/lit/ - Literature

>>16105005
write Infinite+1 Jest at 40.

have children

>>16105005
Eragon was written by a 18-19 years old kid and we all know how that turned out.

rewrite it by 29 anon. Ez pz

And DeLillo wrote Underworld at 60. Who cares

>>16105016
Legend

>>16105005
How often do you write? If it's not hours a day then you won't. Skills take serious commitment to build.

A few days ago there was a thread where I insisted you should be writing 10+ pages a day if you want to take it seriously. Got a lot of pushback from people. Seems obvious though idk

>>16105282
>If it's not hours a day then you won't.
I fucking knew it was you, kek. You suck anon

>>16105382
Why's that? I'm just telling people that if they want to write seriously they need to seriously write. Not think about writing. Not daydream about having written. Write

>>16105386
yeah but every comment you've left has been poorly written, so why should they trust you?

And you aint gotta tell me, I'm a published writer. And no, I dont do it hours a day. Its quality, not quantity you buffoon

>>16105397
I'm a visual artist, and I'm projecting what I know from my field into that of writing. I never claimed to be a published writer. If you don't do it for hours a day, that's probably why you're not more successful.

>>16105282
10+ pages a day is like 3000 words, that’s overkill. 1000 words is a perfect daily goal

>>16105403
Honestly, for 99% of people it's a huge success if it's even one hour a day, every day.

>>16105005
start writing. i'm getting sober right now and i'm going to start writing every single day for the rest of my life... i write every day but not essays or ficiton... just stupid shit online

>>16105420
Overkill? Do you want to be DFW or not? Look, even Stephen King writes 10 pages a day; you don't even want to be at his level?

>>16105424
I find that mind boggling. Maybe they should be doing something they enjoy, instead.

>>16105433
Hemingway is said to have wrote 500 words a day and he had a pretty decent literary career, wouldn’t you say

>>16105440
Yes, but if you're not getting Hemingway-tier results, do you think should be investing LESS time developing your craft? How do you think skill development works, just thinking about it?

>>16105433
This argument deteriorates with every post

>>16105445
I know skill development isn’t a one size fits all thing like a pair of Walmart sweatpants. Just keep at it and keep reading, slaving away to a daily goal that really is overkill isn’t a magic pill for success.

>>16105403
Post art

>>16105005
>Rimbaud wrote his best shit between the ages of 14 and 20
Just get a classical education in Ancient Greek and Latin while making refined translations of them

>>16105005
kys before you're 46 years old.

Write a worse book. Guarantee you can't

>>16105452
Literally not an argument. Gotta assume you're a failing writer and coping.

>>16105520
It would all be personally identifiable, so no. I brought it up only because other anon tried an ad hominem.

>>16105456
Uh yeah, keep reading. But don't forget to, you know, write. If you want to be a better writer. It helps to actually do the thing you want to improve at.


Can't believe how many fools on here think writing is about not writing.

>>16105804
Post art bitcho. Certainly you've got something no one has seen. Youre doing it for hours a day, afterall

>>16105818
Again, no, it would all be personally identifiable. My art is very well exposed, because I spent a lot of time getting to the point where major corporations commission me for it. I know this seems unimaginable to you, because you're a failure who dreams about writing but never writes.

>dude padded out bloated 1000 pager
if pynchon wrote IJ it would be 400 pages

>>16105836
What are you talking about, Pynchon is the bloatmaster.

>>16105827
Kek, I knew you were fibbin

>>16105846
baka, if wallace wrote gravity's rainbow in the style of IJ it would be 3000 pgs

>>16105005
By living to age 47

>>16105804
I just wanted to stop by and let you know that you're incredibly retarded. Like this is a new level of autism far beyond the norm
Don't bother responding because I'm leaving this thread. Swallow my cock and work the shaft you dirty bitch

>>16106335
You could keep coping... or you could sit down and write. Since you want to do it so much. :)

>>16105005
He wrote The Broom of the System at 25, read it, it has such a juvenile tone. It takes time to come into your own, commercially and artistically speaking. Also, take the time to check them.

Gaddis wrote The Recognitions when he was 29 so

>>16105433
Stephen King writes 6 pages a day.

>>16106819
Nah, I definitely read him say he does 10.
But I wouldn't be surprised if the drug addict is inconsistent.
What does surprise me is that you guys think you're aspiring writers when it causes huge psychological pain to even write for one hour. Just lmao.

>>16105016
Criminally underrated

A better example would have been Melville writing Moby Dick at 30.

>>16105005
Gilles Deleuze published Difference and Repetition & Logic of Sense at his 40s (Not to mention Nietzsche and Philosophy & Proust and Signs). That's hard to compete with

>>16105282
You can't practice writing.
You're either inspired to write something great or you aren't.
Practicing writing is exactly the type of bugman googly-eyed crap I'd except from this brainlet board though.

>>16106890
based autodefenestrator

>>16106907
>You can't practice writing.
HAHAhahahahHAHAHAHAHA lmao
Lazy faggot.

>>16106928
You can write 100 pages a day but it will all be tedious bugman shit if you don't have the divine spark.

>>16106533
Nice digits and nice post.

>>16106907
Based retard

>>16106941
You can just keep on writing 0 pages a day, I'm sure the gains will manifest any day now.

What are the greatest artistic achievements made by someone under 30?

>>16106947
Writing and lifting weights aren't comparable.
You always know you are talking to an intellectually bankrupt person when they start the arguments by analogy.

>>16105433
Writing isn't a a fucking rpg stat you can grind for you moron

>>16106961
Sure they're comparable. For one, they're both things you don't do.

>>16106965
An "rpg?" Anon, I think we can very quickly diagnose where the time you should be spending on your craft has actually gone.

>>16106974
I write daily, and I don't play videogames anymore, you are argument is bad

>>16106968
Ok so in addition to being intellectually bankrupt, you also have low intelligence and are disingenuous.

>>16105005
The best of the best don’t get their “masterpieces” done until 40 or 50. A favorite of mine, W.G. Sebald, didn’t publish his first novel until he was 46.

>>16106984
>the best of the best
>references a literal "who?"

>>16106979
>you are argument

>>16106987
Read more, then. You clearly don’t do much of that if you’ve never heard of him or his works like ‘The Rings of Saturn’ or ‘Austerlitz’.

>>16106961
>Writing and lifting weights aren't comparable.
you absolute retard, the brain is one giant multifaceted muscle

>>16106994
>being newfag

>>16105440
And Jack London did 1,000 a day, though he had a shorter career.

When I write I typically do it by time per day, not by number of words. Maybe I should change my method, but anyone can bang out 500-1,000 words of garbage. I'd rather take my time and have fewer words of better quality.

>>16106979
Good. How much do you write daily? Writing daily is literally what I'm advocating so you must not do it much if you're arguing with me. Try doing it more.

>>16106980
Just stop coping man. If you were a writer, you'd write. Instead you want to be a writer, but you aren't one. Find peace.

>>16107003
If I loved RoS, should I read Austerlitz?

>>16107051
>Try doing it more
See, this is the issue, and the only thing I was criticising (that you were not intelligent enough to recognise this further goes to show that your advice isn't worth paying any heed, only fools follow a fool), you can't just "level up" faster in the "writing stat" by doing it more, if anything forcing yourself to hit a certain word cap every day will stunt your development and growth as a writer

>>16107084
This is you justifying post-facto your own laziness. If you wrote as much every day as you knew you could, you wouldn't be insecure about it at all. Reading my posts, you would Laugh, and move on. But you get hung up because it hits you in a sore spot. The spot you know is weak, and you neglect it. So just write more.

I am the coach this board needs.

>>16107091
My dedication to writing consistently is one of the few things I'm not insecure about, but you're right I'm just wasting my time
You're clearly only baiting, and I don't want to get drawn in to it any further

>>16106828
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xR7XMkjDGw0

I don't even disagree with what you're saying in this thread.

>>16106907

Nice troll.

The more you write and re-read your writing, the better you get. Some people improve more quickly than others, some people start out as better writers, but if you're not writing and reading a lot, you're not going to improve and, more importantly, you're not really trying to get better. If you expect nature to hand you writing skills, you're going to languish in mediocrity forever.

>>16106941
Never. Gonna. Make. It.

>>16107101
<3

>>16107100
I'm "baiting" in the sense that I want you guys to live up to your potential. I'm intentionally provoking you to justify your weaknesses so that you'll see them as weaknesses and overcome them. I want the best for you.

>>16107058
Yeah it’s fantastic, and as good as RoS.

>>16105190
Isn't he rich as fuck? I imagine it turned out well for him, then.

>>16106533
Impressive

very nice

Let's see Paul Allen's dubs.

>>16106533
Wasn't that his MFA project or something though?

>>16107182
he still though it good enough to be published as his first novel

>>16107171
>double dubs

How.. how can this be...

>>16106907
>>16106961
>>16106965
Writing is definitely a skill. Like any skill some talent comes into play sure, but does anyone come right out the gate writing like Melville? No, not even fucking Melville, so he must have gotten better. So writing is a skill.

I'm not judging any of you but you must realize how much these posts just sound like copes.

>>16107566
>66

>>16106533
>Also, take the time to check them.
how does he do it

>>16105005
If he waited a few years maybe it wouldn’t have been so shitty and he wouldn’t kill himself

>>16105016
Damn.

>>16105282
10 pages is a little much. If you tell a beginner that they need to squeeze out 10 pages or drivel every day, they’re inevitably going to get discouraged.

I’m certainly no authority, but just as long as you commit a real amount of time to reading and writing every week, results are inevitable. That idea of reasonable will grow with time as well. Just like the process of getting/staying fit.

>>16106959
When Ian Curtis killed himself he was 23. He'd written and recorded a demo for 'Ceremony' just 4 days before.

>>16105005
Don't be dumb. You're welcome. Start reading already.

>>16105190
>Many people have died for their beliefs… The real courage is living and suffering for what you believe.
What a silly quote by the Eragon writer.

>>16106533
>>16107171
>>16107566
Truly how'd he swing that in a /lit/ thread.

>>16107735
I agree with you, but I also would argue that latent skill makes a much bigger difference than you're making it sound like. To build off the other anon's metaphor, if it's an RPG stat, latent skill not only starts you off at a high level, it also gives you an experience boost. There are many who can write 1000 words a day and never get better (look at that guy who wrote the 4 million word smash fanfiction, or basically any webnovel author, compare their first few chapters to their most recent ones and you'll be shocked at how both manage to be far from publishable) just the same, there are those who learn everything by writing one book, and everything after that is quite servicable.

Of course practice will make you better, but everyone told me I couldn't publish my first novel and I did it. Now people who live and die by their daily routines and their writing rules come to me for writing advice. Was I born a good writer? I honestly don't know, but I know plenty of people who have been writing since before I was born and their prose is choppy or too direct and no matter how many times you tell them, they just don't quite get how to improve.

I know my experience isn't that of most, and saying all that probably comes off as sounding conceited, but every work I've read from someone in my agency, even things they wrote years before, has sounded great, only amateurish and needing polish. They all seem to have been born good and then practiced to become great. That's just what my personal experiences have led me to believe.

>>16105005
read as much as you can and take lessons to talentsmax but basically genetics are a necessary component to be that good at 30

>>16107994
I would agree. I would say to be great you have to have some talent and some degree of intelligence. This is because when you write you have to deliberately try to get better, and this takes some conscious effort. Another factor is what you're reading. I'm guessing the Smash fiction guy wasn't reading Dosto or anything so he didn't have decent references on what good is.

>>16108168
>genetics are a necessary component to be that good at 30
Or try actually writing more often you fucking pathetic idiot.
Cant believe 90 posts in you cunts are still coping with your inability to just PRACTICE DOING THE THING YOU WANT TO DO.
Don't effortpost back at me, just go write you morons.

>>16105005
Melville was 32 when he published Moby-Dick
Pynchon, 36, Gravity’s Rainbow
Joyce, 39, Ulysses (he wrote Dubliners when 32, and Portrait of the artist at 34)
Plenty of authors published their most famous work in their thirties, I could go on but I used those three because they’re meme authors that /lit/ likes and they each wrote at least one book better than infinite jest.

>>16105005
by writing your magnum opus when you're 90 years old and have it published by your grandchildren after your death when they find it locked in a chest in the attic

>>16108253
literally all of umberto's work was like in his 50s+ altho it takes an extra special kind of person to write like he does

>>16107994
Post your work? I'm genuinely interested.

>>16105433
DFW said in an interview he only wrote 1 hour a day. He didn’t seem happy with it but still, lol

>>16108288
Do you write like him?
No?
Think you'll get better by doing it less?
It's like the same thing, over and over again, with you guys. Stop coping and start writing. You get better by doing not by thinking about one day having done.

>>16106959
lot of math starts as kind of spontaneous artistic sparks, so i would say godels theorems or maybe claud shannon's masters thesis which formed the basis of all modern electronics, etc

>>16108292
have to agree with this. its funny, when i see people who are truly good at games, or people that get good insanely quickly, its always just about putting in the real hours. and the only people i see who actually put in the hours, are all insanely good. practice really is a key to getting good, and its not even practice+getlucky. its just practice. like on path of exile i saw some guy who started speedrunning last winter and now he's getting 1st place in competitions. what does he do? sits down, 5 hours, nothing but efficient practice. every day

fucking duo lingo only asks for 10 minutes of your day, every day. its no time at all. 99.9999% of people cant even do that, they quit in a couple days

>>16105005
Very easily, you need only make your own book shorter.

>>16108292
Yeah u right

>>16105005
Cervantes wrote Don Quijote when he was nearly 60, you're find.

>>16108852
Not that anon but I have hypotonic palsy, I may not live to 60
Fucks me right off when people say "oh don't worry if you've achieved nothing yet, you'll have plenty of time" lmao not me bitch I'm speedrunning this shit
https://youtu.be/TnpwuRlXbhk

>>16108485
ok now i feel kinda bad :/

>>16108906
well yer just downright fucked then

>>16108925
not that anon but why do you think that is? i have the same tendency, to vehemently make a point and then on the rare occasion that the point is gotten across i immediately feel bad about it. its not a common trait as far as i can see and it causes me nothing but anxiety. either im wrong and im anxious, or im right and im doubly anxious

>>16106984
This applies in all fields.
Look at the work of any poet, novelist, or thinker you respect, and you will see that they produced their best work after having turned 40. It takes time and continuous effort to gain skill in a craft.

>>16108996
just means youre a fag that gets too caught up in pointless arguments. live more coward

>>16105005
I took a creative nonfiction course with David Wallace at Ponoma back in '94. We weren't allowed to show anyone our essays outside of the class for some reason. He seemed naturally intelligent, didnt need to look at any notes or textbooks or prepare for any lectures, he just knew his stuff and was super casual.

I saw him talking to a girl on campus one day. He uncharacteristically wore a Fila sweatsuit, the kind that looks like it's made from the same material as parachutes, and trainer sneakers with a matching bandana. That was his pussy hunt outfit apparently. Several times a week, same outfit, I'd see him hitting on women in it. I once saw him wearing it while carrying an identical outfit from the dry cleaners, he had like 4 sets of same Fila sweatsuit.

I asked him about it in class and he said we aren't allowed to discuss anything unrelated to class while inside class, the same way we can't show anyone outside of cass our essays. A student called out "but Dostoevsky isn't in this class and last week you talked about replicating his black tea obsession to test its affects on your own writing". Wallace stared blankly at the student with dead eyes for 30 seconds in dead silence then said "you just got knocked down a full letter grade. Any other smart asses? Didn't think so." and pushed up his glasses with his index finger.

I remember telling myself this guy will either be super successful or kill himself.

>>16109162
>just means youre a fag that gets too caught up in pointless arguments. live more coward
tru maybe

>>16108996
>I love him who is ashamed when the dice fall in his favor, and who then asks: "Am I a cheat?" -- for he wants to perish.
>I love him whose soul is deep even in the wounding, and may perish through a small matter: thus he goes willingly over the bridge.
>I love him whose soul is so overfull that he forgets himself, and all things are in him: thus all things become his down-going.

>I love him who loves his virtue: for virtue is the will to down-going, and an arrow of longing.
>I love him who reserves no share of spirit for himself, but wants to be wholly the spirit of his virtue: thus he walks as spirit over the bridge.
>I love him who makes his virtue his inclination and destiny: thus, for the sake of his virtue, he is willing to live on, or live no more.

>I love those that know not how to live except as down-goers, for they are the over-goers.
>I love the great despisers, because they are the great adorers, and arrows of longing for the other shore.

Love you buddy

>>16108485
You too

>>16109162
also obvious projection but that doesnt mean ur wrong

>>16109184
kiss me

>>16105005
You don't have to compete with this.

>>16105190
Eragon was weitten by a 15 year old

>>16108925
Haha no need man. I appreciate your advice in this thread. I’m interested in writing myself and don’t practice it nearly enough
>>16109187
Rare positive lit thread. One love

>>16105005
It isn't an impressive piece of literature. Melville publishing Moby-Dick at 32 on the other hand...

>>16105547
Rimbaud was a hack propped up by fairies

>>16106959
Raphael painted The Marriage of the Virgin at 21
Nick Drake recorded Pink Moon at 24
Orson Welles directed Citizen Kane at 25
Marcel Duchamp painted Nude Descending a Staircase No. 2 at 25
Rembrandt painted The Anatomy Lesson at 26
Pablo Picasso painted Les Demoiselles d’Avignon at 26
Georges-Pierre Seurat painted A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte at 27
Salvador Dalí painted The Persistence of Memory at 27
Rage Against the Machine recorded their debut in their 20s
The Beatles recorded Abbey Road in their 20s
Edvard Munch painted The Scream at 29
Stanley Kubrick directed Paths of Glory at 29

>>16106907
All of us here have deluded ourselves, is that wrong? It's perfect.

>>16108287
Being a dreamer and not confining himself to our material world, Fred found himself in love quite often. He was a romantic…. at the very least… and a pervert in his most base moments— no, nothing as to ever having to involve the law, of course, just that insatiable lust which plagues us all from time to time. But let us not get too clung up with that.

Being the poet that he was he had a natural fixation for the arts: music, film, you name it, with his lover’s dream being to propose after attending Andy Warhol’s Empire. He had dreamed of this moment for years, ever since he graduated college, and now it was coming to fruition. Naturally it’d be at MoMA, and his thought process was ‘If he could find a woman to sit through Empire, she must be the one,’ and certainly she would be. Don’t think he didn’t try in vain in the past though, as his previous lover Rebecca scoffed at the idea, but the past is behind us all reduced to a soft whisper in the middle of the night or a subtle sensation in a fit of dizziness after drinking too much caffeine unduly thinking this is the end, or the sheer emasculation of holding in piss for too long leading to many maladies of the mind; no, he’s on to bigger and better things now, as Franny was more than overwhelmed with the idea—fascinated and honestly looking forward to it.

First two paragraphs of my last short story.

>>16109523
Genuinely good. Thanks for sharing.

One minor thing is you get overly descriptive after "but the past is behind us all". It fucks with the flow. Other than that very nice.

>>16109806
>One minor thing is you get overly descriptive after "but the past is behind us all". It fucks with the flow. Other than that very nice.
Thank you, I realized this desu, but liked what I said so I kept it in, but you're probably right.

>>16109469
>Rage Against the Machine recorded their debut in their 20s
Too bad they weren't any good.

>>16106965
t. level 1 writing

>>16110033
Yeah they were excellent

>>16109469
Art is not an accomplishment. They may as well have done absolutely nothing.

>>16110043
And what does that make someone who posts on an art board

>>16105005
>tfw only 18
Hahaha oldfags

>>16110033
Based

>>16110075
God you must be so fucking soft. Could I kiss your stomach while I hold you by the balls

>>16110075
We’ll be there soon too brother
t. Also 18

>>16105016
Genuinely laughed

>>16110075
if you're here already at 18 then you already lost

>tfw soon to be 23 and only wrote 1 mediocre first draft of script so far

I'm also khv

>>16109469
Musicians usually peak in their 20-30s.

Writers before 30 are exceptions, most peak in their 40-50s with 30-60s being the good career years.

>>16110085
Will post stomach pics in the morning

I CAN'T FUCKING DO IT. I'VE BEEN STARING AT A BLANK PAGE FOR AN HOUR AND CAN'T MAKE SOMETHING I LIKE I HATE MYSELF AND ALL OF YOU AAAAAAAHHHHH

>>16110199
Hemingway
Mary Shelley
Fitzgerald

>>16110227
Literally high school tier

>>16110207
how? you are literally coming up with words right now. anything is better than nothing. or at least read and try to imitate the style afterward or something

>>16110039
Based

>look up famous authors and mangaka
>many were mid-20s when they started getting successful
>some were even younger, around 21-24
>mfw 22
AHHHHHHHHH

>>16105282
A bit excessive, but I agree with the sentiment. The only reason I got published was because I’d slave away at it, no matter the circumstances, each and every day. Such is the prophetic “grind.”

>>16107816
kek Joy Division sucks dude, and he was just the autstic singer. New Order was much better.

>>16108287
The other anon isn't me. I'm not going to post my stuff because I don't want to be linked to this site, seeing as that's a death sentence for my publishing career. Decided that years ago.

>>16105282
Never force yourself to write or you'll end up like DFW, who said he'd spend most of his day worrying about not writing. I go weeks without writing, then I'll get inspired and spew out a book over a week, then I'll hate it and put it away, then come back a month later and rewrite it and then it's usually good. If not, I'll rewrite it again in another month. Don't tell people to force themselves to do something if they don't enjoy it. Not everyone needs to write ten pages a day and have a rigid schedule. If you don't want to write, why would you force yourself to write?

>>16110015
I have the same problem. I write a bunch of stuff I don't like and I keep it in because I feel like I am destroying my "work" if I remove it.

You might feel better if, whenever you need to delete something, you cut it out to another document so you can always put it in somewhere else if you think you might need it. Or you can use a version control system like Git/Github so anything you add/remove/modify is always available via a history.

>>16111777
Oh yea, very true. Normies don't know the difference between containment boards vs the rest of the site.

>>16112067
I've always wondered how feasible git would be for novel writing.

>>16111777
holy trips batman

>>16110033
I don't hate them by any means, but RATM write exactly the kind of stuff you'd expect a bunch of 20 year olds to write. It's politically naive proto-nu-metal activism.

>>16106907
you have to practice anything to be good at it

>>16112077
As long as the file format isn't binary, it will always be good. And you can set a command to auto commit on save etc. Binary files will work, but the real power is being able to browse and see changes in history, forking stuff, etc.

>>16112325
>>16112077
Btw you can always just set up a github account and edit everything inline with markdown. You don't need to install git or anything. Text editing on their site works fine. There are also even editors that let you hook directly to github etc.

Genghis Khan conquered the known world at 40, and David Foster Wallace is dead. So take that.

DFW's articles are weak. Poses a bunch of questions but no answers in all his writings. Remember the lobster blows, he should have taken more bold stances besides hanging himself

>>16113734
What the hell is wrong with his lobster? It's a perfectly ordinary work that spirals into sterile encyclopedic boulevards and then jumps out the window to tackle substantial, deep-seated philosophical questions parallel to the primordial nature of mankind. Surely that is more interesting than watching you watch paint dry. If you want answers come to your own conclusions from the musings of able-minded people.

>anon argues that writing is a skill and craft that requires practice to improve
>something that is universally agreed upon by all masters in all mediums
>thread consists of people sperging out at the prospect of having to actually sit down and work in order to improve your craft
No wonder the posted excerpts are so shitty. God damn, you lazy fat retards, writing well requires writing at all.

>>16110075
Please get on a spiritual path before it's too late

>>16114681
>>16105282

The issue here, which remains unsaid, is that simply sitting down and writing x amount per day is not useful advice because there has been no discussion on what particular skills a writer should work on. As such, simply vomiting out drivel and then trying to read through it to see 'what works' is going to be detrimental not only to your artistic development, but also to your mental and physical well being. I speak from experience when I say that if you force yourself to write an obscene quantity at a particular level of quality, it is a fact that you will fall ill.
There are people who make it work. Those are the ones making a livable amount of money from self publishing on Amazon, yet most of us seem familiar with the level of quality that results from this mode of producing art.
The thing about practicing the skills needed for writing is that you do not need to actually write to practice them. Unlike drawing/painting or music, there are no physical actions that you must practice. Writing is an introspective art-form that requires a certain sensitivity, and to 'practice' writing, one needs to be constantly creative, which drains the spirit.
My advice would be to abandon this idea that some art is better than other art, not because it is untrue, but it is getting in the way of doing something you enjoy. Write if you like to write. If you do not like to write, don't write. It's ok. Abandon this idea of 'making it', for even the greatest writers would falter if they had to think about marketability and mass appeal in their work. A writer's work is first and foremost intensely personal; a writer writes for their friends.
I'll add one small addendum for those interested. I believe this holds true for all things. In the average everyday you will find that the world is constantly trying to teach you anything you want to learn. If you want to learn how to write, simply open your eyes and ears to the world around you, and more importantly, to what is bouncing around within yourself. You might find wisdom watching someone getting into their car to go to work in the morning. If there is a small child in the house, that is invaluable. Play with them and observe them carefully. You will find much to learn.

>>16115473
First frogposter I've agreed with in a long time.

>>16105282
>>16110840
How do you think of what to write? Whenever I sit down to write I get a hundred or so words and don't know where to go

>>16111777
checked and respecked

>>16115473
Absolutely based. Is it just me or is /lit/ becoming a good board again?

>>16105282
How to get published: write for 10k hours.

>>16112163
YOU GOT A POCKETFUL OF SHELLS
MOTHERFUCKER

Fall in love.

>>16115473
>The thing about practicing the skills needed for writing is that you do not need to actually write to practice them.
This is the essentially-wrong idea at the core of your post.
I know every NEET likes the idea that he could just think of a cool story and then transcribe it once it's a perfect crystal vision in his mind. Good luck with that.

>>16105846
>Pynchon
>Bloatmaster
Just because it's difficult doesn't mean it's bloat. And the sex scenes were based and necessary, especially the ones where slothrop fucks children.

I'm glad writing/cinema is where my interest is, I can't imagine having a strong passion to physics/math/music where you basically peak in your mid 20s to max mid 40s, I would've gone insane and feel more like a wasted individual than i already am.

>>16108253
>Joyce, 39, Ulysses
I know in my heart of hearts that I won't have the insight to create something comparable even when I'm twice that age, if I'm cursed to live that long
Why are some people so much better than others? It's not even an "everyone has their own strengths" thing. I'm worthless in the face of most authors. I'm worthless in the face of the average 19-20th century blue collar man. I'm worthless in the face of history's soldiers who have died for something they believed in. I'm nothing.

>>16105190
His parents published it for him, and also hired an editor for him.

>>16105397
> Its quality, not quantity you buffoon
It unironically is in a lot of genre's though.

>>16116635
what I mean is this: in order to play football (soccer for you Americans) you first need to be fit. Trying to get better at football merely by playing a large volume of games is usually inefficient, if not downright harmful. The micro skills needed to get better at the sport are best developed outside of a game before their application in one.
Second, that sentiment is very clearly not at the core of my post.
> every NEET likes the idea that he could just think of a cool story and then transcribe it once it's a perfect crystal vision in his mind.
That's not what I said. Note that I wrote that you do not need to write to practice those skills, not that you don't need to practice those skills. I am not advocating that a writer not practice writing. I am advocating a way of practicing writing that is not obvious to any young writer. An alternate style of practice is necessary because writing is not like other art-forms such as painting or music, wherein there are multiple microskills that can be trained separately from one another. If you actually had the attention span, intelligence, and perspective to actually read and engage with my post, perhaps I would not have to explain this to you like you're a 13 year old.

But what am I doing hoping for a decent conversation on the /lit/? I'm the retard here.

>I'm so stupid, I'm so stupid, I'm so stupid,
I'm so stupid

>>16105005
Heidegger wrote Being and Time in his 20s.

>>16105440
You are misunderstanding The Hemingway. He's also said that for every page he wrote, he threw 91 pages away. He wrote a lot. A fucking lot. What he meant by the 500 words a day thing, was that they were words he kept, that he found good.

>>16105005
LARP like DFW for some time and re write Infinite Jest, word for word, exactly, unconscious

>>16105016
nice

>>16109469
Hmm very depressing.

>>16105282
You can't really treat this as some universal advice. By contrast Hunter S Thompson wrote fuck all and only wrote when he had something he knew he wanted to write.
Stephen King shits out a huge amount of writing and most of it is really just not that great.
It really comes down to the person and what suits them.

>>16106533
Patrician post, and checked

>>16117718
im not that guy but i think that guy is making a valid point >>16108292
if your goal is to actually become a writer then its insane to take this "other people became famous writers and didnt write so i wont either" mindset. practice is a such a big deal and the ratio of people i see that spend all day trying to build mental loops not to practice to the people that actually practice has to be thousands to one

>>16115473
Great post

>>16106533
nice

>>16109187
>Love you buddy
hey wow. i just realized i missed your reply. not often i get hit here but when i do i do. its about time i give that a read given how much i think about Day Is Deep Deeper Than Day Can Comprehend even tho i probably dont understand what he meant by that. thanks love and godspeed, anon

>>16107171
that's nothing, check this out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjoK7msnjtE

>>16108288
https://youtu.be/GopJ1x7vK2Q?t=195

>>16105282
quality > quantity