/wg/ - Writing General

[Anonymous No.17422927]

prev:>>17399759 #

Any progress on your novels?

For Prose:
>The Art of Fiction
>Story Genius: How to Use Brain Science to Go Beyond Outlining and Write a Riveting Novel (Before You Waste Three Years Writing 327 Pages That Go Nowhere)
>On Becoming A Novelist
>Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft
>How Fiction Works
>The Rhetoric of Fiction
>Steering the Craft

For Poetry:
>The Poetry Home Repair Manual
>Western Wind: An Introduction to Poetry

Related Material:
>What Editors Do
>A Student's Introduction to English Grammar
>Garner's Modern English Usage

Suggested books on storytelling:
>The Weekend Novelist
>Aristotle's Poetics
>Hero With a Thousand Faces
>Romance the Beat

Suggested books on getting your fucking work done you lazy piece of shit:
>Deep Work
>Atomic Habits

Traditional publishing
> Formatting manuscript
https://blog.reedsy.com/manuscript-format/
> Write a query
https://www.janefriedman.com/query-letters/
> Track your query
https://querytracker.net/

Other Resources
>General grammar/syntax/editing help
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/purdue_owl.html
> When/where/how should I write?
https://jamesclear.com/daily-routines-writers
> What software should I write with?
https://self-publishingschool.com/book-writing-software-best/
> Amazon Publishing to make that KDP monie
https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G200635650
> Be like Charles Dickens and write serially
https://www.royalroad.com/
> Basic overview of the Screenplay format
https://screenwriting.info/

[Anonymous No.17422954]

Anyone have any good video series' or lectures to recommend?

[Anonymous No.17422974]

>>17422954
Just find something you like and put it on in the background while you write.
Personally I write with no distractions, but if it works for you then more power to you.

[Anonymous No.17422977]

>>17422927
I have to ask for those who are writing novels that are a bit dark. At what point does it become edgy? I let someone I trust read my rough draft and all she could say was that what I wrote can be a bit tamer and less edgy. Which threw me at a loop since what I thought wasn’t edgy. A bit morbid, yes, but not edgy. Especially since I’ve been foreshadowing it since the prologue. I’m at a loss on what to do and her criticism made me feel hesitant to continue.

[Anonymous No.17422984]

I've been at 22 pages for a year, just recently got the itch again and re-reading it so I can begin cracking away

[Anonymous No.17422985]

>>17422954
https://youtu.be/yHKKtxliYaY

[Anonymous No.17422992]

>>17422977
I think the big thing is to make sure the suffering/pain/dark content/etc. isn't pointless. Foreshadowing it doesn't doesn't give it reason.
Always remember that not all feedback is good feedback. You have to learn to know when people are simply wrong about what they say of your work.

[Anonymous No.17423006]

>>17422977
Compare to other works you admire. Why in God's name would you trust the sensibilities of a non-writer normie?

[Anonymous No.17423017]

>>17422984
I believe in you anon, you've got this

[Anonymous No.17423023]

>>17423017
Thanks m8, how much time each day do you set aside for writing? What's your writing space?

[Anonymous No.17423034]

Post an image that describes your novel's protagonist.

Pic related. In the latest installment I just finished writing, he accidentally starts a war/genocide, loses everyone he considered family, causes the capital city to be razed by a giant monster, and has his advisor betray him and steal his position as leader.

[Anonymous No.17423037]

>>17423034
sounds like you made it all up

[Anonymous No.17423055]

>>17423023
Not him but I mostly just go until I hit at least several hundred words. I try to not keep track of the word count though. I just write until I feel like I've done enough.
>>17423034
Shinji but instead of being a little bitch who fucks everything else up he's just a little bitch who goes along with it to avoid that.
Honestly not a great post though.

[Anonymous No.17423060]

>>17423023
It takes me 3-4 hours to reach my word count on most days, 3k. Some days I can barely hit 1k in the allotted time and I try not to let it kill me
I could write in the early morning or late evening
And I just write at my desk, feels comfy and I can't write anywhere else

[Anonymous No.17423077]

https://pastebin.com/DDzAYHqZ
Trying to get back on the saddle with this short story that turned into 30 pages.
Probably can snap it on to the novel that is less than that length.
How am I doing bros?

[Anonymous No.17423084]

>>17423034
During his first day in the service, he misses a muster call because he was taking a shit but nobody noticed so he got away with it.

[Anonymous No.17423208]

>tfw I haven't written in a week
>tfw before that I couldn't even get 300 words a day

I want to kill myself

[Anonymous No.17423221]

>>17423208
Channel that

[Anonymous No.17423247]

>>17423208
Just like write words
>t. 1500+ words/day, 3000+ today

[Anonymous No.17423304]

>>17423247
writing doesn't come easy for me. It takes mental energy to force myself write, and it takes even more when I'm out of the habit of writing. That's energy I just don't have when I'm like this

[Anonymous No.17423346]

>>17423304
Solution:
1. Get super tired
2. Think of a word/image/idea that inspires you.
3. Write random shit until you work yourself into a frenzy
4. Keep writing in your self-induced psychosis
5. Once the mind-meth’s worn out, sleep.
6. Comb through the garbage heap, edit, and rewrite until it’s presentable.
7. Repeat

Works for me. My best material is spontaneous - I’m only uninspired when I’m overthinking.

[Anonymous No.17423371]

>>17423060
Word counts are a faulty metric. It's quality over quantity. Anyone can write thousands of words of disorganized babble if they're just trying to fill a quantitative quota. Obviously you want to measure productivity and word count is an easy objective way to do so. I'm happier with fewer words if it means they are all gold-plated and exactly how I want them so I won't have to go back and cut them later.

[Anonymous No.17423389]

>>17423371
Those gold-plated rough drafts

[Anonymous No.17423638]

Have any of you tried writing a female protagonist?

[Anonymous No.17423649]

>>17423638
My second book will be about a young woman who becomes an apprentice mason.

[Anonymous No.17423690]

>>17423649
Will she be "milky" (produces milk from her breasts, otherwise known as lactation)?

[Anonymous No.17423706]

>>17423690
No I don't think she'll be in such a state. Should I have her get impregnated? There is a character in the story who is leading her on to get pussy so maybe he could put a bun in her oven, he runs out on her anyway.

[Anonymous No.17423715]

>>17423706
For the record, that's not me, I'm the guy who wrote the original question.

[Anonymous No.17423725]

>>17423715
Well that's awkard

[Anonymous No.17423775]

https://pastebin.com/f1Hkdbc4

Someone please help me I have brain damage

[Anonymous No.17423891]

>>17422927
what are good sites for researching how other people live?
for example, one of my characters has misformed limbs- I want to portray it at least believably.
Another character is from a country I've never been in, etc.

[Anonymous No.17424103]

>>17423775
why the fuck is his name pokemon, instant turn off

[Anonymous No.17424270]

Where should I post my 1 to 6 page stories so others can read it too? I write horror/creepypastas.

I want a site where anyone can view the content even if the person doesn't have an account. Also a site where people don't bully you for amateur mistakes. Critiques are fine if they're friendly.

So far I'm thinking of fictionpress.com

[Anonymous No.17424271]

>>17422977
Common mistake is for writers to think a protagonist with "inner demons" makes them compelling. It's very common to have a haunted, angsty protag. Readers don't find it especially interesting.

[Anonymous No.17424279]

>>17423638
A couple of times.

[Anonymous No.17424298]

>>17423638
Will write one for a short story. Woman's husband is comatose in a hospital, so she visits a town she remembers fondly to get the edge off, and ends up discovering it is completely off and there's no people anymore. Then she suddenly gets attacked by a dog that was skinned alive.

[Anonymous No.17424400]

Is it alright if the introduction of my bisexual MC involves orgy?

My MC is bisexual and truly repressed. Her family were deeply religious and she have no way to express herself with the fear of disappointing them. Now, my MC practiced lucid dreaming and use it to create a dream orgy (with men and women) then get visited by her dead auntie that started her adventure. I don't want to show that bisexuals are sex addicts but merely show her repression. As the story progressed she developed a relationship with a poly woman but then realized that she don't want a polygamous relationship leading to a break up. What do you think? Should I still change the way she was introduced?

[Anonymous No.17424571]

>>17423638
My 3 main characters are females.

[Anonymous No.17424584]

How likely it is anyone will ever even read your story on amazon, assuming you make it insanely cheap? Do people even still read anymore?

I would want to make a short story compilation.

[Anonymous No.17424604]

>>17423638
>Have any of you tried writing a female protagonist?

I can only write female protagonists. I can't make a male MC interesting to save my life

[Anonymous No.17424707]

New /ffa/ is up. Have fun writing flash fiction and join the anthology.
>>17424458

[Anonymous No.17424799]

>>17423638
Yeah what I'm working on right now is a story where the main character gets killed off halfway through and his sister picks up where he left off.

[Anonymous No.17424822]

>>17424400
This sounds like a bad introduction to me. Where is the immediate "ticking clock" element to kick off the story? I wouldn't be offended, but I wouldn't read more of the book if it started with some dream exploration bullshit.

[Anonymous No.17424993]

Anyone here write non fiction? Blog posts, medium articles, that kind of thing

[Anonymous No.17425237]

>>17424993
I write short essays on substack. Could have used pen and paper but I prefer doing it online and having it archived.

[Anonymous No.17425342]

>>17425237
What is substack like? Guessing it's quite a small userbase in terms of writers and readers. What kind of essays do you write?

[Anonymous No.17425644]

How do you represent true insanity?

[Anonymous No.17425983]

>>17425342
Its userbase is decent and growing. Glenn Greenwald recently quit The Intercept and started his substack, where he has a good number of paying subscribers (100k+ year I believe). I use it because I like the UI. I write about politics and culture, to get my thoughts down in an organized way and develop them. I think this is my best one: https://woland.substack.com/p/demon-control

[Anonymous No.17425995]

>>17425644
Edgar Poe's characters. My last story had this, I found a way to represent it by looking at myself. I used to hallucinate and remember how it petrified me. So I wrote out what I felt. Also, watch 1950s videos that are psas about the mentally ill, I watched one about catatonic schizphreniacs and wrote down poetry about each one of the people to learn to verbalize.

[Anonymous No.17426002]

How do I get a free book cover? Can I edit free domain images of things?

[Anonymous No.17426132]

How do I write a decadent institution so the people in charge don't end up looking like complete retards?

[Anonymous No.17426207]

>>17426132
Make the rulers hereditary, born and raised for the role even if it's a very narrow one

[Anonymous No.17426212]

>>17423389

[Anonymous No.17426227]

>>17426207
Wouldn't that just explain why they are allowed to be retarded without consequence?

[Anonymous No.17426234]

>>17426227
But they'll all be retards so anybody whose not retarded will be dragged down to their level of beaten by experience

[Anonymous No.17426240]

>>17424993
I do a ton of non-fiction. I find it easier than fiction to write.

[Anonymous No.17426250]

>>17426132
Have them be unapologetically corrupt. They know the system doesn't function the way it's meant to, but they profit from it so status quo gets to stay.

[Anonymous No.17426258]

Do stories need antagonists?

[Anonymous No.17426261]

>>17426258
No.

[Anonymous No.17426272]

>>17426258
Your protagonist is the best antagonist.

[Anonymous No.17426275]

>want to write a novel
>realize that I've lived my entire life with no personality
>realize my characters are just as bland and lacking in character as I am

[Anonymous No.17426316]

>>17424584

The problem is about discovery. People have to first know your book exists before they'll think about reading it If you put something out there and nobody reads it, it doesn't mean its bad, it just means that you're not breaking through the competition which is immense. And the promotion algorithms tend to promote content that sells, becoming a self-reinforcing loop, while content that sells less gets neglected, keeping it stuck in obscurity

>>17425342
Substack is promising but I think its email focused content delivery model is flawed, especially for someone who needs to build an audience from scratch. Also it seems to be geared toward "newsletters" which are a particularly limited form focused on simply giving information.

Growing a reader base from scratch is a problem I suffer from. While I am confident in what I write, I have put zero effort into cultivating my online presence. Even if there is a potential audience for your writing you have to find them and they have to find you.

[Anonymous No.17426324]

how do I get over a feeling like my writing style is cringy as fuck
I spent three hours writing yesterday and threw it all away because it felt so embarrassing to read it, not just the style but I kept questioning all of the logic of every single decision a character made

[Anonymous No.17426331]

>>17426275
Start doing stuff that you'd never do.

Smash the plates at dinner
Eat a shit
Punch your grandpa
Approach a hottie
Apply for a job in another country
Bungee jump without the cord

You'll quite quickly become interesting or dead.

[Anonymous No.17426353]

>>17426331
Not that guy buy that gives me an incredible idea for a story, has anyone ever written a story about a guy that just does irrational shit like this all the time, every waking moment of his life, and someone goes "Why the fuck are you like this" and he's like "Oh no, you've got it wrong, I'd never do anything like this, I'm only doing it ironically"

[Anonymous No.17426395]

>>17423006
They are the consumer.

[Anonymous No.17426463]

>>17424400
Sounds like the Twitter #writingcommunity.

[Anonymous No.17426536]

>>17424993
I used to write Medium articles about algorithmic stock market stuff but got laid off from that job last year.

[Anonymous No.17426542]

Normalize self-publishing.

[Anonymous No.17426563]

>>17426331
But in my lacking of personality I just find that behaviour obnoxious and wouldn't want to subject my reader to it

Maybe I just don't want to subject my readers to me

[Anonymous No.17426602]

>>17426250
idunno, I want at least some of them to be sort of heroic figures within the story. Not without flaws but not blatantly corrupt either.

[Anonymous No.17426622]

>hit 5000 words on a project for the first time
Fully-written novel here I come baby!

[Anonymous No.17426642]

>>17426563
Even being boring is something to have feelings about. Do you want to be boring? What's stopping you from not being dull? Try to explore how it frustrates you.

[Anonymous No.17426667]

>>17426542
Normalize self-publishing for new writers. Decent/good writers should definitely get into trad publishing. Even a small advance for one book is more than the book would get from self-publishing, plus you don't have to sell your soul with marketing tricks (the only way readers find your work) or spend money on ads that may or may not work, or write something you hate just to reach an audience. But it is a great way to start out.

[Anonymous No.17426684]

>>17426642
>What's stopping you from not being dull?
Maybe autism

[Anonymous No.17426700]

>>17426684
So write about being autistic

[Anonymous No.17426718]

>>17426700
>One day I awoke, stumbling my way to the kitchen to complete my morning routine of sticking my head in the freezer
>but alas, I notice a chair is not where it is supposed to be
>commence 496 pages of screaming and crying

[Anonymous No.17426819]

How to describe a character has big bazoongas without being obvious about it?

[Anonymous No.17426832]

>>17426819
The word heaving comes to mind

[Anonymous No.17426851]

>>17426819
well endowed, it's still obvious though

[Anonymous No.17427009]

>>17426819
Have another character when first introduced to her start yelling "whoa momma" and gesturing with his hands. Alternatively, if that's a bit too much, he could mention in passing that she's a healthy looking girl while he's picking up some cans.

[Anonymous No.17427061]

>>17422927
does anybody know where I can find a digital copy of Western Wind: An Introduction to Poetry ?

[Anonymous No.17427106]

>>17426819
A big blue vein trickled down her unsupported milkers.

[Anonymous No.17427149]

>>17426819
>She always complained about her back pains.

[Anonymous No.17427185]

>Jolenta straightened up as people do who are straining not to stoop. Above the waist her creamy amplitude was such that her spine must have been curved backward to balance the weight.

[Anonymous No.17427219]

>>17422927
>/lit/ newfag here
I already wrote my adventure-fiction novel, posted it on social media and my blog... no one noticed it, not a single "good shit, keep it up" comment, only 20 or somewhat visits... before becoming an hero, I need to know if I can post it in here, else I just wasted several months of my existence.

[Anonymous No.17427232]

>>17427219
post it here

[Anonymous No.17427246]

>>17427219
>>17427232
Seconded, also post it on other self-publishing sites.

[Anonymous No.17427261]

>>17427219
Don't worry anon. It doesn't mean your story isn't good. You just need to find an audience. It won't jump on your lap.

[Anonymous No.17427264]

>>17427219
Now you have one book more than 99% of people who have dreamed of writing a novel. You have a portfolio now to build on

Post it

[Anonymous No.17427269]

>>17427232
>>17427246
Thank you so much for the opportunity, here you go. https://nonegative9.wixsite.com/lambdafiv/so-much-stuff
You just download the file and start reading, it's about 45 pages... The story is about "What would happen if life in the multiverse actualy existed?" (thank you, again)

[Anonymous No.17427324]

Any opinions on AO3 for original fiction? I really like the website's interface, but it does have a reputation for being 95% fanfic and having a lot of smut.

[Anonymous No.17427325]

>>17427269
i'm not downloading shit, put it up like a normal person you freak

[Anonymous No.17427346]

>>17427324
Only site I would legit recommend is Royal Road. But I haven't even gained traction there. The way the site works is pretty good in my opinion. Good rating system. Decent site culture. Geared heavily towards game/power fantasy stories, but I think there can be niche stuff that can make it big.

[Anonymous No.17427444]

>>17427325
I'd love to post it "like a normal file" but it has hyperlinks with pics of the characters. It needs to be downloaded, else you can't see the pics. And before you say anything, it's not b8, you can trust me.

[Anonymous No.17427457]

>>17427269
>45 pages
>a novel
I mean, good for you for having a finished short story but that is not a novel.
>download my file
I think I know why no one is bothering to read it.

[Anonymous No.17427467]

>>17427444
What? Just make a free blog or Medium account or whatever and post it with the hyperlinks or insert the images where you want them. Making the story as accessible as possible is essential to finding readership.

[Anonymous No.17427482]

>>17427444
>but it has hyperlinks with pics of the characters
I think you misunderstand what a written story is, anon

[Anonymous No.17427491]

>>17427482
don't be hard on him, a picture book is still a book

[Anonymous No.17427498]

Do you guys type your stuff or write it down on paper?

[Anonymous No.17427507]

>>17427498
On paper? Do I look homosexual?

[Anonymous No.17427509]

>>17427498
I write down concepts, ideas, and outlines on paper

[Anonymous No.17427511]

>>17427444
>hyperlinks to local files
Bruh

[Anonymous No.17427518]

>>17427507
:(
I can't type out scenarios or dialogue without writing it down on paper first
My imagination turns off when I type

[Anonymous No.17427520]

>>17427498
>go through ideas on paper
>plot out on paper
>first draft on paper
>type up on word
>redraft (once) on word
>send to editor

[Anonymous No.17427531]

>>17427518
Are you free from distraction?

[Anonymous No.17427535]

>>17427467
I mean, I can post my entire blog if you want... https://nonegative9.wixsite.com/lambdafiv and yeah, you're actually right; it's more of a story than a novel. I'm sorry.
>>17427482
I only cared for telling a story, because i find images as useful as a text for communicating somehing to people
>>17427491
Nah, don't worry, they have a point

[Anonymous No.17427539]

>>17427498
its going to end up getting typed regardless, why make life more difficult writing it out on paper first? complete waste of time

[Anonymous No.17427541]

>>17427535
>I only cared for telling a story, because i find images as useful as a text for communicating somehing to people
But you're writing a story, try using those pictures as a reference for your description to us. It's your job to guide our imagination not dictate it. Same goes for settings, don't give me a picture of a mountain, describe it

[Anonymous No.17427544]

>>17427531
ye
I also draw, and I use my imagination a lot for that and have no issues there

I think it has something to do with the hand movements between typing and using a pen.

Once I pick up a pen, in 5 seconds I got a plot and a dialogue.
When I sit down to type, I'm stuck with "uhmmm, and hmmmm"

[Anonymous No.17427549]

>>17427539
A work that's been written twice, is usually better than a work that has been written once.

[Anonymous No.17427570]

>>17427541
Don't worry, It's not like I've made a drawing for every single thing in the story. That'd be suicidal... Only the characters. And the scenarios were only written, because of two reasons: for the imagination and also for not spending so much time drawing nonstop

[Anonymous No.17427580]

>>17427549
No. An edited work is better than a first draft. But transcribing your entire story so that you can actually get around to editing it is a waste of time. If you were in prison and didn't have access to a computer I could understand why you'd be forced to do it that way.

[Anonymous No.17427605]

>>17426002
Yes.
https://search.creativecommons.org/
That's all you need. Click around a bit and you'll know what are the minor details of the images you're looking to use

[Anonymous No.17427634]

>>17426819
Describe it anyways, however you like. I absolutely hate r/menwritingwomen even more than the rest of reddit, because they do dumb shit like criticizing Holden Caulfield for saying something scummy. Went into my manuscript and entered some throwaway lines about breasts after reading their dumb shit.

[Anonymous No.17427669]

>>17424103
why?
>>17423775
Please respond

[Anonymous No.17427709]

>>17427669
It's pretty funny. What do you want us to say? Write more absurd shit. Go for it.

[Anonymous No.17427745]

>>17426819
ive got a similar dilemma except the tits are small and i dont mind being obvious about it i just don't want anyone to get the wrong idea you know

[Anonymous No.17427796]

>>17422927
Anyone got any free links to some books that would help me write. I'd say I struggle with speech format and word choice e.g. "yelled" and "said" keep being used. if anyone could help.

[Anonymous No.17427827]

>>17427796
http://www.spwickstrom.com/said/ is what I use as a basic reference for speech verbs.

[Anonymous No.17427840]

Over 2200 words written today, more than double what I wrote yesterday.
I think tomorrow I'm going to take a semi-break. Maybe note out my next chapter and do some minor editing on one I just finished.

One thing I've been noticing is that my chapters keep going out at 5k words. I know this is meant to be considered 'too' long, do people really stop reading novels because of that shit? I never have. IIRC isn't the first chapter of Dune alone like 6000 words? and that's one of the most loved novels of all time.

[Anonymous No.17427842]

Any of you guys listen to things while you write? I'd like to write in silence but there's noise in my house regardless. What's good music/ambience for it?

[Anonymous No.17427844]

>>17427796
said is fine, or start with an action which functions as an indicator and then the dialog line, or have a bit of back and forth where you don't need any tags

[Anonymous No.17427850]

>>17422927
I don't want to make another thread for this but does anyone know whats a good whole and concise book about poetry meter? Currently thinking about either John Hollander Rhyme's Reason and Poetic Meter and Poetic Form by Fussel.

Help will be greatly appreciated

[Anonymous No.17427851]

>>17427842
https://youtu.be/tNkZsRW7h2c

[Anonymous No.17427854]

>>17427840
5k is on the long side but whether or not the reader cares or notices depends on your ability to maintain the chapter's tension arc

[Anonymous No.17427863]

>>17426275
See >>17426642
Write a story focused largely around a boring mc and his struggles with his perceived lack of personality.
>>17426819
Don't. If her boobs are big enough to draw attention to then they're naturally going to stand out.
>>17427269
Upload it on archiveofourown.org
Seriously. If you just need any way to get it out there then throw it up on there. So long as you don't use it to advertise then you can upload virtually anything.

[Anonymous No.17427867]

>>17427840
>5k words per chapter
>too long
Tell me you're kidding please.

[Anonymous No.17427875]

>>17426275
kenshi?

[Anonymous No.17427878]

>>17427796
said should be used in 95%+ of all cases because the word is essentially invisible.

[Anonymous No.17427898]

>>17427796
Just use "ejaculated" instead of said in 99% of instances.

[Anonymous No.17427910]

>>17427867
I've read in multiple places that 5k is "too long", and I'm going solely off that. I don't give a fuck how long chapters are, but if there's a retarded restriction in place due to attention spans then I'd rather meet it than not get published.

[Anonymous No.17427918]

>>17427910
There are no such restrictions.

[Anonymous No.17427920]

>>17427498
>handwriting classes in elementary school have permanently fucked up the legibility of my handwriting and cause me to get cramps within 30 minutes of writing
No lmao

[Anonymous No.17427922]

>>17427910
>my average chapter length - 16k words
well fug

[Anonymous No.17427925]

>>17427875

[Anonymous No.17427931]

>>17427827
>>17427844
>>17427878
Thanks for the tips, these are actually useful. I had to do the same basic style of conversation for three chapters and I was finding it really irritating. I'll see how these points do.

[Anonymous No.17427972]

>>17427910
I think it depends on what market you're catering to. Obviously for genre fiction 5k might be too long, if you're writing literary then who knows what the arbitrary rules are

[Anonymous No.17427984]

>>17427850
Halp

[Anonymous No.17427988]

Is openoffice the best writting software for linux?

[Anonymous No.17428003]

>>17427988
>he doesn't write exclusively in emacs
Oh no no no
Yeah OO is probably the best. Doesn't really matter though.

[Anonymous No.17428154]

>>17427988
>>17428003
You guys got any clue as to why my openoffice spellcheck just doesn't work?

[Anonymous No.17428190]

>>17428154
My automatic spellcheck is fucked but if I hit F7 it works fine.

[Anonymous No.17428235]

>>17427842
Old clock ticking sound
White noise

[Anonymous No.17428241]

People always talk about 'beautiful' and 'perfect' writing but I've never seen them give examples.

What's your example of 'perfect' writing, anons?

[Anonymous No.17428249]

>>17428241
Nothing. That's just an outright lie.

[Anonymous No.17428259]

Why are academics so bad at writing fiction? Does being a professor rid you of all creativity?

[Anonymous No.17428270]

>>17428235
I have a hypnosis fetish and these things would have adverse effects.

>>17428241
Paradise Lost

[Anonymous No.17428288]

>>17428259
I dropped out of high school and I'm traditionally published, two books.

[Anonymous No.17428348]

>Up the jagged spine of rough-hewn steps they struggled, a world’s warchief and his retinue reduced to crawling. Horns hewn of bone sounded in the deep, and the rumblings of drums mingled with the rhythm of the X’shaal’s chants as their king and his kin assailed the climb toward God. In the crepuscular haze of the cavern’s night, candles mounted on sigil-inscribed monoliths the height of towers marked the shame of past failures; shadows of men frozen on their igneous surface, but lacking the bodies to cast them. Here was a domain of the Unseen, chthonic spirits of spite and malice that stole those weak enough to be distracted from the Light Above. Its psychic inferno seared into his mind, the torture of Its glory threatening forgetfulness of the Destiny accorded, but Saothinax would not be stolen. His blood was mingled with Heaven’s, his soul’s pedigree above the loathsome shadow-horrors lingering in the dark - their ilk a bastard race, inferior imitations of true divinity. The Angels sharing his nature awaited, like-to-like, it was not in his blood to fail.

rate, crit, tell me where im fuckin up plz

[Anonymous No.17428362]

>>17428348
Trying too hard with the descriptions.

[Anonymous No.17428367]

>>17428348
Your descriptions are retarded.
Boring.

[Anonymous No.17428382]

>>17428348
https://youtu.be/voncdcV648g

[Anonymous No.17428383]

>>17428348
Don't fall into the /lit/ trap of peacocking every line, all you're trying to do is tell a story. Don't environmental bait, don't beauty bait, just write things how they are, don't add detail to things unless you're specifically trying to curate an image of something the reader should hold onto.

[Anonymous No.17428392]

Is this a good place to ask things if I only intend on writing comics?

[Anonymous No.17428400]

>>17428348
>>17428383 me
Here's some things from a previous thread that you might find useful

>also, one of the biggest indicators of an amateurish writer is someone who high-loads detail and "complexities" in what is actually quite simple, go on Amazon KDP and see how people write, it's environmental beauty bait with big words as if that's a sign of professionalism. I read your post again, OP. It's fluid but, something was really off about it, as someone whose gone through a gambit of young writers, you seem to be compensating for your lack of creative ability, with these meaningless masturbatory lines that describes nothing that a travel agent couldn't. It's like you're trying to replace compelling fiction with compelling details that are out of a pamphlet.

>just one more thing... and anyone whose been in writing circles or a CW class/workshop knows this.. if there's one fucking thing that DOESN'T separate writers, it's being able to describe something to hell and back, descriptions in the vein of (a-lot of environmental bait) are the most easily mined and common "talent" or "quality" that writers have.

>I was in a similar boat. But I had actual plot/concept (ok within its genre at least). Today in a call with two people, one of which graduated some fancy creative writing thing, said I kept rambling on and on like anon. They went on how many people who suck at making any good plots/aren't creative tend to bombard with descriptions like that anon. I then went through my story and began shaving off a lot of words and now I get it.

The anon has nice words and all, but geez man, it was, to put it bluntly, just boring reading through it all and felt like a genuine struggle to finish just 1 page. I saved it in my "things I hate and I review why" though, so the anon did one thing right - he showed me how NOT to write and describe why I hated it in detail. A good learning opportunity.

I realize I sound like a dick and it feels bad, but oh well this is 4chan. The best critique you can get is from haters, I am sorry but even psychologists write this in all their books.

[Anonymous No.17428467]

>>17427988
I write in Vim using markdown, I hate modern text editors.

[Anonymous No.17428479]

I can nail a page, but I have a hard time writing something that progresses over multiple pages, is this just me needing to read more? For example, I can do a scene, but the transition out of that scene is really rough - I just freeze up. What's the problem here?

[Anonymous No.17428488]

>>17428348

[Anonymous No.17428512]

>>17428488
He's at the normal phase of overloading detail, everyone has gone through it. It's like the assumption that just because you can add an adverb, you should.

[Anonymous No.17428576]

>>17428348
Beautiful. Could be a Warcraft fanfic.

[Anonymous No.17428590]

I'm so garbage.

[Anonymous No.17428626]

>>17428479
is a transition really needed

[Anonymous No.17428648]

>>17428348
You will never be R Scott Bakker

[Anonymous No.17428673]

Psychological fiction is so hard to write holy shit

[Anonymous No.17428678]

>>17428626
let me be more specific, is a detailed transition really necessary?

[Anonymous No.17428680]

>>17427988
>>17428467

Ghostwriter is also good for markdown.

[Anonymous No.17428685]

>>17428678
No, not really. Should I just put a break in-between jumps?

[Anonymous No.17428715]

You do use Scrivener, right?

[Anonymous No.17428716]

>>17428715
i use focuswriter

[Anonymous No.17428736]

>>17424707
Why is it that I'm not even a regular on this board and I'm the only one to do one so far?

[Anonymous No.17428754]

>>17428736
Oh wait, there was on other one now that I think about it. Nonetheless.

[Anonymous No.17428757]

>>17428685
if the thing you're ending on is poignant then a clean break works.

[Anonymous No.17428761]

>>17428673
What makes it so hard?

[Anonymous No.17428838]

>>17428736
Idk, seems easy and fun to me. If no one wants to do it, oh well.

[Anonymous No.17428874]

>>17428715
Yup

>>17428736
Don't find myself too interested in doing any flash fiction, to be honest.

[Anonymous No.17428886]

>>17428736
why would i want my work premiered next to a bunch of furries and pedos?

[Anonymous No.17428969]

>>17428886
We're anonymous.

[Anonymous No.17428985]

>>17428969
Are you also anonymous in your life, anon?

[Anonymous No.17429225]

>>17428969
That's why I'll never share my work here.

[Anonymous No.17429352]

>kinda schizo conspiracy-nut character ends up being totally right about the most important details of his delusions
Fun plot point, would use again

[Anonymous No.17429400]

>>17423034
Local naive staff officer tries to be a hero and realizes people die when they are killed.

[Anonymous No.17429442]

>>17423034
A fucked up, metally ill retard with depression tries to find his own place in life by pursuing something that doesn't exist.

[Anonymous No.17429479]

>>17423034
Not the main character but one of the main supporting characters. I actually feel bad just writing her because her entire life is a trainwreck that starts as soon as she enters the plot.

[Anonymous No.17429485]

Is there a writing equivalent for fail faster?

[Anonymous No.17429505]

>>17429485
Yes, sort of.
>make a basic plot outline (doesn't need to be done)
>write as much as you can as fast as you can until you get stuck due to plotholes or just no idea how to continue
>read the draft, make a new plot outline based on it that corrects the errors that stopped you
>repeat step 2-3 until finished
It's a lot more work than just writing normally but if you do it right you'll probably get something high quality because you're writing the same plot over and over with the benefit of hindsight.

[Anonymous No.17429563]

>>17429505
I completely disagree with this resulting in a high quality output. Granted, my analysis is based pretty much entirely on the parts of Story Genius I agreed with, and I know that there are ways to write other than that book's prescriptive method, but still. When you write that way, you're more inclined to miss the forest for the trees in terms of the plot structure and the protagonist and how they fit together. Any plot that works well for the protagonist (based on their wants, misbeliefs, etc.) is infinitely better than a well-written or tidy plot that they just don't belong in. If you learn to outline properly, you won't need the rewrites, and if you don't learn to outline properly and try to outline, you will never create anything but "pretty" strings of words at best. Your story will resonate with people when the protagonist and the plot are themselves synchronized; simply having an idea of a plot and an idea of a protagonist and bashing the story structure around over and over again will never result in anything that holds the interest of people who do not have any reason to care about you.

[Anonymous No.17429599]

>>17429563
>my analysis is based pretty much entirely on the parts of Story Genius I agreed with
Not that reading is bad, but why are you letting a single book do your thinking for you? At least read more on the subject.
>all the rest of this
Barely relevant and also entirely conjecture. Nothing about the proposed process precludes making a story that synchronizes well between plot and protagonist. The weakness of the proposed process is that it is time and effort intensive and replies heavily on the writer's ability to get or produce an accurate analysis of each failed draft and improve upon those failures in the next draft.
It's literally just Agile but for writing.

[Anonymous No.17429616]

>>17429599
>replies
relies

[Anonymous No.17429632]

>>17429599
1. Because I've read it recently and it seemed more relevant than the other things I've read on the subject. Stop saying high-and-mighty pseud shit like that.
2. The issue is that in the rewriting process in the method you described, fundamental changes aren't what happen naturally. You run into some issue, you backpedal and rework the plot to avoid it, then continue on. You won't see until the end if the thing you set out to write actually works as a unit or not. It is a way to write, sure, but it is in no way guaranteed or even likely to produce something of value or merit.
3. Agile is dogshit for completely non-/lit/ reasons.

[Anonymous No.17429635]

>>17422927
>used to be depressed and channeled it into my writing
>happy now and i cant write anymore

What now?

[Anonymous No.17429638]

>>17429635
I know this feel

[Anonymous No.17429649]

>anon, why are all your works about depression?

[Anonymous No.17429669]

>>17429649
I was literally asked about it two days ago. How do I reply?

[Anonymous No.17429672]

>>17429632
>Stop saying high-and-mighty pseud shit like that
Touchy touchy, seems like I hit a nerve.
>The issue is that in the rewriting process in the method you described, fundamental changes aren't what happen naturally
That's the point...? It's a fail fast process, it's designed to incrementally refine something and add to it, not make a new thing out of it.
>You won't see until the end if the thing you set out to write actually works as a unit or not
If you do the process correctly you won't need to, you'll be incrementally refining it in such a way that it inevitably works by the tine you choose to stop.
>but it is in no way guaranteed or even likely to produce something of value or merit
I would say that, given that the normal writing process for most people is pretty much "haphazardly throw together about a third of a plot and wing it until you finish a draft, edit it and then submit to 1000 publishers" that this process is far more likely to make something valuable simply by virtue of being slower and giving roughly equal attention to all parts of a plot through repetition.
>Agile is dogshit for completely non-/lit/ reasons
Agile is a very specific work process designed for a very specific work environment and to produce very specific types of products. It is overapplied to things it is not meant to do. Anon asked for a fail faster writing method, meaning an agile work process for writing. I suggested one. Stop crying about it.

[Anonymous No.17429714]

>>17428348
This isn't bad, some of the descriptions are good even, it's just too much. It begins to border on self-parody. In other words trim the fat (by about 50% or more imo)

[Anonymous No.17429719]

>>17429672
Holy fuck my man I just looked at your post and my eyes glazed over, good luck with whatever you're writing or whatever dude.

[Anonymous No.17429727]

>>17429669
>Sorry for being such a sad cunt

[Anonymous No.17429735]

>>17429719
So basically you have no response.

[Anonymous No.17429748]

>>17428648
unironically true desu, you cant outbakker
"death came swirling down"
Something dropped within him, and he tumbled into sleep, cold water rinsing bruised and broken skin.
Dreams followed. Dark tunnels, weary earth.
A ridge, curved like a sleeping woman’s hip, against the night sky.
And upon it two silhouettes, black against clouds of stars, impossibly bright.
The figure of a man seated, shoulders crouched like an ape, legs crossed like a priest.
And a tree with branches that swept up and out, forking across the bowl of the night.

[Anonymous No.17429821]

>>17429735
I literally didn't read it. I explained why your initial idea was bad twice; if that's not enough, whatever man.

[Anonymous No.17429848]

>>17429821
You didn't explain anything and I addressed all of your points. You're just being a little avoidant bitch now because you know you said some dumb shit but don't want to admit it. Typical "pseud" behavior don't you think? Looks like you were projecting.

[Anonymous No.17429921]

>>17429635
You don't need to write for therapy anymore

[Anonymous No.17430411]

How can I write "the great American novel" if I'm not American?

[Anonymous No.17430424]

>>17430411
move to america?

[Anonymous No.17430435]

>>17429563
I really just want to test a concept.
I'm going from writing a complex multi-generational story in parts to having a minor character piece the entire thing together from her POV as her father was the most important character of the previous version but I don't want to go through all of the story before being convinced if it's a good idea.

[Anonymous No.17430487]

>>17427498
my brain is sonic speed
if I write it's too slow and I'll forget
type and its fast enough

[Anonymous No.17430498]

>>17428590
Keep trying.

[Anonymous No.17430504]

How many words did you write today? I went from my usual 600-634 to 782 my last session. Trying to make 1k a day a habit.

[Anonymous No.17430540]

>>17430504
About 650

[Anonymous No.17430566]

>>17430435
I have a related anecdote which might be relevant. Around 2014 or so I came up with the idea for a book. Rather I came up with a single scene that I thought was cool and over a few months created a world in which that scene could reasonably happen. In 2018 I finally got to writing the first draft. The main character was a reporter for a shitty tabloid magazine, or her world's equivalent, and got sent out to the boonies to interview the locals about some meteor saw. Over the course of the plot a lot of weird shit happened and it turned out that it was an alien invasion, sort of. The characters kind of sucked and everything was very dramatic. The plot meandered a bit, had some nonsensical things that I didn't like, and eventually fell apart when I realized that the only sensible outcome to it was to kill the main character. I dropped that draft at just over 213000 words.

Later, in November of 2019, I started again. This time the main character was the sole police officer assigned to the town. Plot points were largely the same but with the fat cut out and a few of the more "out there" ones changed into things that didn't feel as contrived. My style had improved dramatically too. I was better at describing things, showing emotions, and communicating the contents of a scene. Eventually the plot got to the point of the alien reveal and I realized I had no idea how to get from where I was to the ending I envisioned. I left it to sit, went on vacation, and never picked it back up again because I couldn't resolve the plot issues and didn't have sufficient outlining to remember everything. I dropped the draft at 138k words.

As of last week I've started again with a better outline and character sheets. Already I can see the improvement. The setting is more coherent, character motivations make more sense, and I'm only 10k words into chapter 1. I know exactly where I'm going, how I'm getting there, and why. This third revision has learned from all of the previous failures I've made and I hope it will finally be the one I finish. Why did I tell you all that shit? Because I average 1.5k-2k words per day, 7 days a week, and I only spend an hour or two a day writing. If you want to test out a novel idea and have no idea if it'll work, do what I did and dedicate an hour or two a day to just write fast and rough. If I was being honest with myself my first draft would have been dropped 3 chapters in (~30k words), and my second draft before 80k words. You do the math for the time investment.

If you want to prototype a novel just do it. You won't regret it either way. Writing is fun.

[Anonymous No.17430710]

>>17430566
>anon throws out nearly 350000 words of work
>isn't angry at all, likes writing
>gets dubs
I like everything about this post.

[Anonymous No.17430758]

>>17430710
blessed are the apu posters, and blessed are the anons who show them kindness.

[Anonymous No.17430767]

>>17430566
>Because I average 1.5k-2k words per day, 7 days a week, and I only spend an hour or two a day writing.
This sounds so exhausting. I can already feel my brain being drained.

[Anonymous No.17430878]

>>17430504
For the first time in a while, nothing. I finished my first draft yesterday so I'm unplugging for a bit.

[Anonymous No.17431031]

>>17426819
her chest rose and fell like empires

[Anonymous No.17431118]

help pls
https://pastebin.com/DDzAYHqZ
I will pay you back with nice images

[Anonymous No.17431192]

>>17422977

If you have been in 4chan for as long as I do, you have become insensitized to gore and edgy stuff. What feels "edgy" for you is 200% edgy for normies, so you have to tone it down a lot.
Imagine if someone turned it into a movie, would it be R rated or B? Go for the B feels.

[Anonymous No.17431216]

>>17423638

Im working on a fantasy novel with two protags, man and woman. I want them to be like Mulder & Scully or Bones & Booth.

[Anonymous No.17431289]

>>17428348

You have a good command of language and can actually do better. Just trim the fat, dont overdo the peacocking. There is something you want the reader to imagine, focus on it.

[Anonymous No.17431318]

>>17428590

You can always write erotic novels anon. There is always a way out.

[Anonymous No.17431328]

>>17428715

Word

[Frater Asemlen !XS8vrClKs2 No.17431400]

Jusf finished writing a short story, some 7? Pages, man it felt good to write. It’s based most largely on nostalgic memories/impressions I had from my childhood heightened to feel similar to how they actually felt. I doubt most would be able to catch the references but even if no one reads it, I’m glad I was able to capture that little bit of memory for myself.

[Anonymous No.17431434]

>>17431031
That makes it seem like she has asthma or some sort of breathing problem.
>>17431318
Not him but what counts as an erotic story?
Does a rape scene count if it's detailed enough? Two? What about if they're slowly developing a (admittedly unhealthy) relationship?
At what point does it cross from "story that has sex (with or without consent) in it" to "fifty shades of grey?"

[Anonymous No.17431607]

Guess who just submitted another book to Jeff Bezos's publishing house

[Anonymous No.17431612]

>>17431434

I cant give you a precise answer. I guess the only way to find out is to actually buy one of those erotic novels and see for yourself. They cant be expensive.

[Anonymous No.17431618]

>>17431607

Welcome to the "0 reviews on my book page" club. Im sorrry.

[Anonymous No.17431630]

>>17431031
absolutely positively pearls before swine

[Anonymous No.17431640]

>>17431618
one of us, one of us

[Anonymous No.17431741]

>>17431618
this is from the page of one of my books. I don't know whether no reviews is worse

[Anonymous No.17431747]

>>17428383
>>17429714
>>17431289
thanks for the constructive feedback frens, will work on this

[Anonymous No.17432309]

>>17431741
No reviews is always better than a 1 star.

[Anonymous No.17432448]

>Write almost 400 words with no problem
>Wrote it when I was supposed to sleep.
Does this happen to you guys as well, or am I alone on this? Anyways, kinda disgusted with myself since I wasted that on a prologue I'm not all that certain, to begin with.

[Anonymous No.17432458]

>>17432448
I go to bed before 10 PM and spend the last hour of my waking time away from the computer so no, this never happens to me. Sleep is an absolute and I don't compromise it.

[Anonymous No.17432484]

>>17432448
Most people do prologues wrong, try to avoid them. If you feel it is necessary then observe how in To Kill A mockingbird they did it right. Also how does your eyes not hurt writing in white? I use a dark theme and color the letters a dull red, soft blue, or faded purple. Has prevented a lot of eye soreness for me. Don't beat yourself either, just learn what usually works and abstain from it.

[Anonymous No.17432643]

>>17432448
It's not bad but like the other anon said, most people do prologues wrong. I like it and think you have potential but you over explain a lot. The first paragraph could be half the size and still convey the same message. I also think there's a little too much detail in his actions, you've written every little movement he makes but it's not really necessary and quickly becomes boring. The second paragraph in particular - we don't really need three sentences of a man getting up, pacing, stopping, running his fingers through his hair, wiping it off. I used to do the same thing but you should try and trust that your writing speaks for itself and allow the reader to think.
Also, last paragraph "recent" and "recent" ruins the flow of the sentence.

[Anonymous No.17432681]

>>17430566
Very comfy post.

>>17431434
If the focus and purpose of the story is the sex scenes.

[Anonymous No.17432705]

>>17430566

[Anonymous No.17432716]

>>17432681
That's a relief.

[Anonymous No.17432878]

>>17422927
>>17423371
>Word counts are a faulty metric. It's quality over quantity
This. Envisioning and framing out foundations and scaffolding for those fleeting glimpses from the muse > ‘practicing’ composition that ought to be running full tilt at all times as an editor

[Anonymous No.17432893]

>>17429352
Name a single thing Jones was wrong about.
You can't.

[Anonymous No.17432901]

>>17432893
He doesn't name (((them))). That's it.

[Anonymous No.17432914]

>>17432309
>1 star
>Loved it!

[Anonymous No.17432943]

>about to get to 30k words
>but also feel bad about writing my book when I've got schoolwork
>the team project needs to be done by Thursday, we lost a member who didn't even do any of their work and another member hasn't responded to any messages in a week
I'll have to finish the fucking thing myself I just know it
But I wanna prose

[Anonymous No.17432961]

>>17432943
Just don't. Say fuck it and work on what makes you enjoy your own life more. You can't be expected to do the work of several people all on your own. If anyone gives you shit for it then tell them to go fuck off and that some people didn't do shit. Throw all of those lazy fucks under the bus the first chance you get.

[Anonymous No.17432966]

>>17429352
Other than Watchmen and 2012, what are some other places this twist is used?

[Anonymous No.17432975]

>>17432961
Thanks fren.

[Anonymous No.17433000]

>>17422927
I set myself a target of 50k words at the start of December. I'm at 44k now and am realising I am going to need many more, probably 80k or more in total.

What is more, the bits left to write include parts that are going to be hard to write from a descriptive perspective. I am trepidatious but also losing momentum due to the shifting goalposts. My next book idea is forming, worryingly, when I write this first book.

I am so tempted to leave it for now and come back for it. Is splitting efforts between books a terrible idea?

[Anonymous No.17433025]

>>17433000
I was planning on 100k words but now it looks like that might not be enough considering how I've written 1/3rd of that and haven't really gone into any of the myriad characters I want to get into yet.
I'm terribly worried of making the book longer, not because I mind writing it but because I don't think anyone will be willing to read 500 pages by a new author.

[Anonymous No.17433053]

>>17432966
godzilla 2016

[Anonymous No.17433059]

>>17432878
better existant quantity over nonexistant quality

[Anonymous No.17433072]

>>17433025
Yeah, this is sort of what I thought. I don't think I can make 100k (or more) compelling. Until, of course, I am established literati and can write 500 pages of bullshit and people are compelled to finish it out of embarrassment.

Books write themselves fractally. I need to keep the mantissa of the Hausdorff dimension to less than 0.2.

[Anonymous No.17433077]

>>17433053
What was the point of having Bryan Cranston there just to kill him off and then focus on the generic jackass with no personality?

[Anonymous No.17433081]

>>17432966
X Files (Mulder)

[Anonymous No.17433083]

>>17433072
My book has a beginning, middle and an end all ready to go, the problem is that as I'm writing it things take longer than I thought they would and I just don't feel like cutting things because they're important to ME.

[Anonymous No.17433091]

>>17428383
Best advice i’ve read so far. This man gets things done.

[Anonymous No.17433095]

I've written out the entire outline and have been writing the novel without trouble but I can't for the life of me write dialogue. Probably because I'm a neet who's never really been out in the world. What the fuck do construction workers talk about? What do people in general talk about? I only talk to people on CSGO and this board.

[Anonymous No.17433124]

>>17433095
Unironically read visual novels.

[Anonymous No.17433127]

>>17433095
>What the fuck do construction workers talk about? What do people in general talk about?
Small talk mostly. Nothing of any consequence. I'd say go out and just watch people talk to each other but you probably can't right now. I'm not sure how to learn this skill in any other way.

[Anonymous No.17433154]

>>17433083
Interesting. I think only the plot is important to me, the trouble I am having is with bits I know need to exist for the book not to be a tangle of lacunae, or the last two episodes of NGE.

[Anonymous No.17433158]

>>17433095
Depends on people. Old people talk about what's in their morning papers and laugh at how shitty the world is (my dad and his retired friends), young low IQ people talk about how much they drank last weekend and where and make plans for the next weekend (or they did before COVID, now I have no clue what they do), Karen's whine about how everyone is awful but them, insecure people who regret every decision they've made talk about their jobs and how hard they work and boast about how their work is important to them and very hard and have you heard yet how hard they worked it's pretty important (my cousin's husband, the most boring man I know)

[Anonymous No.17433163]

>>17433095
you can literally just go out in public places and listen to people talk

[Anonymous No.17433168]

>>17433154
My book isn't about plot, it's about the people met and the situations encountered. There are many people and many situations that fit into the time-period described.

[Anonymous No.17433173]

>>17433124
Post recommendations.

[Anonymous No.17433174]

>>17433163
>just be confident bro
>just go and watch people talk

[Anonymous No.17433185]

>>17433173
Unironically Bible Black and Discipline. Porn aside they have excellent characterization and comedy.

[Anonymous No.17433194]

>>17433173
I don't know, things like Symphonic Rain or Clannad. Read classics with good dialogues.

[Anonymous No.17433197]

>>17433174
>needs confidence to go outside and sit on a park bench
You have bigger problems than not being able to write dialogue.

[Anonymous No.17433203]

>>17433173
Higurashi

[Anonymous No.17433207]

>>17433168
I suppose mine has people and situations, I just write them in order to drive the plot. Your book sounds much more lit than mine. I am aiming only to write as well as Dan Brown but to make myself feel better by including interesting themes. Godspeed, anon.

[Anonymous No.17433213]

>>17433207
Likewise my friend.

[Anonymous No.17433220]

>>17433095
People in novels don't talk like people in the real world. Every word should have consequence, even if the people saying it don't really mean it to. I would recommend reading more books with lots of dialogue, and maybe some first-person books as well, to develop a sense of it.

[Anonymous No.17433247]

>>17433220
>>17433095
And come to think of it, I've always been a bit pissed that my college had us read so many plays compared to everything else, but since then I've always felt that my dialogue was stronger than the average writer I see. If you haven't read a lot of those, give them a try, too. You can probably stick to more contemporary ones and be okay for the purpose of absorbing dialogue, though reading a few classics like the Oresteia obviously wouldn't hurt.

[Anonymous No.17433397]

I'm all over the place. One paragraph of the past, then MC goes on a retarded pseudophilosophical monologue, then past again

[Anonymous No.17433482]

>>17433173
Everlasting Summer

[Anonymous No.17433568]

I am writing a story where the main plot twist is that the main character is actually spy impersonating the main character.
Is it worth confusing the reader slightly by making the character think things that differ from what they actually say in order to foreshadow the twist?
Are there any books/media that have a similar twist I can steal from?

[Anonymous No.17433608]

>>17433568
I think it would be much better to only foreshadow it through their actions and have them play the part perfectly otherwise, assuming they're meant to be competent a their job.

[Anonymous No.17433830]

>>17432914

>Fantastic story, would recommend!
>3 stars
Whatever hogwash the reviewer types out doesn't even matter, 99% of people only look at the stars and anything less than 4-5 stars is irrelevant trash

[Anonymous No.17433886]

Whenever I write stories and create a main group of characters, usually the majority or half are LGBTQ+. I tend to pair characters together based on their chemistry, but for some reason I always feel guilty and I don't know why? I'm ace biromantic, so I like to write characters I can relate to, but I always get invasive thoughts that I'm being unrealistic with the amount of LGBTQ+ characters. I know that just because it is statistically unlikely, it doesn't mean it's not possible. Have any of you ever had similar thoughts?

[Anonymous No.17433898]

>>17433886

[Anonymous No.17433907]

>>17433886
I have never written characters who are not heterosexual so this has never been a consideration, nor is it ever likely to be. I have no interest in sexual perversion of this kind. I have others though.

[Anonymous No.17433952]

>>17433886
I have! I always have to remind myself... There's no need to beat myself up over representation, and my friend group is living proof that 5+ LGBT people can inhabit the same room at one time.
The haters are living their blandest life, so don't worry about it!

[Anonymous No.17433980]

>>17433886
It's fine. People of similar traits often exist close to each other. It's not going to surprise me if I read a story and, oh, this gay guy sure has a lot of gay friends? He doesn't have a statistically realistic distribution of straight:gay friends? And goes to a bar where there are a BUNCH of other gay dudes? The people we choose to be around, it's really easy to skew that - and it'd be about as unrealistic as, "Gee. Sure are a lot of Christians surrounding this Christian character who goes to church and Christian camp?"

I would perhaps be a bit surprised if 50% of his university STEM class is gay too, and if half the teachers are gay, and if it seems like everyone they walk by on the street is a gay couple - there is a point where I maybe start wondering if this is a universe where half the population is gay. However, it would take a while for me to get there and I wouldn't really care if I did find out that was the case. In some sense, even then I might think, "Well, this is a book from the perspective of a gay character. It's only natural to them that these people stick out more, perhaps?" If it's not, "50% of the class is gay" and instead more like, "50% of the people in the class who are relevant to the story and/or our MC are gay" that's fine - it makes sense.

Sometimes people are isolated from people like them, or don't realize there are others like them close to them, but so often - and thankfully - people often find groups that they can express each side of theirselves to.

Worst case scenario: it's a story. If you are trying to dive into what it means to be LGBTQ+ in our modern world as it is, then the broad population maybe should be a more realistic distribution and such - but if it's just a story that involves LGBTQ+ characters doing their thing - I'm down for an unrealistic amount of representation. There's only so many characters you can cram into a story and give a good deal of time to, so if it's mostly LGBTQ+ I'm not going to complain, because I can pick up countless books that tell me all about what it's like to be a straight dude but scarcely few that are any good at giving me a nice LGBTQ+ vibe.

[Anonymous No.17434026]

>>17433886
>>17433952
Shit like this is why the character in my book who's gay is so far in the closet that you can only infer it through a handful of scattered conversations, and why it has zero bearing on the plot and is only used for worldbuilding. I can't wait for you to be devoured by the purity spiral.

[Anonymous No.17434084]

>>17422927
That drink's gonna spill.

Also, how do I write characters with accents without saying "their accent is <blank>". Like, say I wanted to write a character with an Irish accent, or a US southern accent, are there resources I could find on that and how and what words are pronounced differently.

[Anonymous No.17434112]

>>17434084
Do the Bram Stroker thing and write down their accents phonetically.

[Anonymous No.17434206]

>>17433980
>If you are trying to dive into what it means to be LGBTQ+ in our modern world
methamphetamines and rampant stds?
oh and shunned by ordinary people that otherwise present a false front when they're forced to deal with you

[Anonymous No.17434222]

Baked a new thread to get a break from anime
>>17434212
>>17434212
>>17434212

[Anonymous No.17434318]

How are you supposed to write fiction without feeling utterly mogged by powerlevels of other universes that have nothing to do with your own beyond, maybe, inspiration?

[Anonymous No.17434321]

>>17422927
>Any progress on your novels?
The same as always. Nothing but the best.

[Anonymous No.17434329]

>>17434222
Fuck off until page 8 or you're no better than them

[Anonymous No.17434336]

>>17434318
By fucking writing your god damn fiction. Why would you pose a question like that that has no answer? You are the vessel in which all media and experience you have consumed puts out upon the page into another world. That world is in isolation unless you, the vessel, decide it isn't. Leave the death of the author, everything is context, bullshit to the side while you write. Let your readers decide whether your lizard man is as cool as godzilla or if your knight would totally kick a space marine's ass. Jesus christ broski.

[Anonymous No.17434526]

>>17433173
I'm shocked nobody said Muv-Luv yet.

[Anonymous No.17434545]

>>17434318
don't compare yourself with people who are at the top of their craft

[Anonymous No.17434549]

>>17433173
Jurgens has a great Supergirl run

[Anonymous No.17434567]

>>17423034
He just wanted to do spacewalks and drive space trucks for a living but the hyper-paranoid political environment means each side is convinced he's a spy for the other.

[Anonymous No.17434634]

>>17433220
>People in novels don't talk like people in the real world. Every word should have consequence, even if the people saying it don't really mean it to.
Overuse of Chekov's Gun can become annoying in it's own way.

[Anonymous No.17434636]

>>17434318
Sounds like an excuse.

[Anonymous No.17434640]

>>17434318
Remember that writing novels is fucking hard. It was hard for them and it should be hard for you, too.

[Anonymous No.17434700]

>>17434567
sounds good, apu poster.

[Anonymous No.17434833]

>>17434634
It doesn't all have to be consequential to the plot anon, but it has to be consequential to something. Whether it's building the tension, or telling you something about how that character feels or where they're from, or the setting they're in - every word of dialogue that's worth printing on the page should say something. In real life, though, people say a lot of meaningless circular shit.

[Anonymous No.17434901]

>>17423034
some fuckin' guy who wants to kill his room mate because his room mate. hes armed with a glock, a bible written in latin (he doesnt speak or read latin) and a lighter that grants him a prayer when ever he lights it but if the prayer isnt pure then god gets to show his sense of humour.

[Anonymous No.17434995]

>>17434901
I sincerely hope you're not writing this novel in English.

[Anonymous No.17435064]

>>17434995
I am, why?

[Anonymous No.17435079]

>>17435064
>>17434901

[Anonymous No.17435121]

>>17435064
write it with a hispanic slang twang

[Anonymous No.17435198]

What should I write?

[Anonymous No.17435225]

>>17435198
My book.

[Anonymous No.17435240]

>>17435198
the complete works of william shakespeare through random strokes on a typewriter

[Anonymous No.17435315]

>>17435198

A grandiose epic sci-fi about an alien invasion in the middle of Africa.

[Anonymous No.17435325]

Why would you self-publish if you can publish traditionally? Is self-publishing just for retarded books no one would pick up?

[Anonymous No.17435341]

>>17433095

Next time you watch a movie/series focus on the way people talk and what they say. Its better if its something youve already watched since you already know the spoilers and wont need to pay attention to the story so much.

No anime though, it will fuck your style up.

[Anonymous No.17435342]

>>17435325
vanity. get over it, nerd.

[Anonymous No.17435351]

>>17435325

I just did. I feel like traditional publishing is on the brink of decadence, so Im betting (nothing is sure in life) for selfpub.

[Anonymous No.17435363]

>>17435325

[Anonymous No.17435398]

>>17434901
*because his room mate isnt paying his side of the rent any more after winning Atlantis' surf and turf where he spends all of his time partying now, so David feels compelled to kill him.
>>17434995
I am, why?
>>17435064
This poster wasnt me, it was some troll
>>17435079
I dont get the implication

[Anonymous No.17435402]

>>17431318
Not him, but I can't do that without getting too hot and bothered. In fact, I've been trying to crank one out for the past two years.

[Anonymous No.17435424]

>>17435363
My book has Rommel give some stoner a zippo lighter with an iron cross on it and the stoner says he cant take it because white people are a minority where hes from so he'd get his head kicked in by a gang of niggers. How would I go about publishing my book?

[Anonymous No.17435470]

>>17435424

[Anonymous No.17435483]

>write a story about trannies, lgbt struggle, faggots etc
>send it to some retarded publishers who like degeneracy
>get published
What are your thoughts on my plan?

[Anonymous No.17435488]

>>17435470
>>17435483

[Anonymous No.17435625]

>>17435325
Yes

[Anonymous No.17435842]

One of the most disturbing things about being a writer is seeing how clearly so many others have lost that spark and never get it back. It scares me becuase I think I might already be past that point, and I haven't accomplished anything yet

[Anonymous No.17435867]

>>17435842
SAD!

[Anonymous No.17435928]

We waited long enough for a new thread so here it is >>17435923

Switch over to their to start anew.

[Anonymous No.17436444]

>>17435424
>Rommel
As in Erwin Rommel?
Why? How?
>>17435483
Won't work unless you're part of the club.