Thread 64142993

I'm working on a 3rd novel but first publication contract, it's regional paperback press so not exactly Tom Clancy.
Anyway my seed is: soviet soldier, career spans 3 deployments for story structure (young middle old), time frame may be shaped by the formula, does his deployment then home rotation is in a semi rural but nearish Moscow area with a family farm where his hobby is growing pot for himself (not sale).
I want something for us autists in it but not commanded by it as there is a home life. I can't think of how the family will evolve or anything. This is where we're at.
I have 4 outlines I don't like, so we're not stuck but it'd be cool to have your help.
Previous books irrelevant, mid sales, not very weapons-y. I thought I'd try like several small sections of something /k-ish.
(pic for pic's sake, yes I make these)

>>64142993 (OP)
>>>/lit/

>>64143001
Honestly I'd delete it if I did not just want board related subjects.

>>64143001
I don't need to but can post hand, gun, outlet, non-fat photo... any other disqualifiers...

>>64142993 (OP)
Put in some parts with him hunting, perhaps even grenade fishing or some other more exotic /k/ hobbies. Considering he is in the SU, he wouldn't have all that much leeway with firearms, but he seems to not fear the law. One would (presumably) be able to fashion simple low power explosives and/or simple over/under or s/s shotguns/rifles.

Maybe some hiking or other /out/ shit, as I said /k/ hobbies are limited in SU

>>64143103
Well he'd be able to snatch a grenade for fishing that's one. Homefront probably peaceful but a tracksuit gangster kid and cheating wife? However...
A career that's ok, maybe a chechen rape, what three wars fit framing it? Interactions with Vory to get a hunting rifle. KGB meetups including a rundown on KGB guns for sure... the graduation from Makarov to something else maybe.
A police job even for some related detail.
It's not a /lit thing I just want the details and flavor.

>>64142993 (OP)
>soviet soldier
he gets raped over and over 'as light bullying' by his commander

>>64143150
Yeah first war, still looking for which conflicts. It will be part of the "cccp hippie" at home where other characters just disappoint him so the next deployment looks better.

What is the experience and gear of a russian beat cop in middle rural russia where like a proper store might be in an hour's travel and a mall a little more? Still smallish town with outlying farms.

>>64142993 (OP)
>mid sales
how many?
how'd you publish?
I'm trying to write mine

>>64143275
1 outright rejected (history of malls in a story by a landscaper turned security designer... from when malls in the 60s went to dead mall 2000s), 1 optioned and published in an airport (shorts kinda pulp crap to read on a plane), and this one is on pre-manuscript contract.
Otherwise I sell the wood art and have a stupid normie job.
I have 4 rifles and a shitload of milsurp. I browse here. Please buy a set of vietnam era jeep mirrors with rubber bezel and mounting stud I have 20 lol.

I should sell surplus, I have so much shit and multiples but all the stores closed so that's a red flag kek.

>>64143234
Prolly a Nagant revolver if any pistol at all. Definitely some kind of club. Lots of beating drunks and shit like checkpoints, also typical cop shit like dealing with domestic violence cases and theft amongst citizens.

Also lots of somewhat 'unsupervised' time, you know, who watches the watchmen type shit. Likely some day drinking and lots of nothing to fill the time.

>>64143298
>1 optioned and published in an airport (shorts kinda pulp crap to read on a plane), and this one is on pre-manuscript contract.
that sounds alright

>I have 4 rifles
ignore the autist, /k/lit threads are board tradition

>Soviet soldier
you have to decide whether you want current happening in your story or not, obviously
>can't think of how the family will evolve or anything
problems raising kids will always attract readers

>>64143327
>you have to decide whether you want current happening in your story or not, obviously
Ukraine is a bit outside of the scope of the story, no?

Afghanistan is an obvious choice, and Hungary would be one aswell. Perhaps some artistic liberties could be taken to include some sort of deployment in Poland?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solidarity_(Polish_trade_union)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gda%C5%84sk_Agreement

>>64143327
No, I was thinking something-afghanistan-chechnya maybe.
Pistol should be nagant but there are makarovs and stetchkins that have police models.
Kids will have russian problems. Maybe an OF loli daughter the character is just tired of her shit.

Also how much law can a cop ignore, what's the corruption level, do Vory shoot at him...

>>64143342
>Ukraine is a bit outside of the scope of the story, no?
you didn't specify a timeframe, so >2022 is well on the cards
Storm-333 is also very topical of course

>>64143342
Ken Follet level historical stuff if that helps, like the Century Trilogy.

>>64143357
This person would be political at the barest level though no? The police would have a cop father or a local party pamphlet printing uncle right?
Hey, what DO russians hunt with, Balkai (sp?) shotguns in what gauge?

>>64143325
>Lots of beating drunks and shit like checkpoints, also typical cop shit like dealing with domestic violence cases and theft amongst citizens.

This but he's not a bad guy. Think of the beatle's "She came in through the bathroom window", that is a mall cop plus. He don't care about roid raging as penis compensation. He does it sometimes and doesn't care.

>>64143369
shouldn't Russians hunt with nuggets? I mean they're probably a dime a dozen over there. it's just practical

>>64143382
I feel like Balkai (again sp? I forget and aren't looking it up as of now). has a range of fudd shotguns. A mosin is logical. An SKS would be considered a national guard placeholder rifle probably... could be wrong.
Ammo looted surplus but there might be commercial stuff if you hunt. Likely a cop could hunt legally pretty well or even be offered hunting permissions for bribes. I would need to know russian civilian guns as a user honestly, I have 2 nuggets, an SKS and a locally made 1947 SxS essentially no name modern 12 gauge.

If russian commercial shotguns or rifles have a common problem or workaround that would be a detail..... aka to get a Saiga-12 to take paper shells it's handload only via the mag well. Plot details like that but /k details.

For his litle self and family weed garden where he "heals ptsd" by gardening and smoking I have a real russian peasant weed farmer to talk to but he's fuckin strange, kinda retarded, and speaks in poetry. True to type I guess.
But he sucks for a source, mostly he talks about his weed dude universal magic connection man secret ultra strains.

This is his mindblowing russian magic plant. It's like... nice but not super awesome. Maybe when it flowers or something. But hey this is cultural info lol, CC the CIA.

I'm gonna step away for a bit. Just... I need russian civilian gun details and life as he'd know it, how you keep "not great, not terrible" on a personal level, army life...
Making dinner.

I'm kinda thinking this is the vibe, I'll do a graphic like this but the AI slop is a stand-in.

Core Concept-
Protagonist: A Soviet soldier , three deployments, structured around three life stages: young, middle, old. The narrative contrasts his military life with time at home, set in a semi-rural area near Moscow on a family farm. There, he grows cannabis for personal use and peace of mind

Family Dynamics: The OP hasn’t yet defined how the family evolves but envisions friction—e.g., possibly a cheating wife, an “OF loli daughter” he’s worn out dealing with, and a “tracksuit gangster kid.”


Suggested Story Elements & Texture (From Other Users)

Military Flavor: Use exotic /k/‑style hobbies like grenade fishing, improvised low-power explosives, hunting, and carving out a rustic Soviet /k/ authenticity.

Home Survival and Conflict: As a police officer in a small rural town, he might wield a Nagant revolver, run checkpoints, deal with drunks, domestic disputes or theft, and engage in unsupervised day drinking and boredom.

Gear & Weaponry: Sources suggest he could hunt with Balkai-style shotguns, Mosins. SKS rifles, and navigate relationships with corrupt cops or mobsters. Small touches like using surplus ammo or hunting permissions gained via bribes.

Defense & Traumas: The OP mused about including sexual trauma (“Chechen rape”) during his service for deeper emotional impact, interspersed with “CCCP hippie” elements at home—subdued domestic disappointments.

Gardening + Weed Culture: At home, he grows cannabis to “heal PTSD” by gardening and smoking, inspired by a real local “poetically strange” weed farmer.

Temporal Setting: Discussion leaned toward three conflicts—possibly Afghanistan, Chechnya, and maybe something else
Archetype: A layered, evolving Soviet soldier navigating war, home, family, policing, and personal escape.
Themes: Duty versus domestic disillusionment, trauma and self-medication, moral compromise.
Tone & Texture: Gritty military, rural humor, family drama, underground culture, and nature.
Let’s Build on This

guns so far in consideration:

What's a good specific ummm MOS? Career path? Rank stages? That kind of thing? Is he artillery or scout recon or what's cool that's easy to flesh out?

>>64144913
Being an artillery spotter would be much less dangerous than working as general recon. Considering he is a 'hippie' it would also mean less shooting and more just witnessing nasty shit. Think something like Jarhead (the movie) but with a bunch of Russians and a few years before the 90s? Idk on your time frame, but it seems you have a pretty fleshed out initial idea of the character.

Also, give him some sort of hobby like wood carving, maybe he likes machine work or building things idk. There should also probably be plenty of driving, Russia and by extension the SU is a big place, IDK about how freely you could travel but getting anywhere important would probably be a pretty long drive.

Chechnya is a gold mine for fucked up shit, it would be a good idea for his character to unravel around this point in the story.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Russian_constitutional_crisis

Since the story takes place a little later in the SU life span, including one of the final coup de grâce of the SU would be a great idea.

>>64145507
http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=557566

Havent read this yet, but it should shed some light on what his job would be, it seems forward observers for artillery weren't as common in soviet doctrine than western doctrine, but they were around, especially later.

I'm guessing he isnt special forces or anything (ie Spetznaz),

>>64142993 (OP)
>>64142993 (OP)
That drawing cannot be real. It looks identical to a zoomed in picture of a butthole.
And for some reason there is a vagina in the center of the drawing, on the ridge.

>>64145527
Kek, for the record OP, I think it looks bretty good.
>>64144913
>For an infantry formation I would expect an officer and a radioman. Maybe an officer with binoculars, maybe an officer holding some paper (maps). For a defensive position maybe a field telephone operator rather than a radioman. Would they have their own vehicle? Maybe if the unit they were assigned to provided them with one. But probably not from their own artillery unit. I would be inclined to give them a small GAZ-AA truck if they get their own vehicle (one of the most common and available vehicles in the Red Army). Otherwise they hitch a ride in whatever else is going that way.

I would make him a radioman or something similar in an artillery unit.

>>64145527
Kek, for the record OP, I think it looks bretty good.

>>64144913
>For an infantry formation I would expect an officer and a radioman. Maybe an officer with binoculars, maybe an officer holding some paper (maps). For a defensive position maybe a field telephone operator rather than a radioman. Would they have their own vehicle? Maybe if the unit they were assigned to provided them with one. But probably not from their own artillery unit. I would be inclined to give them a small GAZ-AA truck if they get their own vehicle (one of the most common and available vehicles in the Red Army). Otherwise they hitch a ride in whatever else is going that way. (FYI found on modeling website)

I would make him a radioman or something similar in an artillery unit. I doubt making him an officer would be the best choice, not early on anyways.

>>64142993 (OP)
Question, have you read

>One Soldier's War by Arkady Babchenko

Because that would prolly fill in some knowledge gaps of the post 80s decay soviet army experience
>He sells AI art lasered onto wood
>cringe

>>64144416
>OF loli daughter
OK yup, I'm sold. Get some baraag artists to draw that up and I'll shill you to /co/ too.

>>64145527
Well it's a composite of probably 7 drawings, AI, filters, stuff, shit, hand drawing...
It's 20k Leagues Under The Sea/Mysterious Island mash up between the movies and book art and all of it sort of my way but closer to the text.
Yes, in fact there is a vagina and butthole but nobody finds the penis.

So the War stories book is on my list. I have a LOT of nuclear material to go through, not the least of which is a signed first edition of THE book that proved nuclear testing is fucking with kids, not just appearing in some samples.
I'm a nuke fetishist and I miss Oppen.
Anyway this is all good and helps me learn the real of what this person would live. Especially the nuts and bolts. I need stuff on actual training that isn't rape but I have 2 inert mines and a few other things I own for the touch-vibe which I believe in as part of the story process.
Which is why I'm not dealing with /lit faggots. At least we go outside and grill steaks and shoot guns.
On the kids: the loli OF daughter is not an incest angle it's "oh you piece of shit can you STOP" and the kid (might be lezbo tomboy wanna-be vory) is well, just a nigger.
Main guy is just like... the child of a soviet trying to live in the end times of the empire. He's gonna beat a couple civilians, there will be more than one but like less than 5 war crimes. But more like "well if I don't I'm gonna get raped more". He's feeling all the cool weapons were for nothing, were never on par with America. I'd like to try one western visit or encounter but his class and economic status mean doing that might be hard to pull off.
I want a little from the Main about western weapons too, or the kid somehow gets an S&W 627 (this gun is based I will not be dissuaded from this model fuck you I love it why do you hate my Soul-Sama?).

>>64146153
anon let me throw you a bone
>late crumbling SSR Soviet era
it would be very fascinating to read about "based on a true story" life of a Soviet officer trying to hold everything together
the main plot would be dealing with a proto-revolution on his battalion base. you could have it triggered by Afghanistan PTSD, krokodil, and dedovschina. your officer protag sympathises with the men but knows that they will all be chopped by Vympel or KGB or whatever and is trying to save everyone from this suicidal course of action
there can be plenty of action here if you include flashbacks from Afghan

>kids
have the daughter get recruited by a kiddy sex ring in the midst of all this; the son is trying to stop the daughter but he's too young and stupid to realise he might get snapped up himself, if not shot

>Main guy is just like... the child of a soviet trying to live in the end times of the empire. He's gonna beat a couple civilians, there will be more than one but like less than 5 war crimes. But more like "well if I don't I'm gonna get raped more". He's feeling all the cool weapons were for nothing, were never on par with America
makes a lot of sense

>I'd like to try one western visit or encounter but his class and economic status mean doing that might be hard to pull off
>western weapons
easy: his unit could be recruited to bodyguard for Yeltsin
this might even be one of the catalysts for the rebellion

>>64146180
That's really great stuff. I'd want to balance "this is home at least until Rodina calls" with "I like guns hahahahaha".
This is where I want some Ken Follet flavor; and he's great. He wrote the story of the kike-est kike move ever kiked in the Mosesin' World; jews set up a fake soap company to beat export laws and put uranium on a tanker they switched with a twin and sank the empty one, built mobs, then CLAIMED THE LOSS IN INSURANCE ANYWAY.
But he's great with human moments in history.
I like this. I'm a mediocre writer maybe got one good one in me. Let this be it. I'm going to consult with some others that do workshops and academic writing lessons more but hey, Tiger has a putting coach right?

>>64146329
uh...
*bombs
(soviet style gun type I think)

Dog(s): Hunting dog or plural... should it be tackling deer and boar after he shoots them or like... is he a duck fucker? Do they do pheasant (they must)?
This could inform the civilian gun choice. This can bring in /k through local hunting culture because fuck /out I love /an anyway.

>>64146329
>kike-est kike move ever kiked in the Mosesin' World
I don't believe you
>jews set up a fake soap company to beat export laws and put uranium on a tanker they switched with a twin and sank the empty one, built mobs, then CLAIMED THE LOSS IN INSURANCE ANYWAY
I believe you

>I'd want to balance "this is home at least until Rodina calls"
I don't know what that means
>"I like guns hahahahaha"
if you turn in a bog-standard Hallmark movie drama plot but you can convey that you are familiar with your guns, you will find your audience I believe
that's what Frederick Forsyth and Tom Clancy did
and Clancy even got 90% of the details wrong
compare your drafts with Cussler and Clancy; if you can make it sound somewhat there, you should be alright

>I'm a mediocre writer maybe got one good one in me. Let this be it
well let us know when it's done

>I'm going to consult with some others that do workshops and academic writing lessons
look up James N Frey

>Tiger has a putting coach right?
my father says the exact same thing

>>64146406
I'm an X'er morphing into a non-fudd boomer I guess.
Cussler is great but he does the thing where "money solves plot" which here of course what money?
I want ta walk out steps. This is a page at best, it needs a 30 page treatment, a 100 page proposal then a real solid 400+ page book.

>>64142993 (OP)
read "The Bear Went Over the Mountain"
>how the family
sister starts out well, goes to med school, ends up alcoholic because married to an apparatchik who beats her and her two kids on the reg. the kids stay at the dacha one month during each summer and it's literally the best life they've ever had, uncle Protagonist shows them the forest, how to fish etc
brother #1 starts out badly, discipline problems in school, barely finishes highschool, conscription period equals more discipline issues, goes to Ryazan to work in the explosives factory, gets involved with some shady characters there who listen to Visotsky and wear blue jeans smuggled in from Turkey. Rarely visits, when he does visit he never talks about his bizness except some indirect allusions to his brother. It is implied that he is addicted to meth. In later years he starts to seem privileged/rich (he has a car and an apartment, permission to leave the country sometimes).
father is a congenial alkie with horrible PTSD that has him almost unable to leave the house. Originally an idealistic communist, turns to religion as he gets older, dies of liver failure while Protagonist is on deployment
mother soldiers on, as soviet mothers do, juggling three kids, a husband, housework and a shit job

your mountain valley looks like a cunt, you should get your dick wet asap

>>64145523
artillery officers in combined arms units were often expected do their own recon

>>64146153
>touch-vibe
go sit in a Lada if you can. or any other Soviet vehicle

I'm doing some writing myself, trying to put together a saga following some /k/aracters from both sides of the Spanish Civil War through the Cuban Revolution. I've put together a lot of notes on characters and events but am having trouble actually getting it into narrative form. Any suggestions on how to get past this initial inertia?

>>64146587
this is going to sound stupid but just start writing
surely there is one episode, scene or even just a couple of lines of dialogue that you have a very good idea of how they will go
so,
> sit down
> write some swearwords and other stream of consciousness shit just to not have an empty screen/page in front of you. do NOT censor yourself, you have to get in an honest mood to write well
> write that one scene you can already see in your mind's eye

>>64146587
read some Hemingway and a lot more SCW research, autobiographies especially

>>64144416
For the three deployments, may I recommend
>The Winter War (1939, late teens)
>The Invasion of Czechoslovakia (1968, late 40s)
>The Angolan Civil War (1975, mid 50s)

Start off bright eyed and idealistic, drown the idealism in red snow, turn his patriotism into pragmatism as he shackles his fellow slavs for kickbacks and profit, then tear his humanity back open with mass graves full of Africans.

Nothing a little backyard pot can't fix. He retires to a quiet life, buoyed along in his dotage by a steady stream of bribes and grift.

>>64144913
>specific ummm MOS
combined arms, aka infantry. gets to learn how to deal with pretty much everything from tanks to NBC protection
>career path
conscripted at the end of highschool, does well, sent to NCO school, gets offer to remain as a professional
first two years as a professional spent in the far east dealing with the dregs of the Soviet Union in what is a penal battalion in all but name. distinguishes himself there, somehow (maybe a minor border incident with the Chinese), proposed for promotion, sent to
military academy Frunze, 3 years as a cadet, graduates near the top of his class, sent to 5th Guards Motor Rifle Division heading a platoon in the 373rd motor rifle regiment which is how he gets to Afghanistan
the 373rd gets reorganized into the 70th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade along with the 56th Air Assault and he eventually ends up heading brigade recon because he shows initiative and skill coordinating with the VeDehVe

>>64146744
nice

>>64146745
>brigade recon
regimental recon, sorry
this would be the ascending arc
then the retreat, years spent kicking around in Germany as an advisor, another retreat, murky Yeltsin years,
military advisor to the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic
and then the 1st Chechen war (as brigade staff)

>>64146587
Use AI then totally rewrite it, 10% of what AI does is great. It's at least "a way" to do a plot.

>>64146744
Kino. I think this hits a lot of notes and going back into development after talking about it is going to help. Spamming soviet weapon spec sheets will too.

>>64146745
Solid as well. And givew me unit numbers.
+1 ummm Me points

>>64146841
That's some western contact nice. Enough to bring back a shitty norelco razor kek.

>>64147051
yeah the far east stuff gonna be some construction brigade or shit like that, take your pick, but I wanted him in the 70th because they ended up kicking around in Kandahar so you know

>>64147057
advisors were very well paid but he would not have been allowed to go to West Germany, in fact he would have had to report any contacts with westoids

>>64142993 (OP)
war, real war is boring as hell
You might get an entire campagne where you never had to fight once
Battle can come at of nowhere with no warning sight making you paranoid as fuck
What breaks most soldier isnt the violence, its the anticipation
So you have to be hungry, training,be tired, be ready 24/7

try to relax a bit

>>64149073
>>64149982