/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.7343996]

Who /writing something/ here?
What is it? Poetry, novel, novella, short story? Non-ficiton?

Are you hopeful about finishing it? How far are in are you?

What's your biggest struggle at the moment, in regards to whatever you're writing.

>inb4 biggest struggle is actually sitting down to write it
That's like, nothing special desoo senpie, think of something else

[Anonymous No.7344288]

I'm writing two things right now. One is a science fiction novel about a setting where all of humanity has retreated into a simulated (not non-physical, but strictly controlled) world where the internet and reality have merged; where everyone only interacts with fictional characters called 'virtuals', knowingly living their lives as wish fulfillment fantasies in complete isolation. I'm 40,000 words in now, and it's pretty fucking weird to write, and the plot - the adventures of a girl named Yoshimi and her various other selves, sort-of Buddhist reincarnations that replace her every time she dies, video game style - just keeps growing more complicated. I think it has a lot of potential, but for now I'm kind of burnt out on it, so in my spare time I'm also writing an erotic novella about a man who finds an eccentric blind Gothic lolita chick living in a mysterious mansion, who lets him stay with her in return for bizarre sexual favours.

The tricky part is making sure I don't give up on the latter idea in favour of the former, since fap material is much easier to write than existential science fiction.

Anyone else know what that's like?

[Anonymous No.7344294]

>>7344288
Were you that anon who posted in that critique thread that one time? And you got like, zero negative feedback? I remember reading about Yoshimi's adventures in the arcade land, or whatever it was, moving past the shadows who didn't question whether they were real or not, didn't even acknowledge each other or something. Was that you?

[Anonymous No.7344300]

>>7344294
Yeah, that was me. I'm kind of chuffed someone remember me posting that - getting such a decent response from /lit/ was a big part of what helped me get this idea off the ground. It's come a way since then, in a pretty short period of time. I hope to have a draft done by Christmas.

[Anonymous No.7344305]

I'm writing a novel.

My biggest struggle is the feeling that my writing is thematically impotent and up its own solipsistic ass. Meta-fiction, the problem of sincerity, exploration of the self, and metaphorical tennis matches between philosophers just seem empty given the gravity of what goes on in the world. I just can't justify 800 pages of a middle class American "deconstructing" life. It started out as an experiment in prose style along with some authobiographical narrative but as I wrote I felt that my themes were such that I should aim for a thematic culmination of the problem of sincerity (the great "do I mean this?") that has haunted literature since Hamlet was just pretending to be crazy (or since Odysseus was just pretending to be lost) and has picked up steam with the quest for meaning of modernism, the rejection of "meaning" of postmodernism, the tempered quest for authenticity of New Sincerity, and the "why not both" of oscillatory metamodernism.

And I think I've done it. But now that I look back (I'm in the editing stage) I can't help but feel like it's ultimately a waste of space. Is there room in the world for a doorstopper that primarily looks in? Do people have time in their day for almost 400,000 words of what does not even attempt to answer a greater societal question about what's going on in the world outside of its author's head?

Does anyone want need another Infinite Jest? Do we even need another Ulysses? Or is art not by definition unnecessary? Should I be bothered by this?

These are the concerns that plague my writing (well, rewriting). It feels as if literature is truly dead.

[Anonymous No.7344307]

>>7344288

Sounds interesting mate.

[Anonymous No.7344308]

>>7343996

>inb4 biggest struggle is actually sitting down to write it

I find getting out a first draft to be a pretty big hurdle sometimes, but once I've written it, got my ideas and structure on the page, the editing/re-writing etc. is the really fun part. I'm working on three or four short stories at the moment. End goal is a collection centred on the Black Saturday bushfires that killed ~200 people in 2009 around Victoria. Not that each story mentions the bushfires as such, just that that theme is hanging over each story, the idea of great natural events dwarfing humans etc.

[Anonymous No.7344315]

>>7344305
I can see why you're bothered, but it sounds as if your very indecision about this project might be what makes it interesting - the "spark", so to speak. In a situation like that all you can do is understand that the question of necessity, of sincerity, is nothing but unhelpful. Your work exists because you feel it has to exist, and even if all you have to say is an almighty shrug, as long as your shrug is compellingly framed and beautiful, then that'll be more than enough to justify its existence.

[Anonymous No.7344330]

>>7344300
I'd be chuffed too. Just don't let that make you complacent ayy. Tell me hat it might be called so I can buy it if it ever gets published.

I posted something in a recent critique thread and got some surprisingly pleasing 'critiques'. I say that because I honestly thought my writing was badly done. Those comments made me keep writing what I posted.

Hopefully I'm not shit.

Keep it up, though, Yoshimi-kun

[Anonymous No.7344336]

Erotic Fanfiction

[Anonymous No.7344340]

>>7344308
You're from Austraia? Good, we need Australian literature. Please keep going.

>>7344305
This >>7344315 Well said.

[Anonymous No.7344353]

Mainly writing a pair of novels and a short story collection; just got done writing a short story unrelated to the latter.

My main issue is actually getting things done. Not only does the work I have to do to write what I want to feel massive, in the sense of things I want to address and the knowledge and skill needed to do so properly, but also I rarely find the time or willingness to just sit and write, and it's been difficult for me write a routine.

>>7344288
>>7344305
Wait, so if I'm reading this correctly: you guys are writing exactly about the same problems that you feel you need to overcome?

>Wants to write a sci-fi about people living in wish fulfillment VR.
>Has trouble writing this instead of fap fiction.

>Wants to write about sincerity and self-awareness.
>Is too self-aware and sincere to confortly write about only that.

[Anonymous No.7344354]

>>7344330
Thanks, anon. My tentative title is 'Video City', and since I'm pants at titles it'll probably remain that. It really means a lot, though, to hear this kind of encouragement from a stranger. Just knowing even one person cares has made my day! For your sake, I'll try not to get arrogant or complacement about this project - maybe I'll even finish it.

[Anonymous No.7344360]

>>7344288
Nice ideas

Source on pic?

[Anonymous No.7344366]

>>7344305
You're thinking way too hard about it. Think up a good story, write it.

[Anonymous No.7344372]

>>7344366
I wrote it. I just don't know if I like it anymore.

[Anonymous No.7344373]

I'm writing a second novel, trying to sell the first one. About it.

[Anonymous No.7344374]

>>7344372
Then you would be fucking up the first part.

[Anonymous No.7344378]

>>7344340

Also Australian.

Writing a semi-autobiographical novella about a love triangle between a man, his close friend and a woman that results in the man realising he wants his friend, not the girl. Set against a backdrop of heavy amphetamine use and the backward politics of the country.

Biggest struggle is patience. The story being highly drawn from reality means the basic structure and ending is known to me, so its very hard to not want to rush towards it.

[Anonymous No.7344379]

>>7344374
It's more than about a good story vs a bad story. It's about the validity of the novel as a mode of storytelling. I can't think of a reason for why the story I'm trying to tell and the point I'm trying to make need or deserve an 800 page novel other than the fact that the classic academic definition of meritorious artful storytelling has lately held the novel as the highest form of narrative art. I don't know if most people who sit down and write a novel in this day and age actually think a novel is the best artistic medium for them. It all feels a bit (ironically (or perhaps fittingly (and therefore unironically (or I suppose ironic in a rain-on-your-wedding-day way)))) insincere. I guess it took me a whole novel, a handful of short stories, and a collection worth of poetry to realize I'd rather be a blogger or a screenwriter than a novelist.

[Anonymous No.7344382]

>>7344378
Sounds good. Of course the Australians would e on at this hour, to catch some quick bantz before bed.
>Set against a backdrop of heavy amphetamine use and the backward politics of the country.
Are you by chance from Adelaide? Amphets are rampant here for some reason.

[Anonymous No.7344386]

>>7344353
*set a routine

As for what the novels are about...

One of them could be said to be about "excess of body": sexual desire, needs, repression, self vs. other, dependence, fear, denial, trance, and so on. Everything that we consider is us and beyond our control. It's told through the changing narration of a young woman who ends up in a relationship with a young man of supernatural origin, so it's sort of a satire of YA romance novels. It's divided into five main "chapters", and the first four detail the lives of a would-be love-interest (even though it's clear the one guy is the only one with a chance).

The other one then could be said to be about "excess of mind": identity, ideology and how it limits and allows doings, the nature of language, of awareness, the different ways people perceive an event, etc. Everything that shapes our reality. This is explored in the setting of a magic high school, as (you guessed it) a parody of stories like Harry Potter and other urban fantasy YA. But in this case "magic" isn't something the characters feel is particularly special, not more so than any other part of their life, and it's not some pervasive force of nature but rather something closer to language, something shaped and created by the human mind, in systematic arrangements capable of change. There's no monolithic anything, no great struggle, no epic, and all of the characters come from different (mostly European) ethnicities, have different interests and situations; plurality is rampant, and the plot is moved by a desire for completion and "getting it" of the world, which almost leads to an unneeded catastrophe. I'm also really struggling to find the "voice" to write it in, because I want it to reflect these points and that's not something I'm sure I can do without making the readers cringe every two lines.

[Anonymous No.7344401]

>>7344379
>It's more than about a good story vs a bad story.

No, it's not.

[Anonymous No.7344404]

>>7344382
Nah, I'm from up north. Amphetamines are pretty rampant in all the cities as far as I'm aware. But I've heard that Adelaide is pretty bad for it and the club scene is particularly toxic.

I think Australia's drug and alcohol problems are pretty heavily linked to our country's politics and social norms in regards to how to have fun/unwind/express yourself. Which is part of what I'm trying untangle in the writing.

[Anonymous No.7344409]

>>7344386
These sounds super-pretentious and overstuffed with ideas and potentially car crash tier but I'd still read the shit out of them. Take from that what you will, anon.

[Anonymous No.7344432]

>>7344404
>I think Australia's drug and alcohol problems are pretty heavily linked to our country's politics and social norms in regards to how to have fun/unwind/express yourself

I'll add to that: the alcoholism/drug use to 'unwind' is the only defining cultural trait we have that isn't a parody of us imposed from the outside. We literally DO scull alcohol, or blaze up, or go pingan' hard to unwind. I get the feeling that this relaxed trait is the only real cultural characteristic we have left now in a world ma where Australia sits down in the corner alone by itself, so we hold on to it by night and work hard to mask it by day, like a bipolar.

Am I being too harsh? Because it's honestly the picture I get.

[Anonymous No.7344450]

>>7343996
I'm in a constant state of being on the verge of writing something.

I just have to crest my own fear.

But I mean, what I want to write is genre fiction for pleb shitters anyway. I just want weird Eurasian Mad Max w/ girls to exist, even if it's just on my hard drive. It'll be bad, but, eh.

[Anonymous No.7344451]

>>7344432
I think it's the picture that we as Australians like, that we are a loose county, but I think there is a substantial media scare campaign to do with our drug and alcohol consumption. As a country i'm 99% sure that we're consuming less alcohol and recreational drugs now than previously.

When you look at the figures though, our consumption of alcohol is decreasing every year, and it's estimated that our consumption of drugs peaked a few years ago, but i don't know how you'd get an accurate estimate of that.

With the ice "epidemic" that we're meant to be having, the reason it's considered an epidemic is because a couple of years ago ice consumption was at an all time low, in the last two years it has marginally crawled back, the trend is still that we as a country are decreasing the consumption of drugs and alcohol.

[Anonymous No.7344455]

>>7344450
just start describing scenes, not even coherently. It's better to be writing 500 word unconnected bits than nothing at all. It's not fear, you don't have to publish at all. Plenty of writers have scrapped plenty of projects, but you can't scrap it until you've started it.

[Anonymous No.7344458]

Currently trying to write a screenplay about organized crime in a fictional American city, based loosely off of Antigone. And yes, the hardest part seems to be sitting down to write it.

[Anonymous No.7344462]

>>7344455
That's true. Thanks, man. Now I just gotta stop overanalyzing it late at night and let it just, mean something if it wants to, and if not that's fine. I just gotta relax the sphincter, I guess.

[Anonymous No.7344466]

>>7344458
Same here. Someone needs to snap my fucking Destiny disc in half.

[Anonymous No.7344473]

>>7344451
You're right on the point about the overall downwards trend. Maybe I'm just biased a little, coming from a place where I've seen within that side of Australia.

[Anonymous No.7344476]

>>7344466
>destiny

Seems like what you need is from some to snap your console in half...

But yeah the problem for me seems to be a mixture of procrastination and fear. I'm constantly afraid that i'm writing unappealing crap, yet I can't pinpoint eaxtcly what's wrong with it, so i'm guessing it's just baseless paranoia. According to nonfiction I've read a hard part of writing is learning to turn off that inner critic so you can just write.

[Anonymous No.7344477]

I wrote a memoir from the perspective of a dragon-obsessed transgender psychotic prone to violent fantasies for NaNoWriMo. I hit the word cap but it could still stand to be edited, mostly for better prose (and honestly, to remove about 20,000 pointless words I included solely to hit the goal).

Biggest struggle was/is the extreme cringeworthy nature of the text, second biggest was forgetting what I was trying to do constantly.

[Anonymous No.7344480]

>>7344458
>>7344462
I'm almost finished the first draft of my first novel, i've written some okay short stories, and it's taken me two years for ~80k words. Most of them have come from the last four months where i've sat down and forced myself to write, like i'll write anything even if it's not related to the novel at all.I think writing costs literally nothing but time, and it's a matter of almost switching your brain off and just getting the words onto the page so you can afterwards mould it to how you want.

[Anonymous No.7344500]

>>7344473
Yeah i'm not saying there's not problems, like I grew up in country vic which wasn't necessarily that "bad", but definitely seedy. If ever you want to find people to put into a drink responsibly ad, just walking around some of the bigger towns such as Seymour or Shepperton you can find plenty of candidates.

[Anonymous No.7344647]

Started writing in wattpad just, 400 word prologue of a boy and his journey to overcome fear, really don't see much potential but will try still

[Anonymous No.7344831]

>>7343996
Currently writing an essay on economics. 1000 words today, feels fucking good man !

[Anonymous No.7344859]

Short stories mostly. They're all about the same characters or the same setting, I'm hoping to find enough material for a novel.

I have a massive problem /lit/. Sitting down to write, yeah sure that can be a struggle, but I compensate by being a unstoppable machine when I actually get to it. My problem is naming characters, what do???

[Anonymous No.7344883]

I am writing a short story about an aging hitman who to ensure financial security for his down and out adult daughter, accepts a contract on himself, the twist is how it's done. kinda like a neo noir meets Poe. but whenever I have time to write, I'm always so tired. working 45 hours a week sucks

[Anonymous No.7345004]

Writing a screenplay, a half-hour comedy pilot.
I wrote 10 pages of the first draft and decided that it doesn't work, so i'm now outlining a better story with more intense plot. Almost have the treatment done.

[Anonymous No.7345839]

>>7344859
If you're worrying about whether the name has enough meaning that reflects the character you assign it to, forget about that. Names take on their own meaning through the course of the story. You could call one character Dylan, so he initially brings to mind a chad type fucker, but as the story progresses, the name Dylan will have taken on the meaning you want it to, because what does it signify? Your character, who might not actually be a chad type fucker.

Get what I'm saying?

[Anonymous No.7345848]

>>7343996
Its a rather coarse western, not too inspired but primarily it is an experiment with a method wherein I interpose grids which try to represent various developments of the story as a sort of game position. I suppose a more accurate analog would be cellular automata. If it proves successful (that is personally compelling) then I will set out to do this with a more subtle text.

[Anonymous No.7346702]

man. this is daunting.

i'm actually more of a lurker, i rarely comment on anything, but lately i've been feeling less and less hopeful about my own process. it's now a glaring oversight that perhaps i'm not even that good.

you guys have some unusually interesting ideas, not stuff i would typically read about, though. and yet, the more i look around, the more i realize i don't think i'll really feel so accomplished compared to what you guys have in mind. i mean, these ideas, they're original. or at least they sound it.

i've spend a decade of my life working on a series of novels, feeling like top shit after i finished them (the hardest part really is sitting your arse down to start it, meanwhile shedding tears of blood). now, what to do? i've been rejected countless times by publishers and agents.

i just feel so childish and foolishly naive. Santa isn't real. what a world.

[Anonymous No.7346716]

>>7345848
This sounds pretty pretentious

[Anonymous No.7346736]

>>7343996
I'm writing a novella, the plot of which revolves around the expression of longing and its effects on the protagonist as he recalls the events which led to his suffering. The most difficult aspect of it has been to feel as my protagonist as I am writing it in the first person and consider it necessary to remain sincere. I loved as I created him to have loved; and I long now as I am writing of his longing. The difficulty at the moment is that although I near completion, the longing for the woman I loved is fleeting and I am in a position where I have to strive to maintain it lest it vanishes before I complete the novella. And I cannot think of a name.

[Anonymous No.7346751]

Finished a short story. Gonna send it to a competition soon. Also working on my first novel. Second, technically. But I don't feel like the first one I wrote meets the standards of quality I set for myself.

>>7346702
read the criticism threads and you'll see you have nothing to worry about

[Anonymous No.7346766]

At the moment, I'm writing the "treatment" for the fourth arc for my someday graphic novel/manga thing. Should finish this arcs script before the end of the month. Then I have 3 more fairly short ones after that and then I start drawing.

There's many struggles as it's my first time seriously writing something. I know it's shit, but I'm not that concerned with it being good. It's true and only purpose for me is a personal one.

[Anonymous No.7346767]

>>7346716
It can't be pretentious if there is no intended audience

[Anonymous No.7346768]

Currently working on a paper about the Song of Roland, and once I'm done with I'm going to begin my paper on the First Great Awakening.

Nothing special, just some undergrad history stuff, but the thread asked and now I'm wasting time on 4chan again

[Anonymous No.7346775]

I'm finishing a series of Young Adult novels, six in all. They're good. Not ground-breaking, not something worthy of the /lit/ bookshelf of fame, but I'm very proud of them, and I think the plot, characters, and setting are original for what's otherwise a bloated genre right now. (ie, are not vampires, are not post-apocalypse, are not wizards...). It's solid. I'd like to publish, and I think I could sell, but I'm not so sure about just coming in as a complete unknown and dumping a six-novel brick on someone's desk and expecting to get anything out of it. Plot's also a bit hard to summarize in a sentence or two, takes a lot of turns.

So I'm also writing a standalone, completely separate piece that's a little bit of a farce on writers in general. Probably a better chance of getting my foot in the door with it.
>Main character is a 20-something writer
>Is not a good one
>Made a chunk of money when his hammy, cliched detective noir novel was translated into Japanese/Chinese at the height of a new western-style detective story craze there, and the translators turned his shit into gold
>Back home in the US (Philadelphia/Delaware area), in trying to come up with new ideas, he's also dealing with a rival writer of his from nearby, who's achieved much more success and fame, but is also possibly losing his mind
>Becomes suspicious of said rival, and with his friends, takes on the identity of his own character to investigate what he's up to
>Can't solve mysteries worth shit but creeps further into the inner circle of the area's successful writers, who are all either sociopaths, or completely cut off and oblivious to society
>Rival has completely gone off the deep end, but his fans consider him a genius
>Main character eventually just has to stay alive

[Anonymous No.7346780]

>>7345848
>a method wherein I interpose grids

like a literal Excel spreadsheet in the middle of the story whenever there are developments?

[Anonymous No.7346781]

>>7346751
I finished a short story recently myself; can you share with me some information about the competition?

[Anonymous No.7346784]

>>7346781
It's the exact same one you're doing. Good luck going toe-to-toe with such a fierce opponent as I.

[Anonymous No.7346790]

>>7346784
I am not aware of any competition, I wrote it for practice but will submit it if it is not difficult to do so.

[Anonymous No.7346800]

>>7346751

mostly, my thing is that i'm not original. vampires and werewolves have been done, and i just "lather, rinse and repeat." moreover, it's long.

but either way, i'll give it a try. i need people other than my own friends to give opinions. i'm tired of editing on my own.

on a better note, god luck with your short story!

[Anonymous No.7346812]

I'm writing a memoir. I started a few months ago and now have 19 chapters (150 pages) to revise now and the second half left to write, though I think it should come easier than the first half did.

The hardest part has been folding all of these episodes up into one story from chapter to chapter. Motivation has been an issue occasionally

[Anonymous No.7346829]

>>7346780
No, more like a game board. Except I think of it more as a cellular automata (e.g. conway's Life). Actually, the need to tell a story is a bit of an inconvenience to me in a way. But of course, to work off of an existing text seems sort of cheap. Also writing it out makes it easier to produce the diagrams since both sides of the process inform each other.

[Anonymous No.7346832]

>>7346775
>>Main character is a 20-something writer

ohboyherewego

>>7346800
>i'm tired of editing on my own

Just edit it until it's something you would want to read. I'm sure you read good literature, so you can tell when your own writing doesn't match the standards of the writers you look up to.

And thank you!

[Anonymous No.7346837]

>>7346812
How old are you?

[Anonymous No.7346839]

>>7346837
22 / freelance journalist

[Anonymous No.7346862]

>>7346832
>Main character is a 20-something writer

Yeah, I know. In this case though, he's a legitimately bad writer, not someone misunderstood or undervalued, but is oblivious to the fact.

[Anonymous No.7346866]

>>7346832

it's sound advice, but i make things difficult because i am a pessimist and a perfectionist. each time i read it, giving a few weeks or a couple of months of time in between, i find new things to take out and change around. that's not necessarily bad, but the things i change are the same things i edited from before, know what i mean? it's like when you read something over so many times, it almost loses it's meaning.

either way, i will still see who wants to take a swing at it. i need the criticism, and a new perspective. thanks though.

[Anonymous No.7346870]

>>7346862
So its you then ;^)

[Anonymous No.7346871]

>>7344354

post an excerpt again

[Anonymous No.7346876]

>>7346870
Couldn't be me, I don't have any friends.

[Anonymous No.7346886]

>>7346866
you can't keep that perfectionism forever. at some point you have to say "fuck it, i can't make this any better," and then move on. if you can't edit it to make it a better story then nobody else can, either. it's time to scrap it and go for something else entirely.

[Anonymous No.7346904]

>>7344450
Do it. I started writing on a whim with no intention of ever having it leave my Word doc. Ten months later, I completed it and >self-published it. It's most likely shit that nobody will read, but having the physical proof in my hands (with the cover I made myself in GIMP) feels fucking amazing, and is far more of an accomplishment than the Steam achievements I might have gotten instead.

[Anonymous No.7346919]

So i'm trying to write one of those Summoned to another world bullshit type things with the [Item/Spell/Name] style of light novel that plagues weeb culture right now.

And i don't expect it to be good just something of because i can type mentality.

but i'm trying to make it a little unique by leaving out loli's bending some tropes such as dwarfs and elves.

Dwarfs will be miners and will be just like in normal fiction of short muscular badasses, but instead of being short they are 5 ft tall but have the same build that we know and love.

also instead of being blacksmiths they are miners and Warrior-clan who protect humans who farm and brew for them.

Kinda like a riff in social classes with dwarfs being top as the warrior class and humans worker class.

Also "mining" refers to killing monsters for the metals and materials that they use for scales and skin.

Elves are 50ft tall Slender beings who are druidic magical beings, who guard forests of massive trees and use bows who's arrows can be used as a ballista bolt, they oft have ents and sprites gather around them for protection.

kinda like a magical army that wonders around with a giant who can pinpoint shoot someone miles away with massive projectiles at a decently rapid pace.

also i am trying to write "Logs" which are like a help guide and random lore books that you would find in the Elder Scrolls.

my grammer is horrid and so is my spelling.

but i hope after i finish writing it that when i edit it, it'll be something decent to read.

think anyone would like it?

[Anonymous No.7346930]

>>7346919
If you're going out of your way to change the dwarf-elf stereotype, why not just have them be a completely invented race instead?

[Anonymous No.7346934]

>>7346886

i realize that, and you're right. i actually did that before, for my "first" real novel i wanted published. i always pictured it like a movie, though, so it was difficult to get the right atmosphere down.

but you're right. i think i'm close to that "fuck it" stage. i can only do so much.

[Anonymous No.7346935]

>>7346930
Kinda want people to assume they are small normal dwarfs everyone thinks of.

Afterall the person summoned will be from earth.

I thought about changing them but i was also planing on a Elf race that is normal high and mighty but with wings and using Naga as well as a Fire lizard man race.

but if i changed the race i don't know what i would name them and the stereotypes we give them being overturned wouldn't matter as much.

overall it's just what i got planed so far and i've only written a little bit of the "logs"

also got the names for the rest of the ones i want to start out with.

[Anonymous No.7346936]

Finished longhand drafts of a couple stories in the past week and am typing and revising in the mornings before work. I recently got my first fiction acceptance in a journal, so I'm pushing through the remaining self-doubt to finish stories and let someone else judge their worth.

Also started a novel about a high school orchestra and one gifted member who seems to exude an otherworldly influence over others through her playing--but only given a specific condition. Haven't worked out the logic of it, but I try to follow strange intuitions when I have them.

[Anonymous No.7346949]

I'm writing a body horror/science fiction horror novel, and I'm almost done with the main shell of it. I have high hopes of finishing it, but I am afraid publishers won't like it. And my biggest struggle is actually rewriting it to make it actually good sounding and not like a damn rough draft of a 7th grader's essay.

[Anonymous No.7346956]

>>7346949
Summery of plot?

Don't alot of writers get their stuff rewritten by ghost writers since they can provide good plot but not always well written sentences?

And don't worry about publishers not liking it, if i remember correctly alot of well selling series were declined, and in music the beetles were declined before as well.

If anything throw it out as a downloadable online and suggest it to /lit/ reddit and others if it's good it'll sell by word of mouth.

While money won't be alot you have a better chance on your next novel.

[Anonymous No.7346975]

>>7346956
Umm, the plot essentially surrounds a hospital that kidnaps people that the board of directors deems to be unworthy. They then proceed to deform the victims horribly and lock them away in the underground portion of the Hospital. The protagonist is a little boy who has been trapped inside and seeks to escape. However, a mysterious and wretched creature seems to lurk in the vents, and it seems to know the way out. So, in short, the little boy is attempting to escape while evading the thing in the vents.

Honestly, though, I feel that the strong parts of my novel center around the monster itself, and its origins from within the Hospital.

[Anonymous No.7346983]

>>7346975
Sounds like what the Nazis did.

Overall i wouldn't read but that's due it being not my cup of mead.

Sounds a little RL stein but with a darker tone.

And if it focuses on the monster and the hospital i would say it's like the hunchback of Notre Dame.

[Anonymous No.7346989]

>>7346983
Well, it doesn't focus on the monster in that it's the protagonist. A lot of focus is put into it, because it's honestly my favourite part of my story. I love a good monster story, especially stuff like The Thing.

[Anonymous No.7346999]

>>7346989
Well i ment as in detail and background.

The reason horror isn't my cup o tea is from watching The Thing as a kid or at least one of the reasons i don't like horror.

I felt the newer The Thing was a let down in a way.

the Original had alot of focus on Human vs Human vs the Unknown that i felt the newer didn't capture. Not bad but not good IMHO.

[Anonymous No.7347004]

>>7346999
Yeah, the new version of The Thing doesn't tickle my fancy, either. I'm reading the novella it was based on right now, though. Really good.

[Anonymous No.7347024]

>>7347004
Well I wish you luck if you're reading this.

Remember thou good writing is only half the fight, the other half is good PR.

Look at Eragon that did well from just PR.

[Anonymous No.7347031]

>>7343996
I'm working on a novel in which I try to express how the life of a true artist should be, basing on what most relevant artists had to face throughout their lives: poverty, depression, addictions, sexual unfulfillment, sexuality issues, lack of love, etc. and how that influences their actions and their work. I also try to show how the man can change during life and how he can be easily corrupted or his heart broken since youth in a very psychological way. I'm using several aspects of my own life. Inspirations: Camus, Hemingway, Marquis de Sade, Rimbaud, Baudelaire... My main problem is figuring out how to write it without it becoming a typical "hurr nobody understands me" horny teenager novel.

Name: "The life of an artist or the unexplainable benefits of a shattered soul"

[Anonymous No.7347032]

>>7347024
Thank you, kind sir/ma'am/whatever you identify as. Best of wishes towards whatever endeavors you are pursuing.

[Anonymous No.7347082]

>>7347031
>not struggle with faith
fedora please

[Anonymous No.7347090]

>>7347082
lol I hadn't even considered it, but I guess I can integrate in the story, although the main character would be more likely to end up being a full atheist or at least a deist. I guess I could also explore nihilism and absurdism.

[Anonymous No.7347096]

>>7343996
I'm working on three novels, two non fiction books, a handful of essays and short stories and poems.

different problems with each.
>For the novels, I'm having trouble feeling out the pacing. Two of the novels are just entering the 150 page range and the third one, which I'm doing for Nanowrimo is only in it's first 50 pages or so. Never actually finished a novel so we'll see.

>one of the non fiction books is a complete first draft. And i guess i'm having trouble figuring out how to revise and "fix" three hundred pages of non chronological memoire

>the other nonfiction book, well, i'm trying to get a few interviews or just get a little bit more information on the subject matter and i'm having trouble with that.

>one of my short stories just got back from a feedback thing so i'm letting it sit for a week or so.

>same situation with one of my essays, although i'm gearing up for a total rewrite.

>another one of my essays is in the hands of a friend, and i'm going to dig into it when i get back.

>another essay I sent out, and a lit mag said they'd like a longer version of it so i'm working on that.

>another essay is in the early drafting stage and i'm really struggling with trying to be more extreme. i don't know, trying to take more risks with it. be less restrained. so it's kind of a struggle in that regard.

>i've got three other short stories that i do want to get back to but just don't have time


And writing is easy. Just sit down at the same time every day. As long as you never skip a day, it'll always get done.

[Anonymous No.7347111]

>>7347096
poser

[Anonymous No.7347135]

>>7347111
i expect you all to assume my writing is garbage. because it is.
i definitely expect to be called a faggot or what have you.

But how am I poser for wanting to be a writer and actually, you know, writing? Isn't that kind of the opposite of a poser?

[Anonymous No.7347170]

>>7346871
Sure thing, anon. I've posted a version of this scene before, but I quite like it so I hope you'll forgive me showing off.


http://pastebin.com/Jx2e8hcd

[Anonymous No.7347175]

>>7347135
Faggot

[Anonymous No.7347213]

i have about 50k words of short novel about a guy who after years of apathy decides to kill himself. the actual plot takes place in his dreams/a dream world so the action of killing himself isn't explicitly stated but suggested through attempted allusions to the aeneid and some le edgy existentialist thought. don't know if it will work but i'm reasonably happy with it so far. hopefully done with it within a few weeks and then i can edit the shit out of it and maybe print a physical copy to keep for myself to feel good about.

[Anonymous No.7347219]

help and r8 this pls >>7347031

[Anonymous No.7347290]

>>7347219
Sounds like it's going to be a tough piece to wrote without seeming too meta, or being too self-obsessed (think about it; a writer writing about the woes of being writer). Plus, I don't know how you'd make a 'compelling' plot out of it.

If you can pull it off, mad kudos to you.

[Anonymous No.7347293]

>>7347219
>>7347290
i agree with this guy. the theme is interesting obviously and could make a compelling plot as long as you manage to construct it. how much have you written? what kind of narration are you using?

[Anonymous No.7347364]

I suppose I'm just worried about the usual trivial things.

>Has this been done before?
>Is it too similar to something else?
>Is the only difference just the names of things?
>Has this type of story been done to death?

That sort of thing.
I get that every author tells a story differently, but I don't get how every author portrays a story, I guess.
I don't know.

[Anonymous No.7347461]

I had a stab at writing Hunter S Thompson's War of the Worlds, the events of The War of the Worlds presented in HST's unique style but failed to emulate him satisfactorily. I'd love it if a decent writer would do such a project justice.

[Anonymous No.7347480]

>>7347170

Man, that excerpt is great. Your writing is dynamic and alive. Literally only criticism I have is the use of the word 'commercialism' in that one spot, it stuck out as being a bit too literal/direct, when the rest of it is much more subtle.

I'd love to read more.

[Anonymous No.7347510]

>>7347170
>>7347480
>tfw my prose will never live up to that
>tfw why am I still trying?
>tfw scared

[Anonymous No.7347586]

>>7347480
>>7347510

Is this a meme? Am I missing something? It only sounds like lolrandom sperging like Totalitarianism to me

>For the most part she doesn't ponder this. She fights and sleeps and eats and drinks and plays video games. Alone.
>A L O N E

ayy lmao

[Anonymous No.7347656]

>>7347586

Yeah, you're right. Conceptually it isn't innovative. But the writing in terms of cadence and voice and imagery I think is really strong.

[Anonymous No.7348452]

>>7344409
Eh, does mocking Fifty Shades of Grey while referencing the reptile brain, biology factoids and the Bible sound pretentious to you?
>Her inner lizard walks on water.
>Her inner lizard gives birth without intercourse.
>Her inner lizard is rediscovered after years of being thought extinct.

I came of really abstract in my last post, but that's because I didn't mention all the far off situations that I write about; I talk of parody and satyre, but do so without scorn. I don't wanna attack nobody, just elevate the things I find fun or funny.

[Anonymous No.7348478]

>>7347170
This is bretty good Anon.

About the erotic novella, I know exactly how you feel, because I can keep going and going when my fetishes are part of what I write.

Have you ever thought of relating the novel and the novella in some way?

[Anonymous No.7348563]

>What is it? Poetry, novel, novella, short story? Non-ficiton?
A sci-fi book, I am sure /lit/ would hate it, it is really not very good.
>Are you hopeful about finishing it? How far are in are you?
Pretty hopeful, considering I have a deal with a publisher already. Pretty close to finishing it actually.

>tfw published author
>tfw not proud at all of what I've written

[Anonymous No.7348574]

>>7347480
>>7347510

am I being trolled

[Anonymous No.7348596]

I got a bunch of short stories saved in my pc, some (most) of them are unfinished.
Now I'm tryna write something about absurd lynchings in the Spanish Civil War.

[Anonymous No.7348615]

>>7348574
I dont know how to prove to you my comment was genuine.

[Anonymous No.7348635]

It's a speech I'm writing. So glad I found this. Everyone I've asked said I need to present this to people, but I really do need some very critical feedback on what I've got so far.

It's called Eyes Wide Open in the Search for God. It's about how God doesn't exist outside of our experiences but instead is something we created and now nurture when we indulge in human curiosity and love the physical world that we command. I'm trying to say expression of knowledge and love is how we create God, and is how we ourselves become God. It's got a lot to do with space.

I would absolutely be beyond grateful for some feedback. Please.

http://pastebin.com/mvuUaWye

[Anonymous No.7348651]

>>7347170
I'm>>7348635


I just wanted to say: Damn. I loved it. You've got a prose that just tickles my cock, and not even in a mocking way. I love the way you approach humanity, that shit just makes me want to read more. The writing seems almost more advanced than it should be, giving your setting and overall story.

But wow. Anon, I aspire to your prose.

[Anonymous No.7348667]

>>7347480
Glad you enjoyed it!

>>7347586
Even though you didn't like it, it's good you said that. 4chan has been a major influence on my writing style for this project.

>>7347656
Thanks! This is from the portion of the story that's more deliberately straight cyberpunk, but I won't talk bullshit about how original the story itself is or anything.

>>7348478
As you can probably tell from that extract, I write a lot about sex anyway. The novella, however, is literally just that. It's every fetish I could possibly think of. So far though I've found it a pleasant surprise how easy it is to write both at once, probably due to the different styles involved. My last scene was this awesome footjob sequence that I'm totally gonna fap to later.

>>7347510
All it takes is practice. I've been writing for almost a decade by now. All you need is a work ethic.

>>7348651
Thanks, anon! It might sound token, me saying this now, but I liked what you posted. I don't know if it needs a wider context, but as a speech it reads pretty well. You have a good grasp of rhetoric that lends itself well to that kinda stuff. I'd love to see what kind of fiction you could spin out of these ideas.

[Anonymous No.7348669]

>rewriting a book for NaNoWriMo I started in 2007 or so
>read chapter 1 of the old version (2010 revision)
>"hahaha, fuck, this shit is so bad I'm glad I'm rewriting this!"
>write a new chapter 1, revise it and feel good about it
>start reading chapter 2 of the old version
>"Holy fuck! This shit is incredible and so much better than any of the shit I just wrote. My life has been a lie. I'll never write anything that good ever again."
>try not to cry

;_;

[Anonymous No.7348720]

>>7344379
Perhaps this is simplistic but why does the sincere/insincere dichotomy matter? You've written it haven't you? It exists.

[Anonymous No.7348732]

>>7348635
This was interesting. But the three last lines sorta seem in contradiction with the rest. Is that on purpose? Was your intention to speak in the same systems that lead us into suffering? Are you aware that your last words set as much of a system as the ones you talk about?

[Anonymous No.7348737]

I've been writing a lot of haiku and a few other poems lately. Just went through bad breakup, great therapy

[Anonymous No.7348746]

>>7343996
C++ to simulate a Rubiks Cube in hyperspace.

[Anonymous No.7348748]

OP here. I should say what I'm working on.

I previously finished a novella, got halfway through revising it, and then trashed it.

Currently writing a novel about the vengeance-complex, and thematically analogizing it with the law of conservation of energy. There are two protagonists, friends, one of whom wants to avenge his friend who has been needlessly jumped in the street and paralysed from the shoulders down. Although he begins to recover, it turns out the punch gave him a brain bleed, and he now suffers periodic seizures, maybe twice a week at least. It's set in Australia and will hopefully follow the two through the Australian highways as they go on a hate-fuelled search for the original attackers, meeting weird cunts the whole way and eventually just spiralling down into a pit of needless violence where they sort of lose their agency and become the puppets of a divine violence which is it's own thing.

Currently I'm still writing the hospital scenes, which are taking a very long time, seeing as it's all introductory work and I have to wait for one of the paralyzsed MC to recover.

I've posted parts of it in critique threads before and have received decent replies, but I feel like those people had to be trolling me. I honestly don't think my writing is that good.

Could post a pastebin excerpt, if anyone's interested.

[Anonymous No.7348771]

>>7348748
How long do you expect this to be? Because it sounds interesting, but seems like it could lose its charm if dragged out.

[Anonymous No.7348775]

>>7348771
It will be as long as it needs to be. I have no length in mind. I'll write it until I've written the story, then cut it back until it's tight.

[Anonymous No.7348778]

>>7348775
What's the prose like?

[Anonymous No.7348817]

>>7347031
sounds way too prescriptive: "true artist", "should be".
then you list only negatives.
i don't think you understand what an artist is, how you can claim to be a true artist yourself, and dictate your point of view as universal.

if you reframe this piece as autobiography, then i have no problem with it.

[Anonymous No.7348823]

>>7348778
It's told from two different 1st person perspectives.

Here's an excerpt from K., A.'s friend: http://pastebin.com/CxQnpp2f

Here's one from A., who is the one paralysed:
http://pastebin.com/bDVKFnwb

[Anonymous No.7348830]

>>7347290
Thanks. The plot will have different intersting things. For example, the main character will run from his house after almost beating his father to death, but this won't be revealed until the end. He will live with his drunk uncle for a year, in which he will try to get money for art school. I was thinking he could get money by selling drugs, and this could get him into troubles with gangs. I know this could sound lame, but it's still under development.

The book is divided in 4 parts, each of them showing different stages of his life. For example, first he's curious and naive, then he's horny and arrogant, then he's more mature and falls in love, and lastly he becomes depressed and much more serious.

>>7347293
I started writing this about a year ago, but you know, I didn't have much time to write and a few months ago I erased about 100 pages because I had turned the story into shit. Right now I have just 15 pages of the first part, and about 50 of the second part.


I was thinking about the plot being centered about his struggles to get money for art school and getting the love of his life. Maybe he could get in trouble while selling drugs, he also loses his house and starts living in the streets, he goes out with a girl in an attempt to make his crush jealous and ergo destroying the girl's heart. After that he might actually make his crush love him, but fucks up and he/she leaves him and he becomes depressed. Later in his life he gets money, fame and women but he has a big lack of love, where I would try to integrate several aspects of Camus' Absurdism.

Meh, I still have to develop it more.

[Anonymous No.7348836]

>>7346956
>alot of writers get their stuff rewritten by ghost writers
no. this only happens with celebrities and their "autobiographies" or cash ins like shatner and tek wars.

[Anonymous No.7348839]

>>7346904
congrats anon for sticking through to the end.

[Anonymous No.7348848]

I'm working on -- have been working on, on and off for over two years -- what I imagine will be a novella.

I've been terribly naive about the whole process and as a consequence have just gone back to what feels like it should be the very beginning of a project -- the outline.

As of now, it revolves around two lovers who come together briefly before being dramatically and eternally rent apart. The plot focuses on their differing circumstances after this event and becomes, primarily, about the contrast between a deterministic outlook and one of free will and the consequences thereof.

It draws from classical mythology and thus features what are, I suppose, fantastical elements.

That which I'm finding most difficult (aside from finding the time to write of course) is being able to successfully curb my proclivity towards pseudo-intellectualism.

I want to create something of beauty. I want it to be evocative and poignant and meaningful. I want to mirror the greats. But I'm neither well educated nor particularly well read -- what I am is arrogant and pretentious. And this seeps into my writing like a poison.

[Anonymous No.7348852]

>>7348732
>8
Actually, no, that wasn't intentional. Could you expand upon that? I thought I was hammering home the point that life, even in all of its shittiness, is life, and that's very beautiful in of itself.

[Anonymous No.7348855]

>>7348817
Well, a great deal of the biggest artists of history (be it painters, musicians, writers...) have been mainly influenced by negative aspects in their lives. Rimbaud lived depressed and drunk. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec lived in brothels and died of an STD. García Lorca was gay and his true love never accepted him (Dali). Hemingway never got over war and was suicidal, and so there have been many.

When I said "how the life of a true artist should be", I'm referring to how an artist expresses himself through his art with the influence of both positive and negative aspects of his life.

[Anonymous No.7348857]

>>7348823
Oh I remember you. You can write. This has potential. Keep us posted.

[Anonymous No.7348869]

>>7348855
I highly recommend checking out Tarkovsky's Sculpting in Time. He speaks quite a bit about what it means to be an artist. Specifically Chapter 2 and 7 I believe.

[Anonymous No.7348890]

>>7348823
Hmm, sorry mate, don't got time to read all that carefully right now, if the thread's up by Saturday's afternoon I'll get back to you.

>>7348852
It's just that the bulk of the poem seems to set a point of view in which life must be shitty, where it fails to live up to some requirement. And then at the end you give a requirement (not a bad one, but still one), for it to fail to live up to.

I'd recommend you read the Diamond Sutra to sorta see what I mean, since I found it pretty enlightning (heh) when I recently read it:
http://www.diamond-sutra.com/diamond_sutra_translation.html

[Anonymous No.7348893]

>>7348890
Sorry,
*speech

[Anonymous No.7348899]

I stayed up 48 hours and finally hit that sweet spot of sleep deprivation creativity. I was really pleased with these two stories already but now I have so much more to add to them, I may be able to flesh one out into a novella and start shopping for agents. Or maybe I'm getting way ahead of myself but I don't care I'm really enjoying writing these. Everything's coming together.

[Anonymous No.7348919]

>>7348899
>sweet spot of sleep deprivation creativity
I want to try something like this, but I'm afraid it'd just be a waste of time. Like the next day after a long needed rest, I'll see just how terrible it was and how it wasn't worth it.

[Anonymous No.7348927]

>>7348855
this thesis has been done to the point of cliche. google suffering artist and see how many hits you get.
you're going to need something else to be of any interest.

[Anonymous No.7348929]

>>7348919
It's not so much that I have any doubt about what I've come up with being dank, I've done this a lot and I know when I hit the sweet spot. But you're right in that it's a waste of time trying to hit it. If I hadn't been doing that, I could have got far more done in the meantime with all the wasted not-sweet spots.

[Anonymous No.7348930]

>>7348919
"Write drunk, edit sober."

[Anonymous No.7348935]

>>7348890
I'll try and keep it up until then. Thanks though.
>>7348857
What exactly am I doing right? I need to know, so I can keep doing whatever that is.

[Anonymous No.7348943]

>>7348935
>What exactly am I doing right?

Whatever it is you're doing now. Trust yourself.

[Anonymous No.7348949]

>>7348943
Well uh... thanks :^)

[Anonymous No.7348956]

>>7348935
Thank yourself, this helps me grow as a writer as much as it does you, and as reader it might even get me something good to read.

Here, have an album I found randomly on /mu/, sounds great for dramatic stuff like revenge and desolation, I think I'm gonna read Blood Meridian to it: https://mega.nz/#!qIZBTBAS!5E98A-kzeMgmAeC7HAlW6TjdOw-rj1p8m76qM7KmfiI

[Anonymous No.7348979]

>>7348927
what would you suggest?

[Anonymous No.7348986]

>>7348869
Will read tonight. Thanks.

[Anonymous No.7349018]

>tfw want to write an hagiographic epic on Hitler in French

[Anonymous No.7349031]

Working through the third chapter in my novella, only feel comfortable with the first one so far. Be gentle /lit/, I typed the whole thing out on my phone after handwriting it a dozen times.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mOnnBplL_UK4ZaqtYgWPTNuF0JseJRWYyYxYCIJZHkI/edit?usp=docslist_api
I'll critique anybody else's work who posts a google doc, can't stand pastebin.

[Anonymous No.7349081]

>>7349018
I would read that but only if it were completely sincere.

[Anonymous No.7349098]

I've never finished a story and I think my biggest problem is I don't have a writing routine but regardless I'd appreciate it if you guys could review the bits of short stories that I have written.
1:http://pastebin.com/uxuBFdCn
It ends rather abruptly as I have another paragraph written that I decided not to upload.
2:http://pastebin.com/6BVZHy9n
genre fiction
3:http://pastebin.com/hB97Fi0C
hurr durr more daddy problem themes.
Again sorry for the unfinishedness.

[Tactless !yTt68Lqyg6 No.7349100]

"Maybe the real God uses tricks. Maybe he's not omnipotent; he's just been around so long, he knows everything."

Today, a person dies every 0.56 seconds.

But life is rarely severed cleanly. Dying alone or unknown is more common than anyone would think.

What if someone could tell you, without any doubt, that you wouldn't see tomorrow? What if that was their only choice?

Until you die with a smile, the clock of a person who bears the Confidant's Curse will never escape your last day.

---

I'm writing a novel heavily inspired by the film Groundhog Day.

My two modern-day main characters inherited an unusual curse: when someone else dies, the bearer of the curse experiences a daydream about that person, after which they wake up 24 hours before that person's death can occur again.

The first daydream was about their miserly father who left absolutely nothing in his will for his children, so they almost relish the various ways to exploit the repeating day until their antics get other people hurt. Realizing how twisted they've become, they visit their dying dad to confess to their sinful acts. After listening intently to their selfishness, he challenges both of them to a 2v1 chess game, offering the truth of their curse as the prize.

Neither of them are as strong in chess as their dad, so they spend a few loops studying his skills. They get to the point where they can effortlessly checkmate him, but he instead throws the two kings at their faces.

"You won, but at what cost?"

Feeling slighted, both boys leave their father in disgust, starting the next loop. They then realize that they had already lost by capturing his pieces during the game, when he was outright ignoring every chance to capture their pieces in turn. He was never aiming to win; he just wanted them to attack his king WITHOUT capturing anything else. The truth of the curse was staring them in the face the entire time: they can "win" WITHOUT a cost, because the curse allows them to do it.

[Anonymous No.7349116]

Currently writing a novel about three different people (with seperate storylines, narrative styles, etc) who all in some way stumble upon the development of an underground city being built to withstand a nuclear attack. each represents a kierkegaardian stage of existence. prose style is generally Lispector-Kundera esque philosophical fiction. its more holistic than i make it sound, 5,000 words in with a clear enough idea of what to write for the next 15,000 words or so.

[Anonymous No.7349151]

>>7349100
sounds fascinating and well thought out. could be fantastic

[Anonymous No.7349198]

>>7348979
idk dude. i can say that i think a true artist innovates in their field by either introducing something new or taking an established idea to new heights. i can also say that i think discipline is more important than talent, that what people think of as talent is product of a lot of hard work. these are just my pov however. i'm sure lots of people would disagree.

[Anonymous No.7349268]

>>7349031
Reads like a shitty Bret Easton Ellis, so you're basically a derivative meme author that'll never catch on, give it up while you're ahead.

[Anonymous No.7349290]

>>7349031
too edgy. the galactic stuff is overdone. prose is very try hard.
also, why would you break up with someone in a public place

[Anonymous No.7349376]

>>7349290
Is is really that bad? He's supposed to be tripping on acid (Lysergic Acid reacts with Diethylamide). He breaks up with her in public because he didn't want her to be hysterical.

[Anonymous No.7349387]

>>7349290
What do you mean that the prose is try hard? I know it's not some meme minimalism shit but it's far from purple prose.

[Anonymous No.7349416]

>>7349376
things:
he put xanax and acid in his coffee. what. why. the xanax would hit before the acid and nullify it.
he woudn't trip that hard. if he was, he's not going to just snap back to reality.
being in public never stopped a girl from being hysterical over being broken up with. that's why you don't do it.

>>7349387
"The futility of my adolescent contrarianism, the false dichotomies I'd created between my own feelings and that of my peers, the superiority complex I'd developed that only resulted in feelings of inferiority, the useless tongue-in-cheek postmodern ramblings my writings always devolved into, the thin veneer of irony and sarcasm I had to hide behind to maintain my arrogant haughtiness."

[Anonymous No.7349535]

>>7349416
He didn't put Xanax in his coffee the first time, he shoved the contents of his pocket into his coffee (which contained minute traces of acid) because he's CUHRAYYYYZEEE. As far as the second chapter goes I've already thrown it out and started a new one, didn't mean to link /lit/ to the doc that contained it.

[Anonymous No.7349545]

>>7349535
Just stop defending your worthless piece of fucking garbage, he's right. You don't need to scrap the second chapter, you need to get rid of the whole fucking book and never write again.

[Anonymous No.7349566]

Several things, though I doubt I'll ever finish them.

One is a Fantasy/Sci-fi story (length TBD).
I don't think I could keep a synopsis short enough to bother with posting on here.
It's the one I've been working on the longest, though it's been stagnant for a long time now; though it the one I'm most proud of.

The other is another Sci-Fi with a much simpler plot, to the point I'll just copy+paste from the General Plot.docx

"Basically, a kid gets shot during an invasion, and wakes up in another, almost identical world, but very little of his memory. He meets up with some military guys who say they can give him answers, if he enlists. So he does. The bulk of the story is him forming and building relationships with his squad members; some of them die, some have ulterior motives, etc etc. In the end, the scene in this first chapter plays out, except he's the person breaking in, and the person shooting the kid -- himself. After, he finds a hand written journal, though it's more of a book, with the details of everything he's experienced in the new world written down, from the people to stories. He gets his memory back at this moment, and realizes what's happened. He's the strange person in the familiar land."

[Anonymous No.7349571]

>>7349566

The Sci-Fi one sounds like 12Monkeys plot but without the whole world being punished for silly time shet.

[Anonymous No.7349575]

>>7349566
>>7349571
o shit i relooked up 12 monkeys and i did not know they were making a TV series about it.

[Anonymous No.7349578]

>>7349571
I say "Sci-fi," though I guess it's really not; the only thing really sci-fi about it is the world switching.
Mind if I pastebin a chapter?

[Anonymous No.7349583]

>>7349545
This is cruel and unnecessary and that it is aimed at one who sought to improve his work is unbecoming of anyone who is able to respect the efforts of another.
>>7349535
Keep working on it if only to know the satisfaction of creating and so long as you don't expect to make anything out of it but for yourself, then you should not worry so much about the particulars and just write.

[Anonymous No.7349588]

>>7349578
Sure why not?

Just call it Fiction then.

[Anonymous No.7349601]

I'm writing a poor script (not /lit/? don't care) for what would theoretically be an hour long tv "crime" drama.
I have the idea so far, and I have what I want to happen to the characters, but I'm struggling to tie in the reality of what would happen and make the ripples effects of actions consistent.
So I have the end game, the end of the war if you will, but the little battles in between are struggling to make sense.

[Anonymous No.7349610]

>>7349588
Oh, and I just remembered as I looked at the file, I'm trying to get every chapter as close to one page as possible, to fit in with the idea that it all fits in the kid's notebook.

http://pastebin.com/G5waPKhF

This is chapter 2, when he wakes up.
I have a different version of the first segment that's a bit more explicit with what's going on, here:
http://pastebin.com/Jvq10AMs

The former I like because, in my mind, it's strictly what the MC hears, with none of his own thought. On the other hand, I'm not sure how well it comes across, so I made the second version.

[Anonymous No.7349627]

>>7349535
even after your explanations, i still can't say this piece works for me. the lint/xanax is too lolrandumb. the guy's an asshole. (no, i'm not an outraged fatty or a gril, i just think he's rude af.) was that part supposed to be funny? or is the narrator supposed to be a dylan klebold in the making? in which case this book's going to be 3edgy5me. why would anyone take acid to go to a breakup dinner? what are the motivations for this character?

your prose is mostly fine except for the overwrought tripping sequence. i've never had acid affect me that way but i'll allow for artistic exaggeration.

the part at the beginning where he pays with the debit card doesn't match with later saying it's alison's account.

>>7349583
agreed. i'll critique since that's what this thread is for but i would never tell anyone to stop writing. we all start as beginners making beginner mistakes.

[Anonymous No.7349639]

>>7349610
Skimed it as i am trying to read some lightnovels , but overall not bad and the short chapters allow for a nice quick session compared to the wall of text.

[Anonymous No.7349661]

>tfw could get the inspiration to revive a project idea thanks to reading thread
>mfw i have exams in a two days
thanks guys

[Anonymous No.7349760]

>>7349627
I'm going to try to explain as much as possible without cheapening the book or spoon feeding the allusions to everybody else who might want to read later. Spoilers below, I don't mean to sound like an arrogant douchebag, but I really think it's going to be worth reading when it's so I'd prefer not to spoiler everything.

The title of the book is derived in part from the latter half of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Notes from the Underground (titled Propos of the Wet Snow) and in part from this song http://youtu.be/QjWDfcAJTvA . The song is about the lengths to which couples go (including completely altering their personalities) to please each other while Notes is too complicated to explain in 3000 characters. Essentially the novella I'm trying to write is about this guy, Dylan Leopold, trying to find himself. It starts off with one of his later, colder, relationships, moves on to the chronological next one, (which is colder and more superficial than the last) before detailing 2 of his childhood relationships which are incredibly intimate and "unplastic" in comparison. Then the Protags relationship with his mother and dysfunctional family is discussed before his last passionate relationship is detailed and the book concludes with him talking about the relationship with his wife. The protagonist blames a lot of his shit on the women on his life even though they're really just products of the lifestyle he's been living at the time, with the notable exception of his mother. The book is about bending to the whims of your lover on a superficial level but bending to the whims of society on a deeper one, and even though I'm still in the process of tryin to articulate that second chapter more effectively, the idea that our protagonist is the embodiment of conformity and that he loathes every second of it and himself for subjecting himself to it is probably one that I'm going to stick with.

Does that answer your questions?

[Anonymous No.7349766]

>>7349760
I'd also like to mention that the protag is quite insane by the time he writes this Propos, hence shit like the pad of paper being in the table or the pen exploding into a Rorschach only to turn into an exploded pencil a few sentences later.

[Anonymous No.7349892]

Magical Realism/Weird Sci-Fi, written in the style of an academic essay

Autistic computer science engineer writes fan-fic for RL Stine's Choose Your Own Adventure book, Beware the Purple Peanut Butter by expanding the different threads and adding more endings. Eventually he gets around to automating the process, using neural-networks and recursive semantic processes (technobabble). He uploads the project online and it spirals out of control into a sort of digital Library of Babel, where every possible story and narrative is automatically generated. Since space is limited, old branches are constantly archived or deleted as new branches pop up. This has lead to a subculture of "Crawlers" who sort through the CYOA, trying to find meaning in it.
Eventually the whole project gets picked up by hollywood (and other media outlets) and outsources all forms of human art to the machine.

Inspired by bulgarian CYOA gamebooks.

[Anonymous No.7349915]

Trying to write a fictive short story, but it's really just an exaggerated/mutated memoir based off my experience in a boarding school for gifted high schoolers. The story isn't really about anything so much as it is a setting built to hold whatever musings or arguments or ideas I have.

-big cast of characters, including the students (based off friends, sort of), parents, teachers, and administrators

-exploration of adolescence and the plasticity of teenaged identity

-also about debate club (no points for guessing where this comes from)

[Anonymous No.7349938]

>>7346702
I mean, what's the point of writing at all if it's not original? Even if it's not truly original, even if -as far as you, nothing like it exists, that's still great because it won't be taking cues from its predecessor

You say you "wouldn't normally read" these ideas but you admire the fact they exist.

Change it up and try reading some oddball stories or recc's from here, get blown away, and hopefully get more insight into the infinity of fresh possibilities

[Anonymous No.7349964]

>>7344305
what's the narrative?

[Anonymous No.7349986]

>>7349661
I too was reinspired by this thread.

I'm working on a Sci-fi novel which strings together multiple narratives in time (ie. it isn't in chronological order), with allusions to greek mythology through out. I started it about a year ago, periodically get inspired, then drop it for months.

So far I have about 18 pages of notes, and 20 pages of actual written material, but a lot of what I've written needs to be changed based on the notes i've done since then.

[Anonymous No.7349990]

>>7349760
>>7349766

Parts of this sound good, albeit a bit too much like the Catcher in the Rye (that's not necessarily a bad thing though, but may be not what you were going for.)

[Anonymous No.7350008]

previous post; currently half way through first draft

[Anonymous No.7350015]

>>7350008
if it motivates you at all, I would read this in a heart beat. Can you share an excerpt?

[Anonymous No.7350019]

>>7349990
The primary inspirations were American Psycho, A Clockwork Orange, the Death of Ivan Ilych and most obviously, Notes from the Underground. So I guess Catcher in the Rye isn't too far off.

[Anonymous No.7351391]

>I'm writing about a day in the life of a tranvestite bostonian dropping acid in the city


He runs naked past the better-me-than-earlier-and-never-again hippies now classified defunct hipsters with glee because they’re gleeful. Only his Glad i’m Leaving Everyone Else don’t exactly match with that of Harry's black-brimmed and rimmed outlook. They know he’s on love sandy days, why else would he be running glans wide and head out in full view of beantown. He’s "turned off and tuned in" just like that deceased Hahvahd prick muttered in front of television waves and black then but soon to be digital ink.

By now, he was far past “if that was my child”, “there’s something wrong with that boy”, and “this country ain’t right with god”.

He was running because of glee. Glee because they exist. Glee because they don’t matter. Glee because he exists. Glee because he doesn’t matter.

Besides every person he ever met was drowned out by incessant machinations of base-personality and stalagmite skeleton-bone skin grafting facial features.

Shaped up and dropping out. Nothing on and, certainly, nothing forgotten. You are human excrement. You are human excrement. You are human excrement. He kept writing and repeating to himself. You are human excrement. With this attitude Satan, himself, would release all previous i.o.u.’s and navigate sanitary and sterile clouds to beckon upon God for this current edition of assembly line production to never be discontinued.

I allow you to examine him for awhile. Notice the shameless toothless grin made smug by suckling utensils forever present and comforting. It lays laced on his chest allowing for a stretch of saliva 3 millimeters long to run down his bare-naked (but no matter) chest.

[Anonymous No.7352962]

boomp

[Anonymous No.7354021]

>>7347170

Unfortunately, I'm gonna be that guy today. I'm going to give some criticism, which I hope is constructive.

First, I like that you wrote things. I want to see more writers succeed at actually writing something, and actually starting is half the battle.

There's a lot of work to be done here though, and a number of concerns I have.

I'm first concerned about your usage of perspective. Writing in third person like this is a little strange and disjointed. I thought when I started you were giving me context to understand the scene you were about to begin describing in earnest, so I was surprised when I reached the end and was still being relegated to "X did Q. X was Y because Z. X felt A but B. Nonsequiter J." It's fine in erotica, but
I'm not saying it's not an interesting style, it's pretty alienating, which may be what you're going for, but at least here, it doesn't seem to be serving that an end so much as it's violating "show, don't tell". Consider:

>The pattern goes back to normal for a while, just so we know. There are no boss fights, no alarming suicide attempts by Yoshimi's contacts or sexual partners...

Feel like it should be established by the story itself after all those things happen. This is harder, because you would need to establish what normal looked like and how it was returned to, but as far as I'm concerned, it's criminal to not unpack something like that, it's a huge tease and feels like a shortcut to avoid having to write some interesting combat, sex, and suicide.

Some things just feel a bit strange and only seem to fly in a place where they're already accepted, like 4chan. One notable example:

> ... Alone.
>A L O N E

is basically a 4chan meme. Unless you're doing something interesting with those spaced characters prior or later, like internal monologue, [technobabble] projected signaling, or something like that that it isn't just meme-ing, anyone not explicitly from here is gonna be a bit weirded out when they randomly see you break form.

Lastly, if you're aiming for public appeal, lines like

> We watch. Of course it's arousing. Like with Iwazaru. Yoshimi, little girl body and all, ...

are 100% going to alienate a nontrivial number readers, because now it's a little girl having sex, which is pretty weird. That's going to be a press nightmare to sell and might get your name dragged through mud unless you're REALLY doing something interesting with that rather than just cashing in on the pedophile market.

I have other minor quibbles like
>ねえ、気持ちいい?
being annoying because first "why" and second because the book probably isn't likely to get a companion book, footnotes would be lame, and others would need to translate it for me,

and a number of minor typos which an editor can probably snipe so don't worry about them yet.

Basically, keep it up, but when you want to do nonstandard things, keep asking yourself what the goal is, don't slip into bad habits you learned writing on anonymous message boards.

[Anonymous No.7354162]

>>7354021
To be honest, anon, I'm just really glad you bothered to give such an in-depth critique! I'll address some of your points, hopefully without being too amateur-author defensive (but even if I am, to get a comment this long is really nice).

You hit upon my intent with the comment about alienation - it is a concern with a project like this, of course, that this does show and not tell too much, and I have had to edit substantial parts of it that have veered too much that way. I will say that the stuff told in summary at the beginning has actually been depicted before now, but of course I didn't mention that in the extract, so I don't think that's an unfair point.

The 4chan stuff (and weeb Japanese) is because, well, this novel is hugely inspired by 4chan. I wanted to write something that could capture the fascinating idea of a website of non-Japanese talking over each other about Japanese culture (as it was way back in '06, anyway), and for me using some of that language and imagery is a good way to do so - and the untranslated characters (there's Chinese characters elsewhere) are to convey the weirdness of westerners pretending to understand Asian culture. There are parts, like "A L O N E", which might be excessive, I think you're right there. Hopefully in editing I can catch these things.

As for Yoshimi being a little girl, it's supposed to be a reference to I WISH TO BE THE LITTLE GIRL kind of stuff; wish fulfillment. I suppose A lot of this stuff quite alienating to mainstream readers, as you say, but is my futile, mad attempt to introduce modern internet culture into literature beyond Tao Lin-style vapidity, so I don't feel I can entirely compromise on details like that, for good or ill. I hope I've explained myself okay - but I still think everything you've said is absolutely valid, and thank you so much! That last sentence, especially, is a thing I'll try to constantly keep in mind.

[Anonymous No.7354198]

>>7354162

Anytime. Sounds like you've got a good plan for it. Finish her up, prune later, and keep us posted.

[Anonymous No.7354264]

Star Epic II

Premise:
In 2086, a UFO appears instantaneously just outside Earth's atmosphere. It crash lands in Central Park Manhattan. upon being surrounded, the airlock opens and and a man steps out of the ship with long unkept beard and hair (like a castaway). The man falls to his knees, screams in agony and collapses dead on the spot.
2131: due to the reverse engineering of the technology on the ship, the earth no longer has an energy crisis and mankind now has the resources to explore space and utilize discovered wormholes to search out other planets capable of being colonized. Long distance probes return from the wormholes reporting extensive coverage of 9 habitable and accommodating planets for colonization.
2144: after studying the information from the probes, an initiative is created to send 9 shuttles through the wormholes to start colonization.
2156: the shuttles are ready to leave:

The main story follows brothers Joseph and Adrian Thompson and four other selected gifted and trained young adults (ages 21-25) as they battle against 3 other groups in contests of wits and science to be selected as the engineering group who will be responsible for manning the "RIG" a floating repair and monitoring station that will ultimately follow each of the shuttles to their destinations and ensure each arrives safely at their destination.

the genre is hard science fiction and the story is not teen or YA. The candidates have to be young so that they're still physically capable of performing their grueling duties across the 20 year mission.

Plot twists involve:
The backgrounds and skeletons in the closets of the other candidates, the rumored "militarized" ship to follow, and the intentions and motivations of the candidates older mentor who is being "put out to pasture" and will ultimately be their superior for the duration of their travels.

Tldr:
interstellar
MEETS
Hard scifi of The Martian
MEETS
the character process of Walter white to Heisenberg, (from Breaking Bad)
MEETS
The armor of DEAD SPACE
MEETS
The man vs nature vs nemesis of Moby Dick

Yes? no? Questions?

[Anonymous No.7354792]

So ive been writing a fiction story. I don't know how long it will be, and most of the plot is unformed. I just sorta jumped at it. I've written the beginning to a first chapter since I know how I want it all to start, and when I shared it with friends I was told that my dialogue is lacking. I can tell, looking now, that it is, but I'm not sure how to fix it. If you anons could give advice and/or critique, it'd be much appreciated.
Here's the pastebin.
http://pastebin.com/pst4p71d

I've never used pastebin, please tell me if I fucked up somehow. It already stole out all my indentation.

[Anonymous No.7354845]

>>7354162
>using some of that language and imagery is a good way to do so - and the untranslated characters (there's Chinese characters elsewhere) are to convey the weirdness of westerners pretending to understand Asian culture.
Couldn't you just use romaji? As a weeb, plain Japanese text personally feels more like vaporwave or /jp/ than proper 4chan, which used more romaji and Engrish.

[Anonymous No.7354900]

>>7347170
Sorry I don't have much in-depth critique but I might as well say.
Whatever "Aesthetic" means nowadays this piece has it by the tons and I love it. It makes for a very unique style that had me engaged throughout the entire thing. Truly this is the /lit/ version of Ready Player One.
To be this good takes ages

[Anonymous No.7354914]

Finally finished a short story I had put off for awhile. Feels good because I never finish anything.

[Anonymous No.7355022]

>>7349938

i admire the fact that so many ideas are out there. i suppose it's a lot more empathy than anything, but i also like seeing something different once in a while. certainly the "infinity of fresh possibilities" is a charming notion. i like it.

but among all these ideas, is also the fact that many great ones get drowned out, sometimes overshadowed.

and very true that mine isn't original, i know for a fact. i've tried incorporating other elements, much more beyond what i typically see in this genre. i'm reluctant to change it, because through the years, i've grown attached to the characters, the plot, etc. i'm rather sentimental that way.

yet, i'm almost sure it might get drowned out by these others works. i guess i'm just stubborn. i'll find out eventually, though. i'm hoping to get at least a few people to read it.

[Anonymous No.7355222]

>>7348823
Okay, so I'm finally back. Sorry for taking so long.

Alright, so this quite good, but on the first part I sometimes found it hard to retain the information constantly being shot at me. It simulates a panic attack (or whatever what Kane's having is called) pretty well, but I'd advice some more periods and commas, sometimes it just makes it hard to "breathe". The internal monologue style is well done, but I feel a bit more information about what's happening "outside" the characters would help, to set the scene better. I can't talk much though because I'm assuming this are the introductory bits, so maybe this requirement is met somewhere later?

[Anonymous No.7355237]

>>7355222
These parts are after the introduction, so yeah, I guess the external establishment requirement is satisfied earlier on.

I get your advice about the sheer volume of information coming at the reader. The lack of commas is a distinctive trait of the character, so while I won't necessarily add more, I'll be sure to find a way to make it flow better.

Thanks to you for holding up your end of the deal, though. I didn't actually believe some anon over a mongolian cave-painting sharing site would actually stick to their word. I kept checking back regardless. Thanks, anonkun.

[Anonymous No.7355239]

>>7355222
Trips. Nice.

Anyway, this is something I did a few months back. It's a bit of an experiment run-ons; It's meant to create a certain rushed, frantic, desperate, maybe, tone, and I'm not sure how it comes across.

Thoughts, anyone?

[Anonymous No.7355244]

>>7355239
Forgot to mention it's supposed to be recursive, if that wasn't evident.

[Anonymous No.7355282]

>>7355239
This isn't a critique, but more a recommendation to go check out Leibniz's philosophies -- particularly his 'monadology'. You'd dig it, based on what you'e written here.

[Anonymous No.7355284]

>>7355237
>I guess the external establishment requirement is satisfied earlier on.
Hmm, that's not exactly what I meant, I feel. The setting itself wasn't a problem, I could guess what was going on with just your small hints well enough, but it's like... it's a very first-person view narration. So I found it kind of hard to visualize things in third person view, but given the prose, that might just be what you're trying to do.

Also, one think I'd like to advice is for you to maybe not shift prose style too abruptly.

>The lack of commas is a distinctive trait of the character, so while I won't necessarily add more, I'll be sure to find a way to make it flow better.
I'd advice having more shorter sentences, or at least some in between the longer ones.

>I didn't actually believe some anon over a mongolian cave-painting sharing site would actually stick to their word. I kept checking back regardless. Thanks, anonkun.
Hey now, I might be a procrastinating, shallow, manipulating, egotistic, nail-biting wise-ass, but at least I don't make promises I don't mean to keep. If anything I feel my critique is not as extense as it should be, since I made you wait a couple days. You're more than welcome and your writing is a pleasure to read given how full of feeling it is.

>>7355239
It reminds me of having a bad trips; makes me want to try and put my experience of recursively feeling like I'm coming back from a dream when on LSD into prose.

[Anonymous No.7355296]

>>7355282
I'll check them out, thanks.

>>7355284
>It reminds me of having a bad trips; makes me want to try and put my experience of recursively feeling like I'm coming back from a dream when on LSD into prose.

It did something, so I'll take it.

[Anonymous No.7355297]

>>7355284
>but it's like... it's a very first-person view narration.
Did you feel sort of trapped, or something?

>maybe not shift prose style too abruptly
Like, when it shifts in the chapter changes? or? Sorry, I can't think of where I shifted prose style abruptly. Maybe I'm misreading your post.

>I'd advice having more shorter sentences, or at least some in between the longer ones.
Duly noted, thanks.

>given how full of feeling it is
That's nice to know. Thanks anonymous pooster.

[Anonymous No.7355305]

>>7355297
>Did you feel sort of trapped, or something?
No, it's more like I couldn't get a full picture of the scene inside my mind, perhaps it was the pace.

>Like, when it shifts in the chapter changes?
Yes. It's not like there was anything particularly bad to it, but it might shock some. But hey maybe some ought to be shocked. Just an observation.

[Anonymous No.7355310]

>>7355305
>No, it's more like I couldn't get a full picture of the scene inside my mind, perhaps it was the pace.
I thiiiiiiink I get what yo're saying... Man, I'm really sorry, I probably sound like a nagging little child, but I'm still a little confused about what you mean here.

>it might shock some. But hey maybe some ought to be shocked. Just an observation.
kk, thanks for the observation. Whatever you observe helps me understand and see the bigger picture of what exactly it is that I've spewed out my mind (I'm just far too close to m'work, m'lovely anon).

[Anonymous No.7355313]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnF2dX7qXXI

In case anyone here happens to speak Spanish: I tried to translate link related (for fun) while keeping the metric, obviously took some liberties, and wanted to know how bad it was:

High, out to the hills, I am gone
Away, to cry, all on my own
To try and just suffocate pain
I rise, I rise

A flute oh-so-sadly was played
And 'tween tears ‘twas you that was named
To try and just suffocate pain
I rise, I rise

The houses have been left behind
The hilltops are right now close by
To try and just suffocate pain
I rise, I rise

[Anonymous No.7355324]

>>7355310
>I'm still a little confused about what you mean here.
It's fine, it's my own fault for not being capable of expressing it throughly. Maybe it's just the lack of any description of the scenery and I'm being a superficial bitch.

[Anonymous No.7355328]

>>7355324
Ahhh.... I thin I get it now. Well, thanks for all yer fast replies and comments. Real help; you're the type that makes these threads worth it and doesn't shit them up.

[Anonymous No.7355341]

>>7355328
My pleasure. Hopefully if this thread is still up in one or two days I'll be able to post some of my stuff so y'all can tear me a new one. But now I'm off to bed, because I haven't gotten any proper sleep in days.

[Anonymous No.7355359]

>>7344288
It sounds like you're having a good time over there.

[Anonymous No.7355364]

>>7344288
It doesn't sound like you're going to give up on the former idea. You seem pretty deep into it. Writing the latter doesn't necessarily mean you'll never finish the former.

I'll tell you one thing a professional told me.

"Writing is a marathon, not a sprint."

Take your time on whatever suits you in the moment, and you'll get to where you want to be eventually.

[Anonymous No.7355380]

I'm writing a short collection of stories and poems written in a fictional realm called the Nordmarch, which essentially a fictional reflection of the northern kingdoms of the Holy Roman Empire between the 1400-1800s.

Yeah, not very original I know, but when I'm bored and fantasizing about killing pale orcs, and a princess who could conjure imaginary visions into reality, I don't really think about new sophisticated ideas that will fuck with the social conscious of the mainstream. I just keep writing.

The world where I'm writing it in actually has an extensive backlog of world building that I've been working on since 2005. I had no idea that I'd ever get this far with it. After ten years there's finally enough material and motivation to push this into realization.

Struggle? Hmm, getting it published, and deciding how much of what I want to put out there. I'm going to know when to stop eventually, I hope.

I suppose I've grown beyond the 'wtf do I write' stage of crippling doubt. I am able to move on beyond that now that I've come to terms with the all encompassing truth; a writer writes whatever the fuck he wants, and what he writes is what he wants. If I were to push myself into a corner and say everything is wrong whenever I'm finished writing, then all would be lost, and I wouldn't finish a damn thing. If something needs to be fixed or improved I could just go back and do it, but when I am in the moment, when I am in the process of creating that story, I don't want to scrutinize anything until I reach the end of the first draft.

[Anonymous No.7355405]

Some fetishy shit because the material already out there wasn't satisfying to me. Last time I touched it was over a month ago because I felt like I was about to start repeating myself.

[Anonymous No.7355423]

>>7344404

NT man? I've never heard much about drugs other than booze and weed in queensland/NT, I guess it's no surprise that amphetamines would be big up there too.

I grew up in rural victoria and out of my good 10 mates from when i was a kid, 8 are either in jail for ice related crimes, living in poverty because all their money goes to drugs or dead. I live in Melbourne now and I'm poor as fug working minimum wage but shit, beats the town I grew up in.

I think you're right about social norms about having fun and unwinding. The lack or really strong cultural values means that getting hammered is seen as an easy choice. I know it's stereotyping but most of the people I know who got into ice had no solid family life to speak of. Generational welfare, dissatisfaction with the government, lack of jobs, lack of ambition, general lack of money and shit to do in the country ... basically all this leads to kids that have nothing to look forward to in life and nothing to lose. At least smoking meth gives you some joy for the time being.

[Anonymous No.7355428]

>>7343996
Writing a novel had a quick edit at 50k, ended up deleting so much. Looking like it's come out at about 80k words all in all.

[Anonymous No.7355465]

>>7354198
Will do. It'd be weird if I wrote a novel about this stuff and then never told 4chan about it. Thanks again, anon!
>>7354845
I did use romaji in some early stuff. There's vaporwave influence in there too, though, so for now I think it works as-is.
>>7354900
That's funny. I tried to read "Ready Player One" on holiday a while back, but it wasn't just a bad novel; it was actually interesting in its uncritical, glowing depiction of a world where everyone retreats into pop culture wish fulfillment fantasy. So it sort of was an inspiration in how awful it was.
>>7355364
Writing both of them at once is working out quite well. The lewd stuff is basically character-focused smut with a pretty light-hearted tone, which makes a nice break from the relentlessly stylized and heavy smut of Video City. Basically I like writing smut.

[Anonymous No.7355657]

>>7355465

Not anyone you responded to, but you seem like a cool and well-adjusted person and I'm impressed that you're actually writing (so many other people on this board, myself included, want to be writers but never write) and that too of a seemingly quality novel that includes both a love for things like 4chan memes and vaporwave but also a wariness about the technology and impulses that underpin them, which is something I'm sure most of us have felt but maybe had some difficulty articulating.

My one criticism of your excerpt (admittedly I don't have a very critical eye) is that it seems like the reader will have picked up the alienation theme pretty quickly, so continuing to mention it might be browbeating the reader somewhat, although I can accept it both because it may be a little heavier in this particular excerpt given the subject matter and because it's simply reporting the feelings of the character, and I know all too well how someone can get stuck on a certain train of thought (although complete accuracy in portraying thought processes of course doesn't necessarily lead to an engaging story). From what else you've said though, it seems that with the reincarnations you have some more interesting stuff planned so that it isn't just alienation all the time. Overall, quite good work and I do hope to see more.

P.S. Tell me your secrets, senpai.

[Anonymous No.7355782]

There is an idea for a story in my head that I've been keeping for the past few years but I can't seem to do that thing OP mentioned - sit down and sit. Not because I'm a lazy fuck but because:
1. I did a stupid thing and started writing "what-we-shouldn't-name-fanfiction" and I'm enjoying it a bit too much to simply stop it.
2. When I think about writing the story in my native language (and that's the only way I can become published in my country), I feel like vomiting. English language is so much more beautiful than my own language that I simply can't stomach writing anything in it.
What do you guys do in such a case? Do you simply write in english and then translate it back into your own language or what?

[Anonymous No.7355815]

I get a wide variety of ideas for short stories.

I'd love to write something on the subject of King Saul and David, it has all of the elements there, doesn't it? Including a witch in a cave... It would wind up as as Dinesen-esque short story or a Shakespearean five act play. I prefer the play structure because it relies on plot, Characterisation, thematic build and above all, language.

I'm not 'Shakespearean' in mold, but I love Iambics as a structural framework for a creative methodology.

[Anonymous No.7356611]

>>7355657
Thanks, anon! I do think you have a point about the potentially repetitive tone, although as you say the reincarnation idea is what I'm using to get around that - my first Yoshimi, the one in the extract, is a muted loner, while the second, whose section I've just finished, is more hedonistic and loud-mouthed; and I want the third to be a kind of oblivious fujoshi fangirl. So each part varies the tone somewhat, as a means of keeping things fresh.

As for my secrets? My first piece of writing was terrible glorified Evangelion fanfiction, which I wrote when I was fifteen. I still wrote tens of thousands of words of it, because fuck quality, discipline is the first thing a writer has to learn.

[Anonymous No.7356667]

Want a writing tip?

When writing fiction try referencing what you have already written; starting with the first word.

So...

'Robot' now you have this word to build off. Where to go with it?

'Robot walking'

Where is it walking? Can it walk normally? Just what kind of robot is it anyway?

'Robot hobbling through a tall field of grass'

What can you reference from above?

'The robot hobbled on three legs; the first its strong right leg, the second its stumpy left leg, everything from the knee down ground to a sharp point, the third a steel crutch pried from a stop sign. A breeze through the tall grass from further along the plain. The robot's eyes unwind, the internal workings swiveling, magnifying a blotted figure in the distance several times over..."

Just keep building on what you have already written, making every detail relevant in a snow-ball effect. Eventually you'll start writing a story out of necessity to keep things moving along.

It's a method of 'showing' instead of 'telling'

I'm retarded so shit like this helps me. I can post another tip about writing flow if this isn't shat on.

[Anonymous No.7356701]

I'm working on a monster of a novel.

The basic premise is that the universe consists of multi-leveled cycles. The lowest level finishes a cycle in a giant battle. Eventually, one of the sides in a final battle will rise up and conquer the level's creators. The new overlords will feel obligated to rebuild the lower reality. Eventually, these creators will rise up and defeat the creator of the overarching reality that includes them. The cycle is implied to be larger than that but that's the extent of the novel.

It consists of four parts and an epilogue.

The first part is fantasy, and ends with a group of champions defeating overlords called Titans.

The second takes place before the first chronologically. It is scifi and features some elements of superhero fiction. It ends with the creation of the Titans, who would go on to defeat the overlord of this reality, called the Dreamer, and create the reality of the first part.

The third part is space opera. It is based in our universe. The main character is locked in a dream by a race of insectoid aliens, as they believe him to be their prophesied savior. His friend ends up being the savior, but through some weird dream knowledge he meets the upper-tier overlord, defeats the overlord of his reality, and creates the reality of the second part.

The fourth part finally takes the reader to the reality made by the new overlords created in the first part. It is speculative fiction, based in a universe made of semi-intelligent particles. Certain individuals possess particles of a higher social status and are therefore more powerful than others. The main character is a part of a resistance against an oppressive empire. In the end of the first section, she leaves the rebel base and learns that the empire is actually a prosperous, largely happy nation. At the end of the fourth part, the main character destroys the overlords from the end of part 1 and, instead of recreating reality, she meets and decides to kill the upper overlord met by the protagonist of the third part.

The epilogue features an explanation: four of the characters in the novel are reincarnations of one another and can now constitute a sort of Holy Trinity of four parts. The quad-soul destroys the upper overlord and decides not to recreate reality, but at the end it is revealed that she is pregnant.

The end.

It's fun to write. I'm starting with summaries of each section to keep my thoughts organized before actually writing the novel.

[Anonymous No.7356728]

>>7356611

Ah, that's actually a really cool idea with the reincarnations.

And I'm sure that at this point I lack the discipline to write a large scale work but if I have an idea I can often sit down and force myself. A more pressing problem for me is coming up with ideas in the first place; I have a general idea of what I want some major events in my novel to be, but for the life of me I can't think up of any way to come up with more plot points and to connect the dots. As it is I simply wait for ideas to come to me instead of actively trying to brainstorm them, and so I might come up with a disconnected paragraph every few months.

Part of the reason I'm enthusiastic about your work is because my novel is supposed to have a similar theme, although more "organic" in that I'm considering alienation in a present day setting. But I am including many memes and was also thinking of adding a similar cyberpunk/vaporwave aesthetic to part of my novel, but I'm not sure it'd fit too well because it's set in 2012 and only (so far) in Western countries, so I think that stuff may be more appropriate for a separate book. Though I hear William Gibson's newer books are all about how cyberpunk is happening in the present, so maybe I can mine them for inspiration.

[Anonymous No.7356783]

>>7356728
Ideas are overrated, I think. Beg, borrow and steal other peoples' until you can come up with your own; whatever you churn out might not be good, but it won't just be what you borrowed from. And the more rip-offs and so on you write the less of a rip-off each one will be. At least, that's what I did.

Also, I think you could definitely make a vaporwave thing work in 2012! The IRL music fad was at its peak around then, right? You could explore the genre's existence outside of the music itself . I'd definitely recommend Gibson: also, Cronenberg's consumed is a great look at these kind of themes, from a darker perspective. You can write something of worth, anon, as long as you have an urge to. Ideas and themes and talent come later.

[Anonymous No.7357029]

>>7356783

That's actually really helpful advice, thanks a lot. In fact I'm mostly a lurker so this conversation is the most constructive exchange I've had in my years on 4chan. I guess you can say you've helped me with the other side of technology, one that connects rather than isolates; my own internet experience has been mostly solitary so I've been maybe a bit too despairing about the potential of technology to allow people to interact.

And I'm not terribly knowledgeable about vaporwave, but yeah, I think it was around 2012. My concern was that it wouldn't work as well since my novel's more set in the physical rather than virtual world (though now I'm probably going to increase the prominence of the latter) and couldn't have the speculative elements that yours has. But now that I think about it it does seem possible to include more of the overall aesthetic through style and subject matter, even if I can't do it to the same degree that a story set in the future can.

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to type up some advice and encouragement, and I wish you all the best with your writing and life in general.

[Anonymous No.7357111]

>>7356701

Part four is abstract as fuck and doesn't feel very relate-able or interesting as a reader, and the plot looks to be a clusterfuck. Best of luck, I'd read it if you can pull it off.

[Anonymous No.7357372]

>>7343996
>Been building a world, setting and characters that make me feel so immersed whenever I work on them.

>Can't write a plot or a story-line.

[Anonymous No.7357469]

>want to get into the vidya industry
>have idea for a game series
>plan out at least 100 uncharted-style story-based levels, with Metal Gear/Stalker based gameplay
>"Plan" as in unwritten
>have a history of having shit writing
>can't draw for shit either, so I cant storyboard
>finally bite the bullet and start writing
>its shitty for about 3 pages but it gets better
>friend offers to edit for me
>learn from the editing mistakes and change my writing style little by little
>finish first level summary, with 6000 words at least
>it is now a novel, which I plan to send to a publisher when I finish

Problem is, I need an editor. my current one is being a bitch and I need help. I'm stuck in a rut and can't move on until I get this first chapter cleaned up (OCD). Would /lit/ be a good place for this, or no? This is my first time on this board desu.

[Anonymous No.7357470]

>>7357469
should mention, I've asked a few of my friends to read it, but none of them have given any critiques at all, and it's pissing me off cause they "just can't think of any"

[Anonymous No.7357480]

>>7357470

I'll read and critique if you'll read and critique something awful I wrote.

[Anonymous No.7357487]

>>7357480
an even trade? Awesome.

Shall I just start with the first 5 pages or something? (I still got screencaps from a /v/ gamedev thread)

also, I just realized this is 4chan, so no multiple images. shit.

oh well, have this
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3Yb_F6ryJNyTjdtcWllM2JWWW8

[Anonymous No.7357488]

>>7357469
How long is it? What's your timeframe? Post an excerpt.

[Anonymous No.7357492]

>>7357487

That just links me to my own google drive.

Here's my shit. A transcription of four dreams: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GBzKFPzUydvMaLqwKoWxWd961uDWwqlfa32Qr5tFUQI

[Anonymous No.7357495]

>>7357492
try this then

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hKlXlmHIBLtlLvdLA_73pKYkg56jeGQYPqJggXfV6wg/edit?usp=sharing

[Anonymous No.7357500]

>>7357487

Is this supposed to be a novel???? Cuz it's written in like a video game/fan-fic synopsis style that is basically unpublishable...

>>7355239
a chore to read, perhaps because it lacks context (but I suspect even with context, it would be very tedious)

>>7349031

your writing style is waaaay too scattered which is particularly compounded by the pop culture references

[Anonymous No.7357507]

>>7357492
ah man, thats alot. I'mma warn you rn, I got ADD real bad, and it probably shows in my own writing, so I apologize if my critique is bad

>>7357500
Yes, it is based on a videogame idea I have planned. very very rough draft, hence why I need an editor or something.

[Anonymous No.7357529]

>>7357487

Ok, so aside from the grammatical issues, there's not a lot of detail, and the characters are all indistinguishable with no reason to care about them. This also makes it hard to follow what's going on. There's a general lack of description as well. Lots of things just happen, to people that aren't defined at all. Only halfway through, let me finish the rest.

[Anonymous No.7357531]

>>7357529
Yeah, I expected this kind of response. Though I don't want to ruin the pacing of the action, I do need more detail..

Thank you!

[Anonymous No.7357543]

>>7357531

np. Reading the rest of the way through, I think your sense of humor could use some work also. I'm not sure what the thing with the foxes was about. The tone seems to shift radically, with the characters forgetting about or not caring about things that happened moments earlier. I feel like you have an image in your mind of what kind of characters and what kind of interactions are going on, and that you're forgetting that this context isn't in the head of your reader; you need to actually establish these things in writing. That's all I can think of to say, sorry for not being more useful.

[Anonymous No.7357560]

>>7357543
no no, thats fine. I understand completely. I'll be sure to go back and put in more detail where I can.

The Foxes thing was to introduce the little fox, and the two parent foxes (or at least the one with the missing tail) will be important in the future.

I've hidden a few foreshadowings/rolling snowballs in the first chapter, which will either come to fruition within the Act, or much much later.

As for the sense of Humor, yeah, I got the cringe just writing it, but I'm also trying my best to make the characters feel realistic, from personal experience and people around me, without completely just re-skinning people I know. characteristics and small events, ya know.

I'll get to work on that stuff tho. was there anything I missed?

[Anonymous No.7357578]

>>7357492
It's probably me, as I have trouble focusing, but I did read the first few pages.

I had trouble understanding what exactly was going on, as the first few paragraphs of chapter 1 are almost entirely exposition and inner thoughts, in an unusual setting with surreal attributes (magic, etc), regarding a character I know absolutely nothing about other than her abilities and daddy issues.

I kinda see where it's going tho, and like I said, it's probably just me, being more of a realist type reader, as well. You don't have to take this all to heart.

[Anonymous No.7357798]

>>7357111
Part four isn't very abstract, just difficult to summarize. Life in that reality is essentially the same as life in this one, just with some different physics and human capabilities.

All of it is difficult to summarize, which is why I called it a "monster". Each part will be about 600 pages, consisting of three or four sections. The plot is actually pretty tidy within each section.

[Anonymous No.7357828]

I'm halfway through this goddamn script and I can't for the life of me figure out how I'm supposed to clinch this scene. I just want to get to writing the rest of it but I know if I skip over to the parts that come easiest/that I like more then I'll never come back to this part.

[Anonymous No.7357835]

>>7357828
give us the beginning and the end, so we can throw suggestions for a middle

[Anonymous No.7357862]

>>7357372
Try reading a work of narrative history. Like Alistair Horne, etc.

Then write a narrative history of some part of your world. No need for plot; you're simply regurgitating historical events in a non-autistic way.

[Anonymous No.7357874]

Here is a poem I wrote

O paedicator
Matrem tuam futui
Cur me quaeris?
nescio.

[Anonymous No.7357877]

>>7357835
well as far as this particular scene goes

The MC contacts his informant, a dancer at a particular establishment where two crime bosses meet with a realtor. They discuss the realtor potentially purchasing property for one crime boss to use to move "product" the product yet unknown
The following is what I'm struggling with: Needing to find out what this product is, the MC, a would be but fairly sloppy activist, goes in to do some recon on the crime boss to figure out what he's intending on moving. The product turns out to be weaponry (think arms like aks, ars, etc)
The wrapping up of that scene goes: The MC finds out that the crime boss (italian) plans to move arms, which would directly come into conflict with a local triad. So the MC takes the info and sends it anonymously to the chinese, which causes a small conflict between the two gangs, halts the realtor's intent to purchase, but also endangers his informant and himself, which leads to another character having to clean up his mess

my issues are
how does the MC find the info on what italian crime boss is moving and-
how does he fuck up the information leak so bad that it nearly comes back to bite him and his informant until he's saved at the last second.

[Anonymous No.7357881]

I'm tabling my novel now that I'm done with draft 1. I wrote a screenplay in a weekend and I think I'll save up for a steadicam and a cheap mic film it soon.

[Anonymous No.7357906]

>>7357877
A) You can have the MC eavesdrop on the deal planning (you mentioned a dancer, so it could be a strip club or something, where shady deals typically go down in the champagne room and such.) Also, it'd be illogical for the bosses themselves to meet in person, so have them be deliveryboys or somethin like that)

B) there are many ways he can fuck up. the first that come to mind are that the MC is tailed by a mob lackey or even spy, (you could even hide his identity til later, and reveal the spy was tailing the MC, who was suspected of poking around too much anyways) OR you could play the corrupt cop angle, where the MC tells a cop, who asks him to goto an interrogation room for an anonymous recording, but ends up being a trap where they threaten the MC and take him somewhere). Hell, you can even do both if you want.

Hope that helped!

[Anonymous No.7357938]

Currently I'm stuck in chapter 5 of a fantasy novel - the basic idea is that magic is real, and society is ruled by wizards, with any magic-replacing technology outlawed so that wizards keep all the power. MC is a dumb kid apprentice to a very powerful mage who dies suddenly, along with a ton of other authority figures, at that world's equivalent of the G20 summit. The power vacuum makes everyone crazy and wars break out all over the place. MC flees his city because he is goddamn useless, with his best friend (an actually competent mage) being kidnapped by terrorists riding prototype automobiles. Goes on weird soul-searching journey and makes some frenemies. World falls to shit and he gets caught up in some really crazy conspiracies his late master left behind.

I like the idea but I am super lazy and I instantly hate anything I write.

[Anonymous No.7357978]

How to get published?

Also sci-fi romance where for once humans are the computer sim the ayy lmaos are falling in love with.

[Anonymous No.7358018]

>>7355782
1. fan fic is a way to practice. just don't trap yourself there and never come up with your own material.
2. write in whatever way makes you the most comfortable. sometimes i write in first person to get in a character's head then change all the pronouns to third person.

>>7357978
interesing twist.
the traditional method is to send out short stories to small places, then try a novel.

[Anonymous No.7358024]

>>7357906

well I've already effectively had A occur in that the informant was recording conversations between crime bosses and delivered the recordings to the MC.
so the only thing I really need to do is figure out how the MC gets close enough to the mafioso alone and overhears what he's intending on selling.

I like the first angle for B, it gives me "fodder" to have in conflict.

[Anonymous No.7358036]

>>7358018
Any tips for screenwriting? Also, alien bro who's falling in love with human chick is basically running sims on fast forward to save their race, coworkers think he's crazy for loving a computer, etc etc, so there's his conflict.

Human-side, a bunch of physicists open the dev console to the sim doing experiments by accident, and from there open a text window on the alien's computer. Since they're on fast forward though, they've gotta put the human communicators in stasis for a couple dozen years between each line of writing, so the main human woman wakes up to an alien world every time.

[Anonymous No.7358050]

Writing essays I hate for school.
>burnt out and can't think
Seriously, this shit should be easy.
I'm trying to talk about memory in "Ode on Melancholy" and "A Kumquat for John Keats" and I can't fucking string a thesis together.

How do I into thesis?

Just finished my first "real" short story.
Working on some poetry that I dislike right now. It feels too artificial.

I don't know. I'm proud of the short story.

[Anonymous No.7358070]

>>7358036
just the ususal. work on your craft and learn the biz. one good podcast is on the page:screenwriting. make contacts. send it out.

protip: even if you sell a screenplay, it probably won't get made.

[Anonymous No.7358075]

>>7358050
>How do I into thesis?
Think of some idea you've had about life, some way of thinking about something. See how/if it reflects on the texts. If it doesn't, better; see what kind of point of view the text is trying to convey negatively. Extrapolate, apply to anything you can think of, put it to test, create counter-arguments.

>It feels too artificial.
Of course it's artificial, what are you saying? It is an artifice, have security in that.

[Anonymous No.7358112]

>>7358070
What's the ratio of written to published?

[Anonymous No.7358115]

>>7358070
Also major thanks, kinda a newfag here

[Anonymous No.7358156]

>>7358112
estimates are 30k to 50k spec scripts are written every year.

[Anonymous No.7358536]

>trying to write a chuuni urban fantasy novel
>having great difficulty because I just feel like all my explanations of the setting and certain happenings are ham-handed and shoehorned in
>don't know how to keep them to a minimum without reducing the main character to a mope who never asks questions or making him experienced at the start (which really isn't what I'm going for)
>also feel like I'm garbage at writing interesting characters, right now there's only one who feels solid and she's doing all of the legwork in dialogue
>already stopped and restarted 2 times, previous attempts were even worse
>know that I'm never going to get better unless I keep going, but it just feels like I'm trying to shovel myself out of a mud pit that keeps filling up

I just needed to get that off my chest, thanks for (not) reading my blog.

[Anonymous No.7358555]

>>7358536
reread something similar to what you're going for and pay attention to how it blends description and action. The more creative parts such as interesting characters you'll have to find your way around but when it comes to technique you can always see how other people did it

[Anonymous No.7358560]

>>7358555
I've actually be trying to do this, but funnily enough, there's nothing I know of that has a similar enough structure, except one other work which is also often criticized for its abundant infodumps. Right now I'm just going to focus on finishing it first then cut things out, but it's just hard to push forward while leaving shit in your wake.

[Anonymous No.7358584]

>>7357029
No problem. I hope to end up recognizing your stuff in a critique thread one day, man.

>>7358536
Even if it's garbage, anon, keep going! Your own worst enemy is the part of you that's a reader.

[Anonymous No.7358603]

I wrote some erotica last night. It's not worth posting, but it's surprising how great it is at getting me into the writing mood. All of the things that cause me to hesitate when writing something I want to be proud of disappear when I don't have any standards for it, and as a result I get a lot more done. I might try this more often.