>>23755733
Ah, yes. Like all the alcoholics, drug addicts, and manic depressives who definitely don't belong in professional writing either. Oh, wait...

is stoner writing a thing? I used to drunk write a lot but I cut alcohol to lose weight. There's a weed shop a few blocks from my house though and I'm curious if that could have similar effects calming me down enough to write

>>23756029
I used to write a lot more when I was still consuming weed. But now I have a day job that drug-tests its employees randomly. At least it pays well.

>>23755497
Shit, that's a good idea. Thanks!

File: Ocs.jpg (106 KB, 1080x276)

106 KB JPG

I like to slip in Baneposting references whenever possible. I wasn't sure about using the word 'guy' as it's a vaguely-medieval era fantasy story.

File: P1330460_02.jpg (3.98 MB, 1521x1143)

3.98 MB JPG

I decided to write some short stories to worldbuild instead of detailled histories or cultural essays, maybe it makes more sense this way.
It's somewhat of a horrow story and a bit long, almost 6k words.
Does it work to establish a portion of a world, the beginnings of a culture? it would be part of an anthology that concerns itself with various peoples and how they either came to be or how they first met.
https://pastebin.com/Hd9myxXm

>>23756126
Use lad instead

A fanfic I had bookmarked for later reading has been deleted from the fanfic website. It is now lost from the internet and I'll never get to read it.
I'm now going to read things at once and save anything that is good so I never again lose things forever.

>>23755945
I'm working on a story that explores a future after a decline in modern society (applying the decline in Europe during the late Roman Empire through the Early Middle Ages to our society) and am thinking about what books would survive, and am looking for suggestions. For example, at the moment I'm thinking of having Durant as one of the most popular historical sources (although they may not have all the volumes of his history).

>>23756589
Have you tried archive.org?

I laugh at my own jokes in my book.

>>23756675
That would depend heavily on what aspects of our current culture survived. In the transition from antiquity to the middle ages, Christian literature and canon were culturally continued from the Roman Empire by the Church, along with associated history and arts. What part of modern post enlightenment culture survived into a post collapse Europe would depend on who filled the power vacuum left by our society, and what they valued.

>>23756738
Yes. Looked everywhere and it's deleted from the internet. My fault for not saving it like I do with other types of media.

File: 0.jpg (31 KB, 228x328)

31 KB JPG

Is there any reason a species would reproduce like this?

>>23756957
If pregnancy is once in a lifetime. For example, the mother dies in childbirth and the children eat her.

File: economics.png (231 KB, 3400x2200)

231 KB PNG

How does this dialogue read? This is a first draft so any criticism is wonderful. Two characters talk about the economics of rape and inclinations.

>>23757009
Hmm I think I'll keep it as a potion or drug that's artificial, that works best with the story

>>23757036
The dialogue feels more like something from a study or research journal. The overuse of somewhat needlessly long words like
>Hyperbolically
>economically
>Inclinations
>Cultivated
Give the dialogue kind of an artificial feel. Those words are not necessarily wrong to use, but I'd sprinkle them in much less frequently, and if it used, it should be for food reason

For example there's a Game of Thrones scene where Oberyn asks if Tywin is denying that Tywin ordered his man to kill Oberyn's sister, and Tywin replies "Categorically". I'd reserve longer and more complex words for important moments personally.

You described the environment well, I think I'll need to rewrite a bit with you as inspiration.

>>23757060
Amelia just came from a place of learning so I think her vocabulary should be a bit long winded at this point. But Kono is mocking her "educated" take on things that would be obvious to anyone with morality. So I think her "big words" are done in a sarcastic mocking way.

>>23757036
>Thus the need for arrows, and the only equation that matters there is trajectory

Stopped reading there.

>>23757093
>her "big words" are done in a sarcastic mocking way
That's not really evident on the page at this point, but it's a good idea.

>>23757093
I think you should emphasize the mocking and sarcasm of Kono then. Maybe put the long-winded words she says in single quotes and describe her scoffing at Amelia.

File: OIG (38).jpg (187 KB, 1024x1024)

187 KB JPG

Guys, I've just completed my book.

Thirty-seven chapters with more than 180k words. Now, only the final editing is missing.
I'M SO HAPPY!

By the way, can someone tell me how to find an editor? It's a fantasy book

>>23757190
180k words? Hope you have a few k to dump on an editor.

>>23757192
>I must pay to publish my book, and they still get 95% of my revenues?

The fuck?

>>23757197
Oh you're planning to send it to an agent? Godspeed anon

>>23756191
There's the beginnings of something here, but in terms of worldbuilding I'm not getting much beyond the amnesia forest. Perhaps it would benefit from fewer drawn-out fight scenes and more character and world study. You probably have extensive notes to yourself on the history, mechanics, etc. of your storyworld. Keep them at hand and see how many of those elements you can splice in or hint at in the story text. Anna Kavan's Ice and the film Stalker could be useful to you. Good luck anon, keep on writing.

>>23757197
Wait, what method of publishing are you using? Vanity press?

>get arguably the arguably most profound moment(s) of my story
>abruptly switch structure and tone to an Athenian-style satire because I thought it'd be funny
God I love writing. The person finds my hard drive after I die is going to be a very confused one.

I finished the draft of chapter 32.

>>23757590
Nobody cares.

>>23757630
Wrong

>>23757630
I care
>>23757505
Nice. Total word count?

>>23757036
Konoanon slipping some economics in their futa smut, based.

>>23757640
>>23757653
You faggots are only claiming to care because I said nobody did. If I’d said nothing, that post would’ve gone unreplied. You’re all just a bunch of phonies.

>>23757716
Correct

File: p[ray.png (2 KB, 230x51)

2 KB PNG

>>23757653
this is the play so far -- starting yesterday
I'm only about 5000 words into the main text desu, but some of it's in poetry

>>23757630
many of us do.

Thinking of writing a screenplay.

>>23757797
Nvm Hollywood is finished

>>23756589
>fanfic
Wasn’t worth reading anyway
That being said I want to write a grimdark Pokemon fanfic. Not because ‘let’s turn le kids franchise edgy teehee’ but because I think the ingredients are all there for a more mature tale in that world. I just have to not be cringe about it

>>23757886
Pokemon as a concept is so fucking retarded you can't make it le edgey grimdark.

>>23757886
>>23757923
Not anon, but you can and i could. I would not make edgy and grimdark, but i would make the setting have more verisimilitude and be overall better. (Which would have a lot of darkness to it)
I don't because i can't have a patreon if i do that.

I haven't been here in a few years, is fanfiction posting a regular thing now?

I need an idea for a literary novel that will bring me critical success pls post thanks

>Jerry didn't like farts, hers or anyone else's.

Why does hers not have an apostrophe but else's does? Both are possessive. Am I retarded?

>>23757716
Shit. He's got us there boys.

>>23757831
Do incels not have elaborate escapist daydreams to adapt into fiction?

>>23757831
By actually reading and analyzing the genre you want to write? Most writers have never been in life or death situations either, yet that hasn't stopped any of them.

>>23757998
Unironically ask chat GPT.

>>23758104
Consider first if you're writing a romance for men or a romance for women, because the methods you'll use are different

>>23757998
what does a literary novel need?

>>23758022
it's the least intuitive thing in the english language and 30 years later i'm still guessing at the answer. i refuse to actually learn

>>23755945
any tips on Journaling?

Debating on whether or not I should submit my half finished novel. Most places only ever ask for the first three chapters, and those are in the bag.

Besides, it's not like these publishers give a shit about prose. They only want sellable ideas. They probably wouldn't ever know if the final half of the book is all a first draft.

>>23758145
try free writing, and do it consistently. try to find your own creativity

>>23758151
give me the first page, and i will explain how you why you will get binned

>>23758163
Don't need your help with that. I used to work at a literary magazine.

>>23758167
i wasn't asking

>>23758156
what about like daily journaling? as in recounting important events from the day. would your advice still apply?

>>23758192
maybe; if anything, consistency is important

>>23758185
I'm not going to void FNASR by posting my writing online, and I'm certainly not going to blacklist myself by posting it on 4chan.

Agents and publishers are the biggest, sissiest, gayest, most easily triggered, politically correct fuckwits on Earth. If they knew I posted on a website where every user doesn't have their pronouns listed that's probably enough cause to reject my submission.

>>23758229
The guy shilling his book Brat on here claimed the opposite. Published by Penguin and popular enough I saw it in the window of a shop in my neighbourhood. Nobody gives a shit that you post on 4chan.

>>23757840
What fic? I know a guy who did this exact thing with his very popular Spice and Wolf fanfic.

>>23757923
That’s what F Gardner’s Jigoku was. Kids killing themselves so they can go to the Pokemon world in the afterlife

File: mtears.jpg (13 KB, 480x360)

13 KB JPG

It's too fucking moist and hot to write

File: sunday night.png (3 KB, 249x83)

3 KB PNG

>>23757752
this feels like a cursed place to stop for the night...

>>23757438
Thanks for the feedback, i will check that other stuff out.
>drawn-out fight scenes
Wait, thats what people call drawn-out? it's not even that many.
>more world study
I am actually trying to heavily reduce world building heavy storytelling with this project. it's supposed to be a singular experience giving one part of the puzzle, with other stories filling in other parts.

File: big mood.png (69 KB, 558x164)

69 KB PNG

I have the story. I have the moral. I have the characters. I have the plot (most of it). But I don't have the tone, the thing that weaves everything together into something unique. I feel like it should be able to be expressed in a single, short sentence.

>>23758151
Wait, I can submit my novel with just three chapters?

WHERE?
Also, how much time do I have to complete it?
>They just want ideas
Anon, tell me who the fuck they are

How do I write a guy who grifts women for money and gifts?

>>23758376
Who?

>>23756675
I can just tell you're going die by stabbing

>>23757998
I can tell you, but you won't like it.

>>23758151
Absolutely not. On the off chance they like it enough, they could request the full manuscript as soon as hours later. You're going to look like a massive fucking idiot if you have to tell them, "Oh, I'll have to get back to you with that, it's only half done." And if you submit it with the latter half in the state of a first draft, you're basically shooting yourself in the foot.

I like coming up with Smut in my spare time, it’s focused around fantasy, so magic or powers.

Does anyone have good advice for smut and escalating it? Like Rape or CNC or Stockholm stories?

>>23759463
Try /trash/wfg

>>23758885

if there's something moist and hot waiting for you, you can do the writing later

>yesterday: fuck, everything I wrote so far is garbage! I don't like how the story got here, I hate where the story is going! I'm ngmi I should just quit and kill myself"
>do literally nothing for the rest of the day
>today: "holy fuck I know what I have to do I should start writing asap I'm so gmi I'm a genius!"

>>23759532

Idk if this is a stupid question but do they have a lot of trannies?

File: 0_update.png (2 KB, 232x37)

2 KB PNG

>>23757716
Absolutely, yet you decided to say it regardless.

This the progress on my book so far. Hoping to get 1500 words a day this month. I might stat track and post progress here.

>>23757190
Congrats anon. 180k is a ton. How long did it take? Either way, nice job.

File: August.jpg (114 KB, 650x507)

114 KB JPG

How did your August go?

The sky was a fading red, and nothing remained of the day save for a line of molten gold slowly lowering on the western horizon. Vargo
trailed in the long shadow of the Bruiser, who was leading him to the market to be sold. At long last, Vargo had discovered where the older children had been disappearing to.

A great glass arch led from the northwest base of the graveyard to the eastern edge of the long, vast Temple District. At the apex of this bridge the Bruiser paused and stared north, across the lightless houses of the riverside, across the mist-wreathed waters of the rushing Algevine, to the
shaded manors and tree-lined white stone boulevards of the four islands, laid out in opulence beneath the impossible height of the noble towers.

“We’ll wait here a moment, boy,” said the Bruiser with wistfulness in his voice. “Here on my bridge. So few come to our turf this way, it might as well be mine."

Vargo said nothing, instead staring up at the vast towers as the sky behind them drained of color. The blue-white stars brightened, and the
last rays of the sun vanished in the west like a great eye closing. He felt the need to turn back, run towards his home - or whatever was left of it - but the sharp pull of the chains by the Bruiser keenly reminded him of his current predicament.

>>23760279
Reads pretty smoothly imo. So just a few nitpicks, really:

>Vast
is repeated twice in this short excerpt, so remove one of them

>felt
Personally I never use this word and dislike seeing it
So:
>He felt the need to turn back, run towards his home
Could be
>An urge struck him to turn back, to run toward his home

>towards
should be toward imo, same with its variations (I'm not sure if this is a rule though)

I just learned about four corner opposition what are other techniques I should know about, tips and tricks?

>>23760298
>>towards
>should be toward imo, same with its variations (I'm not sure if this is a rule though)
They're both correct. Toward is more common in American English, while towards is more common in British English. All that really matters is picking one and staying consistent within the same story.

File: 1698862889702739.gif (1.78 MB, 350x255)

1.78 MB GIF

>>23760270
>4353 in one day
I wish I had your work ethic.

do any fellow wageslaves have the time/energy to write after a 9-5? how do you manage it?

>>23760221
Six months, but unironically, the last 15 chapters took less than three weeks.
Also, it will take at least another month to edit everything.

Nevertheless, I'm so fucking proud of myself. Whether my book will be a failure or a success, it doesn't matter. From now on, I'll have something to be proud of!

>>23759155
Excuse me, I live in the US. If I'm going to die it'll be via a gunshot like a man.

>>23759874
I just submitted the first chapter to royalroad to see how that goes.
>>23760270
You do the same thing I do.

>>23760270
I wrote a few pages of my novel, then i deleted, repeated the same process for 10 times and started september with nothing in my hands.
Not so bad i say.

So, let's say you complete your first draft of your story, it being about 150k words long. You go through the draft again and edit some things. You hire an editor to polish things out. What's the next step? Spam every publisher available or just self-publish on Amazon like I keep hearing here?

>>23760488
Obviously depends massively on what the book is and what your goals are -.-

I was vacillating on what the comedic flaw of my protagonist should be. It's a short romcom about a hard working young immigrant realizing nobody he knows likes him, and so tries to learn people skills.

Based on my brother's experiences as a sour ass Bangladeshi Muslim in the UK. He went from someone who hated life and was hated in return to a guy that has friends, an English* wife, and gets invited to parties.

My idea for a comedic flaw was to exaggerate his hard working, serious personality so that he's a complete kill joy with no sense of humour. And also a workaholic with a money obsession.

*Muslim by ancestry

>>23760448
>At least a month
Haha... I wrote something last year that was 120k words, I'm still struggling with it. I have to rewrite everything.

>>23755945
Stupid question, but how do you guys plot your stories before you start?
I personally want to write a high fantasy story but I struggle to organize my thoughts and ideas into one coherent narrative. I was mentally drafting this one story, but then I scrapped it when I realized it was the most generic story imaginable. It was the hidden prince raised as a commoner in a village who has to rise up and embrace his destiny to save the kingdom from an evil usurper and an ancient evil.
I've had other story ideas, but they're equally as generic and or a subconscious ripoff of Lord of the Rings, A Song of Ice and Fire, Dune, or even some generic Wuxia like Coiling Dragon.
Oddly enough, when I'm writing fanfiction, I have no real issue crafting a story, because the world has already been built for me, so I can just take some worldbuilding concepts, themes, and what ifs and craft an entirely new story with the setting.
Logically speaking, this means I should just craft my world around it's worldbuilding or it's themes. But I'm really struggling to craft an entirely new world for a story, especially without plagiarizing another setting like A Song of Ice and Fire of Wheel of Time.
Any advice?

>>23760531
Unironically try using a "generic setting" that's popular like isekai/litrpg and put your own spin on it. There's a lot of writers like you.

>>23760503
my goal is to get people to read it and not necessarily make money

>>23760540
It's over then, books only exist to make money (right now)

>>23760540
Then post it online on as many sites as you can

>>23760530
It happened to me the same thing with a smaller book, and I learned the lesson.

You have to write down at the start what cannot be modified.

is it worth publishing on Royal Road?

>>23760575
I started my project by publishing it on Royal Road. However, after each chapter I wrote, I wanted to rewrite everything.

It's worth it only if you can handle this problem.

>>23758903
I don't think it's drawn-out in the number of fight scenes, but in the length of them. The creatures the characters fight are very cool, so well done, but you're devoting a lot of words describing every attack, every movement, like every choreographic step. Violence is often better described shorter and more shocking -- think of the tension in The Road, the lead up to the man shooting the scavenger, the quick snapshot of gore then their escape. There's the horror aspect to your writing, you're right, and horror thrives more on mystery and threat than action and exposure. I think if you can trim down the play-by-play of the fight scenes and instead spend those words on ominous atmosphere and character building, we'd get more chance to wonder about the misty setting and care more about the protagonists so more is at stake when the violence finally arrives. Just an idea, maybe good to keep in mind on your other anthology pieces. Good work anon, keep on writing.

>>23760559
Which is?

>>23760637
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Commandments

Write untouchable lore and accept minor losses for the sake of the project.

>>23760585
it's probably the easiest way to get readers as an amateur, if you write in its specific popular genres

>>23760585
>after each chapter I wrote, I wanted to rewrite everything

can you elaborate?

>>23760654
meant for
>>23760575

>>23760540
Either route, trad or self-publish, you're going to have to pay to do all your own advertising. But with self at least you keep 70% of the profits, recouping at least a little of the costs.

>>23760654
Yes, but not.

None of those readers will read anything of yours outside of litRPG.

>>23760661
>Write Chapter 12
>Oh, I can put this in chapter 1 to create a nice connection.
>Write Chapter 22
>Mr. X is now the villain. Let's put some hints about it in chapter 12.

etc...

>>23756957
Egglaying animals with huge clutches that can be guarded by a surplus of males or as >>23757009 said
Generally speaking, women are the biological bottleneck since they bear the brunt of resource investment in reproduction, this is especially true for mammals. This specific mode of reproduction would be most useful for when the female body doesnt matter or it isnt too strained by a huge amount of young.
Bees actually do the reverse of this where the male dies after mating the female stores male sperm for up to 20 years.

>>23760676
do you systematically publish each chapter on royal road?

>>23760676
>None of those readers will read anything of yours outside of litRPG
litrpg, cultivation, progression fantasy, super heroes, and anything obviously presented as wish fulfillment

But yes. The niche site is for its niche. Of course

is historical fiction the hardest genre of fiction you could possible write?

>>23760708
>hardest
From a research perspective maybe

What is the optimal size for a novel in terms of number of words?
>depends on the novel
A fantasy novel, for example.

>>23760695
I've stopped doing it and wrote an actual book instead. It's way more suitable for me.

>>23760705
A loyal niche may still be profitable if you write a 60k-word book a year.

>>23760712
>fantasy novel
Not specific enough. Varies. YA? Multi POV? Dark fantasy?
Don't even know what you mean by optimal. As in, what publishers want?
Vague posters are such a nuisance

>>23760721
>A loyal niche may still be profitable if you write a 60k-word book a year.
Um. Sure? Feels like a non-sequitur. Did you reply to the right person?

>>23760722
>YA
>Indifferent POV
It was an essentially speculative question: if you send a novel of 1,000,000 words, they won't even take it into account, due to its size. I was just curious to see what the "limit" is, because the fantasy genre usually has a high number of words. And I suppose so, from a publisher's point of view.

Do you ever get aroused by your own characters? I'm writing a hot spring scene now and the girls are understandably unclothed, and its getting pretty spicy.

>>23760743
100 - 120 for debut

>>23760488
Agents, not publishers.
You research which agents which are looking for stuff like your novel and are open to queries, and you send them queries.
Also, social media seems to be what's up lately. Not necessarily, but it may be a worth while evil if you manage to get a following.

>>23760791
Can a first timer even write 120k words that are quality? Seems like something reserved for established pros.

>first time writing a novel
> >30k words in, barely halfway through Act 1

i'm afraid it will end up like a muddled pool of slop by the end at this pace

>>23760802
no, but neither could they write 80k or 10k quality words lmao. It takes a long time to get good, easily several novels worth of practice at a minimum

am I a hack for noting down descriptions of sunsets, weather, etc from succesful writers instead of coming up with my own? their prose is too beautiful for me to not be inspired by their writing

>>23760335
Stephen King shits out 2k words a day. You can do that easily after work
>>23756191
>There was little else to gather anywhere else.
Really nigga? Else twice in your first sentence and it sounds like shit?
>>23757036
Good themeing and interesting but your chars tall like encyclopedias

>story is told in the perspective of two characters, shifting between their chapters
>in order to not get burned out and lose my tempo, I write 2-3 chapters of each characters before I change to the other one, even though they take place in different chronological order

anyone else do this? I find writing one chapter at a time (chapters that don't connect to each other) kinda makes me lose focus as I have to constantly revise

>>23760826
I do all of my preplanning before I start writing so I know where all of my references to previous chapters are for the most part.
I also don't switch between viewpoints, because it's omniscient.

>>23760806
I think Sanderson said he wrote 14 before getting published. I don't know how those guys do it. I'd have given in to despair by the second one.

>>23760816
>Stephen King shits out 2k words a day.
But are they good words worth keeping? Debatable.

File: 0_networth.png (39 KB, 634x288)

39 KB PNG

>>23760854
Apparently, it doesn't matter.

>>23760895
It shits me Rowling's worth a billion. I imagine most of that is from royalties from the movies.

>>23760918
This is a googleable question.

Book deals $851,730,000
Movie Deals $513,023,626
Video Sales $260,000,000
Merchandise $350,000,000
>Total JK Rowling Earnings $1,974,753,626

JK Rowling Salary (average) $94,035,887
JK Rowling Salary 2016) $78,683,571

Taxes -$888,639,132
Expenses -$296,213,044
Charitable Donations -$160,000,000
Investments $218,620,506
>JK Rowling Net Worth $848,521,956

>>23760895
>outclassed by Garfield
rekt

Is writing short stories the best way to improve as a writer?
It seems like a waste of time to just churn out entire novels

>>23760575
Eh, depends. Hasn't been for me so far, but I'm not writing to meta and already have a completed novel. I probably should've gone straight to KDP, but I wanted to use the RR readers as a wider pool of beta readers beyond the ones I already have. Posting it as a web novel's done more harm than good imo since I restructured the chapters for shorter, more frequent releases preferred by the audience making the overall pace feel slower.

>>23761123
you should "churn out" novels because you want to write novels
or churn out short stories because you want to write short stories
Why are you writing just to get better? Write because you want to write, and "getting good" will eventually follow

>>23761234
>shorter, more frequent releases preferred by the audience
Sorry if this is nitpicky, but RR generally likes bigger chapters, it's the algorithm that favors short fast chapters. I've never seen people complain about weekly 8k chapters, but often see complaints about <2k chapters at 4x a week, for example

do we have an irc channel

newbie here
how do you guys begin writing something?
I have a few character and story concepts floating in my head, most with one or very few charactes
how would you guys start putting those ideas to paper? any tips?

>>23758022
I think it's because her is a pronoun

>>23761362
just write. don't come up with stupid excuses, like how if you had X then writing would come easier. just write. put it down on paper/text software etc.

if it sucks, come back to it in a few years and redo it. if the idea is good, but your prose has improved, then you win. but you have to put it down first. just write.

>>23761362
It's fine to just start and see what happens, reworking as necessary
It's also fine to spend some time fleshing things out as much as you can before you begin
Doesn't matter. Just write. Maybe read a book on writing and watch some videos on the basics, if you feel totally lost

>>23761362
Write down the story like it's a greentext. Just bullet points from start to finish. No flourishes. Just facts.

Then make it a longer greentext. Maybe add a little dialog. Just the most important dialog. Then take make each individual scene its own greentext. Eventually you'll either have a chapter or several chapters.

>>23761395
this is not practical at all
you're probably not goign to have the entire story to write out in bullet points in the first place
and even if you had the bullet points, nobody writes from top down like anon here suggested, you're supposed to get a flow and write from start to finish, that results in the prose that is the most natural to read
but with the advent of computer writing this shit is ridiculously easy, you can rewrite everything on the go, go back, do whatever

>>23761362
I might get shit for this, but I'd suggest watching a few videos on what is expected in the world of modern writing. Teachers may tell you to use lots of fancy verbs in dialogue tags ("The cat is fat," he sputtered.) but don't do that, just say "he said." Stuff like that is a good habit to get into from the start.

>>23761402
>supposed to
No such thing in art

>>23761416
i quantified that if you desire natural prose yes you are supposed to write with the flow
prose is literally just storytelling, like analogous to oral telling of stories

>>23761412
>"The cat is fat," he sputtered.
Horrible example. Sputtered is one of the few dialogue tags that should actually be used when appropriate, because it gives a very specific mental image and would sound retarded trying to write out or describe

Any thoughts on using brand names in your writing? Do you do it? Do you avoid it? Why so?

>>23761420
Are you implying you can't have natural prose if you go back and edit passages to make them better? If so, truly an insane take

>>23761274
We have a 4chan thread and that is it. If you're looking for another type of writing community seek elsewhere.

>>23761427
no, but you should base the writing off of the natural flow from start to finish, i take it you wanted the guy to incrementally expand on the individual bullet points, but they should just act as a guide for actual writing from start to finish

>>23761429
i have, elsewhere is cancer

>>23761435
>but they should just act as a guide for actual writing from start to finish
>should
Says who?
All sorts of famous books came from detailed or iterated-upon outlines. Why are you making these claims so confidently?
Art can be created in all sorts of ways, there isn't a 'correct way' or anything you 'have to do' (or even necessarily 'should do')

>>23761402
I just told him to outline his story. If he doesnt have all the pieces to his story yet, the missing parts will become apparent when he outlines it.
>supposed to go with the flow
Good writing is rewriting, and this guy has no idea what he's doing. He's not going to nail it his first try. He has zero flow. But if he outlines it well he might at least figure out what to focus on.

Fucking baby steps. The guy needs a first draft.

>>23760531
I would advise you to learn when there is or is not an apostrophe in the words its at some point in your career as a writer.

>writing futuristic sci-fi on a different planet
>character i have in my mind is clearly asian with a heavy accent
>asia no longer exists as a place of origin/reference so just having my narrator be like "she's asian" would not only be jarring, but nonsensical
how do i describe this asian woman without sounding racist?

>>23761630
Describing how someone objectively looks is not racist. If she has slanty eyes then say it. It's 100% factually correct.

I flat out said my character has blond hair, blue eyes, and is white. If people want to saying I'm a nazi for it then so be it.

>>23761630
Just give her an obviously Asian sounding name. People will figure it out.

>>23761270
Not nitpicky at all. It's definitely an important consideration for anyone going this route. From the research I did beforehand, a lot of people were saying shorter chapters(around 2-3K) are preferred because most people read on mobile and it's hard to keep track of their place in longer chapters. I was also thinking of doing patreon with some advance chapters so the shorter chapters made more sense to burn through my backlog slower. But I think it did more harm than good overall since the first two chapters didn't end on as exciting cliffhangers as they originally did. When I go to Amazon in a few months I'm going back to the original 4-5K chapters.

>>23761630
>silky, shiny black hair which reached down to her back
>sparkling brown eyes tightly framed by narrow lids
>slender figure
would you guess that this woman is asian?

>>23761693
meant for >>23761654

I have a bunch of plot summaries from stuff and ideas I never wrote nor developed. If I were to collect them on a tome and publish it under the title "Plot Summaries for Imaginary Novels" or "The Best Thirty Books You Can't Read" or something like that, would that be avant-garde?

>>23760787
Hey, if you can't get it up for your characters, how will anyone else? A.I art makes it even worse since I play around with it for character designs, and the A.I gives them big tits and tight clothes by default.

>>23761123
It's the best way to improve at writing short stories. The difference in their lengths require two different skill sets for the most part.

>>23761693
NTA, but yes, though I think it's still clear without tightly. Makes me think more of a sign of aging.

>>23761714
>NTA, but yes, though I think it's still clear without tightly. Makes me think more of a sign of aging.
yeah i think you're right.

>>23761714
>A.I gives them big tits and tight clothes by default
Based AI

>>23760486
you should just keep the pages and keep writing,

>>23761630
>A malnourished, slant-eyed woman with skin the color of spoiled onions milk.

>>23761630
>By the still-smoking wreckage of the crashed automobile, he made out the short, scrawny figure of a woman. Her yellow skin glimmering in the oily light, she cast around the scene a succession of myopic glances from small, malicious eyes set to the flat plane of a scowling face like the bottom of a frying pan. Seeing him at last from a distance of two feet, she clutched his clothes with a pair of boney little hands.

>"OHHH YOU SEE ACCIDENT MISTER? YOU TERR PORICE HOW BUIRDING CUT ME OFF! U RIKE SUCKYFUCKY NO?" she caterwauled, bucktoothedly.

That oughta do it.

File: 2dc0c57b-e5df-4c6a-b63d-5(...).png (975 KB, 832x1216)

975 KB PNG

>>23761714
>A.I art
I do the same shit, post pic?

What AI do you guys use to do arts? Is it a website?

File: 1578334903699.png (436 KB, 760x298)

436 KB PNG

How do I become moderately commercially successful? I don't care if I have to write slop to do it

>>23762170
read the rr guide in OP

>>23761630
I had a similar problem. Eventually I just decided, fuck it, I'll describe her normally and most readers just wont figure out she's Asian. If some readers picture her as white it doesnt really matter.
>>23762026
Hahaha. Oh /lit/. Never change.

>>23757036
Your prose is in the no-mans land between flowery and simple. My honest advice is to say less

>>23761630
>>23762026
>For some indecernable reason all the overweight femoids on Nova Zero hated Captain Mynxx. Behind her back they made fun of her middle schooler body, and belittled her for refusing to dye her velvet black hair a garrish neon hue, or buzz cut one side of her head to look like she had recent brain surgery. In the showers, her falsetto mouse voice was the butt of many hurtful impression, but the other women would recoil in offence if Captain Mynxx ever rebuttaled with an immitation of their goose-like honking vocal-fry-- not that she ever did. They especially enjoyed stretching their eyelids apart and saying, "I'm Captain Mynxx. I'm 120 cm tall and practice the neo piano all day. All the boys love me because I wear a ton of makeup. Blah blah blah blah blah." But all of these girls would die alone. While they all hit the wall at 25 Captain Mynxx would continue to win the hearts of men with her adorable tiktoks, well into her 40s.

File: 1636659975250.png (11 KB, 470x454)

11 KB PNG

When writing do you save every chapter as a separate file for later compilation or do you do it in one big document?

>>23762473
Why the fuck would you separate them?

>>23762473
Before I write a novel, I do a couple of test chapters to figure out the POV and narration. But once I'm writing the actual novel, it's all in a single document.

>woman 1 leaves guy
>Guy gets new woman, woman 2
>Woman 1 becomes interested in guy again
What are some things woman 2 might do to try and show the guy that woman 1 is not genuine? I was thinking she'd challenge her to do something but I'm not sure what.

>>23755945
Why should I listen to anything a bunch of unpublished 4channers has to say on writing? It's the blind leading the blind isn't it? Reddit has much better writers.

>>23762473
I've done it both ways and settled on doing ~8k words per document (typically breaking out as two or three chapters per document) as a happy middle ground. I find once I get over 10k words a document becomes a pain in the dick to navigate.

>>23762491
Very easy to navigate - on big documents its harder to find something using that tiny slider/easy to lose your place. It feels great to have discrete sections you can write, do an initial edit of, and then just set aside as a complete file while you start on a clean/uncluttered document. Biggest downside is you can't do Control+F on entire document at once, but you should merge all drafts into a final document for the final edit anyway so I do it then.

>>23762582
Dude, use headlines. Name and number your chapters. Get a mouse with a scroll. You know ctr+f. Having to open and close separate documents is a hundred times more cumbersome than navigating a single document.

>>23762526
>Reddit
Lmao
From personal experience I can tell you that reddit is a shithole for writing. Either you follow what the thought police says you have to do and say, or get down voted into the void. It's all surface level advice and shit criticism that doesn't delve deep into what issues you or your story could have. It's unfertile ground for creativity.
4chan is no better, but at least it's more honest. There is no updoot bullshit, there's nothing to gain by being mild. People will give you their unfiltered opinion, good or bad. And that's what's valuable about this shit of a thread.
Never follow blindly, think beyond what you see. Learn to build your own judgement from multiple sources.

>>23762646
Yes I possess a mouse wheel. But when you're over 20k words into a project, how often are you editing those first 20k or 40k words while drafting? What is the point of having the entirety of the project up at once during drafting? It just clutters and makes things run slower for me - my process is to write a chapter, do an edit that week, then move on to the next chapter until final readthrough round of edits.

The other big benefit of separate documents is you instantly know your chapter wordcount at all times without having to scroll around and highlight a subsection of text.

>>23763061
>What is the point of having the entirety of the project up at once during drafting?

You have to be able to go back and see what you wrote and what happened. Sometimes changes you make later mean you have to go back to an earlier point and change something else. Having many files can be very cumbersome.

But everybody has their own process. Do what works for you.

File: downsized.png (1.49 MB, 1892x1388)

1.49 MB PNG

I want to thank the anons that commented on my book when I first shared it here. You told me it needed a lot of editing, and you were right. Well, after a long time, I finally finished editing it. It’s not perfect, but I think it’s in a much better state, and I’ve learn a lot in the process.

My book is free on amazon if anyone wants to take a look.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09KKYD9K9

>>23755945
how do i into the mechanics of poetry? someone told me hunted doesn't rhyme with hinted and i simply could grasp why

asking this here cuz the poetry general is ded

>>23762251
I feel it's a choice of either blindingly obvious caricature name, like JK Rowling, or post on twitter years later that it was really whatever race is in vogue with the creative world by that time, like JK Rowling.

>>23763061
I go back and reread and reference past chapters all the goddamn time. Separating them would be so impractical, my head would explode, but to each their own, I guess.
>you instantly know your chapter wordcount at all times
What does that even matter? A chapter is as long as it needs to be.

>>23763403
Good job anon. I have taken a note of your title, maybe I'll give it a read when I push through what I'm currently reading.

>>23763867
I appreciate your words. If you find the time to read it, I hope you enjoy it.

I just don't want to write today

>>23764381
That's why I work by weekly quotas instead of daily

>>23764429
How many words is your quota?

>>23764442
8k

I write approximately 300 words a day.

Is this good pacing. I feel I need to slow my pace down to make sure what I write is good.

>>23764684
It's decent.
Don't fully worry on getting it right on the first time. That's what revisions are for.

>>23764702
True, but I do want things to be a least somewhat presentable the first time around. It doesn’t need to be perfect, but I don’t want to spew out literary diarrhoea either.

I heard somewhere that James Joyce apparently wrote at a similar pace, so that’s encouraging. Whenever I hear of people writing 1k+ words in a day, I can’t help but wonder how many of those words are good.

File: Alfred_Khamidullin_Qarth.jpg (164 KB, 1000x1112)

164 KB JPG

>>23755945
So I found GRRM's triple walls of Qarth a cool idea I wanted for a city whose people strongly believe in defense of depth.

What are some alternative ways to wall a city with that philosophy in mind, without it being a triple wall? I thought maybe small little forts all inside and outside the first wall to make taking it after the first wall much harder.

>>23764718
Chill dude, you're not James Joyce. Write what you are compelled to write, and then revise. You may not have your best lines currently, but once you have your whole thing written down, you will come back with a clearer mind and will find it easier to make each line hit harder.

Written nearly 3000 words since this time yesterday.

File: horror short.png (40 KB, 606x618)

40 KB PNG

I'm trying my hand at horror. My culprit for why the Crandalls are acting so strange is either going to be some interdimensional mold that is growing behind their walls or some strange plant that leaked neurotoxins into their water supply which do you find would be more interesting.

>>23764684

300 is decent enough Joyce wrote 90s words a day but didn't know which order they went in but 300 is a steady amount if you don't want to tax or overexert yourself.

Brand names. y/n?

>>23764684
>he writes daily
that's the secret
>tfw some days I read over what I've read and only "write" a sentence or two

>>23764989
Hi George RR Martin

any tips on writing a good conspiracy mystery centered around a secretive smuggling operation? How can you make it interesting to investigate?

>>23764965
Speaking for myself, no. I don't want to incur the wrath of some deep-pocketed company because they think I showed their product in a bad light.

https://strawpoll.com/XOgOVVlNrn3
Which is best?
https://litter.catbox.moe/rur7b9.txt

I've never been very good at writing humor, but I am getting better at it. Can I get away with telling the same joke over and over, as long as I change the punchline up? Imagine a whole bunch of jokes all with a very similar set up, but different puchlines. Is that okay?

>>23765471
No. You can't fill your novel with "deez nuts" jokes.

File: what2.jpg (136 KB, 1055x722)

136 KB JPG

>>23763403
I'll be honest anon, I have no idea what you're writing. Call me a midwit or a retard allyou like, but this shit makes no sense to me.

>>23764684
I do this too, slow and steady and checking the whole way. 500 or 750 would be better (but not at cost of quality, more to feel like I'm making quicker progress). I feel better if I'm basically getting it right (ish) on the first or 2nd go so you're not stuck in endless drafting.

>>23764941
Holy run-ons anon

>>23764989
>some days I read over what I've read and only "write" a sentence or two
That's me on most days

File: schizo.jpg (117 KB, 1377x171)

117 KB JPG

>>23761425
Yes, I think it's fine as long as its relevant. If your story is about a tennis player, it's probably important to mention the kind of gear he uses so the audience understands if it's low-quality garbage or fancy pro athlete stuff. And if your readers are tennis players too, they'll relate to it more. But it would be off base to mention his computer is a Dell X438 Celeron for literally no reason..

But sometimes you'll get readers like pic who can't stand it at all.

>>23764941
Neurotoxins in the water supply seems creepier. This has potential, but you need to start with the cop on the doorstep with the flies and broken buzzer. Draw the creepy present before you fill in the exposition on the past year of calls. Describe the boarded-up windows of the neighbors' houses, the rotting trainers flung over the powerlines, whatever else, before zeroing on the Crandalls' place as the worst of the bunch.

>>23764965
Only to illustrate a character's materialism - Bateman listing his colleagues' clothing designers - or their knowledge and expertise - Reacher noting his preference for a Glock over a Magnum. It doesn't always make the character a consumerist though: it could be a poor lovable widow's (attainable) dream to one day own a Honda, not a Ferrari.

File: American Gothic Fiction: (...).jpg (21 KB, 707x1000)

21 KB JPG

>>23764941
Perhaps you could benefit from some remedial education.

>>23762473
I used to save every chapter as a separate .doc file, until it came time to edit and I had to combine/split chapters, so it became a real hassle. Now I just use one long ongoing file.

>>23765545
I don't see the problem. Depending on when the story is set, a dude still using Netscape Navigator can reveal a lot about his personality.

So far I've created 17 words in my made-up language. It's been surprisingly fun.

File: IMG_5161.jpg (260 KB, 1198x566)

260 KB JPG

>decide I’m going to write a fantasy story based of my recent trip to Nepal and the Himalayas
>how long could it possibly be?
>rough draft version that’s supposed to be my sparknotes has just passed 10k words, and the characters have only just (in the real life equivalent) gotten off the plane and into the hotel
at this rate the rough draft alone is going to possibly be 70k words. Final draft could be 100k minimum, and I’m beginning to understand why all fantasyslop is 400 pages

>>23765784
Let me guess, pages upon pages of dull world building.

>>23765803
Yes!

It's been a few months since I dropped my 400k webnovel, and honestly, I feel more confident than ever writing the next draft of the story in a commercial publishing matter. For a very long time I was resistant to commercializing it but I'm confident I can write a good enough LotGH-like story and get over my fears about not making it original enough We're all gonna make it bros, I cheer you on fellow broken and extremely jaded crabs in this dreadful bucket of ours.

>>23764728
Internal divisions separated by more walls, citadel in the centre.

>21,000 words (~77 pages)
>still haven't got to the inciting incident yet

I guess there's been a few smaller ones along the way so it's okay, but the big kick-off hasn't happened yet.

i haven't been writing, i have been playing videogames. that is all

>>23765967
write me a post about the video games you've been playing

>>23762026
outstanding

File: 8x20ydlwizs31[1].png (254 KB, 570x607)

254 KB PNG

>>23765896
I like that idea. I think I'll have it kind of like Attack on Titan's walls but with straight walls splitting up the circular sections kind of like the Simon Says toy

File: 1642929752836.jpg (54 KB, 638x588)

54 KB JPG

>Come back home after a month of holiday
>Writing has completely gone into the drain
Holy shit bros it's so bad.

I thought I was just gonna write like 250 words before I went to sleep. Instead I ended up writing 1100 words of a sex scene, and went two hours over bed time.
Maybe I should have jerked off earlier.

Can somebody be honest with me? How bad is it for debut straight male authors? Is the female hegemony in publishing real? Do I actually have a chance or is it all in vain?

>>23766366
Don't worry about that until you have your novel written.

>>23766370
I'm on the final revisions which is why I am thinking about this stuff now.

>>23766082
get back on the fucking horse, faggot.
this tireless pursuit - this sisyphean march - it waits for no one! I believe in you!

>>23766376
Then the main thing to worry about is to find a good agent that is looking for the sort of thing you've written. Learn how to make a good query letter and market your book. Many will ask you a one-page summary and one-sentece summary, figure those out.
Despite the over-insistance in inclusivity and all that, straight white men still sell, because at the end of the day what publishers care is if your book sells.

File: venus2.jpg (32 KB, 640x381)

32 KB JPG

My fever-inducing 'play' is finished.
Not "finished" -- there's probably still some formatting to clean up and maybe some dialogue to improve -- but for the most part it's done. Just over 5000 words; not bad for a glorified shitpost.

https://files.catbox.moe/w1sozd.pdf

>>23766389
Thank you, I needed this. You're right, the best I can do is refine my query and hope for the best.

>>23766366
Depends entirely on your genre and age demographic. Writing YA? Yeah, you're basically fucked nowadays, especially if your protagonist is also male. Writing middle grade or adult, men still have a decent chance or are even still the majority in a few genres.

>>23766458
It's not YA, more literary fiction than anything else, and isn't fantasy/scifi/romance/historical fiction. I'm not sure what genre it is. But the target demographic is young men 16+

File: Cultist_simulator_cover.png (72 KB, 356x200)

72 KB PNG

I'm thinking a lot about visuals these days. Not because I want to commission a cover or anything, but if a single image can perfectly summarize the very core of the story, I think it's probably a good sign.

For example Cultist Simulator (video game but whatever) has this image front and center, in one format or another in pretty much everywhere it goes. Steam page, desktop icon, and so on. Yet this is entirely a marketing icon. The character featured doesn't appear in the game, and she's not exactly a stand-in for the player avatar, as you cannot do the act of peeling away your own face in the game. Her entire purpose is to express the idea of
>There are eldricht things hidden behind the polite mask of society
Making the visual more striking than a generic eldricht symbol or monster that would've slipped out of your head as soon as you're done focusing on it. But the act of a woman tearing off her face to reveal her hidden nature is simple to remember because it's an idea before it's a drawing. The color palette, the big hat and glowing eyes don't matter much, they're just tools to draw your eye in, whether you're looking for the game on your desktop or scrolling through the steam "New releases" page. The quality of the artstyle simply serves to reassure potential customers about the competence of the development team (and at the same time, downplaying their expectations with a stylized look akin to what they'd actually find in-game, rather than something photorealistic). These are importants to get a sale, but they don't express the idea of the entire work, that's what the basic concept of the drawing is for

I am also remembering two differents examples from very differents sources on the subjects.
>The first is Brandon Sanderson. In one Q&A or another on Rythm of War, he said he had the vision of a knight jumping off a tower towards a black storm below in his mind for years. I didn't like the book he was talking about much, but it's still a visual symbol of the core conflict of his book series : the knight, the tower, the dark storm all work just as well on their own, he just wrote them into the story
>That dumb meme of Thomas the Tank Engine referencing the Cask of Amontillado.

Do you have something like that, anon? A visual idea you try to keep in your mind like a guiding star?

>>23766366
>>23766485
am i crazy to suggest pretending to be trans?
it's seemingly a win-win so long as you have no self-respect.
of course if you _do_ make it...

>>23766774
Don't do it anon
If you have to do it, you can be cheeky and talk about "your partner" though. But I don't think anything good will come of it. Just try it the normal way first at least.

>>23766774
Self-respect aside, if you're publishing traditionally you're not going to be able to remain anonymous and if people find out you're lying, your career's basically destroyed. Not worth the risk imo.

File: Young male writers are doomed.png (71 KB, 592x334)

71 KB PNG

>>23766366
You're doomed as far as tradpubbing goes, but don't take my word for it...

File: Screenshot 2024-09-03 at (...).png (3.72 MB, 2381x1155)

3.72 MB PNG

im trying to find a place that will take this story. anyone know of a place with the stomach ?

>>23766774
Seems way too risky and unfortunately I have a modicum of self respect.
>>23766948
It's really true isn't it. Fuck my life this is all I've ever wanted and it's dead in the water before I can even try.

File: Statuette-The-Witch-king-(...).jpg (43 KB, 680x574)

43 KB JPG

>>23766995
>Fuck my life this is all I've ever wanted and it's dead in the water before I can even try.
>Thank god, I've been given a reason to say it's not even worth trying, and now I don't have to
WEAK
E
A
K

>>23767002
maybe you're right
I didn't think about this at all when I was writing

>>23767012
not bad anon. Is this the start of a novel?

>>23767017
Thank you, and yes, that's the very beginning of a short story I'm working on as a side project to a bigger novel.

>>23767012

I've been to the region you mention countless times and you do a great description of envisioning the valleys and cave houses. It reminds me of Roberto Bolano a little.

>>23765554
>>23765599

I'm going to rework it for the next thread I want it to feel more inspired by Hodgson than Lovecraft but there's going to be DNA of both and maybe a little bit of Ligotti in there for when I come to describe how run down everything is. I should've focused on that more and how unnerved the cop is approaching the house to create a more unsettling atmosphere before introducing one of the Crandalls. I've thought of taking this in both directions maybe have the strain of plant be a new species one from here or another dimension perhaps the previous owner was a botanist who let it overrun their house and that's how it managed to get into the water supply maybe it eventually found a way to infect the town too.

>>23767012
I think the voice feels a little voice in first person. I think since you're 99.9% not an old man, the inherent wisdom that comes with age seems very lacking in this piece. not to say that its not possible to convincing inhabit the vocabulary and voice of anyone with the right prose, this is'nt it. I'd recommend trying this out in third-person and allowing yourself to play with the prose as a writer little more instead of being stuck in the vernacular of this man.

>>23767069
Thanks, I've stayed at those caves a couple times too. The landscape and the way of living of the people there impacted me so that when I sat down to write something as a fun side thing to my main project this instantly came up.

>>23767113

I'm more familiar with Alicante than I am Murcia but I know them both well you could easily imagine some off grid Hills Have Eyes style family or gangs just laying low there. Spain has a great backdrop for potential kino novels or cinema but nothing is ever really done with it sadly.

>>23767111
Thanks for the criticism. I get you are saying about the inherent wisdom with age thing, but this isn't what I'm aiming for. The man is in his 60s, which I don't think is that old, hasn't received an education, grew up in post war Spain, this guy is far from the old wise sage archetype. He might think of himself as righteous and wise, but he murders another man later on over a menial dispute. He is just as brutal as his surroundings are, in a natural way. As for the vernacular and voice of the character, you might have a point, I guess. I'm going for a southern USA thing because I feel like that's how people from my character's region would talk if they spoke English, if that makes any sense. And about swapping to 3rd person, let me tell you, if this text in first person doesn't sound right to you, you would hate it if I tried 3rd. Also I feel like 1st does a better job at making the story more personal, closer to the reader. Anyways this is just the first few words and maybe some of the problems you mention will clear themselves up later on.

>>23760816
>Really nigga? Else twice in your first sentence and it sounds like shit?
only one comment and it's a stylistic error in the first paragraph
Yeah, I think that >>23760854 has a point: youre not a very good judge.

That fucker in the mirror's gonna make me write again tonight, I just know it.
Bitchass muse motherfucker.

>>23767190
it doesn't matter if you grew up in the area. im saying the vernacular doesn't work. this rings really untrue, and this is evidenced bye you saying you're affecting a southern us accent. that's actual the crux go my critique, get rid of this south us voice, you are not from there. imagine if I someone who knows nothing about Spain or Spanish tries to capture the vernacular of someone from Madrid? makes no sense. use a more truthful voice, try and find it, because this voice does not work. choose more honest words. you can keep the story and the psychology of the character and the setting but this guy sounds like chicken lawyer form Futurama

>>23766959
what is this?

>>23767012
I like how paragraph blocks are now the accepted norm

>>23767261
I could have written it in Castilian but then you wouldn't have understood it, eh?

>>23767012
I think you could lose the first paragraph.

>>23767314
>What part of the south? Do you know what region you are emulating?

I was aiming for Arkansas. Clay Newcomb would be an example of what I imagine the man sounding like. Also as I said before I do appreciate your comment and that you took the time to read my text.

Can someone versed in literary theory explain to me what the difference is between a "problem" and a "weakness" for a character?

>>23761714
>The difference in their lengths require two different skill sets for the most part.
Such as?

>>23767348
A problem might be external, a weakness is internal.

File: socleyton.jpg (12 KB, 360x360)

12 KB JPG

I went to the druglord at Rocinha to inquire what I should do. The druglord revealed to me that I was the monkiest of all Brazilians. I was amazed by this statement. I did not believe that I was the monkiest, and I still don't. But I am going to prove this statement by robbing those who have a reputation for education.
And the oracle said I, Socleyton, was the wisest of all Brazilians, for I alone knewIwasamonkey

>>23767324
I agree it's a weak paragraph, but I wouldn't just scrap it. I want the man to give an excuse for his writing. It's something he has never done, it's weird for him. He is letting go of a great burden by telling his story but he still wants to keep up the appearance of "yeah I'm just clearing some things up before I go, this is the real story, I'm not actually an evil man" and so on. I want to make it so that that judgement is for the reader to do anyways. Yeah I rushed that first paragraph just to get to the next ones.

>>23767348
It doesn't matter because all flawed characters suck.
I can't relate to them at all.

File: pepe.jpg (59 KB, 528x522)

59 KB JPG

>>23767392
>implying he has no flaws
so, you only write mary sue characters?

>>23767401
I exclusively write self-insterts who make no mistakes and only suffer defeat to make their victories seem greater by contrast, which is almost autobiographical, now that I think about it.

>>23767369
To elaborate on that, I think a problem is a consequence of a weakness
>Weakness : the character like drinking too much
>Problem : the character wakes up in the gutter with no memories of last night

>>23767410
sounds incredibly boring
>self-insterts
illiterate

>>23767447
Illiterate?
All my characters are literately me.
Bazinga!

>>23767454
>literately
still illiterate

>>23767502
Do you not get it?
Are you dense?
Are you a clod?
I am cleverly joshing you, my good autist.

So do agents who take queries care about my twitter following at all? Because goddamn I feel like the world's biggest asshole shilling myself on twitter and I don't even think I'm getting any followers besides other writers also trying to get engagement

>>23767348
Problems are based and drive discussion, people sperg more about Shakespeare's Problem Plays than anything else he wrote. Weakness means boring

>>23766366
That's why you pick a gender ambiguous pen name, like Pat, so no one knows what you are and can't target you.

>>23766948
How do they even know they're white? Are they including a head shot with their manuscript? When you apply to government jobs they specifically ask you not to divulge your race so you can't claim discrimination later. I can't imagine editors are specifically asking who is white and who isn't.

>>23767766
But if he uses a pen name, how will the babes believe him when he tell them he's a writer?

>>23767787
He introduces himself IRL as his pen name. They won't check his driver's license.

>>23767699
They'll care if you have enough to care about. If you don't, they'll go "This odd fellow is making sure to mention that he isn't very popular! Oh, what queerness! What a fool!"

>>23767012

As the other anon noted, it sounds ridiculous. You're ostensibly in Spain and saying stuff like "this here ain't something I want...?"

Even "badlands" sounds stupid for a place like Spain.

>>23768009
thanks for agreeing with me. could you please give feedback on my piece found here >>23766959

How often do you do time skips in your stories and by how much?

I already did a two year time skip. Not sure if I want to do another one too.

File: Screenshot 2024-09-03 at (...).png (885 KB, 1172x1226)

885 KB PNG

looking for some feedback on this piece would appreciate feedback on voice and flow thanks!

>>23768307
if that's what the story calls for then sure. stories need decades to be told.

>>23768009
Funny enough Spaniards have taken to use the word badlands to describe that region and landscape. Before they just used desert, which a bit of an umbrella term.

As for how it sounds, I try to make it sound distinct from how an urban Spaniard would talk. I feel like there's parallels between how southerners talk and how people from that spanish region talk, when it comes to sounds and the like. And I want to emphasize that distinction between urban/educated/modern and rural/uneducated/old, and the language the man uses is a way of reflecting that.

>>23768009
It's kinda like how in hunt for the red October they are always speaking Russian but you hear them in English, you feel me?

>>23768344
stop making excuses for your work. take the critique. all of these justifications actually go against you because none of the things you are telling me you are doing it are actually witnessed in the prose.

File: file.png (32 KB, 706x704)

32 KB PNG

>another day spent fucking around with worldbuilding instead of actually writing
Anyways, here's a cool flag I made

>>23768388
>just take the critique bro just do it.
I'm trying to but I just feel like it's a weak point you are trying to make. If I wrote it in say plain UK English instead of hillbilly or whatever, would you still be jarred by it because a Spaniard wouldn't speak like a plain Englishman?
I've already said why I chose writing it like that, I feel like it's the closest thing in English to how they speak in that spanish region. At least point out how would you write it?

>>23768436

' At least point out how would you write it'
it's not just me pointing this out to you. but this question of yours is ridiculous, thats your job as writer. I can point to your writing and say your voice is weak because it feels forced and not organic. I can tell you an honest voice, one that is uniquely yours will never ring false. The life blood good writing is a believable yet unique voice. are you a new writer? this is quite a common mistake as a new writer who is still finding their voice. I would say you need to work on writing from a perspective that is uniquely yours. Just trust me, what you got here is not the direction you want to go down

>>23768426
Pretty cool flag, thanks for sharing

>>23768426
Walk us through the symbology of this one?

>took an hour to write 100 words describing character's outfit
Worst part is I'll probably cut it and re-do it all in the next draft anyway.

>>23768521
Anon ponders profusely, constantly pussyfooting around his prose. For every word written two are deleted. Worried he is about what readers might think of his work, when he'll be the only one.
An unrequited love for self.

>>23768460
We were done burying little Joseph by noon. It was the hottest day I've ever gotten through in my entire life. The cicadas were screeching over the priest's words like they were trying to silence him and stop his holy words from reaching our ears. We weren't paying much attention to them anyways. Mother was sobbing in Eva's arms while me and my brothers lowered him into his final resting place. His was a simple tombstone. Only his name and his age. To me something didn't feel right during the whole ordeal. I couldn't shed a tear even if I tried to, even if it was just for my mother to see, like my brothers did. I still wonder how they did it. I felt like in a dream, and every step, every movement I made was as if I were moving through tar. I think the realization really hit me when we filled the hole with the last shovel of dirt. I remember it like it was yesterday, that hole filled with that dirt that was everywhere in that place, reflecting the sun burning your eyes like white gold, yet turbulent and full of impurities. If you looked closed enough you could make out the bits of esparto, granite and quartz among the gritty sand. My brother was under all that dirt. And then it hit me. I left the funeral alone and headed home.

Ok how is this for the voice? Better? More believable?

>>23768500
It's for a post-apocalyptic nation.
The stars (or sparks issuing from the fire) represent the five founding cities, the fire itself stands for both survival and community.
The blue bar is a river, and the black bar is the fertile soil which it irrigates.

>>23768536
Beautiful, and highly accurate, poem.

>>23767540
No, you're mindlessly trolling. I fear your writing is just as uncreative as your posting.

>>23768102

To tell you the truth, I can't stand this kind of writing. Present tense and "I do this" "I do that..." Maybe somebody else who reads stuff like this can help you.

>>23768309

It does get hliarious towards the end. Thanks for a good laugh.

>>23768564

NTA, but it's an improvement. Really though if you are going to write in first person from the POV of a non-English speaker and you are writing in English, most wrtiers who have done this successfully have written it as though that person was a non-native English speaker. The degree to which you make them ESL is up to you, but there is always some level of ESL when you read it. This can mean a simplification of the language or it can mean adopting a kind of pidgeon. Listen to the way that a Spanish speaker (in your case an old man) would speak English (assumig he has a reasonable command of it) and that's how you would write it. He wouldn't be speaking like a American southerner or hillbilly. Most likey he would still be throwing in some of his own language. He wouldnt' say "little Joseph" but something like Joselito, etc. Instead of saying "the priest," he might say the padre, because htat's how he would think of him. Get into his mind, pretend he immigrated to American ten or twenty years ago and is now telling his story to a good friend. How would it come out? It's not going to come out in perfect English or with all-American terms.

File: HAM_Booth_E_01_front-1.jpg (395 KB, 497x800)

395 KB JPG

There are many books on how to write but is there any guidance specifically about how to write good characters? Preferably from actual authors?

if (you) don't already write consistently, reading about writing is pure procrastination.

I like writing but I'm not into coming up with my own stories.

Any suggestions for basic books about learning grammar, sentence length and other basic writing stuff?

>>23768962
What do you write then?

>>23768962
Write fanfics then?

>>23769050
Even fanfics have original stories (or parts that are original).

>>23768974
Kindergarten?

>>23769091
>>23769091
>>23769091

>>23769133
I'm suddenly aroused right now.

>>23769082
No, just basic explanations for somebody who has no idea how to write.
Things like:
>the standard for long sentences
>the standard for short sentences
and so on...

wow, look at this pile of crap: https://files.catbox.moe/d9sukc.zip
and these bundles of joy: https://files.catbox.moe/aw9gz2.pdf https://files.catbox.moe/rpuvnd.pdf