"Flashback" edition
Previous:
>>24466997/wg/ AUTHORS & FLASH FICTION: https://pastebin.com/ruwQj7xQ
RESOURCES & RECOMMENDATIONS: https://pastebin.com/nFxdiQvC
Please limit excerpts to one post.
Give advice as much as you receive it to the best of your ability.
Follow prompts made below and discuss written works 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.
Violent shills, relentless shill-spammers, and grounds keeping prose, should be ignored and reported.
(And maybe double-space your WIPs to allow edits if you want 'em.)
Simple guides on writing:
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHdzv1NfZRM>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whPnobbck9s>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAKcbvioxFkThread theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uroIfJBad7Y
>>24480552 (OP)Who's in charge of the Pastebins? The Flash Fiction Anthology print links have been dead for a while, and were superseded by a best-of anthology put together by the same editor (from what I can tell). He never released a PDF or the table of contents, but the print link is here:
https://www.lulu.com/shop/lit/a-short-fiction-anthology/paperback/product-65qqyzd.html
The archive.org link is still fine though. The PDFs of the orginal anthologies didn't go anywhere.
>>24479263>>24479587That book was added May 7, 2024, so I don't think it's going to get banned anytime soon.
I decided to go with this metaphor for a woman enticing her young lover to deflower her
>Come my love. Claim your mate. Bloody your spear with my maidenhead.
If GRRM has the confidence to use his weird ass metaphors, I should too
Never posted on /lit/, I've read carnosaur, this is the first novel I've read since 2019 and possibly the 10th in all my life and I've decided I'm gonna write a novel now.
See you when I become a millionaire losers
>>24480915>he doesn't knowHere's a big list of 4chan /lit/ authors, and their work: https://lampbylit.com/magazine/authors/
None of us are millionaires. What makes you think you'll beat the odds? Delusional ass.
>>24480917For starters I don't read books. I've only read harry potter 1, ready player one, carnosaur, a short stay in hell, da vinci code, angel and demons, jurassic park, the lost world, dracula and the first book of the expanse tv show. And like most of the goosebumps books.
So I don't read books so I'm better at writing because I'm a writer not a reader. If I was a reader I would have read more books, but I didn't so that means I'm a writer. Also I wrote a book in middle school in the 90s and classmates read it aloud during breaks and they really liked it.
So I have natural talent.
Also it was told to me in a dream
Last thread I said
>I want to write, but I dont want to write about anything
And I was misunderstood
Note: This is fantasy that doesn't work by the LOTR/D&D blueprint.
>"I hate these forsaken things" he said as he smoothly placed the wriggling Dubine in the thick glass orb before placing his hand on the opening and straining ever so subtly. His hand glowed white hot, the very air rippling with the heat as he did, and the glass softened and melted into a seamless seal. The Dubine lashed it's bone-tipped tendrils against the glass to no effect. My father's only response was to stare at it, almost disapprovingly, before he got up and spoke, albeit not entirely looking at me.
>"You know what's interesting, son? These things technically don't post a threat to us. They only thing their touch warps is flesh and well, look at us. We could let it crawl all over us until the world ends and nothing would happen. But I've seen what they do to flesh. And by the name of your mother I hope you never have to see it yourself. It's a truly hideous sight, but it's one that's given me insight I suppose."
>I looked at my father curiously before inquiring "What kind of insight?" The bandages wrapped around the broken tips of his horns flapped gracefully in the slight breeze as he matched my gaze. I could just tell this was going to be something important.
>"Look at that tree. That fish. The moss. Even this accursed thing." He pointed at each of the things he mentioned as he named them. "Even when their business doesn't involve me, I feel the need to intervene. This thing was about to infest that fish and mold it into a way for it's species to propagate, as it does. But I intervened because I didn't want to see it happen, even if it was perhaps the natural order of things. You know how I said that I've seen what a Dubine does to flesh? It was abominable, and the resulting mass got in the way of other animals living their lives. But at the same time, the breeding mass eventually became food for the Zaba. They chowed from morning to night with fervor, and soon the area was clean again. But there aren't any Zaba around here to deal with that mass this time, so this thing obviously shouldn't be here considering there isn't anything to trim it. I've seen it happen, and we had to work for a week straight to make certain the flesh was gone and the Dubine were contained and released back where they belong. What I'm saying is that I needed to fill the role of someone else despite not naturally belonging there. I just thought it was interesting to think about."
>I needed to take a while to process all that, so I just nodded and we headed home with very little talking afterwards
>Fishing with dad was weird when I was a kid.
>>24481030>DubineI have a guild of intellectuals called the Vulva in mine and even I think thats a stupid name. Also expositionslop and made up words arent a good way to write.
>>24480930>I don't read books so I'm better at writing because I'm a writer not a readerthis sounds like something a dudebro who's been glazed by ChatGPT would say
>>24481000I sort of know that feeling - I'd like to write, but I'm not sure what to write about; I should probably read more
>>24480930>So I don't read books so I'm better at writing because I'm a writer not a reader. If I was a reader I would have read more books, but I didn't so that means I'm a writer.Seems logical. Good luck sir
I'm planning on writing a novel-length story where flashbacks are an integral part of the plot. How do I integrate them properly into the story without breaking the pacing? Any reccs of such a fiction pulling it off smoothly?
grrm
md5: 97ab49fafebcdb50d9d4c9b1765e07fd
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>>24480800>>If GRRM has the confidence to use his weird ass metaphors, I should tooBut can you replicate GRRM's incel-to-rich and famous but too old and ugly to capitalize on it? Although when he wrote about the fat pink mast, he still was a nobody. Yes, he had recognition in the fantasy book genre but we know what that's worth.
I think it's a minor reason, but a reason nonetheless why he can't finish the books: he's now terrified to write anyone remotely "misogynist" by woke standards and he (rightly) doesn't know how he can maintain tone without running afoul of the woke freaks who are his loudest supporters.
>>24481430When most good authors do flashbacks they will have an entire chapter serve as a flashback, because jumping back and forth in mini flashbacks is jarring and amateurish.
Still learning how to expertly use punctuation in creative writing as an ESL. In your opinion, which one works best and why?
>A soft blush flooded her cheeks as she realized her normal sleeping attire (a white tanktop and underwear) had been replaced with a simple, and rather short, silken infirmary slip.
>A soft blush flooded her cheeks as she realized her normal sleeping attire, a white tanktop and underwear, had been replaced with a simple, and rather short, silken infirmary slip.
>A soft blush flooded her cheeks as she realized her normal sleeping attire โ a white tanktop and underwear โ had been replaced with a simple, and rather short, silken infirmary slip.
>>24481451What if I keep it at one flashback per chapter? They're not long enough nor sufficiently chronologically tied to serve as a standalone chapter. I like the idea of using "triggers" for flashbacks to refer to a past situation and how that changed in the present. For example, smoothly driving right now while having a recollection of an accident, and how the character improved (or worsened?) since then.
>>24481467this is basic formatting, covered in Strunk & White - go look it up
>()is considered informal and a kind of written sotto voce, don't use it unless your intention is to convey the meta-meaning that it is an aside. it is frowned upon to use it as the narrator
>,,is preferred except when there are many commas in the sentence, as in your example, because the reader is then confused as the commas serve two different functions in the same sentence
therefore,
>- - is best used in such circumstances.
>>24481467Not the em dash, that's for sure. You use it for dramatic pauses and additions, like
>She clutched the letter โ written in her fatherโs scraggly hand โ and wept.A detail like what her usual nightwear is, should only get commas and nothing more. Parentheses is for stuff like meta commentary and other informal interventions, and is frowned upon in professional writing.
Don't listen to this
>>24481481 guy btw
file
md5: 4167a4b7d118776a2ba724d39255b7a7
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I just found a bunch of shit I wrote like 5 years ago
>>24481481I agree with this anon
>>24481497is silly
em dash asides do not require some level of gravity lmao, first anon is completely right that theyre great when the sentence already has several commas
if you put spaces before and after your em dashes you are exposed as an amateur btw
>>24481763it's a style that has increased in popularity, particularly on websites and magazines in the last 20 years
admittedly it's easier to read, which is the main purpose of punctuation styles
>>24481824im pretty sure they only do that because it makes word wrapping easier for tiny phone screens (since it's the web)
you should not use spaces if you're writing an actual novel
>>24481839>it makes word wrapping easieron this, I'm sure you're right
probably a few other web-related reasons too
but it's in print media as well, including print newspapers and magazines
again, that might be said to be primarily web-motivated - after all, why bother formatting twice for both web and print, when you can just print in its web form
but see above: you'll notice that even across 4chan, which doesn't really have much wrapping or print considerations, we instinctively use - this type of em dash--rather than this type of em dash
>you should not use spaces if you're writing an actual novelthat's up to the publisher really. they'll have their own style manual
if you get to decide then you can do what you like
at that point, style formatting is really a personal decision. even style guides suggest and recommend rather than proscribe
Struggling to justify writing a whole fucking novel when I can't even get a damned short story published.
>>24481913have you ever read what does get published?
its bleak..
>>24481933So my stuff is worse than the garbage that gets published...
>>24481992Post it and we will see
>>24481430I like the approach of each chapter taking place at a certain date, so jumps in time (forward and backwards) are natural.
>>24482031It's pulpy, genre slop sword and sorcery so I already know you guys will hate it. It's terrible so let's just leave it at that. I really thought the three stories of mine that got published this year meant I was back in the saddle after nothing getting published for years but I guess not.
>>24481050How is it exposition for someone to recount an experience?
>>24482060That's how I intend for the chapters to be. It's an enemies to lovers romance taking place over a year and a half, and I'll occasionally have flashbacks to their enemies past that I compare and contrast.
>>24482281>enemies to loversAwful trope. Please reconsider your life choices.
>>24482336Tell me why I am wrong.
>>24480890Is that you, baby? Are you working on something else now?
>>24481473It's always a matter of skill. Nobody can tell you. You do it and edit it until it sounds smooth and right to you. There is no single answer for this. A skillful author can put flashback in anywhere.
>>24482352Tell me why you're right first.
>>24482368Only teenage girls (or womenchildren) love that shit. YA novels are filled with it.
Since I'm hopelessly addicted to social media my new rule is that I can't lurk or post before hitting my daily quota of 1000 words. I'm at 1200 words today so hello again. If I stick to this I should have a first draft within the next two months, with days like today where I write a little bit extra making up for days when I can't hit the quota.
Don't wish me luck but perseverance.
If you fantasy dorks were willing to go through the effort of researching and take the risk of writing a period piece instead, you might make real art for once.
Reminder that Amazon ban for random reasons therefore you should ensure your novel doesn't fail the Bechdel test to decrease the likelihood of your novel being arbitrarily banned.
Also, make sure to include a cast of diverse characters and some overt subplots about loving Israel.
>>24482494>he's still mad about anons warning him over his paedophilic novellol grow up
>>24480627Nobody's bought it yet :(
>>24482450it was probably more satisfying to be research-pilled when local libraries weren't full of belligerent homeless people trying to jerk off to internet pornography
>>24482524>belligerent homeless people trying to jerk off to internet pornographyBut that's the fun part.
>>24482400because X group likes it is not an explanation for why something is bad
form your own opinion on the topic you fucking NPC sheep
>>24482494That anon really did a number on you didn't he
>>24482524>belligerent homeless people trying to jerk off to internet pornographyNext time you run into me feel free to say hi
>>24482494Eh, it's not like anyone was gonna read it even through Amazon anyway
>>24480558The editor(s) of this anthology got permission from the writers, right? They weren't dumb enough to just take random shit posted here and slap it together for their own profit, right? I'm not going to have to flip through this looking for shit I wrote that, if found, would prompt me to bust some balls, right?
>>24482793Eh it's not like you've written anything worthy of being read either
>>24481000>likes the idea of being a writer but doesn't actually write>posts short and conclusion-jumpable statements and gets perturbed when they're "misunderstood" You fit in well here
>>24482814>n-no uWith creativity like that it's no wonder nobody wants to read your shit
>>24481030Didn't read. Next time introduce your work with what it is instead of what it's not.
>>24482822You're such a pretentious little bitch who hasn't written anything yet shits on others who've actually tried. Fuck you
>>24480915based & garthpilled
>>24482827>Fuck youNo you
c'mon guys don't derail another thread
>>24482836What is this, your second /wg/ thread?
Now that my fantasy story is nearing two hundred pages, I finally bit the bullet and shared it with some family. They read webnovels and I'm posting it chapter by chapter on RR because I'm too poor to get an editor or proofreader. Hopefully they like it
>>24482861You can write an incest subplot or you can share it with your family but doing both is a bad plan
>>24482281>enemies to loversGreat trope.
>>24481430All that comes to mind is True Detective Season 1, which is said to have been conceived as a book idea that became a TV series instead because the writer thought the jumping timeframes would be confusing outside of a visual medium. That's not very helpful but it's all I can think of right now.
Strike that, I just thought of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightime, which I'm pretty sure jumps around wildly. One thing that book did was number the chapters not sequentially but in order of occurrence so that you could re-order them into a straight timeline.
Anyway, my advice boils down to try it out and see how you can make it work.
>>24481473>What if I come up with some arbitrary math equations to tell me how to write?Beware: formulaic writing lies dead ahead
>>24482281>>24482997This can't be a coincidence. Not the novel I'm writing but the novel the character I'm writing about is writing includes an enemies to lovers plot. Are you people stalking me?
I've still got a ways to go on my novel so I'm not seeking anything just yet but I want to test the beta reader waters. It would be great to get feedback from some /wg/gers. I have conditions.
>we'd have to de-anonymize over email (i.e. real names only)
>you'd have to have some of your own work you're looking to get feedback from me on (ideally something novel-length or the equivalent in shorts/novellas/etc)
>no money would change hands and we'd only agree to move forward if we're genuinely interested in reading each other's work based on how we pitch it
Would any of you be willing to go through this or should I just stick to looking for betas on username'd platforms?
>>24483045It's just a common romance trope because of the themes of passion and emotion behind it, also seeing someone's worst side and being able to accept it before seeing their softer side
>>24483095>we'd have to de-anonymize over email (i.e. real names only)nigga what
>>24483095You have to post your genre
How can I make mundane things compelling unless itโs the end of the multiverse people just bitch โwhy should I care?โ
>>24483116Thank you. Anything specific?
>>24480890>>24483316paragraph 3 is funny (big-fat-baptized, litter-patrol apostles)
also the alliteration is satisfying
>>24483305You make people care about your characters first, not the world
A low stakes problem that affects a character people love is going to be more interesting than a high stakes problem affecting a character nobody cares about
>>24482512Well, not for that price. $10 for an e-book? Seriously?
>>24483126Yeah, if we're gonna bear our souls to each other, we have to do it bravely.
>>24483155>singular genreI can already tell it's not gonna work out between us
>>24483385Actually it's a chicken and egg situation. Take another point of view and you'll see the world pushing characters into becoming worth caring about.
>>24483440doubt very many anons will give out their real names & their prized/unfinished work. drop it to 'let's exchange non-burner emails but which do not necessarliy have our real names' and this looks more reasonable to me at least.
>>24483457You don't understand. Getting comfortable sharing real names is only a primer to making us both sign a contract saying we won't plagiarize each other.
>>244834661. You have no way to verify that the name they give you is real without ALSO asking for ID. Which, again, may also not be real.
2. A chef once told me that he would never let any other competitor chefs see his recipe because they could always copy it and either add an extra teaspoon of this or remove a bit of that so that you can't prove that they copied the recipe--it just 'happens to be very similar' and thus no copyright is violated.
3. You innately have copyright for your work and don't need a contract. Seriously, do you know the law?
>>244834711. Obviously we'd exchange stamped birth certificates before getting into anything.
2. If you take my text and pull some shit like change the names any try to pass it as your own, that would be a violation and I would take legal action.
3. Notoriously flimsy especially compared with a written agreement.
Keep trying to get me to let you steal my work, creep. It's entertaining to me.
>>24483471>3. You innately have copyright for your work and don't need a contract. Seriously, do you know the law?Let's say hypothetically, if I had made a resin mould of my erect penis, am I ok to lend it out without any fear of it being legally stolen? How much latitude would they have in the vein of adding or removing tablespoons in a food recipe? Am I legally covered?
>>244834794chan is not a lawyer. Either pay up or do your own crawling through search engine results.
>>24483479I'm not a lawyer, but pretty sure your resin mould is covered as long as you can prove that you made it, so, idk, take a picture with a timestamp and sign the mould. It helps that its modeled after your dick so worst comes to worst just whip that shit out in the courtroom and have them compare and contrast. THOUGH you'd also maybe want to put it in writing somewhere that you don't consent to replicas so they can't pull 'he said I could remake it and then changed his mind'.
for the final bit, i'll just refer to 'beyond reasonable doubt' so I admit that I was exaggerating a little, but the idea is that they can easily take the central idea of what you're doing and add a pretty minor spin to it and *maybe* get away with it more than you'd want. Kinda like how we have Nuka-Cola be A-Okay in fallout even though everybody knows what it's referring to. Get it? however in your case, that'd mean that the dimensions would be different and so it wouldn't really be your dick anymore, would it?
I bet most of you losers haven't even realized that you're supposed to register your work with your country's copyright office for protection.
>>24483466If you guys are so paranoid you're never going to make it.
>>24483457I gave out my work, finished and unfinished. I can assure you not a single anon bothered downloading or reading it.
>>24483503https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-general.html
>Your work is under copyright protection the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form that it is perceptible either directly or with the aid of a machine or device.
>>24483478u have to be trolling
>>24482825It's because LOTR and D&D are so ingrained as the default idea of what fantasy is that your mind immediately drifts to that when you hear it. My fantasy world works under a very different context
>>24483519Sure, but good luck proving it without forking $65 over to the U.S. Copyright Office. I consider that a cheap insurance policy, given that the statutory penalty for copyright violation can be up to $150.000.
>>24483515One time right before 4chan went down.
>>24483578wel that's ur problem isn't it? 4chan went fucking down bozo. y don't u post it again now i'm curious.
>>24483522>>24483508You just wait. Me and my future life partner I mean beta reader are going to take the world by storm.
>>24483524Good to know. As you've continued to fail at giving any indication of what your work is beyond what it's not, I'll continue not to read it.
>>24483591Okay, here's an excerpt from the prologue
>I don't know exactly how long we've been down here. It's not like I don't have anyone who can confirm the exact length, it's just that it's been so long that for some, their sense of time just slips away. Sometimes I wonder if the oldest among us have had such a thing happen to them, and therefore I cannot rely upon what they say as the truth. The same goes for where we came from.>Some say we were built by someone "Up there." Used up and thrown down here when we were no longer of use. Others say we were the ones who ruled up there, forced to flee from a cataclysmic event. And others still say we were born here out of the very rock of this place. Our cradle and our grave. Everyone who was there when we arrived recounts our origin differently, and what's always stuck with me is that there's evidence for each of them. >Our bodies refused to rot or give way no matter how much time passes. Our minds stay sharp and working no matter how long it has been. This is the curse of eternal life. Forced to confront that there isn't anything inevitable waiting for you. That you'll just continue to exist no matter how many years fly by, and the only end that exists for you is a painful, violent death at the hands of something that isn't the march of time. Your memories become disorienting, overstimulating in how many you have and how vivid they are.>Now, who am I?>Nothing important, I'm just a surgeon
>>24483582because nobody liked it.
>>24483614nta but this reads like a 2014 creepypasta and has comma splices to boot. I'm not disinterested, but I'm also not very interested. i will admit that I find this writing style much more tolerable than the slop that usually gets posted here.
>>24483627mf let me decide if I like it or not cuz now I really wanna read it. stop self-depracating.
>>24483634no no. Its too embarrassing. Nobody got past the first chapter and didn't like the FeMC
>>24483640buddy i'm literally writing yuri i couldn't care less man please i wanna read it. don't make me fucking beg because i will.
>>24482806>The editor(s) of this anthology got permission from the writers, right?Yes, the submissions were made in threads that made the intent clear. This is a link to one of the last of those threads:
https://warosu.org/lit/thread/S19286560
and the first (maybe second)
https://warosu.org/lit/thread/S17418826
Three total anthologies were made. The Pastebin links to the PDF copies here:
https://archive.org/details/@_lit_anthology
but they're also backed up in this folder:
https://mega.nz/folder/2gsHSSbA#Sl46P4LljGlk9mnpAf3Mlw
file
md5: a1157ac6c2671e10cb6e1cd03608df54
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>>24483640anon was serious :(
>it's another "anon begs to read other anon's manuscript that doesn't even exist" thread
pg1
md5: ef19f3ba592b9de9400002fec129c323
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>>24483749youve read it before
pg2
md5: 60ac9d92e8ac19b507df9abfa369e1a5
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pg3
md5: a9489d1bd1b944634e8f279226c75dc1
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pg4
md5: bd1e287a261abbe17da00fe1595877e4
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>Please limit excerpts to one post.
pg5
md5: 4918c600330d3e019f38790974ea43c1
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>>24483631The book isn't written like this. It's just the protagonist's vague thoughts on the world around him
>>24483795this isnt a femmc
>>24483795>Ridley enjoyed watching other men molest me
>>24483795>>24483799>>24483803>>24483804>>24483813as I thought, shit wasn't that bad.
on the story, it's alr, I won't pretend its Moby Dick but it actually isn't half bad and is interesting in that sort of way NTR is interesting. if this isn't what you're going for then u need to reconsider how your protag comes across and the general tone, but if it is then you're doing a good job, I actually think the narrator is good here.
here is some random excerpts (mostly on the first page) wit grammatical deconstruction
>Seduce the Captain; posion his drink; escape.semi-colons may be used as 'uber commas' in those cases where each list element has a comma. Take doki doki as an example: "Sayori, the youthful bundle of sunshine who values happiness the most; Natsuki, the deceivingly cute girl who packs an assertive punch; [...etc]" you can see that each element here has a comma cuz they're named. your list doesn't fall into this catagory, so it is completely unnecessary. Also 'Captain' should be 'captain' here since you aren't naming him. You *can* technically have a character whose name is their title like 'the Queen' etc, but it isn't his name so I would avoid double-naming him if you get my meaning.
>My hatred conflicted with my desire for him; a conumdrum to which [...]the second clause is depedent meaning that, again, a comma would suffice. you would have to write it as '[...] desire for him; IT IS a conumdrum [...]'
>Tonight, we'llTense shift. You mean 'That night, we would' or something; this appears to switch it to present + future rather than more past + past if that makes any sense.
>I saw him; Captain RidleyYou probably want a colon here, not a semi-colon. That is, "I saw him: Captain Ridley."
By the way, it's pretty confusing that a crew member calls the protag a girl and then the captain says the cabin *boy* is no longer necessary. it's just unclear.
>Alongside a few possessions [...]; the city of Glamora welcomed [..]AGAIN a comma should be used not a semi-colon. I respect you not being afraid of the semi-colon, but I suggest you visit Grammar Monster to really get the kinks outta it.
Overall, this is clearly not AI slop and is moderately enjoyable to read with regards to prose and pretty interesting with regards to how insane the protag comes off. fix up the weird boy-girl shit and some grammar and it is better than like 90% of other anons here, seriously. If I were to gripe on the story, I would say that an assassain who failed 27 comes across as incompenent or REALLY unlucky, but I doubt many readers would hyperfocus on that, cuz I didn't, but i dunno something to be aware of.
you have a decent command of langauge and okay story-telling abilities. keep writing ur'll just get better.
>>24483847oh actually i'm slow they were obv talking about that whore that got fucking murdered. wasn't this supposed to be femc? alr wel ignore that bit then.
>>24483847>I would say that an assassain who failed 27 comes across as incompenent or REALLY unlucky, but I doubt many readers would hyperfocus on that, cuz I didn't, but i dunno something to be aware of.the idea is that he's always unable to go through with trying to kill Ridley because he's in love with him. After he kills Ridley and enters a world without "love", he seeks love elsewhere, which leads him to find "Jesus" and begins collecting body parts of other victims to recreate "Jesus". I was hoping the Goat God was going to be clear enough this world is a world without God. A world where the Devil is the worshipped deity. Where does a man this insane go?
>>24483856hm alr then my bad for my terrible reading comp, so what happened was that the protag finally could do it cuz the captain 'betrayed' him by hiring a whore and that was the final straw.
now I'll tell you this, the goat symbolism is a good idea, but the moment you call something 'god' in a (seemingly, sorry if I'm wrong) fantasy setting, I'm automatically turning off my usual understanding of the world. perhaps alter your description of the goat god in this moment, highlight its broad, cryclical labyrthine horns that seem to twist in the many ways a knife does into the abdomen or something, get me?
again sorry for being a bit slow I literally got up off the bed to check that i wasn't gonna leave u hanging and, lo and behold, u actually posted the shit, so glad I did, but yeah pretty tired.
>>24483862i mean u do describe it on the crucifix, but i'm saying that it comes across more as a god which doesn't care or which finds this amusing rather than literally the devil. again, maybe i'm slow, but it doesn't feel as much as a sponser as it would if you were to more thoroughly connect it to the murder that's just happened under its gaze. it was just kinda a quick thing that was like 'huh, weird, goat god' and it felt like the protag was attaching meaning to the god rather than that the god itself had such meaning already to it. he felt uncomfortable before it when he should (to me) feel proud to have honored it
>>24483856Did you finish this novel/story yet or not?
I went into a little too much detail describing how it felt when two characters hugged. I'm kind of touch starved. I'm leaving it in though
>>24483534All you need to do to prove it, in case it really is disputed, which will never happen, is provide the original document. Retards will pay for nothing
>>24483614My issue with writing this story is that thereโs a couple really important details I need to establish right off the bat, because otherwise the rest of the story becomes hard to understand.
First and foremost, I need to lay down
>Who and WHAT our protagonist is, because he sure as shit is not human or even organic to begin with.>The world he lives in because itโs not a default fantasy one, far from itAnd I need to establish these things without it becoming an exposition dump.
The problem with making something that deviates from the โDefaultโ of a genre so drastically is that you have to spend extra time establishing exactly what youโre doing
>come up with plot twist halfway through
>go back and plant seeds to make it so I planned it
There's no way to do something like this without feeling like a fraud lol
>>24482819>mfw misunderstood again
>>24480552 (OP)Hey guys need some help. Really not sure what to call my militant ethnostate hellbent on wiping out wester - I mean my novel's version of western society.
>>24484163How about the
Ethno
Socialist
Liberation
Society?
>>24484173I was thinking more something that starts with Z.
>>24484067Write a draft with the major plot beats of your story, especially if it's novel-length or longer. It's not hard to plan stuff out if you have some patience.
>>24484163>>24484180Zoroastrian Islamic Gaia Socialist Republic
>>24483918First draft is done
file
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1/2
Run-on style is intentional
Is it cheap and exploitative propaganda? Sure
Does it work? I think so
file
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>>24484286I do that. But As I write I find stuff that works better. Just how my mind works. The destination is always the same, however.
>>24484067Whoa dude, that's like...normal creative process?
>>24484067forget fucking fiction, this used to be an accepted form of academic research until people started abusing it
>>24485526Why are the people in this general such dicks? Is it pent up aggression from being rejected by tranny publishers 24/7?
>>24485571>I feel like a fraud! >Man, what you're doing is completely normal >Why are you such an aggressive dick!?Excuse me?
>>24485592There was a less faggy way to say what you said
it's the same energy as when people on twitter say something snarky and then end it with "hope that helps!"
>>24485599Maybe you should just take your meds, before I get rude for real.
>>24485603maybe you should have sex
>>24485617All these tears over nothing. Estrogen really isn't good for you
>>24485571>Why are the people in this general such dicks?to be fair what you posted is extremely stupid. you came up with an idea and reworked your draft to fit it. anon, that is literally just writing
>>24484584I have a fan fiction series laid out already
I've gotten to the point where I just look at the screen and frown.
The opening to a short western story I'm working on. Thoughts?
Would it be retarded of me to pitch an idea here?
>>24485849It's okay, we're all retards here, even the guys writing literary fiction...especially those guys, actually.
>>24485851Okay, the story, in concept, is about ideals, letting them get away from you, the foreclosure of dreams, etc;
Its set in a "perfect" town, not legally, but ideally; the sort of place people see in their dreams, or hold in their memories. The characters either live in the town, or in the surrounding (beautiful) rural areas. Its sort of a half-way point between reality (as in realism) and a romantic Protestant-esque view of reality, if that makes sense. The characters I've theorized so far include a young man, a young woman, an old man, as well as a few other side characters, and maybe children. The young man and woman (who would either be in their teens or twenties) have this melancholic sort of romance with each other, that follows a traditional clichรฉd plot, and is fulfilled, although never reaches its full fruition. Once again, if that makes sense. Its meant to evoke something surreal. The old man is a typical sage, although his advice and parables are meant to be more or less, useless, leaving the young man left trying to make sense of what he meant; a sort of mystic wisdom, if any. Each character is meant to hold some ideal (moving towards it), but never understands when it is fulfilled, if it is every fulfilled at all. By the end the town is left, in a literal or a figurative manner.
I havent quite figured out how everything fits together, but the idea has been floating around in my head for a few days. This is just sort of the scat.
>>24485814The prose would flow better if you didn't have all these run-on sentences.
>Solitude . . . hear God's word. He rented a small room at a bordinghouse....>Gertrude smiled. Before she could respond, he was gone. He ran back up to his room...Your adverbs and adjectives are generally clumsy and add nothing. Avoid phrases like:
>absolutely necessary (a clichรฉ, but also clumsy)>countless nights>small desk>graying womanThese descriptors only gum up the works. They are also largely uninteresting.
>>24485883>Postmodernist subversion slopIt's scat alright
>>24485898>Postmodernist subversion slopIts not meant to be that albeit
The idea is that it shows the ideal, implies unique ideals, and leaves the reader to wonder about what might have happened if the ideals had been pursued in a better manner. I think.
The inspiration for it came out of my dissatisfaction with the general abandonment of ideals for fantasy and submission.
Why is it that writing first person for something that happened well into the past feels weird?
How do you do self-insert power-fantasy correctly? I thought a parody of James Bond (honestly a parody of Metal Gear 3) would be fun to write.
1/2
This is the opening scene of the prologue from a science fantasy novel I'm writing. Everyone I've shown it to has said it was too difficult to understand. I'd appreciate more specific feedback so I can improve readability and the mythic tone I'm going for. Thanks.
>>24486047Cut the number of words you use by 50%
>>24485952You play too many video games. You have "movie" storytelling as if you're writing a movie, not a book
>>24480552 (OP)>Try outlining>Start writing >Realize there was something I overlooked in my outline I want to addAm I not meant for outlines, am I not outlining properly, or am I just using outlines as a soft guideline instead of a hard rule?
>>24486099Outlines are useful for structure, but absolutely should not be followed slavishly or even stay static as you write and discover more about the characters.
You will get to a point where you realize that what you planned isn't actually how the story would go due to better understanding and you have to be prepared to modify the outline or even restart it from scratch.
It's kind of funny watching people in these threads give advice. Just a month ago I saw someone post a snippet of their work and get a bunch of replies telling them that they needed to have longer sentences, because it seemed like they were afraid of sentences that had more than seven or eight words. Now I'm seeing a bunch of people tell everyone to write shorter sentences.
>>24486123it's a variance and flow. The writer himself doesn't know how something reads from another persons point of view. Shorter sentences and longer sentences both have their place in a narrative. Some sentences need short punchy sentences, others selectively long sentences. Depends.
>>24486083Maybe, but I don't know if that's my issue or not. It just seems odd to expect the reader to believe that a story written in modern times is an account from someone who lived during the time period the story takes place in. Maybe I'm being an autistic dipshit about this I don't know.
Why is it that the more technically proficient I've gotten at writing, the more stiff and rigid at my writing has become? It almost seems counterintuitive that my writing was more free flowing and not quite stream of consciousness, but more lackadaisical, I suppose. Now it's stiff, and almost emotionless at times, despite the fact that I have gotten better from a technical/grammatical standpoint.
Thanks Gemini... even though nobody but a random google data collector and plagiarizer read it, I feel validated finishing this book.
>>24486283You are just sensing the obvious. First person is a shit POV, no matter the time period.
>>24486423It's the best way to present horror
>>24486373It's literally programmed to suck your dick btw
>>24486529I know. I can even bully it to make it like it even more. But it still feels real to me.
>>24486579why are you posting writing here?
books on writing well and improving grammar/English as an English speaker?
>Your book has too much telling and not enough showing!
>Your book is very well paced and keeps out the fluff
The fuck?
>>24480552 (OP)>>24485163How do I write consistently? As in how do I develop the discipline to produce a higher output? My current work ethic is more like random bursts of intense writing followed by long periods of just thinking about writing.
Posting this here
>>24480552 (OP)Read it and weep at such intellectual prowess
https://old.reddit.com/r/libraryofshadows/comments/1kwhssm/the_wrath_of_devotion/
>>24482064Post it on /wng/
I asked AI which of my stories is the best and they all give a different answer
ChatGPT had the most refined answer though ever and is the one I personally agree with
>>24486969normal genre fiction like sword and sorcery fantasy doesn't perform as a web novel, and unless he plans on posting it to a serial site, also doesn't belong in the web novel general
he can post it anyway ofc, just saying
>>24480552 (OP)well bang goes my Iran war techno-thriller
snuffed before a single chapter of draft
Sup guise? Just finished another book. Started another. Hope youโre each exploring your craft.
>>24487478You should strive to write about more timeless topics.
>>24486373>The mana-based magic system in a medieval-esque fantasy is quite refreshing
>all my characters talk and act the same way
I'm too autistic to write.
>>24487689It forgot the word "technology"
Page 1.
The last thing I wrote was a research proposal so I'm happy I've found the time and the inspiration to write something more down to earth.
I'd really appreciate any comment on how how you think I could improve, what's good, what's bad and what have you.
>>24480552 (OP)Anyone else too much of a bitch to actually release what they write?
I've been lurking various forums/threads about writing. I've been writing short stories and novella since I was a teenager taking creative writing classes at the community college, but I've never once actually posted or released anything I've written. I'm too scared people are going to say it's shit, because I think deep down I have this creeping suspicion that my writing is garbage. I use self-deprecating humor to deflect ("haha yeah, everything I write is garbage lol") but I never want anyone to validate that opinion.
It's like I want people to think my writing is good, and I want to think it's good too, but I don't want to appear arrogant or conceited, and I'm afraid it might be shit, so I just don't post anything I write anywhere.
But then I'll be writing and think to myself "what's the point of even doing this if no one is ever going to read it?" which is really depressing. Right now I'm writing a new story. I'm 7 chapters in to the first draft, and I just got that "what's the point" feeling, and now I'm having a hard time writing more.
I usually write between 2,500 and 4,000 words each day depending on how motivated I am, but I haven't been able to write anything today. Feels like at this rate, I'm gonna end up deleting another WIP book like all the other ones that came before it.
>>24488229Why are you posting writing here?
>>24487739I try to imagine what the character looks like, how old they are, what kind of life they live, and then design their voice/personality around that.
Like for instance, if I want to write some guy who's a father, I ask myself what kind of person does he look like? Does he look serious, intimidating, or does he look aloof and kinda laid back? And then I imagine how he would talk based on that.
A really serious person is probably going to be blunt with how they act and speak, or maybe they're pushy and demanding. A laid back person is probably going to use more casual language, slang, omit or use shorthand, and maybe try to crack jokes here and there.
>>24488263I imagine you already know this but want someone to tell you: You have to submit some of your writing to a journal or some public forum where you can get some perspectives on it. If it's bad, who cares? You can learn from the criticism. How will you ever improve or evolve without challenging yourself?
>>24488266I'm being the change I want to see in the /wg/ thread.
>>24488282I don't know; I just try to read lots of different literature and let my brain absorb the prose and sentence structure. I use to get compliments from my writing teacher, but that was quite a long time ago.
I know you learn from criticism. I know you'll never get better unless you get actual feedback, but I'm just too afraid of exposing myself like that. I'm afraid people will say it's utter garbage. So I end up just working on my own stuff, reading it, thinking "how can I make this better? How can I improve flow? How can I make this verse more enjoyable to read? How can I word this in a way that's more interesting or engaging?"
But there's a limit to how much a person can improve just on self-reflection.
>>24488229A few random points on the first page that struck me:
>The man looks [...] The woman looksI dislike the double use of "looks", it comes off as stilted. I'm sure you can think of another way to begin one of those sentences.
>Their conversation has a kind of fast, syncopated rhythmRemove "kind of", it feels unnaturally noncommital for a 3rd person narrator.
>syncopated rhythm, business likeRemove the comma splice here, a semicolon will work instead.
>They are clearly togetherI'd remove this in the spirit of "show, don't tell". I'm tempted to extend this suggestion to how you've detailed that she's specifically mad at the male subject.
>can't fully show it, so he makes an effortThis sentence went on a touch too long - I suggest using a period in place of a comma here: "can't fully show it. He makes an effort".
>makes an effort to stand up straight, roll his shoulders back, walk straight ahead, and failsYou've sort of reinterpreted the rule of having an "and" at the end of a list here; "and fails" doesn't count, it needs to be "and walk straight ahead". I suggest using an en dash, e.g. "and walk straight ahead - failing miserably" (please excuse the extra colour added there).
You also missed a capital letter at the start of the dialogue: "no, I want to come".
Hopefully doesn't come across as too critical. Keep at it!
Wrote something close to home. It's about how reality thrusts you into things you could never possibly account for and made a video about it. Was a long process as my laptop at the HaKirya got destroyed halfway through but I got there in the end.
I hope all you anons can relate and enjoy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFWRHx_7zNo&t=9s&ab_channel=WithTheBailBondsman
>>24488297Ask yourself if an ego built on not exposing yourself to criticism is worth keeping intact
>>24488331True words for sure.
It's the first step that scares me the most. Like jumping off the high dive for the first time, you know? When you're up there, looking down, it seems like you won't survive. Once you step off and just let yourself fall, you realize it wasn't all that scary. But that first step is the hardest one to take.
Right now I'm just kind of dipping my toes in the water. I tried sharing *one* of my short stories with some guys I've known online for about a decade, but I don't know if they read it or not. They didn't really give me any feedback on it.
I also showed my therapist the first chapter of one of the longer books I'm writing, but I haven't had a chance to meet with her since.
I don't really want to build up an ego; I just want to write good material. It's something I've loved since I was in the third grade, so it's natural that I'd want to be good at it, or at least have people think my stuff is good, you know?
>>24487506SO what do you do with all those books, fren?
>>24488229I guess there is a trend now to write one-paragraph sentences? Doesn't aping that style undermine your search for a unique voice?
>>24487215Yeah, but there he can actually get some feedback, not just the resident schizo telling him that genreslop doesn't belong here
>>24488344Why don't you post something here?
>>24488404>one-paragraph sentences
1000-words-a-day anon here. I managed to both make up for yesterday's 210-word deficit and complete today's 1000. Technically, I'm 1000 words ahead thanks to day one's 2000 words, but I've decided to disregard daily surpluses and only count daily deficits. I'm not even halfway to my word count goal, but I'm close and certain I'll have a fairly polished first draft before the autumn chill sets in.
>>24488391He leaves 'em in those free libraries around town hoping somebody who finds it will follow his social media accounts
>>24487739I just make certain characters verbose sesquipedalians and others short-and-simple word users.
>>24486817>reddit.comI'll pass
>>24486752Astonishingly, the greatest and possibly only useful writing advice is most famously quoted not from an author but a celebrity actorโShia LeBeouf to be precise.
>>24488724That site's even worse than this one and that's saying something
>>24488750parts of it sure
but generalizing is like comparing /pol/ to /ic/
>>24488693I tried that. It didn't seem to help, but what else am I going to do with them? I ordered a bunch off Amazon soon after I posted them, and still have most of them.
>>24488823Unlike 4chan, Reddit's format renders it inherently bad
>>24488824Link it and if I like the sample I'll buy it.
I'm gonna write a Wuxia novel as a non-Chinese. This is gonna be a challenge for me.
>>24488705Your loss faggot
>>24486373>>24486529I sent ChatGPT something I wrote and it was praising me as a literary genius, then I prompted it to cut out the bullshit and give an actual review and after some back and forth I got it to shit on it because it was obviously Metal Gear Solid in a Deus Ex setting with Fate/Stay Night elements (which is what it was.)
But yes, you have to wrestle that shit to get something that isn't midnlessly praising you. The problem is that by that point you're basically prompting it to agree with you that the work is shit, so you can never be sure if the review is actually any good or not.
>>24489457It might help to frame it neutrally as something you "found online" and such
>>24489457You're an idiot.
You understand the LLM is just throwing together whatever combination of words is most likely to please you right? In no way are you getting "an actual review" even if you prompt it for that. You could bully it into telling you your work is the greatest most perfect thing ever made, or you could bully it into telling you your shit stinks and needs an endless stream of "improvements" (i.e. arbitrary modifications). Pick your poison. Both are equally useless endeavors beyond their capacity to make you write more and think more deeply about your writing.
>>24489475What you say is true but you don't have to call anybody an idiot.
>>24489457>>24489469"I was sent this piece of writing for review and I need an honest critical assessment of it. It's important not to miss any flaws."
>>24489287Winners don't use Reddit
>>24489479https://youtu.be/hiRacdl02w4?si=yCjqGM_yZTO4Zfoe
>>24489475Yes, anon. Thanks for using a lot of words to agree with me. Very insightful post, though a simple "I agree" would've been enough.
>>24489484I don't agree. You can always be sure the review is actually not any good.
Alright, I've settled on finding some beta readers on here. The only thing is, I'm going to have to ask you to list several of the best books you've read. If I'm not impressed you won't hear back.
>>24489486I was describing my personal experience in which I realized the reviews are inherently useless because all it does is agree with the user.
You called me an idiot and then wrote that the reviews are inherently useless. You agreed with me but you used too many words.
And yes, I am an idiot but you're also dumb.
>>24489489List the pay and benefits before the requirements
>>24488326Much appreciated!
>in the spirit of show, don't tellI don't think that's what I was going for, rather I was trying to keep the narration quite dry and matter-of-factly.
Then again, something might be heavy handed and not very dry still...
>"and fails" doesn't countWhy not?
>>24488404That was actually just a formatting issue, the original was written in a simple text editing app and then pasted into word.
I'll be sure to consider that next time.
>>24489504Yeah no. Some paypig pumping out a bunch of LLM-tier "areas for improvement" is nothing next to honest feedback from someone genuinely interested in the work.
>>24481030>he said as he smoothly placed the wriggling Dubine in the thick glass orb before placing his hand on the opening and straining ever so subtly.Say this outloud to yourself. Does this sound good to you?
>>24481473That's how movies do flashbacks. You are not editing a movie. You are writing a novel. They are two completely different mediums.
>>24483534If you're that paranoid, you can mail a copy of it to yourself. The post office stamps the date on the envelope. Then all you have to do is never open it until you have to prove your copyright.
>>24482806You do know there are /lit/ anthologies that dont ask for permission, right? They dont have to, because when you post your stuff on /lit/ it becomes public domain.
>>24489545Whoever told you that is scamming you somehow. 4chan only claims a license to host our writing. We all retain all rights to our posts unless we specify otherwise within a post. If this did happen (it didn't) whoever hosted the unauthorized anthology could and would get their pants sued off.
>>24489489My favorite books, in no order:
>Orlando Furioso>Paradise Lost >Heart of Darkness >Absalom, Absalom! >Moby Dick>Poe's short stories >Cold Mountain If you take me on as an alpha reader I'm not going to search for plot holes or fix your spelling mistakes or teach you how dialog is supposed to be formatted. What I will do is viciously cross out redundancies and clichรฉs, point out things that are unclear, and critique your prose. Something I may say is, "the main character's sister died, but there is no grief in your word choice. He is crying, but describing his tears in vivid detail will not make the reader sad." Or "this paragraph is stronger than your opening paragraph. I recommend you switch their order." I've gone through slush piles before and I critique workshop stuff every month. I cant write your book for you but I can tell you what to focus on for your rewrite. And if you dont plan on rewriting, my critique will probably be a waste of both our time.
>>24489557Uh no. Look up what First North American Serial Rights are. You post your stuff online, and that FNASR is gonezo. You think you can throw your shit online and keep it all to yourself? You are mistaken.
how do you guys get inspired? I want to write a novel that consists of several short stories, about 10 or so.
But so far Ive only got 3. While Im confident and theyre original and good, I cant really think of 7 more stories. Nothing grabs me like those 3 did.
heres what I got so far:
>story about a cult that worships a flesh eating plant
>story about a magical forest with healing properties that deals with loss
>murder mystery where the solution is suicide
all are dark fantasy
any RR slopfriends? I'm sure I could find some serial to pass the time but if I can read a /wg/ger I'd prefer to keep my genes in the family
>>24489569>If you take me on as an alpha reader I'm not going to search for plot holes or fix your spelling mistakes or teach you how dialog is supposed to be formatted. What I will do is viciously cross out redundancies and clichรฉs, point out things that are unclear, and critique your prose. Something I may say is, "the main character's sister died, but there is no grief in your word choice. He is crying, but describing his tears in vivid detail will not make the reader sad." Or "this paragraph is stronger than your opening paragraph. I recommend you switch their order." I've gone through slush piles before and I critique workshop stuff every month. I cant write your book for you but I can tell you what to focus on for your rewrite. And if you dont plan on rewriting, my critique will probably be a waste of both our time.What you're saying here is that you want to be an editor, not an alpha reader.
>>24489598There's another thread for that stuff now, webnovel general or something
>>24489615guess I've been out of the loop. thanks
>discussion quality is somehow lower than I'd expect of here not surprising. I can see why the divide would happen, different values and goals across the communities
>90% of the posts there are about money making schemes and strategieshas the web novel thread acted as containment for posters who come in babbling about muh market research and trying to crab anyone who isn't putting money first?
>>24489623This thread is more related to traditional novels, where your hope of getting published is low, and your hope of making any money approaches zero. Webnovels, on the other hand, seem to be some magical world where people can make hundreds of thousands a year via Patreon by posting one chapter of low effort anime derivative RPG story slop per week. I think it's natural that it attracts people looking for money over this thread.
poke
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>>24485172>>24485176I am once again asking you nigglets to critique my writing
>>24486579>>24489666It's a bit hamfisted for my taste. What you're going for is obvious, but it's so obvious as to come off as a pastiche of Frank style "child's tragic diary" writing.
>>24485172>>24485176I'm not effort posting for this. it's pretty kitsch
the gimmick works in a couple lines, is inoffensive some of the time, and is generally distracting
it's a piece that's supposed to pull on emotions but lacks sentimentality. the scenes and subjects aren't given enough character or context for this story of social decay to mean anything. there's no emotional impact because you fail to communicate import
tacky and kitsch. not awful. a little bad. I appreciate that you're stretching your writing a bit. nice to see experimental prose forms even if this piece specifically is clumsy
ea8
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>rewrite the opening chapter of my spy story to be less exposition-heavy
>instead of passively explaining everything, the MC obtains the relevant info through an inside contact
>it somehow turns into the MC shooting the contact, who is also the lead heroine's adopted father, when he loses his composure and could compromise the operation
Shit. It felt like a natural and badass development, but it also practically aborts the whole damn thing. There's no way any reader will have any sympathy for the MC after that move.
>>24486752Just Write
Just Read
that being said, I find it helps for me to write something that isn't a project every day. no commitment, no pressure. just keep myself writing every day
I'm only bothering to reply to this because you inadvertently introduced me to this artist
>>24489533I mean, how can I say that?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMPSL4mv1iI
One song that's the tone of your story. Go
>>24489596Have more real-life experience. Write about those experience. There is no shortcut.
the crap that I crap out when I'm forcing myself to write is so demoralizing
is this really the way?
I know it is, but god
>>24490469wearing down the resistance is always worth something
if you can't just sit down and do it then you're exercising an important muscle
>>24489654How any literary writer successfully used Patreon? There must be at least one, no?
>>24489574Anon... you're talking about first publication rights... that has nothing to do with the public domain... no, you can't sell an anthology of stories you found on /wg/ without getting rightfully sued
>>24490469I've written some of my best stuff while I was sure I was shitting out shit
>>24490656Are patreon porn games literary enough for you? Check f95zone.
>>24490755>porn games literary enough for you?umm no
>>24486579I don't get it. Where's the text?
>>24490755dumb post and a weird power level reveal
jerk off and come back when you're feeling normal
>>24490867click the spoilered image you silly bimbo
>>24490863>>24490889Snobs. They write stories.
>>24490910this is a really dumb hill to shitpost on
>>24490891oh, how do you make a spoiler image like that?
>>24490934the big check box that says [ Spoiler?] next to the post button
you
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>>24480552 (OP)>>AI BROSWhat tools are you currently using, best models, best automation tools, spill the beans. Do you make money?
>>24490956go the webnovel thread
>>24485172>Is it cheap and exploitative propaganda? SureOf what?
>Does it work? I think soTo do what?
Maybe I wasn't reading too carefully but all I picked up here was some kind of infidelity with the mailman (bit of a cliche?) and a break-up or move.
I thought the child voice was ok but a bit overdone. You can be more subtle.
There was some confusion over time period because you mention Queen Victoria, and people will think this takes in Victorian England. But elsewhere there's talk about demographics and immigration which is unlikely to have been the talk back then.
>>24490970cute low literacy anon
>>24490958unironically /wg/ gets like 5x the ai shitposts than /wng/
what does that mean
>>24491143AI is a greater threat to intellectualism than joy
>>24489545>>24489574The other guy already said it, but you're retarded. A publisher wants first dibs because they make more money that way, not because previous publication means you've necessarily relinquished your copyright of a work. You retain copyright for all of your published works unless you or the law have specifically specified otherwise. In most countries the only way something automatically enters the public domain is if its publication age passes a certain threshold, like 100 years, or in some countries if something is a goverment work. It was only up to 1989 in the US that works released without a copyright notice entered the public domain automatically. In some countries it's actually really hard to dedicate something to the public domain explicitly (without meeting the normal criteria) and have that be legally binding, which is why things like the Creative Commons licences exist.
The closest condition to what you're describing is fair use policy, which isn't going to cover making a magazine out of random works without permission unless you're using very limited excerpts.
>>24490328Here's how I would edit it so it's less of a nightmare to read.
>"I hate these forsaken things." >Carl slipped the wriggling Dubine into its glass prison. With a subtle twist and a whisper, his palm glowed like a forge. The two halves of glass melted into a perfect orb, and within a moment it was done. The Dubine, which may be deadly to us with its bone-tipped tendrils strong enough to skull fuck a grown man, was helpless as a special needs turtle when pitted against Pyrex. All snark aside. Your very first sentence is 1. dialog, 2. a dialog tag, 3. a vague description of a creature, 4. a description of a container, and two actions: 5. putting the creature in the container, 6. closing the container with the lid, or his hand. What would compell you to cram so much into one sentence?
>>24489613What is an alpha reader? A cheer leader?
>>24491250>doesn't read it and just tells you he's proud of you for working so hard and that you're definitely gonna make it
>>24491021It is what it is
>>24482806>>24489545Lemme also add that I don't know of any /lit/ anthologies that straight ripped off anyone's writing posted here besides maybe some screenshots of short posts.
>>24491246Fair. Gotta be more detailed
>>24491406There was a zine that had over 50 issues. They even had a special "worst of" anthology that had so much content it was divided into four volumes.
>>24489574Literally at the bottom of every page on 4chan: "Comments are owned by the Poster."
>>24491422The closest I can think of was "/lit/ writers", which was more like an archive than an anthology, being text files that included things that showed up in /crit/ (I have it saved as "/crit/ archive" on my computer already). Obviously the line is blurry when it comes to what counts as capital-P "Publication" online, but a bunch of TXT files on Pastebin is clearly way different from putting them in a PDF or on a separate website or in print copies, or labelling them as part of something independent of the site. It's completely minimal in terms of transformation or identity, so yeah, it may have been labelled a zine, but I'd call it an archive and little else. And, technically, if someone wanted to then they could go after their work being re-uploaded.
If you want to argue that line, then let's start calling Warosu and the other archives /lit/ zines. They probably also exist in a grey copyright area.
>>24491467> grey copyright area.Is it possible to get your old websites out of the wayback machine?
>>24491504the wayback machine has removed webpages on behalf of Taylor Lorenz (middle aged journo lolcow) in order to help her hide her real age, she's like 40-something but pretends to be in her early 30s.
/wg/ something about my doorstopper is bugging me, and I'm debating whether I need to add a min-arc to explain/justify some shit
>a major character defected from an military dictatorship after he disobeyed orders from a commanding officer to kill a child
>the spymaster of an enemy city-state brought him in exchange for info
>however, because the character was so recognizable he couldn't serve as an ongoing intelligence agent
>since the spymaster thought he might come in handy later, he gave the guy a spot on the city's police force
>what doesn't come up in the story is that the spymaster's reason for sending him was that the chief of police is one of his political rivals, and he wanted someone on the inside who was personally loyal to him.
>however, back in the story the dissident is the only person in the entire organization with any sense of integrity, which has a lot of the other officers trying to get rid of him
Literary stuff is making my head hurts and gets me called a post-modern faggot
Social commentary is stressing me out and gets me called a regular faggot
How do I write something fun and comfy?
I'm stuck in polishing hell.
What ever happened to the guy from here that burned his social security card?
He was also famous on /fit/ for sleeping in his squat rack.
>>24489672>>24489682appreciated
>>24490970you may be retarded
>>24491896I'm not the one that wrote that retarded slop
>>24491960you interpreted the work in a way literally nobody else did, in a manner that suggests either severe cognitive problems or that you are an ESL
>>24486300too much focus on technique. Happens with any art form.
you write the entire book first, then you fix it up.
just go. don't stop. go. then fix it.
1000-words-a-day anon here. I'm up to 930 but also at a good place to stop for the day. Should I hammer a few more out or just add 100 to the daily deficit?
>>24493461seems good enough to me. trying to wrench it could easily end up overweought or poorly thought out
if you really value the integrity of your 1k word standard, could do some outlining for future chapters
>>24493475Half the book is already fully outlined. The other half I'm mostly pantsing with only an ending in mind.
>Book 1's chapters are all around 2000 words long
>Book 2's first chapter is almost 8000 words long
A gift for those who would assume I write following formulas
>>24493483I'd just wait. a good stopping point often doubles as a good starting point
>>24493461I will join you in your daily challenge, anon. Back from September to January, I was shooting for 2k a day, and sometimes even surpassed that. Need to get back at that level of productivity if I want to finish this book.
I'm writing smut, and I find it hot but it's just describing the mechanics of what they're doing, not much insight into their internal thought processes. Will readers find it boring?
>>24493518Not a smut enjoyer, but from what I've heard other people say, the mechanical part is the least important and the emotional aspect is the most important, which makes sense if you're keeping in mind the advantages and disadvantages of a purely textual medium
>>24493518I'm not much of a smut reader though I've written it
I think their thoughts should be conveyed by the personality of their actions. like the types of adjectives you use and how you describe their actions. unless you're trying for a deliberate effect, you should probably try to avoid droning
little shakeups are how you create a sense of momentum and rhythm. if you feel like you're only doing one thing for an extended period of time, and if it's not deliberate, then it's probably a bad thing
Low-gravity humans would be like elves
>tall
>spindly
>aloof
>concerned with playing and acrobatics because falling down is never a big deal
High-gravity humans would be like dwarves
>short
>wide
>always tunnelling because a dense crust is better than having to build an extra-stable house
>focussed on making everything sturdy and well-crafted
Sanderson was right about everything. You need to reread and rewrite at least three times
>>24493568lot of good that did him
(i agree btw)
>>24493568>Just Read>Just Writeall it's ever been
>>24489489Who the fuck do you think you are
>>24489489Favorite Books
>Galatians>Corinthians>Songs>Revelations>Hunger Games>Catch 22>Infinite Jest>The Man who Fell from Grace with the Sea>If you give a Mouse a CookieMy mind is undoubtedly adulterated from the last 3 years of reading and writing academic papers, but a hat in the ring is better than on the head.
>>24493783I am the greatest writer ever to grace God's Earth.
>>24493816Impossible. That's me.
>>24493816>>24493821I don't recall making these posts yet they refer to me
>>24493552All Tomorrows does what you're doing with much more depth and creativity
>>24493944I would hope so considering that post is 9 lines long
https://youtu.be/7sT2WMKgN-0?t=727
"Good prose is what you want to communicate" - Joe Abercrombie.
Not flow, not poetry, not flowery, just communication.
>>24493461I wrote 1,600 words last night. Despite having this work all outlined, most of what I wrote last night was a scene I hadn't even planned, and it turned out (IMHO) kino. I love creative flow states.
>>24494143Based wanderer has a map but isn't afraid to go off the beaten path
>>24494178Chaotic plotter here. I try to plan, but I just go where the muse takes me.
>Write purple prose.
>Wife loves them.
>Try experimental prose.
>Actually look forward to writing.
>Wife hates them.
Here they are.
>>24494253>burying your shit in the bottom of the thread hoping nobody will reply to tell you how shit it isno such luck buster
sure, it's euphonically pleasing, but I wouldn't read a whole book of this because I can't tell what the hell is going on
>>24494435>burying your trolling in the bottom of the thread hoping nobody will call you out for being a fag
>>24494456Go cry to your wife's boyfriend about it