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/lit/ - Literature

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8275450 No.8275450 [Reply] [Original]

/lit/ what are your own personal maxims that you keep in your mind when you're writing something?

>> No.8275455

Stay on point. Make every word count.

>> No.8275457

>>8275450
write well, not badly

>> No.8275465

>>8275450
I am here

>> No.8275468

>>8275450

Make sure it's perfect
Make it better than the authors you read
Make sure you won't hate what you write later
Make sure nothing you write will give anyone something to criticize/psychoanalyze/look down on you about

These are horrible axioms and are the reason why I very rarely write anything and when I do I destroy it immediately
I would really be interested in some better maxims for myself

>> No.8275526

>>8275468
Write what you love, anon. You seem like the apotheosis of the insecure /lit/ user, maybe take a break from this board and just read for a while.

>> No.8275747

>>8275468
Ingmar Bergman got over his perfectionism by asking himself, not if a scene were good, but whether or not it was adequate.

>> No.8275748

Ideas are diagrams for the future. Build it.

>> No.8275783

>>8275747
That's a nice axiom. I'm gonna start applying it to my own writing.

>> No.8275808

Seek for brevity and simplicity.

>> No.8275950

>>8275808
what's your native language?

>> No.8275961

>>8275950
Arabic.

>> No.8276028

>>8275961
don't use a preposition with "seek."

>> No.8276047

>>8275450
I'll allow myself to masturbate once I finish this page

>> No.8276067
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8276067

>>8275457
oh, you.

>> No.8276069

Write drunk edit drunk

>> No.8276073

>>8276028
Is it grammatically incorrect, or just unnecessary to use?

>> No.8276080

>>8276073
It's grammatically incorrect, so your sentence would be better written as "Seek brevity and simplicity."

>> No.8276082

>>8276073
It sounds weird. Seek brevity and simplicity is better.

All about the laconic innit

>> No.8276190

>>8276080
Thank you.

>>8276082
>All about the laconic innit

True.

>> No.8276191

>>8276073

It's possible you had it confused with 'search for ...', which would be correct
For what it's worth, 'seek for' has kind of an exotic ring even if it's not grammatical

>> No.8276223

>>8276191
or "look for".

yeah, it sounds almost King James-y. (almost.)

"Seek ye not for high astounding terms nor for unwonted length, but for brevity and simplicity."

[I'm the dude that originally corrected him btw.]

>> No.8276234

>>8275450
Dialogue is for character development. Avoid using it for exposition or plot unless it also shows something meaningful about a character.

Not sure if this is useful, but I'm giving it a try, at least.

>> No.8276297

>>8276223
King James... that's the guy that edited down the Bible, right?

tl; not laconic