/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.7241880]

How do you start writing seriously while being a student? Just start getting up at 5 AM and writing for an hour or two daily?

I have that 5 class 4.0, and I feel like I would like to write. But I just don't know how to get that into something I can schedule or work on constructively, you know? I have one english class I can write any essays at all for so I use that for analysis but I want a somewhat structured way to go about learning to write creatively.

[Anonymous No.7241928]

bumping for interest

[Anonymous No.7241934]

>>7241880
> Don't go to class
> Wake up at a comfortable time
> Write all day
> Cram everything before exams
> Cry

[Anonymous No.7241959]

>>7241880
>writing seriously
>while being a student
Not the best idea if you picked a major that needs actual work, gotta make the call and focus on one thing.

The idea to reserve one or two hours for writing/writing related shit every day, is pretty decent, though I wouldn't call it being serious, that would require to neglect university (and wouldn't be the most reasonable choice obviously). Care to specify the end result you're looking for?

>>7241934
That's my neger. Doing pretty much the same, worked damn fine so far because I picked my major specifically to have time for writing.

[Anonymous No.7241964]

>>7241959
Why would you pick a major that requires no work? All you'll be is an unemployable know-nothing with crushed dreams of becoming a writer

[Anonymous No.7241994]

>>7241959
>end result
tough question
I want to be a great modernist writer but I need science for a decent job first so that I can write while working and not be broke as fuck my whole life
But as we know it takes ~10 years to learn to write properly and most greats started in their undergrad or even earlier

I greatly enjoy literature and writing though, I read nearly all the time I'm not studying

[Anonymous No.7241996]

>>7241880
You'll never have more time in your life than you do in college. Manage your time better. (And for reference, I take 6 classes wit a 4.0 and I run the book club).

[Anonymous No.7242000]

>>7241996
Your uni lets you do that? I had to get special permission to take 20 units even
And that's like a 50 hr workweek

[Anonymous No.7242040]

>>7241996
This
Studying Software Engineering, doing extra research to get experience as research assistant, getting scholarship and aiming to be top of my year again this semester. I write.

>protip

Let yourself write about anything. Don't worry too much about putting it all into some great continuous work. Just write whatever every day, if you miss some days thats fine, read instead if you feel like it.

Write about your experience in third person or show via some metaphor; do stream of consciousness when you're sitting bored in some pointless lecture you don't give a fuck about.

Don't edit too much. Write with pen and paper, I suggest typewriter for home since you cannot delete anything. It's cheap and gives you instant results.

Just do it, it aint that hard.

[Anonymous No.7242045]

>>7241964
Following a dream, no matter how unlikely is still more satisfying than being pushed on a career path that brings no joy for decades. I tried few different jobs before, from volunteering, to minimum wage cuck, writing for local news agency, lower management, all the shit felt horrible, no matter how well it went … Why wasting more time looking for something that I won't hate if I found it already?

Finishing a page and liking the result, feels so much better than praise/respect from co workers/friends and a decent pay check. Though it's not something I would recommend to anybody due obvious reasons. Besides,

>>7241994
Well, as an other anon already said, you won't have more time than now. Squeezing writing in a work schedule with other responsibilities will be much harder. Minimize distractions, study more efficiently … reading in your free time is important but the most important thing is actually writing. You'll need to write so much shit till you start writing something worth reading, the sooner you start, the sooner you'll get there. Just do it ~

>most greats started in their undergrad or even earlier
Indeed but some started in their 50s and beyond, if you manage to keep your passion alive for so long, the additional life experience should give your work a great boost.

[Anonymous No.7242048]

>>7241880
I get up around 430 everyday. I make coffee and eggs and what n that kicks and n I start writing pretty well.

I also take 1 1/2 hour nap in the afternoon

First week will be the hardest. But you'll get into the habit of it and you'll find you've never written more in your life

[Anonymous No.7242056]

>>7242048
>he wakes up 430
>not 420
>>/out/

[Anonymous No.7242148]

>>7241880
At this stage start networking.
Maybe pursue tutoring. Get in touch with people that you might think can't teach you anything you don't already know. Resources are way more helpful than you might think.

[Anonymous No.7242348]

>>7241880
Five classes is a bit much to be truly serious about writing tbh. My advice is take an hour to write shit short stories nobody is ever going to read just to get the idea of sentence flow and your style down. These stories are strictly practice.
Don't turn down oppurtunities for friendship, social outings, etc. Life experience is cruicial. I always spoke this fact but never really understood it until a year ago. Friends are important.
If you're a good student keep it that way for now. If you're smart in the way I'm not you'll be in a good college right now and did not squander your first two years in said college. Don't ruin this. Writing can wait.

[Anonymous No.7242429]

>>7241934

Same here except I do the more important thing, reading, while I skip classes

[Anonymous No.7242445]

>>7241880

>Just start getting up at 5 AM and writing for an hour or two daily?

Yes, this and reading voraciously with an eye for the construction of what you're reading, and editing everything rigorously and repeatedly.

People will tell you there's more to it, but there isn't: the hard part of writing is doing it, day after day, consistently.

>>7242348
This is good advice but it is a bit rarefied. College is cripplingly expensive, especially in incidental costs, so finishing fast is actually quite smart if you can endure the pace. And if you want to write, you need to get the practice in. Being somebody bent over a desk will just make you a different kind of writer, it won't cripple you. The choice here really depends on the kind of thing you want to write eventually. If you want to write like Henry Miller, Jack London, Joseph Conrad, etc, you can't do that living an ascetic, clerical life. If you want to write like Calvino or Borges or Dickinson, you can.

[Anonymous No.7243806]

bump .....

[Anonymous No.7244933]

I used to go for walks in all different neighbourhoods. I would use my phone to take audio-notes (to other people it just looks like you're talking on the phone). When I got home I would write up a 100-150 word description of what I saw.

I quite liked doing that. I should do it again sometime.

[Anonymous No.7245966]

bump

[Anonymous No.7245983]

>>7241880
>going to class