"dark night of the thread" editionPrevious: >>25532312/wg/ AUTHORS & FLASH FICTION: https://pastebin.com/ruwQj7xQ (embed)RESOURCES & RECOMMENDATIONS: https://pastebin.com/nFxdiQvC (embed)Please limit excerpts to one post.Give advice as much as you receive it to the best of your ability.Discuss the written works below for practice; contribute, and you shall receive.If you have not performed a cursory proofread, do not expect to be treated kindly. Edit your work for spelling and grammar before posting.Expect critique, not praise.Shitposters should be ignored and reported.>Beginner guides on writing:[YouTube] Improve your Writing: Show, Not Tell (embed) (Improve your Writing: Show, Not Tell) [6:08][YouTube] George Orwell's 4 Tips For Speaking Clearly (embed) (George Orwell's 4 Tips For Speaking Clearly) [23:00][YouTube] How to Show, Not Tell: The Complete Writing Guide (embed) (How to Show, Not Tell: The Complete Writing Guide) [27:19]>Intermediate guides on writing:https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48654.Storyhttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3097766-borges-on-writinghttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23056.Image_Music_Text>Advanced guide on writing:Just do it.
close this and write today
>>25535535I will once I learn what happened to the last thread
>>25535552I wonder who gets >>25535555
>>25535552Probably some stupid faggot writing genreslop sperged out. That doesn’t happen with writers of real fiction.
>>25535611Maybe the OP posted cheese pizza somewhere else and they scrubbed all his posts just to be safe
>>25535535ok
>>25535535Write now!
>>25535531>The Story Grid>Written by Shawn Coyne>The Story Grid is a tool developed by editor Shawn Coyne to analyze stories and provide helpful editorial comments. It’s like a CT Scan that takes a photo of the global story and tells the editor or writer what is working, what is not, and what must be done to make what works better and fix what’s not.>The Story Grid is a tool with many applications:>1. It will tell a writer if a Story “works” or “doesn’t work.”>2. It pinpoints story problems but does not emotionally abuse the writer, revealing exactly where a Story (not the person creating the Story . . . the Story) has failed.>3. It will tell the writer the specific work necessary to fix that Story’s problems.>4. It is a tool to re-envision and resuscitate a seemingly irredeemable pile of paper stuck in an attic drawer.>5. It is a tool that can inspire an original creation.Has anyone read this? It sounds like another formulaic writing style guide, but I could be wrong.
>>25535535I did! I have written every day for the past week, I'm very proud of myself. I'm over the halfway mark on my first book!
My brother has some extra laptops for me to use for writing. He has a Mac and one with Windows. Which should I take? I obviously have much more experience with Windows but I don't know, maybe the Mac would be better for writing. That could just be me falling victim to marketing however. Thoughts?
>>25535875Ask if you can borrow both to try out, see which you like. Most would say Mac I think but it really depends on how old each of them are and what the battery life is like.
>>25535907Ideally I would but he lives across the country and is gonna bring it when he comes over here for a wedding, so I only get one blind shot at a decision lol
>>25535910I guess you're familiar with windows? Go to an apple store and try one out, or maybe your library has a mac to try.
>>25535699>Has anyone read this? It sounds like another formulaic writing style guide, but I could be wrong.I read it. In its defense, it tells you right away that it teaches you to write a story "that sells," meaning it will keep people engaged, but it also bases the 'formula' on many successful classic ones. At its most basic, I think the author is saying, "something must happen in your story" or "something needs to change along the way." It sounds obvious, but a lot of authors try to write a story where nothing really happens or changes, and the characters just wander about "sightseeing."
>Finished my little novellaWhat now? Do I just reread it a million times? Do I give it to people raw dog to see if the structure makes sense? Do I burn it? I think it's pretty good.
>>25536050burn it.
Am I really so bad a person for writing fantasy adventure?
>>25536125Your evil scales linearly with the amount of fetishes in your fantasy adventure
>>25536050Do something else for a few weeks. Then read it, noting any issues you find. Fix those, then maybe give it to someone else to read.Depends slightly on what your long term goal is ultimately. >>25536125Write what you want
>>25536125I don’t know why you would think that.
>>25536143You must be new here.
Why did the last thread get deleted?I was sleep, woke up and it was gone. Nothing seems that amiss in the archive.
thoughts on web novels?or is that like the polar opposite of this general
I am done trying with outlining for creative writing. I just end up totally ignoring the outline anyway. So instead I will reverse outline as I go.Sort of like making a map as I go instead of a blueprint of what to build. A tool to assist in structural editing, rather than one to help with drafting.
>>25536244>thoughts on web novels?generally much lower quality than published works but interesting in how they remove the need for a publisheras for whether a given writer should think about writing serially depends entirely on their goals and the content of what they want to write>or is that like the polar opposite of this generalthis general isn't really "anything". there are genre seethers and there are slophogs and both are equally noisy
>>25536244Much like all other self publishing formats, there is some good and a lot of bad. As a writer I like them since it has high feedback in the form of statistics and comments from actual readers, and the barrier to entry is nearly non-existent. However because the barrier is low it's hard to stand out among the slop, AND they aren't very popular even among most readers. Ideally even if you were into writing web novels you would double or triple dip by publishing in other formats and platforms in proper book form. As a reader, I tend to only enjoy them in audio formats, usually using TTS to listen to them while I am drudging away at work. This is partially due to not liking to read a ton of text on screens anymore. But more to do with being able to listen to audio at work allows me to have a solid 9 hours including commutes of uninterrupted "reading". Which is idea for such long novels with sometimes hundreds of chapters.
>>25536253>lower quality>the content they wish to writeSo are web novels just dedicated for light novels/weeb novels, then? I thought the only difference was the chapter by chapter publishing scheme, instead of dropping an entire book. If I had fancy prose weebshit would that be better as a web novel or normal novel?
>>25536293I think it depends on the particular site and target demographic. That said a lot of people in the space do both web novels, then repackage and re-edit their stuff into a normal novel. It isn't a ether or thing. Some even treat the web-novel as the early access beta form of the final book they envision (to borrow game publishing lingo).
>>25536312>Some even treat the web-novel as the early access beta form of the final book they envisionBranflakes Sandroid hinted that some trad authors are starting to do this on burners. I forget in what video.
I lost all motivation to write.
>>25536146not badjust make her sound more like a mum in the last line
Here's the start of my novel. What can I improve? After a year of slavery in the Salt Mines of Endovier, CelaenaSardothien was accustomed to being escorted everywhere in shacklesand at sword-point. Most of the thousands of slaves in Endovierreceived similar treatment—though an extra half-dozen guards alwayswalked Celaena to and from the mines. That was expected byAdarlan’s most notorious assassin. What she did not usually expect,however, was a hooded man in black at her side—as there was now.He gripped her arm as he led her through the shining building inwhich most of Endovier’s officials and overseers were housed. Theystrode down corridors, up flights of stairs, and around and arounduntil she hadn’t the slightest chance of finding her way out again.At least, that was her escort’s intention, because she hadn’t failedto notice when they went up and down the same staircase within amatter of minutes. Nor had she missed when they zigzagged betweenlevels, even though the building was a standard grid of hallways andstairwells. As if she’d lose her bearings that easily. She might havebeen insulted if he wasn’t trying so hard.They entered a particularly long hallway, silent save for theirfootsteps. Though the man grasping her arm was tall and fit, she couldsee nothing of the features concealed beneath his hood. Another tacticmeant to confuse and intimidate her. The black clothes were probablya part of it, too. His head shifted in her direction, and Celaena flashedhim a grin. He looked forward again, his iron grip tightening.It was flattering, she supposed, even if she didn’t know what washappening, or why he’d been waiting for her outside the mine shaft.After a day of cleaving rock salt from the innards of the mountain,finding him standing there with six guards hadn’t improved her mood.But her ears had pricked when he’d introduced himself to heroverseer as Chaol Westfall, Captain of the Royal Guard, and suddenly,the sky loomed, the mountains pushed from behind, and even theearth swelled toward her knees. She hadn’t tasted fear in a while—hadn’t let herself taste fear. When she awoke every morning, sherepeated the same words: I will not be afraid. For a year, those wordshad meant the difference between breaking and bending; they hadkept her from shattering in the darkness of the mines. Not that she’dlet the captain know any of that.
>>25536375The first sentence>After a year of Isn't too gripping of a first impression. Maybe insert "I will not be afraid" a thr start and instead of explaining that she repeats it, just have her drop that line a few times.Also in general the tone doesn't feel fake cocky to hide scared, it just feels genuinely cocky with zero scared, its giving mixed vibes
>>25536375make at least 50% of that dialogue, inner thoughts, and emotional reactionsright now it reads like a Wikipedia summary.
>>25536245I’ve been doing an outline very roughly then updating it after I finish a chapter to keep track of major beats. It helps if I need to change or move something
three months and none of my beta readers have finishedi should kill them
>>25536293>I thought the only difference was the chapter by chapter publishing schemeWhere did you get that idea? The sort of content that can thrive in tradpub is 20x more diverse than what can thrive in web novels. The vast majority of genres are underrepresented if not outright nonexistent online.Broadly speaking, you need to be writing something that serializes well... meaning arc-based, cyclical, very long stories. Shorter stories do exist, but they are very rare.>So are web novels just dedicated for light novels/weeb novels, then? Not exactly, unless you're using weeb in too broad a manner. Litrpg, cultivation, superheroes - the overlap with the weeb community is large, but very different from LNs.>If I had fancy prose weebshit would that be better as a web novel or normal novel?I just told you the content is what matters most, not prose style.But purple prose is very rare. Admittedly, that's also true in tradpub these days, unless you're writing and marketing your book toward the literary fiction crowd. It exists in WNs, but it's very uncommon.
>French doors in a fantasy novel >France doesn't exist Do I go with>Description of a French door without using the word france and take up a page or not-france country doors?
15 or so pages of fat fetish smut. I was gonna debut it at the 2027 Chicago writers conference but I'll drop it here first.https://rentry.org/a7wqvrq7
>>25536132Do people generally put their fetishes into their writing? Like, even if it’s not erotic writing?
>>25536506Even if it isn't, readers will always assume it's a fetish. Even something like wearing shoes is a feet fetish
>>25536506Well, writers write about things that interest them, love or hate. So really, all writing is just the perfect chance for a reader to psychoanalyze the author and out him as a chud. If the author writes a 'villain', it is because there is some part of him that entertains those villainous thought, no matter how much he denies it. Everything you write about is an active endorsement of it, so be very careful, and only write ethically.
>>25536518I wrote about incest. But I don't have a sister
>>25535699I encountered this a few days ago via a youtube video that spent like 40 minute saying the same thing over and over again about how shitty writers can become good writers, so I got real "buy my course" vibes
>>25535875I can't imagine why it would make any difference
>>25536527So you have a brother, then?
Is it okay to do this
>>25536532Yes.
>>25536483Even if you call them not-france-country doors, you'll still have to describe them, because it won't be obvious that you mean french doors. Why not just call them 'large, glass-paned double doors'? Maybe cut through the utility of the description by indulging a little on the view and/or craftsmanship. Shouldn't take more than a sentence or two.
>>25536483>Description of a French door without using the word franceyes>and take up a pageif you can't do it in 2 sentences or 1 run-on sentence, you're NGMI
>>25536447You do know web novel platforms besides royal road exist right?Most of your assumptions seem based exclusively on what's popular on that site in particular.
Could /lit/ write something within these parameters or would you all get kicked out?
>>25536483They have alternative names.Look one up or give them a literal or purely descriptive name.Like fried potato wedges instead of french fries.
>>25536569I could but I don't see why I would. Sounds like middle school limitations imposed by a school district. Not something for adults. I don't write children's books so whatever class that is wouldn't interest me.
>>25536447>purple prose>literary fictionthese are very much not the same thing
>>25536569>no Rape>also no Science Fictionlmao
>>25536567>You do know web novel platforms besides royal road exist right?NTA but I didn't, care to drop any names? I'm pretty confident my writing wouldn't thrive on RR
>>25536567No, I was talking about the general spread of sites not just RR. Do you really think e.g. short thriller novels thrive anywhere? Quite a lot of mainstream tradpub genres dont thrive anywhere on the internet.
>>25536567Though I suppose I underemphasized romance. However I think romance does better in selfpub than wattpad and ao3 The RR SB SV SH sphere is uniquely beneficial for writers in the genres I mentioned, to the point I would actively advise against going tradpub even if they offered.
>>25536579You mean not even once did you ever bother to google the term web novel?Like seriously did absolutely positively zero research whatsoever on the topic at all?Rather than waste both our time I instead insist you do the bare minimum research yourself.I mean for fuck sake there is literally a platform called webnovel that is fairly popular.
>>25536569>no violence of any kind>no SF>no personal problems>no relationship problemsit would be a shorter list to ask the fuckwit what xhe actually permits
>>25536569Could you challenge yourself by writing a story that contains all of these?
>>25536595I just write for myself, partly because, as I said, nothing I write would work on the only platform that's seemingly big enough for me to have learned about organically. So sorry for being curious, I'll never do it again, can I offer you a blowjob in reparations?
>>25536595>there is literally a platform called webnovel that is fairly popularyeah just sign away your pen-name and all the novel trademarks and adaptation rights at the very start bro
>>25536350Uh, I took it from best-seller expecting more harsh reactions.
>>25536622OhI took it as random anon scribblings and judged it by that standard
>>25536569Genuinely, I don't understand why "personal/relationship problems" are here. For a class I think most of this is fine, but I think the problem is that it's too opposing. I would phrase it as "write a regular joe life style story." E.g. a bank teller getting a divorced, a kid getting bullied, etc etc. I feel the point of most of these rules is to orient the student to not make genre fiction and write literary fiction for the class. But with that one, itty bitty line, it ruins any attempt at literary fiction. Now what? >>25536597>When anon's dad started raping anon, he has to find the disturbing and overly dark nigger inside him to escape the science fiction horror of his dad's penis and relationship problems.
>>25536569Blood curdling, you just know this class is 99% female too
>>25536569>>25536597>After Mary-Sue is violently butt-raped with a bio-cybernetic dildopenis cunt-augmentation by her twin sister who self-identifies as alpha-male-minotaur, she must struggle to overcome her PTSD-induced fear of electronic devices, if she wants to keep her Committee-assigned work role in the Worker's Co-op as circuit board quality control assurance executive and avoid being sent to the Gulag Asteroid for People's Reconditioning. And it doesn't help that her dark and broodingly sexy new supervisor, Gary-Mod48-v1.17, seems to be harbouring a nefarious secret... and a passionate crush on her.>It's tough being a 22nd-century girl on the Moon!
>>25536899You forgot the foul language
>>25536910outed lolI'm actually not that filthy and I struggle to write that way. product of a nigh-Puritan upbringing. but usually Americans shudder at the c-word and I slipped that in
>>25536375Started ok. Like the first few sentences. But it sounds more and more like my ESL writing as it goes along.
.
>>25536483French doors are also known as hinged patio doors.Just call them that.
I think writing YA or children's literature will fix my problem of writing unclearly. Because with these genres that is the first thing one needs to consider. Everything needs to be communicated clearly and in just a few basic words. I've been reading the Warriors series lately and find it refreshingly easy to digest.
>>25537040I can hear ghost saying it in that stupid voice. French doors...
>>25535875Do you have an android or iPhone? If iPhone, Mac. If not, windows.
>>25536569Grim
>>25536569>write over socialized foidslopNo.
What does your organizational process look like for writing? How do you structure time? Do you make road maps and writing goals?
>>25536569>Sex, rape, incest>Disturbing or overly dark>Extreme use of foul language>Venting and ranting about extremist political views>Gore and horrorThese I can understand for a classroom environment. Your classmates will be basically forced to read what you write and having overly disturbing/inflammatory stuff would just disrupt the class itself.>Violence of any kind>Mental/emotional problems>Personal/relationship problems>Science fictionHow the hell are you supposed to write any kind of story at all with these restrictions? It sounds like any external and internal conflict is banned completely? And for some reason an entire popular genre is thrown in as a ban? The hell are you supposed to 'creatively write' about when any form of conflict isn't allowed?
>>25536596Who knew reading scifi had the same effects as being raped.
>>25537142lmao
>>25536505There's no way this would be allowed. I enjoyed it though. Thank you.
If it's going to work, then it needs to be not just funny but hilarious. Otherwise, he just becomes another shitty Holden knockoff.
wrote a thing about ai chuds for a journal
>>25537125I have a sheet where I track my writing progress. It is very simple; I set a target/expected total word count, and using that I track the percentage. I also track days between writing for some accountability. I started doing it for my current novel and it's very useful.I try to hit at least 2500 words a week. This is a very easy goal, and usually surpass it in 2-3 days. But I'm not strict with following and tracking that.I don't track the hours written as it is very variable, but I'll probably do it for the next book once I find a consistent way to track it. This would get me some more interesting metrics, like words per hour. Currently though, I write about 1h/day on average.I find tracking these things very helpful as it makes progress concrete and easy to follow. Some may not think like me, but in my case, it motivates me to write more. Knowing that I can, in 2-3 hours, advance 1% of the novel, then that makes reaching the end look achievable in only a handful of months.
>>25537422Forgot to attach the image
Sent my novel to more than 80 agents this year0 personalised responses
>>25537432Are you me?
>>25537135I wrote a story about eating hamburgers
>>25537468BASED
>slave>No slavs in my fantasy world What other word can I use? Goyim?
>>25537470You're writing in English, not the language of your fantasy world. The word for "slave" in English is "slave" regardless of its etymology.
>>25537468Violence was used to slaughter the cows that made that hamburger! Not allowed!
Should authors review the work of their peers overtly or covertly?
>>25537594should authors be this brown?
>>25537596>still refuses to use the actual author portrait because it's too cutewhat a Bore
>finish first draft>start editing>cringe >stop>start another novel >finish >this one is the one!>start editing>cringe>stop>start another novelI've spent 6 years that way. 3 first drafts but I feel physical pain whenever I try to edit them - ashamed of the quality and overwhelmed by the amount of changes it would need. Has anyone gone through this?
>>25537847Yes. A first draft is going to make you cringe no matter what, but there's some things that worked for me:If it's about the writing style, try doing a bunch of shorter stuff until you hone the voice you want and writing in that style becomes natural. Then your first drafts won't be as far from your target.If it's story structure stuff, do some outlining first. Editing an outline is a lot easier and induces less cringe, since it's just an outline.
I think pantsers might be on to something. I have been trying to keep to my outline, and it legitimately just makes the story less fun. I think I may have to just start winging shit from this point on.
I named my characters Alice, Bob, Cameron, Danielle, and Eve because I can't think of better names yet.
>>25537971both have downsidesyou'll try pantsing and think "hey this is great, I just get to do what I want and it flows so smoothly!"and then halfway or 2/3rds of the way realize you have no clue where you're headed or that you've written yourself into a corner
How do you guys cope with knowing everyone else's excerpts and writing are better than yours and you'll never have even an iota of their talent? Even reddit writers. I'm competing with so many talented writers and their works shadow mine with such beautiful prose and plot. Do I take the bottle or the rope?
>>25537916Thanks for the reply! I've found your tips very useful, specially the first one of setting the writing style down with short stuff before tackling the big picture. I'll keep that in mind.
>>25537981True. Though sometimes I know exactly where I'm going and have no clue how to get there. Or I write it and it's just fucking wrong.
>>25537992That's really easyRead more shit books
>>25537992I never feel anyone's excerpts are better than mine. I usually only get that feeling when I am reading some of my favorite authors. I love that feeling of feeling like I could never do what they are pulling off. Because soon it passes, and I am inspired to do just that.
>>25535552my money is on abusive janny
>>25535875Just install Linux on the Windows laptop.
>>25537995Well I only really gave you the two tips. And they aren't even really tips, just things to consider. But you're welcome.
>>25537977that's fine, except Alice, Bob, and Eve are not good placeholder names because they cannot be simply Ctrl + H'd when you come up with the right name, as they would be part of words like "malice", "bobbing", and "evening"
>>25538224BIG OOOOF - EXCEPT MAYBE SOMEWHAT DOABLE IF YOU INCLUDE SPACES AND PUNCTUATION IN THE REPLACE LIKE " BOB " OR " BOB" OR " BOB." ETC. SEE WHAT I MEAN?
It’s impossible to get published, isn’t it?
>>25538235Traditionally, very hard. Self? Very easy
The man inserted his penis into the woman’s vagina and they came.
>>25538224VSCode has a Match Whole Word Only feature
What is the best way to integrate the fact that I am a queer POC into my story I don’t want to make the protagonist also a queer POC because that seems too obvious.
>>25538224Literally every text editor has a "match word" and "match case" option. e.g. in vi it'd be :g/\<Alice\>/s//Aloysius/g Seriously, how computer illiterate are you?
>>25538235Wait until you learn what % of tradpub authors sell almost no books
>>25538255Use comas.Also unless you intentionally suppress it, any story you write that is long enough will pick up more and more bits of who and what you are without any effort on your part.Just write what you want to write and who you are will show through. For better and worse.
>>25538247where?
>>25538231great, now you have to add extraneous punctuation that shouldn't be thereor, you could have just used a more distinct placeholder, such as Aerith, Borbh, and Eevee(unless you're writing Pokemon fanfiction)>>25538251>>25538261>And on New Year's Ernestine he ran across town and proposed to her
>>25537007
>>25538247little did he know that the female orgasm is a myth.
>>25538320Maybe I'll just keep the name Eve then. It doesn't really matter.
>>25538328Well my partner comes every time. Are they not a woman according to you?
>>25538247His member slid right into that erotic mucous covered membrane between thigh and calf, that forbidden erogenous zone only known to a few: the back of the knee.
>>25537125I am chaos!
I read part one of Borges on Writing. Why is it recommended here? It's so personal, I can't find anything to extract about the craft. What did you guys get out of it?
>>25538353his imagination slowly flickers on like an old radio.stuck between frequencies, the noisy static fills the empty space of his mind. he fumbles with the dial, trying to bring clarity to the faint voice that is calling out through the chaotic snowstorm of static. "foids lie!" cries the nasally disembodied voice of man.
>>25538382Writing is a highly personal act. If you can't find value in learning about someone else's personal experiences, that's a big problem for you
>>25538391NTA but this seems like a cop out response. it could apply to the shittiest writing book ever written by a total no nameyou have a limited amount of time on this earth
>>25538391Okay you're right, personal was the wrong criticism. I was trying to soften my real thoughts since clearly someone here found it useful and I am genuinely curious how.In any case it's not a "guide" by any stretch.
>>25538401What? Just because it doesn't give you step-by-step instructions on how to formulate your writing, it's not a guide? You're supposed to learn from others' experience, anon.
>>25538405No, that is not what I mean. I'd like to talk to someone who's read the book now.
>>25538401you fucked up by listening to the recommendations of the known foreverfailure sperg, the OPthe OP is not consensus it's just invented by the mentally ill tard that makes this thread
>>25538410As a former and future but not current OP I can state with assurance that you need to take your meds
>>25538410Zamn. Do you have any of your own recommendations (or a chart) for books on writing then?
>>25538382I'm the one who wrote the current OP and I really only added those books as setup for the "advanced writing guide" punchline. Aside from the Death of the Author essay, I've only read McKee's book in full, and I don't necessarily recommend it. But it is an intermediate-level guide on writing, and people want what they want
>>25538416I see. That's great, thanks. It would be INSANE to expect someone on the literature board to actually read a book.
>>25538426Technically, I did read "a" book; you're upset that I didn't read all of those books.
>>25538438I am a little bit yeah! Whoever makes the next thread please remove that whole section. This is littering.
>>25538445Do it yourself. Come up with a better one.
>>25538449or just dont put guides you dont believe inthere doesnt need to be something there, tard
>>25538450I agree with this.The guides are pointless bloat that only lead to dumb arguments.
>>25538450It's a joke, and the punchline is this >>25538453
>>25538460The punchline is derailing threads on purpose? And that's your plea for it to stay?
>>25538465Every "general" on this website is a demoralization effort to put people off the hobby the general is about. The culture of the threads are always about arguing tangential points that no real version of the hobbyist would care about (see: the "do I need to read" arguments).4chan in particular is a compromised website with the sole purpose of further destroying lost young men's desire for creativity and discussion in an era where that's already dead for them. The only good advice you will get in any of these threads is this >>25535535.
>>25538589That might be true for the threads you regularly use (hint hint, you are telling on yourself) but that isn't remotely true of most generals, not even most on lit.
>>25538630I'm telling on myself for saying demoralization is part and parcel of this website? 2 posts after the OP admitted to wanting to derail the threads?
> be about 3k into writing on Google docs, Google docs being what I've used for the past several years> Shift + I to use italics> Mustve fat fingered some key>Entire document gets wiped to a blank page> Undo doesn't work> Closing and loading the file doesn't work> Not in trash bin> Not in Google drive> Only recovered my work because I happened to have copied the text shortly before and could therefore paste it back inWhat the fuck was this? And don't any of you insolent bootlicking faggots go blaming me either, like redditors who defend a product like a good goy.
>>25538640weirdif it happens again instead of closing and reloading the file looks at the version history of the file and see if you can recover thereI don't blame you because docs always gave me problems like this and they of course use all your docs for training their LLMs. Switch to obsidian and you can use any cloud storage you want.
>>25538640>print out my documents >back them up on an external HD>back them up a third time on a flash drive Get on my level, cloud boy. It's only your life's work.
>>25538344do whatever you likeI'm just pointing out pitfalls to be wary of
>>25538320This is why it's important to write in a format that can be diffed as text, e.g. Markdown. Then you can review your changes visually and patch up anything that went astray. You can also store your revisions in git, and use pandoc to convert to e-book/paperback format. I've mentioned this workflow several times, so if you're still doing it the hard way, that's all on you.
>>25538328Then why do women slut around with Chads from the age of 18 to when they hit The Wall? Because Chads make them come. Apparently you don't.
>>25538705or, hear me out: just use better placeholders
>>25538224You just click the little check mark that says exact word match when using Find & Replace.
>>25538719My method has a lot more advantages than just supporting placeholders.
Decided to shift things around in the story I am writing to have a "in medias res" beginning instead of the chronological one I started with. That said my brain is still drained from going all out on the true inciting incident so I am debating on just rewriting the chronological first chapter now to give myself something easy to work on while I get my groove back, or if I should push ahead and write the "in medias res" chapter and establish the framing device for what will become flash backs. What do you guys do when you ain't feeling up to your A-game?
>>25538752Im not a writer so I'll just answer in medias res vs chrono.If you the author cannot create an interesting/entertaining first chapter then I prefer you hide it by doing in medias res.
>>25538640>And don't any of you insolent bootlicking faggots go blaming me either, like redditors who defend a product like a good goy.I don't defend the product, I condemn you for using it in the first place
>>25538640common PEBCAK errordid you check the version history? File > Version History > See Version History? even if you wipe your entire document by somehow pressing Ctrl + A and then spacebar, and then panic and Alt + F4, you can still recover it from the previous versions
>>25538752I clean my house. One can always tell when I'm having writer's block because my house is spotless. Also, doing menial chores gives me a chance to daydream, which tends to break my writer's block.
>>25538766I have my reasons for doing in medias res for this story. It's both for genera convention reasons but also because it means I don't have to make up stuff between inciting incident and when the story really gets going. Instead I can go>beginning of arc action scene and character intros>Fallout from what happened in the opening scene>Mc and Secondary character bond through MC sharing flashback>Story's true inciting indecent that happens in the past>Establish formula for the arc of the two characters choosing to travel and fight together
>>25538752>What do you guys do when you ain't feeling up to your A-game?structured procrastination>>25538786ah, a fellow fan of John Perrythough truth be told, my dad was already up my ass about this years before Perry
>>25538795I don't know who John Perry is. Feel free to elaborate.
>>25538797>https://www.structuredprocrastination.com/A *Nobel Prize winner, no less!>*ig
>>25538801Hey, there's a term for what I do! Neat! Thanks for the link.
>”No what do you mean you didn't edit the pacing?!?!! Noooo you can’t just refuse to make the pacing correct no! it’s not fair! Now I’m angry! Noo what about accessibility!?!!"
>>25538829Tell us about your decision here.
>>25538841he edited for pacing. Good to see anons thinking about accessibility in their writing!
>>25538460>>25538465I told you the OP maker is a major faghe makes this thread just so he can troll in it
>>25538787>>Story's true inciting indecent that happens in the past>inciting indecentI'm hard already>>beginning of arc action scene and character introsYes, I was a little bit unclear but as long as you have a clear idea of how to make the first chapter interesting or entertaining then chronological is fine. If you're creatively blocked then "in medias res" is fine to get past the issue. I do not want to read a boring first chapter or couple of chapters or you will have a high likelihood that people drop the story. There is simply to much slop around.
>>25538829Why are you trying to make a point typing like a braindamaged toddler? You spend too much time on 4chan.Just write out your opinion and/or prompt for discussion like an adult. The only responses you'll get to this garbage is other people wanting to whine and kick their feet.
>You have to be a good critic to be a good writer or artist in general in any mediumIs this really true? From my own personal experience, critics tend to be really bad at creating things. Every single time I've seen a prolific critic getting into writing things of their own, they always end up making something terrible, often with the very same things that they critique other works for. All of the best artists that I've ever met tend to be absolutely dogshit at critiquing things or they're milquetoast at best. They have a basic idea of what makes something good or bad, but not much real insight into it beyond that. My point being that I've rarely, if ever seen anybody be both prolific as one and the other simultaneously.
>>25538944or as my boss said:>You don't see Arsene Wenger and Alex Ferguson scoring goals, or Thierry Henry and David Beckham coaching from the sidelines, do you? Coaches might not be good players but they know how to coach.
>>25538944No, it's not true, and I've never seen that opinion asserted either.The variation that holds some weight is: you need good taste to be a good artist, since taste is what guides you in your path of improvement. It's your north star as a newbie.
Just reached 100k words on my story, brosI'm about 3/4 way through my plan, I think roughlyMaybe I should start looking into getting some art commissioned for it or something
>>25536418god I fucking hate that feeling>ask a guy whose work i've edited for his opinion on 2k word excerpt i'm really struggling with>"sure i'll read it a bit later if that's okay?">wait 2 weeks before reminding him again>"oh shit i forgot i'll get onto it tonight">2 weeks later still waiting>don't want to remind him again because it feels like i'm nagging
>>25538957i went to art school, getting and giving critiques was a big part of the first year. it's not like you need to be a "professional" critic where there is a sense of entertainment in the critique, but you need to develop a thick skin and you need to be honest with yourself and with other people.go find a shit artist and tell them something that is objectively wrong with their work and watch them sperg out.>ACTUALLY THE HANDS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE FUCKED UP!
>>25538981>you need to be honest with yourselfI agree with this (in regard to being crucial to improving as an author/artist), but it's not relevant to being a good critic lolYou don't need to be able to give good feedback. Presumably a good artist knows enough about their field to talk about it intelligently, but even so, I'm sure there are authors out there writing good books who couldn't verbalize their thoughts/break down another person's story well. Similarly I'm sure there are artists who are self taught and intuitively understand how to draw yet would struggle to help other people improve their art.
>>25538993i would agree with that for the most part, especially with self taught artists. you can't develop a proper vocabulary if you are learning in isolation.but i think there are some people who love the idea of the arts being some mystical and intangible thing that there were lucky enough to be born with, and those people really fuck everything up for newfags.
>>25538705I've landed on this approach myself recently. I find the git diff particularly helpful when I run a chapter through a grammar fixer (llm) so I can check what it actually did.
>>25538589This is the correct mindset to have, I only wish anons could see it for themselves. Fucking & was destroyed due to the sort of retarded personal shitflinging characteristic of online communities; what use is /lit/ if it succumbs to the same pitfalls as everywhere else on the internet?
>>25538944>From my own personal experienceThat's the problem. If you're an awful critic yourself, how can you even tell the difference between good and bad critics? You're saying 'prolific' but not 'good'. A good critic isn't someone who just dismantles and shits on things, a good critic also has an eye for quality. Your entire thought line is tainted from the root. By your own logic, you should be a superb writer.
>>25537157No problem. Why am I the only one actually posting work in this thread?
>>25539913There is no value to gain from posting work to this thread.So you're the only one new or desperate enough I guess.
>>25540019Yeah I'm obviously the one with the problem for posting writing in the writing thread. What's the status of whatever you're working on?
>>25540036I've been writing serials professionally for years. So, status: ongoing as always.My cynicism comes from watching this thread since like 2021 or so.
>>25540049And your work is what?
>>25540068What do you mean? A link? No, of course I won't do that. Why would I want to publicly associate with 4chan? Great way to pick up schizo stalkersI write a Royal Road serial if you meant you wanted specificity
>>25540075lol, it's cute you think you work is important enough to attract schizo stalkers
>>25540093It's more of a risk reward thing. 1% chance of some mentally ill guy stalking me vs proving my claims to 4chanHmmm... not really a dilemma.
>>25540102Sounds like your claims are false
>>25540105OK
>>25540108Why'd you lie? Just for (you)s?
>>25540118You were never interested in talking about anything, you're just butthurt
>>25538874>>25538465>derail thread with troll-tier complaints about the perfectly relevant books in the OP>cry out in pain while you strikepathetic
To get more readers, I decided to add stats and LITRPG elements to First of the Rus. I'll need some skills for her as she progresses through the story.
>>25540132these fucking books arent helping anyone you imbecile
>you can navigate the internet all the way to the writing thread on /lit/ but you need some fucking retard to link you some writing booksyea that's how this works actually
>>25540163i glanced at your excerpt for .1 seconds (thanks to the stats) but i immediately identified pacing issues
>>25540163I hope you aren't >>25540118 Wing
>>25540163kek
>>25540163post more.
>>25540176I can assure I am not him.
>>25539064Glad to hear it! Markdown has a lot of extensions that are of great use in managing your writing.
>>25540205Funny timing thenI don't think adding stats to a historical fiction will do much for getting an audience, it's a pretty naive approach. The point of litrpg is easy dopamine hits and if it's otherwise a slow trad style historical fiction novel, the stats will just turn off both audiences at once.
>>25540168/wg/ is especially shitty. in other generals, anons talk amongst each other and decide on what resources they find most valuable (i've seen it in the /ic/ generals). i'm not sure if it's due to the sheer rarity of writing as a hobby or the local schizo OP that /wg/ is so fucking terrible, but having useful resources in the OP is pretty normal. the guy who wrote this OP literally admitted (in this very thread) that he added shitty links as a joke to troll people even the Web Novel General is better in this regard
>>25540300Or it was someone pretending to be OP. You'll never know.
>>25540337>I'm sure it was him>I'm sure you're him too>OPs are all around meI'd say you've gone schizo, but I don't think you have the brains for anything that complex.
>>25540349You're right, I made no effort to parse through your schizo seething. I don't see the point. You're too dumb to realize how dumb you are, and I've chosen not to engage you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dawR-dPdkY
>watching youtube writing advice channels again >notice that every single one insists on writing first drafts that are basically unreadable without extensive editing >insists all good writing is actually revision and editing >all just so happen to sell editing services or be professional editors with less than a handful of books they have personally written
>>25540197This is very well written. If not a joke, then Do you even need the litrpg stat bonuses? Seems very superficial and dumb.
>>25540404>u linked 2 a utube video>no one else on all of 4chan has ever done that before REEEEEEEYou're adorable.
>>25540435yeah that retarded toddler speak is also something only you doyou are so pathetic
>>25540444Did you notice I always post with the name "Anonymous"? I'll bet you think I'm the only one on all of 4chan that uses that name, am I right? The simple fact is, if you actually had the ability to tell anons apart on 4chan, you'd be working for the national intelligence services and making bank. Instead, you flail away here, giving away your prodigious talents for free, when you could have the resources to move out of the room you grew up in, in your mommy's house, and go about and BE SOMEONE! It's almost noble that you freely choose to be a complete nobody.
>>25540450projection like fucking crazy lolglad I have you squirming
>>25540452I'm mocking you, you dolt. Did you really not grasp that? Your feeble attempts at trolling are sub-kindergarten grade. The worst part is, you're probably just Bore.
>>25540455look up what projection means
>>25540460Ha ha, I forced you to respond with words! That's how I know I'm winning! And no one on 4chan has ever used words before, so I know it's you! It must be so humiliating to be singled out like this.
>>25540463at this point im just replying to see how you embarrass yourself next
>>25540165You're the one keeping up this worthless argument jerk
So many words typed on 4chan and not in the story you're meant to be working on.
>>25540523Op and the latest idiot arguing with the troll don't write.
>>25540562No u
Can someone help me with the dialogue?I'm not too dissatisfied with the first page, but the dialogue on second page got no sauce in it. It gives useful information about the main character and the dog, but that's it. There's nothing interesting in it, no sauce.
>>25540984I ignored 1st page but 1st line was not scintillating and too purple for me.2nd page, you fucked up the line breaks, for one. At 2 points the same speaker continues but you formatted it to look like a reply from the other.Also, recheck your "its" and "hers". Who is your POV? Dialogue tags should follow the POV.>and the door was shutToo passive.Other than that, good.
How do I know if I have an idea good enough to write? I don’t want to waste my time.
>>25540984Overall, I think the characterisation of the protagonist is clear and consistent ("idgaf about any of this, just tell me the damage and I'll either pay it or not") but the vet's is less clear. Is he a bleeding heart desperately trying to reach this man? Is he an egghead so deep in his expertise that he alienates his clients? Is he a charlatan looking to make a quick buck? Most of my criticism is presuming the first option is the intent, but I could be wrong.>you can tell from her teethThis seems kind of haughty/detached, like the vet expects him to know how to age a dog by its teeth. But the reader probably won’t know this (presuming it's even true and not artistic liberty), which alienates us from what's going on. Possibly effective, if the vet’s supposed to be a detached egghead, but not if he’s supposed to be folksy.The spirit of the comment seems warranted, because the reader would certainly know that the dog didn't spring into existence the moment the protagonist laid eyes on her. I'd just try to ground it in something more universal, like maybe the vet tries and fails to turn it into a 'teachable moment' but the protagonist’s not interested/doesn’t pick up on it.>Good thing you adopted her, then>Well, it kept following meThis to me is the core of the scene and the clearest exchange therein, thumbs up.In the build up, I get the impression that the vet’s asking these questions in attempt to be conversational rather than clinical, but the protagonist is just answering as if it’s part of the consultation process, with this exchange being the apex of their being at cross purposes.On the other hand "I hear she's been feeling ill? Btw she has advanced cancer"Up until now, this conversation reads like it's the vet's first time laying eyes on this dog. He didn't know her name or how old she was a minute ago, but apparently they've already run serious tests and gotten results back? This man did not enter the room with "btw your possibly beloved pet is about to die" energy.This section is also a pretty bold confrontation. I feel like the potential tension of the whole scene lies in the vet's building judgement of the protagonist, starting with a friendly face and trying to nudge towards compassion until a breaking point of "Lookit, your dog's about to fucking die, you asshole," but it’s not hitting.>"I don't do euthanasia"In terms of characterisation, I'm assuming this is to show that the vet's not just going for a payday. But a vet straight up not doing euthanasia doesn't seem realistic to me. If anything, I'd expect the protagonist to try to walk out without paying for anything but the consultation, only for the vet to desperately suggest euthanasia as a humane alternative to no treatment at all.So yeah, I’d agree that this mostly reads as an infodump about the MC and dog. Now I’d decide firmly who the vet is and what he hopes to get out of the exchange, and do an edit based on that.
>be thinking of story for months>write a document about it>come up with characters and scenes and world building>open word processor and sit down for an hour>50 words come outwhat do
>>25541203What else do you have to do with your time?>>25541226Write nonlinearly. Write the most exciting scenes first. That will tend to stir up ideas for other scenes. Eventually you will write the scenes that glue it all together.
I have done it, I have self-published my book, (Burgess O'Bannon's Superhero Saga). Working on Volume 2's second draft currently. Wish I had a decent way to advertises the book, but paid ads don't have good targeting, and nobody with a platform wants to be spammed from yet another author about wanting their book read.
>>25537427What's your writing style like? 500-1K a day seems slow.>>25537125>organizationI know what the act's dramatic question is, I spitball how much scenes I want, then structure it around advancing that dramatic questions>timeWhen it's done.>road maps/writing goalsThat's for God to have upon my work. Me? I am a simpler enactor. I am the hammer that the Lord drives words into.
>>25537422>>25537427autistic AFeven professional writers don't do this
Well I made it, I signed a contract and sold a 4 page short story for 200 euros. I'm now a professional writer. Smell ya later, losers!
>>25541382That's a good start, but you're not yet making a living income from your writing, so the attitude is unwarranted.
>>25541432he quoted a famous antagonist, you think he doesn't know that?
>>25541215>>25541075Thanks for the comments, it helped get me a clear vision of what I need to change I think I need a clear tension between the mc's apathy and the doctor's empathyMy idea is that the mc just have a dog, he doesn't care about it but isn't cruel either, and the doctor is a passionate person trying to convince the mc to do something about itThe beginning of the exchange will be normal, everyday conversation that will slowly transition into a confrontation once the doctor realize the mc doesn't care that much about the dog, and then the mc will double down and go awayThat's how I think I'll rewrite this so it can have some sauce, the confrontation will be the highlight Hopefully it will work, but it's very hardI'm new to writing and it takes me days to write even one page, even thought I write everyday for an hour
>>25541432Quite a lot of acclaimed authors don't make a full-time living. That's more about output and consistency, not skill.
>>25541437Apparently not famous enough.
>>25541620>t. an unread psued
>>25541226Do an outline of actsThen break each act out into sections/sequencesThen each of those out into individual scenesThen each of those into scene beatsFor any that are dialogue, break those out into dialogue beatsThen you just need to convert that into prose and you're doneIt's that easy
>>25541662There are hundreds of millions of books out there. Apparently I missed one you consider important, or forgot some of the details. Big deal.
>>25540984I've never heard of a vet that doesn't do euthanasia. There's a lot of things that can and will be done to save a human but not a pet so putting them down is pretty common if it's considered a hopeless case or even extreme / uncertain / expensive case. And if the dog's cancer is really that bad then this would actually qualify. In fact, cancer being a 'right now or she's gonna die' thing sounds strange to me too. Cancer's usually either a slow build or so fast that it's too late by the time you catch it. Honestly, I think in reality MC decision to euthanize would be considered understandable though obviously his uncaring attitude around it would still be strange.
>>25540984The writing is clumsy.Your rhythm/flow is off. The dialogue doesn't bounce back and forth consistently, sometimes the same speaker talks twice and its confusing (or you fucked up linebreaks). You also go a full page without any "Leon said/Vet said", in a lengthy dialogue. Just put in a few more speaker actions just so that the reader doesn't get too lost in the dialogue. "I don't do euthanasia" who the fuck is even saying that? The flow is noticeably poor even on the first page, before the dialogue. You clumsily enter a flash back, if you're suddenly doing a flash back use the past perfect tense. And then the flashback ends in an equally clumsy way. Even the first paragraph is grating, just zero flow between all the similes and metaphors. Its genuinely impressive how tough to decipher this relatively simple writing is.And the dialogue itself, the doctor and the main character sound exactly the same. The doctor isn't very professional, nor does he sound like he even cares for the dog. Most vets will complement the dog and love animals (that's why they chose the career path of vet), this vet has the same apathy the protagonist does. Just asks curt questions, gets curt responses, poor usage of ellipses, zero emotion anywhere, whoever the fuck is talking no one knows when you keep fucking the speaker up. Also why the fuck are you suddenly referring to the dog as 'her', when you had consistently called it 'the dog' in page 1. Keep calling it 'the dog', it reinforces Leon's apathy and distance to it. And 'the vet said, holding her engraved collar' was a line so jarring it legitimately made me think the vet was a woman until the very last line. Actually it might even be better for the writing if the vet was a kindly woman, to juxtapose against the callous MC.Also all vets do euthanasia that's literally both humane and a consistent moneymaker
Do any of you use NovelAI in your writing workflow? How has it helped? Any advice for optimizing results to someone starting out with this tool?
>>25541850No.>Any advice for optimizing results to someone starting out with this tool?Don't.
What's that trope called where near the end of Act 2 (or, beginning of Act 3) the story slows down and the characters seemingly have a breather (or they follow even a sub-plot) before the climax? The closest I can think of describing it is "the calm before the storm" or a "false ending", but the latter is situational.think of red dead redemption, where you, the player, quietly settle down as Marston thinking you've achieved your goals, or the small detour of L and Light teaming up in death note, or the aftermath of the battle of the Pelennor Fields in ROTK
>>25542001Yeah it's literally "the calm before the storm"https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CalmBeforeTheStorm
>>25537422you should not encourage yourself to write more. You should be writing better. this is why word counting is stupid
>>25542010How many novels have you finished?
>>25541332>What's your writing style like?First I check my outline and visualize the scenes I will write. This is usually just imagination more concrete imagery with some music and some particular sentences I feel are strong for the scene. Then I do a quick revision of the chapter I'm currently on to "warm up". And then I start actually writing the scene.>500-1K a day seems slowYes I'm generally a slow writer, but also because most days I can only write for about 1h/day due to my schedule. If I hit a 700words/hour then I consider that good.>>25541334Yeah. I'm an electronic engineer, I can be mildly autistic. But seeing the number go up helps with my motivation.Writing is a science of one. This is my method to be consistent.
>>25542010You shouldn't be doing layup drills, you should just play better basketballorwrite drunk; edit soberor you can't edit a blank page
>>25542012it wouldn't change your mind if I said 1 or 100
>>25542010I use word count to track progress, not "length". I'm fairly accurate about my estimates. So my target is not to "write a lot", but rather, to "finish the first draft".Along the way I tend to leave notes and comments on things to revise and improve for the next draft, and that's on purpose. I can focus on getting the first draft done instead of polishing every single sentence as I go. I'll leave the polishing for my revision passes.
>>25542020No, if you said 3 or more I would take you more seriously. I asked because I doubted you even have 1Probably the biggest plight of aspiring writers is failing to finish their novel or even write consistently. So word tracking is a useful way to enforce a habit
>>25542019you are disingenuously avoiding the central problem being the anon had the time to make a spastic word count spreadsheet, but not something more impressive like "time studying" or a list of core principles learned. Word count is like the least important thing ever when it comes to writing. i mean just look at "It" or any given fucking endless series like gamer thrones or harry potter.This "le big books = good books" meme should have died years ago
>>25542031>Word count is like the least important thing ever when it comes to writing.you are retardedbasically all pros say you need to establish a daily habit and write X amount of total words to get goodtalk out of your ass more
>>25542001>>25542005There's even a song about ithttps://youtu.be/C17jg4nSfzg
>>25542038Nta but I think he means the word count of your novel itself, not the amount per day
>>25542086i did get that impression but it wasn't the conversation topic so i stayed on topicif he wandered off on a sperg tangent he's still a retard. nobody suggested long books = better books
Apparently Spotify is offering indie authors free eleven labs AI audio book versions of their manuscripts. https://youtu.be/6hgc9ZaMPOg?si=23_EVlCVOXf1uXITI would have to see the contract conditions, but if the contract is good it would basically be a additional audience for your book for free with very little effort on your part. Obviously not as good as getting a proper audiobook done by a professional, but that shit cost a few thousand dollars or signing your rights away to audible.
>>25542100>but that shit cost a few thousand dollars or signing your rights away to audible.audible produces your book? i thought it was just a hosting platform like Amazon hosts ebooksyou still need a publisher or to pony up the dough yourselfaside from that: having AI produce your book sounds extremely soulless and I doubt there's much discoverability in that mountain of slop. "bigger audience" doesn't mean you'll actually get those readers. it depends on how the spotify platform works i guessstill soulless either way
any experiences with>write drunk>edit sober
>>25542107Audible has a program where they produce audiobooks, but then they basically own the audiobook version in perpetuity and only pay you like 5% in royalties.You can also pay out of pocket to produce the audiobook yourself (which cost thosands) and keep the rights to your audiobook, BUT they will only pay you like 20% from sells with a exclusivity contract or 10% for a non-exclusive audible contract.
>>25542117>BUT they will only pay you like 20% from sells with a exclusivity contract or 10% for a non-exclusive audible contract.It's 30% non-exclusive and 50% exclusive.
>>25542127It's been a few years since I read over their contract, so they might have changed the terms.
>>25542112You know it's not literal right? It just means to not get too hung up on self-criticism when you write, just enjoy yourself so you can get the story out and imbue it with authentic feeling, and save the critical eye for when you're editing
>>25542152okay. i don't drink much anymore, but i think i can let go enough to let the ideas flow.
>>25542152considering the shockingly high % of famous authors who are substance abusers I am damn near certain it's literal as much as figurative
>>25541843harsh, but true>>25541470see above>I'm newgo pick up a book on style and formatting (e.g. Strunk and White), a couple of how to write guides, a book on plotting (try Romancing The Beat), google the Snowflake Method, and then write a simple story using simple everyday English. start with a 1,000-word story, then a 5,000-word story, then try a 25,000-word (bare minimum for a Newbery if I'm not mistaken) story, then a 50,000-word novella, before attempting a full-fat 100,000-word novelall that in, I repeat, simple everyday workman EnglishAFTER that you can maybe start faffing around with whatever you wrote in the 1st page>>25542018>I'm an electronic engineer, I can be mildly autistic. But seeing the number go up helps with my motivationand I'm a career bean-counting spreadsheet jockey. all you need to know is whether you hit your wordcount or not, and how far along your story has progressedthe greats didn't need more than that...
>>25542112I wrote a story while intoxicated, but it was too confusing for general audiences. I had to go back post-release and add exposition to make the plot easier to understand.
>>25542184>all you need to know is whether you hit your wordcount or not, and how far along your story has progressedFor you.>the greats didn't need more than that...I'm not them. I am myself. I'll do what works for me and what keeps me writing.
>>25542112I don't drink but I enjoy mj on occasion. Writing high is hard.However proofreading high is really fun. I don't do major edits while high, but proofreading feels like a game and I get really amused when I spot a typo or whatever and correct it.
why is a kk wing ad flashbanging me on 4chan?
>>25542297Because you refuse to use adblock for whatever dumbass reason.
>>25542297Because you need adblock
>>25542303i do use adblock and it works on all the sites i care about (youtube, anime streaming sites, libgen, etc)weirdly not 4chan now that you mention it, never realized that
>>25542307oh actually it's because i was phonescrolling briefly, that's why
Why even but ads? Nobody is going to click the link and buy whatever crap you wrote
>>25542328this is true for 4chan ads but not ads as a wholeads work on amazon, facebook, [royalroad], assuming you have a book that sells (is on market)the prejudice against ads comes from people writing shit nobody wants to read and then dropping a bunch of money getting 0 clicks because guess what, nobody wants to read itadvertising is such a stupidly fuckhuge industry for a reason. sheeple click bright colors and buy shit on a whim all the time
>>25542328You will never get a audience if no one knows your stuff exist.Advertising is the basic bare minimum to making people aware of your thing's existence.
>>25542337I wonder if reddit ads work.
What should I write to become rich and famous?
More Fat fetish work. I wanted to try something in the vein of those 90s kids horror Goosebumps stories, so the characters are underage by necessity. Random House can mail me the acceptance letter. https://rentry.org/4vap6x43
>>25542565The oppression that a millennial MTF white LGBTQ+ Communist muslim convert and xer partner experiences in NYC
>>25542565The Truth.
>>25542579But is it choose your own bodily adventure?
>>25542696No, and all the choices would end up at the same conclusion anyway.
>>25542696Damn, now that you mention it, a CYOA porn book sounds like a fun idea
Trying to write daily while at a top-5 university is turning out to be much harder than I imagined. They expect so much!
>>25542781>I have never let my schooling interfere with my education
>>25542752Wait until you find out about erotic visual novels.
>>25542796kek, oh yeah, I forgot
Can you imagine writing fat porn that inexplicably makes it on the best seller list and puts you in the mainstream? Welcome to this year's writers conference. Here's Amy Tan, author of Joy Luck Club, Stephen King, author of Misery, and Anon, author of Anthro Girl feeder Farm.
>>25542811You forgot to welcome the woman behind Morning Glory Milking Farm
>>25542815we're all about equal representation here.
>>25542018>Quick revisionIn my take you shouldn't. You should just record what is wrong with it, and if it's cross-scene plan out a solution for it on the scene, and move on. You shouldn't revised as you write, but knowing what problems exist in your work is good. Because the problem with fixing prose is that it can eat up a lot of time for little gain. Especially in your case with 1h/day: you shouldn't spend that budget on problems that will more than likely be changed down the line.>>25542010I never got the buzz around word count as a measurement in progress, beyond making sure the book is in the right ballpark of words. Scenes is a much more natural point for me. I write a scene or two everyday: sometimes I get through them quickly and have them 800 words. Othertimes they can become 2.5K word beasts. But the important part is that the scene itself tells a story, from beginning to end. Why do I wanna stop in the middle just because I hit 1000 words?
>be autistic engineerfag>pick up writing>write for years all sorts of cap>find out that I am best at relationship, literary, and even romance drama>worst at space opera, power systems, world buildingI am autistic. But it seems the only thing I can do well is YA and romance. It's like writing dysphoria.
>>25542848>Why do I wanna stop in the middle just because I hit 1000 words?you are a total sperg if you think this is what happens when having a wordcount goal per day.>>25542856i'm the same way and i chalk it up to a balance of creative vs cerebral work. they tend to be extreme opposites for me. which is funny because if i 'wrote what i know' it would be awful tedious shit.
is writing scenes from movies and video games a good practice method while I have no ideas of my own?
>>25542909yesyou can also try rewriting a novel in your own words
>>25542913Nigurh posts in the thread across from the elderly janitor. He holds up a collection of posts. NIGURH How many? JANNY ninety-nine, doubles. NIGURH Sneed. Your a big guy. JANNY Y'all getting any double up in your thread? NIGURH What thread would that be? JANNY I seen you posting in /gif/.Nigurh types out "for you" and completes a few captchas. NIGURH What business is it of yours what thread i'm from, Janno? JANNY I didn't mean nothin' by it. NIGURH Didn't mean nothin. JANNY I was just postin' to bump the thread.
Give me one good reason why I should buy this shit.
>>25543102SonBrotherHumanVirginAutistUnemployedThere's six reasons for you
>>25543106I'm only 5 of those, thank you.
>>25543106should anon be spending his money on erotic fanfiction if he's unemployed? idk
Elisa Dupont, the Lady of Birmingham, stared at the highwayman, her bosom heaving, her heart pounding in her chest, her flintlock dueling pistol ready to put a bullet clean between his eyes . David Vincent, the infamous Black Knight, the most wanted man in England and France, smiled. He was not nervous. He was never nervous when faced by beauty. The woman's anger and rage excited him."I'm sorry about your husband my lady," he said mischievously, "but it was a fair fight.""A fair fight?" she gasped. "You shot him in the back!""I never did, but we shall come to that later," he winked at her.She raged. Yet, even in her anger, she felt something else welling up inside her. A pain even worse than grief, a reality that has punished women since the dawn of time. Love. Elisa was in love with a murderer. Her husband , bad man that he was, lay not yet cold at her feet and already she was in love with this black-hearted killer. The feelings were too much for her. She would never admit them to anyone. Vincent, with his infinite reserves of cunning, saw these truths written on her face, instantly, and knew everything, entirely. He smiled. This smile angered her and she decided at that moment, that rather than give in to love, she would fight it. She would destroy David Vincent in order to stop loving him. She looked calmly at her gun. "I'm afraid, Mr. Vincent, that I can forgive many things in a man, but shooting people in the back is not one of them, ” she said, calmly.Yet just at that moment, the moment of truth when a man and a woman stand before each other, there was a shout from outside. Both the widowed lady, and the handsome highwayman, looked at the door."This is Her Majesty's Police Force," said the voice.It was, of course, the Spider. The dogged, soulless embodiment of all that would crush a person's spirit. The King's worst enforcer. The most hated and feared man in all of England.
>>25543137>he has a jobI'm so sorry
I'm almost at the end of the first draft and reading the first chapters of the story makes me physically cringe. they're so much worse written than the rest two thirds
>>25543254i read it too and it kinda sucks anon, sorry. just do better next time.
>>25543106Yes
>editinglocked the fuck in for two whole hours, fixing shit, making tons of progress, massive quality pass over 8000 words>writing something newbuuuuhhhhhh write one line, tab out, tab in and write some more, tab out, look at some porn, tab in, until i get 1000 words done in a daycan someone explain this phenomena? why is editing so easy and fun
>>25543485I'm 1 chapter left to finish the first draft. Is editing that much easier than writing the first draft? Before so far I spend like one month in 1-2 chapters lol
>>25543485same reason it's so easy for people to tell someone how to do something right rather than do it right themselves
I feeling too lazy to write and it’s all just stupid fantasy shit anyway why am I even bothering I should KMS
>writing fight scene (very last in the story)>protags 2v1 the villain>both protag and villain are gravely injured/scarred>villain kills sidekick, then protag charges in heedlessly>villain avoids him, and when the protag turns arouind, he sees the villain has thrust his sword in himhow do I not make it cliche by having the protag pull the villain in by wrenching the sword deeper in his gut? plan is that the protag kills him with a dagger in the throat, but both die anyway
>>25542889>you are a total sperg if you think this is what happens when having a wordcount goal per day.OK then why? It makes no sense to me.
>>25543867because you're not progressing your story, you're just masturbating about "endless" numbers. You've been masturbating about your word count for a year already and you still have nothing to show for it.
>>25543913I have a word count. What’ve you got, bitch?
>>25543926a published book
>>25543928I bet its word count wasn’t vey high.
>>25543832Have Mr. Protagonist be all “oh no I’m dying” and drop his sword and this lulls the villain into feeling over secure about his victory so he pulls out his sword and comes close to gloat and then the protagonist stabs him with a dagger. Then with their dying breaths they jerk each other off. But the villain comes first to assert dominance.
September 20th. The autumn equinox is creeping up on me. It's been 6 months since I started. I have indeed finished the first draft. It got both harder and easier. My patience runs thin but the glossary feels settled. Strange calling it a translation anymore. Worldbuilding in a spacetime akin yet alien. Long for the break of designing the cover but fear of forgetting the subtleties still burning bright. Can't write it all down. How long for the second pass?Park workouts going on too. Occasional boomer now asks what sport I practice. Zoomers begin talking about gym. Maybe just the polyester shroud. Summer was hot and mosquito-y. Later evenings and Eucalyptus citriodor oil. School started, have everything to myself again. Nights getting chilly. When will handles get hoary?
How many tabletop RPGs do I have I play to be able to write litRPG?
>>2554393485k. enough for a novel
>>25543960whoops, i meant 99760
Hello frens, what do you think of these 3 paragraphs detailing (half) a fight scene? Do you have a clear image of what's happening (even without prior context of the scene, setting etc) and is there any confusion generated?(Important: Sarlesh is the POV character, so most of the "hes" are referring to him, such as the second paragraph)
>>25543982You're still working on this? Why doesn't it end already? Other than that it reads fine. Very generic fantasy. You also don't need the azarian prepared for another strike, then jump back to sarlesh dove. If you want to keep it strictly in sarlesh POV, it should be something likeSarlesh dove for his scimitar as Cedric wrestled with the azarian.Some shit like that
>>25543964lol look at this sperg obsessing over word count.
>>25543102i'm glad it caught some anon's attention. the ad did its job
Starting to worry that I just start new projects to distract me from the last one. I've finished three books this year and haven't gone back to edit any of them.
>>25544200>>25544200>>25544200
>>25543193>She would destroy David Vincent in order to stop loving him.This feels like the sort of thing that runs through the head of a man who's about to murder his ex-wife, very masculine in contrast to the pulpy feminine whims thus far. And it then falls flat, given that she doesn't actually do anything and seemingly gets rescued by outsiders.Feels like it'd be more dynamic if the scene actually flipped away from wanting to kill him, having her about to succumb then being interrupted.
>>25543832You could flip it, have the protag get a seemingly clean victory and watch the villain die, only to have it ripped away when the adrenaline wears off and he realises he's been mortally wounded himself.Or make both wounds clear simultaneously. Sort of leap into it as if the protag has a plan to kill the villain and get out clean, only for the reader and villain to be shocked by the brazen kamikaze. So the villain falls due to underestimating the protag's attack as emotional foolishness rather than self-sacrificial cunning.
>>25543982The action reads clearly enough, but it all just feels a bit dull, and the distraction cheap/random.
>>25541662>t. can't even spell "pseud"ESL
