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>she opened the cupboard
>she grabbed the pistol
>she turned around
>she raised the gun
Fuck me comrade how do I stop this shit? I see the action in my head but when I write it down it feels so lifeless. I've hit a roadblock and I need help. Somebody save me.
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Read more books
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Sometimes a declarative sentence is all that's required. It's not heartless, it's just straightforward. 'She turned around' is infinitely better and easier to read than 'she spun abruptly on her heels to face behind her'.
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>>8774112
I agree and prefer when author's hurry up and tell me what's happening and don't try to drown me in words. But how do I stop the
>she
>she
>she
>she
?
Crossposting this from a thread I saw on /tv/, but it seemed super pertinent to /lit/ in terms of subject matter. Norm is on some straight Schopenhauer shit for the first 20 minutes of this interview, it's literally like he's reading aphorisms out of 'The Trouble with Being Born.' It might be a bit, considering it's Norm, but I don't think so. What you guys think?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDji8i1jrWY
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>>8750715
I was in the other thread as well. He's perhaps the most literate comedian I've heard, he seems like somewhat of an absurdist, but that might be me lumping in the nature of his profession as part of his philosophy.
Most mainstream comedians seem to be very cynical or nihilistic in their confessional stylings, and I believe people unfairly correlate Norm's worldviews with them. People describe Norm as dry when I say he's wet.
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>>8750715
>I don't have sex with girls or men
lmao
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listening to this from that thread too, fucking lmao
to keep it /lit/ related, how is his book?
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>finish my book
>reread it
>have literally no idea of what the fuck is going on
Goddammit /lit/ how the fuck do I write a coherent story that actually makes sense?
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>>8786478
i plan everything out. that gets much harder when you have 3 characters and a non linear story.
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Pretend it was deliberate and claim the critics just don't get it
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>>8786478
Pay attention to the flow of narrative as you're writing. The problem you're having right now is hard to correct in editing, as it's probably more of a pacing thing, rather than detail.
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Are there any novels as perfect as the Harry Potter books?
Can literature get more comfy than this?
The magical world as represented in these novels is just so cozy. I don't think children's books, or any books really, can surpass Harry Potter. What child wouldn't want to discover that they are magic and be invited to attend a school in the Scottish wilderness with hundreds of other witches and wizards and going on all sorts of fun adventures with them?
How can these books get better?
Philip Pullman's alternative steampunk world is pretty much the same as the human one albeit with daemons and other dimensions added and so on.
JRR Tolkien's universe is entirely different from our own.
But in Harry Potter you can easily imagine being a kid going to the supermarket during the summer holidays but knowing all the while that you possess magical abilities and that a world exists parallel to the muggle world where life is far more exciting and interesting.
I can't see what kind of universe would surpass Harry Potter.
Where would children rather go than a magic school in a castle full of magical staircases and secret rooms and ghosts and rival groups?
If any other author writes about such a school in the future it will immediately be judged to be inferior to Hogwarts. Sure there's still room to write in the whole sword-and-shield genre, but that means going back in time 1000 years or simply investing in a totally different universe. But children don't want that. They want to reasonably believe that somewhere out there is a more interesting life than the one they are stuck with, and that the reason they feel out of place and undervalued is because they've yet to discover that they are wizards.
Seriously I would like some sincere and thoughtful replies about this please.
Can Rowling be surpassed or is she the end-game of literature?
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>>8786360
You posten it again epin
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Sure, i think we can all agree that it's a great setting for a children book series. No one shits on Rowling for the magical world she built.
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I'd prefer to live in a fantasy world where you didn't make this stupid post
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Do non native english speaker have any chance to compete with English writers through their writing
my native language isn't a /lit/ language i have some ideas but i can't express them clearly can my english still improve through reading i'm really fond of writing
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>Frank Kafka
I am so triggered!
Literally shaking!
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>>8786335
Hire a translator, then.
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>>8786335
Thanks to Kafka from now on I will masturbate mercilessly.
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Anyone else have reader's block? I've not felt the desire to read a book since I finished one at the start of November. I hope it passes.
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What book was it? Do you have anything in your backlog that you particularly want to read?
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>>8786305
I've got quite a few books I can start, I just don't feel like picking up a book to read. I did do quite a bit of reading throughout the year though, from the start of February I'd been reading a full novel every week up to this November. I think I might just be burnt out.
I have a longhaul flight on the 16th, so I might bring along a book to start then.
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The last book l read was Heart of Darkness in mid-October.
After that l've tried reading The Myth of Syssiphus twice and gave up after thirty pages. I feel stupid.
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If a robot speaks intelligently and suffers, and insists it is alive, can you prove it is not life? Compared to say, a human, which does similarly, and yet is made up of gooey internals? Any books on this?
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>>8786301
anything that has to insist it is alive isn't.
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>>8786301
Whether it's alive or not is moot. If it suffers, it should be treated ethically.
Unless, of course, it's a cunt and I gain from it's suffering.
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>>8786301
Yes it is life. Anyone who says hurr durr but it aint got no soul!! but it aint flesh n blood!! hurr durr we caint play God mayne!! is wrong
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I don't spend time with anyone though
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>>8786105
Then you're a nobody.
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>>8786105
Then you're an amalgam of all the posts you read on 4chan.
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Just read TV People by Murakami. Anyone on /lit/ have an idea what it the story was supposed to mean? All explanations about it online make no sense to me.
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>>8786017
Op here. Just to expand, my own understanding was that the praise the narrator got from his colleagues and higher up was probably due to them knowing about his wife's departure. That his wife was either leaving or having an affair. That he himself didn't pay attention to her or didn't enjoy her company (weekends were when they were together and he got headaches every sunday). However, I can not pinpoint an explanation for the actual tv people or the airplane broadcast.
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>>8786032
never read it.
but most murakami is about office drones/slaves getting righteously cucked.
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>>8786345
One of us doesn't belong on this board, and I hope it's you, neanderthal.
Hello /lit/.
Can you please recommend some really good books on loneliness, regret and alienation? I can't exactly explain what kind of state I am in right now except that the feeling of loneliness and isolation and alienation has become more and more pronounced over the past few years and of late has left me as an emotional wreck. Some days are really bad when I can't keep myself together and end up crying because of how much it has begun to affect me. The combination of loneliness, guilt and regret at fucking things up with the one girl who used to care about me and in general being an unwanted loser who struggles to form any long lasting close relationships.
Some books that i have adored till now:
Notes from underground - Dostoevsky
Siddhartha - Herman Hesse
No longer human - Osamu Dazai
I want to know if there is any great work that tackles loneliness in particular (And with a lot of incisiveness) or is in general a great book to read when in such a depressing hellhole. I have been thinking of "befriending" loneliness. To accept it and acquiesce to it is one thing. To actively cherish it's constant presence is another. Is that even possible?
A little background: I made a few friends in college who i was close to but they all scattered after getting jobs and I went abroad for higher education during which I haven't found the time or energy to make long lasting friends. Just a few acquaintances who recognize me. Also I completely messed things up with the one girl who i was in a relationship with and felt strongly about. The one girl in my entire life who actually gave half a fuck about me doesn't want to be with me anymore because i messed things up so bad.
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Journey to the end of night
The man without qualities
Maldoror
Diary of an oxygen thief
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I'm sorry you feel isolated, OP.
I haven't finished it yet myself, but Infinite Jest?
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which literary character do you identify with the most?
lord jim
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Cenk Ugyur
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The Arab that Mirrorsalt shot.
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Hal's Incandenza's retard brother.
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what is your favorite work of critical theory? What schools of thought hold yr personal interest? I love information bomb by paul virilio and minima moralia by theodor adorno the most
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I am a Slut by Savannah Brown
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Is the Dialectic of Enlightenment any good, anon? The college library was having a clearance sales last week and I copped a paperback copy of the book.
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>>8785793
not OP but DoE is legit good and worth your time to read. minima moralia also, and paul virilio wrote is indeed awesome
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help /lit/, give me a quick horror story prompt. i got nothing and i need to write a short story in four days. pic unrelated
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A vast canopy of trees stretches out before you, swaying softly. What lies below?
You have lived your whole life with the nagging feeling you've forgotten something terribly important.
You awake to find you cannot move.
One man's foreskin hides a terrible secret.
The feeling of the vastness of space above you.
Beneath your feet, under a thin layer of rock, a churning molten sea thousands of miles deep.
The secret world beneath the couch cushions.
I have no idea how to make a prompt but I hope these helped.
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>>8785753
>Guy walking around the streets
>Some dude comes up to him and tells him something
>He tries to engage him, but the dude flees
>Guy starts losing his shit over what the dude told him, with only vague hints to what it actually was
>He finds encounters the dude again by chance
>He ends up killing him
>What the dude told him in the beginning was :''I know''
>The guy killed a man and thought that this dude knew about it, but he killed the dude that told him that knew that he killed someone when in fact this was the guy that he killed; implying that he knew that he killed him, but it was just some dude trying to fuck with him for no reason and the guy didn't kill anyone, but killed him because he thought that he knew that he killed him.
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A neet wakes up to the sound of his mum saying if he doesn't get a job by sundown he's going to be kicked out.
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I want to tackle this book. How do I get through the nonlinear clusterfuck that the first section apparently is? Is there any good guides out there?
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>>8785709
you literally just fucking read it, I don't know why so many people struggle with that concept.
given the facts that 1.Benjy is in fact retarded, and 2. The narrative is fractured and nonlinear, it goes without saying that it isn't a puzzle to be reassembled by the reader. you can vaguely tell what age Benjy is in the narrative jumps by whether or not they pick him up, who's watching over him, the tendencies of his siblings, and other events, but it isn't necessary to rearrange the events because the events themselves aren't important. Focus on the people, their relationships, their actions. It's my favorite chapter of the book, but I think people wrestle with it needlessly. Just accept the fact that it's nonlinear and narrated by a retard and you'll hopefully enjoy it as well.
protip: there's two Quentins, a male and a female. That shit messed me up the first round.
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if you stop trying to dissect and rearrange and fully understand the first part you lose whats good about it. Part two is much more difficult than part 1 desu
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Both Benjy's and Quentin's sections are going to be rather difficult to read and understand fully the first time around, but you'll get it. It isn't too bad. Just read sparknotes or something along with it if you insist.
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I'm a 21 year old college student and I have no idea what I'm doing with my life.
I study economics but love literature. I hate my major, but I'm a year and a half away from graduating and have been in school for 4 years (lost credits from transfering). I've done internships and have worked on research with professors but I hate my major. It's dry, dull, harsh, and leaves little room for creative thought because "neo-kanesian economics is the only true and righteous path" etc etc. Not that Austrian economics is any better, just that anyone who solely subscribes to one idea is a retard.
I wish I could write, but I'm not very creative. Has anyone else been in this rut? What did you do?
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I work at pizza hut and my only hobby is reading and film, life could be worse
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Got my economics degree, read lots, tried to fix Greece's debts, failed. Wrote a book about it.
>shamelessly plugs And the Weak Suffer What they Must
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>>8785601
How's that going for you?