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/lit/ - Literature

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6790319 No.6790319 [Reply] [Original]

what's the magnum opus you dream about writing that will secure you a place in the literature canon?

>> No.6790322

i'm not telling you, you'll steal it, you dirty thief

>> No.6790330
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6790330

>>6790319
It's a book that will secure my a place in the literary "canon", though under an assumed name. No one will ever know the author (This for legal protection as much as personal reasons)

>> No.6790334

A book of poems about sucking my own dick and finally finding beauty

>> No.6790335

>>6790319
A philosophical work giving undeniable proof of God's existence and teachings.

>> No.6790337

>>6790330
If you're serious, then at least drop a hint or a butterfly sigil in your dedication or something.

>> No.6790348
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6790348

>>6790334
You've seen that webm, haven't you?

>>6790335
Todd Burpo beat you to it.
He died and was buried for three days, but came back to life to tell people what heaven was like.

>> No.6790352

that's a pre cool pic OP, i always see the other moby dick one but the perspective on this picture is terrifying as fuck

>> No.6790365

The Ulysses of the internet age

>> No.6790370
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6790370

a truly modern piece of canadiana that isn't richler and doesnt take place on the prairies

>> No.6790371

When is /lit/'s genius going to rise up and post a manifesto that we all follow to literary glory and audience pussy?

>> No.6790372

>>6790348
with thoughts as pedestrian and unfunny as those, i doubt you'll ever be capable of entering the canon

>> No.6790378

>>6790365
It's been done, is shit, and is called "Totalitarianism." Only instead of chronicling the course of an ordinary day in Dublin we managed to bore a niche for every online culture in existence.

>> No.6790382

>>6790371
Never, we're vainglorious toppled upon each other.

>> No.6790396

>>6790370
>richler
>good

>> No.6790409

>>6790396
he isn't horrible but i can't really relate to a montreal jew that questions his canadian identity

>inb4 all his books were about montreal jews confused about their canadian identity

>> No.6790423

A 20 volume Fantasy Sci-Fi novel.
Note, not 20 book series, but 20 volume novel - longest novel ever written.

>> No.6790424
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6790424

>>6790372
I'm not looking for Christian approval, and have you seen auto-felatio? [sp]

>>6790337
I would share here of course. It would be written for the sake of writing it and people reading it. Don't want to get sued.

>> No.6790432

>>6790423

calling your neckbeard 20 volume fantasy sci fi novel the longest novel ever written is like saying the super smash bros fanfiction of a million words is the second longest novel ever written

>> No.6790433

>>6790319
I doubt anyone on here could actually do this: describe an ideal, novel approach to fiction. Even in blanket terms

>> No.6790435

>>6790432
How? It's a novel! And novels that long get into the cannon.

>> No.6790437

>>6790435
>cannon

>> No.6790442

>>6790437
Intended

>> No.6790445
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6790445

Fuck, you guys dream about this to?

>> No.6790452

>>6790433

why would it have to be novel?

>> No.6790496

>>6790452
The hypothetical here is about canonical literature. That would require a novel approach or vision of fiction. Not saying it need to reinvent prose, form, etc. or even be 'experimental' really. An example would be some shit like "a sweeping epic picaresque with psychological immediacy that conveys the modern human dilemma"

>> No.6790508

>>6790424
ugh, you stink of the type of girl that lives in a flat and drinks Shiraz while listening to Bitches Brew

>> No.6790614
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6790614

>>6790508
Port. And Kind of Blue is better. Not huge on jazz, I think I prefer Dave Brubeck and Blossom Dearie.

>> No.6790716
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6790716

>>6790423
I'm already halfway there. You should try something else

>> No.6790743

an ouvre of magical realism short stories based around my experiences growing up in rural victoria

>kill emu when i was 13 because it had a broken leg
>once ran out of water in our house while parents away for a week, drank the toilet
>once shot and killed the neighbour's dog for no reason

It would be a waste not to write about this shit

>> No.6790750

>>6790614
>Kind of Blue is better
out

>> No.6790770

>>6790716
This guy again, how's that going? Fucking publish it already

>> No.6790797

>>6790371
It's called My Twisted World.

>> No.6790800

>>6790614
No way is Kind of Blue better

>> No.6792095

>>6790319
an abstract and fragmentary narrative about the isolated child of an abusive lighthouse keeper living on a remote isle in the scottish Hebrides. I plan on writing it in the absence of any narrator, drifting instead between the internal monologues/memories of characters which reflect, reorganise or develop the form of the events which transpire simultaneously in the narrative. I've only got a skeletal structure, and experimenting with the writing is extremely difficult, but I'll get there eventually

>> No.6792178

>>6790750
>>6790800
Meh. It's just more my mood I guess. Bitches Brew is real good too, but has more of a gritty 70s vibes.

>> No.6792256

I'd love to write some kinda space bullshit like Dune or something, or something fantasy because I love imagining maps and filling them with places

but I'm not really a writer

>> No.6792307

>>6790770
Working on it.
Btw, that site I've been beta testing is about to go live.
It's called Authors.me
It's SUPPOSED to be like match.com for writers, agents, and publishers to find each other. We'll see.
Btw, I'm not name dropping or promoting them. I'm just trying to use the site. They are NOT paying or reimbursing me.
Don't like it? Don't use it.

>> No.6792316

>>6792178
Is your name Jen?

>> No.6792323

>>6792256
Just make a video game instead of shitting up literature.

>> No.6792332

>>6792307
190 bucks a year for any of the actually useful features? Yeah fuck that shit man.

>> No.6792336

>>6790330
>>6790424
>legal protection
>don't wanna get sued
can you elaborate just a bit on why your book will be so controversial and why you fear legal repercussions for writing it? You don't have to go into specific details about the story if you don't want to but I'm curious as to what kind of book would land you in that kind of predicament.

>> No.6792346

>>6790716
post an excerpt

>> No.6792353

>it will be written entirely in greentext

>> No.6792388

Thought about writing a little memoir about my circle of friends in college. It had been a unit for about two years until one of its members disappeared for two days.
He was found in a neighboring cities jail charged with solicitation of a child for sex and the fallout led to an interestingly rapid disintegration of the friend group.

>> No.6792406

>>6792388
I'd read this

>> No.6792415

I already wrote it. I just need to get it published in a way where it'll actually get read and make money.

>> No.6792422

>>6792323
oh please, have you been to a bookstore? there's more shit than ever will be classics

>> No.6792440

>>6792415
So ruin it?

>> No.6792450

>>6792415
author?

>> No.6792465

> fully embrace nihilism
> reconcile the absurdity by going on absurd adventures
> write about them in book
> what i learned about identity, people, life..etc

>> No.6792508

>>6792422
That's because of people like you

>> No.6792522

>>6792388
Brett please, you've already written something similar to this already.

>> No.6793004
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6793004

MY book will be so revolutionary that government will forbid publishing it. It's even too scary for wikileaks and dark net markets

>> No.6793242

>>6792508
People like me, who haven't written anything

lmao

>> No.6793279

>>6792388
this sounds cool>>6792440

>> No.6793303

>>6790716
Well mine's already plotted and built.
May the best neckbeard win.

>> No.6793584

>>6793303
Mines been done since August 13

Working on the sequel. 8000 pages?

>> No.6793650

>from the year 2115
>The future is shit
>"The Autist and Myself the Other Autist" is required reading at every grade level
>Defining novel of the "Internet Generation"
>Come of autism tale about a fedora flipping skinny faggot skyping with his obese brony from another pony
>They never meet in person, instead going by assumed names to protect their privacy
>Includes 7 chapters detailing masturbation
>Book is only 32 pages long, with 4000 pages of endnotes and references
>Chapter 4 is a coloring book
>Written by Tao Lin

>> No.6793724

Mine's about a young dude who gets a crush on this one chick but she's not into him.

I pride myself on originality.

>> No.6793855

>>6792307
>authors.me
You have a typo in one of your testimonials. Please fix this asap.

>> No.6794012

>>6793584
Good luck, but who cares about finishing first, it's about who writes best~~
have fun self publishing all that.

>> No.6794352

>>6793855
iPhone autocorrect.

>> No.6794384

>>6792440
>>6792450
I'll describe it in the vaguest way possible so as to avoid possible plagiarism.

This dude dies and a bunch of stuff happens to various people either directly or vaguely as a result of it.

>> No.6794392

>>6793855
It also seems like a fucking ripoff. He wasn't kidding when he compared it to a dating site, except I'd call it the adultfriendfinder of publishing.

>> No.6794478

Something like a crime thriller set in a colony on Mars where the elite are whacked out on next level shit and celebrities are VR gods. Streetwise like the wire but smooth like mad men when it needs to be. Sleek rap music videos in space p much.

Would probably touch on shit like ss, loss, immortality, and self actualization.

>> No.6794480

>>6794392
> it also seems like a fucking ripoff

Nigga you just found out about it

>> No.6794530

>>6794480
Look at the pricing section.

>> No.6795191 [DELETED] 

A collection of flash fiction stories so lucid and dazzling that each one hits you between the eyebrows like a diamond bullet. It will reign supreme in the world of minimalist literature next to the works of Lydia Davis and Aram Saroyan

>> No.6795199
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6795199

A collection of flash fiction stories so lucid and dazzling that each one hits you between the eyebrows like a diamond bullet. It will reign supreme in the world of minimalist literature next to the works of Lydia Davis and Aram Saroyan.

>> No.6795433

>>6792336
It's a political work with contemporary figures in it (As I currently see anyway) and it's not so much that I'll be making some lurid claims about anyone, but rather if it were to gain any notoriety (It would most likely be tactically marginalized and ignored. This even if it where a good piece gaining popularity) I would be sued by a host of lawyers trying to ruin me and be put under the eye of the NSA.
That is, if it turns out right.

I've dropped bits and pieces about it over the years. Imagine in place of Bernie Sanders running for the presidency, we had a galvanizing history teacher turned educational documentary host turned sociopolitical lecturer who has by now, (in the stories timeline) toured middle America and was practically drafted by the crowds to run for office. I'd thought of all this part before even Elizabeth Warren got elected to the senate.
She's not a self-insert though. The story does serve as an ideological showcase, but she's definitely not me.

>> No.6795554

>>6794478
>ss

ss?

>> No.6795590

>>6793242
No, people like you who accepted it to be the norm.

>> No.6795600

>>6795554
straight shota

>> No.6795602

I want to write a work of science fantasy that encompasses my love of Western literature and philosophy, and that also glorifies God. Something like the Divine Comedy that makes use of all thought and writing up to its own point, and directs it upward for a higher purpose.

>> No.6795675

>>6795433
Nothing is illegal or banned now unless if it contains military secrets.

>> No.6795686

>>6795433
Sounds good. You could call it "Delusions of Grandeur"

>> No.6795761

A combined suicide note and manifesto of philosophical pessimism along the lines of The Last Messiah.

>> No.6795805

>>6792316
No. Everyone knows a Jen, don't they?

>>6795675
Rachel Maddow had a segment recently about how Bernie Sanders was drawing these huge crowds, and she let the "S" word slip once. She called Bernie "socialist".
Next day she ran the exact same story, maybe a little shorter, and seven or eight times she called him a liberal. Not even progressive liberal.
I donno how they're going to handle him in a debate. Break to a commercial every time he gets a question? Have Bob Costas and Katie Couric narrate while he's speaking?

Legal, unbanned, yes. But fear of the NSA watch list is enough.

>>6795686
Thanks for the words of encouragement, unknown voice in the dark.

>> No.6795826

>>6794384
So Enter the Void?

>> No.6795846

Which one? There are three novels I'd love to write. One about a man who dreams. Things go terribly wrong. One about a man who works at a bank. Things go terribly wrong. And one about societies set in a broken world. Things go terribly right.

All of them would probably end up being garbage.

>> No.6795856

>>6795805
You must be literally autistic

>> No.6795862

because it sounds stupidly cliche, I'll post it
in an alternate universe there's this substance that delivers a near limitless supply of energy. it's recovered from underground. the country that sits over the reserves distributes it to neighboring countries. but tensions rise when it's discovered the energy can be weaponized. anyway the story follows a team that transports the substance as they travel the deserts and learn the meaning of friendship, patriotism, etc. and discover aliens along the way.

>> No.6795875

>>6795826
Not really but for the sake of not having my shit stolen, sure.

>> No.6795898
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6795898

>>6795856
Perhaps you should have used the word "paranoid"
You think I'm kidding?
*If* I was able to write it the way I envision it, and *if* I was able to get it out to enough people and they were impressed by it, it just *might* catch the eyes of the feds. It's designed to agitate and inspire action.

It's just a silly thread on /lit/ buddy.

>> No.6795919

>>6792095
Sounds decent. Good luck to you.

>> No.6795920
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6795920

>>6795862
Avengers did it

:)

>> No.6796535

>>6794530
16 bucks a month? Even a modest celler dweller can steal that from his mothers purse. I told them 9.99 was a good price point. Guess they didn't listen.

>> No.6796602

>>6795898
Every day I come to 4chan and find new levels of autism.

>> No.6796616

A fantasy novel in which the chosen one is a nihilistic chronic masturbator.

>> No.6796619

>>6796616
would read. do it.

>> No.6796786
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6796786

>>6793004

>> No.6796809

>>6790319
> writing for vanity
Aren't there easier ways to get your 15 minutes of infamy?

>> No.6796822

>>6796809
All artistic self-expression is inherently vain, even if it's the kind pumped out just to make a quick buck.

>> No.6797367

An allegorical "realistic" fantasy work that incorporates my (at the point of writing) extensive academic knowledge of international ethics and norms and practical experience in the diplomatic corps of my nations that thoroughly and comprehensively refutes the liberal democratic globalist agenda and argues compellingly for a return to nationalism, selfishness, and ethnocentricity, while still being fun to read for when it's inevitable assigned in high school classes.

And also it has dragons, because they're fucking awesome.

It will achieve all my goals:
1. write a good story
2. tell the cosmopolitans to get fucked
3. prove /lit/ wrong and that fantasy can be literature

>> No.6797377

>>6797367
>all those fucking typos
god fucking damnit my fingers are too cold to type

>> No.6797421

>>6790614
black saint by mingus is the bestest

>> No.6798447

>>6795805
The NSA and FEMA won't do shit.

>> No.6798465

>>6797367
>>6797377
You sound like a typical /pol/tard.

>> No.6798471

>>6798465
>You sound like a typical /pol/tard.
Yes, and?

>> No.6798510

>>6798447
FEMA? Who said anything about FEMA?
I'm not Alex Jones.
Do you think Assange would be able to book a flight to to Ecuador and not get arrested on the way there? You think Snowden's being paranoid?
I may not have government secrets but I would merely watched if I did it publicly. All I'm saying.

>> No.6798781

I plan on writing the first worthwhile Scottish novel since Alasdair Gray's 'Lanark' but am currently devoting a lot of time to being a big piece of shit instead

>> No.6798803

>>6795846
>One about a man who dreams. Things go terribly wrong. One about a man who works at a bank. Things go terribly wrong. And one about societies set in a broken world. Things go terribly right.
So what's stopping them from being the same story?

>> No.6798836

>>6790614
>debating whether the two most popular jazz artists are better

latfp

>> No.6798852
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6798852

>>6798510
when is this book/piece going to be published, for god sakes? also you better be posting this from tails 1.4 and a public wifi connection if you want the nsa to not you identity, lol. they got racks on racks in terms of surveillance


relevant

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBBzYG8szmc

>> No.6798855

>>6790319
... It's about language.

>> No.6798896
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6798896

Hey OP, hey /lit/.

Remember this post. I'm not going to tell you about my Opus because I don't want it stolen, but like I said, remember. After I'm published I'll throw /lit/ a shoutout and refer to this moment specifically. I've recently completed the storyboard and am currently doing character/chapter synopsis and little shorts before I start really grinding, which will begin within the next week or so. Call me crazy, call me whatever you want, but like I said;

remember this post. I'm calling it right now.

>> No.6799483

>>6796535
It's too much for an unproven service to charge. If they already had a reputation for working that'd be one thing but when you're just starting out and have no reputation, charging that much makes no sense.

>> No.6799505

it's a fan fiction of Richard Hammond

>> No.6799531

>>6798896
Good luck and God speed.

>> No.6799574

I posted it on here once, full outline, about two paragraphs, and no one ever replied to it, not even to tell me I'm a fagit

Now I'm scared

>> No.6799577

>>6799574
Post it again. I'll read it and respond.

>> No.6799629

Hard sci-fi novel that's also appealing to the masses.

Maybe a series, who knows.

>> No.6799646

>>6799574
Post it, you pansy.

>> No.6799792

>>6795554
excess* my fault

>> No.6799827

>>6790319
Something which predicts and gives insights on the human condition in the next century.

>> No.6799837

>>6794478
Kim Stanley Robinson did it first

>> No.6799852

A depressing novel about a world with dwindling fresh water supplies and the struggle for survival.

>> No.6800040

>>6799483
I spoke (email) with David today. He says publishers are onboard because it'll save them time on managing the slush pile. Time will tell if it's a success or a waste of time and money. I'm willing to give it a shot but I won't be a fool

>> No.6800095

>>6800040
If you actually get published as a direct result of using that site, and it isn't some scam, come back and make a thread about it.

>> No.6800112

>>6799837
>Kim Stanley Robinson did it first
Well sheeit

>> No.6800145

it involves an alternate universe where a young NEET sees some of Elliot Rodgers pre shooting videos and realizes that he has to save this young man from himself. He travels cross country, meets the Supreme gentleman and takes him back to his hotel room where he plies him with alcohol and transforms him from a kissless Virgin to one who can never unlearn that the asshole is a sexual organ.
Through the proper mix of tenderness and brutality, the NEET teaches Elliot that he is miscast as a Supreme Gentleman but is in fact the Supreme Ladyboy. They travel cross country with funds obtained by prostituting Elliot's ass to sordid old men. Eventually they save enough to begin the transition process from Elliot to Elle.

>> No.6800150

>>6800145
Sounds like that one Trayvon Martin book on Amazon tbh.

>> No.6800211
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6800211

What about people who have perfected a craft and are now "on the other side" of what it means to be an artist? I ask because I am, and it seems the only way left for me to increase myself is through extranecessary means.

>> No.6800217

>>6800211
cringe

>> No.6800228
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6800228

>>6800217

This is me

>> No.6800235

It's gonna be about the time I ate a girls ass in the family bathroom at the mall and got hepatitis a

>> No.6800247

>>6800228
kinda of makes me nostalgia about the 2000s really

>> No.6800251

an epic poem (w/ prose interludes between stanzas) about a drug addict and his attempts to be high-society to avoid drug use
the final scene is in play form of his confrontation of a painter whose paintings he doesn't get (which he ends up killing, marking his rejection of high culture in favor of drugs)

>> No.6800323

>>6800251
>high-society
>avoid drug use
???

>> No.6800387

>>6800323
the idea is he is essentially a major heroin user and he wants to absorb culture so he doesn't need drugs anymore
it's probably a dumb idea but I like writing from that perspective

>> No.6800420

>>6800387
Oh, so you mean high-society as in cultured, not high-society as in actual high-society people?

>> No.6800431

>>6800420
yeah, not like Gatsby high society but more like sampling the 'great works' cultured high society
i dunno i worded it horribly

>> No.6800437

>>6800387
It's pretty dumb in that "culture" as a substitute for drugs is the sort of retarded idea no one would ever expect to work anyway.

>> No.6800446

>>6800431
So, essentially, he becomes One of Us?

>> No.6800468

>>6800446
it's definitely inspired by /lit/ but the guy is considerably worse
>>6800437
i could probably get away with the fact that its a dumb escape considering the guy is dumb

>> No.6800536

If I knew what my magnum opus was going to be I would be writing it instead of shitposting on /lit/.

>> No.6800658
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6800658

>>6798803

>> No.6800676

>>6800658
Are you the OP? Have you seen Brazil?

>> No.6800758

>>6798465
>implying communitarian ethics don't have a large mainstream following
>implying realist ethics aren't literally older than writing
Just because cosmopolitanism is in vogue doesn't mean it's the only moral framework that exists, fagget.

>> No.6801251

>>6800095
Deal.

>> No.6802437

>>6790319
A novel about a depressed literature professor in London. The novel explores existentialism, is heavy on literary theory and discusses the essence of art.

>> No.6802521
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6802521

>>6795602
already been done nigga

>> No.6802671

Its a mix of Moby Dick and Infinte Jest with some Ulysses thrown in.
I think lit will really enjoy it

>> No.6802703

>>6793650
I would read this. You should write it, then publish under the pseudonym Lin Tao.

>> No.6802729

>>6790319
A novel-length epic poem in iambic pentameter about elves (Tolkien, not Shakespeare) and their ancient kingdoms.

>> No.6803838

I have this idea in my head of a tragic play that explores individualist egoism. But I don't know how to write it without making a cliched imitation of Shakespeare and Sophocles with none of the poetic prowess.

>> No.6803845

>>6803838
Stir in some Stirner.

>> No.6803947

A multi-volume novel which details the life of an average person through the eyes of everyone he has an interaction with, from his mother (birth) to his coroner (death).

>> No.6804257

>>6802437

I need to know, are you a literature professor, or have you ever been to London, or are you an undergraduate? The answers to these questions will determine if I believe I am being trolled or not.

>> No.6804286

>>6790508
at least shes not the type sitting at home reading elite daily articles and drinking yellow tail thinking shes the greatest thing since sliced bread because of meaningless validation she doesn't contextualize as meaningless

>> No.6804597

A philosophical text under guise of an unassumingly nonsensical story, think of Thus Spake Zarathustra. The text will deal with questions asked for eons about the meaning of existence, death, and moral obligations.

>> No.6804627

A novel that combines Apollonian/Dionysian dichotomy, where the first half of the book is Apollonian, and the second half is Dionysian, with a final last chapter where everything comes together, but they are both the same story just with the theme focused differently in each.

Not sure how I'm going to pull it off yet though.

>> No.6805029

>>6803947

That actually sounds beautiful. Would love to read some.