the two passions were variations on the same theme. These are the little puzzles that give us such pleasure to ponder.

[Anonymous No.20951625]

>>20950098
I've been in your shoes. Got some positive reactions, then one of my stories got published and I was afraid to write anything else because I was afraid that it would suck. After a while I got over it by simply thinking back to how many revisions I did for that first story and remembered that because I had no deadlines, I could always just fix things in the next draft and that even if it sucked despite my best efforts, I could just scrap it. It also helped to look at earlier versions of stories (I always make a new backup at the end of every session) and see how shitty that decent story was at first.
In short, don't be afraid to write like ass, you can edit all you want.

[Anonymous No.20951635]

>>20950307
pass or passed are verbs
past can be an adjective, preposition, adverb, and noun, basically everything but a verb
hope that helps

[Anonymous No.20951860]

>>20950971
>>20951210
thanks for the push anons.
>>20951183
this is my 3rd book. my 1st one was an unsalvageable pile of stream of consciousness trash i did for nanowrimo (50k words). 2nd one i did last year, was around 92k words, i got to a third draft of it then haven't touched it because i hate it.
>>20951080
some day i hope
>>20951095
i would plan my next projects a bit more. in the past i've overoutlined, now i feel like i'm over-discovering, so i feel like for my next projects i will try to balance planning an discovering

[Anonymous No.20951871]

>>20951860
>>20951010
meant to give you a (You) --thanks for the push

[Anonymous No.20952035]

New Bread: >>20952029
New Bread: >>20952029
New Bread: >>20952029

[Anonymous No.20952192]

>>20951618
>like one war-wounded
Dropped.

[Anonymous No.20952325]

>>20951449
Lol sure kid. How about you post a single thing you’ve ever made.