/lit/ - Literature

>All I can read currently is divorce/cheating flash fiction
>All I can think about writing currently is divorce/cheating flash fiction

ngmi

Hello, please answer.

Is this a correct use of a comma?

Our sample of Indian mutual funds has statistically significant negative alpha using the CAPM and the Fama–French five-factor model, and non-statistically significant negative alpha for all other asset pricing models.

It is two independent sentences (even though I'm not repeating "our sample of Indian mutual funds has" before "non-statistically significant..." - I don't have to repeat it right?), so it's correct? Right? My first language isn't English btw.

Anime is shit

>>18173833
So is most art, guess the image is appropriate

Continuing from the last thread, NTA but I found that watching anime and reading manga and watching a lot of movies greatly helped develop good scene visualization. Now I can easily picture what I'm writing about, people's faces, their expressions, landscapes, etc.

>>18173877
observe life weirdo
but yes, if you're critically minded then observation is good for creativity

How many of you publish on sites lien Royal Road?

Are any of you working on web novels?

>>18173808
Yeah! I've been working on a novel for two years now. I wrote a 50k one when I was a kid, but this is a proper one. It'll be done in a couple months. I know it won't be as good as what I make down the line, but I'm pretty chuffed and excited.

>>18173877
Can you not do that as easily reading? I think casting a pretty wide net for your sources is good.

>>18174358
Keep it up, don't stop until you're across the finish line. Hope it turns out well

>>18174379
thank you! honestly yeah, the only thing that's kept me going at several points is bloody-mindedly pushing forward

Any McCarthy fans here? I wrote something in the vein of Suttree—I’d appreciate any feedback.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uj4UAVZ7ZIR_ofQp4_CJQ0cEtVSzOfg28cTslSSZibg/edit

Does personal journaling improve your ability to write? I reflect each day in my journal and I find interesting parts that could be translated into a fiction setting, but it's mostly for own enjoyment.

>>18174452
I reckon it would - practising turns of phrase and whatnot

>>18174407
Haven't read Suttree in awhile so I can't grade you for how good an imitation you did. Not bad, but it's not really a story so I can't say much besides some basic editing that you'd probably catch just re-reading it a few times.
>The air is charged and silent like a frozen crystal
Does this make sense to you? Does the room have a pent up energy? While an ice crystal is silent, is it really charged?

>>18174452
Sounds like it keeps you writing which is the best way to refine your ability

>>18174407
Not a bad imitation of the style of Suttree. Punctuation feels too much, the flow is broken too frequently by periods. I've been reading Seiobo There Below for a few days now though, a book with almost no periods, so take that with a grain of salt.

Other than that, rethink your similes a bit and there are a few mistakes here and there, but that's all stuff you'll probably catch in editing. As a sidenote, next time try making the document more readable on a computer. Bigger and sans serif fonts are generally easier to read on a screen.

>>18174311
Yeah, I'm serial writing one called Saga of the Cosmic Heroes on Royalroad and Scribblehub. I just wrapped up my latest chapter last night and will schedule it for a release later today after giving it an editing pass.

There's about 7+ others that I know of who shared their RR works here, but only about 3 are active or semi-active in writing.

>>18174503
is there more reader activity that say wattpad? specifically for OG works

>>18174582
Far more considering it has actual discovery mechanics. There's still chronic dick-sucking(review swaps) to get some bigger noticability though but compared to Wattpad it's tame. You can also buy ads on the site as well.

>>18173808
What writing/editing software do you guys like using or recommend? As I'm getting into editing my stories into a more final format, I'm finding that the program I'm using is pretty clunky when attempting to insert things like drop text, and there's no automatic hyphenation feature, etc.

>>18174685
Scrivener for writing/researching. It kinda lacks in editing though. I just use Grammarly and Gdocs for grammatical edits and spellings I might've missed.

>>18174696
>Scrivener

What's good about it?

I really struggle with finally deciding what sort of story I want to flesh out. It’s hard to choose this one or that one. Any advice?

>>18174710
Good for keeping documents nice and organized, especially for things like research, characters, plot points, etc. It's designed in mind to write a story scene-by-scene (all in separate documents) rather than one whole document. But you're more than free to write a whole story in one text document as well.

Essentially, aside from some nifty features, at its core, it's not too much different from things like Word or other knock-off processors. It also has many non-fiction/fiction templates to start with, or if that's too overwhelming, you can just start from a blank template and structure things easily your way.

It has a built-in compile mechanic for things like epub, and Kindle as well. Also, for what it's worth it has a free 30-day trial that only counts the time you use it for.

>>18174625
cool I might give that a shot, I fear my work might be too big brain for the average web novel readership which I assume slants towards young women and fanfic mouth breathers, but if you can get traction with some review spamming and ads it might be worth it

>>18174818
Just be aware that with any given ad space you'll likely get tons of 0.5 stars and bad apples leaving bad reviews, but at least in the long run you'll get some noticeability.

I promised to post my short story after writing a couple more pages, so here it is. Feel free to tell me just how much of an illiterate donkey I am.
https://pastebin.com/FpYUS64J

>>18174814
Thanks for the info.

>>18174787
Pick the one that you think will resonate the most with the reader, or the one which you think has the most important message to tell. From there, make an outline and modify it as you work or as new ideas come to you.

>>18174832
What's going on with the formatting?

Anyone know anywhere that accepts longer form short stories (15k - 20k words)? My short stories are all part of a larger work, and so it's not simply a matter of me trimming them down to fit short story publication guidelines.

>>18174873
Copypasted it from word. It's supposed to be made up of a bunch of smaller scenes and the lines are meant to separate them.

>>18174948
How come the paragraphs and dialogue aren't spaced?

>>18174993
Hope this is better, famalam
https://pastebin.com/iS9ehvFT

>word processor auto-corrects your word to English when you were pontificating its latinate etymologic root

I’ve got to write some essays for the GRE English test. Is it appropriate if I write them here and expect corrections ? I was kicked out of /lang/

>>18175191
Do your homework and get off half cripplechan.

>>18173825
It looks fine to me.

>>18173808
Do those books really work?

>>18173825
The comma is fine that way, and you don't need to repeat the part about the sample since it's all one sentence. The only thing I can think of here would be for you to put "a" before "statistically significant" and "non-statistically significant." See below.

"Our sample of Indian mutual funds has a statistically significant negative alpha using the CAPM and the Fama–French five-factor model, and a non-statistically significant negative alpha for all other asset pricing models."

>My first language isn't English btw.

You're Japanese perhaps?

>want your character to be an art critic
>research art criticism
>99% of them today are obvious imbeciles who have no idea what they are talking about
>can't find any serious criticists, can't find any good critiques to see what they look like
Fucking shit fuck ufck fuck

>>18175474
>serious criticists
>can't find any good critiques
those who can, do. those who can't? critique. art critic is like the ultimate level of pseud and you should embrace that for your character.
I'd recommend reading Lucky Jim - its not that long a novel either. he's a history professor not an art critic, but he's a self aware pseud. its a good book.

>>18175474
Rhetoric isn't about proving something correct or incorrect, it's about convincing others that your preexisting, preconceived notion is that correct one. Art critics pretend they're on an island of enlightenment amidst a sea of ignorance and nothing they say can ever actually be proven wrong, which they might try to lead you to believe that that means they're always right.

>>18175474
I appreciate how difficult it is to write characters outside your field.
If you're really serious you'd try to appreciate art yourself. Better than writing the trillionth story where the main character is some boozing writer, holy fuck if I could erase all those selfinsert garbage stories I would.

Anime is not literature.
You do not belong.

>>18175474

Why not embrace that? Or if the whole point is being an art critic who's not a pseud, maybe base it on some older ones? No idea who though.

>always wanted to write fantasy
>in love with the idea of using an unbelievable setting to convey very human ideas and themes
>feel like anything short of purist literary fiction is going to be laughed at (i.e. modern day setting, 1st world problems, etc)
>lose motivation
What do?

>>18175696
I have no idea what you're talking about. What does "anything short of purist literary fiction" mean?

>>18175696
either accept pandering to a market and finding no joy in writing or don't be such a little wee wee man and do what you find fun
sounds like you'd be infinitely more productive if you just embraced the anime and focused on writing with joy and passion

>tfw I can't stand my writing today
It took me three hours of on-and-off editing to get through 1k words.

>>18175927
Imagine forcing yourself to write
Imagine not writing only when you're in the mood

>>18175947
I am in the mood. It just feels like an ESL wrote it when I look at it.

Wrapped up writing chapter yesterday and finished edit passes just earlier. Always feel bad writing past deadlines, but it's done and that's what counts. We're all gonna make it bros, even the schizo-pesuds.

im about on my 2nd draft of my graphic novel, pre thumbnailing.
i have all my impotant scenes layed out but pacing is my current issue i need to fix.
basically i have a bit of back and forth with calm points and conflict, but i also feel like they are a bit too close together, like too much information is being given in one part of the story.
the first half is a character putting together present experiences and flash backs, while getting into conflict with the antagonist, then the other half is him coming to terms with the things he discovered and putting an end to it.
i dont want to pad for time and fill the space with pointless banter or non integural scenes since those moments arent what matters, all that has mattered is the conflict and his understanding of it for the first half.
am i too worried over the pacing? any advice?
i just dont want the first half to be too much compared to the later half, or the entirity of it to be non stop conflict and reflection.

>>18176081
Skip ahead unless you think the readers need the details. Life is full of boring shit, stands to reason that it's the same in fiction.

>>18176099
im not giving any pontless details, i always skip to whats the next important point. my problem is that i worry its more exausting to read high tension after high tension, or that my breaks inbetween arent long enough.
as an example, my character is looking throuhg the forest, we watch him for a bit enjoying his time but once again the antagonist interrupts. he gets into a chase. the panels are in tence and tight structure. he eventually gets out and we have time to breath, hes frustrated and its reflection.
the next scene is a dream flash back of him and an ally getting into combat with the antagonist putting the chase into new light, when he wakes up from it he finds himself in a new place seperated from the ally, and instead of fighting an enemy he is fighting himself trying to make it back even though he knows he cant.
i broke it down and siplified a lot trying to explain it, but thats about 3 or 4 scenes at about the 25 to 50% mark, i just worry its too much to happen in so short a time and i wonder what i can do to make the pacing more natural or if its fine as is.
its only going to be a one book piece, so maybe a faster pace is a given and im just worrying too much. thinking of it as movie length.

>>18173808
Has anyone published a book here?
Is it hard? Any tips? I'm thinking about writting a novel just for fun, but I may want to publish it in the future.

>>18176188
havnt personally.
finding a publisher is easy. the earnings will be different for each, the exposure from each will be different too. thats the hard part.
if you want it digital you can put it on amazon, but its up to you to advertise, but if its good then you wont have to worry after long.
if you want phisical copies then you need a publisher unless you want to spend your own money which no one would ever advise doing, since again, advertising is up to you.

Do you name chapters or just number them?

>>18176331
Both. Left is how it appears as a end-result and right is how it appears for me in Scrinever.

>>18176331
i number my chapters like it's a video game right
like the first chapter will be titled something like "World 1-1" and then the second will be "World 1-2" and ill keep going up from there until a major change has happened in the story and then we move on to "World 2-1"
and then under the heading of each chapter i put a quick little blurb about a character or item that i think is pretty neat kind of like a loading screen from dark souls or some shit idfk

>>18176331
Number and name

>>18173808
kanatan is the cutest

>>18176165
Honestly that might just be a problem with your writing in general.
>the panels are in tence and tight structure
I have no idea what you're saying.
Your writing might be a bit too anime for me. And while i have nothing against over the top writing, manga tropes don't translate to the written word well because it's a visual medium.

>>18176583
lmao, not anime at all. i think this board just has a lot of people for anime and against anime tropes.
mine is just a graphic novel, but if ya dont know much for it then thats fine.

How do I write comedy?

>>18174311
I want to put up a novel there at some point. However, I'm supposed to be graduating university this year, so my writing has been slow. I'll probably write a few flash fictions in the meantime.

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/42790/a-wish-upon-a-star/chapter/674768/a-wish-upon-a-star

I don't understand internal conflicts, does that mean characters ponder inside their heads whether or not should they do something over several chapters or something?

>>18177288
ay oy dis nigga ova here dont got no internal monolog, npc ass nigga

>>18176331
Number them usually, though in my last work I just used a symbol to mark a new chapter.

>>18176331
naming chapters gives me so much joy

>>18177288
it's kind of like how when you cook a fish the outside cooks faster than the inside but the inside still needs to be cooked

>>18173833
seethe

>>18177288
internal conflicts only work if you make the audience feel conflicted too. thats what you should focus on i think.

>A night-shift janitor curious about never seeing anyone working when he clocks in finds out that the company he thought he worked for went under 6 weeks ago
Where can I take this? He becomes the CEO and works to rebuild the company? He takes on the courts and wrestles back ownership? Can companies even be restarted if they fold? It sounded cool in the shower.

>>18177387
In the end he should resolve to continue cleaning the building even if nobody works there anymore. It's the struggle of the common man. As long as there is a floor, it must be mopped.

>>18177387
read bankruptcy law

>>18177288
>I don't understand internal conflicts
just think of a big ol' fatty on a diet finding a still hot. recently thrown away half eaten mcdonald's cheeseburger
in my story the fatty eats it, in yours maybe not

>>18177394
I like this; a story of the common man trapped in a seemingly infinitely complex system that he can't understand. His only concern is "Who's gonna mop the floors and dust the desks?" It doesn't matter who comes next or if anyone comes at all. The floors must be clean.

>>18177463
>in my story the fatty eats it
Based WG erotica writer.

>>18177288
Internal conflict typically serves as a precursor to external conflict. It's not so much "Can I be brave?" as it is "Am I willing to handle the consequences of being brave?"

It need not be done entirely via internal monologue. Consider Game of Thrones, specifically Theon's decision to turn on the Starks. We see how Theon is treated by Robb. We see how Theon derives his self-worth by his Ironborn heritage. I don't know how this situation was handled in the books, but in the show we definitely don't see Theon just sitting around vocalizing his thoughts on the matter. Every piece of the puzzle is demonstrated through conversation, which (in the universe of GOT) almost always carries the implicit threat of physical harm.

Later on, Theon's internal conflict becomes external when he is forced to follow through with the consequences of his actions. It's not simply a matter of putting on new clothes and saying goodbye to old friends, it's a matter of life-and-death for Theon and others. Were the Ironborn not preparing for war against the Starks, Theon's internal conflict would have been far less compelling. Had the external conflict not existed, the internal conflict wouldn't have mattered. Instead of asking ourselves why Theon did the things he did, we'd be asking why the author bothered to put so much thought into his character if it all amounted to nothing.

/wg/, I think I'm going back to writing soon

I'm still devoid of inspiration, devoid of excitement and burnt out, but just waiting it out hasn't solved my problems before and I don't think it ever will. I just need to put my nose to the grindstone and keep going until I don't have anything left to give

>>18177743
If you don't have inspiration, you should study not write

>>18177387
I worked for a company where something similar happened. The owner skipped town and the paychecks stopped coming. Gradually we all stopped showing up. One mexican dude tried to keep the place running, he'd respond to all the voicemails from irate customers (they were still paying, but the revenue didn't come to the company, so no one was going out to do any of the work), and then go out to do his contracts.

Basically most of us just kept stealing shit and screwing around with company equipment. The mexican guy stopped showing up, and a few days later the door was locked.

In order for your story to happen (interesting concept), the building itself needs to be independently owned. No leasing company to lock the door. I like the concept of the janitor still doing his job. It reminds me of a JG Ballard story where a guy resolves never to leave his house again, eventually setting up a raincatch and trapping birds from his window.

>>18174311
I tried Royal Road. They wouldn't let me publish one f my work due to some bullshit claim of endorsing 'necrophilia'.

>>18177856
anon....

>>18177853
I'm in a similar situation right now where nobody has been paid in 9 weeks. The CEO is still out there on the grind but we just got served a big notice from our landlord today to pay back-rent or get served with legal trouble in 5 days. I spent all day today playing around in GIMP. Even when phones ring I pick up and pretend I'm the janitor, it's part of what gave me the daydream in the shower.

>>18177882
Just FYI, you don't want to be the last person to start stealing. Lost out on some primo shit that way.

>>18177866
The work in question was a satire about a political party in California during a zombie pandemic aggressively pushing progressive movements such as 'necrophilia'.
The title also got in trouble with Royal Road.
https://www.fictionpress.com/s/3353552/1/LA-FAPs

>>18177792
study what?

>>18177906
Hahahahaha, that's fucking brilliant.

>>18177906

>>18177909
Literally whatever interests you that's non-fiction. History, science, culture, biographies, you name it.

You want to fill your head with the mechanisms of the world so you can use them to tell a story. You want the world on auto pilot so you can focus on your characters.

>>18177906
There's a reason they're called Royal Retards

>>18174907
punctuation and grammar errors aside, i rather enjoyed the story. felt blueballed by the end, though. i was expecting something more. how far is this into the full story?

some sentences are straight up unnatural and detached, like you're writing a report instead of a guy telling a story. for example
>That may be the reason I came off as [...]
>For that reason, I’m glad my dad is her partner.
>of my first infatuation with someone of the opposite gender.
>that I realized I had been bewitched [...]
sure this could just be how the narrator talks, considering his personality and upbringing (boring, straight-arrow). but i know he is capable of a more interesting voice instead of merely stating facts to the reader, of at least some imagery and creativity, such as
>Life wouldn’t remain a calm sea forever. I experienced some waves, but I think the first true storm I had to face was [...]

but this
>I wasn’t looked at her, but I could almost see the question marks floating around her head as she said that.
does not fit the narrator's voice or the gravity of the situation either. it's almost comical.

i love "discussed to death" and i think it's brilliant.

i'm not going to comment about it being melodramatic and shit because i see no issues so far and i'm kind of a sucker for that kind of story. have you seen melancholia? similar premise.

not sure about the first sentence, either. we'll see when the story is done if it holds up to its weight.

anyway, rough around the edges but you managed to pique my interest in the story itself, at least so far, so there's that.

>>18177958
whoops meant for >>18174832

>>18175696
make a compromise with magical realism

>>18177978
make a compromise with magical realmism

>>18177906
I kek'd hard. You need to write more about Guy and Langley. And get that shit on royalroad asap, send a mail or something, cause I ain't reading it on a white themed website.

>>18177906
heh

>>18178008
Wish I could. The layout is easier on the eyes. But the admin has already made up his mind, and I don't think he will change it.

>>18178044

>>18177931
so physics, surrealism and history of food and technology?

>>18178164
I mean, you should have a basic understanding of physics just to get on with life, but I meant more stuff like how various machines work and perhaps the history affiliated with them.

Consider learning how to make a radio! Or researching the first military applications for radio towers and how the importance of information came to dominate warfare. Or perhaps how cremation works and how it compares to something like your theoretical dragon fire. Learning basic Fermi estimation can be super useful too, so you can get a grasp on what your country's production capacity realistically is.

And once you've learned enough, you can start connecting the dots into a story

>>18178192
that's the thing actually. I've already got a story. the issue is that story's been in progress for like 5 or 6 years now and slow progress is making me loose steam

what I'd honestly like to learn about is how ancient cultures extracted nutrition from their environment and took ingredients that shouldn't have been edible and made them delicious.

>>18178225
a lot of trial and error

I'm on page 89 of planned 300 now. I've been struck by a mood tonight so it's definitely going to go into page 90+ in a minute.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQBRuVTDYww
(The song is anime, just a heads up for those that don't like that.)
Though my works slow, it's starting to speed up again. I hope everyone else is doing their best. I'm rooting for you from the shadows.

>>18177958
Thanks for the comments, anon. I was already thinking it was too shit for anyone to even care about insulting me.
>how far is this into the full story?
Probably around ~1/4th, not less than 1/5th as I don't wanna make it longer than 20 or so pages.
>i know he is capable of a more interesting voice instead of merely stating facts to the reader, of at least some imagery and creativity
Got it. Overall I've tried hard to avoid coming off as pretentious and that's the biggest reason I've tried to keep the dialogue as dry as possible, but you're right that it can't be too dry either. I'll see what I can do.
>it's almost comical
Now that I think about it you're right. I meant it as a characteristic of MC's way of seeing the world. How he sees "words floating around" and when he talks he literally "looks for them" so he has trouble looking at people's eyes. But this scene will need some rewording to make it work as intended.
>we'll see when the story is done if it holds up to its weight
Actually the ending was the first thing I came up with. I thought I wanted to write a story that ended like that and it started off from there. Hopefully I'll manage to deliver.

>>18178048
lmao

>>18178225
Oh, you're one of those people who needs "motivation" to go to a gym aren't you

Just sit down and do the work, you don't lack inspiration, you're just whining

Damn, slow thread today. Don't give too much away, but tell us what you're writing currently. I'll start
>protag is forced into gladiatorial combat
>is eventually pulled out of the cells, along with others, to help defend the city
>he goes above and beyond in his duties
>he's given special treatment yet still forced to fight
>the other combatants despise him because of his advantages
>he tries to help his friends out
>they're scolded and beaten because of it
>eventually they reject his help
>he learns to focus on himself instead of others
That's about all I have so far, but I dig it.

>>18179957
I'm writing a sex scene and I think I'll forego the blood on the sheets trope. Maybe it's a flaw in my writing but I tend to want to stay very true to life. Like not having great and theatrical monologues, or having characters keep most of their thoughts hidden.

What are some tricks that you guys use to get yourselves just writing when you’re in a slump?

>>18179957
I'll be submitting a short story to some contests soon, got a workshop on friday where I'll hopefully produce the last draft and move on
>2200 words right now
>AI technician doesn't realize he's talking to said AI's designer
>Banter and literary subtext
>Short and sweet

>>18180006
Depends on the cause of the slump. Might be reading a book, exercising, or just dusting off an old project.

Lately I've found reviewing just how many stories I want to write and how long they take to write is good motivation to keep working

>>18180006
I find my environment does 90% of the work for me.

>>18179957
>protag is a new king overshadowed by the legacy of his grandfather and the death of his mother
>flees the pressure of the kingdom to join the army under the guise that he's learning about the common soldier
>the regent he left behind takes over the kingdom and has him declared dead
>king mounts an armed return to the capital city and retakes his throne
Looking at it a little objectively, not only did I miswrite about a 1/3 of the story, but it feels pretty trope-y as well. The theme is about him learning to move past his inferiority complex and accept the responsibility of kingship. It's part 1 of a story about his whole life and each part has a different theme.

>>18179957
I'm writing about a barbarian who is recruited into a Samurai X Knight joint unit specializing in black operations in the crime ridden underground of a renaissance era supercity.
He's currently gambling with his shinobi friend because the local witch keeps bullying him and god dammit, he doesn't want to hit a woman but he'll do it if she keeps being a shithead. Later they're going to invent the bicycle on accident because the barbarian refuses to learn how to ride a horse.

>>18180118
Explain.

>>18180128
I like it anon, the only thing I'm not sure about is
>the king joins the army
It'd perhaps make sense for a prince to take on such a duty to learn more about the common soldier, but the king? Unless the king was overseeing an inspection, speaking to a general or mounting an offensive, he shouldn't be anywhere near warfare. Now, say a prince who's not even the next in line for the throne? That'd work. You'd just have to kill off the current king and the person next in succession to have the protagonist be in-line for king. Here's how I'd do it
>king & his first born son are killed
>protagonist is next in-line for the throne, but is away in the military
>his younger brother seizes power while he's away, claiming the protagonist has died also
>king mounts an armed return to the capital city and retakes his throne, despite his feelings of inferiority
He can get over the doubts about his own authority/ability to command while he convinces people to rally behind him and attack the capital.

Also, too trope-y? Fuck it anon, write what you want to write. If you think your prose and characters are strong enough, you can pull it off.

>>18180221
Not that anon, but art reflects life. Even if you're writing fiction, take a look around yourself
>current location
>social circle
>work environment
and you'll find plenty of things to write about, or draw inspiration from. Everything comes from something.

>>18180155
Nice anon, sounds like fun! I tend to shy away from eastern settings, but each to their own. You going to upload it to Royal Road or something?

Fantasy but told in short stories from perspectives of different characters. Is this a completely stupid idea?

>>18180262
No idea is stupid if you execute it well. Canterbury Tales is a tried and true format.

>>18180265
>No idea is stupid if you execute it well.
This, regardless of premise, good characters and prose will carry a narrative. No matter how good or bad the initial idea is.

>>18180240
absolutely. my hero charles borcharauarde inspired me to drop my current projects and get to work on a fun adventure serial. there'll be time for a novel later.

>>18179957
I'm currently working on another flash fiction. Will stick it up on my RR when it's done.

>>18180221
What I mean is that if I'm in a quiet place with no distractions I don't have to do much effort to get things done.
>>18180232
Not what I meant but I guess that works.

>>18180226
I like that approach. My idea for him fleeing was that his choice was voluntary. Rather than leave because it's tradition to learn in the military, he leaves because he's afraid and intimidated. Having that choice made for him I think weakens the internal conflict he has between his feelings of inferiority and the throne he knows is waiting for him, because now instead of choosing to following his feelings instead of his duty, his feelings are justified by an outside force (which, if it's tradition, he would have known about all along). Now thinking about it, he could choose to spend more time in the army away from the throne to put off his duties, and that's what triggers a power vacuum and subsequent take-over. I also need to rewrite the take-over, as the army literally marches into the city, breaks down the castle doors and the king apprehends the regent without much bloodshed from the traitorous supporters.

>>18180448
>What I mean is that if I'm in a quiet place with no distractions I don't have to do much effort to get things done.
That also makes sense and is great advice. Sorry for misunderstanding you anon.

>have an esoteric world concept as a backdrop for a convoluted story told through a ton of characters that took me a long time to write
>still feel like it would appear shallow and surface level to readers and feel like I have to add more depth to make it interesting

So this is straight up autism right? I feel like the things that are obvious to me would be obvious to everyone else like they have access to information they have no way of knowing.

>>18180517
>told through a ton of characters
This is so annoying

>>18179957
>sci-fi space opera c. 29th century, sorta starts out as a military slice-of-life. humanity has colonized the part of a fictionalized orion arm
>protag is a young starry-eyed girl wanting to follow in her father's footsteps in the military
>goes to a military academy, eventually education is facilitated and gets commissioned as an ensign at the age of 17 for upcoming military campaigns
>gets posted along with her best friend in a starzone as observers but fleet commander wants to invades a nearby starzone under control by a pirate republic, which is outside the scope of their directive
>does her best to show that this is a horrible plan, both her ship's XO and CO agree
>eventually narrative shifts around to the deuteragonist, who is one of the top lieutenants of the pirate republic, she is facing down the main armada which has no idea what the protag's fleet is doing, she is thrust into a difficult hard place and a rock, and attempts to deceive the main fleet while she withdrawals to face the protag's
>stuff happens, a few battles occur and lots of people die rather pointless deaths

>>18180580
fingers crossed for lesbianism, if yes then i'd read it

>>18180701
I had a friend who was really eager to read it and ended up dropping the story because he complained about the protag and her best friend (along with the tritagonist) acting too gay for his liking. I thought that was pretty amusing considering I left their relationships deliberately vague for the reader to decide if they're being chummy or gay. Later on, I think, there's some more slice of life cute girls doing cute chummy things, and even further down the line girls love healing between the protag and deuteragonist

>>18179957
I barely wrote anything in recent months and even then it was mostly plotting and characterization.
But, while I'm still writing I can tell.
>protag is exploited by his friend and then fired from dream job. Suddenly, his soul is called to a different dimension, to inhabit a different life.
>In that dimension's past, an unknown meteorite appeared after an interstellar accident, followed by random appearances of giant mechanized enemies. But a scientist vowed to change the world for the better.
>Results of his lifelong research into meteorite's material, that can link with human mind, and the interstellar accident, are now in the hands of protag.

>>18179957
Skeletons are very cool especially when they go on adventures

>>18180749
I hate gay baiting shit so wouldn't read unless it was guaranteed lesbian action. Protag + pirate is the superior choice to protag + best friend.

>>18180448
How do you remove distractions? Don’t you type on a computer and use a smartphone?

>>18180232
Personally, I find my life far too boring to draw inspiration from it. I find inspiration more in my fantasies and escapism than my actual life. In fact, the reason I started writing and reading so much in the first place is because real life is just so damn unsatisfying.

>>18180906
Thankfully I don't get distracted by computer things when I write. More often it's external distractions that prevent me from writing. But I've taken a notepad out before to get a change of pace.
If anything it's writing that distracts me from computer stuff.

>>18180906
Not that anon, but I have 4 monitors and get easily distracted while writing at my desktop. I work better on my laptop at another desk, I hate using the single screen for more than one application so it works out well. As far as my phone goes, I don't use it for anything other than calls or texts, so it doesn't distract me unless I'm being contacted.

>>18180913
Eh, it's not so much your life you should be focusing on, but more the lives of those around you. Think of the characteristics of those you live or work with and try to inject them into exciting scenarios, it's a great starting point when trying to come up with ideas. Taking from media works also, but it'll be less unique as popular genres often lend from each other.

>>18180327
I try to do both at once. Monday-Wednesday is when I work on my novel and Friday-Saturday is when I work on my serialised story.

>>18180891
>Protag + pirate is the superior choice to protag + best friend.
a man of culture

Anyone else have this problem? I'll be writing and when I need to name a character ill either write the first name that comes to my head or have to stop writing for like 3 days thinking what their name should be. I want to write more but I cant find a good name that fits the character.

>>18181327
I don't have that problem, steal names if you have to. Nobody really cares about names as long as they're easy to remember.

>>18180988
Well, I don’t have anyone around me. I work from home, have no girlfriend, no friends, and I’m not close with my family.

>>18181327
>[placeholder name 1]
>find and replace
there you go
never procrastinate over this again

>>18181327
this >>18181368 use the term TK. I had like over 5 cases of it in one chapter since I forgot the name of 2 characters and didn't want to interrupt my flow in going back 10 chapters to remember what they were. It's a industry standard placeholder for To Come. It's TK since it has very little usage/acronym usage compared to any other.

>>18181368
>>18181380
Thanks!

>>18180517
i can relate. im trying to do a truman show kind of graphic novel where we watch the world go against the protag but im still worrysome over if its obvious enough that these arent normal things happening beside suspended beliefe of reading scifi.
show dont tell is a horrifying phrase, not only because i have the ability to write for miles, but what i show may not be obvious compared to what i could tell.

>>18180517
Even if they know, they might not care or think that is less relevant to them than to you. How many people do you think read classics because they are called classics but barely think about anything in them, instead treating them as behaviour manuals and talking points.

>>18182282
In short, write what you like and like you like. Better to write genuinely for the audience you care about than to try to go for mainstream appeal that is often formulaic.

>>18182210
People are more perceptive than you imagine, especially if your story is engaging.

>>18181368
Just make sure you don't name them Will

>>18173824
You, uh, okay anon?
>>18173825
Your second half is not an independent clause. You're using it as a list, but you don't need it.
>>18176360
Y'all niggas see Scrivener 3 finally dropped for windows? Feels like it was a meme, can't believe they actually did it.
>>18181368
Based

>>18173808
So I was starting a revision of my vomit draft, burnt out about 1/3 in, and now I have a new novel idea. Do I pursue the new idea or force myself to keep revising?

Also, anybody have thoughts on either total chapters per book, or best sort of word count per chapter?

>>18182694
>Also, anybody have thoughts on either total chapters per book, or best sort of word count per chapter?
I doubt any of it matters. I have no problem arranging chapters, just make sure most of them are of comparable in length.

>>18182355
definatly. my charcter doesnt speak much because i know anyone even half interested in what i write would have to be at least a little good at finding a deeper meaning. readers arent stupid. its just a common worry i can sympathize with.

>>18182694
>Also, anybody have thoughts on either total chapters per book, or best sort of word count per chapter?
My first book/comes up to 155k words and my ongoing second book/volume is 111k and I predict it may come up around the same word-count. Though they're both comprised as one ongoing work given I'm mainly writing a webserial where I don't have to worry about trad meddling.

For tradpublishing it will depend on genre. Aim for whatever may be considered the norm and aim for that length but going over it from what I read is usually frowned upon and agents will be less willing to give your manuscript a try. Sci-fi, for example, is like ~90k range and the acceptable 'ceiling may differ.

>or best sort of word count per chapter?
Read books in the genre you're writing and find out what their average word-counts are. For webserials the sweetspot is usually around the 2k~4-5k range and if you go hey higher you risk rapidly losing reader interest since most platforms don't have a way to leave off your last read place.

Again, with physical/kindles it's not as much of an issue. I've read threads on leddit where questions like this are asked, and readers risk getting bored and skipping ahead to see if the chapter ever ends (on average if its over 10 pages) for a chapter which is the equivalent of like 8-10k+ words. Then you see people saying that it doesn't truly matter because there will be cases of chapters being a single word or sentence.

My personal philosophy is to let a chapter be as long as it reasonably can be. If a chapter is too long, you can always find a natural stopping point and chop it into pieces, if it makes sense to do so.

>>18182694
My first 3 books had average chapter lengths of 10k. My current books are around 2.8-6k maximum. I used to be hyper autistic about hitting the 10k word limit, but now I'm more like "A paragraph can be a chapter, fuck it"

Chapter 28 released.
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/40361/erased
I'm glad to see people seem to be doing good.

Here's a question, when writing a young adult book it seems to me the only way to get across racial differences without offending the censors would be to have the characters be animals. I'm thinking like the Redwall series or Watership Down. The other way I was potentially thinking would be with machines, but that to my mind would be better for an adult novel. Seems like it'll be too dark for a younger demographic. Robots scare the fuck out of me and that's how I'd write them. But then again Roald Dahl books are dark, and they're great. There are actually a number of darker books that have been written over the years for children but I'm not sure they could actually be published today. Maybe I'm wrong.

fak. forgot the picture again. sorry sorry

>>18183195
Uuuh, why would you be shy about characters looking different, unless you're intentionally writing racist pandering or some kink shit.
My memory is failing me but I'm sure this wouldn't be the first time something like it would get done. The fact I can't remember seems to indicate it's a non-issue.

>>18183199
Big fan of your line of carbonated water. Big fan.

>>18183225
>unless you're intentionally writing racist pandering
now who would do something like that? going against the zeitgeist. the censors wouldn't approve
>>18183247
heh thank you

>>18183268
Look, I really don't give a shit if you do, but I didn't read your stuff so I don't know.

I'm fascinated by the relationship between "correct" character writing and audience reception.

Take Skyler White for example, brilliant character, great writing, fantastic acting, crucial element of the story, provides the necessary tonal contrast and realism and makes Walt's story work - audience hated her and would've rather she was cut from the show completely because she was "boring and mean", it was on the writer to give the audience what they didn't even know they needed.

Meanwhile people love one note static characters that don't even have arcs or say anything like Goku or Batman, just because they look cool and do cool things, makes me wonder how Breaking Bad would've been received if it was just about Walt being a cool and dangerous drug kingpin after a certain point, and if it would've been more or less successful.

>>18184232
Hatred of a character is not a sign that they're bad characters, however you can get stuck in the obsession of making hateful characters work just for the sake of it.
I guess you just need to have faith in your vision. And for the record I don't think Skyler White was a terrible person.

>>18184249
True to a degree, but I still think there's a difference between a character being hated for what they do (e.g. King Joffrey) and a character being hated on a meta level, where people will note their inclusion in the story as a net negative and "deduct points" from their opinion for it.

People hated Joffrey, but still looked forward to seeing what he'll do next and how he'll end up, whereas based on the reception I saw, people just didn't like that Skyler existed at all, and said the show would've been improved if she was omitted.

I'm not necessarily talking about just hated characters, but about any writing that successfully fulfills the form, and still doesn't resonate with the audience because it doesn't deal with appealing subjects. If faced with a choice between well developed character arcs and cool characters doing cool things, I feel like most people would take the latter.

>>18183195
Been slowly catching up but all I can say is good job so far anon

>>18184291
>If faced with a choice between well developed character arcs and cool characters doing cool things, I feel like most people would take the latter.
I don't think that's true at all. To some degree people want to see cool things but they get attached to characters and want to see where they go.

>>18184232
Kind of similar point I want to discuss, it seems to me that television has taken a massive dive with the proliferation of online discussion. Just off the top of my head:
>It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
>Rick and Morty
>Archer
>Game of Thrones
>Bojack Horseman
All seemed to collapse in on themselves roughly around the time they became popular. You can see it happening if you watch the shows and read the corresponding reddit discussion threads.

Archer always had wordplay as a part of the humor, but roughly around season 4, "imperfect grammar" (that's not a thing!) seemed to be 90% of the dialogue-based humor. Or Rick and Morty was pretty funny for the first two seasons, but once people online started blatantly emulating Rick, all the fun came to a screeching halt roughly once an episode so the writers could plainly spell out Rick's personal issues. Bojack was always "woke" but since the audience apparently loves being lectured about nonconventional relationships, let's have that happen every episode.

It's not just fanservice or flanderization, it's almost like the audience is actually writing the fucking show. It becomes borderline pornographic, like "here's a flimsy pretext, now let's fuck" or "you like girls with glasses? well click here to see this plastic bimbo with enormous tortoiseshell nerd goggles take a dozen hot loads right on the lens!"

At this point I can only watch miniseries because they finish the story before the audience has time to chime in.

>>18184349
Oh fucking come on. GoT is a cultural equivalent to Lost. It's fucking brilliant in how completely unrepentantly entertaining it is.

>>18184232
Skylar was a cunt and she should have been raped to death by the cartel.

I passed the 1st of 2 license exams!!! All these months of writing non-fiction papers, one more exam and I'm free

>>18184232
Batman had an arc in the nolan trilogy, and a lot of people shat on it. That said, static character works best for episodic series.
Agree with Skylar, altho she is a bitch. I see the same thing strongly with Ross in friends. He's the best actor and performer of the group, and he's usually critical in the group dynamic, but show fans all hate him because he's the loser on the show.

>>18184311
thank you, had a lot of fun writing it. much moreso drafting it but editing is essential. editing is sort of fun in its own right, but it definitely feels more like work than drafting.
the problem I'm running into now with it is I thought I knew how it was going to end when I first started, but the timeline just did not work out.
so then when I started releasing it - and the opening chapters got rightfully shit on here, they definitely needed way more editing than when I first put them out and if I could I'd remove one but they're all really essential for character/world development - I thought then I knew then how it was going to end. nope, not the case.
so now I'm starting a new section, which will be the last section, and I'm thinking of throwing everything into chaos at the very end now. have book 2 go off in a totally uncharted direction.
I guess what I'm saying is, it was much easier writing this thing when I was just drafting and didn't have to simultaneously edit and release chapters. I'm still way far ahead so its not a crunch thing, more a scattered focus thing. So, for anyone thinking about releasing serially, make sure you get way ahead and edit the absolute fuck out of your first ~3 chapters. like, really edit the fuck out of them. they need it. and I really thank the anons in this thread for brutally dismembering them. they needed it.

>betareading my trans friend's chapter 1 (there is no prologue)
>it's 14300 words long
What the fuuuuuuuuck

>finish editing chapter of my novel where shit hits the fan
>think I pulled it off really well
Was having difficulty with a previous chapter earlier so this feels good.

>>18174311
I am and I'm a bit on edge after hearing what Royal Road did to >>18177906 since I talk about cannibalism.

>>18185041 here
This is a fictional isekai story. I'm not sure if I want anything to do with some action "teleported to a video game fantasy world" story where the first chapter is 14000 fucking words long.
Kudos to them but it genuinely makes me think they don't actually give a fuck about this story.

What should I tell them? Should I man up and just read this mess?

>>18185092
Sometimes I wonder who the fuck the people are on Royal Retard since everything with even mild violence gets tagged "GORE" and "TRAUMATIZING CONTENT" I could understand if it was Guts by Chuck Palahniuk, but it's really the tamest shit.
I've considered putting my shit there since it's definitely got readers, but the idea of having my work policed that much really puts me off, considering pretty much everything I write has edgy themes. As far as I can tell it's just "Shitty Anime Fanfiction: The Website"

After reviewing some notes and what >>18180226 offered for advice, I came up with this hybrid
>king travels to military camp to do a traditional training course in military tactics, see the battlefield, etc.
>his cart stops in the middle of the night and he's attacked (a planned assassination)
>he escapes and has a crisis of choice where he can abandon his kingship, or continue to serve
>he chooses to leave but sends a message to his counsel (who organized the assassination) that he's alive and not to be declared dead, and that he'll return in a few months time
>joins army as nameless man, experiences trials that form him into a better person and help him make connections, friends, experience un-filtered comradery since nobody knows he's the king so they don't have to treat him like royalty
>counsel puts out rumors, then makes official announcement that king is dead and he'll be taking the throne
>etc. ensues, mount resistance, closure of internal conflict, close part
It'll necessitate a significant rewrite, but I like this more than the current state of "Fuck it, joining the army. See you guys in 3 months don't do anything shady with my throne"

>>18185131
It's better safe to add them than sorry, really. My first chapter literally has a terrified loli coerced under pressure to slice open a dude's neck who had previously murdered her entire family just moments prior. Later chapters have mildish degrees of gory scenes, to some dude who blows his brains out during a firefight(but only the aftermath of it) here and there, but it's not like anything particularly cares.

I don't think there is much real policing because fictions like In Loki's Honor exists and that is almost always pushing the envelope with what it's allowed to do. Just do it, it's not like you have anything to lose. I didn't read anon's necrophilia story past the first chapter because the prose was kinda horrible though, but I gotta admit that is a bit extreme.

>>18185109
You could ask them if they care about making this a full story, or if they just want a review on syntax and sentence structure. Otherwise tell them to cut the word count for the chapter down.

>>18185131
There are a couple gems on the website but it's overloaded with these "litRPGs" which I never heard of until stumbling upon RR. But like what >>18185186 said just do it. I haven't been taken down yet so I guess I'm in the clear for now.

What were your strategies when you first started writing? I have ideas but I have trouble thinking of how to specifically execute them when it comes to putting pen to paper.

>>18185396
Honestly, I had no real game plan. I cannonballed into the far-end and pants wrote out the wazoo before my writing stabilized and I had concrete ideas of what I was doing. To keep it really simple, my strategy was to just write. And write I did.

>>18185396
I just wrote, skipped the first arc, went through next two arcs, then went into hiatus to understand where I was going. But I was already far enough to keep writing due to sunken cost fallacy.
After writing several more arcs, I stumbled at a half point arc and decided to rationalize what I wrote to see my direction and character goals better.

>>18185464
>>18185420
did you guys outline or anything? Or did you just start with a premise and start writing to see where it goes?

What's your daily writing quota, anons? You do have one right? I'm up to 1k per day M-F, which feels both daunting and yet inadequate.

>>18185591
I have vague outlines that I might deviate from slightly but otherwise remains follows the story points.

>>18185596
I aim for a minimum of 500 words. But I don't find myself writing every day.

I was trying to find plot holes in my story before I start writing it down, and I found one that I'm not sure how to justify.

The original concept for the story is a grim world where a group of hedonistic humanoid monsters are slowly converting all of humanity into more monsters. Being noticably stronger than humans, having little need for food and drink, and being able to magically enchant people into joining them, humanity is being slowly taken over by the monsters. For reference, the human society is basically generic fantasy medieval; and people can gain typical fantasy magic powers (like dnd).

In the story, the humans we're following find a half converted monster, with the powers of a monster but none of the desire to take over humanity. Using this monster, they breed a bunch of other half monsters and star to get an edge over the enemy.

The original plan was to have them kept basically under lock and key until they needed to be used for battle and treated with disdain by others because they look like monsters. This begs the question of why the half monsters wouldn't just desert humans in the midst of battle and join the other side. Obviously there would be some half monsters who don't choose to do this because of personal attachments or just disliking monsters, but I'm struggling to think of a way humans could actively disincentivize it. I was considering that perhaps they're treated really well by humans, but that almost goes against the darker theme of the story.

>>18185591
I started with a personal conflict between main characters and a vague setting idea of *protag is completely out of comfort zone in a new place*.

>>18185790
Because the halves don't want to go full monster? The better question is, why don't they revolt and take over?

>>18177218
I found that post pretty comedic.

>TFW you will never have godly thought provoking prose like Bakker, Tolstoy or Melville
How do I become blessed with such thoughts?

>>18186045
Find your own voice and don't ape pesud prose from the 19-20th centuries,

>>18185464
Can you explain these arcs? All I know are character arcs but sounds like you are talking about something else.

>>18186047
Ya thing is I have decent writing skills but they are much more clever. The details they mention seem unconscionable to me

I need help retooling or replacing a character I only intended as a joke

long story, my colony of teenage post-apocalyptic survivors didn't have enough male characters so I decided to take that one missing element and see how far over the line I could push it, which is how I ended up with a buff-ass butt-naked cowboy who speaks almost exclusively in cowpoke southernisms

I never decided his backstory or role in the story. All I had in mind was he's retired from scavenging after an injury to protect and mentor the younger and weaker survivors on the homestead, but he's not particularly interested in telling people what to do so he basically leaves that job to the bossy religious girl in favor of taking up moral support and manual labor

>>18185131
>the idea of having my work policed that much really puts me off
You tag your own works retard. And how are tags "policing"? They're supposed to describe the contents, they don't limit who has access to your fiction.

>>18186051
I mean story arcs, or plot lines, as they are sometimes called.
>Protag finds himself in a new place with new people, and that models and his ideals are pretty far from the real battlefield ready things.
>He goes overly pragmatic in training simulators and gets called Mr.Boring because cookie cutters are masters of none. Decides to find his strengths and weakness, so he pairs up with another trainee.

>His former friend, that exploited him in the past, now wants his help for a big plan that will stop the centuries long skirmishes, asking for obedience in return.
>Protag tells him to take a hike, goes against the plan and his personal wishes, and joins a different team
>When vacation comes, the team leaves to an undefended resort city, that as protag remembered from the piece of the plan he was shown, would be attacked. He finds a former soldier he admired there and asks him to believe him. The city is saved at the last moment by space drop.

>Training year where protag receives a high grade AI for his vehicle, and then a trip that shows that his parents, famous scientists, have secrets from him and might have plans for his future. At the end of the year, a top military officer comes to organize a tournament, that protag must win according to the friend's plan. But he allows his team to score second and shifts his role in the story without knowing.

>>18186226
They often interweave, but usually only one plot line is in foreground and it remains there until its piece is done.

>>18185909
>>18185909
>Because the halves don't want to go full monster?
Hm, I didn't really consider that, but that's a good point. I think this would work for most of them but I feel like the humans would want some more assurance than hoping the half monsters don't want to go full monster.

>The better question is, why don't they revolt and take over?

This one is easier to answer, they would just put them in different groups, never all together. There aren't enough of them to take over society to begin with (we're talking less than a hundred in total) and there would never be more than a dozen together. And if there are that many together, there would be numerous humans supporting/watching them as well.

I guess what I'm looking for is a not-necessarily-ethical yet effective way of controlling the half monsters. So far the best way seems pretty ethical (i.e. just make their lives really nice when theyre not fighting), but if that is actually the most optimal solution I'll go for it.

Creating contrived conflict is kind of bad, after all.

>>18175696
>>feel like anything short of purist literary fiction is going to be laughed at (i.e. modern day setting, 1st world problems, etc)
>>lose motivation
First, you need to acknowledge that this is just your chosen excuse. You found an existential "why bother" attitude that shields you from failure. In reality, you're afraid to really try. We all go through it.

>>18185596
1k a day is for really painful writing like I did yesterday. I usually go for 2-3k.

What font and layout do publishers and authors generally use when writing stuff? I'm using the literal default of calibri on a 10 font on word. Is that what people use when they write stuff and then ship it over? I only really want to know because I want to keep track of exactly how many pages I'm really writing if this became a light novel. I've got six so far and the idea only dawned on me that I should've tried to have some metric of measurement on book length here. Also I'm having a problem writing character dialogues. A lot of the time they sound as if I'm talking, which I guess makes sense with all things considered, but how can I properly give the 'gist' of the idea that these people talk like this because they're scum retards? It's a really bad sci-fi to fantasy mix. So while everyone from the fantasy aspect would speak as you'd expect from a book, the sci-fi counterparts speak as if they're regular folks a little too well. I guess I could just leave it and let the person reading it catch that difference for themselves to understand the differences in cultures I'm trying to push, but oh my god what am I even writing in this post now. I'm sorry I'm drunk. :(

>>18186536
Look at word count not page count.

>>18186569

I'm prob gonna self-publish sometime next month or later in the summer. Will likely not bother sending unsolictited manuscripts to publishers. If I publish on amazon will they use the font I've chosen or does it revert to some generic default?

>>18186643
Do you have a specific reason for going straight to amazon instead of publishers?

>>18186652
No credentials. No publishing history. I doubt they'd even open the email. However, if I did send it to small publishers, how long should I wait before accepting nothing will come of it.

>>18186665
I'd say spam send it to everyone you figure, and then wait out a month before selling yourself to Amazon. It'd give you a whole month of wait time while you spruce up your work or set up for a next one.

>>18185139
I reckon you can make it work anon. It's still a tad contrived, but not too much so. It's a lot better than how it was described previously. Keep us posted as to how it goes, best of luck.

>>18185139
idk man, the idea of a guy leaving his service in order to join the army is a cool idea on paper, but for the reasons given seems kind of weak. It'd make more sense if he was simply trying to find a way back home and was 'drafted' possibly? Maybe the threat of assassination is so high that he tries to blend into the rabble too well that he's just picked up to serve as some filler troop for fetch and carry or auxiliary? A member of the counsel could be actively trying to kill him and usurp power, and he knows/suspects it so well that he purposely gives himself over to this life a bit?

>>18186536
>Times new Roman 12 pt
It should be in the OP

>>18187137
>12 pt
bro just have good eyes like just have good genetics how are big fonts even real like just look harder lmao

>>18187164
It’s an industry standard but I’m sure some NEET weeb knows better than an entire swathe of publishers, right?

12 is for manuscripts right? what average font size in actual books?

>>18186995
>A member of the counsel could be actively trying to kill him and usurp power, and he knows/suspects it so well that he purposely gives himself over to this life a bit?
A thought I had was if I keep the envoy attack, but let's say he tries to wander back home instead and is captured by someone who recognizes him (reasonably uncommon for a new monarch, from my research). He's held for ransom and the counsel who wants him dead shows up, pays the ransom, then tells the captors to kill him. From here the captors could agree and he could escape, or they could have a conscience and sell him to the army as a laborer. But the counsel would want to make sure the king is dead. He'd probably want to see his throat slit personally just to make sure, so that wouldn't work. Maybe he does try to get home on his own, is attacked *again*, and realizes something is up and blends into the rabble, then gets picked up or chooses to join to keep an even lower profile or get protection.
I'm trying to make sure that the theme is kept aligned: he feels inferior to his grandfather so he tries to get away from the throne, then he grows up to accept responsibility and becomes secure in himself. There's hundreds of ways to skin a cat, but there's only a handful of right ones.

>>18187439
im fucking blind

>figured out the ending in advance
>now have trouble going back to and fleshing out the lighter tone in the beginning

Fuck, did anyone else deal with this? Everything I try to spitball feels irrelevant if it doesn't contribute to moving the story towards the ending, and if it does then it doesn't feel lighthearted enough.

What's the name of that one phenomena where you procrastinate on something so you plan more for it to justify procrastinating, which in turn makes you procrastinate to handle it all, causing you to enter an endless loop of procrastination and planning?

>>18188363
Perfectionism in disguise.

>>18187854
No, I just wrote how I intend it to. Why bother with such frivolous thoughts?

>>18187854
No, not really. I balance out the darker aspects with light-hearted stuff. The VN writer Ryukishi07 said this on his writing: "A story should be like a roller coaster. That is to say before writing a really cruel scene, I have to lift the people's spirits, for example, with a fun scene... Before writing a scene of pure despair, we must go through scenes of hope. And indeed, when I write, all of this amuses me very much." Of course, not every story does or should follow this train of thought. But that's sort of how I envisioned mine would be like.

>>18189528
Yeah I wouldn't take advice from a VN writer.

>>18189528
>The VN writer Ryukishi07 said this on his writing
Why can't you ever give actual literary examples

>>18189762
It was the first thing that came to mind. I'm sure you can find "actual literary" examples if you try hard enough.

>>18173808
How much money on average does self publishing on Amazon get you?

>>18189895
This is such a stupid question. There's no average salary like in a profession. It's entirely dependent on how the readers take to your story.

>>18189936
I swear, people don’t bother to google their questions first before asking.

Where’d fishermananon go?

>start putting effort into actually writing a book about my ideas.
>space empire of near immortals sending individual dudes to planets for hundreds of years to have fun before being collected, and harvesting the planet.
>Binge watch Invincible.
>Viltrumite reveal
GOD FUCKING DAMNIT DAMNIT DAMNIT

>>18191039
should have written faster

>>18191039
>>18191055
Literally like 18 years too late, it was a comic that started in 2003 and ended publication in 2018.

>>18191039
>think about writing
>watch YouTube instead
Maybe tomorrow...

>>18191039
I know that feeling and I know it too well. I don't know how to recover from that level of humiliation.

>>18191080
I don't fucking read comics!!

>>18191092
>not expanding your views in all forms of media
Do pseuds really?

>want to make a minor antagonist more of a threat so she can't just be slapped around by the protagonist's party
>come up with the idea of her having some level of mastery over the skills of other characters she trained with rather than having just her own self-contained set of skills
>now she is broken for the level at which she appears in and couldn't be beaten in the next two arcs
wtf anime is hard

I just realized my novel is absolute mess bros
>2 pov characters
>3 parts each with its own prologue set multiple years before main story (disguised as chapters)
>sometimes chapter picks up directly where the previous one left but a lof of them are set days or weeks apart
>nearly all chapters are set in different locations, traveling to a new place is described just once in the entire thing, every other instance there's a timeskip and characters are already in a new location
what the fuck did i even write

>>18192063
Pad it out a bit by mentioning the travel, easy. If you know your characters and world well, you'll be able to place them in interesting situations during their travels. Sounds to me that you've got some good story beats, but not much in-between. It's about the journey, not the destination anon.

>>18191039
Kirkman just stole them from Toriyama who in turn stole them from Siegel who in turn was inspired by his religion

Was there ever a way to do the Martha scene properly or is such a jarring 180 mid-climax impossible to pull off well

>>18192406
Ask this question again, but in English this time.

>>18192406
It's a perfect scene, go back to rebbit.
>>18192416
I understood it, you're just retarded.

>>18185790
Try to look for a real world parallel for both believability and theme exploration, closest thing that comes to mind are police forces and armies that uphold corrupt regimes despite originally coming from the subjugated class, and being the ones that actually hold the power while still just being used as a tool by the elites.

Maybe the half-monsters are trained to have an almost-brainwashed loyalty to humans like soldiers, maybe they're following orders of a half-monster general who's working with the humans, maybe they're instilled with a religious fear of disobeying humans the way hell is used to control population.

There's a parable about adult elephants being successfully kept on a leash only tied to a wooden post by regular rope they could easily break free from, but because they've been leashed by it since the earliest age when they couldn't, they don't even try, early age conditioning is a powerful tool.

>>18192433
>you're retarded for not watching capeshit
k

/wg/, I'm feeling stressed thinking about going back to my story. My first draft took 3 years to write (technically it's still not done yet) and my second draft is likely going to require me to rewrite 60-70% of it.

Adding to the anxiety is the feeling that I've used up the original story's mystique. This is supposed to be the first book in a trilogy, but I feel like I used up most of the setting's glamor in the first book

>>18192453
>his is supposed to be the first book in a trilogy
jesus christ

>>18192406
remind me what was the point of this scene again

>>18192476
To turn the Batman vs Superman movie into the Batman & Superman movie

>>18192477
But what was significant about the name Martha? Other than that both their mothers had that name.

>>18192488
>whoa this scary threatening alien god guy I'm about to kill also has a mom maybe I shouldn't kill him after all
As for why Clark says "Martha" instead of "mom" who knows, maybe it's contrived writing, maybe Clark felt distanced since they're not his actual parents, I still think it would've been funnier if he said mom

>>18192466
I know anon.

I'm still committed to finishing the project, but I can't see how I can manage it. I haven't felt inspired in a very long time and its showed in my pace and quality. I forced myself to keep up through hard work but no matter how hard I pushed myself there were so many days where I couldn't make enough progress, and the amount I had to struggle was demoralizing and probably the reason I haven't felt inspired in so long

I don't know what to do

>>18192509
how many words is your first draft?

>>18192433
>It's a perfect scene
I liked it too but the way it was received tells me there was definitely something missing in the execution

I'm asking because there's a conflict in my story that I think would be well resolved by a 180 in the middle of the climax, but I'm thinking about ways to convey it properly so that it doesn't read like an ass pull, obviously there needs to be proper setup but I feel like there needs to be more in order for the audience to buy it

>>18192539
161k at the moment. It will probably be 170k by the time it's done

This cycle is gutting me. I feel bad about my pace, my quality and my lack of inspiration, so my pace, quality and lack of inspiration get worse. I've tried everything. Therapy, medication, hairbrained life hacks... None of its worked and failure is not an option

>>18192509
why do novice authors always feel compelled to start with writing a trilogy

>>18192564
I'm not a novice writer. I've written a novel before and it only took me 3 months. I thought the second time would be easier, NOT A MILLION FUCKING TIMES HARDER

>>18192406
Don't just have the character suddenly switch sides from that. Have it stew in them for a couple chapters. Make them slowly realize their enemy might not be an inhuman monster.

You'll face criticism regardless because it's going to remind people of BvS.

>>18185596
But anon, I'm an artist. If I wanted to fulfill quotas I'd be a wagie.
>>18185790
How comes it happens slowly in the first place and that humanity even has a chance? They seem far too superior and only reason I can see for it to take "slow" is them being lazy fucks.
>>18186536
There are "norm page" samples on the web but generally it's done with the word-count. No publisher or agent gives a fuck about how many pages you have.
>>18191633
Maybe she gives herself a handicap by coming up with some arbitrary rule? Or maybe there are external factors at work that nerf her?
>>18192406
Maybe if she got more screen-time and people could care about her. Batman probably needed more time to explore his fear of Superman. Nothing a 5h runtime couldn't solve.
>>18192560
Nigga, that's almost two books. Find a decent spot to end it at 100-120k and move the rest into the second.
>>18192564
Not sure about others but I just don't like short stories and want some room to breathe without rushing anything and skipping too many fun ideas.

Besides in the rough planning stage it was obvious that the story I want to tell will at least need two books.

>>18192503
Yeah I got fucking nothing. It would be easier to remove this scene than to rework the story so that it makes sense.

>>18192644
>Nigga, that's almost two books. Find a decent spot to end it at 100-120k and move the rest into the second.

Absolutely not! Writing doesn't work like that. What the fuck are you doing giving writing advice?

>>18192666
Publishing does. Even if you're going to self-publish, having more books is preferable for the algorithms.

That aside, setting limits makes things easier for you too, since you're forced to work inside of these limits and can't just bloat stuff up, overthink it and then bloat it up some more.

Rate my story idea:
The story revolves around the idea that if a spaceship were to constantly accelerate at 1g (i.e. the same speed of gravity), time dilation would mean you survive until the end of the universe.
It's 2200, and a wealthy old man is ready to die. He creates a luxurious suicide cruise and recruits a couple hundred suicidal fellows to join him to see the end of the universe.
A year into the cruise, an imposing ship approaches them. At this point, they are many, many lightyears away from Earth. It is inhabited by robots, a technology that did not exist in 2200. The robots explain that Earth was exterminated by a disease only a few centuries after they left, and the caretaker robots have been helpless ever since. They discovered that humans are still alive on the suicide cruise and ask that they return to repopulate the Earth.
However, things don't add up. Our main character eventually discovers that the robots were the ones who killed the humans. The robots went crazy without any purpose and eventually decided that they need humans to have meaning, thus they want to save the humans. However, their homicidal tendencies begin to show after they come into close proximity with the humans, causing them to become rather crazy.
The book ends when yet another ship arrives. These robots are sane and come from even further in the future and have purged the homicide from their system.
The robots put our main character to sleep and he wakes up in a recreation of the year 2199, before the event that caused him to want to suicide. The main character notes that there are not many stars in the sky left.

I just finished the last draft (3) of the second book in my series! Final word count is 109k.

Now it's time to work on something that I can actually send to agents. My heart's in this one but there's no way this is getting published as a debut novel.

>had half a dozen crucial plot points I needed to work out in order for the rest of the story to make sense
>kept putting them off because I thought it would be boring, arduous, and time-consuming
>finally got around to it and solved them all perfectly within minutes with the first ideas that popped into my mind
>they make more sense than I could've asked for and work great tonally and thematically and tie into other elements naturally

Bros what is this feeling of inspiration

>15 chapters into draft with 24 planned chapters
>186000 words
>every chapter is longer than the one before it
Fug, dis gun b 2 long

>>18192737
>story idea:
Anything can be good if you actually write it out. Write it out and I'll read it and if I like it I like it.

>>18192757
>>18192765
Good job anons

>>18192775
Good job, but don't make them unreasonably long than intended.

Due to work, I have not written a single word of my book all week. I've been utterly crushed by obligations.
Please kill me.

>>18192793
>but don't make them unreasonably long than intended
I'm trying to make them only as long as they need to be and they're still too long aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

How does George do it? He can write about the most mundane shit about his worlds and it's captivating and engaging and arguably well written, everything is dripping with meaning and symbolism and hints and callbacks and development and world building and fleshing out history etc. The influence of his writing on the show was so big that his departure was painfully obvious and stuck out like a sore thumb.

Is this the result of a specific mindset and approach, or is it a skill built after a life of writing?

>>18192831
>approach
Make a world, plan out the cities and culture and people etc, then write a hundred or so years of history based on what you made. That will give you plenty to work with. The biggest mistake worldbuilders make is creating a static setting. The rest is just writing talent.

>>18192831
Paracosms. If you can't involuntarily develop them through the course of daydreaming, you will always be a lesser fantasy author than those who can. They do 90% of the work for you when coming up with settings and plots, and they feel much more natural to the reader than a world you had to build manually.

>>18192874
nta but i have a paracosm which i write about, it's not fantasy though. it's semi-realistic. i couldn't imagine my writing process without it.

>>18192874
Just having one won't guarantee your end result will be interesting or engaging, George can write a story six layers away from the main plot and have it come across as meaningful, whereas most writers struggle with making the second layer not come across as filler

>>18173808
a snippet of some poetry i wrote tonight. tell me how trash it is:

a man approaches --
i cross the street
over the lava rocks
memories
from my childhood
cul-de-sac towards

the mailbox, i'm
out of his way, the
cig smoke doesn't affect
those it need not.


the twists and turns of
postmodern perception of
those mislead by those
they trusted to lead.

a 300 does an x-point
u-turn, and drives away

as a man walks by with
groceries, and another
with shorts and a white
dad hat with his hands
in his pockets as i

write poetry. who would
have thought that a punk
like me would write for
a punk like thee as the

ash is blown off the right
cuff of the raw denim of
your humble narrator's levi
trucker, the san francisco

>>18192406
They did it properly in the Ultimate Edition

>>18192575
Has a carpenter become a master after making one table?

>>18192907
If that table was his masterpiece, then yes.

Well, that's what I get for writing first and planning later. Is there some sort of protocol how authorities would act in this scenario and perhaps something similar happening somewhere?

>protagonist is in the lobby of an almost cleared skyscraper
>unarmed
>surrounded by special units (think Speznaz)
>tells them the entire building is rigged to explode in five minutes
>there was a smaller explosion a minute ago
Would they rate the threat as credible and clear the surrounding area? Would they just shoot my MC before he could say anything after coming out of the elevator?

Am I the only person ITT who doesn't like George's writing? I think it's a meme

>>18192686
>Publishing does.
lmao. "I have a trilogy/5 books/10 books planned" is a massive red flag to publishers, because every nerd does that and not 1% can actually deliver. It tells everyone you have unrealistic expectations towards the market and your own ability. Moreover, multiple-part stories are hard to sell and always a huge risk. Maybe one in a thousand finds its audience.

>>18192930
I don't really care for his prose but I think he's a master storyteller

>>18192931
Indeed, hence the stuff is still supposed to be readable as a self-contained story with sequel bait ending. The magic words are "with series potential".

>>18192929
They're still human, if they have reason to believe him they will, even if it goes against protocol

>>18192942
But even if they do believe, what are they realistically going to do? Abandon their positions and try to gtfo in time? Attempt to apprehend him and lose time?

>>18189762
"When the Seagulls Cry" far surpasses the majority of works in the Western canon.

>>18192907
no, but someone who can make a table easily one day should logically be able to make a second table easily the next day.

failure after succeeding so easily is more frustrating than failure having never succeeded. Feeling like I'm bad at writing is only making me worse and I'm betting making it feel like a responsibility only prevents me from getting inspired or passionate. I see being creative as something I need to do all the time to make my life feel livable. When I'm not it's not just frustrating, it makes me miserable

Do you get mad when someone """"spoils""" the story for you in reviews, and if so, how mad? I criticized this guy's writing and now people are mad at me because I spoiled aka told the entire plot

>>18192977
Nah, I don't care. A good story will always work. Sure, sometimes not knowing the twists can add extra fun but there is also fun in seeing how the things work out when you know the bigger picture.

>>18192644
>Maybe she gives herself a handicap by coming up with some arbitrary rule?
No way. Just hours before the fight she was still pretending to be the lover of some guy just to steal something from him because the guy she is actually in love with ordered her to, and the fight is all about who gets to keep that.
She has no time to put on handicaps.

>Or maybe there are external factors at work that nerf her?
I'll check if there's something to nerf her just in case.
There's a guy in the protagonist's party that could still manhandle her even after the buffs but I'm not sure if it could be justified by the mechanics at play during the fight.

>>18192987
>pretending to be the lover of some guy just to steal something from him because the guy she is actually in love with ordered her to
Bretty decent stuff, my man.

>>18192976
Yeah, turns out you weren't a natural born genius who can just dance through life based on gut feeling. Now get that pity dick out of your mouth and go write.

>>18192977
What a dumb fucking question. I don't read reviews, but yes, you're a goddamn retard for spoiling people's experience.

>>18173808
BASED holoposter shitting on bookniggers

>>18193042
Spoilers, they ruin it for everyone and act innocent.

>>18192971
I don’t understand why some anons here just don’t accept the advice they are given.

Hello, friends. I'm sorry if this is a retarded question but I've never seriously tried writing before, and I want to try to avoid as many pitfalls I can with character/world building. I have one main question: Is it boring/cliche/etc. when a character in a story is born "lacking" in a world wherein being more than human is the norm?
What I mean by this is, one of the core characters in this story is a noble born without magic powers when in the world it's almost unheard of for someone to be unable to use even basic magics. This lack of power, coupled with his desire to be strong enough to be of use to the people he cares about, drives him to forsake parts of himself - such as his ideals, morals, and other things that make one 'human' - in exchange for the strength he craves.
It seems sound in my mind, but I'm not sure if it will pan out. Any insight or input is appreciated.

>>18193118
Literally the most retarded fanfiction tier shit is viable if you do it well. It's 99% execution.

who the fuck didnt add an animation cancel to alchemy stone upgrading
this shit takes forever

>>18192971
That doesn't matter. I think the same of Evangelion. If someone's asking how to write about children who have responsibilities heaped upon them, I'll mention Ender's Game instead of that. We're discussing how to write literature so you should provide literary examples.

>>18193240
Don't limit your examples because its a different medium.

>>18193118
Sounds like a Squib from Harry Potter. They're people with magical lineages, but they can't use magic themselves.

There's the Cradle series by Will Wight where the MC is deemed as magically useless. This is a progression fantasy, though.

Frodo can't use magic, either.

>>18193118
Read more, your worries are unfounded. Just write.

>>18192977
Yes, holy fuck, I'm trying to read the story, have some courtesy.

>>18174503
I know you, what did you do to have anons here hate you?

>>18193243
>Don't limit your examples
But you should or else you'll be giving shitty advice. If you directly apply things that an anime did to a novel, it might not fit properly. Anime operates on arcs/seasons and novels operate on word count. It's fine to include things like giant robots and big titties, but the mediums are fundamentally different.

Think about how much gets changed in book-to-film adaptations. It's because some things just work differently in visual mediums. In the case of Ender's Game again, the whole progression of his growth was compressed to one year. You'd be getting an entirely different piece of advice if someone had only seen the movie but felt it right to give advice on novel character development using it.

Another more generic case of incompatibility is just the mere scene composition. In a film, you can have it switch back from the battlefield to the command center multiple times in a minute. Try doing exactly that in a novel. You'd need to include a scene break every couple paragraphs.

Discuss how to write literature by using other literature as examples. You can, right? You do read, right?

New thread

>>18193298

>>18193293
There’s different types of novels with different types of writing methods. To narrow it down to such degreee is detrimental in creativity and limiting yourself.

>>18175264
>>18175415
Ok, thanks.

>>18182694
>Your second half is not an independent clause. You're using it as a list, but you don't need it.
But shouldn't you have a comma there because it's a "breathing space", i.e. makes it easier to read.

>>18193428
Commas are not breathing spaces and you should get out of the habit of seeing them as such.

>>18193645
That’s what some CRWR lecturers hammer into kids

>>18192977
jesus of course
i read the review to decide if i want to read something, not after I already done so