/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.2833148]

Every time I try to write a novel, I worry so much that it will be terrible that I never get anywhere with it. Here's something I've been working on:

It was a one-bedroom apartment in a town on life support where we spent our twentieth year together. The heat came and went sporadically, the water sputtered, and the carpet smelled of stale cigarettes, though its most important detail was not physical: it belonged to us. We were a single unit capable of ownership, an item afloat on the stream of ideas popular culture had about love at that time. We were our neighbors' dreams of perfection and happiness, the apartment a partitioned slice of our idealism. Mind you, that is not an indication at all of real perfection. Every night as I sat alone, her sleeping sounds to me through the walls, I would with pale and shaking fingers caress the barren depths of my own worthlessness; and she, while I slept mornings to death, would stare at the yellow, cracking walls and measure the pedestal upon which she must stand in my judgment, eternally short in her imagination. That was the way in those days: every mind a hive sunk in loathing, every couple adrift in rose-dreams of togetherness, though we were between those two extremes.

Does this have potential? And does anybody else worry this way?

[Anonymous No.2833161]

Bumping with /lit/-related wallpapers.

[Anonymous No.2833160]

I like that shit man, it's pretty good.
Everybody doubts themselves and their work, but you shouldn't let it hamper you. Don't worry so much as complete your work, and then decide if it's good or not.

[Anonymous No.2833165]

It starts off pretty neatly, then it goes into a morass of blah blah blah blah who cares badfeelingseverywhereboringhearditallbefore.

Potential is too mealy a word. Could it be improved? Absolutely. Could you publish it? Hell if I know. Would I read it if it were published? No way to know until it's edited and revised in finality. It's pretty good for /lit/ fare, prose-wise, but it's nothing new judging by theme.

[Anonymous No.2833166]

>>2833160
Thanks, that's great advice.

[Anonymous No.2833168]

I won't read and criticize you because I don't like doing that and I don't think one should expose his writing to others like that. I don't think others have any word on what to change.

But I leave you this quote which will explain your struggle.

My tip is stop thinking about this as a performance test. It's not about being better or worse, but about what ressonates directly with your soul.

[Anonymous No.2833170]

Actually, OP, that sounded rather good. I enjoyed reading it at the very least. I'm far too tired to give you a proper critique but I feel that you should keep going.

And to answer your question: Yes. MANY people feel the way you do. I do about anything I create all the time. It is how you deal with and use this feeling that will make or break your work and success. I use it to inspire me to do better while forcing myself to not spend too much time on any one thing lest I get obsessed with it and decide it will never be worthy of showing to anyone else.

[Anonymous No.2833174]

>>2833165
I know it must seem like the beginning of a fairly by-the-books love story from just this paragraph, so I get where you're coming from. Thanks for reading it

[Anonymous No.2833180]

>>2833168
That's actually really uplifting, thanks.

>>2833170

That's a great way of looking at it

[Anonymous No.2833193]

[Anonymous No.2833194]

>>2833168
I won't read and criticize you because I don't like doing that and I don't think one should expose his writing to others like that. I don't think others have any word on what to change.

This is ridiculously bad advice. Criticism is a compulsory part of learning to write (alongside writing and reading as much as you can).

>>2833148
OP, there better be some dialogue or action in the next couple of paragraphs.

EVERY writer doubts their ability. It's simple. You can either whine and handwring and let your insecurity stop you from writing, or you can write. You don't have to show anyone your writing for the first couple of years. And, frankly, if you can't write for yourself, for the enjoyment of writing, then give up now and pursue a hobby you do enjoy.

[Anonymous No.2833237]

>>2833194
I think you should either go through it all alone or show to the people you really trust, maybe a teacher, a fellow writer or an avid reader (also never just because they are close to you like a girlfriend or parent, unless you trust their opinion on literature). And only at points in which you need criticism, points which you have obviously reached a block or when you can't polish it anymore. That's when criticism might be great for you.

What people do here on /lit/ and which I don't subscribe to is to show what was written to a lot of arbitrary people. What's even worse, making a habit to have other people giving their opinions on your work. First because they may help you just as much as they can harm you, second because even when they help, they are only helping you in terms of what they want to read and not what you are willing to write.

Words are powerful. Make them yours. Be careful.
Do you think this is a motherfucking game?

[Anonymous No.2833251]

>>2833237

>>that feel when you lose the respect of your peer reviewers when you give them a piece of shit

I need better friends

and judgment

[Anonymous No.2833261]

>>2833237

You're absolutely right that /lit/ offers shit advice.

I believe you should seek criticism at any/ all stages of narrative construction. In fact, one of the best things you can do is write three synopses of the narrative (or your intentions for it at that time) before you start: one a page long, one a paragraph long and one a sentence long. Ask people for their opinion of these. It can indicate whether there are problems right there, before you go to the trouble of writing a novel on a flawed premise. It also helps to hone the underlying theme of the narrative.

[Anonymous No.2833287]

>>2833251
That's part of the risk! You have to endure.

It's also helps one understand how it always come back as a personal journey. Say a respectable friend is embarassed after you show him your work, he says it's naive and not really well done, he is kind but he thinks you should give up.

Would you give up? If you do, you might me giving in for something that could be your friend jealousy or maybe your way to do it is just not his cup of tea. And you are going to give up on that? On the other hand, perhaps he is right and you are a bad writer afterall. But wait a second, what makes you be convinced of one of those things instead of the other? You'll only buy his argument if he hits your inner self. If deep down you think it's not worth it, then he will just tickle that part of you. If deep down you are strong as a rock, his commentary will not only fail to enter you, but will show you the limits of that stem you have inside.

In the end, criticism will be a reflection of yourself, it will put your writing in perspective. And how will you be able to see your reflection if you don't know who is the other?

>>2833261
That's one way to do it, I guess. If one values the plot and the premise above all, it's good to talk to a friend about it and steal a couple of his ideas. Yeah, steal, right there, you should even confess it. When you talk openly and honestly to someone in private, your and his ideas are one and the same.

[Anonymous No.2833402]

>>2833287

I don't really mind what they think, they just haven't spoken to me again and apparently no longer wish to be friends with me

[Anonymous No.2833430]

It seems like you know what you are doing.
Its hard to judge something on one paragraph though, either your own judgement or that of others.
You should just go with it and see what happens, not worry so much about the small details, as you will be rewriting it alot.
I think that any advice, either good or bad, positive or negative, could throw you off what you really want to say.
Im with you on the self doubt thing though, ive started and stopped so much stuff in the last six months I shocked myself when I started going through some of my notebooks and word files.
Ive read other author's advice and they all seem to be in agreement that you just need to sit down and write keep writing through all the second guessing and doubt and writers blocks and whatever else may make you want to quit.

[Anonymous No.2833664]

good advice in here, truly