how retarded would it be if I join the navy so that I can get life experience for my writing? I am a good writer on a technical level, but I'm also a coddled bitch with very few interesting life stories. how important is it that writers live a great life to make great work?
>>24729113Very important. Do it. Conrad did it. It will be worth it, unless you fuck it up.
>>24729113>how important is it that writers live a great life to make great work?Why would joining the Navy be a "great life"?
>>24729113not the stupidest reason to joinbeing the kind of guy who has stories to tell is strictly better for being a writer than a guy who doesn’tyou can’t expect to be a shut-in like Emily Dickinson and have a readerbase in this day and age
>>24729183at least it's better than scrolling this retarded anime website and working a useless remote tech job all day
>>24729113I'd say what makes a great writer great, is having a unique voice. They have something to say and the ability to capture it meaningfully. Plenty of people have come close to execution and were sent to prison, but there's only one Dostoevsky.The value of new and interesting experiences, is that it compels you to develop that unique perspective. I think the internet has ruined that for a lot of us, and while you can argue television and radio got the ball rolling on that front, the immediacy of the internet bombarding us with information and opinions, stifles many people from ever truly developing their own. Instead parroting the thoughts of a select few talking heads that they trust to represent them.But in regard to the question of joining the Navy, theres benefits either way. A pension if you stay long enough, healthcare, consistent pay, physical activity. And since the average person entering the military isn't typically the most educated, you can probably do decently well on the ASVAB, and get a non-shit job.
Honestly in this era it doesn’t matter what you do or don’t do. Unless you have an MFA and write about leftist pet interests you won’t get any notoriety, which is a pre-requisite to get recognized for great work. Anyway, it’s not this romantic adventure filled thing you’re thinking of anymore. All the romance and adventure has been stripped out of pretty much everything everywhere. So just write. The best job is not an adventurous one but one that allows you to write.
>>24729113I know tons of writers that are veterans. It actually seems pretty common. They write absolute schlock men’s fiction, but some have made pretty good careers with it. Larry Correia is a good example, who was a military contractor and just writes books and guns and fighting monsters.I think a large part of it might be their good military retirement where they have lots of time.But, honestly, unless you really think it’s a good idea and fits your lifestyle not having autonomy for years on end, I wouldn’t do it. But I’m lazy and like my independence.
>>24729113The military is basically a corporate job these days. You'll have to train hard and chase an interesting specialty if you want to have an experience that is noteworthy for being anything other than the most tedious endurance marathon of bad management that you'll ever face.
>>24729113It's better than being a coddled bitch, but if you want to live interestingly to have something to write about, you could probably find something better to do. Especially if you're coddled in the having money sense. At least talk to a Navy vet before you sign up.
>>24729113you don't need to join the navy to go outside and live your life anon.
>>24729254I have a cushy remote 6-figure tech job that I fell upwards into, which involves tapping at spreadsheets, sending emails, and hosting zoom meetings. I lucked into a top-tier college not because of my extraordinary efforts, but because of economic advantages and personal tutors. My friend group consists of almost exclusively professional managerial class finance and tech-bro types. I spent most of my childhood and adolescence on the internet or in the classroom. The most exciting stories I have to tell are about the restaurants I’ve eaten at, the books I’ve read, and the boring consumerist trips I have taken.I am essentially the epitome of upper-middle class mediocrity. I can write a decent essay about critical theory, but when it comes to fiction I keep thinking to myself -- who gives a fuck what I have to say? I am getting to the point where I feel that I need to blow up my life in some way to get out of this funk. Although on paper I have little to complain about, I am deeply unhappy. My childhood dreams were always about becoming an adventurous man of action, and my comically boring reality is a spit in the face of them. I am getting older, in my late twenties now, and after realizing how quickly time passes, am starting to feel that I need to do something drastic before it is too late and the last remnants of youth are gone. >>24729253I think this is my main fear. Is the spirit of adventure gone from the military as well? If that's the case it wouldn't be worth all the sacrifices.
The greatest war novel all of a time was written by a young man who had never been to war, had never been in the army, and had never been in a fight.You’re just retarded.
>>24729299The navy is absolutely not the branch to join if you're looking for adventure. It's months at a time in a concrete box or behind a desk in a base. You're in your late twenties the military doesn't want people like you anyway. You're too successful financially and you've had too much life experience, youd intimidate your CO's. Besides think about your fellow sailors, you're gonna be slumming it in the galley with some nineteen year olds, bitching about the marines you have to ferry about and jerking off because you're too good of a person (and a little afraid of the stds to be fair) to slam one of the navy sows.You feel like nobody cares about what you have to say, you're right. Make em. Lie, everybody else does. Save your money for a year and then stay in a bunch of dirt bag motels getting drunk on bad liquor, then write about what you wanted to happen while you weren't working. Or go to a cheap country and bang a bunch of who'ores y'know? Don't throw your life away.
>>24729299If you have money use it to travel and know new people you idiot. Go and know people from different backgrounds, artists, poor, workers, bums, old farts. These guys usually have a story to tell. Get into a church randomly in Europe and talk to the priest. Travel to a bum fuck nowhere village in Europe and record their myths and folklore. Get to know some weirdos on the internet who are hyper fixiated on something, again, usually artists and creators. To being more concrete I suggest doing one of the old pilgrimage paths in Europe like Santiago's way, because it lets you get around different historical buildings and people. Look up the concept of grand tour for nobility in europe. Also read books. You won't get good only "doing" random shit.Going in shit jobs is an experience but you would get better by knowing cool people and places instead.>t. Worker like a grunt in a factory
>>24729113I wish I could join the navy but I fucked up my ankle, so I doubt I'd get in. If it's the merchant navy I'd avoid it as I've heard from a couple people that the merchant navy is just some ethnic melting pot where no one speaks English anymore.
>>24729113Eh. Might be an interesting experience anyways, but as for writing material unless you can write about boredom like Thomas Heggen in Mister Roberts you might not find that much. Unless you're joining the Philippines Navy in which case you can write an epic poem about battling a Chinese coast guard ship.The Coast Guard sounds fun. Imagine telling people you're in the Coast Guard. It's quaint :)
>>24729197My friend's dad is a first mate on a boxship. He said that 80% of his job is doomscrolling through sat and keeping an eye on Malaysian crewmen so that they don't steal too much. The remaining 20% are paperwork.
>>24729197>anime websiteIt's a twitter/reddit screencap site
just travel if your job is remote. central america. afghanistan. etc. eastern europe. El Salvador after the gang crackdown was nice. A lot of happy faces with joy for the future.
Being in the Navy is extremely boring, it's mostly just paperwork and chores. Definitely not the job if you want an adventure.
>>24729197At least a 4chan shitposter isn't wasting millions of tax dollars.
Go merchant marine. It pays better and the contract is shorter. You’ll still get your maritime experience and there’s a smaller chance you’ll eat a Chinese hypersonic missile.
>>24729113You've got the right idea OP although perhaps the Navy might not be the ideal choice. A writer must have raw material. That raw material must be interesting. There is a reason there a loads of war novels but very few novels about working in an insurance company. I have used a lot of my life experiences in my fiction. See pic related.
I pretty much live through my writings so I suspect if my real life was actually interesting and adventurous I wouldn't feel the need to write.
>>24729113>join the navy >so that I can get life experienceAren't there bars for that sort of thing?
>>24729299>My childhood dreams were always about becoming an adventurous man of action, and my comically boring reality is a spit in the face of them.Right there. Write about that. Critique of mediocre modernity and the longing for something more.
