If you're not writing litRPGs or weebslop, how viable is RR?

Has anyone else started losing hair due to stress since transitioning from writing as a hobby to treating it as a business?

>>23746037
Have it be a family heirloom or his father's maybe that way the appearance can be excused with a quick line from the mom.

I don't know what AI detectors you guys use, but zerogpt is useless. I copy three paragraphs ChatGPT gives me into it and it says 0% AI created. Then I give it some of my own emails and it comes back 33%. It's an absolute guessing game.

>>23747031
What are you writing? There's an audience for lots of different genres on RR, but LitRPG, Progression, Isekai, and Cultivation are king. There are success stories that fall outside of the site's niche but they're few and far between, usually having to work much harder to even get attention let alone profit.

>>23747031
You need to arrange contacts to net you the dispersed non-LitRPG readerbase

>>23747065
Pulpy weird west stuff.

>>23747037
Wasn't F Gardner banned from here?

>>23747031
i tried looking like 4 months ago and didnt see anything that wasnt shitlit weeb junk. i'd look again but I cant stand looking at that waste anymore even for a second. I doubt anything changed seeing every other amatuer lit site sucks just as bad

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>>23747049
As a blacksmith I don't think I would put sexy ladies on a sword. It doesn't make much sense and it looks dumb...
Keep in mind that an ornate, richly decorated sword would be very expensive. Only someone with "specific" tastes would blow that amount of cash on something like that.

If you want inspiration for ornate swords, there are a ton online. Picrel is one of the best of all time imo. Heretic by Ilya Alekseyev:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J433f6Yrd0g

He also has a ton of other cool stuff, and of course there are a bunch of cool arms and armor from history.

>>23747066
>arrange contacts
what?

>>23747037
Stress doesn't cause hair loss, it's time+genetics

>>23747101
I will always be amazed at the absolute confidence a person must have to be able to say such retarded things without any form of self reflection whatsoever
Well done champ, I'm proud of you

>>23747101
Anon...google Telogen Effluvium.

>>23747068
I'd check out the site and see how the numbers look for stories under similar tags and genres you'd categorize your own as. If the goal is to make money, like >>23747066 mentioned you're going to have to do a lot more legwork initially than the popular stuff. Shout out swaps with other authors, a couple of review swaps(not too many) to bump you up in the ranking, posting on the RR board, Reddit, Facebook, etc. The biggest factor will be buying an ad on site for $55, though. How much of the story have you written already word count-wise?

Royal Road is a fanfic whorehouse.

>>23747113
It's not a single story, but a collection of short stories.

>>23747122
Ah, yeah, that's not going be a very good fit to be honest. Whatever the genre RR loves loooong stories. Trilogies are kind of the bare minimum with some of the most successful stories running thousands of pages. If you don't want to submit to magazines, probably any other web fiction site would be better from an engagement standpoint.

>>23747116
Give three examples. You're just seething mindlessly, aren't you.

>>23747116
Yeah, but I'm not an indigenous Hmong lesbian with a unique story to tell about the impact of capitalism on the maternal side of my family so I gotta "build up a following" and shit

What if nobody likes my writing?

>>23747178
Here's the thing; the fanfic is based on tropes, not characters.
If your first thought is 'every novel uses tropes' you are ignoring how the platform operates, and how expectations work. Nuance, etc.

>>23747189
What if someone actually likes it?

>>23747141
>any other web fiction site
Any suggestions?

I know nobody likes my writing because even I don't like it.

By chance if the anon from the previous thread sees this, could you answer my last questions regarding my Fantasy Smut?

The one dealing with the Thief and her motivations and the Amazon’s breakdown.

>>23747192
The odds of that is slim to none.

How to write convincing banter? I want to have a group of young military guys mocking an older guy for being behind the times.

>villain long conversation to tie up loose ends to the story
Holy fuck I hate my JRPG writing.

Michael D. Cinder here. For the 5 of you that enjoyed Xenos Depths, I have a new novel in the pipeline. It's called Abyssal Unknown and is best thought of as a cross between Ghost in the Shell and Waterworld. Look for it Q4 2024/Q1 2025

>The carriage wheels clattered over the cobblestones, a steady rhythm of metal striking stone that echoed through the narrow streets, each turn of the wheel ringing out with a sharp, resonant clink. Beside them, the horse's hooves beat a syncopated tattoo, the heavy thud of iron shoes on stone merging with the clatter of the wheels in a chorus of motion and sound.

AI is just too good. My English isn't a high enough level to understand this.

>be me in 2019
>read some garbage so awful I think even I could do better
>really think about it
>can feel the ideas coming together
>they develop in my head more and more
>fast forward to now
>still have these ideas bouncing around in my head, as vivid as day one
>haven't put a single letter to paper because I'm a lazy fuck
Guess it's time to do it, this shit will never go away until I do.

>>23747447
>AI is just too good. My English isn't a high enough level to understand this.
what's the problem

>>23747101
That's why baldness is becoming so common in age demographics it would have been unheard of 60 years ago, right?

>>23747475
What? Male pattern baldness has always been a problem for millennia. Yes it can start at 16.

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>>23747084
>As a blacksmith I don't think I would put sexy ladies on a sword. It doesn't make much sense and it looks dumb...
I don't think historical arms and armour always "made sense"

>>23747483
>it's always been this way!!! it just has, ok!!!

>>23747490
Well yes... It always has been this way. What you are suggesting that it's a recent phenomenon is simply false. We have male pattern baldness medicine from the roman era

>>23747549
and that is proof that baldness at age 16 was commo in roman times, is it?
Dumbshit

>>23747475
>>23747490
>>23747560
assmad baldie

>>23747563
norwood 4 reply

>>23747560
>>23747560
it's not common, it just can happen. Proof are documents and comments about baldness at young ages during the Roman ages.

>>23747576
no need to be so assmad that your bald ass isn't a product of the environment or your genius. You just got dealt a shit genetic hand. Shave it off.

>>23747488
putting a demon's visage on your helmet is a bit different than sculpting your hilt into a bobs vagene

>>23747593
Maybe the hilts were modelled off the ancestor's wife who he loved very much

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Third and fourth attempts at rewriting the first page of the Hospital. Warning, ESL writer here.

•●●•
Blushing rose mountains virtuously brush hills green to contrast
Lush xanthous skin romantically wandering off to find sin –
Its form, ephemeral sail's stowed winds anchoring avast –
Giving a-start’étoile to wise men who wonder of divine kin.

Modest light besets the stage until a perfect lover’s face sings;
The more she pours amore – mi amor she surely mocks
Eternity via succoring sanguine-warm embracings,
And a cool succubi smile hibernating hind goldy-rocks.

Daring to pick an apple, or pear of future-bearing hips,
Lips and crags and leaping from an epoch’s edge
To brood muses and mighty for a dizzying Aphrodisiac ellipse
That shirks want of a whether-lasting dogmatic pledge.

But brace the fatal day or year that fallen fruit becomes rotten,
Lest both Morning Star’s flesh and songs be ever forgotten.
•●●•

A sonnet for Venus today. Should I keep it where it lay as overt foreshadowing or push it down a bit? As an aside: writing poetry seems a good way to iron out the minutiae of how the narrative runs

Remember that no human being is born with a planned goal in its life, therefore it's possible for some people to have no talent at all.
I am one of those completely talentless people, are you anon?

Everywhere I looked, someone had hair. Those with hair ruled our society. Blessed with dense follicles giving them thick locks of smooth, shiny hair.

Those without hair were treated well enough - the real problems occurred when you had bad hair. Bald spots, receding hairlines, wispy strands - all of these were looked down upon. Curly, clingy, tangled hair were all signs of inferiority.

My hair was awful. I grew it out, long, and let it drape forward over my face in an attempt to disguise my widow's peak that grew more prominent every year. Letting it hang past my shoulders created a second issue - as my hair grew longer, it started to curl. A collection of corkscrews hung at my shoulders, despite my best attempts to straighten them out. I had hair, yes, but it was terrible. If I cut it all off, people would know. They would see me with hair one day and without the next, and know that I was hiding it. My awful, shameful hair.

I hated all of them.

>>23747652
yes

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>>23747593

Not that different. Cute girls and masculine aggression go together like peaches and cream.

Also you want "from" rather than "than".

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>>23747652
Maybe you're just extremely talented at something that hasn't been conceived of yet.

>>23747068
You can easily make it more appealing by adding one of the popular genres.
Simply adding a secondary focus on becoming stronger somehow will be enough to tag it as Progression Fantasy. This can be as simple as becoming a better shot, getting better/more guns, learning native american shamanistic magic and/or shapeshifting, etc. Lots of room in a weird west setting.

There was a western-themed cultivation story on RR that did very well. I forget the title.

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>>23748048
>You can easily go against your artistic vision to appeal to the filthy rabble
charlatan get ye gone

>>23748088
Am I wrong in the wrong though? Are people seriously willingly go against their own sensibilities in order to become more popular to the masses
thanks to this exchange I am now consciously aware of 'Faustian's alliteration with 'faggy'

>>23748120
The thing is, the overwhelming majority of authors don't have such a hyper-specific vision as to turn adjustments of this type into a matter of compromising their vision or going agaisnt their own beliefs.

>>23747488
Aye shimae

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>>23747116
>>23747031
I will finally be starting to post my book to RR starting next week - Morrowind fanfiction that posted an excerpt of here ages ago (guy goes to party for any oldheads).

Kinda nervous but I think I've done a lot to prepare. If anyone wants to review swap and such I'd be very interested since I realize I'm not in their primary subgenre.

>>23747415
Great! Looking forward to it! I left you nice reviews for Xenos Depths.

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>>23747652
"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.
Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
The slogan 'Press On!' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race."
-Calvin Coolidge

>>23747652
Talent is something you make bloom, instinct is something you polish.

Judge my first sentence
>Josephine Abbott cradled her son and looked over her husband’s shoulder at the six riders who’d come upon their farmstead so late into the evening.

The Shaelin youtuber girl is really fucking pretty. Probably lesbian though.

>>23748553
That’s pretty exposition heavy… Lore autists might like it, but it’ll give your regular readers a headache.
>sons exist in this world
>horses exist in this world
>this world uses the Arabic decimal system
>abbots exists in this world, which then became a surname
>becoming so insecure about readers asking “what do they eat?” that you specify “farmstead” right off the bat
>hebrew culture exists in this world, from which the name Josephine was later derived

People who write for fun (and don't really have ambition to 'make it' as an author), what do you do with you work when you're finished? do you post it anywhere, or try to get it published? self-publish? or just leave it sitting on your computer.

>>23748646
>post to some fictionslop site
>show it to friends
>post it to /lit/ so peopel can tell you it's shit

>>23748586
fucking kek

>>23748553
Feels like a rushed infodump.

People who write with ambitions to 'make it' as an author, what the fuck are you doing dumbass? lmao

>>23748714
You kind of get a pass for first sentences though. Gotta set the scene and relay any vital information to the reader. It's not the best opener, but I'd give it a 7/10.

>>23748720
succeeding

>>23748726
>gotta (do a bunch of stuff you don't have to do)
lol

>>23748728
You could've been doing that and writing for fun at the same time

There aren't any rules. Anyone who tells you otherwise is trying to sell you something

>>23748746
not really

>>23748756
OK I'll use arrow brackets for my dialogue marks

>>23748757
Yes, really. You've turned what could've been a genuine love of creation into a coldly mechanized procedure.

>>23748760
Cormac McCarthy doesn't even bother with dialogue marks and he 'made it'

>>23748766
Hardly, you dork. I just prioritized work ethic and writing to market. Grow up

Any fans of Haremlit here? I learned about it not too long ago and it's become a small obsession of mine. I love the idea of harems, it's one of my favorite fetishes. And so to learn there's a whole erotic literature genre for it was suprising. I've only downloaded a few, but I started listening to one today and I'm eager to check out the others I have.

More than that, I'm eager to write one myself. My concept is about a guy who leads and forms his own harem of super sentai power ranger-esque warriors. I think it's got potential. It's been a while since I was this excited about something. Hope it lasts long enough to put pencil to paper. But, like, digitally.

>>23748833
It's honestly a cheat genre right now, even moreso than litrpg. Any book put in that category is devoured by the entire audience of super dedicated autists

>>23748770
he died

>>23748836
Good to know.

>>23747193
Scribblehub and Wattpad would both be better than RR for short stories, though you could also post the stories on your own site and promote it through social media, reddit, etc. Whatever you do, stay away from Webnovel as I've heard nothing but bad things about how they treat their authors.

>>23749053
what sort of content is wattpad known for? i know scribblehub is like rr but even sloppier, w/ smut and fanfic.

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>>23749174
Anon, just make an account and check it out yourself. That being said, though, you get almost no views on Wattpad. I have had stuff up there for months with 0 views

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What's your take on empathic environments, or whatever you call it when the location reflects, in some way, the current state of the character?
I don't mean like a magic forest that literally read the mind of people within it, but like an author's tool to show the mental state of a character (like a noir story where the PI lives in a shitty apartment full of empty bottles of alcohol). Do you keep this in mind while writing or planning?
I've got this situation where the climax of the story happens on or near a mountaintop. All the majors characters will be present, but they won't end the story in the same place. Two will progress and become better versions of themselves, one will regress, one will sorta steps sideway, and one will just fuckin' die. Therefore, I must somehow makes the same location (or at least, different locations extremely close to one another) means several different things, all at the same time, like
>Inner peace
>Cold judgement
>Bittersweet conclusion

how do I use my traumatic frustration through writing without exuding edge and angst that inherently digusts me

>>23749283
>whatever you call it when the location reflects, in some way, the current state of the character
Pathetic fallacy.
I think it's good as it enhances the mood and tone of a scene, can be used alongside some nice symbolisms, and can be subverted for various effects, from comedic to even stronger tearjerker (like the "it's a terrible day for rain" from FMA)

>>23749332
How is it a fallacy?

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>>23749338
That's the name

>>23749341
Ah, I guess my ESL is showing, thanks.

>>23749356
I'm ESL as well, I learned it at school. Never understood why it was called a fallacy as well

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Halfway through my first novel and the wheels are starting to come off.
The whole time I'm writing now all I can think is "why bother, readers would have dropped this garbage by now".
I know that's obvious of the first draft of someone's first novel but it's disheartening all the same.
Do I keep going to get all the shit out of my system or scrap it and start again with a better plan?

>>23749457
the trick is to not finish and start writing a new book

>>23749457
Why do you care about what low attention span people will do with your book, the real artist doesn't care about the laziness of the masses hypnotized by their smartphones! Keep writing anon and don't let insecurity dominate you.

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>>23746959
>be me
>become recognisable avatarfag on /lit/
>keep posting pic related captioned "Read my book" over months
>a number of anons promise to read it
>but I never actually finished the book
>tfw

I realized my weakness is I can't do first drafts. I have too many ideas and there's too much pressure to feel I have to get them all down in the right order with the right dialogue the first try. So now I just do my scenes using one endless train of thought, basically a more detailed outline, just saying what happens in the most basic kindergartener language possible. Then when everything looks in the right order I'll spend a week going over every word and making it good.

idk if that's what most people do or if it's a waste of time, but it's about the only way I can write now.

>>23747062
AI detectors don't work and they never will. It's just not possible for them to work. Some people will just naturally write like AI because that's what the AI is trained on.

AI detection is entirely a grift. Everyone engaging in it is doing it to land some big contracts to get easy money. The companies paying for it will be able to point at the contracts and say that they're doing "the industry standard".

It fundamentally can't work though.

>>23749747
Make a detailed outline first that works essentially as a zeroth draft

>>23749557
Thank you.

>>23748553
>who’d come upon their farmstead so late into the evening.
This part sounds weird. I'm an ESL though, but
>come upon
Implies you found it by chance. She has no way of knowing that, unless the sentence is implying a lot more than you intend.
>into the evening
Sounds pretentious. Might be appropriate for the first sentence though.

>>23749747
Yep this is how I do it pretty much

>>23749457
Jerry Jenkins talks about this phenomenon a lot. You can check his Youtube videos. But yes, it's common to lose heart halfway through. Just gotta push through it. Most authors seem to suffer that.

>>23746959
I'm trying to venture into writing longer literary fiction (>20k words)

How do I know if a story idea is best captured in a long short story (15-20k words), a novella, or a novel? There's gotta be something fundamental in each medium that sorta dictates the kinds of stories its best able to tell, right?

I accidentally invented this homeless little girl character who's a beggar that my MC comes across in the street. It was originally just going to be a one-off side character to illustrate a point, but my MC has no reason not to just keep her. Now I'm not sure what to do with this character since she has no place in my original notes.

So far I thought about my MC wanting to deny a promotion, but feels forced to accept it as so that the girl will be provided for as long as the job lasts.

And no she won't be a sex slave.

I wish I could immediately tell if something I'm writing was good or shit. I don't wanna have to get an editor because they're expensive as fuck, but I need someone 'qualified' to really just go through my shit and pick it apart before I put it out to the world. Would be an absolute nightmare to spend hundreds of hours on something just to figure out that it's all garbage and that I should kill myself.

>>23750022
Novel would typically have multiple characters with their own subplots and individual supporting conflicts they need to resolve. If your web of story isn't that big then you should probably stick to novella and tell it based on just one or two characters only and more to the point.

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>>23748820
>writing to market

Writing "for market" is the dumbest shit I ever heard of

"writing" is the dumbest shit

>>23750168
...why?

>>23750134
give me a sampler

>>23750168
Seems like a pretty reasonable concept to me

>>23750036
Okay now it's escalated where she is foreign and I have to create words in a made-up language so she can communicate to my MC.

hopefully all this thinking about writing will translate 1:1 to actually writing

>>23749840
Declaring that something can't possibly work has a REALLY bad track record. Smart people advance the state of the art. Idiots make excuses.

>>23748766
>>23750163
>>23750168
Your input is not value-added. Why do you even bother? Just to be a pointlessly demotivational crab?

I like writing as a means of escape. I don't worry about things like themes or writing a story properly, until I do. The more I look into it, the more the magic of creating a world where I can live in fades away. Do you get me /wg/?

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>>23750507

We've got a "write a story about this image" thread! >>23749635 Come on in and show us your improv story-writing chops! Leave the seethers and trolls behind to burn in a hell of their own making.

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I haven't written in over a year now, this was the last thing I shat out. I feel like I could come back, but honestly I have less and less to say each time I spiral out and jump back in.

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>>23750212
>>23750284
>>23750532
The market is a mystery. You never know what's going to work there or what's not. All you can do is cross your fingers. Everything you think you're doing to improve your odds is like doing the rain dance. No, you didn't make the rain come.
In reality, this is an art form, not a mathematics equation. There's no right or wrong way to do it. There's no strategy that'll improve your odds of hitting it big.
I'm not sure why this is demotivating to you. What I'm saying is there's no good reason you can't just have fun and write what you want. Go on and get creative.

>>23750786
Do you have a computer dedicated to writing that you can't take screenshots on?
Anyway, this piece has nice prose but I have trouble visualizing what's going on

Writing a superhero book (passion project) but am struggling with making the fight scenes gripping and not confusing to read
does anyone have tips?
I will not post my work, I am too shy :(

>>23750698
IDKTF. Looking more deeply into my work only furthers my endearment to it. The magic only increases, plus I learn a few new spells.

>>23750830
You need to engage in some remedial education. Maybe start here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_research

>>23750845
yeah. old laptop that got me through college is in the sunset years, decided to put old word on it and never have it connect to the internet again. been running great since as a word machine.

Thanks for your thoughts. I'm glad the prose actually landed, that's always my worry.

>>23750854
>Market_research
Holy shit, you're telling me people are willing to take money to do useless bullshit? That's wild

>>23750857
>hurr durr useless bullshit
You're only telegraphing your own ignorance here.

>>23750830
If you write in a popular genre with popular tropes you are a thousand times more likely to 'make it'
Not up for debate.

>>23750860
>no counterargument, just insults
Did I strike a nerve, Mr. business major?

>>23750861
Except for the many works written in "popular genres" that don't "make it"
Genres are also bullshit you shouldn't bother considering by the way

>>23750867
My counterargument, in case it wasn't blindingly obvious, is that you're dismissing a very large area of analysis (i.e. market research) as being no more than "bullshit", and giving no reason why other than your own ignorance and embarrassment. And I did not major in business.

>>23750873
>Except for the many works written in "popular genres" that don't "make it"
What does this have to do with what I said? I didn't say writing to market guarantees success, I said it multiplies your likelihood of success by a huge factor.

>Genres are also bullshit you shouldn't bother considering by the way
Genres are bullshit? How? That's not something you can just drop into a sentence as if it makes sense

I'm getting the sense you're just salty about something, though, and venting by raging at the system, so this is probably a pointless conversation.

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>In what genre does Robert Bresson work in? None, of course. Bresson is Bresson. He is his own genre. Antonioni, Fellini, Bergman, Kurosawa, Bunuel, deep down they are only identical to themselves. And Chaplin? Is he merely making comedies? No, he is Chaplin and nothing more: a unique phenomenon, unrepeatable. The concept itself of “genre” is chilling. Because each artist is their own microcosms, each to their own. How can you force them into the conventional limits of any genre?

>>23750889
>litfic seether is drunk tonight

>>23750883
>appeal to authourity
>appeal to population
Get back to me with a real argument

>>23750891
The distinction between genericfic and litfic is purely imaginary.

>>23750889
Some people are happy writing well-tread stories using popular tropes and aren't trying to be the next world-renowned literary author, anon. And for those people genres aren't bullshit and market research is important.

Just let people write what they want and stop being weird about it. Why do you care so much?

>>23750884
>it multiplies your likelihood of success by a huge factor.
delusion

>>23750898
That's my point, dumbass. Ignore the noise and write what you want.

>>23750896
>purely imaginary
Yes, it's a categorization meant to get readers to buy your work, so by definition it's a construct of thought, aka imaginary
But implying genres + established tropes in those genres are somehow 'fake' is a very weird (and seemingly pointless?) position to take. What are you trying to get at?
There are very much Romance readers who go to the Romance page on amazon and expect Romance tropes. In fact, they're the largest reading group in the world.

>>23750908
>What are you trying to get at?
see>>23750905

>>23750901
Okay, so you're just denying basic inarguable facts. There's no point in discussing further. Have a nice night anon.

>>23750850
i heard brandon sanderson lecture eleven part three is helpful

>>23750913
>ragequitting a 4chan debate
Lame. I usually just get bored and fuck off

>>23750901
>assertion in place of discussion
Your responses are not value-added.

>>23750905
And what if someone is willing to write a wide range of material, but wants to know what specific tropes would get them the largest readership? So that they can potentially make a career out of it?

>>23750918
>debate
A debate is impossible with someone refusing basic facts. Either you're retarded or trolling. In either case, why would I continue?

>>23750922
>A debate is impossible with someone who won't submit to my unsupported definition of a "basic inarguable fact"
ftfy

>>23750920
Then that person is what we call gullible

>>23750925
I won't "support" an assertion that the sky is blue. Again, you are either retarded or trolling. Good night!

>>23750930
It's a religion to you people. You can't imagine a world where your most dearly held beliefs are entirely refutable.

>>23750933
Your novel did that badly huh?

>>23750935
Yeah, I'm supposed to be writing it but I'm shitposting instead.

>>23750942
Oh so you haven't even finished one yet. Yeah that tracks. It's always the beginner pseuds who seethe like this

>spend last two weeks and 16,000 words writing first six chapters
>still 40 more to go
I'm already dead. This feels insurmountable.

>>23750949
lel, true no novels yet but I've finished many works, don't worry.

>>23750955
Apparently nothing that anyone actually wanted to read. No wonder you seethe so much at the idea of market research.

>>23750962
I like how your only recourse is to hope I'm a failed writer seething. You can't fathom that someone who found success on the market thinks writing to market is bullshit.

>>23750965
>someone who found success on the market
You did not

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>>23750967

>>23750965
>You can't fathom that someone who found success on the market thinks writing to market is bullshit
Name one. Because I can provide all sorts of well-selling authors talking about the importance of market research and giving advice on how to maximize an audience

>>23750986
>I can provide all sorts of snake-oil salesmen
oh I'm sure

>>23750988
ok

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People who haven't found success on the market are just people in line to find success on the market

>>23750971
Your demonstrated intelligence doesn't even rise to the level of a dog.

>>23750953
>planning your chapters in advance
>not going scene-by-scene instead
ngmi

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>>23751009

>>23751017
why did you go to huge pussy loser city?

>>23751024
Your mom texted me to come over

>>23751026
I see, how did that go?

>>23751030
You really want me to go into detail about how I fucked your mother? She was right about you, creepy kid

>>23751033
I thought you just had a nice dinner, why would you do that to my mother?

Have you figured out the secret to find the motivation to write your novel?

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I made a world but I don't know how to make an interesting story inside of it.

>>23751039
Write a web novel and have an audience that would be disappointed if you stopped. Honestly worked like a charm for me.

>>23747627
Same problem as before, it's hard to follow.

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>>23751039

>>23751042
It's weird, my projects always get praised for their worldbuilding but I mainly just focus on the story.

>>23751037
Oh I ate all right, I ate good

>>23751054
Probably because most people overexplain their world. The worldbuilding is so that (you) can keep things consistent while writing, not so that you can explain every minute detail to your reader.

>>23751039
Start the day by writing something to stir up your own emotions. Maybe a make believe scenario. Maybe a short little scene that will get you mad, hype up, or feel like a kid again, depending on the genre of your book.
It kinda works when I try writing erotica. I can always count on:
>Be me.
>Woke up.
>See a big black futanari cock right in front of me.
Your mileage may vary.

stopped working on this ever since i left the catholic church but it's earned an endearing place in my heart and i look forward to reuniting myself with it after the rest of my projects are worked through

Dearest ever,

The frogs are leaping like maniacs, & the storm is a gentle nest for terrible surrenders. The floors that we walk on are haunted by creaks, & the wind hides weapons all throughout its corners. I love you, darling, dark like the mystery of rubellite. At the day, I open my gaze to the twirl of birds above, & they return with God’s echoes. At the day, I mark the walk with the pride of my face. The nighttime I withstand with you apart from me because the smile of your appearance will bring grace in my dream . . .
In the miserable strangeness of hearts a spark tumbles & dreams. Every approaching soul becomes a mirror for something that goes incredibly beyond me. The singing palm trees cry gasoline upon the scene of our lonely excursions and our words are lighted as the points of stars to each other.
I can feel the tremble of your heart throughout the day away from you, and nearing it is my sole consolation in the universe. Never be away from me, or it is I that will have to return across a drowning night like a fuse blazing for you.

In love,
Your Salvo

>>23751063
I think worldbuilding alone has value. It can be a fun hobby in its own right.

Why is it that 99% of "litfic" authors are nothing but schizos writing unhinged stream of consciousness drivel whilst pretending to be deep or somehow philosophical?

>>23751039
musemaxxing and divinely-induced delirium (alcohol and mental illness)

Words are too hard to think up. They should really make it easier.

>>23751133
How about you just let people write what they want? The litfic bashers are as annoying as the genrefic bashers
Insult the actual seethers when they come out but if someone wants to try to write something 'deep' then that's fine. literally who cares what someone else is writing?

>>23751144
thesaurus.com
the handicap of the modern writer

>>23751147
It's still hard to pick the right one.

How the fuck do you make money writing today? Screenwriting?

>>23751078
>black
Dropped

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>>23751224
it's not that shitty, don't worry -- although I'm assuming english isn't your first language?
anyway, here's how I'd clean it up; the overall structure of it is more than fine imo

>>23751250
Before /lit/ was nuke, there was a smut writing thread where one anon posted about how he make money on amazon. If I remember right, he self-pub a 10-20K words smutty book every week or two at 2.99 a piece. And he makes… uh… 500 usd a month? Not sure. Maybe he still lurks around here and he can give you better info.

>>23751328
oops, it should also be "had ever been right", not "ever had been right"

>>23751250
If you want to get into screenwriting, you need to either:
a) have a connection in the industry
b) write a successful novel, hope that someone picks it up for adaptation and make a contractual demand that you get to write the script
c) move to Los Angeles (or your country's equivalent) and start at the lowest rung of the ladder, like a writer's assistant (the person who takes notes in the writers' room, prints and photocopies scripts, orders food, etc)
With the caveat that option c takes years and nobody knows what the industry will look like in 10 years due to AI.

>>23751250
>>23751357
If you’re not American then don’t bother with screenwriting. Even if you are American, screenwriting is in a bad place right now because the film industry is in a death spiral and every single writer is jumping ship to streaming and fighting over the few spots available in writer’s rooms. You won’t be able to break into the bottom unless you have a degree or have connections (nepotism). I genuinely think film will be like theatre in a couple of decades. Not sure what will happen with streaming.

The one way to make money from writing now is writing a really good novel. A really really good novel. Unlike in the film industry where you can write one of the greatest films scripts / pilots ever and not get a peep, writing novels is still relatively meritocratic. If your shit is good your shit is good. Get traditionally published and earn critical success. Then the film industry will approach you to write things because they now you’re competent if you wanna go that route.

Would anybody like to be a compass for today's prose? For context: our protagonists, the still unnamed nitrogen & oxygen, are touching down on Venus for the first time.

-----

As the promised trio of eclectic lovers began coalescing on an otherwise arbitrary delta in the infinitude, a sumptuous voice called out to the virgin winds; ‘What’s this?’ it demurred in feminine cadence ‘has somebody finally come to greet me – someone here to sensuously meet me?’. The intrepid squalls pulled their quixotic sails down and anchored starboard abreast the empyreal island’s exotic shores whilst braving to bluster up the boldness to respond.

The planet's surface was warm; an inviting warmth – not torrid like on the peppy-pepper Mercury. It exuded a salacious tempting aura from its radiating yellow skin;– the two zephyrs were flustered hot by it into a whirlwind – and its insatiable scarlet pores thusly breathed in an atmosphere of seduced airs. The environment, however – despite the steam – was dry; and salaciousness alone would not be enough to whet its dykes or cradles – no matter how many kisses were blown. Easing back down from their initial infatuation, one of the enamored fool-winds – it didn’t matter which – would bray a response sounding more romantic than intended, ‘we caught glimpses of you in the distance and felt almost immediately compelled to come here.’
‘Oh, ho, ho’ murmured a more androgynous pitch echoing from the planet’s mantle, ‘I’m so very glad to meet you...’

>>23751180
look for double-meanings, assonance or other literary devices (for the most part) in that order

>>23751328
on second thoughts, you original line "as cold as a son of a bitch", while unorthodox, is more interesting than my revision. Might I suggest making it "as deathly cold as a dead son of a bitch" or something similar. 'dead cold' is a ubiquitous slang in English and it fits your scene -- and that saying -- perfectly

How many people here use AI to 'subtly enhance' their writing?

>>23751250
How do you even break into screenwriting? Cold querying agents?

>>23751550
There is no way AI can "enhance" my writing in any way, because I actually know what the fuck I'm doing.

>>23751550
I feed it sentences and it rewords them in an order that flows better. 8/10 times it actually does better than me.

>>23751585
Show examples.

>>23751550
I've only used AI as a slightly improved thesaurus
>Hey, is there any synonyms of this word that starts with the letter "R"?

>>23750036
>>23750404
Depending on your MC's occupation, taking in a street urchin and making them your apprentice is a tale as old as time.

>>23750134
You could pay someone on fiverr to beta read your first 10K words, though they might handle you with kid gloves to not scare off a potential long-term client. Shouldn't cost more than $25. Alternatively, if you don't trust the feedback of people here you could go to one of the writing subreddits like destructive readers.

>>23751602
You greet the AI before prompting it?

>>23751748
Yes, I also thank it after

>>23751550
The only thing I've used AI for writing-wise so far is to enhance my blurb. You can tell it to write them in the style of a specific author, appeal more to a specific demographic, or reduce it to a certain amount of words. It improved mine imo without changing it too much.

i give the ai a blowie

>>23751763
Same. We'll be the ones it doesn't kill when Skynet takes over.

>AI will be able to write novels in a decade
It’s over what’s the point

I can't think of villains for a story. The story is about a mage trying to build a new settlement in the wilds. To tame the untamed land.
I've thought of problems with the weather, the wildlife, the people there, but I can't think of proper villains. Everyone there is trying to build the settlement. There's gonna be friction, but it's not like they're are evil nobles in such a place as convenient villains. Monsters only go that far as well.

I need a villain to cause some tension but I just can't think of anything.

>>23751785
not to be 'that guy', but it's uncanny how closely Orwell predicted promptomancy.

>>23751886
is the unweildy land not villain enough?
If you want something more traditional; how about a latecomer parasitically trying to profit of the prosperity the protagonists have built?

>>23751886
There's common writing tips to write a villain.
They usually wants the same thing as the hero, but they have different values compared to them so they go about it in a different way, which causes conflict.
They make a compelling moral argument that the hero will expose as flawed
They have the capacity to hurt the hero at their weakest spot.
They should stay close to the hero, at least in spirit, to harass them throughout the story.

Depending on your angle, you could have the villain be someone trying to exploit the land "incorrectly", in contrast to the hero who would respect the land he finds himself in. This is the most obvious plot, not bad at all in itself, because it makes the antagonist someone you can give a voice to, and discuss with the hero.
A great beast that pushes the hero's skills to simply survive it would also work. After all, both simply wants to survive in this land, there isn't an inherent moral justification for the hero to do what they do, because the animal has as much of a claim as them.
You have magic in your setting so it's easy to use it, maybe you don't even need a villain, just very very bad weather that makes you wonder whether the hero lives or not.

Brainstorming one minute on this on my own, I'd probably try writing a story about the mage finding the ghosts of the previous settlers who died (probably not due to malice, just accidents snowballing into catastrophes in the remote wilds). The ghosts would be hostile, maybe violent, and perhaps a magician who aspires to his own little plot of land is ill-equipped when it comes to bursting out fireballs and banishing evils. So maybe all he can do with these spectres is learn cohabitation, and eventually lead them to their rests. Idk.

>>23751919
>is the unweildy land not villain enough?
I think it won't resonate with readers.
>If you want something more traditional; how about a latecomer parasitically trying to profit of the prosperity the protagonists have built?
That's a great idea. Some newcomer that tries to take advantage of things. When things get bad the protagonist tries to kick him out only for the villain to reveal a total decree. He's there to observe the project.
Thanks.

>>23751938
That explanation of villains is great. It would go well with >>23751919's suggestion.
I have already decided to use magical beasts early on as something to overcome. Pirates that secretly work together with the auditor is something I'm considering. (The settlement is on a peninsula, the protagonist will be trying to connect two rivers to create a shipping canal.)

I'm glad I asked. I somehow just ended up stuck on apparently nothing.

>>23751039
Discipline and a well thought-out outline.

Criticize this AI slop:

"The rain drummed a relentless rhythm on the cobblestones of San Telmo, each drop a metronome counting down the seconds of a city that never slept. Buenos Aires was alive, a beast of concrete and iron, its arteries clogged with the dreams and despair of millions. The narrow streets twisted and turned like the tangled thoughts in Guillermo’s mind, their labyrinthine paths leading nowhere and everywhere all at once.

He stood beneath the awning of an old café, the scent of stale coffee and cigarette smoke mingling with the dampness of the night. The once-vibrant colors of the neighborhood had faded into a sepia-toned memory, the past clinging to the present like a ghost that refused to leave. The air was thick, heavy with the promise of secrets long buried and sins yet to be committed.

As Guillermo watched the rainwater flow down the gutters, carrying with it the detritus of the city, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was watching him—something ancient, something patient. The city had always had a way of consuming those who thought they could master it, turning their ambitions to dust. But tonight, there was an intensity to its gaze, as if the very soul of Buenos Aires had risen from its slumber, demanding a reckoning. The tango of shadows and light played on the wet pavement, a dance as old as the city itself, but one Guillermo feared he might not survive."

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Im trying to write Twilight, but for Men, I have a few vague ideas of how i want the shit to play out, The main love interest will be masquerading as a succubus an thus deceiving all the demons, but will actually be a creature of the fey wild.

Please provide criticism, is my prose terrible and my ideas too schizo and nonsensical?

Would it be too indulgent to sporadically break into a play structure in a work that's already a chimera of poetry and prose?

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>>23752084
Little to no sentence length variety, which makes it a drag to read. Also, too much pathetic fallacy and too little nuance in the descriptions that make it too obvious, like if the reader couldn't get the intention of the writer. Like the following line, which is shit:
>The air was thick, heavy with the promise of secrets long buried and sins yet to be committed.
Nevertheless, BUENOS AIRES MENTIONED

>>23751042
That is known as the "worldbuilding trap".

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>>23751250
You make money by writing to market.
As for screenwriting...well...
Remember that even famous writers had to have a day job until they made it big, and even then, many had to keep them (e.g. Herman Melville, Frank Herbert, etc."

>>23752084
>story is set in two geographically incompatible places
>most of the sentences don't actually say anything and are just lazy exposure trying to mimic a noir in style and feel
>slog to read because every sentence needs to be 8 months pregnant
Works great as a parody and even then it's not actually trying to be one; it's tragic in more ways than one.

>>23751785
Writing for fun, and fetishes that are beyond comprehension

>>23751039
I think of writing like how I think of doing my gacha dailys. Couple hundred words and I'll be done in no time

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>think I managed to do some pretty interesting things with my web novel and the writing quality is overall among the best I've ever done
>barely 60 followers after 5 weeks
>meanwhile some kid who admits to having never written anything before draws in 60 followers in 5 days with yet another anime harem magic academy story featuring an overpowered teenage protagonist and an AI-generated cover
Yeah, I think I'm done for real this time. You couldn't humiliate me more if you pissed on my face. This is just not the right way for me.

>>23752434
Solo sites are only for slop. If you have no intention of writing slop, then don't post on slop sites.

>>23752434
Anon start with slop roll into good story

>>23752084
It’s written like someone who only heard about “noir” from 10 hour YouTube video essays but had never actually opened a book in his life.
Here’s what noir actually looks like:
>It was about eleven o’clock in the morning, mid October, with the sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills. I was wearing my powder-blue suit, with dark blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark blue clocks on them. I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn’t care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars.
Here’s another opening:
>I first heard Personville called Poisonville by a red-haired mucker named Hickey Dewey in the Big Ship in Butte. He also called his shirt a shoit. I didn’t think anything of what he had done to the city’s name. Later I heard men who could manage their r’s give it the same pronunciation. I still didn’t see anything in it but the meaningless sort of humor that used to make richardsnary the thieves’ word for dictionary. A few years later I went to Personville and learned better.

>>23752277
>gatcha dailies
>gatcha
>dailies
>dailies in a gatcha game
It’s not too late to get help

>>23752446
There are lots of stories that don't pander to any meme audiences, but still went huge. There is no excuse.

>>23752464
You can't. Slop is slop. There's no meaning in putting on a suit when you're standing knee-deep in shit.

>>23752517
Those sites are basically slop for the slop god. Don't expect consumers who want something unique, they want something that follows exactly what they expect to have.

>>23752549
As I said, there are many original stories that have reached a massive following at RR. You seem to be deliberately ignoring me.

>>23752434
Kek. I'm pretty sure I know exactly what story you're talking about. Good writing rarely seems to be rewarded on RR, at least not initially since most readers won't even bother until there's hundreds of pages. It's quantity over quality for the most part. But if you got 60 followers in 5 weeks without an ad, you're doing pretty well imo.

>>23752573
Give me some examples

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>>23752434
>barely 60 followers after 5 weeks
>Meanwhile me who doesn't even have 10 followers in a month

>>23752514
I don't needs help, I need moe rolls 'n moe cunny

>>23752434
Why are you humiliated that amateur porn videos get a lot of views, while your attempt at a tasteful film you uploaded to pornhub is not doing well?
You people really don't understand what slop sites are meant for. Litrpg is lazy dopamine indulgence just like pornography. Breaking that mold means your chances of success go way way down

>>23752592
I'm not that anon but there are definitely levels to the slop. Obviously there's not any true literary works but there are some high quality genre fiction books there, which aren't total trash I Woke Up In Elf World With An Instant-Kill Cheat Power

It's possible to succeed without litrpg, cultivation, or even progression tags, it's just harder

>>23752683
Unfortunately anon that probably just means your work is off meta and also not very good, rather than just one of those two. Post it here so we can advise?

A frife of forloins frothed

A swither of a thith will thou ground down?

A twan a till a febockered rought a negligent peweddlement a perch

Twaggerd a foot a Sevant a Swirth

Will the grouth of a fiddlement be upon me?

Will a terigle moreth of a tawng?

>>23752764
Pass. It is off meta, though, and written in a more traditional novel format so I wasn't expecting much. I've seen plenty of well-written stories with barely any followers and slop with tons so I don't take it as an indication of quality.

today i will write a bajillion words

today i will write no words

>>23752592
The Mine Lord is #10 of all-time best rated fictions and it's a very plain, extra dry fantasy stripped of all magic and power-tripping. Not even the addition of a very annoying female character and turning into a conservatist sermon could sink this ship. It went huge in just a few weeks.
#5 Chasing Sunlight, dialogue-heavy fantasy allegedly inspired by Lovecraft and Moby dick. No harems or video game elements. 3,500 loving followers.
#14 First Contact. An autistic space opera on a zoomer fantasy website. Not very sloppery, but a bit shy of 6,000 followers.
Do I need to go on? That's just the highest peak of the iceberg.
These guys did whatever they wanted and made it without selling their dignity.

>>23752589
>But if you got 60 followers in 5 weeks without an ad, you're doing pretty well imo
I've posted several fictions at RR and they all followed very nearly the same, linear growth rate. I made a new account for this one to see if that has any effect, but no. It seems this is the wall for me.

>>23752212
>A world exists
>The protagonist(a), an aspiring writer, has a love interest which is answered
>Upon asking the father of the interest for her hand in marriage, he asks how the protagonist will provide
>"By writing"
>The father knows he's not established yet so digs deeper and asks "So what makes a good story, then?"
>The protagonist honestly doesn't have an answer to that
>So he must go on a quest before the marriage can be consumated
>The quest takes the protagonist to the spirits of all the writers of the world in history, and they converse and take him into their worldviews
>At the end of the journey the writer forms his own personal world philosophy and must write a book about it
>Anotherchallenge.exe
>Upon completion, the ending is happy
Here, I wrote an idea for you.

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>>23752900
I'm also pretty much the same across three accounts, which is pretty strange.

>>23752914
So what you can do here is substitute some words, invent writers who describe the world you've built, and present it to the protagonist along with their ideas on it. It'd be about 50-50% world-story driven, respectively.

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>Fallen into the rabbit hole of comparing my writing to Alexis Kennedy's (again)
>Now unsure if I've ever had an original idea in my life, let alone one of his level

All shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well. All shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well. ALL SHALL BE WELL AND ALL SHALL BE WELL AND ALL MANNER OF THING SHALL BE WELL SHALL BE WELL. ALL SHALL BE WELL. ALL SHALL BE WELL. SHALL BE WELL. SHALL BE WELL. SHALL BE WELL. SHALL BE WELL. NOT POSTPONED. NOT IN THE END. NOT FOR LONG.

>>23749368
It's archaic, neither word is using its modern definition. "Pathetic" as in "having pathos", that is to say "moving ones feelings". "Fallacy" as in any failure of reasoning, not a specific codified logical error.

I like how there are so many anons posting about not making it on RR across the past few months
So much for it being the 'cheat code' lmao
should've just written what you wanted. No one here is making it but at least you can be a failure who kept their integrity

I finally found the idea for a book, this is going to revolutionize italian literature, this will be a masterpiece teached in italian schools.
This will be the golden standard for italian books for centuries to come, prepare yourself Italy!

>>23753291
>revolutionize italian literature
Yeah... that won't be hard to pull off.

>teached
taught

>Multiple comments on my last chapter
>Gave me a lot of drive to put out the next
>Only one comment

Bros... why am I so dependent on feedback?

>>23753299
>taught
Bro i don't care i'm high on megalomania and power right now no one can stop me, i will care about the english grammar when the delusion fades off.

>>23753325
I wonder if this is genuine mental illness, how could someone possibly come up with a book idea that has them this confident?
And even if it's that amazing, do you have the skill to write it? If you have less than, idk, 6+ novels written you're probably complete trash at the mechanical aspects, which are easily as important as the ideas

>only 250 words today
It's better than nothing right guys?

>>23753344
Yes, technically.

>>23753344
Yeah. For months now I haven't written anything more than maybe adding a few paragraphs to the work I've been editing for publication. Some days I sit at the computer and don't add or change a single word.

>>23752915
How often do you post? If the posting frequency is consistent, then it makes sense that the percentage of readers who see the latest updates list and decide to follow is roughly the same too.

...Which would expect that this percentage is totally indiscriminate and present around the clock. It's not bots, is it? How to ensure people come back to your website? Give them the illusion they're getting traction. God damn, now I'm getting paranoid

>>23752084
>each drop a metronome counting down the seconds of a city that never slept
>their labyrinthine paths leading nowhere and everywhere all at once
>the past clinging to the present like a ghost that refused to leave

>>23752123
>The air was thick, heavy with the promise of secrets long buried and sins yet to be committed

I love it when AI does shit like this, just tack on a second sentence at the of another and try to make it sound profound. Cracks me up every time.

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I have a mutant type in my setting that are kind of meant to be like dark types in Pokemon, in that psychics are vulnerable to them.

What might be a good metaphor for a psychic looking into their mind and getting backlash from the dark of their mind?

>>23753291
Based Alighieri-character larp poster!

>Have a few dozen people ready to buy my book from Amazon when I publish in a few months
>Just find out they have some kind of policy about friends and family leaving reviews and will delete them, if not ban you outright
U wot m8? So I'm supposed to warn all these people not to leave a review and basically brick myself?

>>23753595
How can they tell who's a friend or family vs just a random person?

>>23747031
It's probably my most active place for feedback. Even if most people seem to be utterly baffled by my writing style.

>As for me today
I finished this week's rewrites. An old 6k chapter is steadily being broken up and everything is ballooning.

>>23753611
This is the answer Google's AI gives and it all sounds creepy as fuck.

>Amazon may use a few methods to determine if a friend reviewed your book, including:
>Contact information: Amazon may compare the reviewer's contact information to the contact information in your account's address book.
>Facebook connection: Amazon may consider if a reviewer is connected to you on Facebook.
>URL timestamp: Amazon may consider the timestamp used in the URL used by a reviewer.
>Reviewer address: Amazon may consider if the reviewer's address is an address you have previously used as your own.
>Amazon also tracks IP addresses, especially when it comes to review generation. Amazon screens reviews for bias and may remove reviews if they suspect that some copies of the book made it out to friends instead of strangers.
>Amazon used to encourage authors to have their friends use the customer discussions feature to promote their book, but this feature has been discontinued.

>>23753628
>Amazon used to encourage authors to have their friends use the customer discussions feature to promote their book, but this feature has been discontinued.
Yet they still allow thousands of fake Chinese 5 star reviews for defective products. Bravo Amazon.

>>23753344
I'm at 126 and think I'm going to quit for the day. It's just too damn hot to think straight right now. Maybe I'll try for some more after 10 p.m. when the sun goes down.

>>23753628
Well quite frankly that's none of Amazon's God damned business. Whether they're friends or strangers, if they legitimately bought the book they should be allowed a review.

What sounds more medieval fantasy, meters or yards? Miles or kilometers?

>>23753760
Yards and miles. It's an archaic system that only third world countries use in our world, after all

>Start using AI to describe my scenes
>Readers say my writing has improved significantly.

It's so fucking over for me

>>23753876
Post sample so we can all learn and improve.

>>23753760
Leagues motherfucker, leagues.

>>23753760
Say feet. Each time you say it you'll get a boost in the algorithm and perverts will flock to your story.

>>23753318
Because, if at all possible, we would like to not waste our time. We would like to write something that others want to engage with. When our work gets no engagement, it's very demotivating. There are many things we could spend our time on; why spend it on something that gets no reaction? I have ideas for several novels, outlined and fleshed out, but no motivation to write them, because my existing fiction gets no reaction from anyone. I may as well just watch TV.

>>23753661
Yeah, seems like it's some kind of scheme to get authors to buy ads. Between this and the KDP exclusivity, they've really got some annoying policies for publishing with them. Luckily for them they've pretty much got a monopoly on the market.

>>23753715
What gets me is advanced reader copy reviews, which are usually gotten for free, are apparently fine so long as the reviewer notes it in their review. There's so many roadblocks in this business no matter what route you take.

>>23753338
Yeah the execution of the idea is arguably more important than the concept itself honestly. Ideas are easy to come by, actually doing something great with them is the hard part.

>>23752434
>>23752589
>>23752683
Is this normal? I've never tried writing, but I've made YouTube videos. In the first month I was at a few thousand subscribers already.
Is the conversion of followers so much slower for writing?

how do you use your pain, anger and sadness to write without being a cringelord?

I think the first half of my story is solid, but after that it kind of flatlines. My pure hero succumbs to an act of evil, then I just have him coasting until the finale, trying to hide what he did from everyone around him. Instead, I should find a way to ramp up the stakes and have him fall further but I'm not sure how to do it.

>>23754349
You simply stop being afraid of being a cringelord

>>23754372
switch prospective and roll from a different pov, this way there is tension from the readers end as they wait for the character to learn what they already know

>>23753760
stones, leagues, pounds/thalers/guldens

>>23753760
Miles, yards, and feet. Even as a europoor seeing meters can sometimes take me out of a fantasy story.

There is a dictionary posted here sometimes.

I think it begins with W, might even be Webster? Think it was from the early 1900s, has 'better/different word explanations and gives alternative words to use if I remember rightly?

>think it miiiight be from the US

What are your thoughts on using band names in your writing? I've been avoiding it so far but now I'm starting to think it might add some extra je ne sais quoi to my work.

>>23754810
>band names
*brand names

>>23752948
Originality is a delusion

>>23754799
Found it

https://www.websters1913.com/

>>23753760
what’s the deal with the cubit anyways

it’s extremely ancient yet sounds modern and anachronistic in a way words fail to properly capture,

>>23754853
Think it's the only empirical non-symbolic part of the Book of Revelations.

>>23754252
>I've never tried writing, but I've made YouTube videos
Then shut up, retard

>>23754456
>switch prospective and roll from a different pov
That's an interesting approach. I'll have to consider how to do something like that. The main problem is I'm not sure what should be happening in terms of story next. I got him working inside the castle, which will get repetitive quickly, and he mostly gets psychologically manipulated and gaslit by a maid there. I'm not sure how interesting that will be for more than a couple scenes.

>>23754866
Sounds like you should truncate the "working in the castle" part and make the maid a more important character

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>>23754252
Some books(especially on RR) blow the fuck up with their first chapters, and other stories you get a slow drip of followers. You need at least 5k followers if you wanna go the Patreon route and that's for like, Malayasian Factory Worker tier salary.

Nevertheless I'm happy with my follower count, it ain't much but it's decent enough. If only I could get them to engage more.

>>23753760
This seems really obvious to me, but I've had to explain this to readers before. Meter is a unit based on the circumference of Earth, so it makes no sense for the people of another world to use it. Medieval people often wouldn't have measuring tape or sticks available, so they'd use measures that are always close at hand, measures based on their own body. Feet, pace, fathom (span of arms), inch (width of thumb), mile (defined by Romans as 1000 paces), league (the distance man walks in an hour), etc.

https://youtu.be/CoSx7p_aqCQ?si=qrv5P74GuvV4wSJb

Is she right?

>>23754878
a 5k story patreon will get like 2k+ on patreon and another 1-2k+ on kdp when they move to it, and those numbers just go up the longer you write. 5k followers is basically "making it" level

>>23754892
I'm skeptical, a 40% retention rate from following a book for free to paying a subscription seems too good to be true

>>23754894
>>23754892
Oh, seems like there's been a miscommunication. You need 5k followers on RR to have a viable Patreon following. Obviously 5k Patreon followers is pretty grand.

>>23754894
2k usd/month I mean, so like 5000 followers turns into 250 patrons (5%, which is a low estimate desu) at 10$ each, minus fees

>>23754896
yes I meant 5k follower story = 3kusd monthly safe estimate. and that will just increase over time as you continue to write. 5k followers is "you made it" territory

>>23754897
>>23754898
Well, here's hoping. It's not impossible to envision getting 5k followers on RR, just will take awhile.

>>23754452
doesn't cringe obscure beauty?

>>23754814
explain

File: 1509974924267.gif (1.68 MB, 500x376)

1.68 MB GIF

anyone have any book reccs for character development specifically? both books that talk about it and good examples of it to read. after a good few months of nothing I've realized that I need to get really into knowing my characters, bending them in a specific direction, and having it all involve pain.

>>23754939
The Science of Storytelling by Will Storr
Character by Robert McKee

>>23754908
Oh for sure, but second guessing your emotions while writing instead of channeling them is a surefire way to be cringe.

>>23754939
The moment you try to force your character into a certain pattern how a "fictional character" should be, they cease to be human.

>>23754900
Either it will happen relatively quickly, or it never will. If after 3-4 months you're still sitting distinctly below 1000 followers, you won't suddenly bounce up into the 5k+ club anymore.

>>23755067
I have no idea why people think that trying to understand how fiction works automatically means "forcing" it. Would you also say that studying perspective is "forcing" art?

>>23755140
Restricting a thing that by its essence loathes restrictions and guides can only be described as forcing. Also, unlike human character, visual perspective is a fixed, unchanging property by definition. Of course, telling this to an NPC is waste of time.

>>23755161
>Restricting a thing that by its essence loathes restrictions and guides can only be described as forcing.
By representing a character only through words on a page you are necessarily "restricting" them.
>Also, unlike human character, visual perspective is a fixed, unchanging property by definition.
Human psychology is a lot more complicated than light physics, but not any less causal.
>Of course, telling this to an NPC is waste of time.
Lmao at you thinking that by remaining willfully ignorant you are making yourself anything other than an "NPC".

>>23755184
By this point, the argument you think I'm making and the argument that was actually made are nearing the opposite edges of the galaxy, and your responses are completely nonsensical.

>>23755067
by bend in a certain direction, I meant take their character development in a certain direction. I've figured out what I enjoy, which is why I'm utilizing certain tropes.

do you find the prospect of close friends or family reading your work to be terrifying?

>>23749457
just serialize on rr and watch them eat it up

>>23751133
Because self-identifying as litfic is a cope for not being able to write something people actually want to read
in the same manner they cope by telling themselves their unreadable slop will be enshrined as a modern classic after their death

>>23755301
By all means keep telling yourself that.

>>23755351
Nah, only my mom cause I want her to read my first published book

>>23754252
I mean, only 8.86% of youtubers even get a thousand subscribers period. The top 3% of channels receive 90% of the viewership. So just like any other industry most people that try will fail, at least from a popularity/financial standpoint.

>>23753549
Maybe jumping into freezing water? The actual act gives you a full body shock, maybe like that but for the mind?

>>23754810
If you're writing contemporary, it's only natural imo. Just don't overdo it to the point where it sounds like an advertisement or distracts from the story.

>>23755351
If one of my family members reads my manuscript then they will show it to the entire family.
I would have to die after that, no way i would recover.

>>23747037
If you're that stressed, you don't belong in professional writing.

>>23747105
The other anon is right, you know: it is mostly time and genetics. Hair loss from stress points to underlying physical and mental health problems that should be treated immediately.

>>23747189
Stop writing and find a more practical hobby.

>>23747627
> ESL writer here
Just stop. Get better at writing in your native tongue.

>>23748225
> Morrowind fanfiction
This is why RR is shit. Retards are incapable of creating original settings.

>>23749457
Sounds like your wrote a draft. Start over.

>>23750195
>I hate "writing." Words are hard. I prefer comic books because pictures are cooler.

>>23750856
Use WordStar.

>>23750857
Yes. Why else do so many useless women go into marketing and public relations?

>>23751382
> every single writer is jumping ship to streaming and fighting over the few spots available in writer’s rooms.
Fucking this. If you didn't meet the right people at the right party at the right time, you'll NEVER find work.