Thread 24824942

>tried to write a romance story set in current day
>impossibly hard to not mention iphone, youtube/twitter/instagram, doordash or anything internet related
>story sounds cringe when stumbled upon those terms while reading

What part of "write what you know" did you fail to grasp?

>>24824942 (OP)
haha OP I love froggo XD

>>24824942 (OP)
>impossibly hard to not mention iphone, youtube/twitter/instagram, doordash or anything internet related
Then don't. You can write about the modern day without talking Donald Trump or Walmart or expensive fast food, just don't do obvious anachronisms, and even if you do write in a way that makes it seem charming instead of a boomer who has no idea how the modern world works.

hi anon. good point you've just made there and I am in agreement with you about it, really. i also am contemplating writing a novel set in our times, yet the obligation of including social media has hindered me.
i don't use social media. the only social media plataform I'm in is x and only as a voyeur.

can one write a novel set in 2025 and not place social media at the centre of it?

good luck, anon. go for it.

shit, anon, i didn't read the "romance part". my bad. i just read the second green line.
the novel I want to write is not a romance, but something which describes the life of a talented, well-meaning man in his 30s who's being fucked in the backside (pardon the french), metaphorically, by the government, the media, and so on.

it's autobiographical, really. i have a good job and the pay is rather generous, but certain aspects of it and around it are pissing me off.

i am not fooling around here. if i actually go for it, the aim will be to author a book that will radicalise the people like myself against those who sustain the system.

>>24825548
modern dating specifically relies on internet

>>24825564
thanks for reading, good luck with your writing bro. while i agree to most of your suggestion, social media and internet have already becomes part of modern life that removing these elements is hard. romance story especially requires characters to communicate to each other. old stories use letters for this

>>24824942 (OP)
What is it that makes it cringe? And why do you want to remove social media, internet and smartphones, the things that have the most impact on our daily lives from a story set in the present time? Everybody talks about the fact that literature is dead and to be honest i think that the reason is precisely this approach. The present time is not described in stories and i find it sad, not cringe

>>24824942 (OP)
Just don't use those specific words then. Paraphrase. Skirt around them

>>24825679
exhibit 1.

i don't know man, it's just maybe i romanticized old culture too much and find modern life itself cringe

>>24825692
hey man, im ESL so i might not get some stuff but i think it is an interesting beginning, makes me want to get to the actual breakup scene to read how that unfolds.

there's not a lot of modern words, tinder is fine but that's me, i don't mind these things as i said before. the only word that broke the flow is the hashtag but i'm pretty sure it's not the symbol itself, i think the parenthesis are the ones to remove.

characters, flow and plot are the important things, don't let modern words stop you from telling these stories, actually use smartphones and screens and modern words to create something interesting and, if you are lucky, poetic too. we need stories more than ever to get a glimpse of what the world and people are right now! if it's a romantic story i don't see how using a broken heart emoji or something like that is bad. good luck bro!

>>24825692
>>24825840
also, one thing that i do when i write modern stuff is to not use capital letters for companies/brands, like Instagram is instagram etc, it makes it merge better with the rest of the text

>>24825840
>>24825849
thanks broski, will keep those suggestions in mind

>>24825692
Why are you writing YA? I bet you're using a female pen-name.

just use a more general term. you don't have to go american psycho with brand names.
>digital agora
>echo chamber
>bot desert
>shitlib central
>synagogue of satan

>>24825679
The presence of the current internet makes the whole thing feel prosaic and a bit cynical. Radio and television have existed for over a century, but most "classics" from the period don't allow them to be a big part of the characters' lives. The majority of a proper story takes place outside your bedroom, preferably outside your house. A good book will distance you from the mundane in order to give you perspective.
>>24825692
This is a good example. I can tell right off the bat that I wouldn't be able to derive much meaning from this story and that reading it would be a waste of my time. Anyone whose life is completely taken over by the internet lacks the holistic insight necessary to be a writer. It's like being a "gamer-philosopher" or expecting your dog to teach you programming.
I grew up with the older internet, which wasn't this hands-on. It led me to go out into the world, to different cities and countries, and meet a variety of unique people in different places for idealistic reasons, most of which didn't involve fornication. I'd consider writing based on said encounters, but even that setting is too temporary to last. In just 20 years it would age as badly as the hashtag in the page that anon posted. It's not that instagram or tinder are inessential and replaceable, as far as the plot is concerned, it's that their usefulness is inessential and replaceable.

>>24824942 (OP)
Love doesn’t exist in current day, you can’t write a love story without falling into chick lit cliches or making it disgusting like featuring social media or dating apps. Just write something else.

>>24826266
You can't not go american psycho with the brand names, especially in terms of the big websites that monopolize the average person's free time. Essentially, most people have turned into american psycho. The brands and services are too close for comfort. When society eventually gets rid of these superfluous things and someone from, say, 50 years into the future reads a book that embraces the current zeitgeist, he will only feel despair over how vapid his ancestors' lives were. A bunch of Caligulas without any real money or power to make a difference. A dwarfism of character epidemic. I would take an epic about the life of a miner over a book set in current times any day of the week.
>>24825692
Even if the characters in this book are meant to be depicted as ignorant and empty, you can tell that the writer sees meaning in what is being depicted.
>>24824942 (OP)
Unless you've worked as a consul, or were taken prisoner by somali pirates at some point in your life, I suggest you write about something imaginary. You know what they say, write what you know.

>>24824942 (OP)
>impossibly hard to not mention iphone, youtube/twitter/instagram, doordash or anything internet related
Skill issue.

>>24824942 (OP)
I reference social media without actually referencing what social media they're using. Find it works better at not being cringe. For example, at points my protagonist will idly scroll on his phone, but that's all the detail I give.

>>24826411
As one of those fake writers who just makes up stories and never writes them down I isolate the setting. One story happens entirely in a cave with the protagonist unsure what year it is. I also like apocalypse stories, focus on a specific area and how it can survive. It can make the mundane more meaningful, like how now a fisherman is normally just some guy but in a survival situation a guy with lots of fish is a life saver. It's still exploring the world we know from everyday life.

>>24825601
>modern dating specifically relies on internet
Not for real (attractive) people.

>>24824942 (OP)
i had this issue.
>be me reviewing my relationships for inspiration
>realize that while the romance may have started offline, every time the girl made her move it was through fucking snapchat or imessage
>only 1 time by phonecall
>if i did not actively pursue then the dramatic moment happened over text
how the fuck am i supposed to write this shit, when in hindsight i have been cucked by phones?
>>24824953
i dont want to write what i know. perhaps i should write what i know and change the story, idealize it.

>>24825601
That still doesn't mean you have to call it by its name. You could easily write about an encounter, and start it off in a self-aware, ironic way.

>I could tell you about a chance encounter; two individuals destined to be bonded for eternity bla bla bla describe some far-fetched romantic entry, but no reader would believe it, and rightly so.

Then you say they met on Tinder without having to actually write it, because yeah it sounds dumb.

>>24826411
Well you couldn't bring radio and television with you, of course they weren't a big part of your lives. On the contrary smartphones and screen are on everybody and everywhere, seems fake not to take them into account. Also nobody said that a story set in the present needs to take place inside the bedroom/house.

>>24826547
Post face with timestamp.
Also, text messaging is the medium of choice for romantic communications nowadays. The love letter is just a relic.

>>24824942 (OP)
If you're going to use those elements at all, just use more generic and less cringe terms.
'order takeout' or 'order delivery', instead of 'order doordash'.
'phone' or 'mobile', instead of 'android' or 'ipod' or whatever.
I'll admit specific sites are harder to do but you could probably either find some alternative or just use alternative ways to mention them that people will recognize like "she turned her phone around and showed me her feed" instead of showing you her facebook or anything
This is why fantasy settings are superior lol

>>24824962
You need to stop this, I know you think you're being very smart dunking on frogposters characterising them as stupid and childish, but Apu and Pepe are important symbols, characters through which we are projected like light through a prism, and simulaneously they are reflected in us. In Apu and Pepe we can express ourselves, we can give form to our thoughts, experiences, and emotions. Through the portrayal in them, the factors of life,from the complex to the simple, the important to the mundane, all in the form of a pleasing character in which we can relate, find humour, and empathise. For in each of us is a frog, a lowly, slimey, creature. But yet we are capable of being in many forms; both lofty and beautiful, lowly and grovelling. The frogs are a part of our identity, they are the face of this site, and they are not going anywhere. He who spurns the frog at once reveals his nature as an empty and hollow person, humourless and without humility.

>>24826444
>>24826266
Remember that Confederacy of Dunces dropped names too but they aren't picked up as much because it's very New Orleans/past specific. D.H. Holmes was a real department store (in the 1980s it was purchased by Dillard's) and Dr. Nut was a real soda (which has since totally vanished other than a few ads).