What are you guys currently writing? I'm writing a comedic detective play for a local 10-minute play contest. Poking fun at film noir style, asides, stereotypical murder mystery characters and such.

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Anonymous Tue Oct 29 23:51:58 2013 No.4225942 [DELETED]

What are you guys currently writing?

I'm writing a comedic detective play for a local 10-minute play contest. Poking fun at film noir style, asides, stereotypical murder mystery characters and such.

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 29 23:56:57 2013 No.4225949 If you win do you get to see it ruined and your satire become flat and unfunny by the inadequacies of local actors or are you actually somewhere decent?

>>	Anonymous Tue Oct 29 23:58:57 2013 No.4225951 >>4225949 I get to see it ruined and my satire become flat and unfunny by the inadequacies of local actors. But there's a cash prize as well, so that's nice.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 00:01:57 2013 No.4225956 >>4225951 Enjoy. I'm working on a couple of surrealist dramas and an absurd tragedy. They will likely never see the light of production.

Anonymous Wed Oct 30 00:04:31 2013 No.4225963

>>4225956
Well, the upside is nobody enters this thing because it's a tiny college so I'm guaranteed to at least place. The downside is I'm in the theatre program and I can vouch for the other actors being...
not fantastic

I love absurdist tragedies, how's it coming?

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 00:09:30 2013 No.4225969 variations on this virtual reality-type idea. gay, i know. but if someone wants to crit. http://pastebin.com/AhUpMiyQ

Anonymous Wed Oct 30 00:10:30 2013 No.4225970

>>4225963
Better than I thought it would. But I had planned out a one act and now, about halfway through it, I want to go full on 2 or 3 acts, but I don't really want to go back and expand upon certain relationships.

That's too bad about the actors really. At the small school where I got my BA in theatre the actors were actually pretty good.

Anonymous Wed Oct 30 00:14:30 2013 No.4225972

I'm writing a multi-book novel about a religious civil war in a technologically advanced society. I am currently in a second round of planning out the actions of the eighteen main characters. These characters are, in no particular order: An asshole, a violent bitch, a drug-addled doctor, a deluded priest, the priests deluded lover, an uncaring control freak, a sado/masochist, a violent demagog, a power hungry asshole, a weak willed coward, a deceptive chess-master, a strong willed coward, a paranoid control freak, a drug-addled soldier, a unrepentant murderer, a treacherous coward, a desperate idiot and a blind fool.

>>	edgy Wed Oct 30 00:26:31 2013 No.4225975 >>4225972 ooh

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 00:38:30 2013 No.4225979 >>4225972 >I'm writing a multi-book novel See you on page 43 Where you lose interest forever.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 00:44:33 2013 No.4225986 >>4225972 sounds horrible

Anonymous Wed Oct 30 00:46:33 2013 No.4225987 [DELETED]

>>4225975
>>edgy
>>ooh

The main character ends up killing his girlfriend. Then he commits nuclear holocaust on the city he's in. Twice. After that, he kills his brother in a power struggle.

It all works out in the end. Really. Sunshine, flowers, a cold drink in the shade outside a cafe on a cobblestone street. The whole happy ending routine.

Of course, only two of the main characters survive, and one of them is an alcoholic by then. And the other's an outcast...

All the minor characters who survive are happy though! Except that one nameless guy who has wicked PTSD and kills himself....

>>4225979

Page 43 was a long time ago, my son.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 00:48:33 2013 No.4225992 >>4225987 thanks for the spoilers bromoski, I might have read that some day.

Anonymous Wed Oct 30 00:49:33 2013 No.4225993

>>4225975
>>edgy
>>ooh

The main character ends up killing his girlfriend. Then he commits nuclear holocaust on the city he's in. Twice. After that, he kills his brother in a power struggle.

It all works out in the end. Really. Sunshine, flowers, a cold drink in the shade outside a cafe on a cobblestone street. The whole happy ending routine.

Of course, only two of the main characters survive, and one of them is an alcoholic by then. And the other's an outcast...

All the minor characters who survive are happy though! Except that one nameless guy who has wicked PTSD and kills himself....

>>4225979

Page 43 was a long time ago, my son.

>>4225986
>>sounds horrible

I'm describing their worst qualities.

Many of these characters are very well meaning people who just happen to be the exact wrong person to do the job they're given. Victims of circumstance who try their best and succeed in giving everything they have.

>>	edgy Wed Oct 30 00:55:06 2013 No.4226000 >>4225993 super crazy

>>	edgy Wed Oct 30 00:57:05 2013 No.4226003 >>4226000 sorry i'm not really sure how to respond

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 00:57:05 2013 No.4226005 >>4225942 >What are you guys currently writing? nothing. I wrote a short story a couple of months ago, but nothing since. I'm taking some time to meditate on the whole writing thing.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 01:29:55 2013 No.4226040 File: 58 KB, 552x367, First-World-Problems.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >tfw dozens of ideas to write >tfw too lazy/fearful/insecure/etc. to start anything

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 01:38:55 2013 No.4226049 >>4226040 Although I love literature, I think it's pretty arrogant to have an idea and think to yourself, "people need to read this!"

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 01:39:55 2013 No.4226051 >>4226049 plenty of great writers wrote for that reason it's only arrogant if your ideas aren't actually worth reading

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 01:40:55 2013 No.4226054 I'm writing a Blood Meridian/Farewell to Arms crossover slashfic where Frederic encounters The Judge on the Italian front and falls in love. Frederic is the sass-mouthed uke and the Judge is the sadistic yandere seme.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 01:40:55 2013 No.4226056 >>4226051 Nah, I think it's arrogant in all cases. Just, magically, when it is worth reading it somehow redeems or excuses the arrogance.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 01:41:55 2013 No.4226058 >>4226049 >implying I write because I think my ideas are that cool >implying most writers don't write because they want to share their stories It is kinda arrogant, though.

Anonymous Wed Oct 30 01:41:56 2013 No.4226060

I want to write an exploratory narrative piece about a person who seriously doubts his age and has a pseudo-rationalistic problem of doubting whether or not he ever was in 4th grade. I'm not sure when I'll start it though. The ending will have him find out that he is his own age and the theme I want to get across is that we can't blame our problems on factors that we can't control. Meh, now that I think about it, I might just cop out and have the person never find out if his skepticism was warranted or not.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 01:45:56 2013 No.4226066 >>4226060 Does this sound like a good idea, by the way?

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 01:48:56 2013 No.4226069 >>4226066 No

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 01:50:55 2013 No.4226072 >>4226069 Really? Explain in detail what's poor about it. Is it trite? Is it simply not an insightful idea for a literary work?

Anonymous Wed Oct 30 02:05:44 2013 No.4226088

I was gnawing that advice of not "writing about yourself" and decided to try to write about myself without writing about myself.

The idea I came up with was
>normal romance story that turns into a psychological deconstruction of two different views of cynicism
>girl is based on what I'm like right now
>guy is based on what kind of man I wish I was
>girl acts like a dodgy, dishonest cunt all the time
>guy is a manipulative douchebag
>they end up forming a group together for some kind of work
>they really dislike each other but guy tries to get girl to open up
>girl constantly questions guy's views on life just to mess with him

>>4226060
Not really, although I've kinda been there before.
It sounds like it can easily turn into one of those "dude alone with his thoughts" stories and become boring masturbatory tripe.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 02:07:44 2013 No.4226089 I'm just flexing my mind a little and writing a short work of fiction as close to the style of those featured in John Updike's "My Father's Tears"

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 02:22:44 2013 No.4226112 >>4225993 Why are you planning out actions if page 43 of actual writing was a long time ago?

Anonymous Wed Oct 30 02:25:43 2013 No.4226114

>>4226072
You just laid out a boring problem with the resolution that he was wrong and the moral of the story is: don't blame factors we can't control. You're concerned about being insightful.

If you really need to know why having a moral to the story and wanting to say something about the human condition in a weird constructed way is wrong, you should really read more.

Anonymous Wed Oct 30 02:28:43 2013 No.4226117

>>4226114
To be quite honest, I'm not sure what kind of theme I want to express and so these are just my entry thoughts. However, I'm more concerned with the content of my story proposal itself and not its possible implementation.

>>4226088
I'm not sure, I think I can handle it well without it turning into boring introspection.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 02:56:35 2013 No.4226133 >>4225942 The need to always make comedy is the reason why amateur theatre will never be good.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 03:21:34 2013 No.4226158 i'm writing a (super innovative idea do not steal) novel about a man who follows the grim reaper around and meets others he reaps, as well as a sci-fi novel about loss of faith I guess

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 03:27:35 2013 No.4226171 I'm writting university application letters which are sort of like fiction in that I get to dramatize my life into having some sort of moral conclusion. I'm also trying to practice my french by writing a lot of really simple erotic poetry.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 03:30:09 2013 No.4226177 >>4226171 oh yea I have to start writing my personal statement AND a letter of recommendation fuck

Anonymous Wed Oct 30 03:34:07 2013 No.4226183
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>>4225942
A tale of two sisters who are resurrected in the post apocalyptic world they created to benefit their benefactors. They traverse the wastes to initiate one final plant and secure their benefactors existence.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 03:35:08 2013 No.4226186 >>4225942 A novel detailing the ins and outs of codependency. I'm mostly struggling because my main character is female, and my female writer friends constantly tell me that men write shit women characters.

Anonymous Wed Oct 30 04:03:39 2013 No.4226232

It's about a moroi (a kind of folk ghost/vampire) that gradually takes physical form and decides to see what modern life is like. He meets all manner of people from my society and gradually becomes stuck in the real world. He's then torn between having to fend for himself as a human being or killing himself and going back to the netherworld where he was lonely and ethereal. Anyway, I'm trying to avoid all the typical vampire tropes, especially in regards to his personality. He's not particularly charming or seductive. Rather neurotic and anxious.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 04:10:39 2013 No.4226244 >>4226232 Sounds gay

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 04:11:38 2013 No.4226249 >>4225972 >can't spell demagogue >wants 18 main characters Not only can no writer effectively handle more than 3 main characters, no reader can, either.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 04:12:38 2013 No.4226250 >>4226249 mfw George R.R. Martin.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 04:12:39 2013 No.4226253 >>4225972 >technologically advanced society >religion Choose one. Secularism follows technological advancement. Who needs god when you have TV? God died in the 19th century in our world. How do you have him survive so long in your world?

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 04:13:39 2013 No.4226259 >>4225993 Holy shit dude please stop now. This sounds beyond awful. Poison not the world with this abomination. No writer in the world could do your hackneyed plot justice.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 04:14:38 2013 No.4226263 >>4226244 He is ambiguously gay actually XD

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 04:15:38 2013 No.4226264 >>4226040 >get drunk >listen to good music >pump self up with cheap vanity

Anonymous Wed Oct 30 04:17:38 2013 No.4226268

>>4226088
>don't write about yourself
What idiot told you this? No good writer ever wrote about anybody but themselves in a costume.
Kakfa, Conrad, Melville, Hemmminggwway, Vonnegut, etc. The only writers who don't write about themselves are usually really shitty:

GRRM, JKR, SK, etc.

The trick is to write about the parts of yourself that are universal. If you try to write from an alien perspective you'll just make a fool of yourself.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 04:17:38 2013 No.4226269 >>4225993 >>4225972 Sounds fucking stupid Please don't.

Anonymous Wed Oct 30 04:17:38 2013 No.4226272

>>4226049
That's blasphemous. There are several things in life, not just stories, but character interactions that need to be constantly refreshed in people's minds. People must have a sense of awareness when it comes to even the littlest details of personal relationships, and prose is an entertaining way of accomplishing that.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 04:18:38 2013 No.4226273 >>4226158 >sci-fi novel about loss of faith That sounds more interesting

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 04:18:38 2013 No.4226274 >>4226268 >Hemmminggwway Lold captcha: Victor Skowca + new pen name

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 04:19:39 2013 No.4226276 >>4226250 I guess I should have said "good writer".

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 04:19:39 2013 No.4226277 I'm never going to write this, so if somebody wants to, go ahead. A universe with zombies and vampires. Zombies are destroying the vampire food source. Survival from the POV of bloodsuckers.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 04:20:39 2013 No.4226280 >>4226274 I just stole your pen name what the fuck are you gonna do about it huh WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU GONNA DO ABOUT IT

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 04:22:39 2013 No.4226284 >>4226280 I'm gonna get you deported for having a shady slav surname like Skowca captcha: chaeses fool,

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 04:23:39 2013 No.4226286 >>4226277 yawn

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 04:34:39 2013 No.4226307 File: 208 KB, 600x927, 2007-02-05.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>4226277 There's already like five novels and a graphic novel with that exact plot though.

Anonymous Wed Oct 30 04:40:39 2013 No.4226318

>>4225942
Story about a stranger, in a strange land. He rides to the end of the rails into the land of the ghosts, and he goes to a sermon. He talks to the priest, sees a doctor, and leaves the city of the dead.

I'm also writing a story about two brothers sent to search for their father, an old tycoon, who became a hermit, and went mad at the feet of the challenger range.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 04:41:38 2013 No.4226321 >>4226307 God that writing is so bad it's embarrassing.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 04:42:38 2013 No.4226322 >>4226273 it is, although the first one is I think not quite as bad as it sounds

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 04:46:38 2013 No.4226328 >>4226054 a little too postmodern for my tastes.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 04:48:38 2013 No.4226332 >>4226049 well that just a way of thinking about it. If you write it for yourself, you it would be arrogant to think there is no one like you, you are not so special, so perhaps they might enjoy your story.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 04:49:38 2013 No.4226334 >>4226058 why do people get on stage to play their songs? it's arrogant, but also sometimes you must do something for yourself, and sharing and contributing, or even crashing and burning is worthy.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 04:50:39 2013 No.4226335 >>4226066 sounds like it could be good, depends on your skill in writing.

Anonymous Wed Oct 30 04:54:38 2013 No.4226340 [DELETED]

>>4226318

I'm writing about two brothers too. Their Dad died in the 1st Gulf war, now they are meth addicted headstone carvers travelling around TExas, their Marine Dad left them a mysteriously large inheritance, and an ex-Marine Bob Dylan impersonator wants it back.

Anonymous Wed Oct 30 04:56:38 2013 No.4226342

>>4226186
Here's my opening paragraph. Can somebody tell me if you would keep reading? Be honest.

"When I was a little girl, my favorite thing about having dinner with my family was setting the table. I would grab a handful of forks and spoons, and dance around the fine mahogany, saying their names in my head as I set the silverware down in each designated seat: Mommy, Papa, Minerva, and me."

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 05:00:38 2013 No.4226345 >>4226268 >who is Faulkner?

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 07:49:24 2013 No.4226527 >>4226342 See, that sounds like a girl to me, but I have no way of knowing because I'm a macho macho man. I probably wouldn't keep reading though because female protagonists rarely hold my interest. Don't let that stop you.

Anonymous Wed Oct 30 08:14:40 2013 No.4226549
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>>4225969
nothing? i can summarize the main points.

there's a bunch of stuff that happens that I won't go into on an earth-like planet that culminates with the protag finding out he's one reincarnation in a long line of lives that have been spent in virtual reality. right now he's talking to this sort of guide/companion that's been programmed into the world in order to break the truth to him. there's this notion that the protag's whole life been arranged by the collective consciousness that he is a sequestered part of, which leaves the him feeling a little manipulated.

Anonymous Wed Oct 30 08:21:41 2013 No.4226558
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>>4226253
>2013
>not knowing that it was the church who encouraged and pushed forward science, philosophy and arts before academia existed
>not knowing that a lot of important discoveries were done by clerics
>muh rationale
>muh godless society

Anonymous Wed Oct 30 08:31:13 2013 No.4226568

>>4226268
>What idiot told you this?
Some guy on the internet, tired of dealing with idiots writing about their travels to Europe or some small town on the interior of the country.

You know, those guys that literally write their experience as they occurred, calling themselves writers when in reality they are just really shitty chroniclers of irrelevant fluff.
Usual workshop stuff.

But how about my idea? Greatest love story to be told? Retarded? Already seen that? Thrown myself under a bus and stop writing?

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 08:35:14 2013 No.4226573 >>4226549 Damn that's a nice enso.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 09:23:13 2013 No.4226628 nothing, i'm severely depressed and lack motivation to do anything other than sleep all day. there was a time when i wrote a shit ton of poems but i think i lost my talent.

Anonymous Wed Oct 30 10:32:36 2013 No.4226699
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>get great ideas that I can really pour myself into and say something unique
>afraid of writing them because of what they'd end up saying about me
>afraid of what I'd uncover about myself
>tfw
does /lit/ know that feel?

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 10:40:36 2013 No.4226713 >>4226699 this is why i cant share lyrics >write songs >destroy them >cry

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 10:41:36 2013 No.4226716 >>4226699 hiding from the truth never made anyone a better or happier person do it and grow

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 10:42:37 2013 No.4226718 >>4226716 If I was sane enough to determine the truth, I wouldn't be so afraid of searching for it.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 10:46:37 2013 No.4226722 >>4226718 huh? sounds like youre just making excuses now. go write.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 10:57:38 2013 No.4226731 >>4226722 I'm quite delusional and I'm afraid that I tend towards believing false things simply because they make me feel bad.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 11:00:39 2013 No.4226733 >>4226699 A lot of my poems end up in the bin because I feel they reveal too much. I also thought they're shit, so I feel no remorse.

Anonymous Wed Oct 30 11:06:38 2013 No.4226743

it's about this alchemist wizard dude that helps a generic empire destroy a region's agricultural production with his alchemist skillz and then wishes to redeem himself by fixing that, only he has to ally himself with a tyrant to do so and ends up aiding him in going all Sulla on said empire

it will surely lead nowhere as most of my writing projects

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 11:23:38 2013 No.4226766 >>4226743 Make it about politics anc economy and you may have something.

Anonymous Wed Oct 30 11:31:39 2013 No.4226783

I'm writing a novel that's attacking myself for blaming everyone else for my issues in life. Deals with nice guy syndrome, delusions of grandeur, dependency, pathological lying, and extreme misanthropy. I hurt so many people and I'm hoping this book will at least be a good apology at the least.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 11:36:38 2013 No.4226793 >>4226783 fascinating

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 11:37:38 2013 No.4226796 >>4226783 I hope by nice guy syndrome, you mean in the sense that Russel touched on in The Conquest of Happiness. He depicts nice guys as inadvertently trying to gain ownership over people through courtesy via delusion.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 11:41:38 2013 No.4226802 >>4226793 Thank you >>4226796 Nice guy syndrome, in that hating-all-women, calling-myself-a-nice-guy-when-a-girl-says-no, and see-humans-as-accessories-to-enhance-my-life kind of way. I'm past thinking I'm nice anymore really

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 11:44:39 2013 No.4226815 >>4226802 >>4226796 And to add to it, it deals a lot with how I blamed my autism for why people hated me and used it as an excuse constantly. I want to depict the nice guy stuff as unintentional, but still insanely fucked up and egotistically.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 11:45:38 2013 No.4226818 >>4226815 egotistically should be egocentric. nb

Anonymous Wed Oct 30 11:45:38 2013 No.4226820

>>4226802
>>4226815
seriously, that's straight from Russel's own mouth.
>He may consider himself such a dreadful person that no one could possibly love him; he may in childhood have had to accustom himself to receiving less love than fell to the share of other children; or he may in fact be a person whom nobody loves. But in this latter event the cause probably lies in a lack of self-confidence due to early misfortune. The man who feels himself unloved may take various attitudes as a result. He may make desperate efforts to win affection, probably by means of exceptional acts of kindness. In this, however, he is very likely to be unsuccessful, since the motive of the kindnesses is easily perceived by their beneficiaries, and human nature is so constructed that it gives affection most readily to those who seem least to demand it. The man, therefore, who endeavours to purchase affection by benevolent actions becomes disillusioned by experience of human ingratitude. It never occurs to him that the aftection which he is trying to buy is of far more value than the material benefits which he offers as its price, and yet the feeling that this is so is at the basis of his actions. Another man, observing that he is unloved, may seek revenge upon the world, either by stirring up wars and revolutions, or by a pen dipped in gall, like Dean Swift. This is an heroic reaction to misfortune, requiring a force of character sufficient to enable a man to pit himself against the rest of the world. Few men are able to reach such heights; the great majority, both of men and women, if they feel themselves unloved, sink into a timid despair relieved only by occasional gleams of envy and malice. As a rule, the lives of such people become extremely self-centred, and the absence of affection gives them a sense of insecurity from which they instinctively seek to escape by allowing habit to dominate their lives utterly and completely. For those who make themselves the slaves of unvarying routine are generally actuated by fear of a cold outer world, and by the feeling that they will not bump into it if they walk along the same paths that they have walked along on previous days.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 11:48:39 2013 No.4226824 >>4226820 shit, he really nailed 4chan

Anonymous Wed Oct 30 11:53:39 2013 No.4226830

>>4226820
Yep. Never read Russel, but that's entirely what my character is going to be like. I'm not sure if Russel talks about straight out hostility as well, because the MC is outright hostile a lot of the time. There's a back and forth between the MC and a girl he loved that didn't love him back and she asks
"Why are you being like this?"
MC responds, "I'm acting like this, because I know how much you love giant dicks."

Which is something I actually said to someone because they were totally a whore for dating someone who isn't me.

Anonymous Wed Oct 30 11:53:39 2013 No.4226832

For the longest time I've been wanting to write a story about a depressed stereotypical neckbeard that works at murrican retail.
However, I've never worked at retail myself and getting a job at retail is not an option for me right now.

Help?

>>4226820
>tfw constantly confusing the purpose of my everyday courtesy for either manipulation or self-rightgeousness
fug

Anonymous Wed Oct 30 11:56:39 2013 No.4226837

>>4226832
Write a book about a guy wanting to write a book about a socially inept neckbeard that works retail, but can't write said book because he has never worked retail himself and getting a job in retail isn't an option for him. It'll be far more interesting. Trust me.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 12:02:39 2013 No.4226846 >>4226830 shit, I'd read it.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 12:05:39 2013 No.4226852 A science fiction novel about a Russian camwhore in an implausible but mostly grounded "Eurasian Union" founded by a hypothetically successful Vladimir Putin that is caught in a new cold war with the United States.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 12:15:38 2013 No.4226864 >>4226837 2inception pls dont bully

Anonymous Wed Oct 30 12:22:38 2013 No.4226884

Well I have one novel I want to write about about a man living in late 1800s Scotland who sees the ghost of his dead wife (and other ghosts) and then meets an English guy from a psychical society and they get drunk together a lot.

I also am fleshing out an idea I have for a spoken word-plunderphonics album that features fake spiritual and medical advice from a huckster guru only known as Dr. Krishnamurti, the backing tracks will be assembled from New Age albums I bought for cheap and will have names like "BUILDING YOUR ASTRAL CASTLE". I have to write the liner notes and the script and such still.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 12:32:38 2013 No.4226909 A university student is visited by the ghost of a murdered girl and tries to solve the mystery with his best friend by investigating the three most likely suspects: The Jock, the Alpha Bitch, and the Fedora-wearing neckbeard

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 12:33:39 2013 No.4226913 >>4226909 >Fedora-wearing neckbeard Make him a brony, too, for maximum annoyance.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 12:34:39 2013 No.4226914 A satirical novel about a sexually deviant and narcissistic pedophile who is in love with a 5 years old child actor.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 16:13:41 2013 No.4227305 >>4226914 Is the actor a pompous slut? I can imagine some nice chemistry there.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 17:49:49 2013 No.4227535 >>4226884 I like your ideas.

Anonymous Wed Oct 30 18:10:47 2013 No.4227594

>>4226832
>stereotypical neckbeard

>John Everybeard

Seriously, no one wants to read about a character that doesn't seem like an individual. Don't be that writer

Also, what Russell is getting at is that people can tell your motivations, so just be nice to be nice and don't expect anything in return. If people confuse it for anything else, that's their problem not yours.

Anonymous Wed Oct 30 18:16:47 2013 No.4227606

>>4226783
I'm glad to see people that are breaking that vicious circle and taking responsibility for their situation. Responsibility extends beyond one's actions and possessions, and not enough people realize that.

Just remember to take it a step further and do something about it, rather than using it as an excuse to wallow in self-loathing/pity. One novel is great, five... not so much.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 18:22:47 2013 No.4227617 >>4227535 Thanks!

demiurge Wed Oct 30 18:25:47 2013 No.4227621

the same short story i always write.

it has come to my attention that basically every story i've written since '10 was, in some way or another, the same story, so this time i'm consciously trying to get it out of my system. i don't want to be condemned to being woody allen.

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 18:33:48 2013 No.4227642 >>4227621 What is it?

>>	demiurge Wed Oct 30 18:47:48 2013 No.4227679 >>4227642 a dominant narcissist and a codependent junkie interact. every story is a variation on it, only the details change.

Anonymous Wed Oct 30 19:10:48 2013 No.4227728
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>>4227594
>Seriously, no one wants to read about a character that doesn't seem like an individual. Don't be that writer
Oh no, no. I'd never do that.
When I said he was going to be a John Everybeard, I was referring to the neckbeard stereotype as a template.
He'd still have all the things that makes a real character but he will just fit into the general description of a neckbeard.

That's all.

>Also, what Russell is getting at is that people can tell your motivations, so just be nice to be nice and don't expect anything in return. If people confuse it for anything else, that's their problem not yours.
Blame depression, brub.

Anonymous Wed Oct 30 21:55:07 2013 No.4228147

>>4226088
>I was gnawing that advice of not "writing about yourself"
Kek

That's like telling people to not to draw forms but to draw FOOOOOORRRRMS

Writers put themselves in all the time, the name of the game is to write a story involving the perspective ie writing well as opposed to fanfiction.

Sam, the 14 year old transgender pansexual otherkin having an actual place in the plot instead of xer being the best of the best at everything.

Anonymous Wed Oct 30 21:58:08 2013 No.4228155

>>4226568
Also not that guy you asked, but hard to tell if it's a good idea about a romance, romance is all about the narrative.

You can make a good romance between a toaster and hairband if you write it clever enough.

Actually that's my idea now do not steal

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 22:52:46 2013 No.4228305 >>4226846 >I'm acting like this, because I know how much you love giant dicks. Holy shit that's the best quote I've read all year

>>	Anonymous Wed Oct 30 23:18:17 2013 No.4228389 File: 1.48 MB, 2448x3264, 1383047027145.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] Writing the first out of a seven novel series.

Anonymous Wed Oct 30 23:30:17 2013 No.4228424

>>4226112
>>Why are you planning out actions if page 43 of actual writing was a long time ago?

Planning is writing, numbnuts. No, I'm not actually hacking out the prose yet, but I do have the main arc, the sub arcs and the supporting arcs all sewn up. Character intros and deaths are all nailed down. I know the where, when and result of each character interaction. Disregarding intros, each scene has explicitly defined precedence and antecedence.

I know what you're referring to when you say I'll get to page 43 and stop. You mean I'll get to where the first real problem for the characters should happen and then I'll get stuck, get frustrated and give up. That's not going to happen because I can pick a random part of any four of the books, pick a random scene and tell you what characters are there, why they are there, what they do and what the effects that scene has on the story as a whole.

In short: "Page 43" was a long time ago.

Also in short: Most writers have really sloppy workflow.

>>4226259
>>Holy shit dude please stop now. This sounds beyond awful. Poison not the world with this abomination. No writer in the world could do your hackneyed plot justice.

Yeah, I know, right? What if I told you a guy jumps a motorcycle off the top of a skyscraper?

Now try to decide if I'm lying about that.

>>	Anonymous Thu Oct 31 01:04:17 2013 No.4228573 File: 5 KB, 335x261, spurdo.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >tfw envisioned dozens of novels inside of my head >tfw not enough time to put them down on paper Fucking shit, so annoying.

>>	Anonymous Thu Oct 31 01:26:17 2013 No.4228604 >>4228155 So, considering that the main focus of my story is not really getting the characters to fuck but to get them to better themselves through the contrast of their core values I'm off to a good start, right?

>>	Anonymous Thu Oct 31 01:30:18 2013 No.4228608 A 300 page mystery/thriller. The plot sucks and the length is measly for a novel, but I like writing. It's like masturbation without having to wash my hands.

>>	Anonymous Thu Oct 31 04:04:08 2013 No.4228729 >>4228573 >tfw you're the cause of all your problems and just make up BS excuses If you have the time and means to brows 4chan, you have the time and means to write, even if it's only a little at a time

>>	Anonymous Thu Oct 31 04:37:56 2013 No.4228762 >>4226263 Sounds retarded. Is he ambiguously retarded, too?

>>	Anonymous Thu Oct 31 05:04:14 2013 No.4228785 >>4226049 True. Oh well, do it anyway.

>>	Anonymous Thu Oct 31 07:31:36 2013 No.4228965 >>4228729 I love when people say they don't have time for something. It is complete bullshit 98% of the time and they get all flustered when you try to make them aware of all the time that they do have.

>>	Anonymous Thu Oct 31 08:25:44 2013 No.4229024 >>4228965 So, how's not having a job/life working out for ya dear?

>>	Anonymous Thu Oct 31 08:26:44 2013 No.4229025 >>4228762 You broke my heart sunshine. Still gonna write about my gay retarded ghost vampire though.

Anonymous Thu Oct 31 08:35:45 2013 No.4229034

I am 25 and like reading a fair amount but I have never written anything so I'm trying to do some writing exercises to learn how.

I'm starting with a what if scenario. basically its what if Viserys from asoiaf was patient and intelligent.

I'm only a few paragraphs in but I'm enjoying it, maby I'll post it on a fanfiction website after I've got a few chapters done.

Anonymous Thu Oct 31 08:40:45 2013 No.4229040

>>4228965
Eh. I'm on a pretty tight schedule at times. Working while in school will do that to you. You end up having to calculate when you have little 30 minute windows to do homework and study for exams. And those windows always include clicking over from HW/PDFs to 4chan.

>>	Anonymous Thu Oct 31 09:09:23 2013 No.4229085 Writing a novel based around an interdimensional alien trying to escape the horror of the grey which is acknowledgement of the truth that there is no great purpose and everything is a puppet to something else in an infinite hierarchy.

Anonymous Thu Oct 31 11:06:19 2013 No.4229373

I have begun a short story about a young Australian couple who buy tickets to go to Bali for the summer. Once there, they spend most of their time on their phones and drinking alcohol on the beach. The girl fucks another guy at a Full Moon Party and her boyfriend, the protag, suffers a horrible mental breakdown behind closed doors, symbolising the repression enforced by patriarchy.

Anonymous Thu Oct 31 11:36:24 2013 No.4229432

I'm writing a story set in Bronze Age Europe.
Celts are my main source of inspiration, but I don't plan on making it historically accurate.

I want to fit in some surrealism without shoe-horning it in.

I've never written anything of this length before, so I'm confident that it's total shit, but I need to motivate myself to keep writing.
Practice makes better and whatnot.

>>	Anonymous Thu Oct 31 11:42:24 2013 No.4229442 >>4229432 Have you read "les Fosse Carolines." It's a pretty good example of how to have fun in a historical-ish novel.

Anonymous Thu Oct 31 11:54:25 2013 No.4229465
File: 55 KB, 329x500, manchester-wlobf.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

>>4229442
I haven't. Thanks for the suggestion.
Any idea where I can find it in English?

Most of history that I've read has been from nonfiction.
>pic related

>>4229085
You should listen to Devin Townsend's album Ziltoid the Omniscient. It's a farce of rock opera and science fiction, but maybe you'll find it useful.

>>	Anonymous Thu Oct 31 16:37:02 2013 No.4230061 One of my many novel ideas that I'll probably lose interest in, again, in about a week.

Anonymous Thu Oct 31 17:50:01 2013 No.4230148

I'm not started yeet, but I have an idea right now.

>20 something guy enrolled in college/uni
>Instead of going out and having fun, he decides to study
>More or less locks himself up in his 20 something square meter room
>One day, he discovers that he's trapped
>Whenever he opens the door to the outside world, he just enters another version of his own room
I was thinking that the rooms should portray another possible route in his life other than the one he currently is on.

Anonymous Thu Oct 31 21:23:19 2013 No.4230780

>>4226249
>Not only can no writer effectively handle more than 3 main characters, no reader can, either.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_and_Peace#Principal_characters_in_War_and_Peace

I will never claim to be equal to Leo Tolstoy. That's why I only have 18 main/principal characters. To be honest, I would like to have fewer; I have tried removing characters, but the social dynamic of the story breaks down. Each character reflects the others and even the least of them needs to be well established to do what I need them to.

>>4226253
>Choose one. Secularism follows technological advancement. Who needs god when you have TV? God died in the 19th century in our world. How do you have him survive so long in your world?

Boy howdy do you ever have limited experience with religion/spirituality. The fact that to deny my statement you first mention God shows how narrow your view is.

>>	Anonymous Thu Oct 31 21:24:18 2013 No.4230782 Preparing for NNWR tomorrow. Writing about a mother and her three children in North Africa.

>>	Anonymous Thu Oct 31 21:28:19 2013 No.4230792 Trying to write a short story about a timid old school bus driver who snaps and goes on a killing spree.

>>	Anonymous Thu Oct 31 21:50:17 2013 No.4230834 >>4230148 That exact thing happens in the anime The Tatami Galaxy.

>>	Anonymous Thu Oct 31 21:53:18 2013 No.4230839 >>4230834 pretty sure that was the joke

>>	Anonymous Thu Oct 31 21:55:18 2013 No.4230848 >>4230839 i don't get it

Anonymous Thu Oct 31 22:02:17 2013 No.4230866

I'm writing this: http://www.scribd.com/doc/180571531/Hellfire-doc

It's about a weird loner peasant kid who must save who he can when the biblical Cain comes to torment his eleventh century English town.

No, he's not a superkid, the hardest thing I have him do is bust open a cellar door with a prybar and sneak around, which is something that being a kid actually helps with.

>>	Anonymous Thu Oct 31 22:45:18 2013 No.4230971 >>4226056 What about prodigious dilettantes who are held down on the ground and forced to publish to avoid unlawful penetration

>>	Anonymous Thu Oct 31 22:48:17 2013 No.4230979 >>4226268 idiot

Anonymous Fri Nov 1 17:22:01 2013 No.4232792
File: 1.11 MB, 305x239, 1383004523134.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

Well, i'm curretly writing around 20-30 stories (10 of them i started them this year), and i'm completely unable to go on with any of them and i'll probably add a new one in a few months anyway.

shortest one 50 pages, longest one 370.

>i'm not even sure what the plot on most of them was supposed to be anymore

Anonymous Fri Nov 1 17:43:34 2013 No.4232837

opinions plox

A cloud slid down the valley, moving like a slug across the thick, green pine forests. Wherever it touched, the air turned wet and heavy with white mist, a ghostly sea breaking against the houses of Steinbach, creeping under fences and over walls, filling playgrounds and gardens.
The pale blue Trabant 500 rattled and creaked up the road, moisture clinging to the orange cloth of the interior, seeping through the cracks, making the faux-wood dashboard and the faux-leather-coated steering wheel damp, causing his hands to slip and slide off the bulbous head of the gearstick.

>>	Anonymous Fri Nov 1 17:58:34 2013 No.4232882 >>4232837 >bulbous head Painful word choice. Also, it's "gearshift," not "gearstick." Other than that, I am intrigued. I always love when the perspective zooms in from the environment to a small human scale. Keep going.

>>	Anonymous Fri Nov 1 18:09:35 2013 No.4232921 >>4225942 1930s family drama, post modern style. looks into family traditions and the roles of the father mostly. some other stuff too. ya know

>>	Anonymous Fri Nov 1 18:13:35 2013 No.4232937 >>4232882 Yes I thought bulbous sounded a bit too organic, what would be a better word? Also it is gear stick http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gear_stick

Anonymous Fri Nov 1 18:16:35 2013 No.4232948

Trying to outline a horror novel, but I'm struggling with the balance of plot/character and actually being scary/exploring the ideas I want to explore. I feel like the direction I'm going at the moment might just be an incoherent, pointless mess at the end. I'm literally writing little chunks at a time to throw into place once I know where they can fit. Doesn't inspire confidence.

I've also never finished a novel, but maybe I'll finally shit one out. It'd be worth it just to tick that off.

Anonymous Fri Nov 1 18:18:34 2013 No.4232950

>>4232882
>>4232937
This is what I think when I hear 'bulbous': http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulbous_bow

So I don't think it's necessarily organic. Though it's a poor choice there - it's too unusual to describe something so ordinary, and who the fuck cares about the gearstick in the first place? There's no reason to describe it at all.

>>	Anonymous Fri Nov 1 18:19:35 2013 No.4232960 >>4232950 I was trying to be tactile in my description, I dunno, do I not need an adjective there?

>>	Anonymous Fri Nov 1 18:20:35 2013 No.4232962 >>4230866 >tfw nobody wants to read your work even though you got doubles

Anonymous Fri Nov 1 18:21:34 2013 No.4232966

>>4232960
No. And bulbous isn't particularly tactile.

To be honest the whole sentence feels exactly like you said - you're trying to be tactile, rather than just writing the sentence that needs to be there. It's all moisture and texture and dampness - and while I do think it's fine to step away from strictly progressing the narrative with every single thing you type, it's not even doing anything to contribute to the mood or aesthetic or theme or anything worthwhile. It's just trying to be tactile. Why?

>>	Anonymous Fri Nov 1 18:22:34 2013 No.4232971 >>4232962 That description doesn't really sound like /lit/'s scene. You should probably post it somewhere else (even on 4chan, /tg/ or /co/ writing threads would be more receptive).

>>	Anonymous Fri Nov 1 18:25:34 2013 No.4232981 >>4232966 Because the guy driving doesn't want to focus on anything more complicated or engaging than simply what his hands are doing. He's got a lot on his mind.

Anonymous Fri Nov 1 18:28:34 2013 No.4232989
File: 301 KB, 1078x825, 1378070048522.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

What would I even do if I decide to write my story out?
I've had an idea for a very, very long time, and I've kicked it around and readjusted this and that and other normal things you'd do with an idea.
Let's say I write it all out, start to finish, sweat and tears and all.
What would I do next? Revise it, edit, nitpick until satisfied, and then what?
Don't get me wrong, it'd be fantastic to finally flesh it out, but I just feel like it'd sit in my computer.

>>	Anonymous Fri Nov 1 18:28:34 2013 No.4232990 File: 129 KB, 500x372, trolls.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>4232971

>>	Anonymous Fri Nov 1 18:28:35 2013 No.4232988 >>4232981 Then get more into his head, talk more about what he's thinking or doing than just describing the car.

>>	Anonymous Fri Nov 1 18:29:34 2013 No.4232994 >>4232988 Like, describing his twitching fingers would be more effective than describing the upholstery of his car, knowwaddamean?

>>	Anonymous Fri Nov 1 18:29:35 2013 No.4232995 >>4232966 >>4232981 In fact, turns out Trabant 500s dont even have a bulbous gear stick head, so I'll cut bulbous for sure

>>	Anonymous Fri Nov 1 18:30:35 2013 No.4232997 >>4232989 Print it out, take it to a busy street and read it aloud to passers-by.

>>	Anonymous Fri Nov 1 18:30:35 2013 No.4232999 >>4232994 Yeah but wouldn't that be a bit transparent >>4232989 Write a story about Colin Baker's sexy coat

>>	Anonymous Fri Nov 1 18:32:35 2013 No.4233006 File: 52 KB, 640x480, trabant__500_1960_3_lgw.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>4232995 4got pic

Anonymous Fri Nov 1 18:33:34 2013 No.4233010

>>4232966
Gonna agree with this anon. Just don't use an adjective there. People can envision what you are talking about without the description, and description wouldn't improve the aesthetic, anyway. So it is neither practical nor beautiful. Cut it out. Simpler can be better.

>>4232937
Sure, that's the technically correct term. I'm just saying that, even though "gearshift" does not technically refer to the stick used to shift, it is the most common way to refer to it. Consider whether you want to be accessible or right. Here I'd suggest the former because it doesn't hurt you at all.

>>	Anonymous Fri Nov 1 18:37:35 2013 No.4233021 >>4233010 Are you American? Because here in the UK the people I know almost exclusively use gearstick

>>	Anonymous Fri Nov 1 18:38:35 2013 No.4233023 >>4233021 Ah, that's likely it. I am American. If "gearstick" is more common in the UK, then carry on.

>>	Anonymous Fri Nov 1 18:39:35 2013 No.4233024 >>4232999 >Yeah but wouldn't that be a bit transparent This is a terrible way to think about writing but I have to go take a shower and go to the supermarket so I don't have time to expand on why. Hopefully someone else will.

>>	Anonymous Fri Nov 1 18:43:35 2013 No.4233035 >>4233024 You know what you could do? Be more obnoxious and dismissive, it'll make you look like more of a self-important cunt!

Anonymous Fri Nov 1 18:49:34 2013 No.4233056

>>4233023

Ok, see how you like this

I feel like the last half-sentece is a bit clunky, like I should take out either fidgeted or drummed...

The pale blue Trabant 500 rattled and creaked up the road, moisture clinging to the orange cloth of the interior, seeping through the cracks, making the faux-wood dashboard and the faux-leather-coated steering wheel damp, causing his shaking hands to slip and slide off the head of the gearstick. He changed into third and pressed against the accelerator, then rested his hands on the wheel, where they fidgeted and drummed away.

>>	Anonymous Fri Nov 1 18:51:34 2013 No.4233060 >>4233056 Maybe throttle instead of accelerator?

>>	Anonymous Fri Nov 1 18:54:35 2013 No.4233072 >>4233056 Yeah get rid of either fidgeted or drummed. Drummed seems more like what you'd do on a steering wheel, but it seems like less of an indicator of how agitated he is.

Anonymous Fri Nov 1 19:11:34 2013 No.4233124

>>4233056
>>4233072
As this anon said, get rid of "fidgeted." Drummed is already descriptive enough.

"Pressed against" sounds strange. To me, it connotes either a light pressure or a heavy lean (as in pressing against somebody's chest). I might just say "pushed the throttle" or something. You could also give a more vivid description of the process of switching into third gear, i.e. including the clutch movement.

Redact either "slip" or "slide." Again, we often pair them together unconsciously in English, but only one is necessary.

Anonymous Fri Nov 1 22:07:10 2013 No.4233492
File: 131 KB, 500x333, 1300512796924.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

>>4225942
A high fantasy story about a young man, the son of a retired war hero, who must venture out to find his recently missing father, the only man who knows the location of a powerful weapon that could obliterate entire countries. Joined by three other young adventurers, a cunning yet noble wizard and others, the hero must find and rescue his father before the enemy does, who they themselves have an agenda for this weapon: the conquest of the known world and the obliteration of their enemies.

On this journey, each character in both the hero's group and the enemy's group have their own arcs, desires and obstacles. Two people in the protagonist's party, an unassuming young archer and the eccentric, powerful wizard, secrets harbor their own ambitions and hidden abilities that may spell the demise of our heroes, ultimately creating conflict in the group. Soon this adventure becomes a hunt for the missing war hero and many other artifacts of power scattered across the land, forcing the two parties to scour dungeons, infiltrate or persuade provincial powers and fight for their lives along with those of others.

The catch?
It's a fanfiction. Taking place in a well-known fantasy video game universe. Started a year ago as an innocent thought and now it's what I spend most of my creativity on in my free time.

I am not sorry.

>>	Anonymous Fri Nov 1 23:27:57 2013 No.4233681 bumo

>>	Anonymous Fri Nov 1 23:34:25 2013 No.4233704 I'm working on editing a poem whose main metaphor is mouth:graveyard.

>>	Anonymous Fri Nov 1 23:51:43 2013 No.4233770 >>4229373 This actually sounds like a real story that I would read. Don't make it too long.

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/lit/ - Literature