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/lit/ - Literature

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4027627 No.4027627 [Reply] [Original]

What are some resources to help you start writing or how to write at all?

Books, movies, interviews?

>> No.4027629

He doesn't seem to use any of his own advice himself, but On Writing by Stephen King is a good book.

>> No.4027630

>>4027627
life experience, a word processor

>> No.4027635

>>4027629
Except that he doesn't outline. Not all of us are possessed by some dead writer who helps you pull that off.

>> No.4027650

You sit down and start writing. You should know if you're any good after a couple of pages. Don't ask others for opinion, don't write because you want to be a writer or you want others to read it. Just write it, if you feel like this is something you should be doing again, then you're good. If you don't feel anything without imagining others approving it, then you're not any good. If you play guitar and you're perfectly happy just listening to your own playing in your room with nobody there, then you're either a good guitarist or going to become a good guitarist. Same principle for writing, or anything really. If you gain something from it yourself, you're good.

>> No.4027653

>>4027635
it's pretty clear if you're not a total retard that he says there's no particular guide to writing, except for constant practice and more importantly a love for reading

>>4027650
correct

>> No.4027660

>>4027650
This. The guitar analogy is really good. My family never understood why I took guitar lessons for so many years only to spend time playing it in the basement. I've gotten pretty good not because I wanted to impress people, but because I really liked doing it.

>> No.4027668

>>4027660
I'm self-taught. Pretty sure 99% of my guitar playing time is spent noodling to myself and the rest of 1% with a public. I've gotten around to playing some to people now since it's summer and whatnot, and people actually like it. But I dislike playing whole songs and letting people sing to it, I just jam and noodle around, then I'll hit a riff I like, play around with that idea, then another one and so on.

>> No.4027709

Read. That'd be the most obvious advice one would give you, but indeed it's the less. Read classics, to know how the great write, and you'll see that there is no formula. Read the enterteinment literature, to learn how to scape from commonplaces (or to use them in your favor, if that's your choice). A must-read for me is "Letters to a Young Poet", by R.M Rilke. I'ts not an aesthetics treaty, but will ask you the right question Why write? In his own words, "Nobody can advise you and help you, nobody. There is only one way. Go into yourself.".
If you're into writing Read Letters to a Young Poet. Seriously.

>> No.4027725

>>4027709
jesus christ
i'm reading a synopsis about this and i already feel like i'm going to tear up

>> No.4027771

>>4027725
If either I or the synopsis failed to present you the book, it's goddamn Rainer Maria Rilke, dude, one of the best poets from the XX's Europe. It's worth a try.

>> No.4027775

>>4027771
I mean like
it made me sad
the idea of a young poet corresponding with someone he looks up to
i don't know
there's something that means something to me there

>> No.4027785

I liked On Writing. After reading it I went back and rewrote like 90% of my stuff just because I had unnneccesary adverbs and other shit that was just completely ruining it, shit I hadn't even thought about until reading that.

Oh yeah and the advice I read somewhere is pretty good, "pretend you're some asshole on 4chan, would you laugh at you?" I've posted a few of my works on the internet, including 4chan, and have gotten mostly positive feedback so I must be doing something right. Don't rely on 4chan for all your feedback though lol, I once saw a guy post a very poorly written story and what followed was 4 hours of the most masterful trolling you've ever seen, everyone had him thinking they loved it and then after he finished it they fucking tore him apart lol

>> No.4027786

>>4027627

An important tip that I've learned (in regards to pretty much any hobby) is that you want to avoid externalizing your reasoning for doing something when you're just starting to do it. Don't write to get published, or to make money - write to write. Don't pick up a guitar with the intent of becoming a rock star - pick it up with the intent of learning and enjoying music. Don't step into the gym to make yourself more attractive to others, do it for the sake of your own self-improvement and to enjoy the abilities of your body.

You can externalize these things if you want, when you hit a certain point, but most people crash and burn if they start out with externalized reasons for picking up a hobby. You should want to write a book, not have a book published. You should want to play guitar, not sell a million records. Those latter parts come later, after you've succeeded in the former.

I think this is a lesson that a lot of people never learn, and so they never realize their potential because their potential is chained down by the trapping and pretensions of success. There's nothing wrong with wanting to make money, but you have to do the thing first before you can worry about making money or fame or whatever from it.

So if you start finding yourself externalizing your goals into outward ambitions, you need to stop, slow down, and scale yourself back so that you don't choke and trip yourself up.