/lit/ - Literature

>>10423551
you lie, like everyone else did.

It's not so much that which is the problem, as that you have to ask. So you should probably find something else to do, not writing.

>>10423551
Use your imagination nigger

>>10423559
but I want to write
>>10423566
if someone who never built cars before wrote a book about cars, it probably wouldn't be very good or useful

don't

>>10423573
>if someone who never built cars before wrote a book about cars, it probably wouldn't be very good or useful

What the fuck are you talking about, it could be a book about the culture of cars or the experience of driving or a history of cars. You're a fucking idiot

>>10423573
>but I want to write
So figure it out yourself or you'll be back here every week of 2018 asking for someone to hold your hand through each step of the writing process. You'll learn nothing except how to write that one book in particular. Writing is about figuring it out for yourself, your own way.

>>10423595
obviously I'm talking about a book about making a car
in the same way, some neckbeard loser on this site might want to write about two people in a relationship, but has never actually been in an relationship. they've only experienced looking at it from the outside.

>>10423551
have you never heard of speculative fiction, post apocalypse fiction, sci fi etc?

>>10423611
>obviously I'm talking about a book about making a car

No that wasn't obvious at all you fucking idiot.
Look the truth is clearly you're just too autistic to put yourself outside of your own shoes which is a basic requirement of writing. Maybe take up some other hobby like playing warhammer instead

>>10423551
Read more. Use your imagination.
/thread

>>10423613
I'm not saying it's impossible. I'm wondering how other writers manage to do it
>>10423623
are you talking from experience?
>>10423635
this is what I was expecting

>>10423639
What I do is attempt to make educated guesses, emphasis on the educated part. Do a bit of research.

>>10423613
>>10423639
For post-apocalyptic fiction, I go by logic. I'm deeply fascinated by history, the differences between men and women, how men and women have historically gotten along to keep the human race going, and so on. Sometimes things happen that I don't like, but it makes logical sense so I keep it. Something might happen that I like but I think something different would be more in line with how things might go if this situation played out in reality so I might change it. I've never experienced killing a zombie, but I know that skulls are damn thick and damn hard. I understand that a blade is thrust into flesh and bone it can potentially become quite stuck from friction and suction. I also understand that not everything goes according to plan so the protagonists WILL fuck up from time to time. They're not perfect, and they can and WILL occasionally do things that 'good guys' generally wouldn't do. It's not black and white, it's a fuckload of gray, and it's up to the reader to decide whether they like or dislike the characters. Either one is fine, and if they decide they don't like the book because of it then that's fine too but I've gotten quite a bit of positive feedback for my character development and reliance on logic and realism. I've even been compared to Elmore Leonard for it.

It helps, though, that I have an inherent fascination with firearms, bayonets, survivalism, and I like to rely on actual locations so Google Maps has proven to be invaluable though I can and have also made up locations in my mind.

You don't.

It's an impossibility, not a prohibition.

The only reason you can write about something is because you have experienced it in one way or another. If you are writing about pirates you are writing from your impression of what pirates are like from what you heard of them, even if you are not a 18th century pirate yourself. The only way you are able to comprehend a story about pirates is because you are able to elaborate a mental picture of the ship and the setting, you can understand treason or how a drunk man acts, you understand what the word treasure means and so on. If you like something, you are someway "like" it, there is something of your life experience to it.

That's why the better question is why you want to tell that story, or, in other words, how do you experience this that you are writing about? This brings you not only to the point of how to tell a story you thought about, but by addressing your own personal reasons you are able to better understand your priorities and therefore what is needed to sustain your story. If you want to write a pirate story because you like the game of alliances and turn arounds, you can perhaps tell it elsewhere in a different setting altogether, or tell it with pirates and leave the maneauvering of the ships to imagination. If you like it because you identify with the harship of navigating and so on, perhaps you'd want to talk of an explorer instead.

The pirate example is a bit ridiculous, but the advice stands. If you were to write as an old person, or about the experience of a person from a different social class, gender, or environment, it works the same. Whenever you are stopped by a feeling of not knowing what you are talking about, ask yourself why do you want to talk about it then. If you find no good reason, drop it. If you find a good reason, use that as source of ideas for your writing. It is both a guide so that you acknowledge what you already know and feel about something, as a guide for you to research it further if you want. Don't write of what you feel no connection whatsoever, because you can't fake it by studying about it "the day prior" so to speak.

The Red Badge of Courage is literally made up bullshit that had nothing to do with how the military works and it was such good b8 that many IRL union officers and such swore they had served with Stephen Crane, even though he was never in any military ever.

You just write what you want to write, then go back and fact check/change things after the draft to make it more realistic. This might in fact derail your entire story and make you have to rewrite huge parts, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

>>10423639
>I'm wondering how other writers manage to do it

They don't whine like a bitch on an anime forum for a start

>>10423551
Stephen Crane was 25 when he wrote Red Badge and the guy was never even in a fist fight. Use your imagination.

>>10423701
Ah you beat me to it you fucking bitch

>>10423573
>if someone who never built cars before wrote a book about cars, it probably wouldn't be very good or useful

The same way Ken Follet writes about 15th century french cathedrals and architecture even though he's not French, not an architect, and though he's old as fuck, didn't live in the 15th century.

Research, you fucking twat.

>>10423693
>Three paragraphs of bullshit

You're a fucking hack, and your diary will never be published. Reading the Bible and Paradise Lost allows you to speak and write about God; reading is a way to gain experience.

>>10423759
I agree reading is a way to gain experience. It's as if you didn't read what I said at all.

>>10424046
>It's as if you didn't read what I said at all.

He probably didn't.

Dont waste your time with guys like that. Your post was great; it is the kind of advice that makes people want to try harder to get good, to get things done.

I will sleep better tonight because of your words (I feel more confident about my future works). Thank you.

>>10423551
Draw on sources and expand on them. You think any fantasy or sci-fi writers have been in all out space battles?

>>10423551
RESEARCH. It's that simple.
Imagination helps, but it's extremely easy to get it all wrong.

>>10423728
>you fucking bitch

That wasn't necessary. Random negativity, even in jest, is not conducive to a mind that will write good fiction.

>>10423693
idiot

>>10424594
I'm glad, anon.

>>10423611
This is either one of the best bait posts I've ever seen or you're just a fucking Idiot.

>>10423551
Research. Talk to people who have done it, read about it, watch documentaries, etc. Get out and try it yourself if you think you can.

Once you have a reasonable knowledge-base to draw on, think about the particulars of a situation — concrete, sensory details at first, then more intellectual stuff. What does it remind you of? What thoughts would go through your head as it happened? Write it down from your perspective. This isn't a final, or even a first, draft, but it's important to the process.

Now that you have a sketch of how you would experience the thing, look at it through the lens of the character that's experiencing it in your work. How are you and that character the same? How do you differ? These things should change how he/she/they/it experiences that thing. Now, write it from your character's perspective. Again, this isn't a draft, it's background material.

Once you have this character's account of the experience, you can move back to your outline, integrate other elements of the plot, setting, etc. into that account, and the result will be something like a first draft.

Godspeed.

>>10423551
channel the emotions that you imagine the event would make you feel, and search your mind for times when you felt those emotions.

>>10423551
erotica isn't THAT hard to write

>>10428095
Why this nigga shoutin tho

Write about how you feel like anything you write will be inauthentic

>>10423551
Do research, talk to people that did. experience it if you can. people tell you to lie but you can always spot a false accounting in the story. your only salvation would be if your reader also has no experience with that thing

>>10423573
>Tolkien didn't live in Middle Earth so he shouldn't have written the Lord of the Rings

Were you actually dropped on your head as an infant

Everything in the world has underlying logic behind it, good writers grasp it in a way that "feels true" and do stuff with it. You may get a grasp on subject matter from sources other than your experience though of course experience grants you a deeper understanding, especially as far as small details are concerned.

Still, there are tons of stories waiting to be unraveled that don't need or even can't be experienced first hand anyway. Dreams can serve a function of showing us a version of scenario that is on our mind/important to us in the moment. Same with stories, people need stories and you never truly know what story is truly essential. So learn life however way you can and combine it however way seems fun. If it ends up being shit with some introspection the next one won't be as shit. Because process is merciless in such a way it's recommended that you work on a subject you truly care about and that your desire to know the truth of the subject through writing is greater than pain of being shit.

>>10423693
This is the truth that makes pseuds nervous

>>10423693
This guy gets it. Say you want to write about baseball because you associate the sport itself with some sweet childhood half-memory, even though you don't really know anything about major league play. Do research and stuff, but your emotional impression of baseball and how it fits the story you're telling is what will be interesting, regardless of what relation it holds to the actual IRL sport.

>>10429344
Yeah, research enough that people won't call you out for being an idiot, like if you were writing baseball, "It was the World Series game of 2024, and the Cubs were beating the Astros 76-21."