/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.6520482]

I want to write a novel. However, my writing skills in English are unimpressive, and my vocabulary is limited. I can tell a story, but my lack of knowledge about stylistic figures makes it "functional" but bland.
I could write in my native language, but I doubt it would change anything; I'm just not a good storyteller right now.

I have most of the plot figured out and would really like to make it into a full-fledged novel.
Could you give me any advice on how I can improve my vocabulary, my writing and storytelling and elaborate my own style?

[Anonymous No.6521474]

Bump

[Anonymous No.6521494]

Reading, writing and quitting /lit/.

Or stay and engage in meaningful discussions like that cheerleader thread.

[Anonymous No.6521586]

Reading would be most beneficial to you. Read slowly, maybe even aloud, the works of those writers whose style you admire and examine them. Ask yourself what makes reading them uniquely pleasurable and ruminate on these works, reading perhaps university level literary criticism about them as well, just so that you see the minutia. Supposedly Nabokov was known to ponder over a single comma.

Take what you like from their style and leave what you don't. Write paragraph after paragraph, then reread what you've written in a different state of mind so that you can see it almost as the work of s different person, prune what you dislike.
Do this with many writers, so that you're not using any single influence as a crutch. Eventually this concoction of initially secondhand flourishes will have become specially suited to you.

[Anonymous No.6521592]

>>6521586
Forgot to ask: what's your native language

[Anonymous No.6521650]

>>6521494
Yeah, I know 4chan isn't the best place but you can get decent advice here.
>>6521586
I see, thank you.
Aside from my general lack of vocabulary though, I often make grammatical or syntactical mistakes in my sentences. Do I need to worry about it, or is it unimportant if my wording isn't perfect?

My native language's French, why?

[Anonymous No.6521658]

>>6520482
If you can't write then don't write.

[Anonymous No.6521667]

>>6521658
I'm fairly sure that every single author had to learn how to write at some point. Are you implying it's a skill that can't be acquired?

[Anonymous No.6521675]

i know that feel.

A thing that worked for me was to write a piece, as you said it will be functional. Write one piece from start to end. Then, maybe a few weeks later, you re-read the whole thing sentence by sentence and see where you can add in stylistic figures, add a whole paragraph, cut some bad stuff out etc. Just go over it again and again. This way you kind of seperate the "storytelling" and the linguistic aspect of writing.

Read literature that covers a lot of vocabulary and research the nuances of the words used. Maybe something like Pynchon I learned hundreds of words from reading his works.

Anyways make sure you have fun writing, the plot will probably suck anyways so don't do it for us.

[Anonymous No.6521679]

>>6520482
Yes of course. Oh I'm no good with French. Had you answered Spanish I would be able to help so much better. I think French and English approach literary convention SO differently despite the fact that a lot of English is from Old Norman French (beef, boeuf etc).
I would honestly suggest reading a translation of Escoffier in English. Cookbooks really try to capture the essence of Francophone culture in our own.

[Anonymous No.6521718]

>>6521650
>Aside from my general lack of vocabulary though, I often make grammatical or syntactical mistakes in my sentences. Do I need to worry about it, or is it unimportant if my wording isn't perfect?
I'm a native speaker of English and I still have trouble with my grammar. That's one more reason to actually take part in the act of writing, the fact that certain grammatical peculiarities can only be met under specific literary circumstances. Yes, you do need to improve this, as grammar and syntax can be essential to the feeling a particular sentence brings about.

I'm learning French right now, and it's actually teaching me how ignorant I really am about my mother tongue English. It's really surprising, the amount of columnists and writers who turn out to be absolutely terrible in comparison with those who've had to contend with highly specific grammar.

I still don't know how I'm going to go about perfecting even my English grammar, much less my French. I've been looking into comprehensive grammar/syntax texts, perhaps you should do the same